Dennis L. Finnan Commentator
"The World, the Word & You! Broadcast"

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

"THIS WEEKEND CELEBRATES SAINT PATRICK’S DAY, A HOLIDAY FOR THE IRISH THAT HAS MANY FACETS OF FOLKLORE AND FUN. HOWEVER, WHO IS THIS MAN NAMED PATRICK AND WHAT DID HE DO THAT MERITS SUCH REMEMBRANCE?"

 I’m Dennis Finnan , host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment, we’ll talk about A MAN NAMED PATRICK…

Will the real St. Patrick p lea se stand up? After doing much research on this man and the holiday that has evolved around him in Western circles, I’m amazed at the folklore that surrounds this man and the holiday celebrated these days. For the worldling, it’s simply a time for drunkenness and revelry, a time for mischief, foolhardy and fun. Yet, few know why the day is celebrated, and even less, for whom it is really celebrated. I guess one of the most common things one knows about St. Patrick is the idea that he drove the “snakes off the Emerald Isle.” However, I hate to disappoint you, but that is just “folklore” and has no true behind it. Well there are many truths and falsehoods about St. Patrick and this Irish holiday I’d like to share with you, but let’s pause one more time and listen to another Irish melody after which I’ll return with my message about a man named Patrick. Stay tuned…

…Just about everyone in the Western world knows about the day in March known as St. Patrick’s Day. It’s celebrated on March 17^th mainly by those of Irish decent by wearing green and frolicking in the fun that is held on this day of the calendar year. I myself have Irish blood as my grandmother on my father’s side, was born and raised in Ireland . Now what do we know about St. Patrick and the day celebrated in his honor? Well let’s explore and find out.

First, history records there really was a man named Patrick for whom the day remembers. He was born somewhere between the years 371-385 A.D. Now on the negative side, the truth is Patrick was not Irish! No, he was born of Roman descent, a British nobleman’s son some where on the west coast of the British Isles , what is now called Scotland . We know this for there are two surviving written records, he wrote, where he himself tells us this. No, Patrick never drove snakes out the Emerald Isle. This part is folklore and may have come from the concept that snakes were associated with Satan, sin and evil since the Garden of Eden. This tale may have arisen as a metaphor of his work to drive paganism and the idol-worshipping Druid cult out of Ireland .

Well, the story of Patrick unfolds in the following manner. At the age of 16, Irish warriors and slave traders sacked the village of his birth and carried the captives, including young Patrick, away to Ireland , a land of pagan kings, where he was to become a slave. For the next six years, Patrick became a sheepherder for an Irish Lord and Druidic high priest named Milchu. During his lonely days and nights under the stars, Patrick remembered the Christian teachings of his parents, and came to seek the God of his fathers for solace and comfort. Patrick tells how he longed to know God and the work of God in saving sinners. It appears Patrick gave his heart to the Lord Jesus there upon the hills of Ireland as a young slave.

Now Patrick was a bright young man and easily lea rned the language and customs of the Irish peoples. One day he reports in his own writings, called the “Confessions,” he told that God had put in His heart to escape, and a plan unfolded. It was an ambitious plan that would move him by darkness and hiding, 200 miles to the coastline where he found a ship about to sail to Britain . Patrick was a dreamer, and often his dreams led him where he desired to go. Patrick tells of his desire to go back to Ireland and rid the land of the paganism that ruled in darkness the minds and hearts of the Irish peoples. God was at work in him calling him to be “The Apostle of Ireland.” Patrick writes in his memoirs, “The Lord opened the sense of my unbelief that I might at last remember my sins and be converted with all my heart to the Lord my God..” This experience of his soul and spirit that brought him to a real true saving faith in Christ, haunted him while he was free, to consider going back to Ireland to preach and teach the message of salvation full and free in Christ.

