Rome Sweet Rome

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.�

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the

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Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. I�m trying to get these volumes set up here correctly.

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I had to switch things around for the wretched radio deal that was back in late

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November. A funny story. By the way, you can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com

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if you�d like to. Don�t forget, you can order the new book. If you go to nocompromiseradio .com,

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on the right -hand side, halfway down the page, is the link for Sexual Fidelity, No Compromise, and you can�t get this through Amazon.

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You can�t get this through Barnes and Noble. You can�t get this through Westminster Books. You can�t get this through the

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Grace Community Bookstore. Where can you get this? Nocompromiseradio .com.

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That�s it. That�s the only way you can get it. $11 .99. 30 chapters to talk about sexual fidelity from a biblical perspective, written in a proper style, but a noco style nonetheless.

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Dedicated to my son, in light of some of the conversations we�ve had about this topic. Sexual Fidelity, No Compromise, easy read.

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Read a chapter a day for a month so you can think about this properly. Fine for ladies to read, but if you�re a man, and you have maybe a men�s group at the church, it�d be perfect, especially if you�re at a really big church.

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Well I was thinking about Todd Friel, I was in Rome, we were at a bus stop, and I get a text from Todd, �Hey, do you want to do the show tomorrow ?�

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and I said, �No.� I just had been saying to my wife, she went to Rome with me as well, and I said, �You know,

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Todd hasn�t asked me to do the show for a while, and maybe I said something wrong, or maybe

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I wrote a book on sex or something.� And then, lo and behold,

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Todd texts me. And so I had to say no, because I was still going to be in Rome that week,

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I�ll tell you about the trip in just a moment. But I had on that day, my

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Wretched Radio grey t -shirt, the newer one, I think it�s probably a year old by now, but it�s newer, not the other red one, red and black one, where he kind of tried to steal the no -code deal.

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So I quick took a picture, had someone take a picture of me standing by a sign, a bus stop sign that said something about Rome, and then sent it to Todd.

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So that was fun. Well I went to Rome to teach for the

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EBTC, European Bible Training Center, and this is run by Christian Andreessen, and this is a

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TMAI production, organization, ministry.

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And Christian went to seminary, at Master�s Seminary, and there�s a Swiss campus as well, and Christian does something really wonderful, hell, he does lots of things in a wonderful way, great leader there in Europe.

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But he motivates the men who are taking the Master�s program, the

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Master�s Degree program. They have introductory classes for men and women, they have seminary classes for Bachelor�s Degree.

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So the Master�s program, maybe this is actually THM, I don�t know exactly, it�s in English, and they would go to Corinth, and I taught

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First Corinthians there. You go to Wittenberg, and I believe Dr. Zemeck taught, what did he teach,

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Galatians there. James White, he teaches Hebrews, but I think that was in Berlin.

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And I taught Romans in Rome. And I got to bring my wife along, and it was just a great trip.

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Typically what we would do is we would have four and a half hours of teaching in the morning, and then we would have lunch, and then we�d go see the sites.

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Teaching the Book of Romans in Rome. Fantastic trip. Left my kids at home, we returned, the house was still standing, and I didn�t smell any tobacco remnants or I don�t think there�s any beer spilled on the ground or the carpet or the rug or the floor or shag carpet.

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Shag carpet�s a good way to absorb things. The absorption rate is pretty high. Anyway, we were in Rome teaching

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Romans, or at least I was. Then we would go visit things. I�d like to talk about that a little bit because it�s of interest to me.

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Not just the Book of Romans, but what we saw. Now big picture. When you consider what was going on back in Rome in those days, in the biblical days, and even today, what�s the solution to the problems in such a city, at such a city?

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They had, back in those days, Nero, you�d have other emperors of course too, infanticide, abortion, prostitution, slavery, economic injustice, things were messed up.

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And Paul, he is at Corinth and he is desiring to go to Rome.

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He longs to go to Rome to impart to them spiritual truth. And he said at the end of chapter 1 verses 8 to 15, this prayer, this thanksgiving prayer, he says at the end of that, �So

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I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

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For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the

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Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, �The righteous shall live by faith.�

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For Paul, he knew the answer to the problems. You can give help, social help, but it�s not going to ultimately help.

