Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): 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 Ephesians chapter 1. You ask me, "Brother Gideon, explain this to me." I can't. I can only tell you what I'm reading, and you have to read it for yourself. You can maybe try to explain it otherwise, but let me just give you an illustration that I thought was very helpful. Sometime when we hear the message of the gospel and we see an unbeliever convicted, they realize that they are sinners, that they are not right with God, and they need to settle matter with God before it is too late because if they will not settle matter with God, they will have to be judged at the great white throne judgment.

So they are so convicted that they accept the message of the gospel, and they say, "God, I've accepted what You offered to me, Yeshua the Messiah, and I am embracing Him as my Lord and my Savior." And they become believers, and they become part of a local assembly, a local church, local fellowship. And they begin to grow. And as they grow, they realize, "You know what? It is really God who searched for me, who elected me in eternity past, and in time He sent the Spirit of God through a messenger to present to me the message of the gospel.

And He quickened me. He worked in my heart. He softened my heart, and I have embraced the Messiah. He convicted me and He drew me unto Himself." And then we come to the Lord. And so while we look at this door and we see, "Whosoever will, let him come," and we came in, we became believers. But when we come in, we look at the same door and at the top of it, it says another sign: "Chosen from before the foundation of the world."

And we realize that in the eternal plan of God, He have elected whom He have elected. Nobody gave Him counsel. We were not there to tell Him what to do, neither can we tell Him what to do today. That's the way the scripture is presented. And so what we find out is that He has chosen us in the Messiah before the foundation of the world. Beloved brothers and sisters, there was no creation here on earth. There was nothing in existence when God the Father, and you might say the whole triune God, have selected whom He knew that they will want to be part of this great redeemed company.

Now you might say, and somebody who is here maybe is not a believer, "Well, if God haven't chosen me, I will not come to know the Lord." First of all, you don't even know whether you have been chosen or not. Secondly, you and I cannot say, "Well, I'm going to go and preach the gospel only to those people whom I know that God have chosen." You and I do not know whom God have chosen. Therefore, we will preach the message of the gospel to every creature and let God do His work through the Spirit of God in the lives of individuals.

Let me develop this a little bit. Turn with me to John chapter 15 and verse 16. Yeshua in the upper room speaking to His disciples and He said to them very clearly, "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." Now the disciples might say, "Well, Lord, I've chosen You. I know I've been the one that's chosen You." The Lord said to them right to their faces, "You have not chosen Me, but I am the one that have chosen you, and I have ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain."

That's the first verse that I want you to see. Turn with me also to Colossians chapter 3. We read in verse 12, "Put on therefore, as the elect of God..." Here's that word that I was looking for. The word "chosen" is not here, but the word "elect" is here. "Holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, and kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and longsuffering." Notice He is telling them as elect of God the responsibility that these elect believers has that they ought to put on to live out this kind of godly character: kindness, humbleness, meekness, longsuffering, which ought to characterize every person who has been elected by God to be part of the family of God.

One more verse I'm going to read. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1. He is writing to early Jewish believers, and he said to them in verses 1 and 2, "Peter, an apostle of Yeshua the Messiah, to the strangers that are scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect or chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Yeshua the Messiah." Notice all the three persons of the Godhead were involved in the election of those early Jewish believers that were scattered throughout all those areas such as Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia.

So this is something that you'll have to consider. And I know that believers are not always agreeable with this, but I find these truth of election immensely affecting the fact that because I know, and I'm speaking for myself, that had God not chosen me and work in my life and my heart, I would not come to Him at all. That's what I feel for myself, and I trust that the Lord will give you the wisdom to make a decision concerning this. Now one more verse in connection with this. Look what Jesus the Messiah had said in John chapter 6 and verse 37.

And that's why some believes that both election and man's responsibility are important to emphasize in the teaching, the two aspects you might say. John 6:37: "All that the Father have given to Me shall come unto Me." That's the first part of the verse: election. The Father gave. But then notice the human responsibility, we might say the free will, in verse 37b: "Him that come to Me, I will in no wise cast out." Notice the other side of it. So all that the Father gave to Me will come to Me. That's election. And him that come to Me, I will in no wise cast out.

This is the free will aspect of the teaching that we are speaking about today. So what we really have here is that the Father gave us to the Son, and we in due time came. And everyone that the Father gave to the Son will surely come to Yeshua the Messiah. And the one that come, then the Lord Yeshua the Messiah will never cast him or her out. And so we can see the two lines come together. I want to mention years ago I asked a brother, "Well, how do we handle this?" Because the Bible say many times, "Whosoever will, let him come. Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Many verses in the Bible invite people to come. So I asked him, "Well, brother, how do we explain this? Ephesians tell us we are chosen. Colossians tell us we are elect. Peter tell us we have been elected according to the foreknowledge of God. But then other passages says you got to come." How does it meet? And he said to me, "You know, sometime we can't understand various doctrine in the Bible, but a good way to understand such verses as this is take for example you have a train track, one train riding on two tracks. And when you are near on top of these train tracks and you're standing there, you see two tracks."

