Episode 117: Persuaded by the Forgiveness of Sins

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.

We're going to continue our studies of the Holy Scriptures

and we're and we're studying and expanding on Acts chapter 13 and

Acts 13 · chapter mention

we're going to pick it up from verses 42 to 47.

Just a brief recap again, Saint Paul and Baraba are in Antioch

and they're preaching, they're in the synagogue.

Saint Paul preaches that faith in Jesus Christ brings

justification which could not come from the law of Moses.

And why we learned that because the flesh was weak, prone to

sin. And if we say today, how is it

that today we can strengthen the flesh is to live by the Holy

Spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And he also warns them not to reject the Christ.

He's talking to the Jews is this is he's in the synagogue, He's

at the temple in the synagogue and he's preaching to them and

he marvels them not to reject the Christ by whom alone is

justification and salvation from the law.

And he quotes Habakkuk verses chapter one, verse 5.

Behold, scorners, those who make fun and marvel and be destroyed.

For I will do a work in your days which you will not believe,

even if a man reports it to you, and that is about Jesus Christ.

This is the work and this is the word praise be to his name.

So let's continue verses 42 to 43 and we're going to learn how

how Paul is so wise when he preaches.

And let's learn a little bit because sometimes we think we

need to go all way out. We need to, you know, Bible

bash. We need to ramble down people's

throats and and thoughts and minds.

No, we don't. Let's learn from from Saint

Paul. And he quotes Habakkuk chapter

one, verse 5. Behold, scorners or mockers,

those who make fun and marvel and be destroyed.

For I will do a work in your days which you will not believe,

even if a man reports it to you. And there's a prophecy in today,

Saint Paul is saying, be careful that you don't fall in this or

under this category because the Lord will destroy you.

And those who do not receive the Son of God as the Lord, the

Christ the Savior will be destroyed one day.

And how? By being separated from the

presence of God. So let's pick it up from verse

42. And as Paul and Barnabas were

leaving them, the people besought them to speak these

things to them the next Sabbath. Meaning, come back next week,

please. Now when the congregation was

dismissed, a great many Jews and also proselytes who feared God.

Now these weren't Jews, but they feared God followed Paul, and

Barnabas, Who's who's speaking to them, persuaded them to

continue in the grace of God. In the next Sabbath day, the

whole city gathered to hear the word of God.

But when the Jews here we go again ruffled feathers.

But when the Jews saw the great crowd, they were filled with

envy, and they bitterly opposed the words of Paul, and they

blasphemed. They would have been cussing at

them probably. Then Paul and Barnabas said to

them boldly, It was necessary that the word of God should

first be spoken to you, But because you rejected, you have

decided against yourselves, and you are unworthy of everlasting

life. So behold, we turn to the

Gentiles, for so has our Lord commanded us as it is written.

I have set you to be a light to the Gentiles that you should be

for salvation to the ends of the earth.

Praise me to Jesus Christ. So let's let's go back and see

how Paul is planting or he's so wise when you read the previous

verses. He planted the seed, he won

their admiration and he putting them a longing for more.

We want more and he didn't go out all out preaching.

He didn't, he didn't give him his, his dreams and his visions

and what I have done and what you need to do and how the Lord

is going to open your heart. And no, no, no, he just preached

Christ very simply. He said, listen, this Christ is

of the Old Testament. He is the fulfiller of the

prophets. And this Christ you must accept

because only salvation is through him.

He didn't resolve the issues at hand and conclude you know that

it is that this is it. You need to now accept otherwise

you're going to hell and if not, you are the sons of damnation

and you have no hope. No, he just very simply preach

Jesus Christ how why to get them used to him and not to make them

soft by by you know, throwing everything at their soul at

once. No, see this is an A lesson to

be learned, beloved. We need to introduce, present,

preach, tell about Jesus Christ in a such a humble way.

Sometimes we don't even need to use words as Saint Augustine

claims. Sometimes we just need to leave

the holy, leave the holy Scriptures.

