TRUTH: Part 2 — Obedience

Obedience is Part of Salvation

9 min readOct 8, 2022

The sub-title for this lesson is:

The MANY hate OBEDIENCE

I have repeatedly challenged several here to look up all the verses with (any derivation of): “doing what is right in one’s own eyes.” It appears in a handful of forms and I am certain I did not find them all because of the variations of how it can be written. But I still found 21 examples. I will provide an example of how this phrase is presented in Scripture and then give the list of the rest for you to review.

Deuteronomy 12:8 — “Do not do as we are doing here today — each one doing whatever is right in his own eyes.

More “In their own eyes”:

Num 15:39; Jdg 17:6; Jdg 21:25; Neh 6:16; Job 32:1; Job 31:7; Ps 36:2; Ps 106:39; Prov 3:7 (be wise); Prov 12:15; Prov 16:2; Prov 21:2; Prov 26:5; Prov 26:12; Prov 26:16; Prov 28:11; Prov 30:12; Isa 5:21; Ezk 6:9; Eph 4:17

Ezekiel offers this comparison of what happens when we realize that all we did was “what was right in our own eyes.”

Ezekiel 36:31 — “And you shall remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good. And you shall loathe yourselves in your own eyes, for your crookednesses and your abominations.

Every example of “doing what is right in your own eyes” is expressly unrighteous, sinful. Not one time does it appear in the form of, “Go ahead and do what is right in your own eyes.” The Father forbids this BECAUSE He knows that we have carnal minds that, more often than any of us care to admit, will fail to do what is right and will do/lead to/act in unrighteousness. Therefore, anyone who joins themselves to Him agrees to follow Him in His Ways. This is precisely what Messiah said to do, as well — Follow Him in His Ways. Per the lesson “TRUTH” (and a pile of other lessons where I’ve pointed this out from the Scripture), Messiah spoke only ONE Word — the Father’s Word. He did not speak His own, He even states that pointedly.

John 14:10 — “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak from Myself. But the Father who stays in Me does His works.

{See also: Mk 8:38; Lk 9:26; Jn 7:18; Jn 8:28; Jn 14:24}

Therefore, per the lesson, “TRUTH”, as there are witnesses and Christianity accepts that the Word of Elohim is His, that it is inerrant, and therefore it is TRUTH, anything that the Messiah said is ALSO true. It is strongly established that ALL Christianity claims that the Word of Elohim is the Word of Elohim, so in order to say that even ONE WORD of His WORD is flawed is to say that the Father, YHVH, is flawed. If there is no unrighteousness on His lips, how can even ONE WORD not be true?

Minor issues with the translation of single words or phrases can be overcome with diligent study.

He stated that ANY who join themselves to Him are to follow Him. <Is 56:1–8> You see, there is the concept in Christianity that the Torah only applies to the Jews. But that IS NOT what Torah says. To the contrary, over and over it says that the Torah applies to ANY who dwell with Him (in the context of the passages it says, in the land, but since they were going to dwell with Him in the land…). The TRUTH cannot contradict itself. TRUTH is absolute. Remember the “TRUTH” lesson.

Leviticus 19:34 — “Let the stranger who dwells among you be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself. For you were strangers in the land of Mitsrayim. I am יהוה your Elohim.”

Some in Christianity claim that the “church” replaced Israel as Elohim’s chosen. If that is the case, then it still applies that ALL WHO JOIN THEMSELVES TO HIM are beholden to HIS INSTRUCTIONS. He’s the boss, not religion, nor us. The TRUTH does not change according to what one sees as right in their own eyes.

Therefore, Messiah says if we love Him, we will follow His commands.

It is NOT an anomaly. It’s not a mistake or an error or a translation issue or a mis-statement by Messiah. Following Him MEANS DOING HIS COMMANDS.

What are His commands? He speaks ONLY the words of the Father. If He only spoke the Words of the Father and the Father spoke the Torah, and the Torah is TRUTH, what commands is Messiah Yeshua referring to? Come on, you have to say it, you can’t parse it anymore. TO LOVE MESSIAH IS TO FOLLOW HIS COMMANDS. When He said that, He was essentially quoting Torah:

Exodus 20:6 — …but showing loving-commitment to thousands {of generations}, to those who love Me and guard My commands. <Deut 5:10; Prov 4:4, 7:2>

He makes a promise to bless those who keep His commandments, even their offspring down the line, because they obeyed His Voice.

Here’s the thing: Belief in, listening to, following Messiah IS a Torah commandment. If you are of a heretical (sectarian) denomination that believes that “doing works is a form of sin and therefore you have no salvation,” through your own belief in Messiah Yeshua you are doing works — and therefore… Do you see how not knowing the Word of Elohim is deadly? How false doctrine lacks credibility?

Deuteronomy 18:18–19 — 18) I shall raise up for them a Prophet* like you out of the midst of their brothers. And I shall put My Words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. <*Acts 3:22–26, 7:37> 19) And it shall be, the man who does not listen to My Words which He speaks in My Name, I require it of him.

It is a commandment to listen to and believe in the Messiah.

WHY?

