Mankind has tried to exhaust every fabricated counterfeit gospel that there is to excuse himself from his own responsibility to obey GOD’S ETERNAL COMMANDMENTS and LAWS.
We have had every “Grace Gospel” there is marketed to us as the “True Gospel” with no one really knowing what “GOD’S Grace” is but assuming that it means a free ride without any responsibility or obligation to keep and observe all of GOD’S COMMANDMENTS and LAWS.
Some even think that “GOD’S GRACE” is automatically theirs because they recited an incantation or the “abracadabra prayer,” i.e., the “sinner’s prayer.”
I was just thinking on the LORD and it occurred to me that a lot of Saints don’t know or don’t realize their rights and freedoms in the LORD. They came into the Faith with the preconceived notion and expectation of having uncomfortable restrictions imposed upon them and so they created their own chains, cages and reservation on which to live and be enslaved. (Galatians 5:1) This is a weakness that is carried over from their former lives and is influenced by the opinions of other sinners who imposed their pseudo-moral judgments upon them. They have been brainwashed to expect and accommodate the morals of legalism – do’s and don’ts.
But their weakness and lack of faith should not presume upon my Freedom in Christ. “For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?” (1 Corinthians 10:29) However, for the sake of their soul, if eating pork offends my brother, then I will not eat pork.
Parenthetically speaking, many churches and false prophets have capitalized and profited from the paranoia and ignorance of believers and from the believers eagerness and willingness to please and satisfy any perceived human criteria of righteousness.
But know this. The Commands of God are not burdensome. His yoke is easy and his burdens are light. As a matter of fact, even HIS Sabbath is a delight. But the problem with most Saints is trusting in the freedoms given unto us by the only One True LORD and Savior who can really make us free – Jesus Christ. For whom Christ sets free is free indeed. (John 8:36) Amen.
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)
However, many saints have re-entered the slavery and bondage of Egypt by submitting themselves and their souls to the consciences of a man-made and corrupt systems of Christianity and fabricated new age morals and doctrines of demons. Instead of submitting to the Eternal 10 Commandments of GOD, the teachings of Christ and His chosen Apostles and discovering God’s Truth by revelation of the Holy Spirit who was made to live in us as a gift from FATHER GOD – if indeed they have been born again – they abandon God and the freedoms that He bestows upon each of us and entangle themselves once again in a legalistic and humanly contrived religion where their righteousness comes from themselves. (Matthews 7:21-23 and 2 Timothy 4:3)
2 Corinthians 5:21
For he who had not known sin made himself to become sin in your place, that we would become the righteousness of God in him.
Romans 6:2 By no means! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?
Romans 6:10 The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.
Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
Romans 7:6
But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the Law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Galatians 2:19
For through the Law I died to the Law so that I might live to God.
Colossians 2:20
If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations?
For every born again Saint of God, the righteousness of Christ is credited toward us. We are made righteous by His Blood and we are free of any and all written codes (Books) of righteousness.
Hebrews 10:15-17
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put My Laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”…
Now don’t get it twisted as some have shown a tendency to do. The Freedom That Christ Gives Us Through His Blood Doesn’t Allow us to Willfully and Knowingly Practice Immorality and Disobedience (Sin) – the things that God calls sin. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. Amen.
If indeed you are born again of the water and of the Spirit as the scriptures have said, you are free.
You are free from the condemnation of the old dead person who was buried at your baptism in the name of Christ Jesus.
You are free from the pseudo moral codes and hypocritical judgments of others.
You are free from being damned by the children of disobedience, ignorance and perversion.
You are free to love those who persecute you and to forgive those who trespass against you because the LORD has promised to trouble those who trouble you and vengeance belongs to God.
You are free to give generously and cheerfully to the needs of fellow saints and to the poor because God loves a cheerful giver.
You are free from denominational ties and Christian distinctions and the pagan traditions of mankind.
You are free to worship anywhere and at all times because God is everywhere and He is not restricted by time.
You are free to love like Christ because you belong to God and God is LOVE.
You are free to love, live, marry and be happy in the LORD because you are a new creation. Old things have passed away and behold all things have been made new.
You are free to live a sin free life because you are no longer under the written code of the Law but under Grace and God promises not to remember your lawlessness and sin anymore.
You are free and empowered to keep and observe ALL of the Commandments of God as Christ and His Apostles did because the same Spirit that dwelt in them has been made to dwell in you.
Your are free to keep the Seventh-Day Sabbath Holy as instructed in the fourth Commandment.
The trick is to know the difference between what God considers sin and what religious zealots and Pharisees consider sin. Everything that man defines as sin isn’t sin. It is just something that they can’t understand or that they deem to be taboo or something that they just don’t agree with and so they try to make it seem as if God is against what they are against. However, whatever God called sin two thousand years ago is still sin today. There aren’t any new sins.
Gratitude is a noun and it is the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
Hebrews 12:28
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Psalm 50:23
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!
