Turn please and look chapter 1. This evening your Bibles look chapter 1. We'll begin reading at the verse number 39. Angel Gabriel has appeared on to Mary and told her that she is about to have the Christ child. And she says in the verse 38, for with God nothing shall or the angel says for with God nothing shall be impossible and then verse 38 of Luke chapter 1 says and Mary said behold the handmaid of the Lord be it on to me according to thy word and the angel departed from her Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judea, and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. It came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe, speaking of John the Baptist, leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. She spake out with a loud voice and said, Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, and whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For though, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leapt in my womb for joy. Blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her of the Lord. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the lowly state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. He has showed strength with His arm. He has scattered the pride and the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich He has sent empty away. He has opened His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy. As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever, and Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house. We'll end our reading there at the end of the verse number 56. Again, let's briefly pray. Father, come now and fill me with thy spirit. Open the scriptures to our hearts. give us understanding we pray in our savior's precious name amen since beginning to look at this subject of roman catholicism we've considered together its history its authority and the papacy tonight we want to come to consider the subject of mariology which is really simply the theological study of mary the mother of the lord jesus christ now before launching into the subject i want to acknowledge a certain gentleman by the name of mr thomas faulkner you'll not know who thomas faulkner is but thomas uh from time to time would watch into the services here in Portland only comes from or was born in upstate New York and was born into a Roman Catholic home. He first heard the gospel when his aunt took him to a gospel preaching church. About two years later after hearing that gospel message, Thomas came to personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And since then he has written two books, one on Mariology and the other on the doctrine of transubstantiation. Two key beliefs, doctrines, dogmas, of the Roman Catholic faith. And Thomas sent those books to me. And so I've been gleaning from the books of Thomas and will be gleaning from his book on transubstantiation in coming weeks. But tonight we want to consider what the Roman Catholic Church teaches about Mary and see if it correlates with what the Bible teaches about this blessed woman, the blessed Virgin Mary. There's no doubt that within the Roman Catholic Church of today, Mary, the mother of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is venerated over all other saints. But that has not always been the case. Really up until the second century, there was silence within the writings of the early church fathers of any kind of special worship or attention that was given to Mary. However, things started to change in the second century when Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, they promoted the theme of Mary being the new Eve. They promoted the theory that Mary was the new Eve, just as the first Eve brought sin into the world by her disobedience, so this new Eve, the second Eve, Mary brought redemption into the world by her obedience to God. After Constantine, and remember we spoke about him, that emperor that really made Christianity the state religion. After he had made that decree that Christianity was to be the preferred religion within the Roman Empire. The Greek-Roman pagan religions, with their male gods and their female goddesses, started to exert an increasing influence upon the Roman church. Thousands of people, remember what I said, unconverted people yet wanting to gain a position within society because Christianity was now in vogue and was now accepted by the Roman emperor. Everyone flooded into the church without experiencing the new birth. And so these people brought in their pagan beliefs and their pagan worship. We have Greek goddesses like Isis, and Ashtar, and Diana, and Athena, and Arminius, and Aphrodite, and other goddesses. And the worship that was ascribed to them in the past was now ascribed and transferred conveniently to Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. Statues were dedicated to her and the people would kneel before these statues and they would pray to them as they were accustomed to do in their pagan religion that they had supposedly left behind. The 431 A.D. Council of Ephesus. That council defined Mary as the Christ-bearer and the God-bearer because they said she gave birth both to God and to man. However, we know that God is eternal and thus Mary could never give birth to God. This was really the council where we would see the beginning of the exaltation of Mary. She would be given the title the Mother of God. She was termed the Mother of God by the council of Ephesus. Down through the centuries and this This doctrine, this teaching on Mary began to develop. She was brought more and more to the forefront. And Jesus Christ was put more and more into the background. For example, prayers to Mary and to dead saints began around 600 AD. Then we have the Immaculate Conception. We'll be thinking about that, the doctrine. in 1854, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in 1950. And then at the Vatican Council, number two, in 