We need to reflect Christ in our lives.

Let me give you an example. If a person has a foul mouth and

oh, there's so many people out there and you may be that may be

one of you. And I pray that I mean the Lord

Jesus Christ loves you. I love you.

And I only say this not to rebuke you, not for you to

switch off and and delete a double edged sword podcast from

your phone. No, no, no, if you enjoy, if

you, if you busk in cussing, throwing the F bombs, the C

bombs, the every bomb out there because it's cool, because it's

manly, because the world, it's a pattern of the world, right?

And we know that well, that could be the pattern of the

world, but that pattern will not be replicated in the Kingdom of

heaven because Saint Paul writes in one Corinthians, those who

cast who have a foul mouth will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.

So before you applaud and you laugh and you encourage one who

is constantly using derogative words, swearing, cussing, don't

do that. You're paving the way to eternal

damnation for that person. Now if that person through this,

maybe this message, God works in mysterious ways and all glory

being to God alone. Maybe through this message right

now, you're being convicted by the Spirit, by the words of

Jesus Christ and you want to begin a path of repentance.

And the next time you are with that crowd that are constantly

using dirty words, let's you know, let's talk late terms.

We don't need to talk, you know, theological and ecclesiastical

and liturgical words and you're talking dirty words.

You're cussing constant. Every second word is AF word,

right? And then you change and the next

time you're with that group and for an hour or so they don't

hear anything from your mouth and they say what's wrong with

you? There you go.

You don't need to go back and preach and and condemn everyone.

You just can reply and say it was wrong.

I was convicted by the Holy Spirit and I was drawn near and

I was drawn to repentance. And I'm trying to cut out this

evil demon that is within me. Simple as that.

You got people thinking and then there may be another person in

that, in that crowd, in that company that has the same

dilemma as you have, is in the same sin and you know as being

caught up in the same sin. That person may come, walk, run

after you and say, listen, how did you do it?

Do you see? Do you see what I'm getting at?

This is what Saint Paul did, just preached Jesus softly to

them and he didn't have to go into theology.

No, there will come time where Paul will go into some deep

theology where only the fathers of the church guided inspired by

the Holy Spirit who've comment commented not what I believe and

why I think what I how I feel. No, no, no, how the church has

received and interpreted the theology of Saint Paul.

Notice in verse 38, he said through this man that is Jesus

Christ, forgiveness of sin is proclaimed to you, but he didn't

say how. He didn't say how so when you

when someone says to you what's wrong with you, you don't need

to say well, I was listening to double edged sword, for example,

for the glory of God and you know that that fully servant of

God Kasha Jennard was preaching about it touched my heart and he

convicted me. You don't say he convicted me.

No, the spirit convicted me and I'm now you don't need to say

that. You know what I was convicted by

the Holy Spirit. I'm drawn to repentance and I

need to repent. Otherwise there is damnation or

punishment. Simply walk away and then people

will say, well, how what did you do?

People will run to you and say probably, what did you do?

You say, well, you know what? I started reading the

scriptures, I started fasting, I started praying, I started going

to church more regularly so that I don't miss out on all the

gifts and all the blessings. We spoke about that from the

church and thank God, you know, I'm not perfect, but I'm trying

my best every now and then. I still throw the F1 here and

there, right? But you know, I'm trying.

I'm on a repentance path and the Lord is is pleased and and happy

happy with me. I can feel my, my, my confidence

now that conviction is now confidence.

Throw eagerness in these people. You see holding the same.

He created an eagerness where they started to follow him.

They left the synagogue. People ran after him, went to

him. Now this man was truly a

fisherman. Let's have a look at the

characteristics of a fisherman. So some of you who are listening

may love fishing. And when you go out to the ocean

or to the sea or to the beach or to the river or to the lake, you

don't just go and cast. You have to see what the

weather's like. Where the tide is, is at high

tide, low tide, is it too choppy?

The wings are too choppy. The sea's too choppy.

