After reading the title of today’s message, you might be asking, “Hey, I believe in God, so what’s missing?”
What might be missing is the difference between being told “Welcome, good and faithful servant” or “Be gone from me- I never knew you!”
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I’m sure you are all familiar with the old saying, “In one ear and out the other”, right? That’s when we use selective hearing, and even though we heard what was being said, we never really paid enough attention to it to retain or even acknowledge what the other person was saying.
Aha! There’s that word, the very word upon which my entire message is based: acknowledge.
Many people believe in God, but that doesn’t mean you are saved.
Many people take the next step and believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah, but that doesn’t mean you are saved.
After all, every demon in Sheol (hell) not only believes in God and Yeshua, but they’ve seen them! Heck! They used to worship God at his feet.
But they’re not saved, are they?
The difference between believing in God and acknowledging God is how well we obey what God tells us to do. And, considering that God requires obedience (Isaiah 1:11), specifically obedience to his instructions in the Torah (which, for the record, Yeshua never-ever-even-once said could be ignored) means that if someone only believes in God but fails to even try to obey his Torah, then he (or she) doesn’t acknowledge God.
And what we do not acknowledge is, by definition, unimportant to us and we ignore whatever it is.
Do you like the idea that you might be ignoring God?
If someone is talking drek to me, I turn away from them and place my palm towards them and say, “Talk to the hand.” I believe the person is there, I believe the person exists, and I also believe the person is saying something to me that they think is important.
But I refuse to acknowledge them.
During my whole life I have seen people doing this to God, in Christianity, and even to some degree, within Judaism. People say they believe in God but they refuse to acknowledge what he says as important, choosing instead to obey their priests, pastors, ministers, or rabbis.
Christianity has taught that the Mosaic Law is not relevant to Christians, and in fact, some go as far as to say those who are trying to obey God’s Torah show faithlessness and are “under the law”. My experience is that nearly everyone who has ever thrown that in my face had no idea what they were talking about, especially when it came to what Shaul (Paul) meant when he used that term.
The rabbis have created Halacha, which means “the walk”, and it is composed of the rabbinical instructions regarding how to obey the Torah commandments. It is formed from what is in the Talmud (called the Oral Law) and, essentially, creates more work for Jews who are trying to obey God’s word. The ordinances against eating meat and dairy together, the distance one can walk on the Shabbat, the public reading of the Torah on certain weekdays, the lighting of the candles for Hanukkah, and many other requirements for everyday activities are all outlined in Halacha, which has been developed over centuries.
Halacha does acknowledge God, but takes it to a level beyond what God requires, and as such, in my opinion violates the Torah commandment against adding to or taking away from what God told us to do (Deuteronomy 4:2).
Let’s finish today’s message with this:
Do you believe in God?
Do you believe Yeshua is the Messiah?
If you do, either for one or both, here’s one last question:
“Do you acknowledge God?”
If you ignore what God said to do in the Torah then you do not acknowledge God or Yeshua, for that matter, because all Yeshua ever taught was what is in the Torah.
Here is the bottom line, people: if you follow the teachings of your religious leaders instead of what God said to do, then you may believe in God, you may believe Yeshua is the Messiah, but you’re thrusting your hand in God’s face while turning away from him.
That’s a hard word to hear, and I am sure right now there may be some of you thrusting your hand in MY face- refusing to acknowledge what I am saying- and that is your choice. I never tell anyone what they must do, but I will tell you what God says you must do, which he said through Moses and all the Prophets: you must obey God.
Not obey Paul, not obey John, not obey any of the Popes, not obey Martin Luther, not obey Charles Russell, not obey John Calvin, not obey the Rambam (Maimonides), or any of the people who have created their own religion or religious tenets, rites, ceremonies or holidays over the centuries since Yeshua went to sit at God’s right hand.
NO! We are not to obey human beings, we are to obey God, and God, alone. Yeshua taught everyone to obey God, the only difference between what he taught and what the Pharisees taught is that Yeshua taught God’s deeper, spiritual meaning of the Torah.
Those who acknowledge God and have received the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) by asking for it in the name of the Messiah, Yeshua, know what I am talking about.
If you don’t know what I am talking about, or you are currently showing me your palm, then I sincerely pray that you will retract you hand and reconsider your attitude.
Think about all you have been taught by your religious leaders as to how you worship God, who you to pray to, what you eat, which holidays you celebrate, and then compare that to what God said in his Torah, which is really your Torah, too.
I hope then you will see that throughout the entire Bible, the ONLY place where God instructs us how to worship him and how to treat each is in the Torah.
And throughout the Gospels, which are the only records of what Yeshua taught, Yeshua never said to ignore his father’s commandments.
Finally, after you do this, please ask yourself this important- this eternally important- question:
“If I want to be saved, should I obey people or should I obey God?”
How you answer that question will determine whether you will hear “Welcome, good and faithful servant” or “Be gone from me- I never knew you!”
Thank you for being here, and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).
And remember that I always welcome your comments.
That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!