1965, Mary was pronounced to be the mother of the Roman Catholic Church. By the mid-600s, there were five Marian feasts, known as the Feast of the Mother of God on the 1st of January, the Feast of Purification on the 2nd of February, the Feast of the Annunciation on the 25th of March, the Feast of the Assumption the 15th of August, and the Feast of the Nativity of Mary on the 8th of September. However, today, there are now 18 different feasts and commemoration days to Mary the Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we could spend weeks speaking about the doctrine and the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church with regard to Mary, but I felt it would be helpful just to pick out a number of the doctrines and the beliefs that Rome teaches about her and see if they have any basis in Scripture. The first Marian doctrine that we want to consider tonight is the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The Immaculate Conception of Mary. The doctrine of the immaculate conception of Mary teaches us, or Rome teaches, that Mary was born without sin. She was born without sin. From the very first moment that she existed, she was free from the taint of original sin. This is what Rome teaches. This doctrine is set forth, as all her doctrines are, in the Catholic Catechism. Let me read just a part of that now. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses. As Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, and by the virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin. By the grace of God, then Mary remained free from every personal sin her whole life long. They teach that Mary was sinless throughout her entire life. When the Romans speaks of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, they're not talking about, and some people think of this, the miraculous virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. No, they're talking about the birth of Mary, and birth that would enable her to be sinless and free from original sin. And the Catholic Church uses two Bible texts to support this doctrine. Genesis 3.15 and Luke 1.28. Now Genesis 3.15 is familiar to us all. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The problem with using this text To define anything about Mary is that Mary isn't found in the text. This text isn't about Mary. This text is about Eve, the seed of Eve, the descendant of Eve. This text has nothing to do with Mary. Look, chapter 1, verse 28 is the other verse. You're in there, that chapter, so you can look at the verse. And the angel came in to her and said, No. Not above woman. The text says, blessed art thou among women. Among women. Mary is not placed on some pedestal above other women. No, she's blessed among women. Rome uses this term, highly favored, to suggest that she was full of grace. But the term highly favored simply indicates that a special honor was placed upon this dear woman. She was going to be the chosen vessel in which the Christ child would be carried. All Jewish women hoped that they would be the bearer of the Messiah. All hoped to be the virgin spoken of there in Isaiah's prophecy. And Mary was that highly favored one. But she wasn't full of grace. No, the Bible only speaks of one person who was full of grace. That was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Because in John chapter 1 verse 14 we read, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Christ alone is full of grace, not Mary. You see, the teaching of Rome concerning Mary's immaculate conception contradicts the teaching of Scripture, because Scripture teaches us that all are sinners, all born of Adam are born and sin as in Adam. All die. As in Adam, all are sinners. Ecclesiastes 7 verse 20. Romans 3, 23. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 5 and the verse 12 ends with the words, for that all have sinned. And Mary is no exception to the rule. Born of Adam's sinful race, Mary was not preserved, immune from all stain of original sin. Mary was born a sinner. And I say that because she spoke of her faith In the Savior, here in Luke's Gospel in the chapter 1, look there at the verse 46 and 47. And Mary said, He's not this Savior of others, but He says He's my Savior. Now, why the need of a Savior, Mary, if you have been born without original sin? Why the need of a Savior, Mary, if you've been preserved from sin all of your life? No, Mary needed a Savior because Mary was a sinner. Mary was a sinner. Like every other human being, Mary was born under sin and required salvation from that sin like any other sinner required. And so we believe that the teaching of Scripture denies this fallacy of the immaculate conception of Mary, a conception whereby she was preserved from original sin. That is territory that was only given to Jesus Christ. He is the only sinless one. He is the only pure spotless one, Christ himself. The second Marian doctrine to consider tonight is the doctrine of perpetual virginity. The doctrine of perpetual virginity. Now this doctrine really boils down to the idea that Mary was not only a virgin at the time of Jesus' birth, but that she remained a virgin throughout her entire life. This was made dogma of the church in the 7th century, the latter in council of 1649 A.D. when Pope Martin the first introduced it, Pope Paul the 4th and 1555 condemned as depravity and iniquity the belief that the Virgin Mary did not always persist in the integrity of virginity, namely, before bringing forth, at bringing forth, and always after bringing forth. This dogma of perpetual virginity states that Mary, as I said, was a virgin before Jesus' birth, and we don't deny that. We do not deny that. Matthew 1 clearly indicates that she was a virgin. Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted as God with us. And then in Matthew 1 25, it tells us that Joseph knew her not. And we know what that word knew. We've spoken a number of times. He knew her not in an intimate way. He knew her not until, or sorry, till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. And so the question is, did Mary remain, after giving birth to Jesus Christ, did she then remain a perpetual virgin, though she lived within the marital bond, that she remained a virgin? within the marital bond that no other children were born to her. Well, what saith the Scriptures? That's always the key thought, the key question. Well, all gospels and the book of Acts and Paul's letters speak of the brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll give you one reference, Matthew chapter 13, Matthew's gospel chapter 13, verse 54. to verse 56, and whence he, speaking of Christ, was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue insomuch that they were astonished and said, whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren, James and Joseph, and Simon and Judas, and his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? Now, Rome teaches here that the word brethren means cousins. However, the New Testament usage of the word brethren really does suggest and does mean brothers. For example, it's used in relation to Simon and Andrew over there in Matthew chapter 4 verse 18. And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishers. That's the same word there. Matthew 4 verse 18, the same word that we find here in the verse number 55 of Matthew chapter 13. Over there in Matthew chapter 4, it's speaking about two brothers, two birth brothers. And so why then would we suggest that this is anything else but the half brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ? These are the children of Mary and Joseph. Mary had children after She had the Lord Jesus Christ. Another passage that supports the idea that Christ had siblings is over there in Luke chapter 2 in the verse number 7. We read the words, and she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end. Notice the verse refers to the Lord Jesus Christ as Mary's firstborn son. Very strange description if he were only going to be the only child in the home. Strange stipulation here to put the firstborn son. You would have just put the son. And she brought forth She brought forth her son. But no, this is the firstborn. In other words, it's a suggestion that there's others coming. There's others coming. And we have read their names over there in Matthew chapter number 13. And even you can go back into the Old Testament and to prophetic scripture, and you can glean from there that Jesus Christ himself would speak about him having brethren and brothers. I point you to that messianic psalm of Psalm 69, in the verse number 8. This is a messianic psalm, this is a psalm concerning Christ, and listen to the words, Psalm 69 verse 8, I am become a stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my brethren. mother's children. Christ spoke of himself becoming a stranger to his brethren and an alien to his mother's children. These references they affirm the fact that Mary having given birth to the Christ child did go on to have children to her husband Joseph. And so the doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity is to be rejected. She did not remain a celibate woman. the rest of her life. You see, they will point then the nuns to the fact that Mary is an example for you to follow with regard to not having any children. So they point to Mary with regard to her perpetual virginity. The third Marian doctrine to consider is the Assumption of Mary. On the 1st of November 1950, the Pope decided to sit on St. Peter's chair and he decided to decree a doctrine with regard to Mary and what happened to her after she died. He sat on St. Peter's chair and declared that Mary's body was raised from the dead shortly after she died and that her body and her soul were reunited and that she was taken up to heaven and she was there enthroned as the Queen of Heaven. With this pronouncement, there was the added usual warning that if anyone who may not henceforth doubt, who may henceforth doubt or deny this doctrine, is utterly fallen away from the divine and Catholic faith. According to tradition, Mary's assumption went as follows. On the third day after Mary's death, when the apostles gathered round her tomb, they found it empty. The sacred body had been carried up to the celestial paradise. Jesus himself came to conduct her heather. The whole court of heaven came to welcome with songs of triumph the mother of our divine Lord. What a chorus of exultation. Hark how they cry, lift up your gates, O ye princes. And be ye left up, ye eternal gates, and the queen of glory shall enter in. Now does that sound familiar to you? It does to me if you read the end verses of Psalm 24. You'll read concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, that prophetic psalm, with regard to His entrance into heaven. And what does it say there? Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. They're putting Mary on a par with the Lord Jesus Christ. According to Catholic tradition, Mary's body was miraculously preserved from any kind of corruption. And so Mary's resurrection and ascension, they are made akin to the Savior's resurrection and ascension. Rein Botner wrote a great book on Roman Catholicism. He wrote this about the Assumption of Mary. He wrote the Assumption of Mary was the natural consequence of the 1854 pronouncement of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, because a supernatural entrance into life calls for a supernatural exit from life. But what saith the Scriptures? Well, I'm sure you've read your Bible, and I don't think you have ever come across any passage of God's Word that speaks about Mary's death, her burial, the location of her grave, when or if she ascended into heaven. Really, this dogma is simply based on fanciful tradition that has been made up by the Roman Catholic Church. It is a doctrine that deserts the