Now the part of the chapter I’d like to focus on is beginning there in verse number 7 when the question asked “When they had set them in the midst they asked by what power or by what name have you done this. Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he has made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Here we see that there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved but by the name of Jesus Christ.
What I want to preach about this morning is a movement that is a very big movement, a very popular movement. It seems like not a day goes by that somebody doesn’t email me about this. I have people even flesh and blood real human beings outside of the computer that are constantly bringing this up to me and talking about this. This is something that I had never even heard of growing up. In recent years it has just exploded in popularity and anybody who is surfing the internet is just filled with this false doctrine. It’s very indicative of just how ignorant today Christians have become about basic Bible doctrines that these type of doctrines could spread this way. It seems like this is something that is gaining momentum.
I feel like I need to preach a sermon this morning to preach against this false doctrine to make sure that no one in our church would ever be deceived by this deception that’s out there. That is this movement of this Hebrew roots movement amongst Christians. Those that basically would say that Jesus is not really Jesus. He’s actually Yahshua and we need to keep the Sabbath. We’re not supposed to eat pork. We need to circumcise our children. We need to celebrate the feast of tabernacle and I say Shabbat, Shalom and wear a funny hat. You know what? I’m going to tell you something. This doctrine is a wicked false doctrine.
It’s not just a minor difference of opinion here. This is not just something that “Oh it’s kind of cute.” using these Jewish terms. No, this is wicked satanic false doctrine. The Bible destroys it in chapter after chapter. I want to tell you something. This is not something we want to be mixed up in. Let me start out with the most important part of this by establishing for you that the name that is above every name is the name of Jesus.
Go to Philippians chapter 2. This doctrine is a doctrine that is not biblical. It does not come from the Bible and the people who subscribe to this doctrine do not use the Bible as their final authority. I’m going to prove that to you. I’m also going to prove to you why you should not listen to anything that anyone has to say who subscribes to any of this doctrine. I’m going to prove that to you from the Bible. It says in Philippians chapter 2 the famous verse in verse 9 “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
The first error that I want to point out about this movement is referring to our Lord and Savior as Yahshua instead of Jesus. His name is Jesus not Yahshua, okay? People will say, “Pastor Anderson you poor ignorant English speaker. You’re just speaking English.” They’ll say that “English has just really bastardized the name of our savior by calling him Jesus. It really should be Yahshua.” Well I’ve got news for you the New Testament of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ was not written in Hebrew in the first place. It never was in Hebrew. It was written in what language? Greek. The New Testament of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ was written in the language of Greek.
You know what? The name of our savior is in the Greek New Testament Jesus. Look it up. It’s spelled I-E-S-O-U-S, Iesous or as our Spanish speaking friends would say Hesus or as my German wife would say Yesus. Jesus that is his name. To say that there is something wrong with that name, to criticize that name and those that are calling him Yahshua will often say, “Jesus is a pagan name.” That’s what they’ll say. I’ve heard them say that Jesus is related to the false god Isis or to the pagan group of people [inaudible 00:05:13] or even that Jesus means hail Zeus. Anybody who teaches that the name of Jesus is a pagan name or a false name is going to split hell wide open. I’ll tell you that right now.
Anybody who has anything critical to say about the name of Jesus is not saved because the Bible says “No man speaking by the spirit of God calleth Jesus Christ a curse.” The Bible clearly teaches that the name of Jesus is the only name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. To say that there is something wrong with that name Jesus is to blaspheme God. You can say “There’s no J said in Hebrew.” So what? We’re speaking English. That name is Jesus in English. It’s Hesus in Spanish. It’s Yesus in German. It’s the same name of the same person.
If you would go back to Judges chapter number 12 because there are those that would say “Yahshua is the real way to say it and if you’re saying anything else you’re pagan.” Let me explain this. The Bible never says Yahshua in it one time. Are these people using the Bible as their authority?
Group: No.
Pastor : Say “They’re just going back to the original.” No, original Greek doesn’t say Yahshua either. Where are these people getting this? In fact, what is the word Yahshua? What is that? I’ll tell you what it is. It is translating the name of Jesus into a language that was invented in the 1800’s and calling that the original. Let me tell you something. Modern Hebrew is a language that was invented in the 1800’s. Did you know that? You say, “People have always spoken Hebrew.” No, Hebrew was a dead language for almost 2000 years. Did you know that?
