The Two-Hundred-Seventy-Sixth (Something to Lose)

We’re going to look at something this week that tends to be somewhat confusing to some believers.  What’s worse is that like many things in Christianity, it has become a point of argument, and therefore division, between those who believe one way and those who believe the other way.  Hopefully, this study will help to clarify things and allow you to see what scripture says yourself.

The topic at hand is whether or not a believer has the potential to lose their spot, so to speak, in the Kingdom of Heaven.  We’ll get into what the truth is regarding this topic and any associated aspects of it given what we find in scripture.  

The first thing to remind ourselves of is that in order for us to know whether or not our belief in any matter is the truth, it must fit with any given verse in scripture when that verse is taken in context.  Many times, in the best case scenario, a false belief is arrived at because verses are not taken in the correct context.  Sometimes that context is built based on the belief, and sometimes that context is just simply misunderstood.  In the worst case scenario, a false belief is arrived at because a person simply throws out any verses that contradict it, claiming they are not applicable to the person.  This may sound unbelievable, but there are entire belief structures, for example, that are solely based on Paul’s writings.  The claim there is that only Paul is applicable to the believer that did not come from a Jewish background, and everything else in scripture other than Paul was written for those Jewish believers.

Let’s start with something from Paul for this study, and we’ll begin by providing an example of how one could come to a belief that does not align with the whole of scripture.  If we look at Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome, he makes the statement that one is justified only by faith, not by works (Romans 3:28).  As a reminder, justification in this context is the act of being made righteous by YHWH.  In other words, even given our sins, YHWH clears us of all the consequences for them.  As another reminder, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless we are righteous (Matthew 5:20).

If we use this one verse by Paul, our belief would be that we must do nothing more than have faith in order for us to be righteous enough to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  However, if we flip a few pages and we read a letter written by James, we find that he says one is justified by their deeds and not by faith alone (James 2:24).  So, which is it?  Are we justified by faith alone, or justified by our deeds and not by faith alone?  

Some would say we should only listen to Paul, because as far as we know we are not believers with a Jewish background.  If that were the case, a believer would only be required to intellectually decide they believed in Yeshua in order for them to be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  They could do whatever they wanted in life, and as long as they believed they would be saved.  The only problem is, even Paul talks about works being a part of a true believer’s life.    

Earlier in Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome, he talks about being able to bring all people of the nations to the obedience that comes from faith (Romans 1:5).  By definition, obedience requires works!  In order for you to be obedient to someone, you have to do what they say.

How do we reconcile the belief we just came up with, that works is not required for someone to be saved and enter the Kingdom of Heaven, with not only James’ writing but also the seeming contradiction Paul himself provides?  And it’s not just James, this idea of works being a part of a believer’s life in Yeshua is rampant throughout scripture.  In fact, even Yeshua talked about works and His requirement for them.  

In order to try and make sense of what people think Paul is talking about, given the fact that so many other verses seem to contradict him, believers have essentially tried everything.  We already mentioned the “only Paul is for the Gentile believers” view (of which, by the way, the term “Gentile believers” is an oxymoron as we have identified in previous studies).  This stance, in some cases, even goes so far as to say that even what Yeshua talked about in His ministry isn’t for us.  The most radical of those that believe this stance argue that Yeshua was only speaking to Jews and living as a Jew under the “old covenant,” and therefore while we can take some aspects of His ministry and His life to learn from, at its core that was all just for the Jews and we’re not supposed to do any of it.

I don’t know about you, but this, to me, is simply ridiculous.  Our Messiah and Savior spent His time on earth preaching and living things that don’t apply to His assembly (“church” in some translations)?  If the truth was that He was coming to create something new for us to follow, something completely different than what was there for thousands of years and instituted by His (and our) Father YHWH, why wouldn’t He spend His time preaching about that and living it?  I mean, He would have to radically change the fundamental aspects of what His chosen people had been given and taught by YHWH, and that would not only take more than the time He had in his 1.5/3.5 year ministry (depending on who you ask) but also He would have to spend His whole ministry talking about it to even have a chance of it succeeding!  