teaching of Holy Scripture with regard to anyone who dies. For all who die outside of Christ. They die, their bodies remain in the grave until the day of general resurrection. The assumption of Mary. Let me close quickly by saying a few words about Mary as a co-redemptrix and a co-mediator. Because another doctrine that is widely accepted by the Roman Catholics But not official church doctrine is that Mary is the mediatrix of all graces, and she is a co-redemptress. Many Catholics believe that Mary cooperates with Christ in imparting grace. In fact, according to the New Catholic Cyclopedia, the vast majority of theologians believe that Mary is to be styled co-redemptrix, because she cooperated directly and immediately in the redemptive process itself. That's blasphemy. That's blasphemy. That Christ needed someone to directly cooperate with Him in the redemptive process? That's false. That's heresy. That's error. Catholic theology teaches that Mary participates As I said, in the actual application of graces to individuals, the Roman Catholic catechism reads, therefore, the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the church under the title Advocate, Helper, Benefactoress, and Mediarex. Let me read a few quotes from The Glories of Mary. It's a book written by a certain bishop, a great, as they see, a great one of their Roman Catholic writers in the Roman Catholic Church. Bishop Alonso. In that book, he writes this, that Mary is truly a meteress of peace between sinners and God. Sinners receive pardon by Mary alone. Mary is our life. Mary, in obtaining this grace for sinners by our intercession, thus restores them to life. Sinners receive pardon by Mary alone. Well, that's not true. Sinners receive pardon by Christ alone. Christ alone. See, Romanism, they teach that there are many mediators. And yet, the great majority of Roman Catholics would say that their primary mediator, their primary approach to God is through the Virgin Mary. And yet, the Bible teaches us that there are not many mediators, but there is one mediator. 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. Not the woman, Mary, but the man, Christ Jesus. You see, the reason why Mary or the saints or the angels, the reason why they cannot act as our priest, why they cannot act as our mediator is because they have no sacrifice to offer to God. on behalf of sinners and on behalf of our sins. Only a priest with a true sacrifice can serve as mediator between God and man, and Christ is our sacrifice. And therefore, he alone must act as our priest and as our mediator. Ephesians 2 verse 18 states, for through him We have both access by one Spirit onto the Father. It is through Him, not through a priest, not through Mary, not through the saints, not through the angels, but through Him, through Christ, we have access by one Spirit onto the Father. The Roman Catholic doctrine of Mary can be summarized by saying, She is officially regarded as immaculately conceived, sinless, perpetually a virgin, the mother of God and resurrected into heaven. Unofficially, she is regarded as many as the co-redeemer and the co-mediator with Christ. Roman Catholicism exalts Mary to a position that no human being deserves. It would be better to present her as that faithful, obedient, loving, courageous woman that the Bible presents her to be, but a sinner nonetheless whose sins needed to be cleansed, a woman who needed to be saved from her sins like every other human being. This is the teaching, or some of the teaching, with regard to Mary within the Roman Catholic Church. May God, in his mercy, open the eyes of our fellow countrymen and women. May they understand that Christ's sacrifice is sufficient. May they understand that Christ is the mediator. Through him we come, and thank God we can, even this evening. because of that new and living way that he has opened up for us. We do not need Mary to go to Christ and then Christ to go to the Father, but we can go directly to our mediator, our advocate. We can go to Christ himself and offer our petitions in his name and thank God he in turn takes our petitions to the Father and will grant them according to his will. We'll leave it there for this week. And God willing, next week, our brother Colin Maxwell will be here providentially. Many of you know that our brother Colin works with Roman Catholics across the border in Northern Ireland. His work is very much connected with working with those of the Roman Catholic faith. And so it'll tie in, I believe, with the messages. But I trust that we have learned something, at least tonight, about what our fellow countrymen and women believe, and what the Bible teaches, and that we have seen from Scripture that their teaching, their dogma, their doctrine is not in accordance with Scripture, that it doesn't correlate with the teaching of God's Word. And thus, on that basis, it must be rejected and it must be termed as a false religion because it does not correlate with the teaching of God's precious word. May God continue to instruct us in these things in coming days. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our gracious Father, our loving God, We come before Thee through our Savior, Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank Thee that we do not come through Mary. We thank Thee that there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He has done the work through Him we come, through Him we have access to the Father. Lord, we pray Thou wilt have mercy on those within our nation Lord cling to the fact, O God, that they come to thee through the Virgin Mary. Open their eyes, Lord. Pull down her statues. May they be brought to naught. And grant, dear God, men and women to bow the knee to God himself. And may they seek the Lord, and may they find him, who will open their understanding and bring multitudes to the Savior. For we pray this in our Savior's holy and precious name. Amen. Amen.