You see as early as 200 AD no one was speaking Hebrew as their native language, no one. It was a dead language. It was a dead language all the way until the 1800’s when the Zionist movement decided to try to revive a dead language, the Hebrew language, and revived it and created modern Hebrew and started teaching people. Today there are about 5.4 million people in the world who speak Hebrew as their native language. Let me tell you something. That language was invented in the 1800s. You say “No, it’s a biblical language in the Old Testament.” Hold on a second. Does anybody have a tape recording of any of the Old Testament prophet speaking?
Group: No.
Pastor : Do we really know what their language sounded like? Can I really look at a paper and see letters on that page and know how those words are pronounced? Absolutely not. For example, even just within the United States, even in the same year, even in 2013, the thing that lights up at a restaurant when your food is ready I would call that the pager, P-A-G-E-R. When I was in Texas she said it’s the pager. There’s a pretty big difference pager and pager. That’s just a few hundred miles apart in the same year on the same continent in the modern era.
People have pronounced things differently in different places in different ways for thousands of years. Let me tell you something. It is impossible to figure out exactly how ancient Hebrew was pronounced thousands of years ago since it was a dead language for 1500 years. Even if it weren’t a dead language for over 1500 years, it would still be impossible to figure out how they pronounce it back then because things change.
To sit there and say “Well it’s Yahshua.” Let me prove that false. Go if you would to Judges chapter 12 verse 5. The Bible reads in Judges 12:5 “And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.”
Now this goes to show right here that way before Christ was born in the nation of Israel we have 2 groups of people that live very close together that are both part of the tribes of Israel. We have the Gileadites on one hand who they say Shibboleth and then we have the Ephraimites. By the way Ephraim one of the biggest tribes in the whole nation. The word Ephraim means fruitful because they were one that God blessed and they multiplied greatly. Huge part of the nation of Israel could not even make a sha sound but we’re told “Oh yeah I mean that’s just the only way to pronounce the name of Jesus is Yahshua.”
Well I guess huge portions of the Israeli population can't even pronounce it right according to this because they can't even make a sha sound. What I’m saying is that these doctrines are not the doctrines of the Bible. These are the doctrines of men. These are people who are taking the name of Jesus from the Greek New Testament, translating it into a language that was invented in the 1800’s and telling us we’re pagans if we use the real name of Jesus the way it’s written in the New Testament. It’s a false doctrine.
Others will demand and insist that we call God Yahweh. Who’s heard that one? They say, “No God is Yahweh.” If you call him the Lord or God, they’ll say that that’s wrong. Don’t call him the Lord, call him Yahweh. Again, number 1 impossible to know how this is pronounced in a dead language thousands of years ago that it was really even pronounced Yahweh. Secondly and even more importantly did you know that in the New Testament which is the basis of our sole faith and practice the New Testament never uses the term Yahweh one time. Did you know that?
According to them that’s the only name that we should be referring to God by even though Jesus never used it one time. Even though the apostles of Jesus Christ in the New Testament never used the term Yahweh even once. When they quoted Old Testament Hebrew scriptures they used the term Jehovah as this English speaker will pronounce it. Yahweh whenever they quoted scriptures they used that term. You know how they translated it? The Lord just like your King James Bible because the Greek word that they used was Kyrios which means Lord. That’s what they called him.
That’s why the King James Bible translates Jehovah or Yahweh as the Lord because that’s how Jesus translated it. Because that’s how the apostles translated it. Because that’s how the Holy Ghost who is the author of the New Testament translated it. My friend do not be deceived by just anything that you read on the internet or any video that you see on YouTube that tries to tell you that the Lord is not his name. His name is the Lord. His name is the Lord God and our savior is known as the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the name above every name. That is the name that is associated with salvation.
Do not be deceived by someone telling you “In the original it’s called Yahshua.” No, it isn’t. That’s a lie. Never is that found. Number 2 go if you would to Matthew chapter 5. Number 1 we see this false doctrine that attacks the name of Jesus and seeks to call him Yahshua instead of calling him Jesus. Let me tell you something. If you’re speaking and using the term Yahshua, you’re speaking a foreign language for no reason. English is the language that we speak. We should use English words. If we want to go back to an original go back to the Greek Yesus, Jesus but this Yahshua has no basis in reality.
