I believe it is time to draw a line in the sand, between those who follow our Messiah Yeshua and those who don’t. Many times, I see Christians, still living according to the flesh, and it is with a heavy heart that I believe the population of true disciples to be extremely low. I grew up in the church and until about three years ago I continued to attend Sunday worship, it wasn’t till after I left and began studying the scriptures for myself did, I see the error of Christianity. For many churches preach a false and strange doctrine, it is knowing this that I know I can never return, and nothing will deter me in following the instructions of YHWH, also known as the Torah.
Who is True and Who is False?
How does the Bible tell us who are true and false disciples? Our King Yeshua had this to say.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens. “Many shall say to Me in that day, ‘Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?’ “And then I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:21-23)
Yeshua makes it clear that even those that cast out demons or perform miraculous wonders, or even call upon his name if they practice lawlessness then they are false disciples.
What is lawlessness?
“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4)
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” (Romans 7:7)
Sin is transgressing the Torah, plain and simple, I don’t need theological doctrines to give me a convoluted description of what sin is. The Bible tells me it’s breaking the Torah.
Paul Kept the Torah
I know many will go to the books of Paul to say the Torah is done away with, but Paul lived according to the law.
“And when we had arrived in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), the brothers received us gladly. And on the following day Sha’ul (Paul) went in with us to Ya‛aqoḇ (James), and all the elders came. And having greeted them, he was relating one by one what Elohim had done among the nations through his service. And when they heard it, they praised the Master. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Yehuḏim (Jews) there are who have believed, and all are ardent for the Torah, “But they have been informed about you that you teach all the Yehuḏim (Jews) who are among the nations to forsake Mosheh (Moses), saying not to circumcise the children nor to walk according to the practices. “What then is it? They shall certainly hear that you have come. “So do this, what we say to you: We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be cleansed with them, and pay their expenses so that they shave their heads. And all shall know that what they have been informed about you is not so, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Torah. “But concerning the nations who believe, we have written and decided that they should keep themselves from what is offered to idols, and blood, and what is strangled, and whoring.” Then Sha’ul (Paul) took the men on the next day, and having been cleansed with them, went into the Set-apart Place to announce the completion of the days of separation – until the offering should be presented for each one of them.” (Acts 21:17-26)
Start with Little and Slowly Add
To understand why James listed those four commandments, see my post titled, "Acts 15". Some may argue that the gentiles were not instructed to obey the law, but to adhere to certain rules, this has to do with being a child in the spirit vs. being an adult in the spirit. They started off with a piece of the Torah and slowly as they grew spiritually, more was revealed. We don’t expect children to work a 9 to 5 and pay rent, do we? But they grow and mature, it is the same in the spirit. Here is an example from the Bible.
“concerning whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For indeed, although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first elements of the Words of Elohim. And you have become such as need milk and not solid food. For everyone partaking of milk is inexperienced in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for the mature whose senses have been trained by practice to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5: 11-14)
Peter’s Warning
Furthermore, Peter gives us a warning that lawless people would twist the writings of Paul.
“So then, beloved ones, looking forward to this, do your utmost to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and reckon the patience of our Master as deliverance, as also our beloved brother Sha’ul (Paul) wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him, as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these matters, in which some are hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the other Scriptures. You, then, beloved ones, being forewarned, watch, lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the delusion of the lawless, but grow in the favor and knowledge of our Master and Savior יהושע Messiah. To Him be the esteem both now and to a day that abides. Amĕn.” (2 Peter 3:14-18)
Not only would it be incorrect to say Paul taught against the law, but it would also make him least in the Kingdom of YHWH, and that is extremely unlikely.
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to complete. For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one yod or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done. “Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.” (Matthew 5:17-19)
If you Love Messiah, Keep the Commandments
Do you love our Messiah Yeshua and our Elohim YHWH? If you do, then you should be keeping his commands.
“If you love Me, you shall guard My commands.” (John 14:15)
“For this is the love for Elohim, that we guard His commands, and His commands are not heavy,” (1 John 5:3)
“He who possesses My commands and guards them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21)
“And the one guarding His commands stays in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He stays in us, by the Spirit which He gave us.” (1 John 3:24)
The Torah is not a burden, I don’t care how many Ph.D.’s tell you it is, the Bible tells us it's not. If we are to be true disciples we need to walk as our King Yeshua did, and we all know he kept the Torah.
“Become imitators of me, as I also am of Messiah.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)
“And by this we know that we know Him, if we guard His commands. The one who says, “I know Him,” and does not guard His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim has been perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. The one who says he stays in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.” (1 John 2:3-7)
If you say you are a follower of Yeshua but you’re not keeping his commands, then you are a liar and the truth is not in you.
Favor is not a Permit to Sin
We are saved by favor through faith, Torah alone cannot save us, only Yeshua can. But that does not mean we go on sinning.
“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Torah but under favor? Let it not be! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves servants for obedience, you are servants of the one whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?” (Romans 6:15-16)
“For not the hearers of the Torah are righteous in the sight of Elohim, but the doers of the Torah shall be declared right.” (Romans 2:13)
“Do we then nullify the Torah through the belief? Let it not be! On the contrary, we establish the Torah.” (Romans 3:31)
Keeping the Torah is in vain if you do not believe in Yeshua, you must believe in the Messiah and walk as he walked.
Belief without Works is Dead
I think James really spells it out for us on how having faith in Yeshua and keeping the Torah work together in perfect harmony.
“So also belief, if it does not have works, is in itself dead. But someone might say, “You have belief, and I have works.” Show me your belief without your works, and I shall show you my belief by my works. You believe that Elohim is one. You do well. The demons also believe – and shudder! But do you wish to know, O foolish man, that the belief without the works is dead? Was not Abraham our father declared right by works when he offered Yitsḥaq (Isaac) his son on the slaughter-place? Do you see that the belief was working with his works, and by the works the belief was perfected? And the Scripture was filled which says, “Abraham believed Elohim, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.” And He called him, “he who loves Elohim.” You see, then, that a man is declared right by works, and not by belief alone. In the same way, was not Raḥaḇ the whore also declared right by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so also the belief is dead without the works.” (James 2:17-26)
How Favor and Obedience go Hand in Hand
Allow me to tell you a story, a man comes to the walls of a great nation, he cannot climb over the wall, dig under the wall, fly over the wall, or go through the wall. No amount of effort he puts forth will be enough for him to enter into the kingdom of his own doing. The only way he can get inside is by accepting the sovereign rule of the king. Once he becomes a part of the kingdom, he is expected to abide by the laws of the nation. We are the man outside the walls, and there is absolutely nothing we could do to get into the kingdom. The king is Yeshua, through him and only him do we get admitted into the nation of Israel. The laws we are supposed to keep is the Torah.
Continue to Test all things, even this teaching, and stay vigilant in your studies. May the Rauch Hakodesh guide you into all truth.
P.S.
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