Ep. 161 Faith Without Blood, Blood Without Faith

In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy

Spirit, forever Amen. Glory be to the everlasting

mercies which sent you to us, O Christ, the light of the world

and the life of all. Give us wisdom by Your law and

enlighten our impulses by Your knowledge.

Sanctify our souls by Your truth, and grant that we may be

obedient to Your words and may fulfil Your commandments at

every hour. O You who enlightens the

rational with the knowledge of Your greatness.

Do enlight, O my Lord, our thoughts, that we may meditate

upon Your holy and divine Scriptures at all times, O Lord

of all, Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

Forever. With a disclaimer, and I will do

this every now and then and my disclaimer is that the contents

of this and all episodes of the Double Edged Sword podcast are

all quotes according to the teachings of the Holy

Scriptures, the Church Fathers and the life of the Assyrian

Church of the East. I feel that I need to do that so

that when you listen to the interpretations, the the the

meanings of the the interpretations and and how the

Scripture is perceived or the verses are perceived that you

know that it is according according to the Church Fathers

and the Church faith and dogma and the sacraments and liturgy

of the Assyrian Church of the East.

So we left off with Abraham's faith in God.

Romans chapter 5 we we left off at verse 5 and we ascertained

Romans 5 · chapter mention

that Abraham's faith in God, which scored him lack of a

better term, righteousness by God, not himself.

God declared him righteousness was in the promise and the power

of God fulfilling that promise. Promised him that he would give

him a child. Promised him his his wife in old

age would bear a child and conceive and and give birth to a

child. Promised him that his seed would

be as the number of the sand of the oceans.

Promised his seed, promised him that he's one seed.

That seed Jesus Christ would come from him.

So God fulfilled the promise. Now he believed the promise and

then it was fulfilled. He believed in the power of the

God, of the power of God, to fulfill that promise, though he

didn't see it. That is faith.

Faith is and hope is assurance of those things that have been

promised. Let's say that they've already

been done. Now, when God promises

something, you know it's happened.

That means it will happen. Question, question.

Think about this. If God only promised but didn't

fulfil, you know he. God tells us that the word that

proceeds from his mouth will not come back empty, but it will

accomplish what it's been, what the purpose is.

That's another promise. If God only promised and didn't

fulfil, would we say God is a faithful God?

God be careful. Yes, I oh, you're going to tell

me God's no faithful. Relax, relax.

Think about it. If God only promised, there are

only promises in the Scriptures. We didn't, we don't see any of

the fulfilment for unto us a child will be born.

But there was no child. His name shall be called

wonderful council. There was no, there was no, no,

no, no looks or or or beauty, let's say to have gazed at him.

But this didn't happen if God had promised Abraham that your

next year when I return your wife will give a birth to a son.

But it didn't happen, right? If God only promised and didn't

fulfill, would we say God is a faithful God?

Don't be shy and reluctant to say no.

But after that you say hastily cleanse the our Lord.

Because this question is one of those questions that is not a

realistic question. But there is a reason why I ask

you that question. There is an intent behind asking

you that question. There was a reason, an intent, a

holy intent that Christ said I cannot take the bread of the

children and give them to the dogs.

When that Lady came, that Gentile lady, that Samaritan, it

was that came to ask healing for her daughter.

There is a reason I ask you. So if God only promised and

didn't fulfill his promises, we could say God is not a faithful

God. That's the same with faith in

God without deeds. Yeah, think about it.

Just as God's promises are confirmed by their fulfillment

through His power, so our faith must likewise be confirmed by

our deeds performed through His power.

That is the power of God. If God didn't fulfill His

promise, we couldn't say He's faithful.

If we have faith in God but do not produce any deeds, we're not

faithful. And Saint James says faith

without deeds is a dead faith. Just a side note, let's pick it

up from verse 6. But Christ at this time, I'm

going to talk about that, what it means at this time, because

of our weaknesses, died for the sake of the wicked.

You see, human weakness caused the inability, the inactivity to

free itself from sin and death because we were weak, because

man was weak. How?

How was man powerless and weak through Adam's transgression?

