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SA Ep112 - Who Has Authority...? · Seeking Approval Podcast

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Seeking Approval Podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Dr.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Chris Smelser from Iliad Baptist Church.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know life moves fast and faith is not meant to be rushed.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: I want to take some time and slow down with you and have some honest conversations from the Word of God about daily living.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: So join me here today on Seeking Approval.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to Seeking Approval.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a video that I came across and I wanted to deal with today.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it this is a great example of how people can use biblical terms and verses and make it sound so appealing and lead someone in the wrong direction if we don't have a firm foundation.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: And Satan did this back in Genesis chapter number three when he asked Eve a very simple question and he put he just put a question where God put a statement.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: God said, Do not eat of the tree, and Satan said, Hath God said.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, there, you know, Satan took her down a path that led to the fall uh which Adam was uh responsible for, but led to the fall of all mankind into sin.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's easily, it's so easy to be enticed, and Paul warned about that in Colossians when he was talking about the enticing words, the beguiling uh of people, and the the parallel gizimai, that is, you know, people come, they'll come right up beside you and they'll say words contrary to what is true.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: And this is one of those uh very clear examples of someone using biblical words and spiritual things and even having verses that seems like that that is the foundation of what they're saying, but they've it they're they're just off.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're off a little bit at the beginning, you're off by a lot at the end.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: And this is one of those uh great situations.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: So let me play this video for you and uh we'll come back and we'll discuss it in the future.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: The priest says, I absolve you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, you're being being declared clean.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what, everybody?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Heaven has to follow the priest.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: If the priest says you're absolved of your sins, heaven has to follow and be forgiving of your sins, for Jesus is a liar, and nobody is going to claim that.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So when you have ultimate authority, you have the power to delegate that authority.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I always use the example of my business in North Carolina.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: I started it, I funded it, I built it.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I had ultimate authority.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: But when I would leave on a business trip, I always would say, Banner Karen, while I'm gone, you're in charge.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: If there's a bill to pay, you pay it.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: If there's somebody to hire, you hire.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: If there's somebody to fire you fire, you're acting in my name.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is Impersona Christi.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: All right, I want to begin.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: I want to go back to Mark chapter number two first, and then we're going to get into some verses that um people will use uh to arrive at a uh an opinion uh or a false doctrine like this uh gentleman has.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: First off, let's go back to Mark chapter number two.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: In Mark chapter number two, verse number five, Jesus is there with the man of palsy, the ones that brought it to him.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: He says, When Jesus saw their faith, they said unto the sick of the palsy, son, thy sins be forgiven, forgiven thee.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now the religious leaders that were around there, they had a problem with that.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: And in verse number seven, they says, Why doth this man thus speaketh blasphemies?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Who can forgive sins but God only?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: The question wasn't uh about God's authority to forgive sins.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: The the qu they were questioned is who else can forgive sins but God only?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't believe they could forgive sins, and they didn't believe Jesus could either, but what they were missing was that Jesus was the Son of God, and that's been a problem ever since for many uh devout Jews.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: If we go back to Isaiah 43 and 25, it says, I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: The foundation that we need to have is that God is the one who forgives sins, and he does it through his son, Jesus Christ.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's the foundation of it.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: No one else has the authority to forgive sins.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: So here's where the problem comes in because we go down, not the problem with the scripture, but the problem that we have with this video.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Here's where the problem comes in, and here's where the confusion comes in, because in John chapter number 20, verses 19 through 20, Jesus is appearing to his disciples following the resurrection.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And they were gathered there, they uh behind closed doors, uh, they were fearful, they were uncertain about what was going to happen next.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus stood there in his midst, in the midst of them, uh and showed him his hands and showed him his side, and he spoke to them, he spoke peace to them, and then he gave them this commission, John 20, 21 to 23.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you, as my father has sent me, even so send I you.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: And when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's the first movement of the Holy Ghost.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now we don't breathe the Holy Ghost on people anymore.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: That breath has been breathed out, just like when God breathed life into Adam.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't have to breathe that again, so the Holy Ghost is still moving freely.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was not, he was not moving freely before that.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, let me continue on reading.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: This is the verse that that we have to look at carefully.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: And whoso whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is a verse that many folks like this gentleman who happens to be a Catholic priest, uh, or I don't know all the different names, but he's uh he's a high-ranking uh Catholic official.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um this is one of the passages they will point to to say, look, we have the authority to retain or to remit sins for people.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: And if if we're not careful, you could read that verse alone and think, you know what?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: That is true.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: I can forgive people of their sins.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: And heaven has to agree with that because if they don't, then Jesus is made a liar.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: And if we're not careful, if we don't have a foundation under us, that's the problem that we'll run into.