Messianic Judaism - The Torah and the Testimony Revealed

This session presents the issue of eternal security from the Hebraic perspective from which the Scriptures were written in; distinguishes the difference between eternal life, and salvation; and shows how nothing is secure for eternity apart from obedience to the God who created us.

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Can the Saved be Lost? 4/8/05 Edition

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08/23/2008

CAN THE SAVED BE LOST? 12-23-04 Edition

In Christian circles this has been a never ending debate. But in Hebraic thought there is no such concept as “once saved always saved”.

The once saved always saved doctrine is a Calvinistic approach in theology introduced centuries after the resurrection, a theology and doctrine of which has nothing in common with Hebraic thought in any way, shape, or form, other than that Yahuweh knows in advance who will endure to the end, and who will not.

But the Hebraic standpoint is firmly grounded from the beginning of time, and is best expressed in the passages of Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 18:1-32 & 33:10-20.

The “once saved always saved” doctrine, is the heart of haSatan’s lie spoken in the Garden of Eden in B’resheet (Genesis) 3:1-4 which states that if you partake in that which is forbidden “you won’t really die”.

Let’s begin with

Hebrew 6:4-6

6:4 …it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Ruach haKadosh (Holy Spirit),

6:5 and have tasted the good word of Yahuweh, and of the powers of the eternal age to come,

6:6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of Yahuweh, and put Him to an open shame.

6:7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from Yahuweh.

6:8 but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

As Yeshua says in Yahchanan (John) 15:1-6

15:1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

15:2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

15:4 Remain in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine; [and] neither can you, unless you remain in Me.

15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

15:6 If anyone does not remain in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

Hebrew 10:26-31

10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins.

10:27 but [only] a fearful expectation of judgment, and fire of indignation which will devour the enemies.

10:28 If anyone who rejects the Torah given through Moshe is to die on the testimony of two or three witnesses,

10:29 Of how much more severe punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of Yahuweh underfoot, counting the Blood of the Covenant by which he was set-apart as a common thing, and insulting the Ruach (Spirit) of Grace?

Mattit’yahu (Matthew) 7:21-23

7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, Master, Master, shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but [only] he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.

7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, cast out demons in Your Name, and done many miracles in Your Name?

7:23 And I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice willful violation of Torah.

Mattit’yahu (Matthew) 25:45-51

25:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom His Master [has] made ruler over his household to give (His servants) food in due season?

25:46 Blessed is that servant whom his Master, when He comes, will find so doing.

25:47 For truly I say to you that He will make him ruler over all His goods.

25:48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, “My Master is delaying His coming”

25:49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,

25:50 [then] the Master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for Him, and at an hour that he is not aware of,

25:51 and will cut him in two, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. And there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I Yahchanan (I John) 1:6

1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

I Yahchanan (I John) 2:4-6

2:4 He who says, I know Him, and does not obey His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

2:5 But whoever obeys His word, truly the love of Yahuweh is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

2:6 He who says he remains in Him must himself walk even as He walked.

II Yahchanan (II John) 1:9

1:9 Whoever violates, and fails to remain in, the teachings of Messiah does not have Yahuweh; [but] he who remains in the teachings of Messiah has both the Father and the Son.

Therefore,

III Yahchanan (III John) 1:11,

1:11 Beloved, do not imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of Yahuweh, but he who does evil will not see Yahuweh.

Yeshua is,

Hebrews 3:6,14

3:6 as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold firmly to the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

3:14 For we have become partakers of Messiah if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end.

Mattit’yahu (Matthew) 24:13

24:13 …he who endures to the end shall be saved.

Philippians 2:12

2:12 …work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

2:16 holding firmly to the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Messiah that I have not run for nothing, or labored for nothing.

I Corinthians 9:24-27

9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but [only] one receives the prize? Run [therefore] in such a way that you may obtain it.

9:25 [Likewise] everyone who competes for the prize is disciplined in all things. They do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

9:26 Therefore I run after this manner, not with uncertainty; and thus I fight, not as one who beats the air.

9:27 But I discipline my body and bring it into submission, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself am cast away. See also, I Corinthians 3:5-15.

For what good is it if I build on the foundation of Messiah with gold and silver and precious stones in such a way that draws out many unto salvation, but I myself am cast away.

I Corinthians 3:16,17

3:16 Do you not know that you are the Temple of Yahuweh and that the Ruach (Spirit) of Yahuweh dwells in you?

