Do I Need Purging? Series

What About Purgatory?

Hebrews 1:1-4

April 11, 2010

Lately, I’ve been asked by a number of people very sincere questions about eternal life. What is it? What does it mean? Is there really a heaven and a hell?

What will happen when I die and what about my loved ones? Has God really forgiven me and will I have to go through some type of purgatory to get me right, because I’m nowhere close to that point?

Lots of questions. So, over the next weeks, probably about the next 6-7 weeks, I’m going to talk about these questions, issues, concerns that we have.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve believed or if you don’t, we all wonder about that moment when we die.

It’s not always a fun topic. We often avoid these conversations, because we’re just not sure what the plan is. Hopefully, after we’re done, you’ll have more answers, and hopefully, feel more confident to talk about it and to trust in the plan God has for you.

As we move along, please feel free to write down questions, and I’ll do my best to answer the questions within sermons, or give you a call and meet up and talk about your question.

So, that’s where we’re going over the next weeks. We’ll be in heaven and hell and places inbetween, well, kinda - - - sorta.

So, let’s get going!!

Tommy DiNardo, who is a Catholic comedian, attempted to explain purgatory to his protestant friends. He said, “Purgatory is a place between heaven and hell. It’s like your stuck between floors on an elevator jammed full of people, who have just gorged themselves at the famous chili supper. Eventually, you’re going to get to the top floor, but it’s not going to be a pleasant ride.

Most Protestants and many Catholics don’t understand what purgatory is.

My purpose this morning is not to demean or belittle our Catholic brothers and sisters. I don’t want you running out of here telling them I was ripping apart their theology. I want to help us understand what we believe and why we believe it.

In a sense we’re all in the same boat; Catholics, Orthodox, mainline Protestants, and evangelicals all need to know, ‘What does God say about the afterlife?’ You do realize, we will be spending more time there, than here. We need to be clear on what the Bible teaches. We need to know -

What happens when we die? Where do we go? Do we go straight to heaven or do we make a stop somewhere before we get there? Is that stop called what the Catholic church calls ‘purgatory’?

If there is purgatory, where is it? What happens there? How long are we there? How and when do we get out? Just a few questions to answer today.

Catholics and Protestants agree and disagree on a great deal of theology. I’m not going to go into detail on this.

Let me say it again, please understand this is not about Catholic bashing. This is about helping us understand what happens when we die.

In order to do that, I believe we need to look at purgatory because many Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Church of Christ, Nazarene’s and lots of others have a view of heaven which includes a type of purgatory.

Simply because they don’t understand what really happens when we die. Over the next several weeks we will try to unpack this.

We would agree with the Catholic church that salvation is only through Jesus Christ, however, we don’t agree on what that statement really means.

Which really underscores the problem with purgatory. The root of the problem comes in the doctrine of justification.

Justification is God’s declaration that in His sight, you are righteous, not because of anything you did, but because of what Christ did for you.

Now, as we really get into this topic, I want to go on record as I believe in purgatory and you should believe in it, too! No, that’s not a mistake, but you’ll have to wait for me to explain what I mean by that statement.

Let me state up front, I do not agree with the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. I don’t believe in purgatory as the Catholic church describes it. I believe it is not biblical and the few passages they use to make it fit, don’t work.

For example, they cite Matthew 12:32, where Jesus said, - - - -

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven,

but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Catholic thinking states, this is a clear indication some sins will be forgiven in heaven and others will not. But that isn’t what this passage means. Jesus is talking about our acceptance or rejection of the Holy Spirit in this world. If we reject the Spirit, we are rejecting God, which means no eternal life with God.