What is true Faith and how is it expressed? Responding to the self-righteousness of legalism and Judaism…

Faith is simply believing that God is true and will do as He has promised. Works-obedience are the resultant of faith expressed by man and received by God. Works validate faith, works do not supplant the necessity for faith which first establishes relationship with God and makes works viable and honorable to God. Until such time you have established covenant relationship with God by faith in Jesus as Lord, your works, on your best day, are filthy rags in God’s nose. If you truly loved God and were in covenant relationship with Him through the Son, you would know this and understand this but you choose arrogance and self-righteousness thinking that you’re somehow worthy of God’s love when you have fallen for the lie of the Devil and will perish with Him lest you repent.

Port Charlotte is replete with some the most obnoxiously LOUD, narcissistic bikers, in the Nation who abuse our children, the elderly in our hospital district, the handicapped, with illegal noise levels that are many multiples (logarithmic) the legal, total, EPA compliant, 80dB(A) as mandated by the US EPA as per the J331a full-throttle testing procedure. In the evenings, Hwy 41/Harbor/Midway/Veterans sounds like a raceway. Along with the rudest and most obnoxious LOUD bikers, auto’s, trucks, Port Charlotte’s enforcement arm, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department, is as useless as the tits on a boar hog through compromise with loud vehicular thuggery and their impotence in enforcing the muffler laws enacted by our Legislators for the protection of our families, our most innocent, our children…I’ve made multiple attempts to invest here through real estate but if the Law Enforcement Community is too lazy, compromising and impotent, to provide protection from LOUD vehicle thugs, if the Charlotte County Commissioners are too impotent, cowardly and uncaring to protect my family, I won’t waste my money or my time. Bye.

Maturity in the Lord? How?

One matures in our Lord by surrendering to the indwelling Holy Spirit and opening one’s eyes and heart and ears to the Truth, the word of God (John 17:17), and NO ONE “works” them self to God…this was first demonstrated for you in Genesis 3:21 as Adam attempted to cover his sin and shame with fig leaves yet God denied Adam’s self-righteousness and shed innocent blood Himself and clothed Adam and Eve in an imputed robe of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21)…God did the Work Himself…Adam simply received the Work by grace as a Gift by Faith. Jesus Christ did the WORK HIMSELF at Golgotha, you receive the benefits of that WORK by FAITH, alone!

You are saved from death in Hell by believing with a sincere heart that Jesus is Lord who died to pay your sin-debt (John 3:16-18)…this is done by FAITH alone…you have NO PART in this Salvation other than believing what God has done for you and establishing covenant relationship with Him by that FAITH – ALONE!

Once you have established covenant relationship by faith, the Holy Spirit takes-up residence within you (Ephesians 1:13-14) and manifests a change within-you and good works and obedience begin to manifest as a result of sanctification (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:16); that is, an anointed work of the Spirit in your life enabling you to be transformed, incrementally, daily, into the image of Christ concerning your behavior, thoughts, desires, deeds…as this is preparation for service in the New Jerusalem. Walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit and you will NOT compromise with the lust of this defiled and dying World (Galatians 5:16). There is NO OTHER WAY (John 14:6).

The Law of Conscience…

The Moral Law has been extant since the creation of the angels as an arbiter of freewill and this law judged Satan of covetousness and judged the Adamic and Noahic generations of egregious immorality where all but eight were destroyed by water in judgment. The Law of the Covenant, given specifically to Israel’s children, is NOTHING NEW or novel but is simply a reiteration, with some specificity, of the Law of Conscience infused within every human being from Adam forward as the Law of Conscience ….

1) Acts a bulwark restraining narcissism/arbitrating free will by the conscience thereby curtailing human self-destruction which would thwart God’s eschatological plan and give victory to Satan.

2) Defines God’s righteous decrees through the conscience thereby allowing for justice with due process in Holy Judgment.

An overwhelming majority of the Greek Scriptures reference “Law” which is relevant to the “Law of the Covenant” pertaining to Jacob’s children but the vast majority of Human Kind has been governed by the Law of Conscience for the previous 6000-years and it is the Law of Conscience (Romans 2:14-15; Romans 1:18-32) that will be the primary adjudicatory standard at the Great White Throne Judgment manifesting subsequent to Messiah Jesus’ Millennial Reign (Revelation 20:11-15).

