Author: Steven R. Bruck

Why Salvation Has No Value to Most People

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For me, the most valuable asset I own is my guaranteed ticket to salvation.

But, for most people, salvation is something they just can’t fathom or understand, and as such it has no real value to them.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Now, you may be thinking, “C’mon, Steve- everyone knows about heaven.” and you would be right in saying that, but heaven and salvation are not the same thing.

Heaven for most everyone is a place where everyone is happy, but the truth is that heaven is where God and the angels live- not people. When the Acharit haYamim (End Days) are ended, those who are saved live on the new earth, not in heaven.

Salvation, on the other hand, is not a place- it is a condition. Salvation is that state of being (what we call “saved”) where you have the opportunity to be cleansed of the sins you commit by means of your having accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as the messiah God promised to send, believing that he was raised from the dead as a substitutionary sacrifice for all people, Jew and Gentile, alike.

Salvation has no Hollywood presence, unlike all those movies showing heaven. Salvation has no substance, no visible attributes- you can’t see it, you can’t touch it, you can’t smell it.

Salvation is the promise God gave to his chosen people, a promise to cleanse them of their sins when they sacrifice to him to ask forgiveness of their sins against him, coming before him with a repentant attitude, a broken heart, and a contrite spirit.

And remember: every sin is first and foremost a sin against God; King David knew that, and said so in Psalm 51.

To those who have no faith and reject God, salvation has no value.

And don’t think I am only talking about Atheists or people of religions that are not based on the Judeo-Christian Bible. No! The most pitiful people I know are those who reject God while believing they are worshiping him!

A religion doesn’t teach only God says, it teaches whatever the founder of that religion thinks God says.

Even Judaism- which should be the “purest” of all religions because it is based on what God says in the Torah- is not innocent, either. Halacha rules (Halacha means “the walk”) are all rabbinical regulations, rites, and requirements that are man-made. These include separate plates for meat and dairy, restricting how far one can walk on the Shabbat, searching for hametz (leavened products) in the house the day before the Pesach (Passover) Seder, etc. They are found mostly in the Talmud.

Some of these Halacha rules are the man-made traditions that Yeshua talked about which he said were wrong because they overruled God’s word. Now, it wasn’t every man-made tradition that Yeshua decried, only those that took precedence over God’s laws.

Most Christian religions teach, in one way or another to ignore the Torah. Many teach that Jesus did away with the law, and by doing so set their congregants on the path of destruction because they are rejecting God while thinking they are doing what pleases him!

When we do not do as God says we should, that is not a small thing because we either do as God says, or we don’t, and God is very clear that refusing to do as he says is rejecting him.

Period; shut the door; das ist alles!

Salvation is the most valuable thing that exists. However, for most of the people in the world, it has no value because they do not really think on the spiritual (eternal) level. Even many of those who are “saved” do not understand that the things of this world are not valuable because they do not last.

Value is a fleeting thing: today your stocks are worth a million dollars, then the market crashes and now they are worth nothing. In the 12 years I was on Wall Street, during the 80’s and early 90’s, I knew people with million dollar plus brokerage accounts who, overnight, ended up owing hundreds of thousands of dollars, and this was AFTER their entire portfolio had been sold to meet margin call when the market crashed.

Value is temporary, value is fleeting, value is based on supply and demand, but salvation is priceless and its value never decreases.

It is a shame that so many people devalue the most valuable thing in the universe- the ability to be forgiven by means of the sacrifice Yeshua made for us. It is especially painful to me when I think of my fellow Jews who have been taught to reject Yeshua.

That’s right- most Jews I have ever known (which used to include me) have no idea of who Yeshua is, what he taught and how he lived. That’s because they have been told by their family, friends, Rabbi, and nearly every other Jew they know that Jesus created Christianity, which hates and kills Jews. And their Gentile friends also think Jesus created Christianity.

Guess what? Yeshua didn’t create Christianity: men and women- mere human beings- created all the different forms of Christian religions that exist today.