That’s why any time I ever hear any … if I get an email and I see the word Yahshua I just delete it. I’m done reading. If I hear a preacher use the word Yahshua, I’m done listening. If I’m talking to someone and I hear the word Yahshua come out of their mouth, I perceive that the words of knowledge are not found in him and I realize this person is deceived or a deceiver, one of the 2. This person is not using the Bible as their final authority. This person does not have the New Testament as their final authority of all faith and practice.
Number 2 not only an attack on the name of Jesus but number 2 this doctrine of being a Torah observing Christian is what they’ll characterize [inaudible 00:14:18]. Being a Torah observing Christian and often these same people in this Hebrew roots movement or Torah observing movement or Yahshua movement they will also teach that the Old Testament takes precedence over the New Testament. That’s what they’ll teach. They’ll say “The fruit is not greater than the root.” Well that rhymes but it’s a lie. I’d rather eat an apple fruit than an apple root. I don’t know about you. Anyway, the fruit is not greater than the root.
The Old Testament, the Torah and they will actually exalt and elevate the Torah. You say, “What’s the Torah?” Yeah, good question. It’s not a Bible word but what they mean by that is the first 5 books of the Bible. They will somehow elevate the first 5 books of the Bible above the rest of the Bible. I’ve even heard some of these people say “The first 5 books of the Bible, the Torah that was the one that was directly out of the mouth of God on the mountaintop with Moses. The rest of it was derived from just prophets and …” No, the Bible says all scriptures given by inspiration of God and is [providal 00:15:21] for doctrine.
The Bible says every word of God is pure. The Bible says that the words of the Apostle Paul were the words of the Lord or the words of God. We did not give into this thing of exalting the first 5 books of the Bible above the rest of the Bible. They’ll sometimes give precedence to those Old Testament scriptures above the New Testament and I’ve run into many that have taught that. They also say we’re Torah observing and here’s the scripture that they’ll point to. Look at Matthew 5:17.
It says, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” See Jesus didn’t come to destory the law, he came to fulfill and I have to heartily agree with that. Go to Romans chapter 3 if you would. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Go to Romans chapter 3. In Romans chapter 3 we’ll see the Apostle Paul reiterate and reinforce what Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 5 when he says in verse 31 “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
The Bible is clear both as the mouth of Jesus and out of the mouth of the Apostle Paul that we do not make void the Old Testament law. We do not reject the Old Testament law. We do not throw out the Old Testament law, but we are Torah observing Christians? We’ll go to Hebrews chapter 7 if you would. Hebrews is toward the end of the New Testament. Hebrews chapter 7, let me ask this of those who claim to be and by the way this is the trendy thing right now. This is huge.
It’s not just on the internet. You get around home school groups. This is the big thing amongst the home schoolers. I’m all for home school. We home school our children. I’m a strong believer but you get amongst the home schooling groups. You get on the internet. You talk to people out soul winning. You people visit our church and they’re inundated with this Hebrew roots doctrine and this Yahshua and Torah observing and so forth. There was even something. There was some kind of a home schooling magazine or something that my wife had. They have an advertisement and it was this raising manly men or something. It was some book or something and the guy who wrote the book instead of putting on a bar mitzvah for his kid at age 13, he’s putting on like a Christian version of a bar mitzvah, the bar haha whatever it was.
They’re just trying so hard to mix in this Judaism or mix in Hebrew culture. It’s not biblical. It’s wrong. It’s sin. I’m going to prove it to you. Look if you would at Hebrews chapter 7 verse 12. It says in Hebrews 7:12 “For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.” Let me ask you this, is the law unchanged? Is it unchanged? No, because the Bible says the priesthood being changed in the New Testament there’s also a change of the law. Are we supposed to just observe the Torah unchanged? Observe the laws of the Old Testament Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy just observe them unchanged.
Is that what the Bible teaches? No, the Bible clearly teaches that there is also a change of the law. Even those that claim to be a Torah observing Christian they’re not sacrificing a blood sacrifice. They’re not burning a lamb on the altar and so therefore they have observed a change in the law, have they not? The question is, where do we draw the line? I don’t believe in throwing out the whole Old Testament, that’s a false doctrine. You know what the changes are? The changes that God told us. They want to just basically only stop the animal sacrifices and do everything else. They want to do the new moons. I know a guy who blows the trumpet every time the new moon comes out. I’m not kidding. Yes I do.