Those who die under the Law Covenant will be judged accordingly; those who die apart from the Law Covenant (the vast majority of human kind) will be judged by the Law of Conscience. Those who die in Jesus as their Messiah will not stand in the judgment of sinners as Messiah’s imputed righteousness has atoned for the sins of the redeemed and they are therefore declared “not guilty” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

If you belong to Jesus by faith, the Law of the Covenant does NOT pertain to you! Walk in that freedom with JOY!

The Law of the Covenant is divided into moral and civil-ceremonial-dietary laws…the ceremonial-civil laws are NOT moral laws but edicts given specifically to Israel’s children as they were set-apart as a people group for God’s eschatological purposes and they were to be holy as God is Holy and shun the pagan traditions (diet-worship protocol) of the Nations that surrounded them.

The ceremonial laws are NOT moral laws and have NO bearing on mankind’s eternal relationship with God or his fellowman. The 4th-Commandment is also a ceremonial law given specifically to Israel beginning in Exodus 16 and its purpose and intent was fulfilled in Messiah Jesus (Colossians 2:16; Hebrews 4; Romans 14); therefore, no Gentile or Messianic Jew belonging to Jesus by faith is under the Law of the Covenant pertaining to ceremonial laws while the moral law, extant from the creation of the angels as an arbiter of free will (Romans 2:14-15), was incorporated into the New Covenant through Messiah’s Commandments articulated within His ministry while Jesus walked this Earth proclaiming the Truth of the Gospel.

Do not allow a cult, a sect, a Jew, an Israelite, a Jewish Roots deceiver, to take your joy and freedom earned for you by Jesus Christ at Golgotha. Walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit within you and live in peace with God, forever (Romans 5:1; Galatians 5:16).

Non-believer or skeptic suggests that Christians are fearful of works of righteousness for salvation. Is this true?

If you were a Christian you would know that your eternity is secure in the covenant promise of the Father for anyone who believes and trusts and places their faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord for the mediation of sin (John 3:16-18) and once you’ve trusted in Jesus and established covenant relationship with the Father, that relationship is SEALED and Guaranteed by the Gift of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14) who takes-up residence within you and becomes your Tutor-your Guide-your Lord-your Wisdom (Galatians 5:16; John 14:16) and the Spirit leads you into good works of obedience that glorify the Father as the Spirit prepares you for service in the New Jerusalem.

The Christian is not fearful of good works but the Christian understands that any work done prior to having established covenant relationship with the Father is futile, nihilistic, as the Father is NOT glorified by your works of self-righteousness as those works are equated to a filthy, bloody, menstrual cloth in His nose (Isaiah 64:6; Ephesians 2:8-9). It is the works done SUBSEQUENT to covenant relationship by the Spirit through faith in Jesus that are accounted as works of righteousness to be judged at the BEMA Judgment of Christ as those works of righteousness validate and authenticate the faith that initially established covenant relationship.

Does God predestine some to LIFE and many to death in Hell?

Predestination is completely antithetical to the nature and attributes of our Biblical God. God is defined as “love” in its perfection – AGAPE. Throughout the Scriptures, we see God’s greatest desire is relationship-fellowship-intimacy with His created beings, both human and angelic. It is illogical and beyond reason that our God of Love possesses the capacity to predestine those He loves to death in Hell or life in the Kingdom, why? Because perfect love and perfect justice cannot exist absent free will, why? Because in order for one to love with authenticity and purity, they must possess the volition – freedom to “choose” to engage in that relationship with a sincere heart and desire; otherwise, the love, the relationship, is robotic or coerced and thus the relationship is impotent and empty and unfulfilling.

All of human kind possesses the free will to “choose” their eternal destiny and those Scriptures that you believe suggest that God predestines many to Hell and some to Life is simply a misunderstanding on your part as God desires that all men and women be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth…Calvin got it wrong! If predestination were true, why the suffering and death of Jesus our God and Messiah?

What did Jesus accomplish on the Cross?