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Paul knew that you needed to have the gospel, that�s why he wanted to go there, to continue to preach it.

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And he says in chapter 1, �People are without righteousness, Gentiles, Jews are without righteousness.�

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Chapter 2, chapter 3, there�s a summary there, Cantina, C -A -N -T -E -N -A, not

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C -A -N -T -I -N -A, Cantina, Cantina, Cantina.

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To teach the book of Romans in Rome, and then to talk about the righteousness that is earned by Jesus Christ, that he freely gives to all those who believe, it was great, it was great.

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And we then would tour around, we would see what was in the city, and Marco, who is

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Christian�s son -in -law and a student of mine, he planned the logistics of the whole thing, which really took the weight off of my back, my shoulders, and I could just go ahead and teach.

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So we would go see things, he�d say, �What do you want to go see ?� �Oh, I need to go see the

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Colosseum, or Titus�s Arch, or something like that.� We�re going to talk about those sites today, because they are very interesting.

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When you go to Israel, there are biblical sites there, duh. And when you go to Rome, there are biblical sites there, or things that make you think about the

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Bible. Of course, the Vatican is near Rome, I don�t know if it�s inside of Rome, I know it�s its own entity, it�s not a municipality, probably it�s its own country.

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I saw the Vatican post boxes. I did buy a St. Francis, no, not

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St. Francis, although I saw a big picture, not a picture, but a big statue of St.

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Francis, of a sissy, there�s a bunch of birds and animals around him, made me think of,

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I preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary I use words, and he was,

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I think the original, when I saw those animals around St. Francis of a sissy, I think he�s the original Dr.

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Doolittle, that�s what I think. But I did get a Pope Francis bobblehead, brought that back.

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I should have brought more back, that was, I brought back a couple, I actually gave one to Ray, but I should have brought back some other ones.

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The most interesting place that I went to was the

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Scala Sancta, I don�t know if it�s La Scala Sancta, but Scala Sancta, and it was the most interesting because I had seen the

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Colosseum before, I had been to Mamertine Prison before, I had been to the Abbey of Three Fountains before,

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I had seen Titus� Arch before, I had seen Nero�s Palace before, but I had not seen the

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Scala Sancta. So today on No Compromise Radio, this is my trip, here�s my

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Italy trip, through my eyes, but I�m trying to teach spiritual truths. Either Jesus�s death is sufficient, or it�s not.

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You cannot say, with any biblical support,

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Jesus�s death is sufficient, comma, but, you can�t say that, you can�t even say

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Jesus�s death is sufficient, but Hebrews chapter 10 makes it clear, how clear?

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Crystal clear. So clear Fred Butler could even understand it. Hi Fred, how are you?

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You�re going to be on the show soon, aren�t you? Better be good. We�ll have to record over it.

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People are driving by the studio now, they�re honking, I think they�re realizing I�m talking about St. Francis of Assisi.

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I believe Francis, the Pope, was named after, the first Pope ever named after St.

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Francis of Assisi. I think that�s true. I also believe St. Francis of Assisi maybe wrote the lyrics, our creature, all creatures of our

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God and King, I think he wrote that.

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We probably sing it in Protestant churches, don�t we? Scala Sancta. What is that in Italian? Well, I learned a few

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Italian words. This happens to be �Holy Stairs�. These, now how can

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I be yawning when I�m talking about this, I think I must still have jet lag. I�ve been wanting to yawn for seven minutes now, but I�ve been suppressing it.

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Twenty -eight marble steps, and they are in a building in a, that�s not technically a church

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I don�t think, in a building near the Lateran Basilica, which is extra -territorial property of the

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Holy See. I always thought that was a funny thing to call it, the Holy See, I see you.

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Here�s the legend, here�s the lore. Supposedly these twenty -eight marble steps were

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Pilate�s steps, i .e., Pontius Pilate, therefore they were called in the medieval times

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Scala Pilate. This has nothing to do with the workout, although it was a workout if you go up on your knees.