Now here’s were the story of Patrick and modern day lore comes into conflict. Especially since the Roman Catholic Church claims him as one of their saints, although he was never canonized by the Roman church. Patrick indeed was a saint, but not in the sense, Romanism claims. You see the Bible teaches that everyone who comes to know Jesus Christ personally is a saint no more or less. Why even the Blessed Virgin Mary is no more a saint that the lowliest Christian who ever lived. How can I say that? Why just read your Bible. You’ll find that the writers addressed the believers of the churches, all of them as “saints.” We read,

Rom 1:7 (NASB)  to all who are beloved of God in Rome , called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

According to the Bible, sainthood is not attained by Roman decree, but by “who” we own as our Savior for our standing with God. At lea st six New Testament epistles are addressed directly to all the believers (saints) in the church who believed God’s Word that states,

Eph 2:8 (NASB)  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Therefore, Patrick was indeed saint Patrick, only because he trusted in Jesus Christ alone for his salvation. Now a second problem for the Roman Catholic Church that claims St. Patrick as one of their own, is he denies the teachings of Roman Catholic salvation and grace, which essentially according to their own councils makes him a child of the devil and damned to Hell. Let me give you an example. In St. Patrick’s writing called, “The Confession,” he writes,

“I lived in death and unbelief…and there the Lord opened the sense of my unbelief that I might remember my sins and be converted with all my heart to the Lord my God… whoever believes shall be saved and whoever does not shall be condemned.”

Further in his testimony and confession Patrick writes,

“In the light, therefore, of our faith in the Trinity… I must make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation…I must not, however, hide God's gift which He bestowed upon me in the land of my captivity; because then I earnestly sought Him, and there I found Him, and He saved me from all evil because---so I believe---of His Spirit that dwelleth in me…[and] thanks to the grace of God, I have kept the faith… [and] we, who believe in, and worship, the true sun---Christ---will never perish,

Patrick further writes a testimony conclusion and says,

“I have cast myself into the hands of God Almighty… So, now I commend my soul to my faithful God, for whom I am an ambassador. I pray those who believe and fear God, whosoever deigns to look at or receive this writing which Patrick, a sinner, un lea rned, has composed in Ireland, that no one should ever say that it was my ignorance if I did or showed forth anything however small according to God's good p lea sure; but let this be your conclusion and let it so be thought, that---as is the perfect truth---it was the gift of God. This is my confession before I die.

Now St. Patrick’s statements do great damage to the teaching of Romanism. He testifies he trusted alone in Jesus Christ for his salvation and forgiveness of sin. He had no other means of forgiveness, nor means of reconciliation to God than “faith in Christ.” Secondly, St. Patrick said that his salvation and standing of forgiveness before God, was only because it was a gift given to him by God and once a possession by faith, he could never lose it. Amazingly, Roman Catholicism vehemently denies this in the Councils of Trent documents and condemns to Hell anyone who dares to say salvation from God through Christ is a gift based on faith alone in the promises of God. Yet, the Roman Catholic Church still tries to claim this true godly saint as their own.

The point of all this is to say March 17^th which celebrates St. Patrick’s Day, is a day that truly was set aside to honor a man of God who did great things for the Lord Jesus Christ.

History records he went back to Ireland to be a missionary in the 4^th century. When Patrick landed on the shore of Ireland in 430 A.D., Ireland was gripped in the darkness of paganism. Druid priests ruled the land, performing black magic with human and animal sacrifices to appease real live demons posing as local gods. Patrick tramped the land for 30 years and God honored his faith and brought thousands of men and women, boys and girls to the true faith of Christianity that comes to all by the grace and gift of God.

By the time of his death, Patrick had baptized many thousands and established hundreds of churches throughout Ireland . Within a century the once pagan land of Ireland became predominantly Christian. The Christian faith grew so mightily that missionaries reached out to Scotland , England , France , Germany and Belgium . God used this man greatly in advancing the true kingdom of God .

Yes, St. Patrick, a man whom the Lord Jesus Christ claimed for Himself as a young slave boy on the hills of Ireland, became one of God’s great early missionaries who trusted alone in Jesus Christ for His salvation, claiming the assurance of eternal life could be received by anyone who would also put their trust for life and eternity in the salvation that alone comes by grace and given by gift from God. 

Well, the old saint died in his beloved land of Ireland on March 17^th about 460 AD. The land, which once enslaved him, was the place where Christ had set him free.