Jesus’ death is the propitiation (atonement – substitutionary death) for YOUR sin; Jesus is sinless, Jesus is God (John 1; Hebrews 1; Colossians 1) who took YOUR sin upon Himself at the Cross and in exchange Jesus imputes HIS righteousness into your life by faith in HIM as your Messiah IF you will believe that Jesus died for you (2 Corinthians 5:21; John 3:16-18; Romans 10:9-10); in response to your faith in Jesus as Lord the Father then declares you “not guilty” and welcomes you into the family of God and seals this Covenant relationship with the Gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14) who takes-up residence within you and He teaches you and methodically guides you in God’s will as the Spirit prepares you for service in the New Jerusalem (Galatians 5:16). This is the Father’s Plan of victory over the Devil (The Gospel of Jesus Christ) ordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:9-10; 1 John 3:8b).

The Cross v. The Sabbath Day

Jesus fulfilled what the Sabbath edict foreshadowed. The Sabbath pointed the children of Israel to their Messiah who would free them from slavery to an arduous Law Covenant that only defined their sin, their culpability before God, but provided no atonement (Romans 3:20); a Law Covenant that only cursed and condemned the one seeking righteousness with God through obedience (Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26) because the Law, in order to attain righteousness through it, mandated absolute perfection (James 2:10) and all of mankind is under the condemnation of sin (Romans 3:23); therefore, the Law condemned without hope – but – God the Father did not leave mankind in a hopeless condition but sent the Son into the World to provide blood atonement for sin as per Leviticus 17:11 as the Son kept the Law in perfection (Matthew 5:17) and shed His innocent blood upon the sands of Golgotha as payment for the sins of the whole World (Matthew 28:26; 1 John 2:2) and anyone who trusts-believes that Jesus is Lord who died to pay their sin-debt is released from the curse of the Law of sin and death (Romans 7:6; 8:1-2) and the righteousness of Jesus is imputed in the life of the one who believes in exchange for their sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); therefore, Jesus provides an eternal rest that the Jewish Sabbath only foreshadowed but could never accomplish due to the sin-nature of mankind (Hebrews 4); therefore, the Sabbath Rest given Israel’s children as a sign between God and Israel (Exodus 16; Exodus 20:12; 31:13) was fulfilled by Messiah Jesus who is now our Sabbath in the New Covenant…NOT a Day but God Himself in Jesus as Lord who was resurrected on the third-day by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11-13) for our justification and our peace…a peace with God that the Sabbath edict could never provide (Romans 5:1); therefore, those who live by faith in Jesus are not obligated to a Day or a Festival or any form of ceremonial law as Jesus is our Sabbath and the fulfillment of what the ceremonial-civil law foreshadowed (Colossians 2:16).

Was there Law before the Commandments given at Sinai?

The Commandments, the Decalogue, were simply a reiteration, with some specificity via codification, of the moral law of conscience (Romans 2:14-15) that has been extant as an arbiter of free will since the creation of the angels; after all, it is this moral law that judged the sin of Satan and that same moral law judged the sin of the Noahic generation where all but eight were destroyed by water.

All of humanity is created with God’s basic moral law infused within them and that moral law is arbitrated by the conscience. In the New Covenant, that same moral law is arbitrated by the indwelling Holy Spirit through the conscience for those who have trusted in Jesus as Lord (Galatians 5:16). Those who die apart from the Law Covenant will be judged by the moral law of conscience; those who die under the Law Covenant, will be judged by the Law of the Covenant (Romans 2). Those who die in Jesus as their Lord will NOT be judged by law as Messiah is the end of the Law for those who believe as Messiah’s righteousness has been imputed in the life of the redeemed by grace (Romans 6:14; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

The Law of the Covenant concerning morality was nothing novel or new but simply codified in writing certain specific behaviors as particularly abhorrent to God as the Law Covenant, given specifically to the Hebrew Tribes, reflected God’s holiness and the holiness expected of Israel’s children as they were set-apart for God’s purposes within the Realm of Time and a people group through whom God would introduce His Messiah to the World (Leviticus 21:8); essentially, the Law Covenant was a school-master or tutor pointing Jacob’s children to their need for Messiah’s atonement by faith as the Law defined sin void atonement (Galatians 3:24; Romans 3:20).