Does it matter to Yehova whether we follow Him completely?
Does He care?
Mainstream church teaches us that “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so…”
We are taught that any level of commitment or dedication we make to Jesus is celebrated, no matter how much or little it might be.
But what does scripture tell us?
That is always my goal here.
Let’s sort out the truth, based on the inspired word of Yehova.

We see this in one of the most fascinating stories known to mankind, the Exodus story:
Numbers 32:11-13
¹¹ ‘The men who came out of Egypt, from 20 years old and upward, will not see the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for they have not followed after Me with a whole heart— ¹² except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they were wholehearted after Adonai.’ ¹³ The anger of Adonai burned against Israel and He caused them to wander in the wilderness 40 years until all the generation doing that evil in Adonai’s sight was gone.

We see in this scripture that Joshua and Caleb followed Yehova wholly and completely, and because of this, they were allowed into the promise land when no one else was.
The others?
They did not follow Yehova with their whole heart, and it was noted to be evil in the sight of Yehova.

Is it ok for us to follow partially?
Is it ok for us to commit our lives to Yehova just a little, but not a lot?
Is it ok for us to pick and choose which scriptures we are willing to accept and obey, while rejecting others?

I know someone who had studied Torah for nearly two decades.  This person, while very knowledgeable of the word, chose not to wear tzitzits.  They knew the scriptures. They fully understood that wearing tzitzits is commanded. But they intentionally chose not to do it.
Why?  They said they were angry with Yehova.  And this anger had been going on for more than a year.
Is open and intentional rebellion against Yehova acceptable to Him?
Based on all the stories we read in scripture, I would have to answer with no.
Is anger sin?
No, it is simply an emotion we have been equipped with by our Creator.  Our actions in response to anger may be sin, though.
Is it possible to be angry with Yehova?
Yes, I suppose it is possible.  But this is a time to get on your knees and resolve it through prayer.
Intentionally rejecting His commands in defiance is never a good plan.  The man who collected firewood on the Sabbath,  defiling His set-apart Sabbath, paid for this ill-advised action with his life.

Numbers 15:30-35
³⁰ “But the person who sins defiantly, whether native or outsider, reviles Adonai and that person is to be cut off from his people. ³¹ Because he has despised the word of Adonai and has broken His commandment, that person will certainly be cut off—his guilt will remain on him.”
³² While Bnei-Yisrael were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Shabbat.
³³ Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron and the entire assembly. ³⁴ They kept him under arrest, not being clear what was to be done to him.
³⁵ Adonai said to Moses, “The man has to die. The whole assembly is to stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶ So the whole assembly took him outside the camp. They stoned him with stones. He died just as Adonai commanded Moses.

No, we should not disobey in anger, thinking we are spiting the One who created us.

Will Yeshua give us credit for good behavior, while ignoring our bad behavior? Most Torah fellowships I have attended have one thing in common — the majority of people do not wear tzitzits.
Am I the tzitzit police?
No, I am not.
Am I legalistic?
No, I do not believe following a command to simply check off a box is what Yehova wants from us.
Legalism is not the answer.
But the wearing of tzitzits is a simple heart check.  We can quickly tell in a Torah fellowship if people have submitted themselves to the Father.  Do the things He says, or not…  Which is it?
If people know of the command to make and wear tzitzits, and choose to not do it…  Where does that put them?
It puts them in rebellion to the word, and in rebellion to Yehova.
But it’s ok, right, as long as they keep Shabbat, or celebrate the feast days?
What if they stop eating pork?
Yehova is looking down upon us, celebrating the things we are willing to obey, right? While ignoring the things we reject?

1Kings 11:6
Solomon did evil in the sight of Yehova, and did not fully follow Yehova, as did his father David.

Solomon was the wisest man to ever live.
And yet, things went poorly for him because he did not follow Yehova fully.
We are not graded on the extent to which we follow Yehova.
We are graded on whether or not we follow Him completely.

Church teaches us that even a minimal commitment to God is acceptable and is to be praised. However, scripture gives us many examples showing that partially following Yehova is a problem.
A big problem.

