Holy Scriptures and Israel

Announcer: Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: The study of 1 John chapter 3. In spite of our condition, He was willing to do everything in order to purchase us, to bring us to be part of the family of God. If this is not an amazing grace, what can we say otherwise? No wonder that song that we love to sing, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch just like me." It's amazing.

"For God so loved the world" in John 3:16 is one of the greatest verses that we all know how to recite. That love is the Greek *agapao*, the unconditional love of God to wretched sinners who really deserve to be punished, and yet God is saying, "I love you, and I would bring you into a relationship with Me." John, in 1 John chapter 3, is so taken over by that, and he says, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons, the children of God."

King David, the King of Israel, in 2 Samuel chapter 7, was so overwhelmed with the love of God towards him that He made him a king. When Nathan came to him in 2 Samuel chapter 7 and told him that God said, "I'm telling you, David, you are not going to build for Me a house, but I'm going to build for you a house. I'm going to make of you a kingdom. I'm going to give to you posterity. David, I'm going to do this for you unconditionally, David." When David heard this from Nathan, he said to God, "Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You has brought me into this relationship with You?"

You and I as believers in Yeshua the Messiah, as children, sons and daughters of the Father, can say the very same statement and even more: Who are we? And what is our house? That the Father have set His love upon us to such an extent that He calls us now the sons and the daughters, the children of God. And that's why in the very same verse it says, "Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not."

When the world looking at us, the people outside, the unbelieving world, they don't see anything different in you. They look at you, they look at me, and they say, "Well, here's another human being here in this world. He's just like me. He's going to work, he's going to school, he's going to play. He's from this country or from this country. He is just like me."

But when the world look at us, they don't understand our positional relationship with the God of the universe as our Father. Of course, our behavior shows somewhat that we belong to God, but outwardly we look just like the other neighbor, the other person on our job or at school. The difference is that you and I are sons and the daughters of the Father, and the unbelieving world are really following Satan and the world and its system.

That's why John is saying to the brothers and sisters, if there is anything that ought to motivate the believer to live a godly life, the first thing is the fact that the love of the Father have bestowed upon us. I don't deserve it, we don't deserve it, and that's why there is no room for pride. Because Ephesians 2 says, "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that is not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: lest any man should boast." If there is anything we are to boast is to boast in the love of God towards us.

That's what John, Yohanan, is emphasizing here. The world doesn't know us because the world does not know Yeshua, does not know the Father. The world is following Satan. The believers in Yeshua the Messiah belong to the Father. By the way, it doesn't show here in the King James text, but in some text in the NIV and other translations, it says, "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God," and it adds three more words: "and we are."

In some manuscripts they found "and we are," showing that it's not something that we're going to be in the future, but we are already now the sons and daughters of the Father. We don't have to wait till we get to heaven, but we are already now the sons and the daughters of the Father. So he continues in verse 2, because he is emphasizing in connection with the love of the Father what we are going to be in the future: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."

Yohanan is leading on to say not only what we are now, but what we are going to be in the future because of the love of the Father towards us. On the basis of the word of God, when He shall appear, we are going to be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. He's speaking about the appearances of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. When the Messiah will appear to take His own people to be with Him, we are going to be transfigured, changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. We are going to be with Him when He appears to meet us in the cloud, in the air.

We are going to be taken to the Father's house, and we are going to be forever with Him, but we are going to be like Him. What does it mean that we're going to be like Yeshua the Messiah? It doesn't mean that we're going to be little gods. Obviously not. But what He does mean is that we are going to be suitable for the presence of God. We're not going to have anymore the limitation that we have here. We're not going to anymore dishonor God as we often do here in this world.

We're going to be just like the Son of His love, like Yeshua the Messiah, but it's going to happen when He appears. There will be the resurrection of all the saints that have slept through Yeshua. There's going to be the transformation. We all going to be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, in the last trump. We're going to be resurrected and meet the Lord in the air. Forever we are going to be with Him, never anymore to have failure and shortcoming and oftentimes dishonoring the Lord.

That's going to happen when we are with Him. Paul again, look how he presented this in Romans chapter 8 and verse 29: "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn of many brethren." God knew us aforetime, and He predestinated us to become like His Son. We, the believers, will be conformed to the image of His Son, that He, Yeshua, will become the firstborn among many brethren.