You, you, you usually go when when there's other fishermen

there, you'll go and ask them, you know, what are you using and

what's what's biting today? And they'll say to you, you

know, this type of fish like a black.

I'm going to mention some some fish that are in Australia, I

think Flathead. Do you have Steven, do you have

Flathead fish? Do you have you heard of the

Flathead? You have?

Oh, excellent. So let me tell you a little,

sorry, is it a, it looks like a shark, but it's not.

So flatheads lay right on the bottom of the seabed.

So you need to have your, your, your bait and your sinker on the

seabed. So it, and when it bites, it

just opens and closes. It doesn't bite.

It's not very aggressive, so you need to be careful and you know

when it's when the fish is on and you, you know, obviously tag

it and and start rolling, reeling it in.

Blackfish, Not sure if you have Blackfish here.

Blackfish in Sydney. Blackfish only bite on algae.

What's on those rocks at the sea, right.

So what I'm saying is a fisherman must be clever.

That's why Jesus said I will make you fishers of man, not

keepers of aquariums. Robert Gluler, Not keepers of

aquariums, fishers of men. Because a fisherman is quite

learned and very handy and skilled at his or her job.

Notice he didn't baptize them. He didn't say, oh, you've come

out, you're eager, you so you believe in just right now.

I want you to. I want you to do now repeat

after me. Come into my heart.

I accept you. You are my Lord and myself.

You know, he didn't do that. And then let's go.

I'm going to baptize you. Why?

Because it wasn't the proper time.

There was need to persuade them even more so that they may

remain steadfast, to remain steadfast.

So we, if we have a Christian sister who wants to marry a non

Christian friend and approaches the church, and I'll speak on

behalf of the Assyrian Church of the East, that any gifts within

the church are only provided and given to the Christian brothers

and sisters, those who have been baptized.

So just because the the, the partner, one of the partners, be

the male or the female wants to be baptized because they want to

be married. No, we say no, no, no, no,

you're not going to receive baptism just because you wanted

to be, you want to be married because baptism is a gift of the

Holy Spirit, a sacrament that is precious and was purchased by

the blood of Jesus Christ. And and he has he has entrusted

to the Church as a depository and that we must be careful as

he as Saint Paul commenced to one in to Timothy.

Do not be haste in laying your hand because it's the gift of

the Holy Spirit. So we must first be without

beyond the shadow of doubt that this person wants to receive the

gift of Holy Baptism. We're going to talk about why

that person wants to be buried with Christ and to be born anew

or born from above. And that even if that marriage

does not work out, that person still wants to be baptized

because he wants to have that relationship with Jesus Christ

and to stand steadfast. Meaning accept the Lord Jesus

Christ and denounce all the other false and idle faiths and

religions. You see, baptism is not a mere

immersion in water, beloved. It's not a mere symbol as some

preach and claim. It's only a symbol according to

one Peter chapter 3 verse 21. Paul likens it to the flood.

Paul writes that baptism is an anti type assembly of the flood

which saves you. Let's have a talk about that.

You see, in the flood, during Noah's time and the ark, the

world gets cleansed. The evil is perched out of the

world, and only Noah and his family, eight members are saved

through that. Because if they were outside of

the ark, mark these words, if they were outside of the ark,

they would have been, they would have drowned.

But baptism, which is an anti type, is not just a mere bath

and washing yourself. I had a a friend from the

brothers from the Salvation Army.

This is going back a long time ago and we were debating baptism

and he said, well, you know, for us baptism is a symbol.

Every day I take a shower, that's baptizing.

Well, no. See, baptism cuts us off from

the world, hence we are not of the world.

It cleanses our conscience through a shower.

Your conscience, your heart, your motive is not cleansed.

When you have a shower in the morning, you do not clothe,

You're not clothed with Jesus Christ.

You actually close yourself with normal clothes when you have a

shower in the morning. You're not dying with Christ.

You're not being crucified with him in the shower, No, but

through baptism. It's the cleansing of

conscience. This is the cleansing that is

received in baptism, along with many other powers.

