Do Catholics Believe in Grace? (Responding to Fr. Mike Schmitz)

Hopefully this is helpful. We go through a lot of passages. We look at a lot of history. It's a longer video, but hopefully this will help explain the difference between what a Protestant view of justification is and what the Roman Catholic traditionally has taught. Stay tuned. Ever read the Bible?

Bible and walk away feeling like you're failing, no matter how hard you try, you're never measuring up. That's not a motivation problem. That's a reading problem. Most people have never been taught how to read the Bible the way Jesus taught it. So when they hear things like,

Be perfect. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. They assume it's all about trying harder. But what if that's not what Jesus was doing at all? What if the law isn't meant to fix you, but to reveal your need for a savior? And what if the gospel isn't advice? But an announcement of what Christ has already done for you. That's the difference between law and gospel. And once you see it, everything changes. Clarity, rest, and confidence.

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If you're wondering what is the point of my life, if you're looking for the supernatural power that comes through Christ in the gospel, then you're in the right place because that is what we're here to talk about today. And I'm glad that you're here. If you're new and you'd like to learn more about our ministry, you can go to theocast.org. We have books, articles. Uh, we have a community there that you can join to ask questions and do book studies with.

Um, there's all kinds of fun uh there's I think there's like twenty-seven classes that are available in there. So there's just a lot of information for you there. I over the last few weeks I've been trying to respond to some videos that have been sent to me over the years. Uh recently I've been getting quite a few and as I respond to them, you're sending me more.

And I guess you're finding them helpful. I just wanna help people think through the gospel. There look, there's a lot of debates that are out there. I I don't mind joining into some. I I hold to a Reformed Baptist perspective. So I, yeah, I have I have thoughts, I have convictions about theology. And uh it's good to sharpen ourselves and think through them, but when it comes down to the gospel, we have to get it right.

Paul Paul and Jesus, the apostles, they make it very clear. You cannot muddy this. And it's not because it's complicated, it's because it's simple. Uh, but Satan wants to come in and absolutely muddy the gospel. Paul says, if I or an angel come to you and preach to you any other gospel than the gospel that you have received, then they are to be rejected.

Uh that and this we know for a fact that Satan wants to distort the gospel. He's been doing it from the moment of the early church. Jesus was dealing with distortions of the gospel. This is kind of what I've been trying to expose in the Law Gospel Distinction in my new book. Uh, I have a couple of chapters in here on how does Jesus explain to us of understanding the law versus the gospel?

And I've been going through different sermons. I did one on Philip Anthony Mitchell. I did one on St uh Paul Washer. And uh I I just I'm trying to help people understand that it's important that we get this g the gospel right because it's our It's our salvation, it's our sanctification, it's our hope, it's the whole reason why we would want to obey, uh trust the Lord. Uh and so this this topic matters. Uh I know that

Friar Mike Schmid has been a Schmidt has been growing in popularity for a while. I see his stuff all over the place and uh it's been sent to me. And so I went on watched some of his videos and this one stood out to me specifically because it's a topic we've been covering. So I thought I'd I'd talk about this. There's some similarities, unfortunately, to some of the things that he says and the arguments that he makes.

relating to um the gospel and some of the pietistic Calvinistic sermons we've been listening to. I know there's been some confusion of people thinking that because I'm criticizing Calvinists that I'm not a Calvinist. I I am Reformed.

In my uh sort ofology, I hold the Lenin Baptist confession of faith and uh so I just because I am being critical of my own does not mean that I and that not agreement on everything that they believe. So This um this debate that we're about to enter into is a very important one. This particular subject I feel like is got a lot of confusion. And before I start, I just wanna set the tone here and the expectation.

So if you come to my church that I uh serve at and I am a part of, my the body that that the Lord has put me in in part of, so it's not my church, it's the Lord's church. We uh try to explain to people if you come here, like what what is it that you are going to teach and believe and we will uphold.

uh obviously the scripture and from the scripture we need a document that explains that. This is part of church history. So we uphold our confession, what we confess to be true about scripture, which is a Lenin Baptist confession. If you go to uh different Denominations, they have confessions or doctrinal statements that they hold to, as well as the Roman Catholic Church. And so if I say I am Protestant, I'm a part of this.

confessional body of believers or this tradition, then you would expect that my What I teach and believe and what I say is going to be consistent with the confession. Okay, does that make sense? Um, if I start teaching, for instance, that Jesus was not a man. And that Jesus was not born of a virgin, then that goes against my confession. If I teach that one absolutely must be baptized.

In order for their sins to be forgiven, and if they're not baptized and their sins are not forgiven, then I'm going against my confession, right? If I don't believe in the Trinity, I'm going against my confession. And therefore, um, if I I I have every right to be criticized, I have every right to be called out because I'm being inconsistent with my confession.