Perhaps we can say one track represent the election, the other one represent free will. But he says, "As you look far away as those tracks goes on, somehow you no longer see two tracks, but you see them blend together." And so what he is really saying: yes, we may not quite understand this election versus free will, but one thing we have to realize, both of them are taught in the Word of God. And at some point, they are meeting together. God's sovereign choice, man's human responsibility, meeting at some point in the life of every individual.

Now the reason that I lean so much more to the election, to the truth of Calvinism you might say, is because the Bible shows us so many time the total depravity of man. Man by nature do not want God. We are dead in trespasses and sins by nature. How can you raise up a dead person? A dead person need to be quickened by God Himself. And only God by the Holy Spirit of God can quicken a person. Otherwise, he or she will remain dead away from God. And therefore personally, and I'm speaking for myself, I understand from scripture that it is the election, the truth of God choosing us in eternity past in His wisdom.

And He have brought us to Himself at a certain point of time in our life. That does not give an excuse to the unbeliever to say, "I haven't been chosen, and therefore I will not come." Well, the unbeliever will have to stand before the very same God, and God will show him very much that you have had the opportunity to confess the Messiah, and you have heard the message again and again and you've refused to accept Me. God knows the heart of every man, and God will expose the heart of man in due time when man will have to stand before Him.

So verse 3: the spiritual blessing that we have been blessed in the Messiah. Verse 4: we have been chosen by the Father already in eternity past before creation. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who have chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Now why does God choose someone for Himself? That this person will be set apart for Him. Holy, without blame before Him in love.

In other words, when God have elected His own, He made them suitable for His presence. Without any blame anymore because positionally, all the blame that we ought to receive have been passed to the person of the Son who died for us on the tree, on the cross, and paid for the penalty of our sins. Now notice brothers and sisters, as we move on, God the Father not only had blessed us and have elected us, but also He have adopted us. He have predestinated us to be adopted children. Look at this, verse 5 now. It says, "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Yeshua the Messiah to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will."

Now this is also a very important verse to understand because let's say you have a family and you adopt someone from the outside and you brought him into the family. And now instead of having only three children of your own, you have an additional fourth child who have been adopted. And while it is very similar to this, but here the thought is far beyond that. The reason is simply this: adoption doesn't save us. Adoption doesn't forgive us. In other words, we did not become children of God on the basis of adoption.

But what happened in order to become children of God, it was totally and entirely on the basis of redemption, the finished work of the Messiah, a new birth. But a new baby have accepted the Messiah and become born again. Now he's been placed in the presence of God as a mature child that is ready now to receive the blessing that the Lord have intended for them. So He had predestinated us unto adoption, in other words, placed us as adult children already ready to receive from Him the many mercies and blessings that He intend for His own people.

So we are not saved by adoption. We are saved because of a new birth. We are born from above. We receive new life. But we have been brought in, adopted as a mature son and daughter, ready to receive the benefits that God has for us. And you notice that it says that He predestinated us. That mean that beforehand, He had the destiny for those who became the children of God. That mean before time in His plan, in His wisdom, He predestined the believer unto becoming a mature child that is ready to receive the benefits that God would give him in the Lord Jesus the Messiah.

And notice it says here in verse 5, "according to the good pleasure of His will." It's not your will. It's not my will. It's according to the pleasure of God's will. It is His will that you and I will become born from above, and we also become adopted sons and daughters and ready to receive the blessings that He has intended for His own people. To connect with this some verses, Paul also speaks about it when he wrote to the Roman believers. Paul said, Romans 8, I'll read verse 14: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

Verse 15: "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." You see, the believer had received the Holy Spirit of God that have adopted us, not only gave us new life and new birth, but placed us positionally as a mature adult son and daughter, ready to receive the blessings from the Lord. Look at Romans 8:29 and 30. It says, "For whom He did foreknow, He also predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." Notice the words here: predestined. He foreknew us, He predestined us to become like His Son and that His Son will be the firstborn among many brethren. So He have one Son, namely Yeshua the Messiah, but we have become many sons He brought to glory, and He adopted us to be in such a favored place and favored position.

And now notice in verse 6, we have been accepted in the Beloved. Look at that. God have accepted us. In verse 6 he says, "To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." You know, God the Father have accepted us. Imagine, He have accepted you and I, sinners by nature. He have accepted. He says, "Listen, I can accept you on the ground of the finished work of My Son. I now bringing you into My own home, and you're going to be part of this family. You are accepted because of what My Son, Yeshua the Messiah, have done."