They want to blow a trumpet at the new moon. They want to celebrate the feast of tabernacles. They want to celebrate the Sabbath. They want to drink some wine drink on the Sabbath because that’s what some Jewish rabbi said to do. They want to restrict their diet from pork and things of that nature. They want to observe things but the question is, what are the changes? Here’s the thing. We have to let the Bible tell us what the changes are. The book of Hebrews does that very well as is the book of Colossians.
If you would look at Hebrew 7:22. Tell me if the Torah is supreme to the New Testament. What should we give precedence? Let’s say we have something being taught in the New Testament and some being taught in the Old Testament, which one has precedence for us today? Look at verse 22. “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a,” What?
Group: A New Testament.
Pastor : Ouch! Okay. We could also call the New Testament … you know what another term for the New Testament is? The better testament. Did you hear me? The better testament. That is a biblical term. If you would go to chapter 8 verse 6. This is comparing Jesus unto the Old Testament priesthood and unto the Old Testament law. It says in Hebrews 8:6 “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry,” isn’t that like a better testament? “By how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
Isn’t the Bible clear here? You see when you make the Bible your authority you know what the final authority is in your life in all matters of faith and practice? The New Testament. Am I throwing out the Old Testament? No. Is every word of the Old Testament true? Yes. Is it the word of God? Is it [prodigal 00:21:20] for doctrine? Yes but there’s been a change today in the observance of the Old Testament because now Jesus has brought in a better testament, a better covenant. I’m glad I live in the New Testament and not under the Old Testament. You say, “Why?” because it’s better that’s why.
Look if you would at verse 7 “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.” Now you say wait a minute is ther something wrong with the Old Testament? No because look he explains it in the next verse. “For finding fault with them,” who’s them? The children of Israel. “For finding fault with them he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”
The fault was not in God’s word. It’s not that there is any error in the Torah. There’s no error in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers or Deuteronomy. Oh no! There’s no error but because that Old Testament was made with a specific group of people the children of Israel and those people continued not in this covenant. Those people broke the covenant of God. He found fault with them that covenant could not endure forever. Did you hear me? That covenant that he made with Israel could not endure forever because they failed to keep that covenant. They failed to walk in it and that’s why it had to be replaced with a new covenant, with a better covenant the New Testament which would be an everlasting covenant, an everlasting testament.
Look if you would at verse 9. He said he made a new covenant with Israel. Verse 9 “Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.”
Look at verse 13. “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” He’s explaining that parts of the old covenant are done away with in Christ. He says that which decayeth meaning that part of the old covenant which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. The next verse says “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.” He begins to explain what it is that waxeth old and is ready to vanish away. He begins to explain what parts of the Old Testament are not for us today.
They are not something that we observe or practice today. He talks about the tabernacle. He talks about animal sacrifices but then he goes on to talk about in … let me find my place here in Hebrews 9. Then he goes on to talk about in verse 10. He said, “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,” and on and on. He says right there that some of the things that are done away are the meats, drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances.
That tells me that food, drink, physical ordinances, those are not things that we’re supposed to observe today. You can pontificate. “Well I’m a Torah observing Christian.” Well you’re observing stuff that God said we’re not supposed to observe when you’re observing that stuff. Then one of the other things. I mean we’d have to read the whole chapter 9 to get it. He talks about the Day of Atonement as one of the things that’s done away, that has been replaced by the sacrifice of Christ and yet Yom Kippur and Day of Atonement all of a sudden ends up on people’s calendars today and they’re going to … oh they’re going to celebrate the feast. They’re going to celebrate the jubilee and the Day of Atonement and the feast of tabernacles.
They’re going to not eat pork. They’re going to do the drink offering. They’re going to drink the new moon in. You know what? This is not biblical. The Bible is telling us look these things are done away in Christ. Welcome to a better covenant. Welcome to the New Testament. We could go on and on. I don’t want to spend the whole sermon on that. This is probably going to end up being a 2 parter with tonight anyway just because … Go to Colossians chapter 2. Just because of the fact that there’s so much to cover here.
Colossians chapter 2. Let me just give you a quick review. I want this all to make sense to you. Number 1, we looked at the fact that the word of Yahshua is a fraud. Our savior’s name s Jesus because let me ask you this. Where do we get everything we know about Jesus from? The Bible. Let me ask you this. Is Jesus mentioned by name in the Old Testament? No. Where do we get our teaching about the man Christ Jesus? Where do we get it from? The New Testament, right? Isn’t that where we get our teachings about the man Christ Jesus. Let me ask you this. Shouldn’t everything we believe be about Jesus come from the New Testament and if so, wouldn’t we call him Jesus since that’s the only thing that the New Testament ever calls him?