Again, I mentioned some of them. Those that you cannot receive in

in a normal shower you can receive in baptism as a gracious

gift provisions of the Holy Spirit.

One of the Church Fathers, Saint Andrew of Caesarea writes the

water of the water of the flood is a type of baptism because it

both punished evil people and saved good.

Just as baptism expels evil spirits and saves those who turn

to Christ. This shows the great power of

baptism and how much we need it. St.

Cyprian of Carthage writes Peter showed in One Peter.

Peter showed and vindicated the unity of the Church by

commanding and warning that we can be saved through and only

through the baptism of the one Church.

How, you may say, keep listening intently through the one church.

He goes on to say, just as in that baptism of the world, the

flood by which the ancient inequity was purged, the one who

was not in the ark could not be saved through water, so now

anyone who has not been baptized in the church cannot be saved.

You can't just take people to a river and, and and baptize them

in the name of the Trinity. I don't want to go into the

sacrament of the priesthood. Let's let's just continue.

They cannot be baptized in whoever is not baptized in the

church cannot be saved. He goes on for the church has

been founded. Listen to this.

Oh, bless your souls, the fathers of the Church.

For the church has not been founded in the unity of the

Lord. Sorry.

For the church has been founded in the unity of the Lord as the

sacrament of the one ark. So the ark is an anti type of

the church. Without the ark, people die.

Without the ark, those who were baptized would have been dead.

Without the church and no baptism within the church, you

will die. You are not saved.

Again going on to verses 44 to 4046, then we see the Jews envy.

They always envy. They're always in envy, you

know, each time Christ was being glorified and adhered to and

followed the Jews God angered, it was envy that caused them to

do what they did to Jesus Christ.

It was envy. The envy, however, extends the

preaching of the Word, like in chapter 8 of the book of Acts.

When the church was scattered from Jerusalem to Samaria, the

Gentiles began to hear the word and became to began to accept

Jesus Christ and were believers and was saved.

You know, we spoke about one's man.

One man's loss is another man's gain.

Joseph says this to his brothers in Genesis chapter 50 verse 20.

Genesis 50:20

You counseled evil against me and God counseled good.

Beloved, whenever evil comes upon us, not as a result of our

own false sin and foolishness, wait for God's goodness.

Wait for God to change that evil to good.

Notice the gentleness of Saint Paul again.

He says, listen, listen. It is necessary that you should

be preached. He showed that it was necessary

to preach to them as well. You need to learn this.

You need to hear this just because you're a Jew, just

because the the Savior was from within you, but you did not

accept him. You need to save our Lord, the

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Everyone beloved, you need to

hear this. And by saying first you need to

hear it first because you are the the branch that has been cut

off. But God can one more time prune

one more time as he pruned the Gentiles.

You can also be pruned if you stop from your unbelief.

He showed that. He showed this to them and that

as well as it is your duty to preach.

We preach to you first. You need to know first so you

can go and preach this truth and then if you're not going to

receive it, if you want to go, if you're going to deny it,

great, we're going to go preach to the Gentiles.

And again, this proves that God's desire is all to be saved.

Even the Jews and the Muslim brothers and sisters and the

Buddhist brothers and sisters and the and the, yeah, all those

non Christian, the, the, the, the, the Jewish friends, the

Muslim friends, the, the, the, the, the Buddhist friends, the

the Hindu friends need to be saved only through Jesus Christ,

to turn to Jesus Christ. Through this he is declaring

that God in the eye of God, nothing is unworthy of salvation

or to enter into the Kingdom of heaven, nor that God excludes

any humankind from damnation. No, if you don't receive, you

will die, simple as that. God's will is that all people

shall have life and shall be converted to the knowledge of

the truth. One Timothy 24 and he's talking

to the Jews. Mr. Netanyahu and if there's any

alarms, you know, they say when you mention some names, you

know, Mossad gets all these alarms.

Well, I, I want these alarms to go off.