Because He is the mediator of the renewed covenant that was ratified with His blood. Do you remember what HE said? This is His blood in the renewed covenant. He told His disciples that He was about to renew the covenant and fulfill the prophecies of the renewed covenant in accordance to the requirement for a covenant: blood. He was perfect in Torah so that He qualified to be the atoning sacrifice AND so that the changes spelled out in the prophets hundreds of years before could finally be ratified in blood to reseal the covenant in blood.

A covenant in those days required blood to be sealed. Is that plain and clear for all? It was not an installation of a “bread and wine” ceremony. He was telling the men at the dinner that HE WOULD SEAL the covenant IN HIS BLOOD! Those changes are spelled out in Hebrews and the prophets.

Let me ask you something: Did Messiah confirm this commandment in the Gospels?

John 6:28–29 — 28) So they said to Him, “What should we DO to WORK the works of Elohim?” 29) יהושע answered and said to them, “This is the WORK of Elohim, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

Belief in Messiah is a work of Torah, it is obedience to Him. Do you believe in the TRUTH? Do you believe TRUTH when it is presented to you? TRUTH is absolute, it never contradicts itself, and is self evident.

So, what about obedience?

Matthew 5:16 — “Let your light so shine before men, so that they see your good works and praise your Father who is in the heavens.”

Scripture is TRUTH and TRUTH is not relative, nor does it ever contradict itself. Messiah spoke only the Word of the Father and the Father says to obey His commands. Messiah advised the disciples He would reseal the covenant with the changes proposed (given) in the prophets with His own blood. In exchange for what He would do, the covenant would experience an update that includes the promise of the indwelling Spirit of Elohim that would give us the power to and the want to be obedient to His Word. His Word is TRUTH, His promises are TRUTH. Therefore, in order to obey His Word, we must be obedient to the commands He gave, written in the Word of TRUTH. This obedience is defined in Scripture as good works, work(s), doing the good (do good), doing His Word, fruit, fruit of the Spirit, and righteousness (and others).

Scripture defines righteousness as living in accordance to the instructions of Elohim. <Ezk 18:5–9> This is echoed in the Apostolic Writings over and over. Righteousness is something WE MUST DO! That is what Scripture says. DO RIGHTEOUSNESS. Some of these cross references provide the example of DOING UNrighteousness. If one must DO unrighteousness, then the same is true that one must DO righteousness.

The point is that in order to have belief in Messiah, one is already attempting to be obedient to Torah. In order to fulfill the instruction of the Messiah, one must love Him in the manner in which He instructed, which is to do His commands (good works). DOING His command is obedience. Obedience leads to righteousness.

The Spirit of Elohim taught me:

Obedience is not the Narrow Path to the Kingdom of Elohim,
It’s what keeps us on the path.

Messiah puts us on the path when we surrender to be His servant.

As this lesson could explode into another cascade of verses, let’s simply go through a series of verses that define obedience to Torah as “good works”, “good fruit”, “fruit of the Spirit”, and sometimes just “works.”

John 7:4 (being chastised by his brothers) — “For no one acts in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these works, show Yourself to the world.”

It wasn’t time yet for the Messiah to reveal Himself, but his brothers and mother wanted Him to.

Acts 26:20 — …but declared first to those in Dammeseq and in Yerushalayim, and in all the country of Yehuḏah, and to the nations, that they should repent, and turn to Elohim, and do works worthy of repentance.

More Torah defines Good Works:

BUT!…

I can see you squirming.

I was told I don’t have to do works.

You don’t.

You do not HAVE to do anything. You don’t HAVE to believe, you don’t HAVE to follow, you don’t HAVE to be obedient. Obedience is a matter of the heart. If He resides there and His Spirit (which is TRUTH) is writing His Word (which is TRUTH) there, and you are sincere in your belief, you will love Him. In study of His Word, what do those who love Him WANT to do? Guard, keep, DO His commands in obedience. <John 14:15,21,24, 15:10>

You don’t HAVE to do them at all. That’s your choice. The real, deep-down spiritual issue is why you don’t WANT to do them? Is it a case of what’s right in your own eyes? What could possibly be being written on your heart if you are choosing to flagrantly disobey to His Word, the TRUTH? It couldn’t be His Word. And His Spirit is incapable of lying, so He would NEVER tell you anything that contradicts the TRUTH, since the Spirit is the TRUTH.

Back to the reasons for this new section of the series: What “religion” is the correct religion? We have eliminated all of the man-made religions outside of Christianity. Through this same process of elimination, we have eliminated nearly all of the sects of Christianity — most likely including yours.

What’s left?

Since I do not know the doctrine of every single sect of Christianity, I will not place the name of any specific sect here, BUT I think you already have some idea.

However, here’s the challenge. Regardless of whether your particular sect follows man-made laws, rules, traditions, and dogma, deep down, at the core, it is somewhere close to the correct starting point.

What can you DO to steer your congregation away from following man TO following Messiah?

Step One, get out of religion.
Step Two, live your witness.
Step Three, share His Word. To share His Word, you need to know it.
Step Four, you need to pick it up every day for more than 10-minutes. The Father sent His Son to DIE in a gruesome, painful, bloody, and terrible manner FOR YOU! To take YOUR sin on Himself so that you could be forgiven of sin and not face the penalty of sin: death.

What is His sacrifice WORTH to you? Is it only worth 10-minutes a day of your time and a sun-day gathering each week?

Pretty cheap sacrifice, huh?

Next: RIGHT to HIM