The other thing believers have done is built other doctrines on this belief such as “once saved always saved.”  Their thought is that if we only have to believe, then that “act” alone must guarantee us access to the Kingdom and nothing can change that.  I put act in quotations because by definition something purely mental such as a decision to believe is not truly an act.  The argument of this doctrine, for those that question the salvation status of backsliders under this view, is that those individuals who return to a life of sin were never truly saved in the first place.

Therein lies the problem, or in the case of this week’s study the solution.  You may have noticed a subtle shift in language if you’ve been following along in all our studies since the beginning.  It has been a shift from the implication that our salvation depends simply on our belief to the fact that in addition to faith, or more accurately what grows from faith, our obedience to YHWH is required.  We cannot live our lives believing that we are secure in our salvation, that we will be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, simply based on a mental act of deciding to believe in Yeshua.

As always, let’s not just take a statement of man (in this case, me) as truth.  Let’s test this belief with scripture.  We already identified the words of James that state that justification requires works and not just faith (James 2:24).  Now, let’s look at Hebrews.

The writer of Hebrews, which I believe is also a letter from Paul, provides his audience with a laundry list of examples of faith in scripture (Hebrews 11).  He goes through person after person, and event after event, apparently showing that faith is what YHWH used to justify these individuals.  In other words, faith is the thing that caused YHWH to consider them righteous.

The thing about all these examples, with perhaps one example to be argued, is that every one of them involves the person actually doing something.  Abel made a sacrifice, Enoch walked with YHWH (according to the book of Enoch as a mediator between YHWH and fallen messengers), Noah built an ark, Abraham picked his family up and moved them to a foreign land as well as committed to offering his son to YHWH, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons, etc.  The list goes on.

It bears mentioning that one example the writer provides involves child bearing and birth, and in my opinion, that would be the example to potentially be argued as not an act by the individual.  The counter to that is Sarah’s carrying and giving birth to Isaac certainly required an act on her part with Abraham, if you catch my drift.  This was a naturally conceived child, and the only supernatural part was that YHWH enabled her body to grow the child when in previous attempts at having children it hadn’t.

The other thing to note about the examples the writer of Hebrews provides is that there is a non-Israelite included (other than all the individuals before Jacob, of course).  Rahab, the prostitute, is listed, and her faithful action was to welcome the spies from Israel and save them from being captured/murdered.  In other words, the writer is showing that faith in YHWH is not isolated to Israel, it includes those that aren’t physically descended from Israel as well.

We can also look to Yeshua’s teaching during His ministry for examples of not only works being a key component of faith, but also a required aspect of entering the Kingdom of Heaven.  First, He equates a faithful believer’s light with their good deeds (Matthew 5:16).  We’ll get more into the context of that example shortly.

Even more substantial is His warning about those He will deny access to the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 7:21).  He specifically says that those who do not do YHWH’s will are not going to be allowed to enter the Kingdom.  Not only that, He will say He never knew them and He will call them lawless!

There are a lot of things to unpack with both of these statements of Yeshua.  The first thing to recognize is that these individuals not only knew Him, they believed they were doing all the right things, prophesying, driving out demons, and performing miracles in His name (Matthew 7:22).  Many believers today might even wonder what else is there for a believer to do?  Prophesying is simply speaking the words of YHWH as His spokesperson, so to speak, to man.  A lot of times we get that confused these days and think it always has to do with warning of impending judgment.  And then, of course, are the driving out of demons and performance of miracles, which, if done in His name, would inherently require His power to be allowed to flow through them.

Going back to the “once saved always saved” crew, this doesn’t really align with their belief, does it?  How can all these individuals make it their whole lives doing all these things in Yeshua’s name, only to find in the end that they’re not saved?  They obviously thought they were saved the whole time, or they wouldn’t have done those things in the first place and certainly wouldn’t have come to Him at the end expecting to be let into the Kingdom of Heaven.

The better question is, what exactly is it that Yeshua is requiring for entry into His Kingdom?  How do we not lose our ability to enter His Kingdom?  Clearly, it’s not just speaking YHWH’s word to men, driving out demons, and performing miracles.  In order to answer this question, we must look at the context of the two statements from Yeshua that are in question.

