Episode 138: The gift of Free will

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. Amen.

Here I'll study on the book of Romans chapter 3 and we're up to

Romans 3 · chapter mention

verse 5. Now last episode we learned that

God did everything. He gave the law, He gave the

prophets, He gave the oracles, He to the Jews.

And yet some believed, some followed, some worshipped, some

obeyed and respected on it, but some didn't believe.

And Saint John Chrysostom writes it beautifully and he says that

Paul is saying something like this in the verses 1 to 4 of

Romans chapter 3. Even if every one of the Jews

Romans 3 · chapter mention

was an unbeliever, God would only be the more justified.

What does the word justified mean?

It means that if there were a trial, and we discussed this

last episode, if there were a trial, an examination of the

things which God had done for the Jews and also of what they

had done to him, the victory would be with God and all the

right would be on His side. So just because the Jews didn't

believe some Jews didn't believe, it does not mean that

God's faithfulness is at all at at any time affected.

No, God's always righteous. And he says let man be liars and

let God be true. And he also quoted Psalm 51,

Psalms 51:4

verse 4. But he only Paul quotes our

second part of that verse, Psalm 51.

Four, you shall be just in your word, and you shall conquer in

and sorry, and you shall conquer.

Conquering is yours. To better understand what Paul

is trying to get at, what the message is, we need to know what

the first part of the verse is. And it reads to you alone.

Let me put it all together. To you alone.

I have sinned and have committed wickedness before you.

You shall be just in your word, and you shall conquer.

Conquer is yours. So David too.

What David is saying is, Lord, I chose to sin against you, wasn't

you. You gave me the law of holiness,

but I chose to sin against you out of my free will.

He's saying that this is all my doing, what I have done, the

sins I have committed, they're all through my doing and not

yours. So we ended with, you know,

ascertaining that if someone today and people today and you

see how they're mocking Jesus Christ because Christ holiness,

completeness, perfection goes against their lifestyle of

debauchery and abomination. So if some today don't believe,

they mock, they blasphemy, they disobey and totally resent or

reject God. Let me give you some news.

There's no loss to God. So when you swear to God and you

mock Jesus Christ with your placards and what you wear, and

you're on your Mardi Gras, there's no loss to God.

Actually, God is sitting on his throne and weeping for you, has

pity upon you. He weeps for you just as He wept

for Jerusalem. Jesus wept for Jerusalem.

Luke 1941. Why?

Because he saw the damnation that they were heading for.

So that's what God does. So our unrighteousness does not

glorify God. God didn't create us.

And we're going to talk about this.

We're going to, we're going to refute, refute Calvinism.

St. Paul is doing this.

God didn't create unrighteousness so that his

righteousness could be seen. No, God didn't create you that

way. You know, we got to get out of

this, that I was created this way.

No, you weren't created that way.

No, you won't. You weren't created that way.

God created everything good. You chose to go that way.

And by choosing that, what Paul is saying doesn't mean God is

not faithful. God is not holy.

Yes, He is. He is holy, holy, just, and

right in all His ways. Praise and glory be to His name.

Verse 5 Now if our inequity serves to establish the

righteousness of God, what then shall we say?

Is God unjust when he inflicts his anger?

I speak as a man. So he's saying if I'm glorifying

God with my sinfulness because God chose me to be sinful in

order for him to show me His glory, why is he punishing me or

going to punish me when he returns?

A little unfair, right? Don't you know?

You know that? Don't you think that it is a

little unfair, a little unjust, right?

God created, created me a Sinner so that he can show his

righteousness, so that he could show he'll punish me so that he

could show his his glory. It doesn't make sense.

It's a contradiction. And there's a sniff, a hint of

Calvinism here. You know Calvinism, right?

Yeah. God creates sinful, wicked

people for condemnation to hell, all for his glory because he is

in charge of everything. So all for his glory, he will

create a human being, a life into existence in the womb.

He will condemn this person to hell so that his glory will be

seen to expose his wrath and his judgment to humans by punishing

them. Some believe this Augustinism

Platonic teaching, right? Let me ask you a question.

Does a husband and wife, when they decide to have a a child

and they try for a child, is it in their mind that we're going

to now bring a child in the world so that one day it can end

up through drugs and jail or with a bullet in his head in a

gutter? So that so we can show that what

we want to do, we can do. We're your parents.

Ridiculous, isn't it? If you're asking me, it's

ridiculous. God's one sin present to show

off his anger, his wrath, his indignation.

God wants unrighteousness to exist in the world so that he

can demonstrate his gracious mercy.

Are you chuckling? Yeah, that's right.

But hey, again, there are some people who believe this.

Oh, that he was predestined to go to hell and you ask them what

do you mean pre does God created him to go to hell?