I pray that salvation has value to you because you know what God wants from you, which is in the Torah. Don’t be concerned that you have to do everything thing in the Torah perfectly, because you can’t- that’s why we need a Messiah. Duh!

But if you do not try to do what God said you should do, well…that’s different, and I’d be concerned if I were you.

Yeshua taught us to obey the Torah, not just to perform the literal meaning of the laws but to understand the deeper, spiritual meaning. When we do that we will have the Torah written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33), and that is when salvation will have its full, never-decreasing value to you.

We have a choice to either value or devalue salvation, so nu? What’s its value to you?

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages with everyone you know, and buy my books from my website.

And I always welcome your comments, which you can make here or on my Facebook discussion group called “Just God’s Word”.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Parashah Shemini 2022 (Eighth) Leviticus 9 – 11

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In these chapters we read about how on the 8th day, Moses called Aaron and his sons to make sacrifice for themselves, then (having been cleansed by means of their sacrifice) to make sacrifice for the people. Moses explains that when doing things in this manner the Lord will then appear to them.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Aaron did as Moses commanded, which was in accordance with the instructions God gave to Moses, and after the sacrifices had been performed and the meat and fat laid upon the altar, God sent fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifice in the presence of all the people. When the people saw this, they shouted and fell on their faces.

Now we come to a sad event, caused by what the rabbis assume was jealousy fueled by drink: Aaron’s two eldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, put fire and incense in their censors (fire which was not from the altar) and made offering to the Lord. This was not only wrong, but sinful because they were not doing the right thing the right way, and so God punished them by sending his fire to destroy them. As sad as this was, Moses told Aaron that God said through those who are nigh unto him he will be sanctified, and in front of the people he will be glorified, meaning that those who serve God must maintain a higher level of obedience, and through their proper service they will glorify God before all the people.

As such, when Nadab and Abihu offered strange (unjustified and improper) fire before God, they neither sanctified nor glorified God, as their (assumed) purpose was to glorify themselves in showing that they also could do what their father was doing.

The last chapter in this parashah is the law of Kashrut, the kosher laws. In this chapter God tells us, very simply, what we may eat and what we may not eat. Consequently, you could say this chapter identifies what is “food” and what isn’t.

My message for this parashah is pretty much the same one I always give when we are covering the Kosher laws, or for that matter, any commandment, ordinance, regulation, or law that God gives that doesn’t have a simple, easy-to-understand explanation.

And that message is this:

If you don’t understand why God commands you to do something, you aren’t supposed to.

God doesn’t have to explain himself to you, or to me, or to anyone. The hard truth of the matter is that it comes down to that little, five-letter word that Jews and Christians throw around so much, without really understanding what it means: F-A-I-T-H.

It is really so simple. There is no need to complicate things, although complicating things is what humans love to do. We can’t just obey, we have to know why we should obey.

OK, here’s the best reason you can have to obey: God promises you will be blessed when you obey him. You can find a very detailed listing of all the blessings you receive when you obey God in Deuteronomy 28.

True faith is not just accepting, or even believing, but acting upon that acceptance and belief throughout your life. Just as Yaakov says in his letter to the Believers, faith without works is dead (James 2:14). That means no matter how faithful you think you are, if you aren’t doing things in your everyday life that demonstrate that faith, you are lying.

And the way to demonstrate faith is to do as God said you should do, faithfully believing that whatever God says to do is because he only wants the best for you.

This is the ultimate proof of one’s faith- obeying without question.

I don’t need to know why I can have a lamb sandwich anytime I want to, but if I want pork rinds while watching TV that is forbidden.

I don’t need to understand why God says some animals are clean and all others are unclean.

I don’t need to understand why some fish are good to eat and others aren’t.

What I DO need to know is what God tells me to do. I don’t need to know why.

So, either you trust God to have your best interests at heart, or you don’t.

Either you believe that God knows what he is doing, or you don’t.

Either you want to earn blessings, or you don’t.

Either you follow God’s rules or you follow human rules.