3:17 If anyone defiles the Temple of Yahuweh, Yahuweh will destroy him. For the Temple of Yahuweh is set-apart (holy), which Temple you are.

II Kepha (II Peter) 2:20-22

2:20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our King and Deliverer, haMashiach Yeshua (the Messiah Yeshua), they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

2:21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the set-apart (holy) commandments delivered to them.

2:22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to his own vomit” and “a pig, having washed, to her swimming in the mud”.

But I want to remind you, though you should know this, that Yahuweh, having saved the people out of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe, for they were disobedient. Hebrews 3:18,19 & Yahudee (Jude) 1:5.

And that the heavenly messengers (angels) who, at one time, had eternal life, forsook their positions in heaven and before the throne, and as such have been bound with everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the Great Day. Yahudee (Jude) 1:6; II Kepha (II Peter) 2:4.

Romans 13:11

13:11 …it is high time to awake out of [our] sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed.

For the Day of Yahuweh is quickly approaching when Yeshua shall return with our salvation, Revelation 12:10; and raise us up unto eternal life. I Corinthians 15:50-57.

So we see that salvation is not something we receive at the moment we begin believing, but is that which we receive at the resurrection, if we endure faithfully to the end.

Do not believe that professing belief in God alone will gain you salvation or eternal life; for the demons also believe and tremble; Ya’aqob (James) 2:19.

Do not believe that confessing the Name of Yeshua before men or professing Yeshua as the Son of Yahuweh alone will gain you salvation or eternal life, for the demons also confess and acknowledge these things; Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28.

And do not think that doing miracles in his name, prophesying in His Name, or casting out demons in His Name will gain you salvation or eternal life. Mattit’yahu (Matthew) 7:21-23.

For Yeshua only provides salvation to those whose violations of Torah (sins) are past; Romans 3:25

Therefore, stop violating Torah (Repent/stop sinning) or you will all likewise perish. Luke 13:1-5.

Faith in Yeshua, without works established in obedience to Torah, is dead. Ya’aqob (James) 2:14-26.

For whoever says, “I know Him” and does not obey His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in them. I Yahchanan (I John) 2:4.

The Torah is truth. Tehillim (Psalm) 119:142

The Commandments are truth. Tehillim (Psalm) 119:151

The Word is truth. Yahchanan (John) 17:17

Yeshua is truth. Yahchanan (John) 14:6

I Yahchanan (I John) 1:6,7

1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, but walk in darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.

1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of haMashiach Yeshua His Son cleanses us from all sin.

The Torah is light. Mishlei (Proverbs) 6:23

Yeshua is light. Yahchanan (John) 8:12

Do not be deceived, whoever practices righteousness is righteous even as Yeshua is righteous. But whoever violates the Torah (sins) is of the devil. Whoever is born of Yahuweh does not continue to violate Torah (to sin). I Yahchanan (I John) 3:7-9

Whoever practices righteousness is begotten of Him. I Yahchanan (I John) 2:29

Obedience to Torah produces righteousness (produces righteous behavior concerning our present and future conduct). D’varim (Deuteronomy) 6:24,25

Faith in Yeshua’s sacrifice for the remission of sins past produces righteousness for us in regard to past violations of Torah. Romans 3:25

In Hebraic thought, salvation and eternal life are two different things.

Salvation is what we receive through sacrifice for the remission of sins past. This Hebraic concept is fully voiced in Romans 3:25.

Eternal life, on the other hand, is what we receive by obeying the commandments, for it is the Commandments of Yahuweh that instruct us, and define for us, precisely what the way of life is D‘varim (Deuteronomy) 30:11-20 & 32:46,47.

This Hebraic concept is voiced in Mattit’yahu (Matthew) 19:16-21. (This passage is not referring to just “10” commandments as is commonly taught as is evident by the fact that Yeshua quotes loving one’s neighbor as one’s self, and giving to the poor, both of which are from the other 603 commandments outside of the erroneously entitled “10” commandments; but Yeshua is simply beginning His quote, in general, from the beginning, even as one might recite a list of U.S. Presidents beginning with George Washington.)

To the Torah of Yahuweh and the Testimony of Yeshua, if anyone does not speak according to these words, it is because they have no light in them. Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 8:16-20.

Likewise, in Hebraic thought, salvation is not ultimately received until we are raised up unto eternal life at the time of the resurrection of the dead. This Hebraic concept is voiced in Romans 13:11; and Revelation 12:10.

The reason for this is because salvation is simply the concept of being “salvaged” from the death penalty owed for our sins. That is, it is what is provided to us concerning our past violations of Torah, so that our current obedience to Torah can be of benefit to us.