I don't want that God. I'm going to join or join Oprah

Winfrey, Wilfrey, Winfrey, whatever.

I'm going to join her when she said I cannot worship a God who

is jealous. It's mistranslated.

It's not jealous, it's zealous. Hey, Oprah, if you can't worship

a God that's jealous, what about a God that creates people,

creates people, wicked people so that he could he could punish

them. That's not how God works.

Grossly. He's going to use this word,

Saint Paul. It's not in the English.

He goes on to say I speak as a man.

I'm being a little silly and foolish.

St. Paul says that doesn't make

sense at all and goes on to totally refute the notion as

thought this, this thought, this notion, this theology.

He refutes it as though it's defiling the thought when you're

even thinking about it. He uses the term let me see what

it says in English. Far be it determiner Syrian is

hastily, hastily cleanse me. May I be cleansed for even

thinking this blasphemy? And he goes on to say, for then

how could God judge the world? It's like saying whenever

sinners received forgiveness at God's permission, God appears to

be good. However, if they had not sinned,

according to this reasoning, to this thinking, to this notion,

he would not appear to be righteous.

So he has to create them evil so that he can punish them or that

he can forgive them, right? He creates them evil so that he

can then forgive them. Like he will say to me, Jen Art,

I want you to go and commit adultery so that you can come

back and I can forgive you. No, no, no, no, God says to me,

Jen Art, you are not permitted to commit adultery or

fornication. You are not permitted.

But Jennard, through his foolishness, free will,

weakness, pee pressure, whatever you want to call it, Hollywood

pressure, commits adultery or fornication.

God then says, where are you, Jennard?

As he said to Adam, where are you?

Repent, repent. Confess what you've done.

Don't try to hide it because you look like a fool.

I already know what you've done. Confess it.

And it's not because I want to know.

No, confess so that you know what you've done wrong.

Come back to me. I will forgive you to show you

my mercy. But he doesn't tell me to go and

do it. No, I do it because of my free

will. Let me ask you a question.

Why would God come to judge the world that is set everything

right, make everything right? Why would God come to judge the

world to make everything right if he created it wrong in the

1st place? Why?

Last I read the book of Genesis, Correct me if I'm wrong Stephen

Shmashikalan correct me if I'm wrong.

Last time I read the book of Genesis, it stated that God saw

that all he created was good. Not, you know, mediocre.

Yeah, little bit off the no no God.

So everything was good. Why did it become corrupt?

Because of free will. Because man decided as Satan to

worship the creation and not the creator.

So unless, unless that good in Genesis one and two and three in

creation is bad because there today there are new

terminologies, there are twisted opposite terminologies.

When someone says to you, I learned this not long ago when I

one says that's sick, that means that's not that doesn't mean

it's I'll, it means it's good. But I've always known sick to be

ill. You go to the doctor, you go to

the hospital. Oh, that's bad.

That means that's good, but I don't think Genesis was playing

on those words. No, no, no.

Good meant good. Good meant perfect, holy

pleasing to God. Verses 7 and 8.

For if the truth of God is made abundant through my full

falsehood to his glory, why then am I to be judged as a Sinner?

He's pressing the issue here. As for those who blasphemy

against me or against us, saying that we say let us do evil, that

God may come, their condemnation is reserved for eternal justice.

Get out of Calvinism. Get out of Calvinism.

It's blasphemy. Predestination is understood in

other ways, not as Calvinism. No, God knows everything.

I mean to that, and I've mentioned this many times.

God knows everything but His knowledge, His foreknowledge

doesn't determine my choices. Sometimes He may choose.

He is God, praise and glory be to His name.

He may choose to change my decision, but at times, many

times He will allow me to continue because I have that

free will. He may throw life lines before

me. He may, he may do what Jesus did

to Judas, wash his feet. But then I choose at the end of

the day and he says here I'm speaking as a man, He's

hammering his, he's driving the message home.

It sounds like Saint Paul is saying, hey, God wanted me to

lie. He wanted me to lie, right?

He goes on and says as some blasphemy, he's being sarcastic,

as some blaspheme and say we say this as though we're saying God

wants me to lie so that he can be glorified.

You know, they went against him. That's blasphemed against him.

In Acts chapter 21, they accused Paul of teaching against the

Acts 21 · chapter mention

people of Israel the Mosaic Law, the temple, not to mention that

he brought in Gentiles into the temple and he didn't do this

right. And now they're blessed.

Even the Gentiles were doing this.

They were, they were, they will bless me, blaspheming and saying

that. That's what Paul is telling us.

That's why they were returning to their paganism at times,

their sacrifices, their evil immorality, sexual immorality.

And that's why many times Paul is saying, who fooled you?

