Contending for the Purity and Exclusivity of the Gospel

Well good morning Saints. It is a joy to join you in the praise of your worship to our exalted head the Lord Jesus Christ together on this Lord's Day to open his word and to be equipped and encouraged to be faithful to the Great Commission but also to earnestly contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the Saints and that's going to be the message this morning contending for the purity and the exclusivity of the gospel.

I believe the greatest attack on the Christian faith today is an attack on the purity and exclusivity of the gospel. You have pastors on one hand compromising the gospel so they can gain a larger following removing some of the essentials and then on the other hand you have pastors that are signing unity accords with Roman Catholics denying the exclusivity of the gospel.

The Galatian Crisis and the Purity of the Gospel

So this message is as important today as it was 2 ,000 years ago when Jude first wrote it and Paul penned the words that we will look at this morning. So if you open God's word to Galatians chapter 1 verses 6 to 9 we will read, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel which is really not another only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ but even if we are an angel from heaven should preach you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you he is to be accursed as we have said before so I say again now if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received he is to be accursed.

This is Paul's only epistle where he does not begin with a commendation that is because the Galatian churches have drifted away from Christ in his gospel. He gets right to the point with a vigorous defense of the gospel of grace and the gospel of justification by faith alone.

So let's make three observations as we look into these verses. In verse 6 we see Paul's amazement at the Galatians deserting Christ. Paul is driving a stake in the ground because the purity of the gospel is under attack.

We also see Paul's awareness of the Galatians unwillingness to contend for the gospel in verse 7 and then we see Paul's anathema on anyone who distorts the gospel. The Judaizers had arose from within the church speaking perverse things for the purpose of drawing away disciples after them.

Remember Paul spent his entire ministry proclaiming, defending, contending for the gospel of grace. Paul is direct and confrontational because he knows so much is at stake. His divine curse on those who distort the gospel is absolutely necessary because it is the only message of salvation.

So looking then at verses 6 and 7, Paul writes, I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel. Paul is amazed. The Greek word means to wonder, to marvel, to be struck with astonishment.

We find it most often used when people were amazed at the miracles of Christ. In Matthew 8 27, after Jesus commanded the storm to cease, we read the men were amazed and said, what kind of a man is this that even the winds in the sea obey him?

So here Paul was astonished and in deep distress that the Galatians were deserting God, the one who called them by the grace of Christ for a different gospel. And the word deserting here means the transfer of allegiance.

They were literally turning against God to follow false teachers. And the verb is in the present tense, indicating that their defection was still in progress. Any unconverted people in the Galatian churches were at risk of departing from the church to follow the Judaizers.

If they had followed the Judaizers, they would have been like the apostates we see in 1 John 2 verse 19. They went out from us because they were never part of us. Had they been part of us, they would have remained with us.

But the fact that they went out shows that they were never of us. So we're seeing the same thing happening today as many Protestants are now leaving their churches to join the Roman Catholic religion.

What's the attraction? Well there's three basic attractions. Number one, they say they've studied church history and they believe as the Catholic Church teaches that the Catholic Church was the one true church.

They don't recognize the Catholic Church went into apostasy. Number two, they're starting to read the early church fathers and building their theology on that rather than building their theology on the inspired Word of God.

And number three, they're drawn to the Eucharist. The Catholic Church teaches that the Eucharist is the physical body and blood soul and divinity of Christ. So again, many Protestants are joining the Catholic Church because of these three principles.

In our 33 years of ministry, we have witnessed this troubling trend. When a Roman Catholic marries a Protestant four out of five times, the Protestant leaves their church to join the Roman Catholic Church.

Protestants who are told to stand on the truth of God's Word and never compromise, they're the first ones to compromise. Catholics who stand on the air of a false and fatal gospel never compromise. It's very troubling but we see this happening more and more.

And it really shouldn't surprise us, right? Because the Lord said in the end times there would be a great apostasy of falling away from the faith of the Apostles. So let's look at what Paul said about the true believers in Galatia.

He reprimanded them for tolerating a false gospel that replaces grace, truth, and freedom with rules, rituals, and religion. They were not resisting the Judaizers but instead were tolerating their false teaching.