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: But notice what Jesus begins by saying, as my father sent me, even so send I you.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: The commission was to carry forward his mission.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: They were being sent with a message from Christ.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: And we we need to understand this is the birth of the church.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: This is the birth of the bride of Christ.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: They were to carry the gospel message.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: What's the gospel message?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Clearly laid out by Paul.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: It is the birth, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't have those things, then you don't have the gospel.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Repentance uh towards God of your sin in the Lord Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins through his name and through the blood of Jesus Christ.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: That is the gospel.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's the good news from heaven.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: And now we move to the book of Acts.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: We find those same apostles, those same men.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: What were they doing?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And in uh Acts 10, 43, uh to give him all the prophets' witnesses, that through his name, whatso whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: See, there's there's an important part in there, through his name, through Jesus' name, it wasn't through the power or the authority of the of the apostles.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then in Acts 13, 38-39 it says, Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this uh that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him that all believe are justified all things from which ye could not justify by the law of Moses.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: So think about what what's being said here.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is preached, that is true.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: We do preach forgiveness, we do preach that we need uh Jesus Christ.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: And just but that justification of those sins comes through Jesus Christ Christ to those who believe.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: I am not in that transactional process.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: It is it is not me as the pastor or the preacher uh in that in that moment to speak on behalf of heaven.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: I can give them the guarantee that the Bible gives if you believe, if you ask for forgiveness.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: That heaven, heaven will respond.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: But it has nothing to do with me.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: I don't pronounce it on them because then I have to know their heart.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: I have to know if they're truly repentant of those sins, and I don't know that.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why we we don't, we're not involved in that transaction.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: We are involved in the preaching.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's what Paul says.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Amen and brother, uh, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I do.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: I just preach forgiveness of sins.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: And by him, that uh all that believe are justified from all things which you cannot be justified by the law.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's where that's where Christ comes in.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: So in John 20, it sounds like that you know they're they're given the ability to um retain or remit sins for the people.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, we understand that the first century church, there were things that were that were different in that uh beginning of that church that are not uh the same now.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that that even happened in that day whenever uh one was preaching the gospel of John the Baptist, which was salvation by baptism, and they had to go and say, wait a minute, this is not right.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Things have changed.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: So that was in a great time of change.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: So the disciples at this time were entrusted with a message and a ministry of reconciliation and preaching forgiveness, which this group had never heard before.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: People have not heard this before.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where the difference comes in.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: There's a difference in announcing God's forgiveness and having the independent authority to determine who God must forgive.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's the big difference in the in the video where we just watched this priest.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: He's claiming the independent authority to announce who should be forgiven and who shouldn't.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now you're taking part of God's glory, and God doesn't share his glory.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, then we go on to another verse that they'll use, uh, which is over in Matthew chapter 16, verse number 19.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: When Jesus talks to Peter and he says, And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on the earth shall be bound in heaven, whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now we run into another situation if we don't understand the context of what's being said.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, context, context, context.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's the first three laws of the hermeneutics of how you of study in your Bible.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to know the context of what's being talked about.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: These are very powerful words.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: What you bind on earth is bound in heaven, what you loose on earth is loosed in heaven.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: And we need to look at this and make sure that we understand.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: First, we need to recognize the key to all this uh responsibility and authority is given by Christ.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of there's a lot of authority and there's a lot of responsibility that's given in this.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: But we got to understand what Jesus is dealing with in this section.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: So uh the in the setting of it in Matthew 18, 18, it says, Very like I say unto you what server you shall be on earth, shall be behind heaven, loose in earth, loose in heaven.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: What he's dealing with in this in these couple of chapters, he's dealing with uh uh church discipline, accountability, responsibility of believers to act according to God's word.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: And in those things, the church does have authority.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: It can receive someone in fellowship, uh, it can require uh people to be removed from fellowship if if they're uh if they're not acting and doing according uh to that.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, some people will say, well, you know, a church should never remove somebody from from fellowship in a church.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: We should be able to come together and work things out.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, right, we should try to work those things out, but don't forget Paul, but one of the one of the greatest pastors, preachers, ministers, uh uh missionaries uh that has ever lived, Paul, it's the same Paul that uh removed John Mark from his group and said, You're unprofitable to me right now.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever you're doing, you're unprofitable to me right now.