You know what a wonderful thing to be accepted. You know a lot of people today, they are in many homes, in many places, they never feel accepted. They're not good enough. "I try to do this and I try to please him, and I try to please her, and it's not acceptable. I worked on a job," you might say, "and I tried to please my boss, and I was not accepted. It was not sufficient." But you see, God does not say to you and I, "You better work your way so I will accept you. Earn your way, work hard, be good and better and superior and try your best, you see, otherwise I will not accept you."

You know, God say, "I know you are a sinner, but I accept you because you have been brought into a relationship with My Son." And notice he calls Him, it says here in verse 6, that we have been made accepted in the Beloved one. The heavens open, if you remember in Matthew 3, in Matthew 17, and He said, "This is My beloved Son. I love My Son." And if He had finished the work for you, now you can be accepted. And brothers and sisters, never for a moment think that you need to improve yourself in order to be accepted in the presence of God.

He have already accepted you if you belong to Yeshua, and if you confess your sins, and you honestly have invited Him into your heart. You have been not only elected and chosen and been adopted in eternity past, but in time you have been accepted. Doesn't matter how you look. It doesn't matter what background you came from. Nothing matter. What matter is that you have been accepted by God on the basis of His beloved Son. When you have invited Yeshua into your heart, God the Father can say, "You are accepted in the beloved Son."

You remember in the book of Philemon, there was a man by the name of Philemon that had a servant by the name of Onesimus. Onesimus fled from the home of his master, Philemon. He ran all the way to Rome, and in Rome he met the Apostle Paul, Shaul. And he was gloriously saved. The Lord used Shaul to bring him to the knowledge of Yeshua the Messiah. And Paul led him to come to acknowledge Yeshua the Messiah. And now the Apostle Paul was sending Onesimus back to his master. And notice what he said to Philemon in Philemon verses 17, 18, and 19.

He said to him, "Philemon, if thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. If he hath wronged thee or he owe thee anything ought, put it on my account. I Paul have written it with mine own hand; I will repay it; albeit I do not say to thee how thou art unto me, thou owest unto me even thine own self beside." "Philemon, you owe me so much, and I want you to accept Onesimus as you accept me." You know what Yeshua said to the Father? "Father, I have died for them. Accept them on My behalf as if You are accepting Me."

And you know the Father say, as we read here, "You are accepted in the Beloved." None of us should feel for a moment unaccepted in the presence of the Lord. We might not accept each other because we fail each other many times. But God look at the believer and he said, "I accept you because of what My Son, the Beloved one, have done." So we have here in verses 3, 4, 5, and 6, the Father planned this beautiful salvation. He's the one that have chosen us in the Messiah before the foundation of the world.

He have adopted us to become sons and daughters of the Father, and He have accepted us. We have been accepted in the Beloved. This is doctrinal truth. You might not feel all the time accepted, but positionally, every believer in Yeshua the Messiah is accepted in the presence of God, not only for time, but also for eternity. Now that we finished to talk about God the Father and the one who planned this great redemption work, now we talking about God the Son. And in verses 7 to 12, God the Son, in order for us to be able to be in such a favored place, God the Son had to pay the price in order that He might provide such a great redemption.

And so I want you to notice that in verse 7 to 12 what God the Son, what Yeshua the Messiah, have done. First of all, in verse 7a, it says that He had redeemed us. "In whom," this is in the Messiah, in Christ, in Yeshua, in the Beloved, "we have redemption through His blood." Notice, brothers and sisters, you know what the word redemption mean? Geulah in Hebrew, ligo'el mean to buy back. You see, we were once belonging to God anyway by creation. God created humanity, and man belonged to God by creation. But we left the Lord. Sin put a distance between us and God.

And what happened in order for God to bring us back to Himself, He had to buy us again to make us His own again because of creation we fell through sin. He had to buy us back. That's where you get the word ligo'el, and that's why we get the word go'el: the Redeemer will come out of Zion. And the Redeemer indeed came. And our Lord Jesus, our Lord Yeshua, it says, "In whom," as we read here in verse 7a, "in whom we have," notice, it doesn't say "we might have one day." "We maybe going to have redemption," or "we might lose this redemption."

And he said in whom we already have redemption, but how did He redeem us? It was through His blood. The price that Yeshua paid is His life. The life of the flesh is in the blood. And God said, "I gave you that to make an atonement for the soul." The blood had to be drain and shed, the blood of the Messiah. Think about it every time when you think about your great place and my great place in the presence of God.

Guest (Male): 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.