Now, the Roman Catholics also have a confession, or they have their doctrines, their statements of belief, their teachings from the Catholic Church, the councils. We're gonna go through one specifically that has been affirmed and reaffirmed the Council of Trent, specifically on the doctrine of justification. And uh I have dealt with Catholics for many, many years. Uh I've been uh when I was in college ministry, I had quite a few Rom uh Catholic students that would come interact with me.

And what I found was that they were not a either aware or not well catechized or taught. uh of their doctrine. And so they would say, I am Roman Catholic, but then they would define justification as a Protestant, which is contradictory to the Roman Catholic faith.

And so I would say that's an inconsistent that that that's very inconsistent. Like I if you call yourself something, then you're saying I'm upholding to the teaching. But that is that is um The teaching that you're you're upholding to or what you're telling me is contrary to the Roman Catholic Church. And uh traditionally. So this is I'm not this isn't my argumentation. This is not new to me. I'm not going to claim that. I am not uh uh new this is not new or novel.

I have found that there are very inconsistent Catholics, just like there are inconsistent Baptists and Presbyterians and Lutherans and Methodists, uh, Anglicans, Episcopalians. We all could be inconsistent.

Uh and that is fine. And I have people in my church that are inconsistent, but the one thing that they are not inconsistent on is who is Jesus, who is God, and what is salvation. Those you you can't be a member of this congregation or any evangelical congregation if you don't get that correct.

So there are there are areas where we can be inconsistent. Uh I would I would argue I I don't think you want to be inconsistent with the Roman Catholic Church because they're teaching you what you need to know to be saved. And if they're if they're saying it's infallible. It's without error, and this has been uh affirmed and reaffirmed by our council and pope, then you're gonna want to hold to that because your salvation depends on it.

And if you're teaching something that is contrary to that, then I think that according to the Roman Catholic Church, your salvation is in question according to them. But if you're in agreement with us, then we would call you an evangelical. We would call you a Christian, depending on where you're putting your faith.

Unless you're uh Islam or Mormon. We're not getting into that. So I just wanted to set all of this up before we jump in and talk about this because I think it's important that what I'm going to do is hold Mike accountable to his own doctrine and to all his own teaching and his own church. And we may conclude that he's inconsistent or we might conclude that he's consistent or we might conclude that there's some ambiguity or uh ambiguity or some maybe some clarity that needs to happen.

So we'll we'll uh jump into that and look at it. I briefly went through this, so I'm gonna be responding and reacting to it as it as it comes.

Uh that way uh you can kind of just hear me respond to it. And then I have some things that I'd like to read and as well. Before I jump in, um Mike, I don't know if he'll ever read this or watch this. But if you do, uh, I hope you know that I respect you as a human being and image bearer of the Lord. I think that you are trying to do what is right. I do think that you're misguided. And maybe the Lord will use this to open your eyes uh or anyone else that's watching this.

I think he's a great communicator. I think if Mike and I were to sit on the back porch with a cigar, we would have a really good time just as far as personality and experience. Um, he would definitely be trying to convert me and I'd be trying to convert him, which has happened before. I've had a lot of conversations with Cath Catholics in the past. And uh so maybe one day the Lord will bring us together.

I'm only responding to this online'cause some would say, Well, why don't you reach out to him? Well, this medium This is how things actually happened in the past. So they would write books back and forth, or they'd write articles back and forth, newspaper uh articles. And so being that this has been put out, uh quite a f oh had a lot of views on it. So it's been out for a couple of years.

And uh it's okay for us to respond this way as long as we do so lovingly and according to the way in which scripture has called us to, I think it's fine to respond this way. Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and play this.

Sometimes people say like, okay, so Protestants believe in faith alone. We're saved by faith alone, justified by faith alone. Whereas Catholics believe that you're saved by your works, right? So this is this kind of thing, is it faith or is it works? And on one hand, are Protestants saying it's faith, the other hand, it's Catholics saying it's works. No, that's probably a what's the word? That is probably a mess.

And so he's breaking that wall down, uh, actually saying that there that shouldn't that divide should never have happened because what you're accusing us of. Uh does is not true. And we're going to get to that, like I said, from the documents, but we'll continue.

It explicitly goes against what he is teaching here. And so let's hear what his vision of what the Roman Catholic Church teaches and then we can determine whether it's being he's being consistent or not with his own his own teaching, his own uh tradition.

