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The Gospel of John Lesson 17 INTRODUCTION: 1. Tonight will be our third message from “the Bread of Life discourse.” My message tonight is entitled, “The RC Doctrine of Transubstantiation.” 2. The word “transubstantiation” means a change of substance. The Church of Rome teaches that the whole substance of the bread and wine is changed into the literal physical body and blood of Christ. 3. In other words, transubstantiation is the focal point of the RC mass, and the mass is the focal point of the RC religion. Devout RC’s believe that if they miss mass they are in the state of “mortal sin,” and that if they die in the state of mortal sin they cannot go to heaven. 4. This
is all very important to RC’s.
Since we are living in the biggest RC city in America, it would be wise
for us to know what the RCC teaches.
For example, what is the “mass”?
Is it similar to a Baptist worship service? 5. A Catechism of Christian Doctrine asks the question: “What is the Holy Mass?” and the answer is given: “The Holy Mass is the sacrifice of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, really present on the altar under the appearance of bread and wine, and offered to God for the living and the dead.” 6. I am dealing with this subject tonight because the RCC bases their doctrine of transubstantiation on John 6. We will look at these Scriptures tonight and see that they are misinterpreting them. 7. I went online and looked up “transubstantiation” at the Catholic Encyclopedia. They offer several Scriptures, but foremost is John 6. They also refer to I Corinthians 11, and the Synoptic Gospel accounts of the Lord’s Supper. 8. We will try and deal with these various Scriptures tonight, but let me start out by stressing that John 6 has nothing do to with the Lord’s Supper. Our Lord did not introduce the Lord’s Supper to unbelievers (cf. John 6:36, 41-43, 52). 9. In John 6, our Lord is not instituting the Lord’s Supper. He did not establish that ordinance until shortly before His crucifixion (cf. Matt. 26:26-29). 10. Some confused Protestants mistakenly teach that the RC mass is basically the same as the Lord’s Supper. A few years ago, Promise Keepers, an ecumenical men’s movement, published a book entitled, Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper, and in that book charismatic pastor Jack Hayford made this statement: “Redeeming worship centers on the Lord's Table. Whether your tradition celebrates it as Communion, Eucharist, the Mass, or the Lord's Supper, we are all called to this centerpiece of Christian worship.” 11. During the Inquisition, godly Christians were burnt at the stake for repudiating the mass. Now we have the sickening spectacle of so-called “Christian leaders” promoting the RCC and their blasphemous mass. 12.
The doctrine of transubstantiation and the power of the priests is clearly stated by
Alphonsus Ligouri (1696-1787) in the following
words: 13.
That is quite a
statement! God must obey the Romish
priest when he says a few words in Latin. The priest supposedly is endowed with this
unusual power by the bishop at the time of his ordination to change the bread
and wine into the literal living body and blood of Christ, which is then known
as the “host,” and so to bring Him down upon the altar.
14.
Here is a quote
from Loraine Boettner, “And that body is said to be complete in all its parts,
down to the last eyelash and toenail! How it can exist in thousands of places
and in its full proportions, even in a small piece of bread, is not explained,
but is taken on faith as a miracle.
It must not be supposed for a minute that modern Roman Catholics do not
literally believe this jumble of medieval superstition. They have been taught it
from infancy, and they do believe it. It is the very sternest doctrine of their
church. It is one of the chief doctrines, if indeed it is not the chief
doctrine, upon which their church rests. The priests preach it literally and
emphatically several times a year, and Roman Catholic laymen dare not express
any doubt about it” (Roman Catholicism). Much of this material is from Boettner’s
book. 15.
After the
adoration of the consecrated “host,” the uplifted hands of the priest pretend to
offer to God the very body and blood of Christ as a sacrifice for the living and
the dead. Then, in the observance of the eucharist he pretends to eat Him alive,
in the presence of the people, also to give Him to the people under the
appearance of bread, to be eaten by them. 16.
This doctrine of
the mass is based on the assumption that the words of Christ in John 6:53-56 are
to be taken literally, not figuratively. 17. If they are right, then our Lord was encouraging cannibalism, that is, the eating of human flesh. Rome attempts to deny this, but it is hard to see how they can. The Bible teaches: “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat” (Genesis 9:4). 18.
“No soul of you shall
eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth
among you eat blood” (Leviticus 17:12). 19.
Again I will
quote Boettner, “The Roman Church acknowledges that in the mass there is no
visible change in the bread and wine, that they continue to have the same
properties: the same taste, colour, smell, weight, and dimensions. It should be
sufficient to refute this doctrine to point out that it involves an
impossibility. It is impossible that the attributes or sensible properties of
bread and wine should remain if the substance has been changed. It is
self-evident that if the attributes of flesh and blood are not there, the actual
flesh and blood are not there. When Jesus changed the water into wine at Cana of
Galilee, there was no question but that it was wine. It had the properties of
wine. But since the bread and wine in the eucharist do not have the attributes
of flesh and blood, it is absurd to say that any such change has taken place.
