Matthew 7:22-23 22…
On that Day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we expel demons in your name? Didn’t we perform many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will tell them to their faces, ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!’
That’s a thought-provoking picture there, isn’t it? We have been studying the Book of Matthew through one of our favorite Biblical scholars and teachers, Tom Bradford, of TorahClass. Here is what he says in this Lesson 26 on Matthew, Chapter 7, right off the bat….
“We’re going to focus the bulk of our time together today on this passage that ought to be a shot across our collective and individual bow, because too easily Believers…. especially casual Christians…. dismiss it and think that this could not possibly be speaking about them or their congregation. What is a casual Christian? There is little better description of that than what we find in 1Corinthians.“
1 It is actually being reported that there is sexual sin among you, and it is sexual sin of a kind that is condemned even by pagans- a man is living with his stepmother! 2 And you stay proud? Shouldn’t you rather have felt some sadness that would have led you to remove from your company the man who has done this thing? 3 For I myself, even though I am absent physically, am with you spiritually; and I 4 have already judged the man who has done this as if I were present.
In the name of the Lord Yeshua, when you are assembled, with me present spiritually and the power of our Lord Yeshua among us, 5 hand over such a person to the Adversary for his old nature to be destroyed, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.
1 Corinthians 5:1-5 CJB
Bradford says, “A casual Believer, or a casual Christian, is one who practices disobedience to God, and is even proud of it. Notice that while the immediate consequence on earth for a casual Christian may be little more than expulsion from the congregation, the eternal consequences begin upon the arrival of the Day of the Lord.”
We are instructed in the Bible to “Hear and obey”… to “ask, seek, and knock”….
Yeshua (Jesus) says this in John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” In other words, belief and obedience are synonymous!
We should study and know what “obedience” and “lawlessness” mean in the context of Biblical instructions for living. Yeshua, the Son of God, obeyed and taught the Torah in its fullness, and said, “Follow Me!”
Watch the full teaching here!
Until next time,
Gene and LaVada