We are going to be like the Lord Yeshua the Messiah in a future day, and God have planned it to be so. Even though I cannot even begin to fathom what it would mean for us to be like Yeshua the Messiah and to be with Him forever, yet it is true. When we look at ourselves and our life today, we say, "I do not know what's going to happen or how things are going to happen in the future."

But Yohanan is saying we know on the basis of the word of God, not on the basis of our feeling. We know that when He shall appear, when Yeshua comes, we are going to be like Him because we are going to see Him as He is. Peter said in 1 Peter 1:7, "Whom having not seen, ye love." We have never seen Yeshua. You might have seen pictures of Him, with blue eyes and blond hair. They forget that He was a Jewish man born in the land of Israel among His own Israeli people.

He was a Middle Eastern Hebrew born to the woman Miriam, born in Bethlehem, and grew up in Nazareth. He's not from Scandinavia. He was born right in the Middle East. Sometimes you remember when they were searching for Him, they couldn't even recognize Him because He looked like one of the disciples. He was an Israeli, a Hebrew, a Jewish man. But when we see Him, it'll be an amazing sight to see the one that loved us, to see the one that the world rejected, to see Him in such a way that we're going to be pleased just to look for Him and to have the joy of our hearts because He was the one that have done everything for us.

So Yohanan is saying, "Look what manner of love the Father have bestowed upon us. We are now children of God, but don't forget that one day we are going to be like Him. We're going to see Him, and we're going to rejoice to see Him. We're going to be with Him, never to separate from Him anymore." The one who is today despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows that have been acquainted with grief, that one that today people reject Him, the believer in Yeshua the Messiah is going to see Him one day and be like Him.

Now notice what it says in verse 3, what we should be practically because of the love of the Father for us: "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." Every believer in Yeshua the Messiah that have this hope ought to practically purify himself because He is pure. He's holy. He's separate from sinners. He's undefiled. Now practically speaking, beloved brothers and sisters, we have to admit that oftentimes we are not pure in our thoughts, in our practices, in our desires, or in our affections.

Oftentimes we fail the Lord. That's why he says that is what you should be practically. What we are positionally is one thing, but what we ought to be practically is another thing for us to learn. That's why we often teach the truth about union and communion. Union is positional, communion is practical. The love of the Father should produce pure living in the life of the believer. The hope of being with Him and the hope of going to be with Him in glory. "Every man that have this hope purifieth himself, even as Yeshua the Messiah is pure."

In 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 10 and 11, we see another reason why we should live differently, because of the judgment that is approaching in a coming day. "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?"

Peter pointed out there is a day of judgment that is going to come upon this world, and because this day is coming, what kind of people you ought to be as believers in Yeshua the Messiah? It should produce in your life that reverence to God because judgment is coming. But in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 3, the importance of having the fear of the Lord in our lives is not out of the judgment that is going to come, but it is because of the love of the Father towards us.

As a response to the Father, the believer who have a hope ought to have a desire to live a pure life. And when we fail the Lord, it is important to repent and to turn to Him in confession. That's why 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. In 1 John chapter 1 and verse 10, he says if we say that we have no sin, we make Him a liar and the truth is not in us.

So we know that we fail God a lot, but nevertheless, the believer who has this hope ought to seek to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. He calls it here to purifieth himself, even as He is pure. There is oftentimes in the book of Psalms (*Tehillim*) and Proverbs (*Mishlei* in Hebrew) this expression, "the fear of the Lord." "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." In Hebrew, the word for "fear," it's not to be scared. No. It's come from the Hebrew word *yirat Adonai*.

*Yira* means to have a reverence to God, to Jehovah, to the God of Israel. And therefore out of reverence to the Father, out of reverence to God, the believer needs to seek with the help of the Lord, of course, to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. He purifieth himself, meaning removing the things that hinder us from living a life that is pleasing unto the Lord. Self-judgment, repentance, and making better choices for the Lord rather than choices for the flesh and for Satan and for the world.

I heard a story of a group of people and one of them said to the whole group, "Let's go to this place." This place happened to be a place that is not a good place to go to. One of the girls said to the friends, "Listen, I prefer if you'll take me home. I do not want to go to this place. It's not a place for me." So one of the friends said to her, "Why, are you afraid of your father? That if you go there your father will punish you?"

