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      “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only deceiving your own selves.” (Jac 1:22). There are many times that all of us in Yahweh’s Congregation have used this scripture in referring to the people in the world to prove that they should obey Yah’s law. Now let us apply it to ourselves, individually, as members of the Body of Messiah — since it is direct instruction from Almighty Yahweh, through His Apostle Jacob to us.

      If you read last month’s article, “You Are Your Own Worst Enemy”, and have done nothing about it until now, you stand on this dangerous ground described in Jacob—that of self-deception. If you have done nothing about this article which requested direct action on your part, then chances are that you have done nothing about many of the articles which have appeared in both The Good News and The Plain Truth!

Self-Deception

Let’s understand! Actions do speak louder than words. It doesn’t matter how much knowledge you have concerning Yahweh’s plan of salvation if you don’t live according to that knowledge.

Knowing the world is going to end in catastrophe as described by the startling prophecies revealed in your Bible, and yet not doing anything about it to ensure your safety from that end-time destruction is desperately dangerous. Yahweh has revealed the truth to us concerning this end-time turmoil and His coming Kingdom as a WARNING!

Yet many times we kid ourselves. We accept the outstanding changes that Yahweh requires of us, such as the Sabbath-keeping and abstaining from unclean meats, but do not go beyond that surface change to completely renew ourselves to scour our minds and renew the way we think. Self-deception is a very subtle and bitter enemy. We think we are doing all right because of the knowledge we have. This is a dangerous prelude to Laodicean thought and non-action.

Knowing the schedule of prophetic events, we sometimes enjoy smugly talking to our friends and warning them of what is going to take place in Europe—of how the United States is on its way down and out. We are like a man standing in the middle of the railroad tracks proclaiming the imminent arrival of the express train. He loudly proclaims to everyone that the train is about to come and warns them to clear the tracks! Few pay attention to him, but he quietly assures himself, saying, “Just wait, you’ll see who was right when the train does come through!” Then the train comes through with sudden fury, 90 miles an hour, bearing down with incredible awe-inspiring speed that freezes him in his tracks despite the fact that he knew the train was coming! He tries vainly to leap out of the way—now he’s spurred to desperate action! But his action is too late and too little. He dies under relentless onslaught of the train, though he knew the schedule!

He had the knowledge that the train was coming. He believed in this knowledge. He was convinced of it. He tried to tell others, to warn them to get out of the way– but he himself refused to budge.

A Present Problem

From the reports of those working with the local and scattered churches, ministering to you brethren, come these suggestions for sermon topics: “Self-righteousness and How to Detect it—Self-righteousness and the Book of Job—Self-righteousness Conquered—Self-righteousness!” An excerpt from one report reads: “Family dissensions continue to bring problems, but the SCOURGE OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS is probably the most prevalent!”

Another comment starkly outlines the desperate need of personal, individual, deep, heartrending, soul- wrenching, inner-being CHANGE! This minister states:

“Some members are beginning to exhibit a comfortable ‘we’ve-found-our-niche’ attitude. Good habits of prayer, Bible study, and church attendance, coupled together with faithful tithing have been established. Yet, the expected change in their lives is not evident. They appear to feel that once they have fulfilled the ‘letter’ requirements, then they can proceed to worldly pursuits, such as: acquisitions of material goods, obtaining social status, and catering physical senses. They need to be jolted into realizing the ‘letter’ requirements are only to sanctify the believer to have the basis for desirable growth in the FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT!”

The whole world is deceived! Satan has deceived it! The many millions following the different ideologies in the world today consider themselves to be the ones living correctly. Those of us who have been called out of this world by Yah’s Holy Spirit have had that deception stripped from our eyes! We are no longer deceived into thinking that anyway but Yahweh’s way is the right way. But that is just the FIRST STEP! If we now allow the pull of human nature to deceive even us–if we just hear the good news, of Yahweh’s Kingdom, even if we understand and believe that we must live according to Yahweh’s government and His ways–and yet do not COMPLETELY CHANGE our mindset clear to the core by active overcoming of self, we will end up in the SAME DESTRUCTION prophesied for this deceived world!

Yahweh’s warning to us is: “Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he FALL.” The one who is going to gain access to Yahweh’s Kingdom is the one who implores Yahweh for the power to do so constantly! The one who is so shocked by his own weaknesses and infirmities that he is driven to ask Yahweh’s constant strength and help to battle daily HIS OWN carnality, the world around him, and Satan the Devil! Don’t let yourself think for once that you’ve got it made!

