Love & Repentance Part 2(Passover)

Love & Repentance part 2 (Passover)

And thou shalt love the LORD thy G-D with all thine

heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

(D’varim)Deuteronomy 6:5

Seems cliche, does it not? Loving G-D with all your heart, soul and strength, the question becomes do we really do that? Sure we can say we do, but our actions prove other wise...it’s like the saying; 

“Actions speak louder than words”

Kind of puts a new perspective on (James 2:18) if you think about it...you know; “Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works”. This all goes hand and hand with “Love and Repentance Part-1”

You can claim to accept Messiah, and even claim to love Him...but where’s the proof? where’s the fruit?

Where’s the brokenness? Where’s the change, and the daily surrendering of self, and putting Him above everything else.

How dare we claim to love Him with all our heart and soul, and yet cling to the world...

How dare we say we are His children and we call Him Abba...but don’t show Him honor or give any reverence to His Torah(law). (Malachi 1:6)

But displaying grace unto thousands of them that LOVE me and keep my commandments.

(D’varim) Deuteronomy 5:10

exactly what Yeshua(Jesus) said;

“If you love me, keep my commandments”

John 14:15

Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.

Psalm 119:165

We are so confused about what LOVE is, and yet we claim to have the author of life...We say we know His word but somehow miss the definition of it, we miss the context and the meaning between the lines. If ever we are in a quandary about what love is, we have the directions, we have the manual right at our finger tips.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, if you want to know what real love is than go read your Bible...because it does nothing but scream self-sacrificing love. I could also tell you to just go and read 1 Corinthians 13

Love is patient and kind, not jealous, not boastful,

not proud, rude or selfish, not easily angered...

ect ect ect..

And of course again, just look at our passover lamb Yeshua. But you see, the reason Love and repentance go hand in hand, is because we may know love when it is given to us, but how do we respond to it? How do we show love back becomes a key element. This is what I mean by Love and Repentance are a perfect marriage, For we wouldn’t know what real LOVE is if we didn’t know G-D, the author of love and creator of it, who first loved us before we even knew how to make a response. You see, G-Ds response is Love ours should be REPENTANCE, we show love in return to our Abba(father) by honoring what He honors, walking in His light, being led by His spirit, cherishing His torah(law), and abhorring what He abhors. 

For those that don’t know this is Passover week, This is the time we are called to remember what happened in Egypt with G-Ds chosen people(Exodus 12:14). Specifically G-D tells us in Exodus 12 that they were to slaughter a lamb or goat without defect on the 14th day of the month at dusk, and than they were to smear the blood on their door posts, and G-D would go through out Egypt slaying all the firstborn but passover the houses whose door posts were covered by the blood.

You may be asking: 

“And this has to do with Love and repentance..because?”

Well did G-D not show His love to His people by freeing them from slavery? Did they do anything to deserve it?  Most people say the “Old Testament” is full of an angry Holy god and the “New Testament” is full of a god of mercy and love...

I find that idea to be completely stupid, because I see G-D as exactly the same in “both” Testaments, and the bible makes it absolutely clear that He doesn’t change.

He is merciful to forgive and yet righteous and Holy at the same time, we absolutely see this in the sacrifice of the lamb of G-D Yeshua Ha’Mashiach. You see, Passover is symbolic of the crucifixion of Yeshua, passover should mean the world to us. Through the blood of the lamb we are freed from slavery of sin!

Through the blood of the lamb we see the absolute Holiness and Righteousness of G-D by fulfilling His wrath by crucifying His Son on a Tree, and His mercy,LOVE, and forgiveness by the same action.

So finally...and again I ask, what should our response to this be?

R3TURN to Me

I always hear this or something like it said;

"God was a tyrant/unloving/unmerciful in the

Old Testament, and yet He was full of Grace/Love/Mercy in the New."

This, and statements like it, is nothing more then biblical ignorance. First and foremost God doesn't change..

"And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent." 

[-1 Samuel 15:29-]

"For I am the LORD, I do not change"

[-Malachi 3:6-]

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

[-Hebrews 13:8-]

God not being full of love and grace in the "old" is absolutely false. This statement that He has changed or was any different then He has always been can be proven false in so many different ways. For instances, do you think God was oblivious to the fact that the Israelites would backslide? Do you think He was surprised when they started worshipping idols and false gods?