In the first statement, we need only look to the very next sentence Yeshua makes (Matthew 5:17).  In it, He talks about the fact that He did not come to get rid of the Law, and a lot of people don’t connect this with the previous verse where He’s talking about good deeds.  He goes on to say that unless your righteousness is greater than the Pharisees and scribes, you will not be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:20).

Is this the point where Yeshua creates something new and different for His assembly to do, something other than the Law which was a part of the “old covenant,” that will somehow make them more righteous than if they kept the requirements of the “old covenant?”  No!  He goes on, for the rest of this chapter mind you, to not only talk about some of the major commandments in the Law but how they were always intended to be followed!  It was always about the heart for YHWH.  It started with a person’s faith in Him, and then through that faith came their obedience to His word, and in this particular case that means His Law (Matthew 5:21-48).  Yes, we are supposed to listen to what He leads us to do whenever that happens, but at the core of our lives, how we live day to day, that obedience means following His Law.

This is confirmed in the other statement by Yeshua we referenced earlier.  In this case, we again see Yeshua saying He will prevent entry into the Kingdom of Heaven, but here He’s saying you have to do YHWH’s will (Matthew 7:21).  So what is His will?  It’s not prophesying in His name, driving out demons, or performing miracles, because the people being barred from the Kingdom did all those things.  

To figure out the context, what Yeshua’s referring to as YHWH’s will, we just need to look a few verses earlier in this chapter.  What we find is that Yeshua started by talking about doing what is in the Law and equating it to doing to others what you want them to do to you (Matthew 7:12).  Is He getting rid of the Law here and creating something new for His assembly to follow?  No!  He’s saying that we still have to follow the Law, but He’s summarizing everything that’s in it into one phrase.

In fact, He goes on right after this to talk about the narrow gate, which means this is what’s required in order for us to pass through that gate!  The broad road, therefore, is not following the Law.  Yeshua says it leads to destruction, and it’s no coincidence that sin is transgression of the Law (1 John 3:4), the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and death is destruction (Matthew 10:28, Revelation 20:14).  

How does Yeshua close this particular message in His ministry?  He talks about the foundations on which believers should “build their house” (Matthew 7:24-27, Luke 6:46-49).  The imagery is given with purpose, because He is painting a picture of someone who already has their house built and they are living in it when the torrent comes.  They are living in apparent security and comfort based on the works of building their house, and in the case of the foundation of sand that same destruction He talked about with the broad road ends up happening to the occupant of that house.  

We can see these people in Christianity today, and they’ve decided to call themselves “progressive Christians.”  They see scripture as old and not applicable to the modern age we’re in today because they place the ideas of man above the word of YHWH, so they ignore clear messages in scripture given by Him and choose to celebrate sins rather than condemn them, and even themselves in the symbols of those sins.  They built their house on the shifting sands of man’s morals rather than the unmoving, steady rock of YHWH’s Law, and inevitably they will end up being destroyed as Yeshua prophesied.  

That’s what many Christians these days don’t understand.  Ultimately, the foundational rock Yeshua is talking about here is the Law.  He said it was hearing and doing His teachings, and He literally just got done talking about the Law.  It’s also not just that we pick and choose the “right” commandments to keep.  That’s just as bad as not keeping any of them.  We can quote scripture on that (James 2:10), but if you justify to yourself why one here and one there that aren’t applicable to you it’s only a matter of time before you justify why none of them are applicable.

In summary, we’ve learned that yes, it is possible for us to get all the way to the end and find out that we will not be allowed into the Kingdom of Heaven.  To ensure this doesn’t happen, we must have the obedience that comes from faith that Paul talked about.  Day to day, that means living the way YHWH commanded His people to live.  I hope you have a great week! Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!  

-Rob and Sara Gene

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The Gospel

We are born sinful as a result of Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 2:17, 3:6, 1 John 1:8)

The consequence of sin, which is unavoidable through our own works, is death (Romans 6:23)

Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, lived sinless and was put to death (Hebrews 4:15)

His death, therefore, cleanses us of sin that would have required our death

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4)

Because of His resurrection, we are confident in our future resurrection and eternal life

(1 Corinthians 15:17-18, John 3:16)