Andrew Jukes in his book, The Law of the Offerings, carnal minded as he may be, could see this problem as he studied the meaning of the offerings made in the Old Testament: “…how much less perception is there of sin than trespass: he [the individual] has done this evil, or that evil, or the other; he has scarcely learnt as yet that in himself he is evil!” Since we just are that way, of ourselves, we desperately need Yahweh’s Holy Spirit actively working in us continually every minute of every day—and we will never be able to say “it is done” until we stand born as Yahweh’s own children, divine spirit beings!

Self- Righteousness

This lethargy is a current problem with the baptizing teams who are visiting people around the nation and around the world. The people whom they are visiting have listened to the sermons, and read the magazine, and studied the Correspondence Course for perhaps years. They have requested Yahweh’s representatives to come to them and baptize them and bury them in the death of Yahshua Messiah!

Yet the very essence of the carnal mind and the influence of this world around us which makes us callous to wrong and evil brings this representative report of the tours: “We are still running into a great deal of self-righteousness. People just do not seem to see their sins are very great.

When we ask them how they feel about their lives in the past, as far as Yahweh is concerned, we have to sit through a long explanation of how they have never done anything ‘really bad’ that they must repent of now. This experience has helped us to understand why Yahweh hates our self-righteousness so much!

Our human minds tend to lull us into the false security that we are all right, that we are not too bad! It puts us into an attitude of lackadaisical obedience that grieves Yahweh and His Holy Spirit! Every time we justify ourselves before Yahweh, we diminish the great sacrifice that Yahshua did to conquer our sins, and human nature, and self-righteousness.

Realize the Enormity of Sin

If you had lived in the time when Yahshua Messiah walked this earth as a man, could you picture yourself as the one who—while Messiah hung on that stake in agony after long hours of physical torture and mental anguish—callously seized a Roman spear, and violently thrust it into the heart of our Savior?

“Oh, no!” You recoil! You could not have done a thing like that! Or how about you who are a woman—can you picture yourself as a harlot, a prostitute, selling your body to make a living? “I’ve done lots of things that were wrong, but I would never do anything that bad!” is an approximate answer that many would give.

Brethren, let us understand the enormity, the horror of our personal responsibility in the death of our Savior, Yahshua Messiah; and also the extent of the filth and the mire in which we ALL sunk before Yahweh redeemed us from it, washed away our sins and accepted us before His throne as His children through the blood of Yahshua Messiah! Let’s read what the apostle Peter said on the Day of Pentecost in 30 A.D. “Then assuredly, let all the house of Israel acknowledge that YAHWEH made known this same Yahshua WHO YOU CRUCIFIED, He is both YAHWEH and Messiah.” (Acts 2:36).

Peter was talking to more than 3000 men, many of them devoutly religious, coming to Jerusalem from all over the world to observe Yahweh’s Holy Days! There were undoubtedly some, if not many, in the crowd that he was speaking to who had personally said just a few weeks prior to this sermon, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” in reference to the very Yahshua that Peter was preaching.

Yet, surely not all of these men were personally responsible of the crucifixion of Messiah! None of them had personally seized the spear that ended his life. None of them had helped nail Him to the stake! Yet Peter said to them “… whom YOU have crucified!” (Acts 2:36).

The same message is for us today! It’s been nearly 2000 years since Yahshua Messiah shed His blood here on earth! But this does not excuse us from our responsibility for His death! We have been just as much a part of His crucifixion as Pilate, the Sanhedrin, or the Jewish mob that cried for Him to be crucified, or the Roman solider who thrust him through with a spear! BY THE ACTION OF PLACING OUR SINS ON MESSIAH— OF ACCEPTING HIM AS OUR PERSONAL SACRIFICE—WE CRUCIFIED HIM!

If no other individual has lived but you, the sacrifice of Yahshua Messiah, His death, and His bearing of your sins on the stake in His body, the pouring out of His lifeblood, would have been necessary for YOU alone to enter into eternal life!

The penalty for sin is death! Sin is the transgression of the Law! The same law that says “Thou shalt do no murder”, says “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy!” The same Law that says “Thou shalt not commit adultery” says, “Honor thy father and thy mother!” ONE SIN REQUIRES THE SAME PENALTY AS ANOTHER!