That any source from which we’re deriving the term Yahshua is not a biblical source? Think about that. Let that sink in to your ears. Anyone who is using the term Yahshua did not get it from reading the Bible in English or in Greek or in any other legitimate translation of the New Testament because it’s just simply not there. We saw that number 1 the name of Jesus is being attacked by those who are blasphemous, by those who are unbelievers, false prophets, false teachers. They are deceived and being deceived. The name of Jesus is a blessed name. It’s the name above all names. What about this? Yup it’s above that one. It’s above all names.
Number 2 we saw the error of the “Torah observing Christian” who wants to observe portions of the Torah that were specifically done away in Christ and they want to give the Torah precedent over the New Testament. Which one did the Bible tell us have precedence? The better testament, right? The New Testament.
If you would look at Colossians 2 verse 14. It says, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances …” This is Colossian 2:14. Get those first couple of words. Blotting out, everybody get that. “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way.” But you want us to observe that today in the New Testament apparently. He says, “Nailing it to his cross and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore …”
Because of the fact that this stuff has been done away, because of the fact it’s been blotted away, because of the fact that he was nailed to his cross let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Right there he’s telling us look because this stuff has been done away don’t let anybody judge you because of what you eat for meat. Don’t let anybody judge that pork sandwich. Don’t let anybody judge the fact that you don’t wash your hands before you eat. Yeah it’s probably a good idea to wash your hands before you eat but Jesus and his disciples sometimes just went straight to the chow.
By the way some people that are … I just saw a study this week that said people that are overly sanitary and sterile they get more sick. Did you know that? They actually get more sick. It’s actually good to be exposed to a little bit of dirt. Sometimes people live in such a sanitary boy in a bubble lifestyle getting out in the dirt a little bit is actually healthy for you. They’re starting to discover that. Anyway, it says don’t let them judge you because you don’t really give a rip what phase the moon is in right now. I don’t know. Does anybody even know?
It’s somewhere near the half or something or the Sabbath days but yet we have people today telling you that you’re not saved if you don’t keep the Sabbath or even just telling you “Well you’re saved but you’re not right with God if you’re not keeping the Sabbath.” What does the Bible say? Done way. Not part of the new covenant. Not part of the New Testament. The Bible is clear on that.
Go to Matthew 23 if you would. Matthew chapter number 23. Let me say this. I don’t want you to misunderstand me. I’m not saying reject the Old Testament. I’m saying specifically only the specific changes. Did God just change things willy nilly? No. He specifically said the priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the law. He didn’t saw of caprice. He didn’t say we’re changing the law just because we can. He said we’re changing it of necessity. There are only necessary changes that were made. Those necessary changes that were made involved the carnal ordinances, involved the new moons, involved the holidays, involved the Sabbath days, involved the Levitical priesthood, the blood sacrifices. Those are the things that are done away.
What about in God’s law where it tells you not to marry your sister did he do away with that? No. We’re not just going to throw out the Old Testament law. Obviously there are many law … thou shall not steal. Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not commit adultery. Those are all still enforced. When the Bible tells a man not to put on a woman’s garment and when the Bible tells a woman not to wear that which pertaineth to a man, that’s still enforced. God is still against cross dressing and murder and adultery and rape and kidnaping.
All the things that he tells us are wrong in the Old Testament. Lying, stealing, cheating, defrauding, those things are all still wrong today. God is not giving us a license to sin here telling us “Hey forget the law man, just do what you want.” No, he said, “I’m here to establish the law. I’m here to fulfill the law. I’m not here to destroy the law but there is a necessity, a change made in the law.” That change is a change away from the carnal ordinances which were imposed on them until the time of reformation. You’ll notice it’s very easy to observe which things are done away in Christ. It’s the same things that came in with Moses just think about think it.
Before Moses there was no restriction on what animals you could eat and not eat because Noah when he got off the arc was told every moving thing that breadeth shall be meat for you. Do pigs breathe?
Group: Amen.