She said, "No, I'm not afraid of what my father will do to me. I'm afraid that I will hurt the heart of my father." Sometimes we neglect to realize how much pain we give to God in the manner in which we behave. What a joy it gives the heart of the Father when He sees His children want to please Him, just out of the fact that I am your son and you are my father. I want to do it for your sake, for your joy, not because I'm afraid of you, but because I want to give you honor.

Imagine how would it be different in our life if we think like that? Oftentimes we do the right thing because we're afraid that God will discipline us otherwise. But can you imagine if we would do things out of the love for our Father, for our *Abba*? Yeshua said, "I always do the things that please the Father." Yeshua said in John 4:34, "My meat and my drink is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work. I do things because I love My Father."

The first thing that ought to motivate us to live a godly life is because of the love of the Father. Now notice in the next verses, verses 4 to verse 8. The second reason is connected very much with this: it's because of the price that God the Son had to pay for us in order to bring us to be children of God. He began in verse 4. John describes what sin is: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."

What is sin? In Hebrew we say *het*. Sin is oftentimes missing the mark. What is sin? Sin is simply a violation of the law. Every time we violate God's law, God's word, simply it is sin. It doesn't matter how we call it, how we shape it, or how it happened. "Sin is a transgression of the law." The Bible gives us various descriptions of what sin is. 1 John chapter 5 verse 17, sin is again described to us: "All unrighteousness is sin."

Every time we do something wrong or unrighteous, it is sin. John describes this to us. Look how Paul describes sin in Romans chapter 14 and verse 23: "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." How many times we did things simply not because of trusting the Lord that this is the right thing? It was simply without faith in God and faith in what He is teaching us. That's also according to the Scripture is sin.

Here's one more description of sin in James chapter 4 and verse 17: "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." When I think about our life, how many time we know to do the right thing, the good thing, and instead of doing it, we don't do that. As far as the Bible is concerned, it is sin. Sin is the transgression of the law. Every time that we disobey God, we commit sin, and we commit sin, this is a transgression of the law.

A law is a sign that says don't do that or do that. For example, if there is a sign outside that says don't walk on the grass and you step on the grass, you violated the law. Sin is so serious and demand to be punished according to the law. Immediately we find out the reason that Yeshua the Messiah came to this world. Verse 5: "And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin."

The reason that Yeshua the Messiah was manifested and have appeared here in this world, the reason that He was born in Bethlehem. Many people celebrate the birth of the Messiah, but they neglect to realize that the reason that He came to this world is not only to be born here and to live a long life. He appeared so He will have to go to the altar, to the cross, and there to be punished for the sin of this world.

He appeared to take away our sins. Notice he use the word "to take away" and not "to atone," not to cover our sins, but to remove them totally. John chapter 1 and verse 29, John the Baptizer, Yohanan HaMatbil, declare, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of this world." In John chapter 1 is singular "sin," the root. In 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4 and 5, it is "sins," that which come out of the root, all the plenty, the multitude of sins that we are committing.

He appeared to this world in order to take them away, to remove them, and when God look at us, He doesn't see us anymore as sinners. He looks at us as the saints that the sins have been totally removed out of us. He looks at us and He sees the finished work of Yeshua the Messiah and our sins have totally been removed as far as the east is from the west. Our sins have been taken away from us because He came to this world and He paid that price on the cross, on the tree.

He was judged that our sins will be taken away, that we will never need to be judged at all because of His finished work. He appeared according to verse 5 in order to take away, to remove our sins completely. That's how we know that we are cleansed and forgiven and washed away because He removed every sin that we have committed, past, present, future. Positionally He removed all our sins away. He adds here in verse 5: "And in Him is no sin."

In the Bible you have three men who specifically wrote about Yeshua the Messiah. They were Hebrew men, Jewish men. One of them is Yohanan here, another one is Shimon Petros in the book of Peter, and another one is Paul, Shaul. All of them wrote something about Yeshua the Messiah in connection with His purity. Every one of them was a different type of a man in their practices. Peter was a man of action.

Announcer: You have been listening to Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM and Saturdays at 1:00 PM at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.