There's an injustice or there's an imbalance, which means we are sinners and we need to receive justice. We need to receive punishment. So there is uh debt owed. And when we think when we when we think about the word justification, it's uh something that is lacking or indebtedness that it's made not only right, uh, this is the the mistake a lot of evangelicals make that we think justification

is the cleansing of the debt where it's at a zero balance. That is not what justification is because justification is not zero balance. I I would not define someone as wealthy if they had no money. Or no possessions, no nothing, right? Um, if they didn't own anything. The Bible says that in order to be with the Father, we need all righteousness. To be justified means that you are

set free or the debt that you owed is paid for, which is paid for by Christ on the cross. And the required righteousness, this is uh Adam and Eve. If Adam would have obeyed in the garden, Uh Paul says where the first Adam failed, Adam uh failed to prove his righteousness, the second Adam succeeded.

Which means Jesus Christ. He's described as the second Adam. So obedience is absolutely required for salvation. A hundred percent. I love how R. C. Sprole used to say this. We are saved by works, just not our work.

We're saved by the works of Christ. That's what the doctrine of imputation means, or the doctrine of where all of the obedience of Jesus is taken out of his account and it's put it into our account. So our account goes from uh a debt we could not pay where it's paid for to zero and then it's filled

with complete and full and eternal righteousness that is pleasing unto the Father, and that's attributed to us. So salvation is not just our cleansing of our sins, but it is the receiving of eternal righteousness. Forever. And this is why multiple times in scripture that we are told that once we are brought in as the children of God, nothing can separate us from the love of God. No one can pluck us out of our hands.

We are saved by his divine power. This is Second Peter, right? We are saved by his divine power and all of the inheritance is held and kept by him, which means your obedience is not attributing or Detracting from your salvation. And this is also why the scripture would describe it as you are saved, you are being saved, you will be saved.

Uh because there's a there's a trifecta, uh there's uh there's a there's three parts to our salvation. Uh that is what happened to us in the past, how God is sustaining us now, and how he will glorify us in the future. That's how I would define it. Salvation. When he uses the word saved, you're going to learn that he's not defining it in the evangelical confessional sola fita way, the five solos where it's Christ alone.

Uh faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone. That is not how he's gonna define it. He's gonna define salvation really as just the forgiveness of sins, not imputed righteousness, not inherited, not righteousness that has been gifted to us by God's grace, which means you can't earn it.

and my will to this God who has died and risen from the dead for me and poured out the Holy Spirit for me. We're said by grace, again, completely unmerited gift. Through faith, that's I've now surrendered. I've submitted my intellect and my will to this God. working itself out in love. So there there there is that sense of it

So this is true. I mean, James is expecting this. Peter's expecting that those who have the spirit will do the works of the spirit. Uh, so that that is not there's no disagreement here, but here's where the disagreement is about to come because he's gonna explain that those works. are not just working themselves out because of our salvation, but they are connected to our salvation.

And read it back in. And we're gonna see here as he uses James, he he actually uses it uh in in the wrong context.

They were trying to come to him with their own self-righteous saying, see, we are good people. We do good works. You should accept us. And Jesus says, I'm not going to accept you based upon your good works.

Grace is unmerited favor. And he he says all of the right words and he says all of the right definitions. But the problem that we have here is he just told us that when we're talking about our faith, your faith can never be disconnected from your works. That would mean that there is a two part salvation. There is what you believe and there is what you do. I'm gonna let him uh keep explaining because he's gonna use James as an example.

There's nowhere in this context at all. And I have a whole sermon series on this and I'll put uh we did uh multiple podcasts on this, so I'll put the links down below if you want to go and listen to the whole entire exegesis of this passage. James is dealing with a church. That he calls them their his brother. He speaks the gospel to him. He's not questioning their salvation. He's saying the way in which you guys are at treating each other, your actions are not justifying your claim to faith.

Because he calls them to repentance. Saying that the what the way that they're acting is is is not correct. And this is why even Paul says, uh I will show you my faith by my works, meaning that uh he is not The the biggest danger that could be made here is that to assume that one has to do work.

with faith in order for the faith to be legitimized is to counteract everything the whole the New Testament says when it comes down to the to sal salvation. So as you read through James, James is dealing with people who he does consider to be a believer. but their their actions are not meeting, matching their faith. And so he calls them to repentance. That is very, very different saying you're living inconsistent to your faith.

That's a very different statement than saying you're not saved because you're not doing good works. That that is the those are two separate uh um issues. And this happens all throughout the New Testament. Uh Peter deals with this too. He says that if you are not doing these acts of the fruit of the spirit, it's like in Peter uh one verses three through nine.

He says that you have forgotten you've been cleansed. He doesn't question their salvation. He says, look, your your intentions and your heart is off. James is doing the same thing. James is calling out their inconsistency.