Paul was not concerned that these true believers would lose their salvation but he was upset that they were tolerating an attack on the gospel. So have you ever asked the question, why only one gospel?

Well God's gospel is the only way his perfect and unchanging attributes of holiness, righteousness, and justice can work in harmony with his love, mercy, and grace in order to redeem sinners from the punishment, the power, and the presence of sin.

This amazing gospel could never have been devised by man but only by an Almighty God and his infinite and profound wisdom. This is why Paul said it was never revealed to him by man but by God. Look at Galatians 1 verses 11 and 12.

Paul said the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man for I never I neither received it from man nor was I taught it but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. So when you look at the cross you see God's glorious attributes on display and they're all working in perfect harmony.

We see his holiness and having eyes too pure to look at sin. We see his righteousness and demanding perfect justice against sin. We see his justice and condemning and punishing sin. But we also see in perfect harmony his love in sending his son to die for guilty sinners.

We also see his mercy and rescuing sinners from eternal punishment and his grace and providing forgiveness and the gift of eternal life. So all of God's attributes perfect harmony at the cross. This demonstration of God's holiness and righteousness without compromising his love, mercy, and grace is what distinguishes biblical Christianity from all the religions in the world.

Since righteousness and justice are the foundation of God's throne this is the only way God can be both the just and the justifier of the unjust. Divine justice had to be satisfied in his son for repenting sinners to be justified.

Divine justice is only satisfied in one of two places either at Calvary's cross or at the great white throne judgment. But because God is perfectly righteous and holy he can never ever let a sin go unpunished.

That means every sin that has ever been committed by every man and woman that's ever lived must be punished. Divine justice can only be satisfied either in the substitutionary death of Christ at Calvary's cross or at the great white throne judgment.

Those who reject Christ will one day meet him at the great white throne and their divine justice will be satisfied. God can never ever let a sin go unpunished. This is why the gospel of God is the greatest news a condemned sinner on death row will ever hear.

That God provided a substitute for you. This is why it must be guarded as the greatest of all treasures. Look at Paul's awareness of the Galatians unwillingness to contend for the gospel in verse 7. They were tolerating a different gospel which is really not another and there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Paul declares dogmatically a different gospel is not another gospel. God's gospel must remain pure. Nothing can ever be added to it. Remember the Judaizers were professing Christians. They believed in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

They said if you're a Gentile you not only need to believe that but you need to be circumcised. In other words they were adding to the gospel. They were disturbing the Galatians. The word means to stir up or to agitate.

The same verb is used by Jesus speaking to his disciples in John 14 1. He said stop letting your hearts be troubled. The disciples were agitated and confused because the Lord had told them he was going to die and leave them.

The Galatians were accused of tolerating a false gospel. Instead of resisting the Judaizers they were tolerating their false teaching. The Judaizers were exchanging the truth of God for the lie of the devil.

They were distorting the gospel of grace by adding something to it. They were saying salvation could not be obtained by what God has done but it must be obtained by what man must do. They were insulting Christ by declaring that his perfect work of redemption was not enough.

This is why Paul had such strong words to the Galatians. They were regarding the Jewish the Judaizers today are the modern the modern Judaizers of today as the Roman Catholic clergy. They have done the same thing by adding requirements to the gospel of Christ.

We looked at that on the Sunday school hour. Well obviously Satan is the master deceiver behind every false teacher. If you have your Bibles you can turn to 2nd Corinthians 11 verses 3 to 4. Paul wrote this to the Corinthian church.

He said I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and the purity of your devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached or you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted you bear this beautifully.

Another translation may read you put up with this. Rather than contending for the gospel they put up with another false gospel. The Galatians were doing the same thing as the Corinthians. They were not contending for the true gospel and as a result they were being led astray from their pure devotion to Christ.

Paul questioned them later in this letter in Galatians 3 verses 1 to 2. He says oh foolish Galatians who has bewitched you? Well the application is so profound for all of us today. The church cannot tolerate a false gospel.

Christians must guard against false doctrines and protect the gospel of God. What hope does the next generation have if you and I don't protect the gospel? The gospel of grace must be void of the works of the law as we can clearly see throughout the New Testament.