Pastor : Therefore it’s unto us for meat. He said I’ve freely given you all things for meat. We see that there was no dietary restriction before the Mosaic Law because there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with eating pork. It was only wrong because he told them it was wrong. That specifically served a purpose for a specific time and God used that. You said, “What was the point of having these temporary dietary restrictions? What was the point of it all?” Well I preached a whole sermon about chewing the cud and parting the hoof where I explained some of the symbolic significance of those dietary restriction. I got a whole sermon on it a few years back.
Not only that but God was going to use that as an illustration in the New Testament between the difference of having the old covenant focus on a specific group of people the nation of Israel and then the New Testament making his house the house of prayer for all nations. Which one is better? Open it up to all nations. Now of course there were people of all nations who were saved in the Old Testament but God’s house was not open to everybody. They had to be circumcised in order to become a Jew. They had to go through that [inaudible 00:33:17].
Basically what I’m saying here is that in the New Testament god was going to use diet unto Peter to show Peter the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. Remember when Peter gets the vision about Cornelius and he’s told to eat beast that were formally unclean on the old covenant and that was an illustration of the fact that now the Gentiles were part of the body. They’re part of the house of God in the New Testament. That’s a whole another sermon of itself.
Let’s go to something else. Go to Matthew 23 because you’ll notice that all of these Torah observing Christians or Hebrews roots movement or whatever sacred name movement or whatever this manifests itself as, this Yahshua teaching doctrine, you’ll notice that a lot of the practitioners of this called themselves rabbi and called their spiritual leaders rabbi. Let’s see what the Bible says. Let me ask you this. Is anybody who is calling themselves a rabbi a Bible believing Christian? Let’s look at the Bible.
Matthew 23 verse 8 says “But be not ye called Rabbi.” If a guy goes around being called rabbi is he walking in the teachings of Jesus Christ? No. is the New Testament of our lord and savior Christ his final authority? No. he’s not looking at the words of Jesus saying this is my authority. He is looking at some unbelieving anti-Christ Jew who calls himself rabbi and saying, “I want to be like that guy.” Ain’t that the truth? He’s not looking at Jesus and saying, “I want to follow Christ. I want to follow Jesus’s teaching.” No, he’s looking at unbelieving, unsaved guy who doesn’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah, who calls himself rabbi because Jewish rabbis don’t believe in Christ newsflash.
Then the messianic Jew is going to call himself rabbi. Is the messianic Jew patterning himself after Christ or is he patterning himself after an unsaved, unbelieving rabbi? See what I mean. He says here “But be not ye called Rabbi.” It doesn’t matter what you call him. Be not ye called rabbi that’s a Bible doctrine. If it didn’t matter then maybe we should all just take a Sharpie and cross that out. Of course it matters, it’s in the Bible. It says, “For one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” Now that goes to prove right there what the word rabbi means. Rabbi is Hebrew for master.
Later on when Jesus appears unto Mary in the garden of gethsemane after his resurrection, she comes to him and says, “Rabboni” and Rabboni means my master. That oni at the end, you know rabbi means master. The oni at the end means my master, Rabboni. She comes to him and says Rabboni which being interpreted is my master. We understand what the word rabbi means everybody? Look at the next term. It says, “Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” Tell that to the Roman Catholics. In verse 8 he says, “Don’t be called rabbi because one is your master even Christ and all ye brethren.”
Jesus Christ is often called rabbi in the Bible that’s because he is the master, the only master. Don’t call yourself master. He says don’t be called father. There’s only one father the Father in heaven. Look at verse 10. “Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.” You say, “Wait a minute Pastor Anderson this is redundant.” Somebody might look at this and say this is redundant. He already told us not to be called master in verse 8, why is he telling us in verse 10 not to be called …?” No it’s not redundant. It’s 3 names you’re not supposed to be called.
By the way, this goes to show that Jesus was not speaking biblical Hebrew when he walked on this earth. Jesus was most likely speaking Aramaic or another dialect. He spoke the language of the common man which biblical Old Testament Hebrew was not the language of the common man when Jesus walked the earth. When he’s preaching on the multitudes, he’s preaching in their language. The common people heard him gladly. By the way, that’s why he often uses Aramaic words throughout the gospels you know [inaudible 00:37:52] gives us exactly what he said in the original language.
Here he’s saying don’t be called a rabbi and he’s explaining to them what rabbi means. Don’t be called rabbi because rabbi means master. Also don’t be called father, also don’t be called master. He’s saying don’t be called by your English word master. Are you getting this? I know that they weren’t speaking English. He’s talking to them in Aramaic or whatever the language but let’s apply this to us today as we read this. God is telling us don’t be called the Hebrew version of master and don’t be called your language version of master. Everybody get that?