The bottom line is this: you aren’t supposed to understand why God tells you what to do, but you are supposed to obey him.

Thank you for being here, and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and my YouTube channel, buy my books and share them with others, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure you read and agree to the rules).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

When We Trust in the Lord, What are We Trusting?

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Should I show every biblical reference to “Trust in the Lord?” If I did, it would take you longer to read them all then to read the rest of this message! So trust me when I say, there are a lot of references in the Bible telling us to trust in the Lord.

But what, exactly, are we trusting?

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Do we trust that God is God?

Do we trust that God will keep his word?

Do we trust that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah?

Do we trust there is a Devil?

Do we trust all of the above, and more?

And what if I say I believe in the Lord? Does that mean I trust him, also?

Mr. Webster says that to believe means to accept as true or real, and he goes on to tell us that trust means to have confidence or faith in a person or thing.

This means I can believe that God exists but I don’t have to trust him, as in trust him to punish me if I don’t do as he says, or trust him to forgive me when I ask him to do so.

So, which is more important? To believe in God or to trust him?

Well, you can’t trust something that you don’t even accept as being real, so believing in God is the very first step to trusting him. It seems this isn’t a “One or the other“, but more of a “Once I do, then what?” thing, doesn’t it?

When we are told we should trust in the Lord, for me, that means that I have to accept that whatever God says is true and I should obey him. And when it comes down to Yeshua being the Messiah, or not, it is something I should first believe. If I don’t believe Yeshua is the Messiah, then trust isn’t a factor.

The issue now is if I believe in God, and trust him to do as he says, he did say he would send a Messiah, so trusting him means that Yeshua could be that Messiah.

It comes down to choosing to believe. If I choose to believe Yeshua is the Messiah, for whatever reason, the next step is do I trust in him to… what?

Yeshua said that whatever we ask for in his name, he will do for us (John 16:23), and also that he is the only way to the Father (John 14:6). Those are the two things that I recall being the most important things to trust Yeshua for; other than those two, out trust is first and foremost in the Lord, God.

Hmm… now what? If I trust in God that he means what he says, he told us that we cannot sacrifice (to be forgiven) anywhere but where he places his name (Deuteronomy 12:11), which was the temple that King Solomon built in Jerusalem (1 Kings 9:3). But that temple was destroyed in 73 AD, so what do I do now?

Does that mean no temple, no sacrifice, therefore no forgiveness?

Yes, it does, for those who don’t believe that Yeshua is the Messiah.

Yeshua said that through his sacrifice we can be forgiven, which means I can still trust that God will forgive me if I believe that Yeshua is who he said he is.

Wow, that’s confusing, isn’t it? I don’t know now whether I am trusting or believing, or both? And in whom?

Let’s try to bring this into focus: first, you must believe that God exists. Next, you must trust that he will do as he says he will do; for me, that trust has been earned because I have read (and believe) the narratives in the Tanakh showing how God always came to the rescue of his people, Israel, when they did as he commanded.

The next step is to chose to believe what we read in the Gospels about Yeshua, and when we do that we then trust that through his sacrifice we can be forgiven, because his sacrifice replaced the need to bring an animal to the temple.

In other words, Yeshua is now where God has placed his name, and through Yeshua we can find forgiveness when we are repentant.

Believe in God, believe Yeshua is the Messiah, trust that God will forgive you when you repent and sacrifice, and trust that as the Messiah, Yeshua is the now both where God has placed his name and the substitutionary sacrifice for sin, through which everyone, everywhere, can now find forgiveness and, consequently, salvation.

The temple in Jerusalem used to be the only place we could attain forgiveness from sin, but now that place is the Messiah, Yeshua!

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my website ministry and my YouTube channel. Like my Facebook page and join my discussion group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

And share these messages with everyone! If you care to make a comment, I welcome it.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Parashah Tzav 2022 (Give an order) Leviticus 6 – 8

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God continues to explain the sacrificial system rules to Moses. He gives the instructions for the burnt offering, the meal offering, the guilt offering, the peace and thanks offerings, and we end with the consecration of the priests being performed.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

The parashah has many details about these sacrifices: what to wear, how to be cleansed, the type of bread to use, and many other fine details. So many details that you would think this is one of the most important things to do in order to be obedient to the Lord.