When we say men, we're not talking about my father and

Steven or myself. We're talking about the race of

men, the race of humanity. The human race became powerless

through Adam's transgression and it basically could not restore

itself to righteousness, couldn't reinstate itself to the

right, You know, the perfect creation that God created, the

right creation that God created. You see, he will expand on this.

Saint Paul will expand on this in chapter 8 verse 3 where he

writes Saint Paul Romans 8/3 For the law was weak through the

weakness of the flesh. So God sent his own Son in the

likeness of sinful flesh, likeness.

Jesus didn't sin. Jesus became sin for us,

likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, in order to

condemn sin by means of his flesh.

So Christ's coming here was to do what Saint Paul writes

because we were weak. He wasn't, He was strong, He was

holy, He was powerful, He was sinless.

He took on our sin. Sin, death, corruption was all

nailed on the cross. OK, so Christ's coming here

demonstrates that salvation in history, salvation originated

from God's mercy, not human merit.

We were sinners, we were weak. This through Christ's death on

the cross. Now salvation not meaning

eternal life, immediate eternal life.

No, no, no. Salvation from what?

From the transgression, from the outcome, from the repercussion

of the transgression of Adam, which made us powerless.

We were saved by Christ's death on the cross.

Also this that Saint Paul writes at this time, or let's say

right, that means God's time. You know, he's referring to

God's divine plan again in the history of salvation.

He's referring to that that Christ's death in the in the is

the it's so clear that Christ died to prove to us God's divine

love because we were seen at that time man was corrupted and

sin God sent his son. It's proving revealing the

divine love, the true, genuine true love that God has for us

because it occurred when when did Jesus Jesus come before

humans repentance before humans worthy worthiness.

Jesus didn't come and say go and repent and make yourselves

worthy for me to die for you because then we would we would

have replied oh Lord, praise and glory, meet your name.

Why do you don't need to die for the righteous you you we're

righteous now we're made right now.

We were wrong. We were sinners, we were

corrupted. You brought us back and made us

right. We don't.

Why do you need to die for us? No.

So Christ died before man's repentance and with isn't this

love? Isn't this love?

Isn't this love? It's like forgiving someone

before they ask for forgiveness. That's love.

And sometimes what do we do until you know, we have this,

this idiom in a Syrian, this allegory in a Syrian

understanding tradition, until this person comes and kisses my

feet, I will not forgive. Well, my dear, Christ didn't ask

you to kiss his feet before he died for you.

Wake up, wake up and smell the sweetness of the love of God for

humanity. That while we were sinners,

dreadful stenchful stench corrupted right oded A stenchful

odour. Christ died for us.

That was the time. Is this not the love of God?

Is this not the life, the divine love of God?

This is. This is the meaning of love,

Beloved. We learn it from God and when we

love, this is how we become a part of God.

When we love like Jesus loved like God loved us, when we love

before we receive what we have been taken away from, what has

been taken away from us, what has been said to us, we love and

we forgive. Galatians chapter 4 verses 4 and

Galatians 4:4

5 Saint Paul writes but when the end of time arrived, God's time

to start work and this is it's the end of what he was doing.

It's now come to fruition. God sent his son and he was from

a woman and was under the written law, going back from the

beginning under the written law that he would redeem those who

were under the written law and that we would receive the

position of children or the adoption of sonship, the

adoption of sonship when the time came and this all through

God's love that we were still sinners.

It's like a doctor, it's like a physician telling you go and get

yourself healed and then come on and I will examine you.

Well, if I, if I'm healed, you won't see my face.

You don't need to examine me. I'm healed.

It's like telling a a drug addict, go and rehabilitate

yourself and then I'll take you to rehabilitation.

I'm done it I'm I'm cold Turkey. I did, I'm over it, right?

There's no need for me to go to for rehabilitation.

It's the same thing that Saint Paul is telling us that we were

worthless. We were unworthy of the love

that God showed and performed and wrought on the on the cross.

We were unworthy, but God sent his Son.

This is love again, Beloved. Verses 7 and 8.

Hardly. Now there's a confusion here.

Yeah, it doesn't make sense. Hardly.

Would any man. OK, let me.

I won't read this because this is the Lambsa translation and

version. This is correct.

It's from the Peshutta, the official version of or

transcript or text of the same Church of the East.

