Returning to Hebrews chapter number 9. Hebrews chapter 9, just reading the final verse of that chapter, and then into the chapter 10, we welcome one and all to our time and season of prayer this evening. Thank you for joining with us. So Hebrews chapter 9, we'll read from the verse 28 of the chapter. The word of God says, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin. unto salvation for the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things which can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect for then would they not have ceased to be offered cause that the worshipers, once purged, should have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, though I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Above, when he hath said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings, and offering for sin thy witness not, neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Then said he, though I come to do thy will, O God, take away the first that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oft times the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down in the right hand of God, henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. We end our reading at the verse 14 of this chapter in Hebrews chapter number 10. According to the Roman Catholic catechism, and I quote, Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven, baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, the anointing of the sick, holy orders, and matrimony. The seven sacraments, they say, touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life. They give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of spiritual life. Each of the seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic faith is celebrated with a visible rite. which reflects the invisible spiritual essence of the particular sacraments. Whereas some sacraments are received only once, others require active ongoing participation to foster the living faith of the adherent or the celebrant. And the Eucharist is one such sacrament. Now before we consider what many Roman Catholics believe to be the most important sacrament, i.e., the Eucharist, we need to state that Christ did not institute seven sacraments. as the Church of Rome purport, but rather he simply instituted two. The sad thing is that some evangelicals and some Christians don't bother with either. With either sacraments that Christ has instituted, there are certain evangelicals and Christians and they don't bother with even the two that Christ instituted. What are the instituted sacraments of Christ? Well, that question is asked in both our larger and our shorter catechism. How many sacraments has Christ instituted in his church under the New Testament is the question 164 of the larger catechism. And the answer goes as follows. Under the New Testament, Christ has instituted in his church only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper. We know that the authors of the catechism are simply affirming scriptural truth. We read over there in Luke chapter 22 verse 19 and 20 that he took bread and gave thanks and gave it and break it and gave it to them saying this is my body which is given for you this do in remembrance of me and likewise he took the cup after the supper saying this cup is a new testament in my blood which is shed for you. So Christ instituted the Lord's supper. This is Christ's sacrament. and ordinance and then in Matthew 28 verse 19 the Lord Jesus Christ said go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. So again we have the right of baptism or the sacrament of baptism once again instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ but sad to say that there are some believers and they're not baptized and there are some believers and they do not remember the Savior's death in his own appointed way. But this Lord's Day will give us an opportunity, thank God, to be able to remember at least his death in God's appointed way. In tonight's message we want to consider the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, because it is really the heart of the Roman Catholic faith. and so we're speaking about the mass here or the eucharist now in his book roman catholicism lorraine botner he takes the reader through what happens at the mass or at least in the days whenever lorraine botner wrote the particular book roman catholicism and so let me read what happens he says The elaborate ritual of the mass is really an extended pageant designed to reenact the experiences of Christ from the supper in the upper room, through the agony in the garden, the betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. He says it is a drama, crowding the detailed events of the many days into the space of one hour or less. For its proper performance, the priest in seminary goes through long periods of training and needs a marvelous memory. This is the Mass. He takes the sign of the cross 16 times, turns towards the congregation 6 times, lifts his eyes to heaven 11 times, kisses the altar 8 times, folds his hands 4 times, strikes his breast 10 times, bows his head 21 times, Genefix or bows the knee eight times, bows his shoulder seven times, blesses the altar with the sign of the cross 30 times, lays his hands flat on the altar 29 times, prays secretly 11 times, prays aloud 13 times, takes the bread and wine and turns it in to the body and blood of Christ, covers and uncovers the chalice 10 times, goes to and fro 20 times, and in addition performs numerous other acts. He goes on to say his bowings and the bowing of his knees are imitations of Christ. in his agony and in his suffering. The various articles of clothing worn by a priest at the different stages of the drama represent those worn by Christ. The seamless robe, the purple coat, the veil with which his face was covered in the house of Caiaphas, a girdle, representing the cords with which he was bound in the garden, the cords which bound him to the cross. If the priest, he said, forgets even one element of the drama, he commits a