Consider the contrast between law and grace. This is so important. This is what Paul is teaching in his letter to the Galatians because they were trying to put the Gentiles under the law. The law says do as we see in Galatians 5 3.

Every man who receives circumcision is under obligation to keep the whole law. But grace says done as we see in John 19 30. Jesus cried out in victory it is finished. The law reveals sin as we see in Romans 7 7.

Paul said I would not have come to know sin except through the law. But grace forgives sin. Listen to Ephesians 1 7. In him we have the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace.

The law condemns. We see this clearly given in James 2 10. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one part has become guilty of breaking the entire law. But grace justifies. Romans 3 24. Sinners are justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

Another contrast between the law and grace. The law causes death. Romans 3 23. I'm sorry Romans 6 23. The wages of sin is death but grace brings to life. Ephesians 2 5. God made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved. And the law brings bondage as we see in Galatians 2 4. The false brethren sneaked in to spy on our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus for what purpose? In order to bring us into bondage through the law.

And grace brings freedom. Galatians 5 1. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. This is why Paul was so upset with the Galatians for not contending for the gospel of grace.

Later in his epistle he wrote you have been severed from Christ. You who are seeking to be justified by the law you have fallen from grace. Please know that we cannot be saved by keeping the law. But we cannot grow in sanctification unless we observe the law.

Do and Done: Law, Grace, and Justification

Well let's look at the fatal difference between do and done. Keep in mind that every religion in the world teaches they works righteousness salvation. Every religion says you must do things to appease your God.

Biblical Christianity is the only faith that says Christ has done it all and you're saved by grace. Whatever you do for God to merit salvation nullifies justifying grace and insults the finished and all-sufficient work of Christ.

What Christ has done for you is the glorious gospel of grace and God alone is glorified for his mercy. There will be many in the lake of fire who lived life with good intentions gave generously to charity and prided themselves in their integrity and good works.

Tragically they thought they could justify themselves before God by their own works of righteousness. We must warn false converts who have been misled by distorted Gospels that the only means of salvation is by grace alone.

Paul's Anathema on Distorting the Gospel

So let's look now at Paul's anathema on anyone who distorts the gospel. In verses 8 and 9 Paul writes but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you he is to be accursed.

As we have said before so I say again now if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received he is to be accursed. Paul knows that he will never preach a false gospel but he's making a point it doesn't matter who you are.

Anyone who perverts the gospel is to be accursed. In verse 9 he repeats himself so that there will be no misunderstanding. Please note Paul didn't say let's have unity with all of these Judaizers after all they believe in Jesus Christ just as we do.

No instead he brought down a divine curse on them. There are some other important applications for all of us today. Consider this can we discern the true gospel from a false gospel? Can we distinguish the genuine from the counterfeit?

Are we tolerant of false gospels circulating within the professing church? Are we warning those who have been deceived by a false gospel? Remember the nature of deception is that people do not know they're deceived until they are confronted by the truth.

You and I are truth bearers. We need to lovingly confront people with the truth. That's the only way they'll ever know they're deceived. When I opened the Bible for the first time at age 35 that was when I was confronted with the truth.

I thought I belonged to the one true church. I thought I was on my way to heaven albeit through a detour in purgatory. It wasn't until I began reading the Word of God that I realized I was woefully deceived about life's most critical issue.

Well in verses 8 and 9 the word accursed is the Greek word anathema. It means to be turned over to God for destruction. That's how serious it is to distort the gospel. This is as harsh as God's Word ever gets.

Pronouncing a damning curse on anyone who distorts or alters the gospel. Paul holds nothing back. If you add anything to the gospel or take anything away from the gospel you are to be turned over to God for destruction.

Those who teach a way of salvation other than through the perfect, finished, all-sufficient work of Jesus Christ are to be a damned, are to be damned. Did you know there's only one other place in the New Testament where this word anathema occurs?

You find it in 1st Corinthians 16 22. If anyone does not love the Lord he is to be accursed. So what is Paul doing here? He's elevating the purity of the gospel on the same level as loving God. So what does it mean to be accursed?

Let's look to the Lord Jesus in Matthew 25 41. He says depart from me you accursed into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angel. To be cursed is to be put away from the presence of Christ and thrown into the eternal lake of fire prepared for the devil.