Yeshua Messiah tells us this:
Matthew 7:21-23
²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Is this speaking about people who hate God?
No, it is not.
This is speaking of people who claim to follow Messiah.
This should be earth-shattering to us.
Is it possible to believe we serve Him, but one day find out He does not even know us? Could we be rejected and sent away by Messiah when we thought we belonged to Him? Yes, He says so Himself!!
How could this possibly happen?
By practicing lawlessness — that is how it happens.
What if someone keeps the feast days and Shabbat gatherings because they are fun, and fellowship is fun, and having meals with friends is fun?
But what if those same people don’t love the ways of Yehova in their heart?
What if they think tzitzits are stupid? What if they don’t want to mess up their sense of fashion? What if they think tzitzits are embarrassing to wear in public?
What if they eat clean, except for bacon?
What if they love-love-love bacon?
Can you be His people, and still eat bacon?
Just once in awhile, it’s ok right?
Do you follow Him completely?
Or do you follow Him enough to be comfortable?

Messiah asks this:
Luke 6:46
 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?”
Is it ok to call Him our Master, but violate scripture?
Is it ok for us to follow Him partially?
Is it ok to pretend we belong to Him by doing some things right, but not other things?
Do you have a heart for the words and the ways of Yehova?
Or do you find some things acceptable, but not others?
Will He be ok with that?
Will you be told, “Well done, good and faithful servant” for following Him partially? Not according to the examples set for us in the Torah and Tanakh.

Am I saying we have to be perfect, mindless drones who follow commands without failure?
No, that is not what I’m saying.
We must have a heart for the words and the ways of Yehova.
We must show our love for Yeshua Messiah through our obedience to His word.
John 14:15
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
John 14:21
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.”
John 15:10
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”

But what if we mess up?
Romans 8:34
³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
We see here that Yeshua Messiah will intercede for us with the Father.

We see again in 1John that Yeshua Messiah will intercede for us:
1John 2:2-6
2 My children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Intercessor with the Father—the righteous Messiah Yeshua. ² He is the atonement for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.
Loving God Means Obedience
³ Now we know that we have come to know Him by this—if we keep His commandments. ⁴ The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God is truly made perfect. We know that we are in Him by this— ⁶ whoever claims to abide in Him must walk just as He walked.

The fact that Messiah will forgive us when we repent is the good news! It is great news!! Praise Yah!!
But we have a responsibility in this…
These scriptures about having an intercessor are not promoting the common hyper-grace message.
IF we have a heart for the words and the ways of Yehova, THEN if we fail and commit sin, we have an intercessor.
But if we reject the Torah, this does not apply.
How can I say this with absolute confidence?
Because scripture says so…

Hebrews 10:26-31
For if we keep on sinning willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but only a terrifying expectation of judgment and a fury of fire about to devour the enemies of Yehova.  ²⁸ Anyone who rejected the Torah of Moses dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much more severe do you think the punishment will be for the one who has trampled the Son of Yehova under foot, and has regarded as unholy the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know the One who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “Yehova will judge His people.”  ³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Numbers 15 tells us there is recourse for those who sin accidentally.
But those who sin on purpose?
Nada.
Nothing.
You will be cut off from the people.
Your sin will remain upon you.
Just as Hebrews 10 describes above.
There no longer remains a sacrifice…

John 3:36 tells us the same thing:
³⁶ He who trusts in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

The religious systems of the world have committed fraud against the unknowing public.
False concepts of salvation are taught, generation after generation.
But warnings in scripture tell us very plainly that there are limits on grace.  There are limits on salvation.  There are limits on forgiveness.

Did you catch that?
I understand this will be very unpopular.
I’ll say it again:
The religious systems of the world have committed fraud against the unknowing public.
False concepts of salvation are taught, generation after generation.
But warnings in scripture tell us very plainly that there are limits on grace.  There are limits on salvation.  There are limits on forgiveness.

The book of Revelation is the final information given to us.
Just in case we missed concepts or information throughout all of the scriptures, we are given a summary of some things in Revelation.
Believe it or not, the idea of following Yehova completely or partially is specifically addressed in Revelation 3:15-16
¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. Oh, that you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶ So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spew you out of My mouth.

We must follow Yehova fully and completely.
Partial obedience is not what He is looking for.
Follow partially (lukewarm) and you will be spit out.
This is not a good thing…

What will you choose this day?
…but as for me and my house, we will serve Yehova.

Please be aware, I do not have any authority.
I am not a leader or a teacher.
I do not presume to say who is saved and who is not saved.
I do not write these articles to criticize others.
I write these articles to encourage and motivate.
I share in order to show the warnings in scripture so that others might be aware of them.
If you disagree with me, so be it.
But please read your bible and investigate for yourselves…