How to Be Righteous?

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17)

Note: The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Ezekiel’s Inaugural Vision 

4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, 9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved. 

Hosea 11:1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

Matthew 2:15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.

Jesus is the promised land for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Note: John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus Christ is our Lord our true Shepherd our Israel. 

Note: Psalm 100: 1-5  Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

When we have fought the good fight, which is in Christ, we have overcome the world, as our Lord has. We are in the hands of spiritual Israel, just like Jacob. We are Climbing Jacob's Ladder.

Then he said, 'Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed'” (Gen. 32:27-28). Jacob has not only prevailed in grappling with men (Gen. 29–31), he also clings to God as he wrestles Him.

Note: John 16:33 "Jesus says these things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Jesus is our promise land.

Truth & Knowledge: Episode 72 – “Jesus Is The Son of God” In this episode, Trey Knowles delves into God’s Final Word — His Son, drawing from Hebrews 1 and other key scriptures to reveal Jesus’ divine identity and supreme authority. God Speaks Through His Son In the past, God communicated through prophets, but now He has spoken fully through His Son — the heir of all things and the One through whom the universe was made. Jesus reflects the very glory and nature of God, sustaining all creation by His powerful word. After accomplishing the purification of sins, He took His rightful place at the right hand of God in heaven, exalted above the angels. The Son’s Superiority to Angels Scripture distinguishes the Son from the angels. God never called an angel His Son or invited one to sit at His right hand. Instead, He commands the angels to worship Jesus, affirming His eternal throne and divine rule. The heavens and the earth will fade, but the Son remains unchanged — eternal and sovereign. Jesus Reveals the Father Jesus Himself declared, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). His words and works are those of the Father living within Him. As He stated, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), confirming His divine unity with God. Creator and Sustainer of All Things Colossians 1:16 proclaims that all things — visible and invisible — were created through and for Christ. He is not merely a messenger but the Creator and purpose of all existence. The Way, the Truth, and the Life Jesus declared in John 14:6 that He alone is the way to the Father — the truth and the life. No one can come to God apart from Him. Eternal and Almighty Finally, in Revelation 1:8, Jesus identifies Himself as “the Alpha and the Omega… who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Through these truths, Trey Knowles emphasizes that Jesus is not simply a prophet or teacher but the eternal Son of God — the full revelation of God’s glory, authority, and love.

What Faith Involves

Biblical faith involves three key features:

1. Knowledge

Faith is dependent upon what can be known about God. In fact, the New Testament says that faith involves us coming to know God Himself. In John 17:3, Jesus says, “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Note: John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

How can you know God? In the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ! Speaking of Jesus, John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” That’s why it is so important to consider the claims that Jesus made: it is in knowing Him that we know God. And it is this knowledge of God that gives us the basis for our faith.

2. Assent - express approval or agreement, typically officially.

In biblical faith, our knowledge of God must then be followed by assent. Once we’ve recognized that certain things are true and are to be believed, we must actually believe them! Biblical faith is certainly more than giving assent—but it is never less.

As we read the Bible and consider the claims of Jesus Christ, we discover in Christ someone who compels people’s belief—sometimes even against their will. We might say to ourselves, “I don’t want to believe in Jesus. I don’t want my life taken over. I don’t want somebody in charge of me.” Yet when we lay our lives open before Christ, when we see Him on the cross, and when we understand that He bore all of our sin and rebellion, He compels our belief. When we see Christ in this way, knowledge will be followed by assent.

3. Trust

Lastly, genuine faith involves trust. Knowledge and assent alone do not make genuine faith. James 2:19 says that “even the demons believe.” Demons are not atheists. They even have an orthodox view of God. If faith, then, is simply about understanding God correctly, we must logically conclude that the demons have saving faith. Yet we know that this isn’t the case.

A simple awareness of facts is not faith. There must be a movement from knowledge to assent that then culminates in trust.

A summons to trust in Christ—actively, not passively—is included in all of His invitations. In Matthew 11, for example, He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (vv. 28–29). Notice the verbs: “come,” “take,” “learn,” “find rest.” These are all action words. They involve doing. You see, faith is not passive resignation. New Testament faith begins in knowledge, leads to assent, and ends in trust on the basis of the knowledge to which we have assented.

A Picture of Faith

A helpful illustration of biblical faith is marriage. Like faith, marriage involves multiple stages. First, you must get to know the individual: you go out for dinner, you walk in the park, you listen to them talk, and you observe them with their family and friends. As you gain knowledge, you begin to ask yourself, “Could I spend my life with this person? Am I willing to commit myself to them?” Then, once you have satisfactory answers to these questions, you begin to tell yourself, “On the basis of the knowledge that I’ve gained, I am prepared to make a commitment. I want to move beyond mere knowledge and assent to trust. I want to give myself to them. I want to know them at the deepest possible level.”

This is the experience of all who place their faith in Jesus. Is it your experience? Are you a person of faith?

 The Weak and the Strong

Romans 14. Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,

‘every knee will bow before me;

    every tongue will acknowledge God.’”[b]

12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. (edification is the building up of the body of Christ) 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith, and everything that does not come from faith is sin

Notes: Hebrews 11:1 (Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.)

Notes:  Substance Equals Jesus

Notes: All good things come from God above. Which we put our hope in.

Notes: If does not come from Jesus it is sin because it is impure.

Notes: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6

It is written Genesis 5:23-24

Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

It is written Genesis 6:9

This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.

Abraham Justified by Faith

It is written in Romans 4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

8 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.