This week, we have learned how salvation has to show itself in what we do. If we can’t see the fruits of our faith in our lives, we are not saved even though we might claim faith in Yehoshua (Yeshua/Jesus) as our Lord and Savior. We have also learned what type of fruit that must be visible in our lives; we have to show obedience to Moses for us to have genuine saving faith.
The question then gives itself, how does all of this come about? Does it happen automatically because we believe Yehoshua died for us, and we choose to repent? Are we going to have to memorize 613 commandments, or can we just believe in the cross as Christians do?
The answer to your question lies in 1. Cor 11 and 1.John 2:6. In 1.Cor 11 and 1. John 2:6 Paul and John encourage their readers to identify with Yehoshua and how He lived His life. This is also why the first Christians were called Christians or Messianic because everything they did and said resembled Jesus.
So how do we identify with Yehoshua?
Most Christians would say, “We seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking with other tounges and we walk around doing good, healing people, casting out demons in His name.” If you read Matt 7:21-23, you will quickly see this is the wrong answer. Every day billions of Christians die and leave this world expecting to be let into heaven; instead, they hear “depart from Me for I never knew you, you who are without Torah (the Torah is the written law of Moses).”
So how do we identify with Yehoshua? By asking us the question, who was He? If you are a Christian, you know the answer because the answer is one of the central doctrines of the Christian faith. He was a law-abiding Jew who obeyed every commandment of Moses that applied to Him as a man living in Israel with access to a temple. He had to do this to be able to atone for our sins, so this is the number 1 doctrine of the Christian faith, and it answers our question.
We identify with Yehoshua by doing what He did, and that is obeying Moses. But this does not answer our first question, does this mean we have to walk around memorizing 613 commandments?
So many Christians would distinguish between a Jewish believer in the Messiah and a gentile believer in the Messiah. In Isaiah 56, Yehovah says the gentile who joins himself or herself to Israel is no longer a gentile. By joining themselves to Israel, they have become Israel even though they have no Israeli or Jewish DNA in their ancestry. So from the Bible, we know it is wrong to distinguish between a Jewish and a gentile believer. If you are genuinely saved, you are now Israel, and according to Paul in Rom 2:29, a real Jew.
So we have the Bible saying in both 1.John 2:6, 1. Cor 11 and Rom 2:29, if we are genuinely saved, we should see ourselves as Jews. Not as Jews following the Talmud and rabbinical laws, but as Jews, the way our Messiah lived His life as a Jew only obeying the written laws of Moses (Matt 23:2).
If you are genuinely saved, you now have a new identity, and you are born again as a Jew. Now it is your responsibility to learn how to live your life as a Jew. Not as a Jew obeying rabbinical laws, but as a Jew, the way our Messiah lived His life as a Jew in obedience to Moses. (Matt 23:2). This is what Christians call sanctification. When you believed in Yehoshua’s sacrifice for your sins and repented, you became justified and righteous. Now you have begun your process of being sanctified by maturing as a Jew. (Acts 15)
When we identify with someone, and we mature in our identity, it becomes effortless to imitate them. When we identify with our Jewish Messiah and start to live our lives as He lived His Jewish life in obedience to Moses, it becomes effortless for us to do so. So we dont have to walk around memorizing 613 commandments; we have to walk around remembering who we are if we are saved we are Jews.
So this should be the object of our faith, our identity in Yehoshua, and who we are in Him. The Bible says, if we are in Him, we have become Jews. By identifying as Jews learning to obey Moses becomes natural to us.
So we dont have to walk around memorizing 613 commandments, but we have to remember our identity as Jews and make an effort to live as Jews the way Yehoshua lived His life.
So how do we show obedience to Moses and the fruit of our salving faith? By having our identity in Yehoshua as the object of our faith. What identity? Our Jewish identity.
If you are a mainstream Christian, sanctification can become very difficult for you. You will hear time and time again from well-meaning pastors how you are a Christian and not a Jew. You will hear time and time again from well-meaning Jews how you are a Christian and not a Jew because you are a gentile.
You have to make a choice who you will listen to.
Are you going to listen to well-meaning pastors and Jews who dont know the Bible? Are you going to listen to Yehovah, your God who wrote the Bible?
I hope you will listen to Yehovah and His Word, the Bible.
Yehovah says in His Word, the Bible, if you believe Yehoshua died for you and you have repented of your sins, you are now a Jew. DNA or ancestry does not matter; what matters is your sanctification learning to mature in your new identity as a Jew.
I would very much like to help you grow and mature as a Jew. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or prayer requests. It is free of charge. If you need a prophecy or counseling, we have several different options to choose from on our homepage.
I want to close this week’s bonus Shabbat teaching with this: If you are a Christian, you believe Jesus is coming back one day. You know the book of Revelation says that when He comes, He will sit in the temple in Jerusalem and rule this earth. The book of Revelation says He will rule this earth with the Torah, the written law of Moses, as the law. When He comes back, He is not coming as a Savior. He is coming as a judge, and He will wage war against those who disobey Moses.
Most Christians today believe this to be true, but their faith is dead.
The truth would be this if He came right now and put His feet on Mount of Olives, every Christian who believes they are “under grace and not law” would be wiped off the face of this earth by Jesus Himself.
The truth would be this if you died today as a Christian, under grace and not law, you would hear “depart from Me for I never knew you, you who disobey Moses” (Matt 7:21-23)
Why would you choose to ignore this when you know what the Bible says?
If you read these words, He has not come yet, and you are still alive. There is still a chance to do the right thing and get genuinely saved by repenting back to Moses.
Please allow me to help you grow in your new faith as a newborn Jew who believes Yehoshua is the Messiah who died for your sins.
We dont know how much time we have left; perhaps He will not come for 100 more years, maybe He will come tomorrow. Hopefully, you will live to be 120 years old or more, maybe you will die in the next hours after reading this. The truth is, we dont know.
But we do know this, the Bible does not lie, and the Bible says if you are not a Jew reconciled to Yehovah by the Blood of Yehoshua His Son, your faith in the cross and your good deeds as a Christian can not save you.
Make the right choice; the time is short.