Unfortunately, Mike is using this and saying, no, no, no, real faith. Uh justifying faith, living faith is one that has works, and if there are no works, then there is no faith. That would mean I'm sorry, but there's only that you have to then say you were saved by works. Because if you're involved in your justification.

at all. That is not grace. That's called merited. You earned it. If it's by grace alone, that means you are completely right before God with no action at all. He is saying that you're right before God by faith and action.

There's a difference between um if a baby is born, the expectation that that baby should cry when it comes out of his mother's womb, that should be the normal of a living child. And if it's not crying, that means probably something's wrong. Like it's pathways uh blocked, it's not breathing, whatever. You know, w we need to find out why it's not working. James is doing the same thing. James is saying, if you call yourself a Christian,

and you're not obeying, treating each other not with kindness, your claims to that are not being justified. There's a difference between saying your claim is not being justified and that it justifies you. He's using that he he says salvation. James doesn't use salvation. He uses the word justification. And we're we uh we assume I'm trying like I don't want to get into this whole episode, you can go and listen to it but

We think that uh a word can only have one meaning in the New Testament, but that's not true. Though a word can have more than one meaning, uh, depending on how it's used, right? This is true in our own context. In our own, uh, you could be right about something and you could be going the right way. You know, that those that that's you could uh have a right hand.

And you could be that's different from talking about something in the right way. It's not just necessarily means it's on one side of your body. It all matters on the context. Same thing with justification. So what Mike did here is Take the word justification, retranslate it, and say that you are saved by works. But then it was just so inconsistent with what he's saying. He's saying the only time in scripture solafidae is ever mentioned is by James, and it's that we're not saved by work.

And so that that is just I'm sorry, that's just not accurate and it's it's It's a gross misinterpretation of what James is saying. And I think that it's it's even inconsistent with what he's saying. Because he's saying we're saved by we're saved by grace, no merit, no merit. And then now he's In the early beginning of the video he did this. And now what he's doing is actually quoting James saying that we're saved by work.

And to the others, he says, I was hungry, you didn't feed me. I was naked, you didn't clothe me. I was ill in prison, you didn't visit me. Then they will say to them, to Jesus, Um, When do we see you? And he says, A lot as often as you didn't do it for one of these least of my brethren, you did not do it for me.

Did you take care of the least of these or did you not take care of the least of these? Did you do something or did you not do something? This is so critical. Salvation is a gift of grace. None of us deserve it. None of us work our way to heaven. None of us can work our way to heaven. It is a free gift. Remember, we're saved by grace, through faith, working itself out in love. At the same time. Faith without works is dead, utterly useless. It can save no one.

This is what it sounds like. It's a partnership with God. And he he gives you almost the starting, he gives you the starting block. He gives you the cleansing and then you need to keep yourself cleansed and keep doing good works, which is why they have confession and I mean there's th there's a whole system of sacraments set up for salvation. And this is uh You know, I th this is where I just I I just kinda feel like this is just really kinda dishonest.

Because uh there's there he keeps wanting there to be almost the Solafita aspect to it, but it it's not. There there is something required at the end of the day. You will say, I participated in my salvation or I did not. This he literally just used an illustration. Again, he's using illustration about Jesus where Uh the this is either you're acknowledging Jesus for who he is or you're rejecting Jesus for who he is.

And that that whole illustration he's using is a perfect example of basically saying, if you obeyed Jesus, then you would make it to heaven. But if you didn't obey Jesus, then you're not going to make it to heaven. And not obey in faith, but obey in actual actions. So feeding the poor, clothing clothing people. And so he defines the difference between those who are saved and not saved is by our own work.

I don't know how else to define that, but that's exactly how it's it is. So he uses one last illustration and I think it helps explain his position.

And we'll use this to kind of end up. If you're new to Theocast, you may not have heard of this word. It's called pietism. You ever felt like the Christian life is a heavy burden versus rest and joy? That you wake up worrying about how well you're going to perform instead of thinking about what Christ has done for you. It's dread versus joy, really. That's pietism. Pietism causes Christians to look in on themselves and find their hope, not in what Christ has done.

Done, but what they're doing. And we have a little book for you. It's free. We want you to download it and we're going to explain the difference between Pietism and what we call confessionalism. Reform theology, really, how it is that we walk by faith, seeing the joy of Christ. And when Jesus says, come to me and I will give you rest, what does that look like? You can download it on our website. Just go to theocast.org.

they decide to buy you a guitar. Again, it's it's not you nothing you earned, nothing you deserve, not even again, not even your birthday, not even Christmas. Out of nowhere, your parents are just like, I love you so much. I'm we're going to give you this guitar. And this is not just an ordinary guitar. This is an extraordinary guitar. It is it's incredible. It's one of the best guitars ever made, right? Not only we are we gonna give you this guitar, we are giving you right down the road.

is uh one of the greatest guitar teachers of all time. You have unlimited lessons with this person. As often as you want to train with them, as often as you want to study with them, we've already taken care of it, completely provided. Anytime you want, you just walk down with your guitar and that's person this this incredible guitar teacher will teach you guitar. If also, also this, if you ever break a string,

If you ever wreck the guitar, if you are walking down to the teacher's place and like smash it against a tree accidentally or even on purpose, we will completely fix that guitar. We'll replace that guitar. Now, if I've been given all those things, I didn't merit it, I didn't deserve it, but I've been given those things by these parents who love me.