great sin and technically may invalidate the mass. Can you imagine trying to remember all of those different events and different performances and activities within the Mass. Now there are some people and they think, well, the Mass is simply a church ritual. And so they dismiss it as simply a form of the Lord's Supper or the form of Holy Communion. But is that the case? Is it just another, as it were, Is it their kind of communion that we have? They just do it in their way. Is that what it simply is? Is it just but a mere remembrance of the Savior's death upon the cross of Calvary? Well, Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, didn't think so, that it was simply but another form of the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion, as some people call it. This is what he said about the Roman Catholic sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. He said, the Mass is the greatest blasphemy of God and the highest idolatry upon the earth, an abomination the like of which has never been seen in Christendom. In 1550, John Knox affirmed Luther's sentiments when he said that he believed the Mass to be, and at all times to have been, idolatry and abomination before God. Now, according to the resources that I have read in relation to the sacrament, there are two parts to the Mass. There is the Mass proper, And then there is the Holy Communion that follows. Now in the Mass, the so-called sacrifice is offered only by the priest. And he alone is the one who partakes of both the bread and the wine. He takes both the bread and the wine. He alone drinks from the chalice. In the Roman Catholic faith, they do not partake of the wine as such, the physical wine. They believe that the wafer, once consecrated, becomes both bread and wine at the same time. And so the priest alone, he partakes of the wine. How that fits in to Christ's institution of the supper, whenever he takes the cup and gives the cup to his disciples, and he encourages them to drink, well again, we see that the Mass is therefore anti-biblical. Christ has given us the way in which the communion feast is to take place. And then in Holy Communion, the people they partake of the bread, but as I've said, not of the wine, and they play no other active part in the service. You see, essential to the teaching of Rome is the belief that the bread and the wine within the Eucharist, they turn into the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. And the process by which that happens, I'm sure you've heard of it, is that of transubstantiation. Trans means change. Substantiation is substance. A change in substance. Now this didn't become Roman Catholic faith until 1079 AD. It became a belief in the Roman Catholic faith with regard to the change of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, as I said, in 1079 AD at the Third Council of Rome under Pope Gregory VII. In 1215 AD, Pope Innocent III affirmed then the doctrine of transubstantiation as an article of Roman Catholic faith when he said the following, speaking of Christ, his body and blood are truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the forms of bread and wine. The bread and wine having been changed in substance by God's power into His body and blood, so that in order to achieve this mystery of unity, we receive from God what He has received from us. Thus, the Roman Catholic believes that when the priest says that this is my body and this is my blood, they believe that the bread and the wine are changed into the body and into the blood of Christ. and the roman catholic church they employ certain bible references and they claim those bible references to be what we call proof texts for the doctrine of transubstantiation now i'll give you a number and then we'll look at one john 6 51 first corinthians 10 16 through to 18 and first corinthians 11 verse 27 to 28 but let me turn you to one in Matthew chapter 26. This is one of the supposed proof texts that prove that the bread and wine they turn into the body and into the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 26 and the verse number 26 through to 28. And as they were eating the Lord Jesus Christ being now in the upper room having for taking off the Passover feast. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave on to his disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. When Christ gave his disciples the bread, he said, this is my body. And when he took the wine, he said, this is my blood. But when he said that, did he literally mean that they were now eating the body and the blood of himself? Were they eating his body? Were they drinking his blood? Was he literally saying that when he said, this is my body and this is my blood? Well, we don't believe that. He was saying that. The words of Christ here in Matthew 26 are not to be taken literally. Just in the same way that whenever the Lord Jesus Christ said that I am the true vine, he didn't literally mean that he was a plant. And whenever he said, I am the door, he didn't mean that he was a door with hinges and with handles, but rather the words of the Savior, they're not to be taken rather literally, but they are to be interpreted figuratively, and they are to be interpreted spiritually. Let me give you an example of when language is not to be taken literally, but it is to be taken figuratively. This is David Linden. This is the Reverend David Linden. Now, you understand what I mean whenever I say that this is the Reverend David Linden because he's not standing here in the pulpit in his body. This is a representation in the form of a photograph of the former pastor of this congregation. This is the Reverend David Linden. Of course it is. But it isn't him literally. In a figurative way, in a symbolic way, in a representative way, this is the Reverend David Linden. I'm sure you'd be glad to see that his picture is being identified with the mass. But anyway, we'll have to explain that maybe on Friday night. And so whenever the Lord Jesus Christ held the bread and said, this is my body, He