Naming False Teachers and Warning the Deceived

So what can we take away from Paul's strong defense of the gospel? Again looking at Galatians chapter 2 verse 5 Paul writes but we did not yield in subjection to them the false brethren for even an hour so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

I don't know about you but I often wonder why more Christian leaders and pastors are not exposing false teachers who distort the gospel today. Just a mile down the road from our church in South Lake Texas we go to Countryside Bible Church pastored by Tom Pennington.

A mile down the road is a church called Gateway. You may have heard of the pastor Robert Morris. A year ago on Resurrection Sunday he denied the deity of Jesus Christ. Why didn't everybody in that church get up and walk out?

Well I named names just as the Apostle Paul did. So I gave a message identifying him as a false teacher denying the deity of Christ in San Juan Capistrano. There is a couple in that church that heard the message in San Juan called us up to find out where we go to church so that they could leave Gateway and come to a church that preaches the truth.

You see that's the advantage of naming false teachers. People don't want to sit under a false teacher if they truly have the Spirit of God. Well I think most people most pastors aren't naming names because they want to be man-pleasers.

Paul addressed that in the very next verse Galatians 110. For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

So please don't miss this. If we are compromising the gospel to please men then we are not pleasing God. If we tolerate any false gospel we are not pleasing our Lord. We found out Roman Catholic Monsignor was invited to kick off a men's Bible study at Park City's Baptist Church in Dallas.

Jeanne and I got up at 530 in the morning when we found this out. We went down to the church to stand there and pass out our gospel tract Rome versus the Bible because we wanted those men to know that a wolf in sheep's clothing was about to lead them astray by teaching in the church.

It wasn't after 15 minutes of handing out our gospel tracts that the pastor of the church came out and asked us to leave. I said wait a minute let me see if I have this right. You're asking a brother and sister in Christ to leave the church and you've got a wolf in sheep's clothing about ready to teach your men?

Yes that's what I'm doing. I'm asking you to leave. So we stepped off the church property and we continued to pass out our tract. You see we have a very compassionate heart for those who are being deceived.

I was deceived for most of my life. I don't want anyone to go through this world deceived believing they're on the way to heaven when they're on the wide road to destruction. So the question for all of us do we know the gospel well enough to spot a counterfeit?

The Gospel's Core, the Catholic Distortion, and the Need to Contend

Well let's take a close look at the purity and the exclusivity of the gospel. It's about one person the eternal God incarnate his virgin birth and his perfect life and two events the atoning death of Jesus and his glorious resurrection from the dead.

Paul defines the gospel in 1st Corinthians 15 verses 1 to 4. No one has an excuse not to know the gospel but there are many distortions that we need to be aware of. Some reject salvation by faith alone in Christ alone by adding requirements for salvation and many of those requirements would include baptism as we saw in the first hour.

The Catholic Church says that's necessary. Good works are necessary in the Catholic Church to be justified. You must have human merit. You must receive the sacraments or religious rituals. It's what we believe not what we do that gives us a right standing before God.

The gospel is also compromised and distorted by removing essentials. The most common essentials that are removed from the gospel believe it or not the resurrection of Christ is removed. Jane and I were visiting a church in the Dallas area large church 3 ,000 members.

We looked in the church bulletin as we sat down. They had a two-step process to being saved. Believe you're a sinner and believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins. The next week I called the pastor.

I said did you happen to know that you have presented a false gospel to your people? This is a man who graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary. He said what do you mean I distorted the gospel? I said you left out the resurrection of Christ.

Paul said if Christ has not been raised from the dead your faith is worthless. Well he had already printed 3 ,000 bulletins for the next week. He had them destroyed. He added the resurrection. That's what you and I need to do.

We need to lovingly confront people when they're in error. If they truly have the Spirit of God they will repent. Another essential that's often left out is repentance. How can people miss this? God commands all people to repent.

We see that in Acts 1730. Another essential that's often removed is the righteousness of God. It is revealed in the gospel and it's necessary in order to be right with God. How many professing Christians have you talked to that believe they get to heaven by their own good works?

It's because we're not showing them Romans 10. The righteousness of God requires perfect righteousness for entrance into heaven. As soon as people realize that they'll no longer try to achieve righteousness but they'll look to receive the gift of righteousness that Christ offers.