But I never pick up the guitar and play it. If I never go down the road and actually learn from this great guitar master, if I never if I break a string but then never ask for it to be fixed. I've been given the gift. But is the gift of any use to me? No. Now, did you do anything to deserve it? If I work really, really hard at the at the guitar, can I be a great guitar player? You can't without a guitar. So the gift itself. The guitar, the lessons, the repairs, the replacement.

Unmerited, free gift. I could never work hard enough to get this. So it's not saved by works. It's not I'm a great guitar player because of works. But unless I actually

Uh that's not great that sh that is a limited grace, I guess. I mean, I don't even know how to describe that. It's it's an incomplete, inaccurate view of salvation. It is partial salvation.

I know how intimidating it can be. I know what it is to have a guitar and be like, where do I start? I see amazing people out there and they're playing guitar like crazy. They're incredible at this. I don't even know where to start. Or I'm trying and it's really hard to get my fingers in the right place and all the kind of things, right? You know, they can

So here it slips out again. Not only do you need to be doing something in cooperation, you also need to be baptized. And maybe let's say for the sake of argument he's talking about a spiritual baptism. No, I d he's not just because of what they teach and what I know he holds to. It's not a spiritual baptism he's talking about. He is actually talking about the act of being baptized uh physically.

My friends, God desires your heart. He desires your salvation. You're saved by grace. You didn't do anything to deserve it. So simply. Work it out. If you're in trembling. Faith, working itself out in love. Anyways, that's all I've got for today, for all this here to sense to present.

It's not because you're a living tree abiding in Christ now that you can expect these good works. And if you're not seeing these good works, then there are there are there's some ways to explain why you're not seeing those good works. But the one's salvation or justification is uh closely and uh connected to your obedience. This is um

We we we would say it this way in that uh the he who began a good work in you, which is your justification, will complete it, which is your sanctification. And those are two separate things. In in other words, how one is justified is our standing before God and then our constant shifting and changing in our life.

That is the work of God as well. That is also monergistic. That is also God doing the one. But it is not the result of our sanctification, is not the cause or the result of our justification. Right. We are justified, then we are sanctified, and then we are glorified. What he is saying is your process of sanctification.

is directly, so you becoming holy, you obeying is directly connected to your salvation, your justification. So if you are not being sanctified, if you're not acting holy, then you're not going to be justified. All right. So let's read some verses here where he says, oh, you can't just take one verse and read out of context. Well, these are all the verses that I think that he did not use as an explanation and what the Protestants have been using for years and why.

uh the Reformation happened, why Martin Luther began to see this disconnect, because there were so many passages in scripture that made it very clear that you are not participating You are not partnering. You are not adding to one's justification. Before I jump into some passages, I want to read so you can hear the contrast and and where I think Mike is trying to say we believe in faith, but still be consistent. with his uh doctrinal statements. So this is

Um you can go look up this uh later. This isn't really a uh uh um an episode on the the Council of Trent or the Catholic Catechism, but this comes from the Catholic Catechism page. uh twelve sixty three on baptism it says by baptism all sins are forgiven original sins and personal sins

as well as punishment for sins. And what they're talking about here is water baptism. So this would be very consistent. At the very, very end, Mike kind of just throws it in there and says, after you're baptized, so you're You can say you are saved by grace, but you have to be baptized. That's one participation.

And then there's more than just baptism as a participation, which we just got done hearing Mike talk about, which is also consistent with what the Council of Trent had taught for generations. And so You have this is from the Council of Trent Canon 24 uh talking about how good works maintain our justification. And this has been reaffirmed by the modern church today. So this is not something that's just kind of old and it's been rejected, but this is still affirmed today.

And uh the anathemas uh maybe uh they have an explanation of what anathema means, but we're not gonna get into that. Uh but they definitely reject this concept of solar feeding. If anyone says, this is Canon 24, if anyone says that the justice Received is not, or justification is not preserved and also not increased before God through good works.

but that those works are merely the fruits and signs of justification obtained, but not the cause of the increase. Let him be an athamun. Okay, this is where he is trying to explain his view. So I don't to let him speak on his own terms. I think salvation is entering into this relationship with God. Like God freely, by grace, allows you to enter into this relationship with him. But there are stipulations to the relationship, right? There is there's what God does, and then there's what you do.

