Various Articles
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Lawlessness
Lawlessness (Sin)
1. WHAT IS SIN?
By way of definition we may say that sin is an unrighteous attitude of mind, which manifests itself in disobedience of the commandments of JAH, the Holy One of Abraham, Isaac and Jahzrael (Israel). The Scripture says simply:
1 John 3:4 - Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law:
for sin is the transgression of the law.
In other words when a person violates one or more of the Almighty's commandments, then that person is sinning, whether he/she knows it or not.
2. PURPOSE OF THE LAW
Why was the law given in the first place? Do we need moral laws?
Romans 3:20 - Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 7:7- What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Jah forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
You will see from these texts that Jah's law defines sin. It brings it to one's notice. It details the behaviour the Most High considers right and wrong. Humanity is incapable of defining sin. Only the Maker can do that. Were a society to totally set aside Jah's law, the law, which defines sin, then within a single generation people would become incapable of even recognizing error. Such a society would inevitably descend into a vortex of vice, violence and vandalism beyond our ability to imagine, let alone control. Now having said that, take a look at where we are today, it is a frightful thought indeed.
3. TYPES OF LAWLESSNESS
Sin is lawlessness. Sin is breaking Holy law. From the Scriptural viewpoint lawlessness, disobedience and sin are three words meaning the same thing. The two words 'sin' and 'disobedience' are interchangeable. Broadly speaking, sin may be divided into two categories:
Obvious Sins
These are the all too evident sins of blasphemy, deceit, theft, violence, rape, sodomy, adultery, murder, forsaking the poor etc.
Not so Obvious Sins
Then we have the socially acceptable sins such as unbelief, covetousness, ingratitude, envy, pride and Sabbath-breaking.
All these sins are really expressions of rebellion against the Almighty's law. The spirit of rebellion was first manifest in the mind of Satan, the first sinner ever to be.
4. ALL OF US ARE BORN WITH A LAWLESS NATURE
Few people would admit to being lawless or sinful. Think about that, I'm sure you know what sin may be and that you have inherent sin, but are you incorrigibly sinful and do you strive to fight the Spiritual sins? Nevertheless, it is true to say that sinful tendencies are inherent in every human mind and make-up. The Scripture says:
Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of Jah.
Romans 5:12 - Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Yes, it is a tragic truth: We have all sinned, and we have all sinned repeatedly. What's more, the human mind is naturally antagonistic towards the Almighty's law and instinctively seeks to reject it. This is a far more serious problem than people realize. The inspired writer continues:
Romans 8:7 - Because the carnal mind is enmity against Jah: for it is not subject to the law of Jah, neither indeed can be.
Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
The spiritual mirror JAH uses to show a sinner his/her sinful condition is His law. Just as you would check your face before going to work or leaving your home to ensure your face is tidy, even so the Law is there to ensure the INWARD PERSON is righteous.
But the human heart (mind) is at war with the law of JAH. It is not naturally subject to the law of The Most High, neither indeed can be. By the holy scripture's standard, the human heart is sick!
Such is the inspired assessment of the human mind: and before the reader can ever hope to make any spiritual progress in life, that ego-shattering Holy diagnosis must be recognized for what it is - the truth! Are you willing to acknowledge that fact?
5. EFFECTS OF LAWLESSNESS (Sin)
Individual lawlessness produces guilt, pain, mental disorders, family break upheavals, disease and finally death. On the national and international scale, lawlessness repels the Spirit of Jah and results in all kinds of social, political and natural calamity: poverty, vandalism, revolution, war, freak weather conditions, famine, disease epidemics, earthquakes and disasters of all kinds: disasters which most people believe happen `purely by chance.'
The truth is, few things happen `purely by chance.' For everything there is a cause; and that cause is more often than not linked to moral degeneracy. Read the well-known Scripture of Deuteronomy chapter 28 where the amazing link between a nation's moral behaviour and its welfare is explained in great detail.
6. JAHSHUWAH THE MESSIJAH, THE ONLY REMEDY FOR SIN
Lawlessness (sin) cannot be pampered, educated or somehow coaxed to quietly go away or even to change its nature. For sin is an incurable spiritual malady: a spiritual form of AIDS with which Satan has infected mankind.
Indeed, sin has to be totally rooted out of the human mind, or else it will destroy civilization. Sin isn't just another social problem. Sin is a spiritual problem and nothing short of a spiritual cure will get rid of it. JAH, for that is the name of the Holy One of Jahzrael, must both overcome and annihilate sin, or sin will overrun the universe.
Jah's agent for the annihilation of sin and the salvation of mankind is none other than His only begotten BEN JahOshuWah the MessIJah!!! Jahshuwah conquers sin in the believer by creating in him/her a new mind, a new outlook, a new person. The old sinful mind is not somehow patched up and coaxed along. No, it is confronted, slain and buried. Keep in good mind that this is your Eternal Life at stake, this is not just a way of Life, but you are fighting for your EXISTENCE.