To put this in modern terms, salvation is like serving a prison term owed for a past crime we committed so that our current conduct as a law abiding citizen will be of benefit to us.

Why? Because being a law abiding citizen doesn’t benefit me if I am still in prison, or if I am out of prison but haven’t served my time yet. My conduct as a law abiding citizen is only of permanent, long term benefit to me if my debt owed for my past criminal conduct has been paid.

Yeshua, likewise, is the one who paid this debt for us. However, He did not do it so that we could be free to engage in more violations of Torah (more sin) anymore than a Governor would grant a pardon so we could go out and commit more crimes.

Accordingly, if I go out and commit more crimes after receiving a pardon from the Governor, then the Governor’s pardon will be of no benefit to me concerning my new crime, for I will have “crucified” the Governor’s pardon afresh, and have trampled under foot that grace by which I had been “sanctified”.

Even so, it is the same with salvation.

If I go out and continue to violate the Torah (continue to sin), then the salvation I had previously received becomes of no benefit to me in regard to my new “criminal” behavior, and so in effect, I have “lost” my salvation - lost my Governor's Pardon, and the only way to gain it back is by confessing my Torah violation (my sin); I Yahchanan (I John) 1:9, and renewing my commitment to “going and sinning no more“; Yahchanan (John) 8:10,11.

And as it says in Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 18:1-32 & 33:10-20, how a person who is sinful all their life, if they stop sinning, and do what is right, and they die in their righteousness, then they shall save their soul alive (receive salvation), and none of the violations of Torah (sins) they had committed prior will be remembered.

But that a person who is righteous all their life, if they stop doing that which is right, and start violating the Torah, and they die in their Torah violation (in their sin), then for the sins they have sinned their soul shall die, and none of the righteousness that they had done in their life will be remembered.

Now this is quite an amazing concept from a “Christian” perspective because it supposedly was not possible for us to receive remission of sin until Yeshua came.

But from a Hebraic perspective it is no mystery at all, for the above standard is the standard applied to all generations not for salvation, but for qualification for salvation. And this standard makes it clear that this qualification for salvation is not based on one’s overall conduct in life; but rather, on what state of mind a person is in at the time of death.

That is, if they died in a state of righteousness, then they qualified for salvation, and if they died in a sinful lifestyle, then they were disqualified for salvation. And that salvation is ultimately provided through Yeshua to all generations based on qualification by this standard - the standard of Torah.

As it says in Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 11:3

11:3 …if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie.

As it is stated in Mattit’yahu (Matthew) 13:1-23

The seed of the gospel of salvation is planted into many hearts. But having it planted into one’s heart is no guarantee that it will bear fruit unto salvation.

For there are those who have their seed snatched away before it can take root, because they fail to understand the message of salvation. These are the unbelieving and unrepentant whose end will be the lake that burns with fire.

Then there are those who receive the word with joy, and whose seeds sprout, but which are unable to bear root for their desire is to please others rather than God; and so when tribulation or persecution arises, they forsake the Faith.

These are those who believe mentally, but have no true repentance or commitment to the Faith. And as such, are cast away with the unbelieving in the lake that burns with fire; the ones who have “lost“ their salvation because their faith was not combined with obedience; Mattit’yahu (Matthew) 7:21-23 & 25:41-46; Luke 6:46,49.

And there are those whose seeds both sprout and take root, but because they are caught up in the affairs of this world, they are unfruitful. Their works are burned up, but they themselves are saved because they are committed to obeying the Torah (to overcoming sin) and to doing what is right; I Corinthians 3:5-15.

And then there are those who receive the gospel of salvation with a pure heart; who both hear the word, and understand it. And they bear fruit in abundance, unto eternal life, for they obey the commandments of Yahuweh, and have the Testimony of Yeshua, Revelation 12:17; 14:12; and love not their lives unto death; Revelation 12:11; Luke 6:47,48, and they receive eternal life at the first resurrection and reign with Yeshua for a 1,000 years; Revelation 20:4-6.

It is not he who professes Yeshua who receives salvation unto eternal life, but He who receives the word with a faithful heart, and endures with it unto the end.

May all who read this message receive it in purity and faithfulness of heart, and endure with it unto the end that they may receive the end result of their faith, the salvation of their soul; I Kepha (I Peter) 1:9.

Until next time,

Shalom

Copyright 02/08/2003, by Hezekiyah Haas
12/23/04 Edition

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