EVEN FORGIVED, THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES BECAUSE OF SINS BEFORE COMMITTED...
It is noticeable in the life of the Apostle Paul, the consequences of sins previously committed in ignorance! He was forgiven but Jesus said to Ananias: I will show you how much it matters to you to suffer for my NAME! He was once a persecutor of the church, believing he was zealous for his parents' traditions and believing to serve and please the Creator God, when in fact he was working for Satan. However, the apostle Paul had already been set apart for the ministry of the Gentiles and would face afflictions, trials, tribulations, persecutions for the love of Jesus and His Word, as well as suffering as a result of the achieved faith that he tried to destroy before.
GALATIANS 1:12-24
12. because I did not receive it from any man, nor was it taught to me; but I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
13. For you have heard what was once my course of action in Judaism, how exceedingly persecuted the church of God and devastated it,
14. and in my nation I exceeded in Judaism many of my age, being extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
15. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by her grace,
16. to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult flesh and blood,
17. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to be with those who before me were apostles, but I left for Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
18. Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and stayed with him for fifteen days.
19. But I saw none other of the apostles, but James, brother of the Lord.
20. Now concerning what I write unto you, behold, I testify before God that I do not lie.
21. Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22. Was not known by sight of the churches of Christ in Judea;
23. but had only heard it said: He who once persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once sought to destroy;
24. and glorified God concerning me.
Acts 9:1-22
1 And Saul, still breathing threats and death against the disciples of the Lord, addressed the high priest.
2 And he asked him for letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he should find some of this Way, whether men or women, he would lead them in prison to Jerusalem.
3 And going in the way, it came to pass that, as he came near to Damascus, suddenly a blaze of light from heaven surrounded him.
4 And as he fell to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
5 And he said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said: I am Jesus, whom you persecute. It is hard for you to kick against the stings.
6 And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and there it shall be told thee what ought to do for thee.
7 And the men who were going with him stopped in amazement, hearing the voice, but seeing no one.
8 And Saul arose out of the ground, and, opening his eyes, he saw no one. And, guiding him by the hand, they led him to Damascus.
9 And he was three days without seeing, and neither ate nor drank.
10 And there was in Damascus a certain disciple named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision: Ananias! And he answered: Here am I, Lord.
11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, go to the street called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul; for behold, he is praying;
12 And in a vision he saw a man named Ananias coming in, and laying his hand upon him, that he might see again.
13 And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard unto many concerning this man, how many evils he hath done to thy saints in Jerusalem;
14 And here has the power of the chief priests to arrest all that call upon your name.
15 But the LORD said unto him, Go, for this is a chosen vessel for me, to bear my name before the heathen, and kings, and the children of Israel.
16 And I will show you how much you must suffer for my name.
17 And Ananias went, and came into the house, and laying his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you in the way by which you came, has sent me, that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
18 And immediately there fell from his eyes like scales, and he regained his sight; and, rising up, he was baptized.
19 And having eaten, he was comforted. And Saul was with the disciples who were in Damascus for a few days.
20 And immediately in the synagogues he preached Christ, that this is the Son of God.
21 And all that heard him were astonished, and said, Is not this the one in Jerusalem who persecuted them that called on this name, and for this he came here, to take them captive to the chief priests?
22 But Saul tried much harder, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this was the Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:22-33
22. Are they Hebrews? me too; are they Israelis? me too; are Abraham's seed? me too;
23. are they ministers of Christ? I speak as outside of myself, I even more; in much more jobs; in prisons much more; in unmeasured lashes; in danger of death many times;
24. of the Jews five times I received forty lashes minus one.
25. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, one night and one day I spent in the abyss;
26. in voyages often, in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my race, in danger from the Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in danger at sea, in danger among false brethren;
27. in toil and fatigue, in vigils often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness.
28. In addition to these outward things, there is what daily weighs on me, the care of all the churches.
29. Who weakens, may I not weaken? Who is scandalized that I don't open up?
30. If boasting is needed, I will boast about my weakness.
31. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is eternally blessed, knows that I do not lie.