Now back to the old sinful self; that self that wants to fulfill it's desire; well, the Most High will in its place put a new mind, a new outlook, a new person, a new creation. And this new creature or convert (which could be you!) is born to move in accordance with the requirements of the Abbah's (Father's) law. Believe it or not, that is the reason why Jahshuwah the Messijah came to this earth.
He came to make his followers obedient to his Abbah's law. To be sure, he came to save mankind from the consequences of sin - which is eternal death. But over and above that initial task, His main reason for coming to earth was to empower the repentant believer to be obedient to his Father's law. This objective is mentioned in the following verses.
Romans 8:3-4 - For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, The Abbah sending his own Ben in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Matthew 1:21 - And she shall bring forth a Ben, and thou shalt call his name JAHOSHUWAH: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Hebrews 8:10 - For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Jahzrael after those days, saith the Adonay; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a Maker, and they shall be to me a people:
In other words the Saviour came to save us from our sins: and to write His Abbah's law on the tablets of our hearts and minds.
7. THE LAW CANNOT SAVE THE SINNER
You will have noticed at point 6 that salvation comes through Jahshuwah the Messijah. In other words, Jah's law, perfect though it is, cannot save a single sinner. It cannot make a lawbreaker obedient. No law can. Like a precious signpost on the highway of life the law of the Most High can only point the way to life. It has no more power to change a sinner's character than a traffic sign has to move a motorist to his destination, it is the motorist that will decide to exit or continue.
The law can only point the way to right and wrong. That is all it can and was designed to do.
Scripture also likens Jah's law to a schoolmaster.
Now a schoolmaster is defined as: 1 - A man who teaches in or directs a school. 2 - Anything that instructs or disciplines.
The purpose of Jah's law, in short, is 1: to define sin, to make the sinner aware of what is wrong and what is right; and 2: to point the way to salvation - to the Messijah!
Galatians 3:21-26 - Is the law then against the promises of Jah? Jah forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 22: But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jahoshawah the Messijah might be given to them that believe. 23: But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24: Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto the Messijah that we might be justified by faith. 25: But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26: For ye are all the children of Jah by faith in the Messijah Jahoshuwah.
Some well-meaning believers have completely misunderstood the role of Jah's law in the great Plan of Salvation. They have incorrectly assumed that after the death of Jahshuwah, the law of JAH became obsolete; in other words that he made an end of the law (Romans 10:4). Or that His Festivals and His True Calendar is not in Jurisdiction. Nothing is further from the truth!
Here are a few Scriptures concerning this vital matter of Jah's law and the results of obedience and disobedience.
Psalm 19:7 - The law of JAH is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of JAH is sure, making wise the simple.
Proverbs 28:4 - They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.
Jeremiah 9:13-16 - And JAH saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein: 14: But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: 15: Therefore thus saith JAH of Hosts, the Jah of Jahzrael; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16: I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
Hosea 4:6 - My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy Jah, I will also forget thy children.
Malachi 2:4-10 - And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the JAH OF HOSTS. 5: My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. 6: The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. 7: For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the JAH of Hosts. 8: But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith JAH of Hosts. 9: Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law. 10: Have we not all one Abbah? Hath not one Maker created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Matthew 5: 17-19 - Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot ore one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19: Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 19: 16-17 - And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17: And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, Jah: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Romans 2:12-13 - For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 13: (For not the hearers of the law are just before Jah, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
James 1:22-25 - But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23: For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a [mirror] glass: 24: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25: But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Revelation 22:14 - Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
The only time you do not need the law of the Almighty is when you are obeying it to perfection.
8. SUMMARY
Sin (lawlessness) is an inherent anti-Righteous attitude, which manifests itself in disobedience of one or more of the commandments of JAH.
Sin results in guilt, disease, disorder and disasters of all kinds.
There is no man-made remedy for sin. It is fatal.
Jah's law, perfect and holy though it is, is unable to save the sinner. Its primary purpose is simply to define sin and to point the sinner to Jahshuwah the Messijah, the Ben of Jah.
Sin can only be overcome by the power of Jah the Almighty One of Jahzrael as administered through His Ben: whose ultimate objective is to write his Abbah's law on the minds of all true believers. That is why he came to earth in the first place: to save his people from their sins.
In short: salvation comes through Jahshuwah the Messijah.
Do you think you have the courage to acknowledge and accept the truth of this first lesson? If you do, then these doctrines are most certainly for you.
Praise Jah for His Goodness and Mercy!
The Mount Zion Assembly of Jah
5 Kanarick Crescent
Toronto, Ontario M3L 1P3 Canada
647-231-9466
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