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You�re only allowed to go up on your knees. I didn�t go up all the way, I went up about four steps.

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Bruce Alvord, he was a Master�s Seminary grad who also was sitting in on the class.

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He went up all the way. I didn�t want to be on my knees the whole time, because it hurt, and there was no fast -ling, and I mean it.

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They�re just people there, some crying, some praying, and they are the faithful Roman Catholic saints and they are thinking about, you know,

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Mary�s and Paternoster�s, our fathers, and they�re busy doing their religiosity things, and so I couldn�t get around them.

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I couldn�t see an easy way to just move on up, moving on up. I went up about three, got a picture, you�re not supposed to take a picture,

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I probably got extra purgatory added to my account, but Bruce made it all the way to the top.

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Well, Pontius Pilate supposedly had these stairs, and allegedly Jesus walked on them, so they must be holy.

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According to lore, according to legend, according to wiki,

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St. Helena brings these steps. Now, St.

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Helena, she was the mother of Constantine, and when I was in the Vatican Museum, I saw her tomb, very ornate tomb.

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I shall not, I shan�t not soon forget it. Is it okay to talk that way? I shan�t not.

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326 A .D., she brings those stairs over, allegedly, 1589,

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Sixtus V, Papal Palace, figured out how to get those stairs to be moved into a better spot.

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At the top of these sacred stairs, there were certain relic type of things, and one was an icon, and here goes my

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Latin, and you�re going to all laugh at me, but that�s okay. Sanctissimi Salvatore Archaeopoeiton, not made by human hands.

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Something at the top. I took a picture of it. I don�t even know what it is. Something not made by human hands. I thought it was like the

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X -Files or something. What�s the modern -day equivalent of X -Files? I tried to watch some of those on Netflix again.

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It seemed like they were better when they first were on originally, but now what are you going to do?

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Some holy treasures at the top. I saw enough pieces of Jesus� cross, allegedly, you could probably build an entire

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Noah�s Ark out of the deal. Scala Sancta. Now, what they said was if you would go up on your knees, you could get nine years off of a relative or anybody else�s purgatory.

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God would count that. When I�m reading this, it says

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Pius VII, on September 2, 1817, prescribed this manner of indulgence for every step.

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Pius X, on February 26, 1908, granted a plenary indulgence�plenary means full�to be gained as often as the stairs are devoutly ascended after confession and communion.

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Maybe you�ve got to limit it a little bit. These things have been refurbished, by the way, from a grant from the

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Getty Foundation, 2007. Scala Sancta. Mike Avendral, No Compromise Radio.

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What about purgatory? Now, if you�re a Pope, by the way, and this goes back to Luther�s day, and you�re able to get people out of purgatory, don�t you just do it?

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I mean, is there�this is the epitome of unloving behavior. You have the ability to get people out of purgatory, but you don�t let them get out except through indulgences.

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See Tetzel, papal bull indulgences and transubstantiation.

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Or you make them crawl up the stairs. What about these poor people that can never make it? I mean, I�ve only been there twice and only went up three stairs.

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That�s 27 years of purgatory. Is the death of Jesus sufficient or is it not?

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Hebrews 1, He purged sins. He purged our sins. Jesus on the cross.

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It is what? Partly finished. Almost finished. Mostly finished.

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Got a little bit more to do, but getting there finished. It is finished, paid in full.

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This all attacks the supremacy, but especially the sufficiency of Christ�s death.

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And that�s why I needed to go there to be reminded again.

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Of course, I�m not better than these other people who are crying and walking on their knees up these stairs.

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God has let me see, but I do see. I do know the truth. Now, it�s 1511.

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Not today, but when it was 1511. Luther, Martin Luther. Not Martin Luther King. Not Martin Luther King Jr.

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But Martin Luther goes to Rome. And as you remember, it was a turning point for Luther because he saw the swill in Rome.

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He saw the religiosity. But then behind the scenes, it�s a religion that doesn�t transform.

