Has anyone
ever told you that you cannot keep Yeshua's teachings because they are too
hard? A Jew of the second century had
this to say concerning them “Moreover, I am aware that your precepts in the
so-called Gospel are so wonderful and so great, that I suspect no one can keep
them; for I have carefully read them.”
(Justin Martyr, A.D. 160:
Dialogue with Trypho a Jew, Chapter 10)
The children
of Israel had a commandment from the LORD to possess the land of Canaan by “Overthrowing their altars, and breaking their pillars, burning their groves with fire…hewing down the graven images of their
gods, and destroying the names of
them out of that place.” (Deuteronomy
12:1-3, Numbers 13:1-3)
But before
they were to do this, they were to send twelve men, one of every tribe, to spy
out the land. The men spied out the
land. Ten brought back an evil report to
Israel saying, “WE BE NOT ABLE to go up against the people; for they are
stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report...saying, ‘The land,
through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the
inhabitants thereof…there we saw the giants…and we were in our own sight as
grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
(Numbers 13:31-33)
Having heard
these unbelief filled words, “The whole congregation said unto Moses and Aaron,
Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in
this wilderness! And wherefore
hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives
and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into
Egypt?” (Numbers 14:2-3) This majority agreed that they “Were not able”.
God commanded, “Do this” and they replied, “We be not able”.
How did God
feel about all of those Israelite's who said they were not able to obey Him? God judged them. None of those who agreed, “We be not able”
obtained the Promised Land, though they were saved from bondage to slavery,
Pharaoh, and Egypt; instead, they died in the wilderness because of their
unbelief. “Take heed, brethren, lest
there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living
God. But exhort one another daily, while
it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of
sin.” (Hebrews 3:12-13) “And to whom sware he that they should not
enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could
not enter in because of unbelief.”
(Hebrews 3:18-19) Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us
of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto
us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. (Hebrews 4:1-2)
Now Caleb,
being one of the twelve spies said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for
we are well able to overcome it.”
(Numbers 13:30) Caleb was not of
that number who, with a false humility, blasphemed God who commanded “Do this”
and replied, “We be not able”, as though God was lacking knowledge of man’s
ability. But He was all the more
confident, that He who commanded “Do this” was well aware of Israel’s
condition, and that God wasn’t short of anything—for He commanded “Do this” so
Caleb was fully persuaded that he was able.
Yeshua commanded,
“Resist not evil…turn the other cheek…love your enemies…do good to those who
hate you” (Matthew 5:38-48) therefore you cannot be a Christian and go to war,
file lawsuits, defend yourself using violence, or have any hatred, malice, and unforgiveness. Furthermore He said, “Whosoever shall put
away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a
woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth
adultery,” (Mark 10:11-12) therefore, unless your legitimate spouse is dead,
you cannot be divorced and remarried and be a part of the kingdom of God. (1
Corinthians 6:9, 7:10-11) Yeshua gave a
commandment to “Swear not at all” yet that is what many do to be a
politician, government official, or a soldier and yet, millions of professing
Christians think you can swear and be a Christian.
To these
teachings—and many more—they say, “We be not able” therefore they will not
inherit the kingdom because of their unbelief.
Here is part
of an early Christian writing from the second century:
“Sir, these
commandments are great, and good, and glorious, and fitted to gladden the heart
of the man who can perform them. But I
do not know if these commandments can be kept by man, because they are
exceeding hard.” He answered and said to
me, “If you lay it down as certain that they can be kept, then you will easily
keep them, and they will not be hard.
But if you come to imagine that they cannot be kept by man, then you
will not keep them. Now I say to you, if
you do not keep them, but neglect them, you will not be saved, nor your
children, nor your house, since you have already determined for yourself that
these commandments cannot be kept by man.”
“O fool,
senseless and double-minded, do you not perceive how great is the glory of God,
and how strong and marvellous, in that He created the world for the sake of
man, and subjected all creation to him, and gave him power to rule over
everything under heaven? If, then, man
is lord of the creatures of God, and rules over all, is he not able to be lord
also of these commandments?”
“For,” says
he, “the man who has the Lord in his heart can also be lord of all, and of
every one of these commandments. But to
those who have the Lord only on their lips, but their hearts hardened, and who
are far from the Lord, the commandments are hard and difficult. Put, therefore, ye who are empty and fickle
in your faith, the Lord in your heart, and ye will know that there is nothing
easier or sweeter, or more gentle, than
these commandments.”
“And I hope,
sir, to be able to keep all these commandments which you have
enjoined upon me, the Lord strengthening me.”
