When your observance to the Law falls short

[Shimshon]

When your Torah observance falls short

Many people within the Messianic faith focus on a persons acceptance, accommodation and commitment to observing the Torah given Israel. And many struggle with how, when, where, who, why…. in relation to Torah commands. I’ve seen throughout the years many be so concerned with these struggles that it polarizes them into pro vs anti Torah positions. What I think is missing is a key understand of the Gospel message our Messiah gave. The focus should not be on how or why we observe but what happens when we don’t observe? Or haven’t, or didn’t, or thought we were but realized not so much. In this Torah observant obsessed movement are we forgetting the mercy and grace given by the Torah giver himself? When we focus on ‘our ability to observe what we can’ , do we miss the weightier message of what happens when we don’t? From my experience of Hebrew Roots/Torah observant theology I’ve seen many focus and fret about there observance to Torah commands. But what about when we fail? I’ve seen many say the Spirit was given to lead us into the Torah commands that apply to each individual. Completely ignoring the commands given to ‘national’ Israel, or conflating them into ones individual paradigm.

What I would like to offer those who may fear their observance to Torah commands is lacking or needing more Spirit to follow, is the Word that as given to us from above regarding when our Torah observance falls short.

Sin=lawlessness, or non-Torah observance.

Psalm 79:9

Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our non-Torah observance for your name’s sake.

Jeremiah 31:34

No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their non-Torah observance no more.”

Matthew 26:28

This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of non-Torah observance.

Hosea 14:2

Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: “Forgive all our non-Torah observance and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.

Matthew 6:15

But if you do not forgive men their non-Torah observance, your Father will not forgive your non-Torah observance.

Matthew 9:6

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive non-Torah observance.

Luke 11:4

Forgive us our non-Torah observance, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation!

John 20:23

If you forgive anyone his non-Torah observance, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Hebrews 8:12

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their non-Torah observance no more.”

1 John 1:9

If we confess our non-Torah observance, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our non-Torah observance and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Luke 1:77

to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their non-Torah observance,

Acts 10:43

All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of non-Torah observance through his name.”

Acts 13:38

Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of non-Torah observance is proclaimed to you.

How utterly awesome! Messiah forgives us when we are not observant.

Notice the method of operation here. Messiah forgives our lack of observance to the Law. He does not restore our observances, he forgives our lack of them. Yeshua's purpose is not to restore observance to the commands of the Law but to forgives our lack of observing them. Then he restores our souls by uniting us as one with God through His Spirit. Something the Law could never do by mere observance to it's commands. Messiah does not restore the Law within us, he restores our unity with God through the Spirit as from the beginning. (adam)

Now, I'm not attempting to lead people to disregard the Torah commands. I am merely pointing out that the purpose of the Spirit is not to cause one to perfectly observe the Torah commands we can apply to ourselves, but to believe in the forgiveness offered through Messiah Yeshua when our Torah observance falls short. Meaning, He didn't come to cause all to walk out the Torah perfectly, he came to forgive those who could not.

That all who believe in him and his work receive forgiveness for not observing Torah as commanded. He came to forgive us and sanctify us through the indwelling of the Spirit. He did not come to cause observance to the Torah given Israel as through observance/works.

Is Torah good, yes. Is Torah holy, yes. Did it bring about the One it promised, yes. Why? To make all the world observant to the Torah given Israel? Or to offer all the world forgiveness of sins? Did Messiah come to make the gentiles observant to Torah? Or to make Jews and Gentiles righteous through faith?

For those within the Hebrew Roots movement who feel the weight of the commands are worth putting on your shoulders, I implore you to let Yeshua carry that burden and receive the forgiveness he offers. And stop focusing on if you observe good enough or at all, but on the work our Messiah has done for us, and receive his promised gift. Which does not come through observances but through faith.

How utterly awesome that our Messiah forgives us when we are not observant. Listen and obey, but understand that you can not fulfill the commandment unless you let Messiah do his work within you. When we die to ourselves and live through Messiah we are realizing that we are not called to believe through our obedience, but to be obedient through our faith. Which leads to all good works. Faith leads to love and love covers a multitude of sins. So focus on Torah, and realize the forgiveness offered through Yeshua's name. Because I notice that Messiah did not focus on teaching Jews and Gentiles to observe Torah commands given Israel. He focused on teaching Jews and Gentiles to accept through faith the forgiveness that comes through the work/observance of our Messiah in regards to the Torah.

Realize your forgiven for non Torah observances and live by the Spirit of God that was given all who believe. The focus.....forgiveness, not observance. And even if you believe your observances are demanded, realize the awesome forgiveness offered when we (all) fall short.

 

[Doug Melven]

I thank God every day that He is El-Nasa, God who forgives. Psalm 99:8

Because I notice that Messiah did not focus on teaching Jews and Gentiles to observe Torah commands given Israel. He focused on teaching Jews and Gentiles to accept through faith the forgiveness that comes through the work/observance of our Messiah in regards to the Torah.

Could you elaborate on this? So many times I see people just showing how Jesus gave the law.

 

[Shimshon]

I thank God every day that He is El-Nasa, God who forgives. Psalm 99:8


Could you elaborate on this? So many times I see people just showing how Jesus gave the law.