Why have you gone back? Why have you gone back to your

wickedness? You don't need this anymore.

You don't need circumcision. You don't need to offer

sacrifices to the pagans. You don't.

There is one ultimate sacrifice that being done, it's Jesus

Christ, praise and glory be to his name.

St. John's Saint John Chrysostom

puts it very nicely, perfectly. He said the absurdity of this

argument, that God creates some to be evil, to be wicked, so

that they can commit their wickedness and their evil, so

that then he can punish them, then to show his righteousness,

his honor, his glory. It's like a father tells a son

to do something and the the intent behind it is so that he

can punish. He can take the belt and start

whipping the sun. What's the son going to say?

You told me to do it. You said do it.

No, On the contrary. The father will say to a son,

don't do that. That's not going to work.

I'm telling you, you're going to lose your money.

Don't invest. Let's let's talk today's term.

Don't invest in this stock. It's gonna crash.

It's not good. It looks good now, but it's not.

Don't invest in this investment scheme.

It sounds too good to be true. It's probably a Ponzi scheme.

You're gonna lose your money. Don't do that.

I'm telling you, I don't feel it's right.

I don't feel that this is a a a legitimate investment and the

son goes to do it through his own will, just like the prodigal

son. He said, give me give me half of

what you have. Give it to me.

It's mine. I want to go in and, you know,

make use of it. God did it.

Now we don't read. I mean, the the parable is not

that deep to say that whether the father said son, it's yours.

Why are you rushing? Why are you rushing?

You're in your father's house, you're eating, you're drinking.

You're a king in your father's house.

A Prince. Maybe.

Maybe the father did say that. And the son kept pressing and

pressing. No, dad, I want to go.

You know, I, I, I watched it on a cartoon when I was young.

I remember it. The son kept saying, I want to

go and make something. I want to go and be successful.

And for days, the cartoon depicted it as the for days, the

son kept pressing the father, I want to make something in my

life. Give me a chance.

I know I can do it. And the father say, no son, no,

you don't know what you asking for.

You're asking for something and I don't, you know, it's not

right. It's not the right time.

And the father does what the honors the sons request, right?

But then when the son went and and spent everything in the boat

tree, he came back, right? It's the same God.

Let's go back to the father in the stock.

No, son, but the son out of the free will goes and invests in

that stock that crumbles in one or two or three or whatever.

In two weeks it crumbles and he loses the money.

What is the father going to say? I told you, son, I told you.

Now the father being a loving father will say it's OK, Money

goes, money comes. We say right, it's OK, you can

make the money again. But listen to my advice.

Listen, you just, you just damaged yourself financially.

You affected yourself financially and listen to my

advice. The father won't say.

Listen, I want you to put $10,000 on this stock because I

know he's going to crumble so that later on I can punish you.

No, it's ridiculous. It's it's it, it doesn't make

sense, right? Saint John Chrysostom says the

absurdity of this argument can easily tend towards either God

is clearly unjust in punishing because he creates us evil so

that we can work in equity and he can punish us.

That's not right, that's unjust. Or if he does not punish, then

he gets his victory from our vices.

Either of these conclusions is absurd.

If he does not punish us because his victory is through my evil.

Well, it doesn't make sense. They're both absurd.

You know, God is loving. I was telling, you know, I said

in the Assyrian section, I said if I my message to Calvin, John

Calvin who refuted infant's baptism as well by the way he,

he encouraged his students to all be re baptized, re

crucifying Christ according to Hebrews chapter 6.

Hebrews 6 · chapter mention

My message or my question to Calvin would be back then.

Well, why is Jesus saying he who desires to follow me, not he

whom I have forced, foretold, predestined, and chosen to come

after me? He who desires to come after me

must deny themselves, take up the cross, and follow me.

Why didn't Christ only present this invitation to those whom He

chose? He doesn't say He who I have

chosen and predestined. As I said, no, no, no.

He who wills to follow me, we have a free will, beloved.

That's where I think the confusion was.

Now I don't know. I won't.

I haven't studied it much. I haven't studied Calvinism that

much, but just just hearing it here and there and reading about

a bits and pieces. No, Saint Paul today is refuting

that. If I, if God, if God wants me to

lie so that he's glorified, what is he going to judge me for

then? No, doesn't make sense.

God is righteous, God is holy, God is pleasing, and God is

love. God does not desire the death of

a Sinner. We read this in the Holy

Scriptures. We recited in the Diaconate

Litany of the Holy Feasts. He who does not desired the

death of a Sinner, but that he shall repent, return, repent,

and live. So if God has created sinners,

well, what's this verse talking about?

Doesn't make sense again, right? No, God does not create people

to be sinners. God creates us all and has

called us to holiness through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise and glory be to His name now and not all times and

forever. Amen.

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