Catholics believe that God will judge the world according to their church doctrines. If God is going to judge the world by the Catholic Church, then what about the Baptists? Are they lost? What about the Hindus and Muslims? Who will you trust with your eternal salvation? Your church?
Psalm 96:13
Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
There are thousands of different denominations in the world today. Each religion condemns the other, yet they all promise salvation through their denomination. How do we know which one to choose?
If we choose the Catholic church, then we accept the intercession of saints, which is no more than praying to idols. The Bible says, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (I Tim 2:5). The priest is called “Father” which was forbidden by Jesus in Matt 23:9: “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” The Assemblies Of God tells us that speaking in tongues is the initial evidence of the Holy Ghost, when Paul said, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” (I Cor 13:1)
Almost all denominations are quick to tell us that many things in the Bible are misinterpreted, lost in translation, or don’t apply in today’s world. So, are we supposed to believe the Bible or the denominational doctrines? What will God use as a standard for judgment?
If I would ask the Catholic here tonight, “What do you think that God will judge the world by?” The Catholic say, “By the Catholic Church.” All right, now what Catholic Church? Now they got the Roman, the Greek Orthodox, and many of them. Which Catholic Church would it be? The Lutheran say, “By us,” then you Baptist are out. And then if we’d say, “By the Baptist,” then you Pentecostals are out. So there would be such a confusion, no one would know what to do; so He never promised to judge the world by the church.
He promised to judge the world by Christ, and Christ is the Word. And the Bible is what will judge the world, which is Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.
References
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 5:22
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
John 12:48
He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
Ephesians 1:5-7
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Ephesians 2:5-8
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
I John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Revelation 22:18-19
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