And so you can say that this salvation relationship is totally given to you by grace. Okay. So I'm trying to I'm trying to understand it from his p perspective, right? I I if if if Mike hears this, I want Mike to agree with what I'm saying. So that I can tell him how I disagree. So Mike is saying salvation, this relationship that we enter into, it's been given to us fully. Now we have to do something with that relationship if we do nothing with that relationship.

then it's null and void. It doesn't work. And it's not just faith. Okay. So this is what Trent is saying. If anyone says that justice received Justification, remember, I explained it in two parts, our forgiveness and our righteousness. They're not going to describe it that way, they're going to just describe it as their forgiveness.

The justice received is not preserved and also not increased before God through good works, but that these works are merely the fruits and signs of justification obtained, but not the cause of the increase, let him be anathema. I mean, that's as clear as it gets. We agree that those who are saved, because they are saved, these that you will see signs.

And you will see fruits. It's a sign. It's a it's a sign of life. You can see uh that a Christian is living because they have been justified and that justification is real because there's fruits. There's that the tree produces fruit. They're saying, no, no, no, no. It's not just a sign. It's not just fruit. Your good works increase your justification.

You're actually participating, which is what he says. I'm just trying to be a little bit more clear here. Mike says that there is an actual participation, that there is a partnership that's happening here. And I think that he's trying to be consistent here in that Yeah, that you enter into this relationship with God by grace, which kind of sounds like final justification, federal vision. I'll just throw that out there. Whole nother episode that you'd go listen to.

But it's not completed unless your works are involved. Right. So this is council uh of Trent Kennon thirty. It says, if anyone says that after the reception of the grace of justification, the guilt is so remitted and the debt of eternal punishment is so blotted out to every repentant sinner that no debt of temporal punishment remains.

to be discharged either in this world or in purgatory before the gates of heaven can be opened, let him be anathema. So you're not even really fully, so whatever that gift of grace is, it's not a full gift. And uh j p uh Mike's illustration kind of il illustrates that. The whole thing about the guitar. Um

So salvation, Paul says, you were dead in your trespasses and says he made you alive, then he clothed you with this righteousness, right? So how do we know we're alive? A living soul has faith. It is the fruit of you are given. We're going to see this in a minute. Not only is your regeneration given to you, your faith is given to you. Let's just go there real quick. Look at it Ephesians chapter two. It says here.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. What is not your own doing? Your faith. So even this idea of Bringing our faith into this relationship with Jesus, you don't do that. You can't bring your faith into it because you're dead. Right? You're you're a you're a your soul is dead. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. What is the gift of God? Your faith. Your faith is the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast.

So according to Mike and the Roman Catholic perspective is that um the goats and the sheep illustration. And all of the illustrations that he's using is that uh on the day that I stand before the king, he says, I give you my gift, what you do with it. And we will say, Well, here's what I did with the gift, therefore I should be able to enter in. You have a reason to boast because what's the difference between you and the guy who didn't do anything with the gift?

You could literally point to your actions and your works and say, I did these things, therefore I should be saved. Paul is saying, No. Even the fact that you believe, you can't even you can't even stand next to the person who isn't believing and saying, well, at least I had faith. You can't even do that. You can't even claim your own faith. That faith is given if you have it. It was given to you. It was a gift.

And so it's important that we understand that the consistencies So far, we have baptism is required for the cleansing of salvation, that we adding to our justification by our good works, and that we're not even to say that all of our sins are forgiven. As as this gift of grace has been given to us, that's it's you'll be anathema by the Roman Catholic Church if you do that. So if you're sitting here and you tell me that you truly believe that you are saved by grace.

God's gift to you that your sins are forgiven and He's given you all righteousness and your sanctification and glorification are all wrapped up within God. And there's nothing else left for you to do, not even baptism. Baptism is the sign of your regeneration and that your good works are the sign of your regeneration. And that is you are saved by faith alone. You are not Roman Catholic. You might be in a Roman Catholic Church, but that goes against the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.

According to Mike and according to the their own doctrinal statement. I mean I could use more examples, but I think that's gonna be sufficient for today. I just want to go through and read some verses that just clear I mean, it's over and over and over again. I've already read Ephesians two eighty nine, Romans three twenty eight, for we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

So the law is summed up into love God and love your neighbor, which is the second greatest commandment. And this is what he's talking about, Jesus, what he's talking about. served the least of these you have served me, that's law. So he's saying you are justified apart from it. He is saying there's some type of cooperation. And if you're not cooperating, and he's and he literally says working itself out in love.