Well Jesus warns of those who lay heavy burdens on men's shoulders. The Catholic plan of salvation lays heavy burdens on Catholics. Listen to what you have to do to get to heaven if you're a Catholic.

You have to be baptized. These numbers in parentheses are paragraph numbers of the Catechism. You have to receive the sacraments they're necessary. You have to do good works in order to be justified. You have to attend the sacrifice of the mass to have your sins forgiven.

You have to do penance in order to have your sins forgiven. You have to receive indulgences which is the remission of temporal punishment for sin. And believe it or not Catholics have to obey the law in order to be saved.

What does James 2 .10 say? To keep the whole law perfectly and stumble at one part you're guilty of breaking the entire law. As I shared in the first hour this means that every Roman Catholic clergy member is under a divine anathema.

Every clergy member in the Catholic Church is accursed by God's Word. That's why we need to rescue Roman Catholics out from a religion that is under divine condemnation. Remember the Judaizers were condemned because they only added one requirement.

Look at what the Catholic Church has added. It's beyond comprehension that we have evangelicals signing unity accords with Roman Catholic clergy members. The most recent unity accord was the Manhattan Declaration.

It was signed in 2009. You would be utterly shocked if you knew the evangelicals that have signed this. This is what the statement in the opening of the Manhattan Declaration reads. We are Christians, Catholics, Orthodox, and evangelicals who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to proclaim the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness.

How can this be possible when you just saw the gospel the Roman Catholic Church teaches? Do you want to hear some of the names that have signed this unity accord? Ravi Zacharias, Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary, J .I. Packer, K. Author, Mark Bailey, past president of Dallas Theological Seminary, James Dobson, Tim Keller, Richard Land, Josh McDowell, and David Platt.

I just wish I could stand before these men and share the gospel of the Catholic Church and beg with them and plead with them to remove their names. But today 600 ,000 evangelicals have signed this unity accord, daring to say that we share a common faith in the gospel.

Well, by their actions they're implying the Reformation was a mistake. If we have the same gospel as the Catholic Church, why was the Reformation necessary? Why the five solas? I believe this is why a message I gave in Southern California has gone viral.

It now has 1 .9 million views on YouTube. The name of the message is, You Will Be Shocked. And all I did was identify the seven major differences between biblical Christianity and Roman Catholicism. If you have Catholic friends, I would encourage you to share the link with them.

Because it's black and white, I use their catechism and their Bible to show them that they have distorted the gospel of grace. Well, consider how divided we are on the doctrine of justification. The doctrine of justification declares the inflexible justice of God.

As the righteous judge, you cannot let the guilty sinners go free. The only way condemned sinners can be justified is through faith in the substitutionary death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ who satisfied divine justice.

The Reformers recognized the very doctrine of justification is the hinge upon which the gates of heaven open and close. They said if you get justification wrong, you get the gospel wrong. They said if you get justification wrong, you cannot be right with God.

I want to share with you the amazing and astonishing contrast between Roman Catholic justification and biblical justification. The Bible teaches that justification is the change of one's legal status.

It's a forensic declaration such as in the court of law. It changes a person's legal status before God, whereby a condemned sinner is acquitted and declared righteous. We see that in Romans 5 verses 12 to 21.

Rome says justification changes the inner man, not his legal status. You're going to see that Rome confuses justification with sanctification. The Bible declares that justification is instantaneous. That's why you see a gavel on the screen.

When the judge brings the gavel down, the legal status of a condemned person is instantly changed to righteousness. But Rome says no, it's not instantaneous. It's a process as we see in paragraph 2019 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Consider this. The Bible teaches justification is by faith and what God accomplished in Christ. Romans 5 .1. Once again, Rome says no, it's not by faith. It's by the sacrament of water baptism. On the screen you see a picture of an infant.

That's how most Roman Catholics are baptized. And so when you ask them, the Bible says justification is by faith, well they say, well it's not the infant's faith, it's the faith of the parents or the faith of the church that justifies the infant.

We must tell them that God doesn't have any grandchildren. The Bible teaches that justification is permanent. It is never ever lost by sin. The legal status of a justified man is unchangeable as the righteousness of Christ.