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It�s a religion that doesn�t sanctify. It�s a religion that�s void of the power of the gospel.

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Of course, therefore, people are going to live unholy lives. Luther, like a good

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Catholic, wanted to get his relatives a shorter amount of purgatory.

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And he, allegedly, went up these stairs on his knees in 1511.

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And when he did, he would repeat �Our Father� on each one of them. And they call that the paternoster.

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Paternoster. He gets to the top. What do you think he says? He said,

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I don�t know if it�s out loud or� He said to himself, stands up, and he said what?

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My knees hurt. That�s what I said. I only went up three stairs, 27 years purgatory. He said, who knows whether it is so.

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I go up these things and get people out of purgatory? I mean, that�s what the Pope said. But who knows?

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As Luther looked back, and he thought about that, he thinks this is one of the times that the

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Spirit of God is having him think to himself, it�s got to be by faith alone.

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It�s got to be by faith alone. Was this the turning point of his life? Well, you can study Luther to find out if it�s true or not.

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Charles Dickens. How can he be in the same show as Martin Luther? Well, he also went to the

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Scala Sancta. And he visited there in 1945.

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Strike that, 1845. And his description is basically my description.

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I never in my life saw anything at once so ridiculous and so unpleasant as this sight.

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Up and down on their knees. Now you can only go up. He said it was a dangerous reliance on outward observances.

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And when you don�t walk by faith, and you walk by sight, or kneel by sight, or climb upstairs on your knees by sight, that�s exactly what happens.

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It was so sad. It was so awful. I have to say it again.

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Why am I any different? I�m not better. I�m not cooler. I�m not smarter. I�m not more religious.

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I�m not more righteous. By my own righteousness. But God has let me see these things.

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And therefore, I don�t need any indulgences. I saw lots of indulgence boxes found at the

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Vatican Museum. And these indulgence boxes contained relics.

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And I don�t know what�s the weirdest relic that�s ever been put in a box.

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You could put some Virgin Mary�s breast milk in a box. It doesn�t really keep very well unless it�s in a little glass thing.

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I didn�t see that, but I�m told there�s such a thing that exists.

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At least that�s what they say it is. I�m sure it�s probably not that. What good do these things do if you see them?

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You get out of purgatory more. This is a way to control the masses. This is a way to get people to do things.

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I think at least, correct me if I�m wrong, at least the

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Roman Catholic leadership knew, if in fact you are saved by an imputed righteousness, forensically, judicially, given by imputation, an alien righteousness, we�re not talking about infusion, we�re talking about imputation.

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If imputation is correct, the masses, the hordes, could do anything they wanted.

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How can we control them? How can we make sure they don�t go off the deep end and become licentious?

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Then we�ll go for seven sacraments and indulgences and this type of thing.

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That�s how we can control the people. If you preach the gospel and others don�t say, �Well, you mean to tell me that God freely, based on His own good pleasure, the work of the

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Son, earning righteousness, perfectly obeying the law, has an infinite amount of righteousness, and He got credit at Calvary for my sins, and I got credit for all

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His righteousness, and we know that�s true because Jesus was vindicated by the resurrection, then if that�s all true, maybe

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I should continue to sin. And Paul says what in Romans chapter 6?

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�What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means.

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How can we who died to sin still live in it ?� Lloyd -Jones knew that if you don�t have that response to your gospel message, you�re not focusing on the gospel enough, grace enough, justification by faith alone enough.

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You cannot become more justified or less justified. You cannot be more justified than your friends are justified, or less.

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You cannot increase the levels of your justification. Jesus� righteousness is credited to your account, and God sees you, therefore, through the lens of Christ� perfect work.

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We could talk about union with Christ as well, but going there to Rome made me very, very thankful that God raised up men like Martin Luther and John Calvin and others to protest this.

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And when you go there and you see the Scala Sancta, your heart says, �I�m sad for these people.

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I�m glad I know the truth. But I protest. I protest this. I am protesting.�

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Therefore, when people want to say, �Well, the Catholics and the Protestants are exactly the same, E .C .T., etc .