That if you're not doing that, you're not justified. And it sounds so close to evangelicalism, but the nuances are important here. because um this is why Roman uh Roman Catholicism and Protestants have been arguing and debating each other for years and unfortunately why men like John Huss were burned at the stake because they were unwilling

to uh relent this type of teaching. You know, uh there's a reason why Martin Luther got into these debates because he was very versed in Roman Catholic Roman Catholic teaching and understood that one was not justified by faith. They there were as a cooperation. Romans four, four through five. Know that

Uh now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as due. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. That is as clear as it gets. If you do any type of work and you're assuming that that work is related to your salvation, that is work due. There's a payment to be made. There's a reason to boast. There's a cooperation. But he says, as to the one who does not work, Romans 4, 4 or 5.

But believes in Christ when he said you can't just say you believe, Paul is saying you can. It says, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Righteousness is obedience. You are not righteous in any other way than by being obedient. You righteousness is not the absence of sin, but the presence of obedience. And he's saying your faith in Christ makes you righteous. It declares you to be righteous.

Um Romans eight si uh eleven six. But it is by grace and and it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. I mean there's there's so many of these examples um that we could use. So not just Paul, Titus three, five, he saved us not according to works done by us in righteousness. So it's not just cause sometimes people say, well, those are works of like the religious law or the ceremonial law. He's saying no, even just good works, even righteous works.

Because the n there you nothing you do participates. In your salvation, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of the generation and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. So it's the Holy Spirit. This is why when Nicodemus comes to Jesus and Jesus tells him he has to be bored again. Like you don't participate in your original birth and you don't participate in your second birth. And Jesus attributes to the spirit.

He gives it this, he says, this is the work of the Spirit. Uh Titus is saying the same thing, whom he poured out on us richly through Christ Jesus, our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So justification was by grace, and that grace was not in participation of the law. He creates that contrast.

So I'm calling Mike out saying, Mike, you're isolating passages. You're ignoring all of these ones that I'm reading here. You didn't mention not one of these. I didn't offer an explanation for them. Uh Romans five one. Therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in this particular passage, he would say, well, see, faith here he redefines faith because faith has to have an activity to it, which is obedience.

And that's what he would say that is living faith compared to dead faith. And they're using this as James. And again, if you're gonna base your entire thing on James, then we get we should look at the context of what James is doing. Again, link down below. Uh here's another one, Romans five, fifteen and following. But the free gift is not like tr not like the trespass. Later on he says, For if many died through one man's trespass, that's poor that's Adam.

Much more have the grace of God and the free gift by that grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. Those who receive this abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. So everything that we need has been given to us through Christ. We we we died in Adam and we live in Christ and that's given to us without cooperation, without any type of

involvement. I mean, I think Galatians just absolutely drops this bomb. Galatians 2:16. Uh yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law through faith, but through faith in Jesus Christ. Because works of the law No one will be justified. If he means faith and works, then he should tell us this. Well, he does. He actually does tell us that it's not that. Galatians 3 2 and 3, it says.

Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish, having begun by the spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Now that's what Mike's talking about. Where there's this cooperation with the spirit, where everything's been given to you. Now you need to go put it to work. And Paul is saying, Oh, no, no, no. You were brought from death to life by the spirit. You were completely justified.

You were brought into this family by the work of regeneration through the power of the spirit. You're not now cooperating with him in maintaining or sanctifying or glorifying yourself. This is exactly what have you begun by the spirit? Are you now perfected by the flesh? We are not doing that. Galatians 3, 10 and 11. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. So if you are going to rely in any way, shape, or form in your obedience, you are now cursed.

I mean, this is so abundantly clear. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. And that definition of faith is not working itself out in love. That Faith It's very clear because he talks about the mind and the heart being handed over, and I don't I don't have a problem with that at all. What what he's saying is the the when when faith is being defined here, it's faith in an object, and that object is Jesus Christ.

I fully trust that Jesus is sufficient to forgive me of my sins and to give me the required righteousness and to transform me from my sinful body into my glorified body, that Jesus is completely capable of doing that and withholding that promise. I believe that and I believe in nothing else. I don't trust in anything else. I mean, so many passages Paul has to use. Romans 4 3, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteous.

So that's different, right? Now we're not talking about justification as far as just forgiveness of sins, mercy. He is saying Abraham was considered to be a righteous man, not because of his obedience, but because he believed in Jesus Christ. So when Mike says, Well, you can't just like say I believe and then like not do anything. Well, technically you can.