KG King James version, NKG new King James version, NIV new

international version. Not too fond of that, I'm sorry.

NASB, the new American standard Bible and the Orthodox Jewish

Bible. There's an Orthodox Jewish

Bible? Very interesting to read.

The 7th is quoted like this. For scarcely, for scarcely for a

righteous man will one die. Very scarcely for a righteous

man will one die. Yet possibly for a good man,

some would even there to die. Wait, wait, what?

Righteous and good, Yeah, because righteousness only come

from guns, from God. Goodness is our Let's not be

apologetic because you know the answer to that.

If we're saying righteous, Paul wants to wants to, you know,

distinguish between righteousness, which only comes

from God and the good from men. Well, let let me read to you

verse 8. So hardly would any man die for

the sake of this is the right translation for scarcely or

hardly for a righteous man will one die.

Yet possibly for a good man right.

Some would even dare to die. Look at look it up in your

version right verse 8. God has here ministered it.

He manifested his love towards us.

There it is love again in that listen to this while we were yet

sinners, Christ died for us. I can hear some music in my Why

will We were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Why doesn't Saint Paul say, Why will while we were yet good,

Christ will die for us? No, beloved, the shuttle

version, the true and the correct translation.

For a man will hardly die for the sake of the wicked.

However, a man perhaps may dare to die for the sake of good.

For the good. What's the point here?

What what is the message? What's the point St.

Paul's trying to make Christ died for the wicked, not for the

good for the wicked, for the evil.

In any case, let's take heart, beloved.

These are these are uplifting, encouraging and give you know,

they give us courage and strength and the heart and the

zeal. Take heart that if Christ gave

himself up to death, not just whipping and lashing and and you

know, two life terms in prison. No, he gave himself up to death

at the right time, God's perfect time, which was when we were

sinners for those who were unbelievers and enemies of God.

Jesus died for his game gave himself up.

You know that's why the Father say gave himself up, not Jesus

died. Jesus gave himself up to death

because that's what he says I will lay down my life and I will

take it up myself. Death didn't take me.

I gave myself up for that because of the love of God for

us. So if Christ gave himself up to

to death at the right time when we were sinners for those who

were unbelievers and enemies of God, how much more will he

protect, is prepared to forgive, to show grace, to show mercy, to

show compassion to us with his help through him to the Father.

If we who have believed in Him, how much more will we be

reckoned who have reconciled with Him?

We're not enemies of God anymore.

Through Him we reconciled to God.

How much more will God the Father have compassion, mercy

and grace on us through his Son, God the Son, How much more you

know he died for all in order to obtain life for all chapter 6

verse 8 Paul writes and he's going to comment this now.

If we are dead with Christ, let us believe that we shall also

live with Christ. Where where do we live with

Christ when we believe? Show me where it says that

through faith you died and lived with Christ.

I think I gave up the answer that think about it where faith

only faith, No, no faith followed by baptism, the holy

sacrament of baptism, which is not a symbol, it is a sacrament.

There is a an inward divine act inwardly there is a divine work

of God with an outward expression of the water and the

oil and the and the immersion of the the candidate being

baptized. Chapter 6 go up a few verses,

verses 3 and 4. Do you not know that those of us

who have been baptized not who have just believed, only

believed? No, no, no, those who have been

baptized into Jesus Christ have been baptized into his death.

Verse 4. Therefore we are buried.

That means we have died with him because he died by baptism into

death. So that as Jesus Christ rose

from the dead by the glory, now there's a glory here by the

glory of his Father. Even so, we also shall walk in a

new life once we die with Christ and we are born a new born in a

in a new life with Christ. We continue to walk with Christ

right Also he died for us, beloved, in order for us to the

Scripture say to obtain glory, glory glorification.

How how well the the answer to that question will be that how

was Jesus glorified? At what time was Jesus

glorified? When when in in John, in John

John 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, 13, I believe when he says the time has come, Father,

glorify your Saint. The time has come.

What time has come? The time has come for him to

suffer the passion, to die, to be buried, to be by the way, to

be mocked, to be scorched, to be beaten, to be battered, to be

spat at. Yes, suffering.