Alarms start ringing. Mr. Ben, what is it, Benny?

What does he call him? BB?

Miss Netanyahu, you know you come out Christmas time and you

invite all your Christian friends to come and see the

birth place of Jesus. Please mention Jesus Christ.

Why are you just calling our Lord, our Savior, the Lord, the

Savior, the Christ Jesus? You invite me to come and see

his birthplace. Why don't you also invite me to

come and see his empty tomb? Why don't you refer to him as

Jesus the Christ? Because then everything has to

be changed. Then it's going to be a turmoil.

But believe me, Bibi, it won't be a turmoil.

You will be saved because remember, Bibi, you are going to

face the Lord Jesus Christ. You are going to face the Lord

Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ whom your forefathers

crucified. And it had to be done.

We now, today understand. We understand and we know that

the Lord loves you and wants you to return one more time so that

maybe He can prune you one more time into the vine so that you

will have life with Jesus Christ.

Every person on earth, beloved God, wants to save, but not

every person will be saved. Why?

Because of free will, we bring it upon ourselves through our

liberty, our freedom of speech, freedom of choice, freedom of

walk, freedom of whatever. We make ourselves to be unworthy

of eternal life and worthy of eternal damnation by rejecting

the Lord Jesus Christ. And then verse 47, Paul refers

to himself as light for the Gentiles.

If you're not going to accept it, well, we're going to go to

the Gentiles. You know, our friends, the Jews.

If you didn't accept it, you know where it came to the

Assyrians. Oh, there's so many alarms going

off now, Steven, to the Assyrians and the Assyrians.

While you were, what's the word? While you were preparing,

there's another word to capture and to crucify King Abga

Inadeessa Odehay, the Assyrian accepted him as Lord and as God.

So that's what happened. See, it's from the Scriptures.

This is not a political statement.

This is not hatred. I love Bibi, I love everyone.

I have to love. I, it's not have to.

I love because my Lord is love. I love.

But this is a fact, right? Paul calls himself the Lord of

Gentiles, and yes, he is my light because I was a Gentile.

But I'm a Christian now in the Christendom.

In Christendom I'm not a Gentile.

I'm actually Israel. In Christendom I'm Israel.

I am the church. You know who the Gentiles are?

The Jews are the Gentiles in Christendom and we must go and

preach to the Gentiles, not just be politically correct.

Let's stop this politically correctness.

O leaders of the church. I cannot stand in a prayer where

the prayer is none in the name of Jesus Christ.

No, it has to be in the name of Jesus Christ, not because I'm a

Christian, but because He is the Christ and only God is pleased

with the Christ. Praise and glory be to his name

type, Amen. The light of the Gentiles.

What was said with specific reference to Jesus Christ the

Lord in Luke chapter 2 verse 32 by Simon the Righteous.

Luke 2:32

He said to him, he referred to Jesus Christ the light for the

revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.

He is now Paul is taking it for himself, referring it to

himself. Why?

Because He is calling to mind. Matthew 1040, Whosoever receives

you receives me. So if you received, you received

me as a light, you're receiving Jesus Christ.

John 2021 Jesus said, just as my Father has sent me, I also am

sending you. Of course He is the light.

The apostles are the light of the world.

Christ said you are the light of the world.

You cannot be hidden. It just cannot be.

A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Yeah, there's magicians trying to, you know, get, you know,

make make the, the Eiffel Tower disappear and the Harbour

Bridge. This this is all evil.

This is all magic. But this is not magic.

Jesus is not talking about magic.

A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

So too, Saint Paul and all the apostles and we the Christians

that not them. Let's not hide ourselves.

Let's say it as it is. You know why not to only rebuke

and to show off and to be proud. I mean, we are we have pride in

Jesus Christ. But so that they also know the

the the seriousness, the urgency of receiving the Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ, who is the only forgiver.

Praise and glory be to His name, now and at all times and

forever. We hope you enjoyed this week's

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Until next time, God bless you all.