You can say that you believe in Christ and then say you are justified because that's exactly what Paul is saying about Abraham, that he it wasn't his works of righteousness. That considered him to be righteous, Romans 4, 6 through 8. David also speaking of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteous apart from works. So we are not considered uh again, Council of Trent says you cannot say that your

Works are just the sign and the fruit of it, but they actually contribute and add to it. And Paul is saying the exact opposite. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Why? By faith. Right? This is uh the argument Man, there's so many uh we could keep uh keep going through. Um, but I think that is sufficient for right now.

Um, I hope this was helpful a little bit longer than I expected it to be. Um we should pray for our brother, we should pray for all of our people. I'm not saying every Roman Catholic out there is not saved. So be very, very cautious to misinterpret what I'm saying. I think there are people who believe the gospel and that are in Roman Catholic churches that just you need to know that you're in a church and you're you're not holding to what that church teaches.

And you need to know that if you raise your children in that church, they aren't necessarily going to unless the priest that's there is teaching Solafide, then he is Honestly, be he he may not even know he's being dishonest. Maybe he wasn't trained well. I don't know. I'm not here to to I mean you at one point Martin Luther was a saved Catholic until he realized I can't stay here. The church won't change its ways. And so I need to leave. And this is how denominations got started because

They wanted to preach the true gospel. And Rome says, You will be anathemud if you preach the true gospel. You will be kicked out of this place if you treat the preach the true gospel. So Um, I pray that anyone that's listening to this it's been it's been clarified for you. And so let me, I wanna I just wanna end here. I wanna say it like this. Sometimes what people are saying is you can say a prayer and live however you want. Okay.

uh scenario where we're creating extremes. Paul even says this should we sin that grace may abound? Because Paul literally is dealing with people who have the same argument. You just gonna say that you are justified by faith, Paul, and go live however you want? He's like, No, may it never be. But you you want to participate in this salvation and God won't let you.

You have no participation. If if salvation is 99.9% God and 0.1% you, you are eternally damned. If you can lose your salvation, you would. You are not capable of sustaining yourself or saving yourself. You are preserved by God. He who founded your faith completes your faith. He who began a good work in you will complete it. He loses none.

John six, all that the Father has given to me are in the Father's hand, are in my hand, and I am in the Father's hand, and I lose none, and neither can anyone pluck them out of my hand.

There is no guarantee, said Mr. That's why Paul Martin Luther l lost like lost himself there because he couldn't figure out how to remove the guilt of shame, this constant lingering sin upon him. To be justified before God by faith means that there is nothing left for you. You have been set free, and your soul can rest.

in the finished work of Christ. When Jesus said it is finished, he didn't say I started it. Now you complete it. He says, I finished it. His yell on the cross was not only your forgiveness, but your righteousness and your future. I go to prepare a place for you and when I return, I will bring you there. I, not you, I will bring you there. I will do the work. I will keep you. I will preserve you. I have saved you. I have adopted you. I've cleansed you.

I've covered you, and nothing will separate you from me. And dear child, if you're wandering, if you're in disobedience, if you're not obeying. Listen to this message. He gives more grace and he calls you to the freedom and the joy and the wonder that is in the gospel. Go to a church that's going to preach to you the wonder of Christ for you. And you can't have rest.

And if you're struggling with sin, the Lord has provided the church. It says that for those who are trapped in sin, that those who are not trapped in sin, that those who um are spiritual to go to them and help them out. That's what the point of the church is for, that they may disciple you and train you and help you. Not so that you become saved because you've been saved.

I'll just end with here. He's using an illustration. I have four children. If one of my children decided to run away and wander off into the world and destroy their life, Because they're my child, I want to go find them and I want to bring them home and I want to restore them and I want them to understand that I love them.

And that they belong a part of this family. No matter what they have done, they belong to this family. And I want to bring them back, not threatening, saying, All right, unless you come home, unless you change your ways, you will never be uh you I will disown you. I will never know you. They are part of my family.

And dear dear Christian, people wander at times. We do wander. Often. This is why I'll close with this. This is why in Hebrews it says that God disciplines the ones whom he loves. And who does he love? He loves his own. And so I hope this is helpful and encouraging. And uh may we be kind and gracious to everyone that we disagree with, that we use scripture and that we pray that God would open their eyes and their minds.

We do know that Catholics convert to Christianity. We have a whole movement of it called the Reformation. And uh one day, hopefully the Lord will open the eyes of our dear friend here, Mike. And that he too will move away from trusting in his works and only trusting in Christ alone. Thanks for listening. And if uh if I could be of any help, you can be a part of the community. I'd love to answer any questions that you have over there. Or if you can't afford the new book.

Uh, this the very confusion that we're talking about. Law gospel distinction. This is a total law gospel distinction issue. I have a whole chapter in my book explaining the law gospel distinction and how to find rest in Christ. If you can't afford the book, we'll give it to you for free. Just contact us. Thanks for listening.

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