What many seem to do is focus on the work and not what it accomplished. Jesus set us free from sin when he comes to live within our hearts. He forgave it all, everything that could not be forgiven through the Law.

Hebrews 10
15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.​

The ministry of the Law should never bet equated with the gospel, the ministry of the Spirit. The good news is not that the nations are called to observe the Law by the power of the Spirit. The good news is about Jesus' testimony and witness.

John 5:36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me.

His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me

John 10: 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,

John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

John 17: 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
​

The good news is about Jesus being sent by God to testify about himself. The words Jesus spoke testified about His being sent by God for the remission of sins for all who believe, He was sent for this purpose. To state that the words Jesus spoke testified about keeping the Law given Moses is a lie.

Grace does not say; I have made a way for you to do it. It says; I have made a way for you. What we ‘do’ is believe, and the most important part of this belief/faith is that God via Jesus via the Spirit comes and live within you, making us all One, as Jesus is one with the Father so are we one with Jesus.

As the Spirit dwells bodily in Jesus, so too does the Spirit dwell bodily in us. Leading us in all his ways. This happens because we believe, and when we believe we are filled with the Spirit of God who leads us in all his ways. We enter the Spiritual temple of God not made by human hands. This is where Jesus is leading people.

The gospel that states Jesus taught the Law of Moses as the sign of a believer is a false gospel. The sign is the Spirit dwelling within you. There is NO Law against this, and this is the Law given by Messiah.

The ministry of the Law given Moses has paled in comparison to the ministry of the Spirit given Jesus. The ministry of the Law given Moses had no power to impart forgiveness through the blood of animals, but all foreshadowed the One atonement once and for all time, of Jesus' blood. God overlooked all sins then as he does now, and places judgement on those who do not ‘believe’ in the atonement of the Son of God. This faith comes only by grace and is proved by works of love/Spirit.

The Father has called all to believe in the one he sent. The works Jesus accomplished were in regard to himself, the Son of God who heals the world and forgives sins by the shedding of his blood. This is the good news. We are free in Messiah, who lives and breathes in his children. As God lived and breathed in his only begotten Son. We are no longer bound by letters of stone, we are bound by the Spirit who lives in us and leads us in all good works, and reminds us of everything Jesus said, in regards to himself and his work.

Free not to sin, free to live a holy life in union, abiding in God’s love. When the lawmaker is living within you what more instructions do you need? AND none of this goes against the Law given Moses, in fact it is Moses who bore witness about it all!!

You search the Law because you think that in it you have eternal life; and it is the Law that bears witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
​

Jesus taught all to believe in the remission of sins through faith in his work on the cross, his authority to heal and save. Come to Him and drink from the fountain of eternal life. Jesus offers eternal life, not eternal observance to the Law given Moses. He frees us from sins and restores our lives through the ministry of the Spirit.

 

[Shimshon]

Matthew 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

This verse is used as a key tenet by Hebrew Roots adherents to imply that the law given Moses is to still be followed. The implication is “heaven and earth are still here, so too is the law” (of Moses). They do not believe all is accomplished yet. And in one way they are right. Judgement is yet to occur, and redemption is yet to happen.

But the issue has been settled. Our salvation has been accomplished. The trial has been adjourned, judgement for the guilty has been set, and redemption for the innocent has been promised. So, while we sit in recess awaiting the courts actions there are those who are claiming the trial was not finished, and that the judge has not accomplished justice for all. They implore continued observance to the law given Moses even though the judge has accomplished it’s purpose. They hide the light that was given by claiming it leads all back into the shadows and patterns.

So the question, has Jesus accomplished all things in connection to the law?

Matthew 28:16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
​

He is with us till the end of the age. God’s Holy Spirit is keeping us till the day of our redemption. We are no longer condemned, or under the law, but free from sin. We are not judged, but free from judgement because of the life the Spirit lives in us. NOW.

All God sent Jesus to do in regards to salvation has occurred. All we wait now is the redemption of our physical bodies to eternal life. Just like Abraham, by faith is this achieved. By waiting on God to 'do' what he promised.

John 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

6 "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 20 "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."
​

Eternal life is to believe and know the One whom God sent into the world with his Spirit and his words. Jesus. The hour has come, Jesus has authority over all flesh to impart eternal life who whoever he chooses.

Jesus glorified God on earth, and has accomplished all that was given him to do. He has manifested God’s name to the Apostles, and they accepted and believed; that Jesus was sent by God to speak the Truth to them. Jesus came down as God in the flesh to speak to those who he choose. And all accepted and believed. That Jesus and God are One, and Jesus and those God gave Him are One, and Jesus and those who believe the ones He sent into the world, are all One. One Spirit, One body, One immersion, One Love, One God, One Messiah, One people of God.

John 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
​

What more is there to do? In regards to our trespasses against the law? In regards to salvation? In regards to every jot and title in the law?

Hebrews 10:1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'"

8 When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds," 17 then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more." 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
​

Where there is forgiveness, there is no longer any offering for sin. Jesus has taken away our sin, and thus taken away our trespasses ‘under’ the Law.

Romans 5:19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
​

One man was obedient to the Law, making many righteous. Not making many observant to the Law.