Do you think He was like: "…hmmm…I did not think they would turn from me, I totally didn't see this coming."

If you think so, well you are wrong..check out Deuteronomy 31

And the LORD said to Moses: "Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go [to be] among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

"Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, 'Have not these evils come upon us because our God [is] not among us?'

"And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.

"Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel. "When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant.

"Then it shall be, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore [to give them]."

Deuteronomy 31:16-21

"For I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land which I swore to give them." hmm..doesn't sound like God is oblivious to the fact that the Israelites would turn away from Him.

God knew before they even set foot in the land He promised them, that they would eventually turn away.

Yet God still fulfilled His promise to His chosen people, and knowing they would turn away still showed mercy and forgiveness. In Deuteronomy 30 The LORD says;

"Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call [them] to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you,

"and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.

Deuteronomy 30:1-3

Return to ME, God was willing and is willing to forgive because He is loving and merciful. Look at Jeremiah chapter 3

"They say, 'If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man's, May he return to her again?' Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me," says the LORD.

Jeremiah 3:1

If a man divorces his wife and she becomes another man's, there is no returning back to the first man,

She is considered unclean. Israel had turned to so many different idols and gods, she had many "lovers"…like a whore….YET God being as loving and merciful as He is simply says "Return to Me"

The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: "Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.

"And I said, after she had done all these [things], 'Return to Me.'

Jeremiah 3:6-7

Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: 'Return, backsliding Israel,' says the LORD; 'I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I [am] merciful,' says the LORD; 'I will not remain angry forever.

Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God, And have scattered your charms To alien deities under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,' says the LORD.

"Return, O backsliding children," says the LORD; "for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

Jeremiah 3:12-14

What a tyrant God is…so unmerciful He is, to forgive an adulterous nation who turned their backs to Him, but not their faces. God had and absolutely has mercy, he asks you to return to Him, even after all of Israel's backsliding, all their abominations and idolatry God wanted them back! and He still does! Even after all your backsliding all your abominations and idolatry and sinfulness God still wants you, Yeshua Hamashiach-Jesus Christ the son, God in the flesh coming and taking the wrath we deserve is the ultimate proof of that.

Thank God for the breath of life in your otherwise dead lungs, each day amongst this completely wicked world He holds back the return of the SON is a testament of His mercy. Each day we wake is a chance of repentance, every time a non-believer wakes God is showing His mercy! seeking repentance He simply says "Return to me!" 

"We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.

"Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, '[If] you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations;

'but [if] you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, [yet] I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.'

Nehemiah 1:7-9

Do..YOU..Love God?

Quick question for you, Do you LOVE God?

Now for those who are brothers in sisters in Christ,

I'm sure you are thinking "Sure do!", even unbelievers

might even say "Sure, why not". This might, at first glance,

seem like an easy question, HOWEVER, if this question

is so easy and if every self professing brother and sister in

Christ would answer "Yes, I sure do" without hesitation,

Then why may I ask do we not ACT like it?

Maybe we don't know what LOVE really is? Just maybe

we have a inadequate view of the meaning of LOVE?

Perhaps we have a "World View" of what love is.

Now if we want to know what true Love is, the easiest place to look

is Jesus Christ. John 15:13 says:

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's

life for his friends."

Jesus Christ took the wrath we deserved, loving what didn't deserve to be loved, forgiving what didn't deserved to be forgiven.

I think this is, as it says, a stumbling block for most…because you see a lot of us don't think we are underserving,( some of us do

and that also can create a problem of not accepting what Christ's

has done. ) A lot of people treat God as if

He has some obligation to love us, as if He had to forgive our sins.

So they miss the big picture, and they don't see how evil they are,

and they don't truly see God's LOVE because they just blow it off

like He is required to.

We tend to look at love like "What's in it for us" but that's not love at all. Love is a surrendering of SELF, of doing something

for someone else not out of requirement or to GET something in

return. I'm going to type that out again:

Love…IS…NOT doing something for someone else out of requirement! Are we not saved by THE GRACE of God?

God didn't have to create the human race…wasn't required too..

God didn't have to forgive our WICKEDNESS…wasn't required too

But God did create the human race and He did forgive our sins!

AMEN! glory be to Him alone!

Now this brings me to this overall point, Why don't

we LIVE and Act like we LOVE God? sin is conquered,

let it go MOVE FORWARD in Christ! Jesus says in John

14:15

"If you love me, keep My commandments."