32. In Damascus, the one who ruled under King Aretas guarded the city of the Damascenes, to arrest me;
33. but through a window they lowered me in a basket, down the wall; and so I escaped from their hands.
Paul's 10 worst sufferings that show that being a Christian is no joke
Jesus Christ repeatedly warned His disciples that God's way was a narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14). He also warned that the disciple should take up his cross and deny himself (Matthew 16:24), which showed that it would be a complex journey.
He also said that the evil world would rage against Christ's true disciples and they would be fiercely persecuted (Mark 13:9).
All of this that Jesus said was not a way to discourage His disciples, but to show them that they are not of this world, but that they would be in this world to enlighten it and that would bother the fallen world. The world, however, desires darkness, and struggles to extinguish any light that shines.
In this sense, the character who perhaps most reminds us of the reality of being Christians in an evil world is the apostle Paul. Paul's life teaches us that being a Christian is no joke.
But he also teaches us to look beyond pain, persecution, tribulations. He teaches us to depend on the God who leads us, on the God who has an inheritance for His faithful servants.
The 10 greatest sufferings of the apostle Paul:
1) Had to go down in a basket to escape from an arbitrary prison
In 2 Corinthians 11:32-33 we see that Paul had to suffer the humiliation of being hauled up through a window of a wall as if he were a fugitive criminal, in order to escape the ravenous appetite of unjust rulers who wanted his head.
2) he was driven out of Antioch by the city's mighty
In Acts 13:50-51 we see a conspiracy among the Jews, women and men of high standing in the city to expel Paul from the city for the simple reason that he is expounding the gospel in that place and there are conversions taking place.
3) he was stoned almost to death in Lystra
In Acts 14:19 we see that Paul was dragged by a mob out of the city and was stoned by that mob and probably fainted, a fact that made the mob think he was dead.
4) In Macedonia he was flogged, imprisoned and tied with his feet to a log
In Acts 16:23-24 we see that Paul was arrested because he expelled a demon from a young fortune-teller who gave a lot of profit to those who exploited her. So he was flogged, thrown in jail, and had his feet tied to a log.
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5) he was persecuted by the Jews of Thessalonica because he preached in Berea
In Acts 17: 13-14 we see that Paul suffers persecution from the Jews themselves just because he preaches in a synagogue in Berea. Because of that, once again, he had to flee from those Jews who wanted his death.
6) For preaching against other gods in Ephesus, he was left in the midst of a great confusion in the city
In Acts 19:23-26 some goldsmiths, fearing they would lose their profit by producing images of gods for worship, stirred up a great tumult against Paul and other disciples, which made Paul's stay in this city even more dangerous.
7) In Jerusalem he is unjustly accused of having taken a Greek to the temple and for that reason he is persecuted and almost killed
In Acts 21:27-31 once again the Jews make a great deal of confusion by deducing that Paul would have desecrated the temple by taking a Greek (Trophimus) there. They incite people and Paul is dragged out of the temple, beaten and nearly killed by the crowd.
8) Arrested and sent to Rome, he is shipwrecked in Miletus
In Acts 27:13-20 Paul, unjustly imprisoned, is taken by ship to Rome, where he will have a hearing about his unjust imprisonment. On the way, their ship is seriously wrecked due to a storm.
9) On the island of Malta is bitten by a venomous snake
In Acts 28:3 we see that, after recovering from the serious shipwreck, Paul is bitten by a poisonous snake that was hidden among the sticks he used to make a fire. He luckily didn't die.
10) he was beheaded by Nero in Rome
Although the Bible does not narrate this fact, the tradition about Paul's death says that he was beheaded by Nero, around AD 67 or 68, which is very likely, since the Emperor Nero was one of the most cruel rulers of Everytime.
Evidently, the sufferings that Paul went through were even greater than these 10 listed. He had to bear a thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7). He had to separate from dear friends because of the ministry (Acts 20:22-23). Etc.
SOURCE: https://www.esbocandoideias.com/2016/02/os-10-piores-sofrimentos-do-apostolo-paulo.html
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