10 `Two men went up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer;
11 the Pharisee having stood by himself, thus prayed: God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men, rapacious, unrighteous, adulterers, or even as this tax-gatherer;
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all things — as many as I possess.
13 `And the tax-gatherer, having stood afar off, would not even the eyes lift up to the heaven, but was smiting on his breast, saying, God be propitious to me — the sinner!
14 I say to you, this one went down declared righteous, to his house, rather than that one: for every one who is exalting himself shall be humbled, and he who is humbling himself shall be exalted.’
Romans 3:22-24 Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)
22 and the righteousness of God [is] through the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing, — for there is no difference,
23 for all did sin, and are come short of the glory of God —
24 being declared righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that [is] in Christ Jesus.
Since all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory and the perfection of God, no one can justify themselves before God as the Pharisee attempted to do in Luke 18. Only the truly contrite and repentant soul may ask for and receive the blessing of the Propitious and Reconciling Blood of CHRIST.
REPENT!
PLEASE CLICK ON “GRACE DEFINED” TO OPEN FURTHER REVELATION INTO GOD’S GRACE.
17 As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” 21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.
23 And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them,“Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were even more astonished and said to Him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Looking at them, Jesus said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
For those who place considerable value and trust in themselves and boast of their intellect, their self-discipline, their own integrity, their own understanding, their own wisdom, their own worth and wealth, they will find it most difficult to follow and obey the commands of God and of Christ and the leading of YHVH’S HOLY SPIRIT.
Lots of believers boast in their church membership and the number of years that they have served in an organized religious institution.
Lots of believers boast about their particular religious institutions, worship facilities, denominations and Pastors.
Lots of believers boast in their obedience to the 10 Commandments of God and their abstinence from certain social and religious taboos.
Lots of believers boast in their repentance, their water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ and in their gift and sign of having been endowed with the HOLY SPIRIT – speaking in tongue.
Lots of believers boast in their religiosity and the strength of their Faith and in their tithing and giving. (Matthew 7:21-23)
In their minds they are rich in righteousness and rich toward God. But they have not considered being rich in generosity toward their fellow believers and the children of YHVH.
They have become twisted. They boast in their works and feel entitled to salvation because of their works. They have confused Loving and FAITHFUL obedience to YHVH with their own human principle of works in exchange for pay and reward.
And without realizing it, they have become disciples and worshipers of themselves and of their own religious creations, institutions, traditions, churches, achievements, accolades, wealth and intellect. (Exodus 20:3 and Deuteronomy 5:7)
2 Corinthians 10:17-18
But HE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD. For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.
1 Corinthians 1:30-31
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
We must remember that it is YHVH who saves us and not we ourselves. And we must remember that it is impossible to enter the Kingdom of God through works or through the religious institutions, traditions and churches of men.
“But if we were to humble ourselves, confess our sins and repent; all things are possible with God.”
I am aware of the none standard grammar of this picture post. I purposely used the vernacular of my ancestry to honor them and their sacrifices – not thinking more of myself than I ought.
As I continue on this journey of living a grateful life, I make the following witness and praise.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Romans 6:14 – For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Do you know which covenant you are living under – Law or Grace?
16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? (Ref. Mark 2:14-20)
“For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” (Luke 7:33-35)
17 Don’t you see that anything that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and passes out into the latrine? 18 But what comes out of your mouth is actually coming from your heart, and that is what makes a person unclean. 19 For out of the heart come forth wicked thoughts, murder, adultery and other kinds of sexual immorality, theft, lies, slanders, blasphemies. . . .20 These are what really make a person unclean. (Matthew 15:17-20)
Some Christians and some sinners judge other Christians by what they eat and drink as well as who they eat and drink with. They are twisted, prejudice, confrontational, ignorant and confused and some are hypocrites.
Normally, whatever food or drink a person ingests in their body is expelled out of their body without any lasting harm being done. But what sins a person allows to enter their heart and mind tends to damage their soul and cause them to be wicked and twisted and separated from God. (Isaiah 59:2)
The hypocrisy is that many Christians condemn persons who drink, smoke or ingest numbing and intoxicating substances while they themselves take pain killers, stimulants, alcohol infused cough syrup, energy boosting drinks and pills and sleeping aids and sex enhancing drugs. Yet, they can’t see the hypocrisy of their hearts and the contradictions in their judgments. Their arrogance, prejudice and narrow-mindedness has blinded them to their own self-incrimination and condemnation. (Matthew 7:1-3)
Mankind, in her religious and earthly wisdom, judges unfairly because she can only look at things from their outward appearance and she judge them according her imperfect human perspective. However, the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
Regardless of who you are or what titles you hold or what prestige and honors you enjoy or how good you look to the world or how the world has celebrated you or condemned you or labeled you, God knows the real you. God knows your attitude, intentions and plans. God knows your heart.
You cannot tell who I am by what I eat or drink or who I eat or drink with. You can only know me when you learn to listen to my heart.