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: But it's the same Paul that brought him back in.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: John had to learn some lessons.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it it was hard lessons to learn at the time, but he had to do some learning.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: There are times when when people will be such a disruption to the church and and and bring so much evil into the church that the the only way that you can protect the the majority is by removing the one or you know, removing the family or whatever it might be, asking them to not come back.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: There's there's gonna be a better place that you could go fit in somewhere, but it's not gonna be here because you're hurting this group of people so much.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now, that's a last resort.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to try to restore one and those things.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: But when when Christ is talking about binding and loosening, he's talking about church authority.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's why there's some things that churches have differences on that is not worth the time arguing about.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: For example, I know of a church that if a woman walks in wearing it uh uh a nice, you know, let's just say it's a nice uh you know suit, but it's a it's pants, but it's you know, everything is, you know, she's covered and everything is is uh you know uh I guess lovely.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: They will still offer her a dress to put on so she can enter into the church.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: They won't accept her in.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, is that biblical?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh can you find somewhere where a woman must wear a dress that you know comes down to her ankles or whatever other stipulations they put on it?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh is that biblical?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's not biblical.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um is it okay for that church to say to be part of our church you need to wear a dress?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: They can do that because they have the authority of that church, that church body to set whatever accountability or discipline they need for that church.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: For some churches, they don't have that.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: What we must stand on, first off, is the doctrine of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got to have that first.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then those those things that you want to put into your church, that's up to you.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: How you organize your church, uh how how much you sing, how much you preach, uh, you know, you could you know do you preach first, sing second, do you sing first, sing, you know, preach second, you know, all those things that becomes you know to the local church.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and and God doesn't micromanage all of those things.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: So the the the binding and the loosing deals with the church discipline.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: I spent a little bit too long maybe on the church discipline part, but that's uh that's what that verse is talking about.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: So don't be uh don't be swayed by thinking that this means that we can do whatever we want, and if we say it here, then heaven must respond because they've given us the power to do that.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: As far as the authority to forgive sins, Jesus is the only one that has the authority.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: For example, if you go over to the leper who was cleansed in Mark 1, uh the leper was cleansed whenever Christ uh cleansed him before he got to the priest.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: The priest had no power in forgiving him his sins or cleansing his leprosy.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: So this this idea that the priest has some sort of uh autonomy to forgive sins that's just uh that's incorrect uh from the foundational stand.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus does not leave his business in someone else's hands.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: The proclaiming of it, the announcing of it, the heralding of it, yes, that belongs to you and I.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: We are to to spread the gospel, to the good news.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: But as far as forgiveness of sins and and declaring who has been forgiven, that's not on us.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: We can say with all with the authority of God's word that if someone has a true repentant heart and a broken and contrite spirit and they they ask in in sincerity that God forgive them, then yes, they have.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: I just said that to a woman not too long ago back in our uh uh July revival, in our summer revival.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: She came in uh on a, I think it was on a Wednesday night uh before the service started, she came straight to me, wanted to talk, uh, said she she needed to be saved.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: So we we were right there, we uh talk right in the front of the church, we're talking, and she was talking about all these things about how many times she's been baptized, and people have laid hands on her and all these other things.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I said that I told her on the authority of scripture that is not your salvation.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Your salvation is that you ask for forgiveness, you seek out God, and it's got to be real inside of you.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, she talked about all the times she'd been saved before.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we got down right there, we uh we prayed, and uh you know, I let her, I didn't say repeat after me, I let her pray her prayer when uh when she got done.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Then I talked with her uh and then I prayed with her at that point, and at that point I I told her, I said, now I don't ever want to hear this stuff again about, you know, well, you've been saved this many times or anything else, because if if what you just prayed, if you prayed with a with a true heart and seeking after God, he has not turned you away.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, whether she was uh authentic in that or not, I don't know.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: I can't pronounce forgiveness for her.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: All I can say is what the Bible says is if you've done this with a true heart, then you have forgiveness of sins, you have salvation.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: But whether that's true or not, I can't pronounce that on there.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: There's so there's so many false claims and false doctrine out there, and I'm gonna try to work through these the best I can with you.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you continue coming back with us and joining in with us.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: But until then, I want you to know that the throne of grace is still open and Jesus is still forgiving sins.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's not me, it's not your preacher, it's not your priest that forgives your sins, it's Jesus Christ alone who forgives them.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Our job is to preach it and to teach it that he is still in the sin-forgiving business.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Grace and peace to you from Gillade Baptist Church.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us today on Seeking Approval.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, our faith oftentimes grows in quiet places.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: I hope today's conversation gave you something worth carrying throughout the rest of this day.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: And join me, Dr.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Chris Spelser, again next time as we continue thinking, learning, and walking together.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Until then, grace and peace to you from seeking approval at Gilead Baptist Church.