I am sure you have been told, more than once, that you are saved by faith.
I am here to tell you that faith isn’t what saves you, although it is a requirement.
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We should begin by agreeing on what it means to be “saved”, so for the purpose of this message, being saved means that at Judgment Day you will be chosen by God to live forever in his presence.
In other words, being saved means not going to Sheol, or to the Lake of Fire, but being under your own fig tree enjoying the fruits of your own vines (Micah 4:4).
Let’s talk about faith, because the truth is that faith, alone, doesn’t save anyone! Faith prepares one for being saved, and that faith has to be in one thing, and one thing only: that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah God promised to send and his death was acceptable to God as a sin sacrifice for all who accept Yeshua as their Messiah.
That is an essential first step to being saved…well, actually, no- the first step is to believe in God. Duh!
The next step is to faithfully believe that Yeshua lived, died as a sin sacrifice for all people, everywhere, anytime, and that he was resurrected to life eternal, sitting at the right hand of God, interceding for those who accept him as their Messiah.
More than that, if we do believe in God, and we do accept Yeshua as our Messiah, that faithfulness MUST be demonstrated through obedience to God’s word. And I am not talking about what some religion says, but what God himself says, and that is found in only one place- the Torah.
Okay, so where are we? Oh, yeah- believe in God, accept Yeshua as your Messiah, faithfully believe he was resurrected (proving that his death was accepted by God as a sin sacrifice), and by means of that innocent blood being shed we can come to God and ask for forgiveness.
And THAT, my friends, is how we are saved- not just by faith, not just by obedience to Torah, but by being forgiven!
Yes- forgiveness is what saves us, because God cannot have sin in his presence, so to be in God’s presence forever (the very definition of being saved), we must be forgiven of all sin.
God sent Yeshua to be a once-and-for-everyone sin sacrifice so that by means of his shed blood we can have our sins forgiven, making us clean before God, allowing us to be in his presence.
And living eternally in the presence of God is what being “saved” is all about.
You must have faith to be saved, obedience to Torah to demonstrate that faith, but faith and obedience isn’t what saves you- forgiveness is the only way you can be saved, and that forgiveness is only possible through Messiah Yeshua’s sacrifice.
See how it all comes together? God gave us the Torah so we know right from wrong, and since we can’t live without sinning, he sent Yeshua to provide the means (especially after the temple was destroyed) for us to be forgiven of our sins, which is the absolutely necessary condition if we to be able to live eternally in God’s presence.
Thank you for being here and please comment and “like” these messages so I get more exposure on the Internet, and also share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot, happy Hanukkah, and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!