I love sharing Hebrews 10 .14 with Catholics. By one offering, he has made perfect forever those who are being sanctified. One offering 2 ,000 years ago, not the daily offerings of the sacrifice of the mass.

But Rome says no, justification is temporal. It can be lost by sin and regained through the sacrament of penance and good works. That's why on the screen you see two arrows, one going up. They believe that you're right standing before God is increased as you do good works and it's decreased when you sin.

Again, denying the very Word of God. The Bible teaches God justifies the ungodly. Romans 4 .5. The Rome teaches final justification is attained after being conformed to the righteousness of God. Paragraph 2016 and 2020 of the Catechism.

Here's another very significant difference. The Bible teaches justification is the imputation or the crediting of Christ's righteous to the justified. Second Corinthians 5 .21, which I must share with you is my favorite verse in all of Scripture because it really defines the gospel.

I consider it the greatest exchange in human history. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. By faith, Christ takes all of our sin, all of our guilt, all of our punishment, and what does he give us in return?

His perfect righteousness. But once again, Rome says no. Justification is not the imputation but the infusion of righteousness which renews the interior man. And that's why the sacrifice of the Mass is necessary.

Catholics are infused with more and more righteousness as they attend the sacrifice of the Mass. So infused righteousness shifts the focus from God's actions to man's actions and from divine grace to human effort.

It points to a salvation that is not a free gift but something to be earned or maintained. The Bible teaches that justification is by grace apart from works. Christ's righteousness is given as a gift as we see in Romans 5 .17.

But Rome says justification must include good works. In fact re-justification, which is necessary when you commit a mortal sin, you're de-justified and now you need to be re-justified by meriting or making satisfaction for sins through penance, works of mercy, and on and on and on.

Can you see how dependent Roman Catholics are on what they do instead of what Christ has done? Well the Bible teaches that after justification sins are no longer taken into account or punished. Isn't that good news?

Listen to Paul in 2nd Corinthians 5 .19. God is reconciling the world to himself through Jesus Christ, not counting men's sins against them. Why aren't our sins counted against us anymore? Because they were all placed on Christ.

You know what, when I share this good news with Catholics, you know what they say? Oh, so all you have to do is believe in Jesus and then you get to keep on sinning? No, I take them to Titus 2 .11 -14.

The grace that brought us salvation teaches us to say no to ungodliness, no to worldly passions, and to live a self-controlled, upright life. No, once the Lord saved me, I want to live my life pleasing to him for all he did on my behalf, suffering in my place.

Rome says all sins committed after justification may be punished in purgatory or in hell, again denying the words of Scripture. The Bible teaches that God promises to glorify everyone he justifies. That's because the promise of Romans 8 .1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

You know that justification and condemnation are opposite words. Everybody in this world stands before God, either justified or condemned, and the moment we are justified, we will never ever be condemned again.

There's another promise in Romans 8 .30, those God justifies, he glorifies. I was teaching on a cruise to Israel. There was a Roman Catholic priest on board. I spotted him by his collar and as I shared the gospel with him, I asked him that question.

Is it true you teach an infant is justified by water baptism and later if he commits a sin as an adult and dies in the state of mortal sin he goes to hell? He said yes, that's what we teach. Well how do you explain Romans 8 .30?

Those God justifies, he glorifies. He scratched his head and said, you know, we just don't have an answer for that. Rather than submit to the supreme authority of God's inspired word and believe it, we just don't have an answer for that.

Rome says God will condemn to hell everyone who was justified but who dies in mortal sin. Can you see there is absolutely no peace if you're a Roman Catholic? There's no promise of eternal life. Rome's apostasy was complete in 1545.

That's when she deliberately and dogmatically departed from Christ and his gospel at the Council of Trent. Her apostasy includes dozens of infallible anathemas that condemn anyone, including you and I, who do not believe Rome's corruption of the gospel.

And yet we have evangelicals signing unity accords with the church that condemns us. The Lord Jesus said there's two ways to eternity. You need to enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it.

For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Every Roman Catholic clergy member is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

And I don't think they're deliberately deceiving people. They've been indoctrinated from the time they can think. They believe that what they teach is the truth. They've never opened the Word of God to test the teaching of their church against what they believe.