Of course, the devil was not silent after such a breakthrough for true Christianity and in time Romanism and its false teachings concerning salvation and eternal life began to make inroads in the centuries that followed.  The earthly church and the Roman priesthood began to be a substitute for the grace and gift of God, Patrick so strongly preached and proclaimed. Yes. The teachings concerning the free gift of salvation were replaced with a system of works within the Roman Church whereby grace and forgiveness were doled out by monetary indulgences and rituals to earn one’s salvation. To this day this false and damning teaching pervades in the British Isles in the lives and hearts of many and is even a cause of the bitter hatred between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland .

However, the Word of God still stands, and if St. Patrick were here today, he might truly go back to Ireland to rid the land of the real “snakes;” that is, the false demonic devilish teachings that lea d men away from the true faith once delivered to the saints.

Say friend where do you stand? Are you following a religion of works, or are you standing upon a faith that depends on faith alone through Christ’s work on the cross alone? You know, there are only two religions in the world. There are the “do” religions that make Heaven, eternal life, and forgiveness of sins something you must earn and keep by works. Or, there is the “done” religion, the one true faith, which the Bible tells us, can be yours simply by believing in Jesus Christ. Listen to God’s Word,

Eph 2:8-9 (NASB)  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

1 Cor 15:3 (NASB)  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

Rom 3:28 (NASB)  For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

Rom 3:24 (NASB)  being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

Mat 11:28 (NASB)  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Friend, this weekend ( today ) celebrates St. Patrick’s Day. It’s an Irish holiday, but most have no real idea of its meaning. It’s a day to remember what God did through a poor, young slave boy who gave his heart to Christ. From that confession, God raised him up to be a mighty missionary saint to reach the British Isles for Christ. We thank God for Patrick, and realize because he trusted in Christ alone for His salvation, and proclaimed it was by faith alone, that he was saved, that God brought many others into the kingdom of Heaven through his faithful ministry of the Word of God.

Why even today as you hear this broadcast you too must decide. Will you take Jesus Christ as your Lord God and Savior, trusting Him alone for reconciliation with God? Will you cast off the heathenism of atheism, secularism, and even false pseudo-Christianity that calls you to earn your salvation, and trust alone in Christ by obedience to some religion and works of it?

Friend, the moment you acknowledge this faith in your heart to God, confessing your sins, believing Christ died for you – you’ll enter the sainthood of the believer and like Patrick know for sure that forever your name is written in the Book of life, and you will dwell in the presence of God for all eternity. For by God’s grace God the Son, Jesus Christ can and will save you. May St. Patrick’s Day and all the “hoopla” that surrounds it not darken the real purpose of the day, to remember God’s great love for a lost world, as evidenced in and through the life of Patrick of Ireland many centuries ago…

…Patrick of Ireland indeed was a saint, but not by any church choosing. It was by his becoming a real true child of God, when he put his faith and trust alone in Jesus Christ as His Lord God and Savior from his sins. Patrick trusted in Christ and knew he was kept by God, through the grace of God, and that even his faith was a gift from God. In the power of that true and confession, he went forth declaring the good news gospel that still saves us from our sins. It is our prayer here at the broadcast that you have or will ask Christ Jesus to come into your heart and life and by His grace save you! Here alone the church in truth stands.

·         Radio talk #1102

·         Broadcast date: March 17, 2002

·         Speaker: Dennis L. Finnan, Commentator

·         Program: The World, the Word & You! Radio Broadcast

·         Address: P.O. Box 40133 Grand Junction, CO 81504

The World, the Word & You! Broadcast is a non-denominational ministry based on the historic fundamental evangelical interpretation of the Scriptures. A copy of our doctrinal statement is available upon request. These weekly radio commentaries are not exhaustive studies of any particular subject due to the time limit of broadcasting. Actual broadcasts can be heard in selected areas around the nation, as funding provides. Dennis Finnan has been the speaker for over 22 years, and serves as General Director.

These transcripts are available free of charge to all who desire them. Also available are actual radio cassette tapes and printed booklets of each message. A free listing of recent messages is available upon request also.