That means I shouldn’t be called rabbi. I shouldn’t be called father and I shouldn’t be called master. That’s why I’m not going to go to some college somewhere and try to get a degree that says master of theology because that would prove that instead of patterning myself after Jesus, now I’m patterning myself after the heathen school system. If I call myself rabbi, now I’m patterning myself after unbelieving anti-Christ Jewish religion. If I call myself father, now I’m patterning myself after the Roman Catholic Church. If I call myself neither master, rabbi nor father, I just might be following the Bible and calling myself pastor or brother or bishop or elder because that’s what the Bible teaches.
Go if you would to Galatians chapter 2. I’m almost out of time. I’m going to either … I might continue this tonight. There’s just so much material. There’s so much the bible just really attacks this thing of … what I call is the Judaizers. That’s what it was called when I was a kid. They warned us when I was a kid in church there were sermons like this. In sermons like this they warned us to beware of the Judaizers, the ones who will try to impose Judaism or Jewish customs and jewish fables upon the New Testament believer.
It says in Galatians 2 verse 11. “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.” Paul here is pointing some error in Peter’s life. It says in verse 12. “For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles.” Now let me ask this, was that the right thing to do for him to eat with the Gentiles? God commanded him to eat with the Gentiles in Acts 10. It says “Before certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.”
Get the picture. Paul’s best buddy Barnabas. Paul’s closest associate in the ministry Barnabas and the Apostle Peter and all the other Jews all do the wrong thing in this situation. Paul is the only one who gets this right in this particular situation. Peter does wrong. All the rest of the Jews do wrong because they’re following the crowd that’s why. They were doing right until people came from James. James was a little goofed up on this doctrine apparently. Everybody starts following the crowd in so much that even Barnabas … look at the end of verse 13 was carried away with their dissimulation.
What does that mean carried away? That means Barnabas was not thinking for himself. Isn’t that what that means? That means Barnabas was just being carried with the crowd. It be kind of like if you walked into a group of people and everybody was moving the same way and you just got caught up in the crowd. Think about like … you ever picture like when people run in marathons and there’s this big crowd of people maybe at the very beginning of the race. Just imagine getting in that crowd and just trying to go the other way. You know what I mean? It’s not going to work. You’re going to be carried on.
Think about people just getting carried away with peer pressure in a school situation for example. “Everybody is doing it. Everybody is sagging their pants, I’m going to sag my pants too. Everybody is dressing like a queer, I’ll do it too. Everybody loves Britney spears, I’m going to buy the CD too.” The Bible says thou shall not follow a multitude to do evil. Often we as human beings have a tendency to wrongfully just follow the crowd, just do what everybody else is doing around us. Here we see that all these people are doing the wrong thing here.
Look what Paul says. Paul had a lot of boldness. Paul had a lot of guts because Paul stood against everybody, stood against every single … even his own best friend. He stood against everybody. He says in verse “But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel,” You say, “Wait a minute Paul aren’t you concerned what people think? Aren’t you trying to fit in with your buddy Barnabas?” No, he said “Look when I saw it didn’t match up with the truth, if I stand alone, I’m still going to stand.”
Look what Paul said, “But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all,” so he says this openly, publicly, loudly to everyone. “If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?”
Let me ask you this. Did Paul and Peter, 2 of the greatest apostles of the New Testament, one of them that focused on reaching the circumcision. One that focused on reaching the uncircumcision but 2 of the greatest apostles. Did either one of them live like a Jew?
Crowd: No.
Pastor : No, you don’t get it folks. Jesus and all the … Yahshua and all of his apostles they all lived a Jewish culture and a Jewish Torah observing and if you’re going to be a very good Christian today, you have to follow Jewish customs and live like a Jew. Did Paul live like a Jew?
Crowd: No, sir.
Pastor : Did Peter live like a Jew? Did Barnabas live like a Jew? Why are we as Gentiles today being compelled to live as do the Jews when even Peter who was a Jew didn’t even want to live like the Jews. Even Paul who was a Jew did not live like the Jews. You know why? Because they’re in the New Testament that’s why they’re not living like the Jews and they knew that. They believed that. The only reason that they did right here was because of peer pressure and because of fitting in with the crowd because Peter and Paul knew that the truth of the gospel preach that we’re not in the Old Testament.