Then why is it many claim to Love Christ, but yet not want to listen

to what He said? I'm not talking about works, I'm not talking about people falling in sin as it will always(while on earth) be

something we have to continually make war against, DAILY

we have to Die to our Flesh! Many say they love Christ,

but refuse to die daily! many say they love Christ and say

they have no need for His commandments or at least they act

like they don't need to be changed by Him.

The fact of the matter is, if you TRULY and honestly LOVE Christ

then you will surrender yourself. AND AGAIN Love is not doing something out of requirement, if you love Christ you wouldn't want to do anything else but FOLLOW and hang on His every word.

"For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to

silence the ignorance of foolish men- as free, yet not

using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God."

1 Peter 2:15-16

This my brothers and sisters goes hand in hand! We see Gods

grace His overwhelming mercy and forgiveness and how we

are free from sin,(NOT Free to sin…Free FROM sin)

but we don't take our freedom lightly…

we know how evil we are without Christ and we know the price!

we don't use our freedom as a means to sin MORE..NO!

we see our freedom and we hold it tightly we see our forgiveness

and we see how undeserving we are of it, we see Gods power and love and we surrender as servants looking for Him to work through

US! looking to please God and follow His commands not for

our Glory…but HIS GLORY the only place Glory can be placed!

Blessed [is] the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly [are] not so, But [are] like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalms 1:1-6

I want to share something with you, ready? I'm not the best

example of a follower of Christ, each day I must remember

to die to this selfish-flesh of mine. I seek to be that shinning light,

not for my glory but Gods, and I know He needs to shine through

me, it's not me working for God and me taking credit, it's

God working through me and giving Him all glory for it.

There's no good in me, I can't create good, I can't save myself..

if I rely on me i'll only disappoint. God's love is amazing the more we realize how undeserving we are of it, His love should bring us to the point of surrender, it should bring peace and faithfulness.

Sometimes we lose sight of what's important, and we claim

we love God but our actions say otherwise…we must

be convicted of our weakness and we must give it to GOD,

because only He can bring the change needed.

What we can not do is get to a point where we think change

can not come, that the new creation that we are suppose to be

can not come. We can't say we love God and then live a life

of blatant contradiction. It's like saying you love your wife

but then you continue to sleep with someone else on the side.

Listen, I know we all struggle in certain areas of our walk,

and we fall down BUT

1. we can't stay down

2. we can't expect to change if we rely on ourselves to

do the changing.

Here's the overall point i'm getting at; We will be tempted,

but it's what we do in times of temptation that matter.

If you think that you can stay strong, if you think that you

can ever change you, then you are going to end up in a never

ending cycle of failing yourself. The only way you will ever change

is through Jesus Christ, giving up and surrendering to Him

is the only way change can come. Are all things possible with God?

Then look to Him not yourself! the only thing possible with you is

FAILURE

Be thankful that God doesn't give up on you, that you are

indeed forgiven and through HIM you can be remade new.

If we love God, then we must surrender to Him, we must

repent and ask Him to bring the change we can't bring ourselves..

the more you try to save you with your own power the more

you will fail.

This doesn't mean a life of surrendering to our sinfulness,

This is about living like we truly love God and surrendering

to Him to save us from ourselves, it's the only way we can be saved.

Don't say "Oh well, this is who I am…I'm a sinner..I cant change

who I am" that's actually true, but that should drive

you to Christ not into stagnation.

I write this to all those who read, but not just to you, but to myself…

for I know I am no better and need to place all hope for change

in Christ not myself, and I need this change of living a life of sin

to living a life of Holiness. I need to surrender who I am, surrender

this body and let the Holy spirit guide and work through me…

there is no other way.

I pray God would work in you, reveal Himself and renew you..

that when temptations come whatever it may be that you

would run from temptations to Christ and rest in His Holiness.

That He wold bring the change that needs to come,

Ezekiel 36:27 says:

"I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."

This is what I ask for, and this is what God can and WILL do!

take our lusts our pride our selfishness our hard hearts and

change them to do YOUR will oh God! too walk in your statutes..

to love you as we claim we do! We don't need to defend

ourselves or attack others back who physically or verbally assault

us, you will vindicate us LORD, our strength lies not in our flesh

but in you God!