Yeah, there you go suffering. So through his passion, through

his death, his burial, his resurrection and.

In dissension He is now sitting at the right hand of glory.

So if Christ went through this and this for you and I, He

didn't need to go through through this to be glorified His

glory. No one can take from him, no

praise be to His name. So do we as children of God, as

friends of God, no more enemies. We, as the members of the

household of God will and must suffer for our glorification.

And that scripture passage that emphasizes this is Romans

Romans 8:17

chapter 8 verse 17 again. And if we are children through

baptism, remember Galatians 3/26/27 For we are all children

of God through our faith in Jesus Christ.

For as many of us as were baptized or who were baptized.

So we being children, having faith and being baptized into

Christ's death, we are then heirs, heirs of God and joined

heirs with Jesus Christ so that if we suffer with him, think,

listen, listen, stop, please stop, pull over, stop talking,

stop typing on your on your keyboard.

Even if you're at work, you won't get, you know, docked your

pay won't get docked. Listen to this, listen to this.

There's a reason why I'm saying this and emphasizing this.

If we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with him.

Suffer So much for the heresy of rapture.

Rapture, Rapture, pretribulation, pretribulation,

rapture. And it's only a 200 year old

blasphemy. 200 year old heresy. You know my post on Facebook?

We are frowning upon a 2000 year old called tradition.

You know, we, we frown upon the traditions of the apostles of

2000 years, traditions of the apostles, we frown upon that.

But a heresy of 200 years we called scripture.

It's a heresy. It's money making.

It's money making. What was that film that was

produced left behind or something?

Money making. It's only hitting your pockets.

Wake up, wake up, wake up to this.

What's this pre tribulation? Because those who are holy and

pleasing to the Lord will not suffer.

So the plane will be flying and the three, the the, the, the

captain and the copilot, the pilot, the copilot and the one

sitting behind. I don't know what he does.

He looks at the screen. If they're all holy, they will

be raptured. They will be taken up all of a

sudden at the click of a finger. And then all those you'll be

sitting around and half the half the plane will be empty.

And then what's going to happen to the plane?

Unless there's another pilot there who's not so holy and can

land it safely. The pains are going to come

down. You're in Uber and your Uber

driver is holy and all of a sudden he's just disappears.

You're going to crash, right? Heresy, Ridiculous, ridiculous

pre tribulation because God doesn't, will not allow us to

see this tribulation. You're telling me all those who

would be headed who have been burning right now as we speak in

South Africa, South Africa where they are burning and they are

calling out for the torture of Christians burning them alive.

That's not tribulation. You don't call that tribulation.

You don't call that suffering. The the six, I think it was

brothers in Christ in Egypt, in, in, in Syria, the Coptic from

the Coptic Church. They would be headed at the

beachside at the seashore. That's not tribulation.

What else is? Yeah, I'm fired up because of

this ridiculous heresy of rapture.

Why would God? Well then Saint Paul is

contradicting what God will will do for us.

Listen to this. I'm going to read it again if we

suffer with him. You want glory, oh praiser of

Jesus. Oh, you, you deceiver of those

who are humble in faith and simply faith, just so you can

hit their pockets and make your millions.

You want glory when he returns. Well, for now you need to give

suffering because Christ suffered and we too must suffer.

Yeah, I got a little bit, a little bit.

What do I call it? G Ed upright versus 9 and 10

because it's ridiculous. And there are people that

believe in and they'll and this. I haven't even scratched the

surface in the what is it refuting?

Rapture. And the Bible is not just one

Thessalonians chapter 4, by the way, read the whole Bible.

In any case, verses 9 and 10 and 11, Where are we?

Here we go much more than being justified by His blood.

We shall be delivered from wrath through Him, For if when we were

enemies we were reconciled to Him by the death of his Son,

much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

And not only so, but we also glory in God through our Lord

Jesus Christ. God is through our Lord Jesus

Christ. If you believe in a God without

Jesus Christ, it's a false God, is a Pagan God, it's a deceiving

God, right? So and we, and not only so, but

we also glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we

have now received the reconciliation only through

Jesus Christ. If you don't know God through

Jesus Christ, you haven't believed in Jesus Christ, you're

not a reconciled God. You're still an enemy of God.