Yet, because we are human, we tend to look upon Sabbath-breaking as far less an accusation against our character before Yahweh than murder! We tend to soften the attitude of disobedience we had toward our parents and not think to compare it to the act of adultery! In weighing our sins in this human balance, we misunderstand the ENORMITY of our own PERSONAL transgressions of the laws of our Divine Judge!

The Physical Type of Messiah’s Sacrifice

Let us understand the way in which the sin offering in the Old Covenant pictured the sacrifice of Yahshua Messiah for us. All the way through Leviticus 4 you will notice whether it was the priest (verse 3), the elders (verse 15), the rulers (verse 22), or even one of the common people (verse 27) who had committed a sin against Yahweh, it was necessary for that individual to slay the sacrifice!

“And if any person of the people of the land sins through ignorance by doing that which is not to be done, against one of the commands of YAHWEH, and is guilty; or his sin which he has sinned shall be made known to him, then he shall bring his offering, an ewe of the goats, without blemish, a female, for his sin which he has sinned; then he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and shall slaughter the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering (Lev 4:27-29).

Now let’s notice a New Testament statement regarding the ultimate fulfillment of this type of sacrifice in the body of Yahshua Messiah. “For He who did not know sin, for your sakes made Himself sin, that we might through Him become the righteousness of YAHWEH.” (2nd Cor 5:21).

When we repent, we recognize our sins and accept the sacrifice of Yahshua Messiah to pay for them. This is as much a recognition on our part that the sacrifice of Messiah is necessary for the payment of OUR sins. OUR sins, then, directly caused the death blows to fall on our Savior!

Let’s notice Yahshua’s own explanation of the meaning of the depth of the forgiveness offered to us through His sacrifice. In Luke 7, beginning in verse 36, there is an account telling of a time that Yahshua went to have dinner with a certain Pharisee. The Pharisee’s name was Simon, and he was a jar maker. There was also a woman present at this dinner who was an obvious sinner–perhaps a street woman, a harlot!

“And [she] stood behind Him and was crying at His feet. And she began washing His feet with her tears and then wiping with the hair of her head. And she was kissing His feet and anointing them with ointment” (verse 38). Now this Pharisee, obviously a religious man, shrank at the thought of Yahshua allowing this obvious sinner even to touch him! Reasoning in his own mind, he said, “…if this man was a prophet, He would realize who she is and what her reputation is. That woman, she is a sinner that who touched Him” (verse 39).

An Important Parable

Messiah perceived this attitude of Simon’s, and He gave him advice through the following parable,

“And answering, Yahshua said to the man, Simon, I have a thing to say to you. And he said, speak, Rabbi.

There were two debtors to a certain creditor: the one owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty. But because they did not have a thing to pay, he freely forgave them both. Then which of them do you say will love him most?

And answering, Simon said, I suppose the one to whom he freely forgave the most. And He said to him, you have judged rightly.

And turning to the woman, He said to Simon, do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give water for My feet, but she washed My feet with tears and wiped off with the hairs of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but she from when I entered did not stop fervently kissing My feet.

You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with oil of incense.

For I say this to you. Because her sins that are forgiven her are many, she has loved much. But he that is forgiven little loves Him little.”

This incident is not recorded in your Bible in vain. Lets understand its present day meaning for you. Was Yahshua trying to tell Simon that he had but 50 sins to be forgiven, but this woman had obviously 500 sins? No!

There is a much deeper meaning: Simon was a sinner; therefore, he had committed physical sins which brought this upon him. Simon was a Pharisee, one of the ‘snakes’ and ‘generation of vipers’ whom Yahshua had so plainly labeled as sons of the Devil! (John 8:44). He was obviously a man well-off, perhaps rich, as he was able to entertain Messiah and as well because of the type of parable Messiah used. Because of this he was undoubtedly involved in many sins. Yet, he could not see these. He was self-satisfied, he was self– deceived, self-righteous! He was like his brother Pharisee who prayed, “Elohim, I thank You that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, covetous, adulterers, or even as this tax collector” (Luke 18:11). He was able to see the sins of others but was blind to his own!

He could see no imperfection in himself, but was highly indignant at others. He would not condescend to classify himself as a “real sinner”! He could not realize the immensity of HIS sin nor the immensity of the sacrifice that would be needed to pay for that sin on the part of his Savior!