We don’t live like Jews. We don’t follow the customs of the Jews. We don’t go by the meats and drinks and divers washings of the Jews. We don’t keep the holidays of the Jews. Look, it’s not a part of the New Testament doctrine. Paul knew it. Peter knew it and they even were because some people would say this, “Pastor Anderson because you are Scandinavian and English.” I’m kind of a mix of English and Scandinavian and a little bit of Irish mixed in. I don’t know how I ended up in this dry burning scorching desert because all of my ancestors were these sea faring northern Scandinavians and English but whatever I’m in the middle of a dry desert.
Anyway, they’ll say, “Well that’s fine and dandy for you to not observe the Torah but those that are Jews they have to observe it.” Hold on a second, didn’t the Bible tell us to avoid genealogies. Tell me how in the world do you even know who a Jew is 2000 years later? Just because somebody says they’re a Jew, does that really make them a Jew? No. We don’t really know without a genealogy and we’re told to avoid genealogy. The Bible says in Christ there’s neither Jew nor Gentile. There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. There’s no difference between the Jew and the Greek and in Christ there’s neither Jew nor gentile.
Even in the Old Testament he said there’s one law for the stranger as well as him that’s born in the land. One law for you both, okay? So to sit there and say it’s different, no this shows that even Peter and Paul who were blood … they were blood born Jews. They’re not living as do the Jews except when they’re trying to put on a show in front of James. Everybody getting this? Why are we supposed to put on that hat? Why are we supposed to dress, talk and say shalom and say Yahshua. It’s a false doctrine my friend. It’s not biblical.
Let’s turn to the last thing. Titus chapter 1 its’ the last thing we’ll cover this morning Titus chapter 1. Titus number 1 I’ll cover the rest tonight because this is literally less than half of my sermon or about half of my sermon. I’ll cover the rest tonight the other points of what’s wrong this Hebrew’s roots or sacred name movement or whatever you want to call it, all the different manifestations of it this Torah observing Christianity, this Jew worship or whatever you want to call it. Look at Titus chapter 1. Here’s actually where we derived the name of our church.
Titus 1:9 says “Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers,” Are there are a lot of false teachers out there? Okay. Where did most of them come from? It says, “There many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers specially they of the circumcision. “ God is just telling us right away look you want to know where the vast majority of false teachings coming from? The Jews. [Inaudible 00:47:50] That’s what the Bible says.
He says, “Look this is where its coming from.” Again, people will say, “Oh you’re against Jews.” No, Peter and Paul are Jews. Nothing wrong with being Jewish in your nationality but the nation of Israel by and large rejected Jesus Christ and therefore there’s a lot of false teaching coming out of that quarter. A lot of wickedness coming out of that quarter. He says here “Specially they of the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped.” That’s why I’m preaching this sermon this morning. “Who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true.
Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.” You know what? We need to be careful today that we don’t get any heed to Jewish fables. You know what that means? Any Jewish teaching that’s not in the Bible, that’s a Jewish fable. The teachings of the Bible are all I need to know about Jewishness. Any Jewish teaching, any rabbi or bar mitzvah or whatever teaching of the Torah or the Mishnah or the kabala, whatever it is, anything that’s Jewish that’s not in this Bible, God said don’t give heed to it because it’s the commandments of men.
Jesus said you’re teaching the doctrines of men as commandments of God. You’re teaching for commandments the doctrines of men and we need to not give any heed to the teachings of man, Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. Anybody who calls themselves rabbi is turning from the truth. Anybody who’s talking about Yahshua turning from the truth. Anybody who is talking about how we need to go back under the portions of the Torah that have been done away in Christ, the Bible tells in Galatians they’re bringing us under bondage. They’re not walking in the liberty of the New Testament and they’re a false teacher.
Let’s bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Lord thank you so much for the clear teachings of the Bible. Help us Lord not to be deceived. There’s so much deception out there in these last says. It seems like in the last days the deception has really ramped up and it seems like with the internet the deception can really spread. You know the internet can spread a lot of good information but it also can just really amplify this false teaching and just allow it to spread like wildfire amongst the ignorant.
Lord, help us not to be deceived. Help everyone here to study , to show themselves approved, to read the entire Bible cover to cover but especially to read every word of the New Testament and to know that the New Testament is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