1 Peter 2:19-21 says;

"For this [is] commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.

For what credit [is it] if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this [is] commendable before God.

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: Amen..

The Remnant of Israel

Paul in Romans chapter eleven talks about

the Jewish faith and the remnant of Israel,

and yesterday I came across a verse

that just jumped out at me.

Lets go over the whole Chapter though so we can

grasp the whole concept of what Paul

was talking about.

I ask then: Did God reject his people?(Israel/Jews)

By no means! I am an Israelite my-self,

a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

God did not reject his people, whom he fore-knew.

Don't you know what the scripture says in the passage

about Elijah- how he appealed to God against Israel:

"Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down

your altars; I am the only one left, and they are

trying to kill me."

and what was God's answer to him?

"I have reserved for myself seven thousand

who have not bowed the knee to Baal."

So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen

by grace. and if by grace, then it is no longer works;

if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Romans 11:1-6

Paul was saying, Look! God didn't give up on

the Israelites! he didn't give up on them in Elijah's

time and he sure is not going to now.

By Gods grace, the same grace he had upon all of us

for all our sins, there is a remnant, there are israelites

that will come to know Christ! God will open

there eyes and ears to receive everything they were

promised. Romans eleven continues with..

What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it

did not obtain, but the elect did. The others

were hardened, as it is written:

"God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes so that they could not see

and ears so that they could not hear,

to this very day."

and David says:

"May their table become a snare and a trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them.

May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,

and their backs be bent forever."

Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to

fall beyond recovery? Not at all!

Rather, because of their transgression, salvation

has come to the Gentiles(non jews) to make Israel envious.

But if their transgression means riches for the world,

and their loss means riches for the Gentiles,

how much greater riches will their fullness bring!

I am talking to you Gentiles.

In as much as I am the apostle

to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry

in the hope that I may somehow arouse my

own people to envy and save some of them.

For if their rejection is the reconciliation of

the world, what will their acceptance be but life

from the dead?

If the part of the dough offered as first-

fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy;

if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Romans 11:7-16

Paul was preaching to the Gentiles

because God revealed to him in a vision

that Jesus didn't just die for the Jews(which all the apostles were)

Jesus brought everyone salvation, making the Gentiles

no different from an Israelite/Jew. Paul

wanted the Jewish people and leaders to realize how

loving and merciful God was if he can bring salvation

to those who didn't even know him.

If some of the branches have been broken off,

and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been

grafted in among the others and now share

in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do

not boast over those branches. If you do,

consider this: You do not support the root,

but the root supports you. You will say then,

"Branches were broken off so that I could

be grafted in."

Granted. But they were broken off because of

unbelief, and you stand by FAITH. Do not

be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God

did not spare the natural branches,

he will not spare you either.

Romans 11:17-21

Paul is obviously warning the Gentiles not

to boast about the grace that has been given

to them FREELY because just as

God poured out his wrath upon

the "Natural Branches" aka his chosen people

the Israelites, he will do the same to the

Gentile.

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness

of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness

to you, provided that you continue in his kindness.

Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And If they do

not persist in unbelief , they will be grafted in,

for God is able to graft them in again.

After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree

that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature

were grafted into a cultivated olive tree,

how much more readily will these,

the natural branches, be grafted into their own

olive tree!

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery,

brothers, so that you may not be conceited:

Israel has experienced a hardening in part

until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

"The deliverer will come from Zion;

he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

And this is my covenant with them when

I take away their sins."

As far as the gospel is concerned,

they are enemies on your account;

but as far as election is concerned,

they are loved on account of the patriarchs,

for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.

Just as you who were at one time

disobedient to God have now

received mercy as a result of their

disobedience,

so they too have now become disobedient

in order that they too may now receive

mercy as a result of God's mercy to you.

For God has bound all men over to disobedience

so that he may have mercy on them all.

Romans 11:22-32

Those last verses are the ones that jumped out

to me. Gentiles didn't worship God, they

worshipped other Gods/false Gods...

but they didn't worship the ONE God and only God,

so in their nature to their very core they were nothing

but disobedient, and yet God had mercy...

We have been given the gift of grace,

and how undeserving we are of it.

Jesus Christ has brought the non-jews

and the Jewish together as one...

nobody is any less or more deserving then

the other for we all have fallen short,

but through Jesus Christ we are one.