The woman on the other hand, because her sins were obvious, and recognized to be sins by both men and Yahweh, could readily see and eagerly repent of them. She knew SHE was a sinner, and she knew an AWFUL PRICE would have to be exacted to pay for those sins, and she was deeply grateful and expressed it in her outgoing love to her Savior.

The meaning for us today is for each of us to weigh and measure the immensity of OUR sins by Yahweh’s SCALE and not by our own! We should realize how they look in the sight of Yahweh, and how overwhelming a sacrifice it was that Messiah made for us individually.

Once we have achieved this new view point, we should not only be deeply thankful for the sacrifice of Messiah, but recognize the weighty responsibility that the application of that sacrifice places on us once it has been applied! Now we can see how terrible ANY sin is. This makes us abhor and shrink back in terror from committing again the things which displease our Creator and grieve His Holy Spirit.

A Carnal Pitfall

Once you understand the meaning of the above parable you will be able to avoid the favorite carnal pastime that your mind is eager to engage in. “For we dare not rank or compare ourselves with some of those who are proud of themselves; for it is because they measure themselves by themselves, that they do not understand.”

Pointing out someone else’s sins often makes you feel more self-righteous! When you are able to stand back from somebody else’s life objectively and pick out his faults and mistakes, and describe these to yourself and others around you, the fact that you do not practice these same sins makes you feel superior!

Here’s how it works: (1) in your conversation you explain what is the right way to do a certain thing; (2) you also add incidentally that you always practice that right way; (3) you show how someone else has done it a different way, proving him wrong—and at the same time proving yourself right and ‘more righteous’ than the other fellow. The fourth step in the clincher: (4) you say with shocked – open-faced innocence that you don’t understand how this other fellow could have done the thing the way he did it!

The sad thing about this human trait of comparing yourself with others is that they need to agree with you, to sympathize with you—A STOOGE! Therefore, your physical friends are dangerous—if the reason for your association is mainly physical. In order to overcome this, you need to be close to Yahweh in prayer, consciously asking His help so that you will not make these careless statements about other people.

And by all means do not descend to be somebody else’s ‘stooge’! If this type of downgrading another person is being practiced in your ear, have the spiritual fortitude to suggest another type of conversation.

Spiritual Pride

Yahweh says “Do not be too much righteous, nor make yourself overly wise; why destroy yourself?” (Eccl 7:16). The Pharisees of Yahshua’s day had added sixty-five do’s and don’ts to the keeping of the Sabbath. They had reduced the spirit of keeping the Sabbath holy into carnally defined laws of their own. This is why there was such a stir when Yahshua was in a wheat field one day and plucked a few ears of grain to eat. The reason the Pharisees were so disturbed was because one of their rules was that on the Sabbath it was permissible to pluck one ear of grain, but to pluck one or two more, it would be considered reaping, and therefore work, which was banned on the Sabbath day. They even went to the extreme of declaring that it was unlawful to catch a flea on the Sabbath day, with the added condition that if the flea bit you, then you were free to catch him and exterminate him!

Because of this show of righteousness of their own, they wondered when they saw Yahshua eating and talking to “Publicans”. They couldn’t understand how a holy man would think of associating himself with a sinner. Yahshua’s plain answer to them was that answer which we can apply to our lives, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). That is, those who recognize that they are indeed sinners!

The natural minds that we are born with cause us to have self-righteous tendencies today in Yahweh’s Congregation. We tend to equate the righteousness which comes by Yahweh’s Holy Spirit to righteousness that we can understand physically. We begin to reason with our carnal minds and leave Yahweh out of the picture.

Once we learn about the benefits of certain ‘health foods’ we are highly indignant of those who still remain in ignorance. We are shocked when we hear that a member has used ‘white sugar’ and are driven to our knees about the brother who has not yet learned the evils of hydrogenated oil. Our carnal minds dwell on such things as fasting and diet rather than allowing Yahweh’s Spirit to keep our thoughts on healing and forgiveness. Not that we shouldn’t care for our diet, but we should be more concerned with the weightier matters of the Torah.

Our carnal mind leads us to think about the minister and his speech rather than the ministry and its message! We dwell on the physical circumstances rather than the spiritual hope!

