Shema Yisrael

Hear O Israel !
The cry of the watchman in Ezekiel chapter 3 is this: Hear O Israel what the Lord is speaking to you.

Yahweh said, ""Son of man go to the house of Israel and you shall speak to them MY words....but the house of Israel is going to refuse to listen to you, for they refuse to listen to ME. For all the house of Israel are hard of head and hard of heart.....And He said to me "Son of man receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears. And go! Come to the exiles, to the children of your people, and speak to them, 'Thus said the master Yahweh', whether they hear, or whether they refuse."...... Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. And you shall hear a word from My mouth, and shall warn them from ME.""

"When I say to the wrong, ' you shall certainly die', and you have not warned him, nor spoken to warn the wrong from his wrong way, to save his life, that same wrong man shall die in his sin, and his blood I require at your hand. But if you have warned the wrong and he does not turn from his wrong....he shall die in his sin and you have delivered your soul. And when a righteous one turns from his righteousness and shall do unrighteousness...he shall die. Because you did not warn him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done is not remembered, and his blood I require at your hand. But if you have warned the righteous one that he should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall certainly live, because he has been warned, and you have delivered your soul." ......But when I speak with you I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, 'Thus said the master Yahweh. He who hears, let him hear. And he who refuses, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house. " Ezekiel ch. 3

The people of Israel are a rebellious and disobedient people! These are the very words from the mouth of the Lord.
I asked the Lord why. Why are we so rebellious and disobedient?
The Lord's answer was, "There is no Fear"
We do not have the Fear of the Lord.
I recently began a study on Proverbs chapter 1, entitled 'The Wisdom of Proverbs'. In this study I began to look at the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 1:7 says, " The Fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."
Fear is defined as a reverential awe (reverence is a deep respect, affection, or worshipful attitude).
It is those who possess this fear, these are the ones who are obedient to HIM. If we are not obeying the simple instructions of the Torah (which is His loving guidance for our lives), than we do not have the fear of Yahweh.
According to His Word in Proverbs ch 1, if we do not have this fear, than we do not have knowledge, because fear is the beginning of knowledge.

Obedience is defined as attentative hearkening (hearken is the word shema, and means hear and do),obedience is compliance or submission.

Rebellion is : disobedience, and comes from the root word meaning to disobey, to rebel, to provoke.

Disobedience is: to disobey, to neglect to hear, willfully disobeying

The word disobedience and rebellion are the same exact Hebrew word #4784, and it comes from the root marah- which means to make bitter, to rebel, be disobedient, grievously provoke.

Disobedience to Torah is Rebellion, and it is the same sin in the Lord's eyes as witchcraft.
1 Samuel 15:23 " For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as wickedness and idolatry."

Obedience to Torah is not conditional. It is not dependent on our circumstances (ie whether it fits into my schedule or not). Obedience is not based on convenience. ( it's convenient today, so I'll obey, but on the other hand "now is not a good time for this to come up, so I just can't obey today")

In 1 Samuel 15:22 Yahweh states: " To obey is better than sacrifice".
A sacrifice is what caused a person to be in 'right standing' with God. So to obey is better than that?
It is by our obedience that we are declared right in God's eyes. James chapter 2 says " was not Abraham our father declared right by works...." . Faith alone is not enough! Faith without works is dead. Read james 2: 14-26.
In Jeremiah 11: 3-4 " Thus said Yahweh, God of Israel, "cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant..."
We already know this! We understand from reading torah, year, after year, after year. The very last chapters in the torah, in Deuteronomy explicitly explain the blessings of obedience vs. the curses of disobedience. The blessings are life! Choose life, HE says. Disobedience brings a curse upon you!!!!
And Yahweh says that you will be "cut off" from His people, or cut off from Israel.
Cut off- Stongs #3772 to cut off, down or asunder, to destroy, or consume, destroy, fail, feller, be freed, hewn down, or perish.
WE better get this down people! Disobedience is sin! This is a warning.