That which contradicts our reason must be pronounced irrational. Yet the
adherents of Rome, under threat of eternal condemnation, are forced to believe
what their church tells them, even though it contradicts their senses. The
effect cannot be other than detrimental when men are forced to accept as true
that which they know to be false” (Roman
Catholicism). 20.
When the Roman
priest consecrates the wafer it is then called the “host,” and RC’s worship it
as God, which is nothing but idolatry. 21.
“A curious and
interesting item in connection with the doctrine of the Church of Rome is that
the efficiency of a priest’s action in performing any sacrament depends upon his
‘intention,’ and that if he does not have the right intention in doing what he
professes to do, the sacrament is invalid” (Boettner, Roman
Catholicism). 22.
The Council of
Trent declared: “If anyone shall say that intention, at least of doing what the
church does, is not required in ministers while performing and administering the
sacraments, let him be anathema” (Sess. VII, Can. ii).
23.
The Creed of
pope Pius IV says: “If there is a
defect in any of these: namely, the due matter, the form with intention, or the
sacerdotal order of the celebrant, it nullifies the sacrament.” 24. And Cardinal Bellarmine, who is considered one
of the foremost authorities, says: “No one can be
certain, with the certainty of faith, that he has received a true sacrament,
since no sacrament is performed without the intention of the ministers, and no
one can see the intention of another” (Works, Vol. I, p. 488). 25. What
confusion! This was a very lengthy
introduction. Now I will attempt to
give a brief exposition. I.
OUR LORD WAS USING
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE 1. We have
dealt with this already, and will say again that our Lord equates “coming” and
“believing” with “eating” and “drinking.”
You are saved by coming to Christ and believing in Him (cf. 6:47-51).
2. Understanding this
eliminates a lot of confusion. 3. Consider
John 6:40. Every one which believes
in the Son of God has “everlasting life.”
This is the theme of John’s Gospel (cf. 3:16-18, 36; 5:24; 6:47;
etc.). 4. Our Lord
adds at the end of John 6:40, “and I will raise him up at the last day” (cf.
6:54). 5. Consider
the language of John 4:13, 14 (cf. 6:35).
6. The
woman at the well misunderstood our Lord (4:15). The Jews misunderstood our Lord (John
2:19-21; 6:41). 7. Nicodemus
misunderstood our Lord (John 3:3, 4).
8. And the
RCC has misunderstood our Lord. 9. Consider
7:37-39. Again we see the figure of
speech – “thirst” (cf. 6:35). 10.When we
come to Christ and believe in Him we receive into our souls the benefits
of His body and blood, which were offered on the cross for our
sins. II.
THE BIBLE OFTEN
USES FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE 1. The
Bible often uses metaphors, allegory, hyperbole, symbols, parables, similes, euphemism, irony, fables,
riddles, typology, and various figures
of speech (cf. I Chron. 11:17-19). 2. The
prophet Jeremiah said, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them…” (15:16). We use similar expressions to this
day. 3. The Lord
instructed Ezekiel to eat His words (Ezek. 2:8-10). 4. Fundamentalists believe in a literal interpretation of Scripture, but we allow for figurative language. 5. Bible college students all over the world are taught David L. Cooper’s “Golden Rule of Interpretation”: “When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.” III.
THE DANGER OF
SUBSTITUTING RITUAL FOR GENUINE SPIRITUAL
POWER 1. New Testament Christianity is based upon the
preaching of the Gospel. Ritualism,
sacramentalism, and all forms of popery are devilish inventions, which undermine
the Gospel (cf. John 4:20-24). 2. Catholicism (as well as liberal
Protestantism) is a carnal, superstitious religion, which attracts and impresses
the unregenerate by its ornate ritualism. 3. It is all very colorful and sensual, but to the spiritually minded it is also very oppressive and demonic. CONCLUSION: “What a scourge the Mass becomes in
the hands of Rome to drive its votaries to obedience. Armed with it Rome forces
them to come continually to her shrines, and to pay unceasingly for the support
of her vast ritualistic display, her temporal, material pomp and glory. And
after all the gifts and fanatical devotion of her deluded followers what does
she offer them at last? Heaven? No! — Purgatory! This awaits them all, from Pope
to the humblest devotee. Purgatory! A place of pain and of uncertain
release. But purgatory is only one
piece of the whole system of superstition, intimidation and deception. It is
quite a logical attendant on what precedes it, for purgatory demands more
masses, and consequently a continual bondage on the one hand and an inflow of
receipts on the other. By contrast
how beautiful, comforting and sustaining is the Christian’s belief! For him
there are no attractions in the Mass. He realizes he is washed from his sins in
the precious blood of Christ, that he is sealed by the Holy Spirit to the day of
Redemption (the resurrection), that his name is written in the Lambs Book of
Life, and that Heaven is his home. This is the Gospel — the glorious Gospel of
the Blessed God, and enjoying it he can triumphantly exclaim — ‘Thanks be unto
God for His unspeakable Gift!’” – Charles Cook, 1912 |