wasn't literally saying that this is the bone and the sinew, but rather this is a representation, this is a picture, this is an emblem of my body. And whenever he took the cup and said, this is my blood, it wasn't literally his blood that had come out of his veins, but rather it was to be a picture, it was to be a representation of his blood. And so it was not the actual body and blood, but a visible representation of them. Thus, we do not believe that any change takes place whenever prayer is offered at the communion supper by an elder or by a brother. No substance change takes place. It is still bread. and it is still the fruit of the vine, but it is to picture the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now at the heart of the Mass is the belief that Christ is sacrificed time and time again. It is not a mere remembrance feast, but rather it is a re-offering of Christ in the Mass. In the Roman Catholic Catechism of Christian doctrine, the question is asked, is the Holy Mass one and the same sacrifice with that of the cross? The answer is given, the Holy Mass is one and the same sacrifice with that of the cross, insomuch as Christ, who offered himself a bleeding victim on the cross to his heavenly Father, continues to offer himself as an unbloody manner on the altar through the ministry of his priest. And so the Roman Catholic catechism declares, teaches, that there is a continual offering of Christ. Though it be unbloody, yet there is a continual offering of Christ on the altar through the ministry of the Roman Catholic priest. The Roman Catholic Church holds that the Mass, as I've said, is a continuation of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross of Calvary. And in reality, it is a re-crucifixion of our Lord over and over again in an unbloody manner. And so according to Rome, the offering of Christ upon the cross of Calvary is not enough. The atonement for sin is not finished, and thus it needs to be performed every day and many times a day by certain appointed priests all across the world. C. H. Spurgeon said, the Lord's Supper was intended to be remembered to us, sorry, was intended to be the remembrancer to us of our Lord's suffering, instead of which It has been prostituted by the church of Rome into blasphemy of a pretended continual offering up of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, a continual sacrifice. But brethren and sisters, what saith the Scriptures? What saith the Scriptures about the nature of Christ's sacrifice upon the cross? Well, the Scriptures are very clear. that the sacrifice of Christ was a once and for all sacrifice, one that never needed to be repeated again. We can find our proof text to simply this book, the book of Hebrews, to affirm that the sacrifice of Christ was never intended to be offered up multiple times, but rather it was to be a once and for all sacrifice. Once being the operative word. Look there at Hebrews chapter 7. First of all, Hebrews chapter 7. The verse 26 and 27, for such a high priest, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, this one who hath an unchangeable priesthood, became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once when he offered up himself. Christ offered himself once, once upon the cross. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 28, that first verse that we read. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that looked for him he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Hebrews chapter 10 and the verse 11, 12 and 14. 11, and every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oft times the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down in the right hand of God, verse 14, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Brethren and sisters, the idea of completeness, The idea of finality is set forth in these verses when it speaks of the one sacrifice that Christ offered upon the cross of Calvary. If the sacrifice of Christ needed to be repeated daily on the altars of Roman Catholic churches, why then did Jesus Christ cry from the cross those tremendous words, it is finished? Or simply one word in the Greek, finished. Why the need to cry that if he intended that there would be a re-sacrificing of himself on the Romanish altars of the nations and of the world? No, beloved, Christ complete it. Thank God he complete it. the sacrifice, the work of redemption on the cross, and thus there is no need for its repetition, there is no need for its reenactment. The Mass, as one preacher put it, is an infamous insult to the perfection of the Savior's work. It's an insult to the perfection of the Savior's work. Thank God we can look back to Calvary and know that what Christ did upon the cross, know that when he completed that sacrifice for sins once and for all, that our salvation was not dependent on the whim or upon the arbitrary degree of a priest or of a church. Christ to be continually offered is a denial of the efficacy of the atoning sacrifice that He made upon the cross of Calvary. It is to say that Christ's sacrifice was not perfect. It is to say that His work is not finished. It is no wonder then the Westminster divines in our Westminster Confession of Faith wrote the following about the Mass. They said, The Mass is the most abominably injurious to Christ's one, only sacrifice, the alone propitiation for the sins of his elect. While the 39 articles which supposedly govern the Church of Ireland's doctrine and beliefs states that the Mass is a blasphemous feeble, and a dangerous deceit. Another error that accompanies the Mass is the groundless exaltation of the officiating priest. John O'Brien, a Catholic priest, wrote a book entitled The Faith of Millions, the Credentials of the Catholic Religion. And he wrote the following, when the priest announces the tremendous words of consecration, listen to these words, he reaches up into the heavens and brings Christ down from his throne and places him upon our altar to be offered up again as the victim for the sins of man. It is a power exercised by