But let’s look at the Haftorah portion, which starts with Jeremiah 7:21.

God states that his commandments weren’t just to sacrifice, but to walk in his ways so that things will go well with us.

We see this same message throughout the Prophets:

Going through the motions of sacrifice aren’t as important as living the
way God wants us to live in our daily activities.

In other words, it is obedience to all that God says regarding worship and interpersonal relationships that matters to God.

God isn’t interested in sacrifice if there is no heartfelt repentance behind it. Through the prophets, God constantly tells the people that their sacrifices, although being made in accordance with the rules, mean nothing to him because there is no real intention to repent behind them.

People who say they are good Christians (or Jews, for that matter) because they go to church/shul every Sabbath, tithe, and are active members of the Men’s or Woman’s Club think that they are fine with God, but every other day they do whatever their sinful desires tell them to do.

People go to confession, tell their dirty little secrets to the Priest, recite the “Ah Father’s” and “Hail Mary’s”, drop a few bucks in the Collection Box and then go home to do drugs, have sex out of wedlock, eat pork rinds while watching the game, or cheat on their taxes.

Sacrifice without repentance is useless.

Calling on the Name of the Lord without repentance is useless.

Asking for forgiveness in Yeshua’s (Jesus) name with repentance is useless.

And living your life unrepentant is never, ever going to get you to heaven.

And how do we show true repentance?

By the way you live your life outside of the church or synagogue.

And that way is to follow God’s instructions. And, if you want to know where those are, look into the first five books of the Bible.

And I ain’t talkin’ about the 4 Gospels and Acts, I am talking about the TORAH!

There is no other place anywhere between Genesis and Revelation where God gives direct dictation to anyone regarding how he wants things to be done, except in the Torah. What Shaul (Paul) says, what Kefa (Peter) says, what Yochanon (John) says, what Yacov (James) says, or what any human being says is not more important than, or can overrule what God says.

Shaul wrote to Gentiles who were learning how to live as God wants us to live, and since it was such a different lifestyle for them, he brought them along in stages, step by step, precept-by-precept, and James (Acts 15) suggested they start small and learn the rest of what they need to do as they continue to attend Shabbat services.

The bottom line is that God gave us instructions how to worship him and how to treat each other, and the sacrificial system is the means for us to be forgiven when we fail to do as God said (we call that “sin”).

But what this Haftorah portion says, as well as so many other places in the Books of the Prophets, is that sacrifice without repentance, which is demonstrated through how we live our daily lives, means nothing to God.

In fact, God says through Isaiah (Isaiah 1:11-14) that he gets no pleasure from the blood of bulls and goats and that the people should stop bringing their worthless grain offerings. He goes as far as to say they are like disgusting incense to him! He says he can’t stand evil together with their assemblies, and when they spread out their hands to him, he will hide his face and not listen to them.

Wait a minute! Something’s not right here…how could God, totally trustworthy to do as he says he will do and incapable of lying, refuse to do as he says he will, which is to forgive us when we sacrifice to him and save us when we call on his Name?

The answer is that it isn’t God who is lying and not doing as he said he would, it is US!

We are to come before God repentant and willing to do t’shuva (to turn, as in turning from sin), but when we are just going through the motions, God knows it and we are the ones who are not keeping our side of the covenant.

So be a good Christian and go to church on Sunday, then steal paper products and pens from your office on Monday; be a good Jew and go to Shul on Saturday, then eat pork sausages with Canadian bacon for breakfast on Sunday.

We are to do as God says ALL THE TIME, and when we do as he says ALL THE TIME, then we get blessed: it doesn’t work the other way around.