Numbers 15 clearly states the difference between sinning defiantly (on purpose) vs. sinning by mistake. Read Numbers chapter 15 v 27-31. He talks about the person who sins by mistake and the sacrifice performed to atone for that sin, and then goes on to say, but the person who sins defiantly shall be cut off. He then gives an example of a man who defiantly disobeyed, and was stoned to death in his sin. The very next thing the Lord says to us is interesting. He immediately tells his people to make Tzit Tzit for themselves, as a reminder for themselves, so that they won't forget to obey.
Yahweh goes so far as to help us remember by giving us a visual reminder to look at each day so that we will not foget His words. So that we won't forget to obey!!!!
In this portion, concerning the sacrifice performed, this sacrifice was for unintentional sin, not for intentional sin. There are consequences, even for those sins that are done by mistake, but God is gracious and forgiving, and HE has covered us. He bridges the gap where we fall short. But we should never presume upon the grace of God. In Romans chapter 5 Paul says " Shall we continue in sin to let grace increase?" LET IT NOT BE! "
Just because Yahweh's grace abounds, that is not an excuse to let sin abound more, by remaining in sin and rebellion. Do not presume upon the grace of God, thinking to yourself that God will cover you this time. In Luke ch.12 he says " You fool, your life shall be required of you tonight".
Rebellion provokes Yahweh to wrath. Read Numbers ch 16:20-32
He will not tolerate disobedience and rebellion when we know the truth. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 Yahweh tells us that His examples of disobedience and wrath were written down to be a witness for us upon whom the ends of the ages have come, so that we do not make the same mistakes that they did in the wilderness.
Read 1 Cor. 10:1-12 This is our Warning People! God will only put up with our disobedience and rebellion for so long and then the earth will open her mouth and swallow us up.
It's like the game of "Don't Spill the Beans". Little by little the sins pile up, and don't seem to really affect the pile, but then suddenly that last bean, that last sin is added to the bunch, and then swish, all the beans come crashing down. The earth opens her mouth and swallows them up.
This is not a word about a terrible, and frightening God who's going to strike us down. It's a word about a loving and righteous God who loved us to the point of death. One who loves us so much that he gave us His very Life so that we might live, and is now teaching us how to walk by following the instructions that He knows will bless our lives.
In James 1:23-24 He says " And be doers of the Torah and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what he was like."

We are to Hear and Do. It is the Shema! Shema Yisrael! Hear O People of Israel!
So why do we disobey? Why do we rebel against the very words we know to be life?
What happens is that we get comfortable in the land. Yahweh said we would!!!! ( Deut 30)
We get too comfortable and the cares of the world choke out the truth of His word. Yeshua said it like this,
"The salt loses its saltiness". That means that what was once important to you last year, maybe now it isn't so important. Maybe now we just let things slide a bit more. The salt is slowly becoming tasteless.
In Lev 2:13, we are told to salt all offerings, and again the command is repeated by Jesus in Mark ch 9. Salt all your offerings. In Mt. 5:13 Yeshua said YOU are the salt of the earth. In other words you are what's going to preserve the covenant.
The salt becomes tasteless because we have no Fear. If we do not have the Fear of Yahweh we do not have knowledge. If we only obey Yahweh when it's convenient for us, that is not true obedience. The scripture says that the "Torah is your life and the length of your days" Deut32:47. Is it really your life or is it only a part of your routine. Do you live by it? or only when it fits into your schedule your own way?
The righteous shall live by faith, and faith without HIS works is dead. Faith without works is not real faith. You don't truly believe God and His Word if you do not Live by His Word. Faith is an action word, and it says I believe therefore I will do.
Remember Yeshua said " If you love Me you will keep My commandments". John 14:15. In 1 John he repeats " And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.
"We are called to exhort, build up, and help each other. We are our brothers keepers. The words says in 1 John 5:16 " If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and HE shall give him life."
We are to pray for our brothers just as Moses did and saved many from the wrath of God. ( Not all were saved though, for some it was too late). We are to go to our brother if we see him in sin, (but remember to take the beam out of your own eye first), and try to reconcile him to favor with God. If we just ignore the sin, we become just as guilty as the sinner.

It is the call of the watchman. Ezekiel chapters 3 and 33

Shema Yisrael! Hear O Israel the cry of the watchman. Hear the Words of the Lord!

Pray for the Fear of Yahweh!. For it is the beginning of Knowledge!!!