the priest greater than that of saints and angels, greater than that of seraphim and cherubim. Indeed, it is a power which Christ became incarnate a single time. It is a power greater, sorry, even than the power of the Virgin Mary, where the Blessed Virgin was the human agency by which Christ became incarnate a single time. The priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders him present on our altar as the eternal victim. O'Brien went on to write, the priest speaks, and though Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows his head in humble obedience to the priest's command. He then concludes by saying, of what sublime dignity is the office of the Christian priest, who is thus privileged to act as an ambassador and a vice-regent of Christ on earth. He continues the essential ministry of Christ. He teaches the faithful with the authority of Christ. He pardons, think of this, the priest pardons the penitent sinner with the power of Christ. He offers up again the same sacrifice of adoration and atonement which Christ offered on Calvary. No wonder that the name which spiritual writers are especially fond of applying to the priest is that of alter Christos, for the priest is and should be another Christ. A priest is another Christ. In his book, The Dignity and Duties of the Priest, the author writes the following about the descent of Christ into the host through the words of consecration. After having come, God remains entirely at the priest's disposal. And they move him as they please from one place to another. They may, if they wish, shut him up in the tabernacle. That's the little box where they keep the consecrated wafer. or expose him on the altar or carry him outside the church. They may, if they choose, eat his flesh and give him for the food of others. Beside the power of the priest surpasses that of the blessed virgin, because she cannot absolve a Catholic even from the smallest sins. And so in the eyes of the laity, the Roman Catholic laity, think of this, God is at the whim, at the call, and at the disposal of a Roman Catholic priest. The priest reaches into heaven and brings Christ down from his throne and places him on the altar. By his supposed ability to do this, the priest is exalted in the mass and viewed by the Roman Catholic adherent to be another Christ, one who has the power to direct God and one who has the power to absolve the sins of the faithful. Well, brethren and sisters, our God is not at the whim, or He's not at the call, or He's not at the disposal of any man. In Isaiah chapter 40, verse 13, we read these words, Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord? Or being His counselor hath taught Him? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord? And as for the priest's power to absolve sins, we know that Christ alone has the authority to do that. Matthew or Mark 2 verse 10, the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. And so this exaltation of the priest to be another Christ, what blasphemy! There is only but one Christ, the Christ of God. the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren and sisters, Christ's sacrifice does not need to be reoffered or represented in the mass. The work that He did for us upon the tree, praise God, was sufficient to put away our sin. Our faith is in the blood sacrifice of Christ. not the bloodless sacrifice that Rome offers upon her high altars on a daily basis. And so we need to have it settled in our minds that the Scriptures teaches us that Christ's death upon the cross was a complete atonement for sin. That He has completely satisfied God's justice and the debt due to man's sin has been fully paid by Him and therefore all those that come to God through Jesus Christ are wholly free from sin's condemnation. No further expiation of sin is required or needed or necessary, certainly not the one presented within the Catholic Mass. As Elisha Hoffman put it in his hymn, Christ has for sin atonement made. What a wonderful Savior. We are redeemed, the price is paid. What a wonderful Savior. It's neither to a Jewish altar upon which there would lie some slain animal or to a Roman altar on which there lies some wafer or wine that I look to for my salvation, but I look away to Christ. He is my altar. He is my priest. He is my sacrifice. And that once and for all sacrifice for sin has put away my sin forever. And thus, when we come to remember his death, that is what we do. We simply remember it. We do not see it as a reenactment of Calvary. Calvary for the Savior is finished. The sacrifice has been made. It has been accepted. The father has raised his son from the dead to declare and to indicate that such is the case. And tonight he reigns upon the throne. He does not come down on a daily basis to Rome's altars. But thank God he's seated enthroned in heavenly splendor, and he's coming back again to take those who know him to be with himself. May God keep us, therefore, from the error, and may God help us to understand the sacrifice that Christ made for us upon the cross. Amen. Let's stand for prayer, please. Our gracious and loving Father, we come before Thee through the sacrifice of our Redeemer. We bless Thee, O God, that Christ has made one sacrifice for sin. He offered up himself once unto God. He has secured for us eternal redemption through that work. And now, Lord, we bless Thee for a work that is done. We praise Thee that we're not, as it were, held in the grip, O God, on the fear of our dear Roman Catholic neighbors and friends, those who live around us, who believe that they need to partake of the Mass in order to secure salvation for them and for the putting away of their sins. O God, we look to Calvary. Calvary covers it all. my past with its sin and shame, we thank thee that Christ bore my sin in his own body to the tree. May we rejoice in that fact this evening and may our hearts bound with joy as we remember the Savior's death and the once and for all sacrifice upon the tree We offer prayer in and through Jesus' precious name. Amen and amen.