Yes, the parochet was torn from top to bottom, indicating that salvation comes from God to us, but not until after we send up repentance, heartfelt t’shuvah, and demonstrate it through our daily activities which are to be in accordance with how God said we should act.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”.

I would also appreciate it if you would buy the books I have written- if you like what you get here, you will like the books, too.

And remember- I always welcome your comments… C’mon, let’s drash!

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

We Have a Spirit of Victory… But Victory Over What?

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Before I start, let me wish Chag Sameach (Happy Holiday) to all those celebrating the very happy holiday of Purim today.

Remember what the Rabbis have said…we should celebrate so much that we get so drunk we can’t tell Mordechai from Haman!

And for all my Irish friends out there, Happy St. Paddy’s Day.

AND…to all my United States Marine Corps Combat Engineer Battalion brothers and sisters, enjoy celebrating this day for St. Paddy is the patron saint of the Combat Engineers!

Okay, enough of that, let’s get down to today’s message.

The other day I posted about faith being able to help us conquer fear, and throughout the Bible we are encouraged to be victorious because God is with us.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Here are some references to verses that encourage us to be strong and victorious:

1 Corinthians15:57; Deuteronomy 20:4; Romans 8:31; Isaiah 55:11; 2 Tim 1:7

And we can be encouraged to be certain of victory not just by these passages, but by everything in the Bible, from Noah’s victory over evil, to Abraham’s victory over the 5 kings that abducted Lot, to Moses’ victory over Pharaoh and the entire Egyptian army, to Samson over the Phillistines, to…well, you get the picture.

I could go on for a LONG time talking about how we can have a spirit of victory when we are obedient to God.

But these victories were against other people. Isn’t there something more essential and more important than a victory over someone else?

Doesn’t Yeshua warn us not to be concerned about those who can harm the body, but rather against him who can destroy our soul? (Matthew 10:28)

So, what is the one thing we should try to have victory over more than anything else?

Ourselves.

The real victory isn’t over men or women or corporations or even over the Enemy (for the record, he has already lost), but over our own nature, our own iniquity (desire to sin), and of our own fear.

Victory over anything must start with victory over ourselves.

As I discussed the other day (“Fear of Loss Ruins Joy of Having“), faith is what gives us the strength we need to overcome our weaknesses. The real victory we can achieve through God is to stop sinning.

Now, that is so much easier to say than to do, and we will never stop sinning, completely. To strive to be a perfect person is an unreasonable expectation, and can only result in one thing…apostasy.

That’s right. When we try to be something we cannot, eventually we become so frustrated and depressed that we decide the entire activity is useless. It is a bit of a paradox: the closer we try to come to perfection, the further away from it we go.

I have constantly said (maybe some of you will recognize this) that we can never be sinless, but we can always sin less.

That is my goal, which is still pretty difficult to attain, but it is attainable.

I still sin, mostly not because I want to but because I am human and weak. And thanks be to God that he sent Yeshua, my Messiah, to make forgiveness of my sins possible through the sacrificial death Yeshua suffered on my behalf.

None of us will ever be sinless, but with faith and prayer and listening to the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit), we can find victory over ourselves.

I have known many people over the years who have made a complete “180”, a spiritual U-Turn, and become loving, compassionate, and faithful followers of God’s instructions to us about how to worship him and how to treat each other (you can find these only in the Torah).

I can truly hold myself up as one of these people. Not that I am compassionate enough, or loving enough, or even patient enough to be satisfied with my spiritual maturity, but if you knew me before! Oy!

It’s like when I was a kid and people would comment about my sense of humor: I would introduce them to my father (God rest his soul) and then they would say, “Oh, well, you’re not so bad, after all.”

We have the opportunity to develop a spirit of victory, and it can be over the tsouris we have to suffer living in a cursed and fallen world, but the real victory isn’t over our environment, it is over ourselves.

Therefore, work on yourself, read the Bible every day to be encouraged, to know better how others have been victorious with God’s help, and seek him out for your own victory.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and my YouTube channel, and on Facebook join my group called “Just God’s Word”.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!