Call me, message me, prank me, shoot me whatever message you

want and and we can discuss further.

We can discuss further and so that you can come out of this

darkness, the pitch darkness by the way.

So we are justified by his blood.

How are we justified in Jesus Christ in what Jesus Christ in

what in when he still the ocean when he resurrected Lazarus and

when he resurrected Darius's Darius's daughter.

No, no, we believe that justification is through his

blood when his blood was shed on the cross.

If Christ accomplish the greater work, let's say lack of a better

term that is justifying sinners through his blood while they

were still enemies of God, while enemies of God is what Paul is

saying, then it is certain, it is assured, beloved, that he

will accomplish something that is, let's say less work, lack of

a better term, less work of, you know, persevering and and and a

suffering for and saving those who have already been justified.

That means saving them from their sins when asking for

forgiveness. The Lord will forgive when the

forgiveness, when the repentance.

We need to come to Christ with a repentant heart to receive

forgiveness. Beloved, listen to this again.

I say this because I hear I go into arguments about this, not

discussions discussions, not loving arguments.

Those who came to Jesus that was sinners.

They came with a repented and a remorse heart.

They didn't come to Jesus to, you know, knowing and and

wilfully wanting to continue their evil life, their

lifestyle. They didn't just come to Jesus

through that and receive forgiveness.

No Christ read the heart, read the mind that there was there

was remorse. There was a heart ready to

repent. So when we come to Christ to

deliver us from condemnation of death, to deliver us from the

condemnation of sin, to deliver us from the repercussion of sin

as well, when we sin, we are again separated from God just

right, just like our race was. So again, when we are sin, we

are again separated from Christ. But we don't need to offer any

sacrifices. We don't need to go and pay, you

know, indulgences. We don't need to do anything,

beloved, Christ has done it. Yes, Christ has done this, but

what we need to do, you know, I said we don't need to do.

I could feel people's like, oh, see, so there is nothing we need

to do. No, no, no, we don't need to do

as anything pre what was done pre Jesus Christ.

What we need to do, see what we need to do is believe that that

blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the Christ had the power

to save and has the power to forgive, has the power to

reconcile, has the power one more time to reinstate us with

God and reconcile us with God and be confident that it has the

power to deliver us from the coming judgement.

Jesus said he who eats my body, drinks my blood, remains in me

and I remain in him and he shall not come into judgement but be

delivered. He shall be raised and not come

into judgement. If we continue in a life of

repentance, alive in partaking in the holy sacraments, most

importantly, the body and blood of Jesus Christ, that cup that

we break, that cup that we we, we offer and we bless every

Sunday and we give Thanksgiving is in association.

It is in participation. It is in communion with the

blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, which had the power to

wipe the punishment of sin and has the power to forgive sins as

well. Beloved, and also Paul through

this shows that neither our faith without Christ's blood nor

Christ's blood without our faith can justify that Christ's blood

is shedding on the cross. How do we receive justification?

It's not just going to force justification.

Enforce justification on us. Not a We need to believe and our

faith without the blood of Jesus Christ will not gain

sanctification. Yet of these two, beloved,

Christ's blood justifies us much more than even our faith.

You know, when you believe, it's not the power of your faith,

it's the power of the blood of Christ that is justifying us and

forgiving us. That is why he says that we are

justified by faith and that we are justified by his blood much

more than the faith in Colossians.

To close off chapter 1, verses 19 to 20, For it was the

Father's good pleasure for all the listen to this, Oh,

Jehovah's Witness friends, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons,

the the Islamic friends that we have out there for listen to

this for it was the Father's good pleasure for all the

fullness all, all the fullness that means he'll fullness to

dwell in him. That's God, praise and glory be

to His name and through Him, to reconcile all things to Himself,

whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made

peace through the blood of His Christ, His cross, whose cross,

the cross of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, praise and

glory be to His name now and at all times and forever.

Amen. We hope you enjoyed this week's

message. Please don't forget to rate and

review this podcast and share with your friends and family.

For any future topic suggestions or to give us detailed feedback,

please visit our link in the show notes.

Linktr dot EE forward slash double edged sword.

Until next time, God bless you all.