Religious Reasoning

Perhaps we even go as far as to give spiritual-sounding reasons for doing and justifying wrong acts that we commit. An example might be: “I think we all ought to have more love, yield more to Yah’s Spirit”. Now since this is a truism—that is, of course we all ought to have more love, and we all ought to yield more to Yah’s Spirit—this then allows the individual who has made this statement to go ahead and criticize, condemn and gossip about other brethren, and perhaps even the ministry.

Here is an example from real life: “We should give everything we can to the work of Yahweh”. This statement is true. It is irreproachable. No one would dare deny the fact. But the reasoning that was used to exemplify this spiritual-sounding phrase was incorrect totally!

The reasoning was this: “It is wrong for brother so-and-so to give more support to his divorced wife than to the work of Yahweh.” This whole situation gives a spiritual-sounding reason for the individual to be more righteous than Yahweh Himself! Yahweh has demanded 10% of the increase that He blesses us with for His work. He has asked us in addition to this to give generous offerings.

But a wife, in Yahweh’s eyes, divorced or not, and especially if demanded by the laws of the state, is to be supported — which would probably amount to more than ten percent. Only discontent and hard feelings can come from reasonings such as this, which stem from spiritual pride. One of the easiest ways for the carnal mind to justify itself, is to believe that it is “misunderstood”. How many times the ministers of Yahweh have heard this statement come from the lips of those they have counseled!

On one occasion, a minister was speaking with an individual for nearly an hour, trying to explain to him in English that he should not work on Yahweh’s Sabbath after sundown on Friday. The individual spoke Spanish, but understood English enough to get the point.

Pointing out someone else’s sins often makes you feel more self-righteous! When you are able to stand back from somebody else’s life objectively and pick out his faults and mistakes, and describe these to yourself and others around you, the fact that you do not practice these same sins makes you feel superior!

However, to justify his own carnal feelings about this subject, he said that he desperately wished he could speak in Spanish, because he knew that if he could but express himself in his native tongue, then he would be ‘understood’. The minister then answered him in Spanish and said that he would be glad to discuss the matter. Another 45 minutes ensued in the Spanish language, going over the same points, until the carnal mind was again trapped. But then the excuse was that the minister was too young and could not understand how difficult it was for an older man to get a job!

Let us UNDERSTAND one thing: YAHWEH will never be satisfied with the excuse: “You just don’t understand!”

Pure Religion

“And if anyone thinks that he ministers to Elohim, and does not restrain his tongue, he deceives his own heart, and his service is in vain. Pure and holy service before YAHWEH the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affictions, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (Jac 1:26-27). You will notice as you turn to this scripture, that we will have quoted the 22nd verse of this chapter of Jacob before. Here in the last portion of Jacob 1, is an overall summary of both the problems that face us and the solution that comes by APPLYING this scripture directly to ourselves as individuals.

You will notice that neither hearing the truth, nor talking about the truth, as verses 22 and 26 explain, is what Yahweh considers pure religion. Only the actual fruit of selflessness, of giving of yourself to others in outgoing LOVE, a witness of your actions, not of your lips, a changing of the complete man from the very inner-being—this is what Yahweh considers to be pure religion!

There are many other pitfalls that we fall into as human beings, because of the downward pull of our human nature. Perhaps going into a few in this article will give you a more specific idea of what to look for, to fight against your own carnal nature. Don’t stop here, but go on with the help of Yah’s Spirit to discover the other tactics that your carnal mind uses against YOU to bring YOU into subjection, to deceive YOU, and to ultimately bring YOU to death!

Really dedicate yourself wholeheartedly to overcoming your ‘self’! The power of Yahweh’s Holy Spirit is the only power that can overcome your problems. So don’t forget to be instant in prayer, to constantly think first of Yahweh and ask silently or out loud as the occasion permits for personal, direct contact with the POWER and the MIND of almighty Yahweh, who chose you out of this world to become a new creation!

Notice that pure religion as defined by Yahweh through His Apostle Jacob also includes that the individual must “…and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (Jac 1:27).

The second great enemy that we have in fighting our self in this battle of overcoming, in the ‘total war’ of becoming perfect. Is that of overcoming this world, its society, and its ways of thinking, and the pull it has on us to detract us from our goal, to fight us in every way to keep us from becoming born sons of Yahweh. You need to recognize this enemy in order to be able to fight it with Yahweh’s power in a way that will make you MORE THAN A CONQUERER!