“You will keep them,” says he, “if your heart be pure towards the Lord;
and all will keep them who cleanse their hearts from the vain desires of this
world, and they will live to God.” (The
Pastor of Hermas; Apostolic Fathers 46:4-6; 47:2-5; 49:4-5)
Men today
can fly across the world...they can take a heart out of
one person and put in another...there are dare devils who attract millions by
their stunts...think of the gymnasts, the navy seals, and all of the inventions
of electricity, computers, internet, cell phones, etc. and yet many who profess to be
Christians dare to say, “We be not able” to keep Jesus’ teachings.
“But be ye
doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves,” (James
1:22) for Christ has taught, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy
name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew
you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man…And every one
that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man.” (Matthew 7:22-26) Yeshua joined His two statements—one about the
workers of iniquity—and the other about hearing His sayings and either doing or
not doing them—by using the word “therefore”.
Those who hear His sayings “therefore” and respond “We be not able” or “do
them not” are workers of iniquity that will hear the worst possible words
anyone could ever imagine “I never knew you: Depart from Me, ye that work
iniquity.”
“Behold, we
go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests
and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver
him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the
third day he shall rise again. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's
children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of
him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these
my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in
thy kingdom. But Yeshua answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able
to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto
them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I
am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to
give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my
Father.” (Matthew 20:18-23)
Yeshua asked
His disciples, “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to
be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” That cup of betrayal, condemnation and death;
mocking, scourging, and crucifixion; to this they responded, “We are able.” Did Yeshua accuse them of boasting? No, but replied, “Ye shall drink indeed of my
cup.” In fact Yeshua calls all who would
follow Him to drink of this cup in these words, “If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
A man from
the seventeenth century wrote:
“The
Christian’s great conquest over the world is all contained in the mystery of
Christ upon the Cross. It was there, and from there, that He taught all
Christians how they were to come out of and conquer the world, and what they
were to do in order to be His disciples…Christianity means nothing else, but an
entire, absolute conformity to that Spirit which Christ showed in the
mysterious sacrifice of Himself upon the cross.
Every man
therefore is only so far a Christian as he partakes of this Spirit of Christ.
It was this that made Paul so passionately express himself: “God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But why does he
glory? Is it because Christ had suffered in his place, and had excused him from
suffering?
No, by no
means! But it was because his Christian profession had called him to the honor
of suffering with Christ, and of dying to the world under reproach and
contempt, as He had done upon the Cross. For he immediately adds: “by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Ga. 6:14 This, you see, was
the reason of his glory in the cross of Christ, because it had called him to
the exact same state of death and crucifixion to the world. Thus was the cross
of Christ, in Paul’s days, the glory of Christians.
He was not
referring to their not being ashamed to own a Master that was crucified, but
rather their glorying in a religion which was nothing else but a doctrine of
the cross—a doctrine that called them to the same suffering spirit, the same
sacrifice of themselves, the same renunciation of the world, the same humility
and meekness, the same patient bearing of injuries, reproaches, and contempts;
and the same dying to all the greatness, honors, and happiness of this world,
which the dying Christ showed upon the cross.
The
necessity of this conformity to all that Christ did and suffered upon our
account is very plain from the whole tenor of Scripture:
As to His
sufferings: this is the only condition of our being saved by them, “if we
suffer” with Him, “we shall also reign with Him.” 2 Ti. 2:12
As to His
crucifixion: “knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,” Ro. 6:6,
etc. Here you see Christ is not crucified in our place; but unless our old man
be really crucified with Him, the cross of Christ will profit us nothing.
As to the
death of Christ, the condition is this: “If we be dead with him,” we believe
that “we shall also live with him.” 2 Ti. 2:11 If therefore Christ be dead
alone, if we are not dead with Him, we are just as sure, from this Scripture,
that we shall not live with Him. (William Law 1686-1761 A.D.)
If you
condemn or accuse people of boasting because they are keeping and teaching that
you are able and must obey Yeshua's teachings, then you are of the same spirit of
those wicked Pharisees who accused and condemned Yeshua. (John chapters 5-9)
If you tell
men that they are not able to obey Yeshua's teachings then you are of that same
spirit of unbelieving Israelite's who died in the wilderness.
Repent and
believe the gospel. You are able. If you don’t, then it isn’t because you are
not able to, but because you are not willing.
Jesus came in the flesh.
ReplyDeleteCan we do that?
"But He was God."
Did Jesus come in the flesh?
Can we do that?
"But He was God!"
Did Jesus come in the flesh?
Things that make ya go "HMmmm?"
I fail often though.