CONGREGATION
MELECH YISRAEL OF TORONTO
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WEEKLY TORAH PORTION |
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CONGREGATION
MELECH YISRAEL OF TORONTO |
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Bereshit (Genesis) {6:5} HaShem saw that the wickedness of ish (man) was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. {6:6} HaShem was sorry that he had made ish on the earth, and it grieved Him in his heart. {6:7} HaShem said, "I will destroy ish whom I have created from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." I consider myself to be pretty normal, but sometimes I cringe at some of the thoughts that come into my mind. I could be talking to someone or listening to someone and without warning a terrible thought flashes through my mind. Of course I always immediately take it captive to Yeshua HaMashiach, but can you imagine if it were possible for us to read each others minds? Just think about it! If it were possible for people hear the real us and not the us we make ourselves out to be or the us we even think we are. A scary thought, but what if it was possible. What would people think about us then? Our thoughts are the real us and G-d is always looking at our heart. If the imagination of the thoughts of our heart is anger, revenge, hatred, jealousy or any other kind of evil then that’s what G-d sees us as. He hears our thoughts. He reads our minds. He sees us as we really are. Divre HaYamim Alef (1 Chronicles) {28:9} As for you, my son Solomon, know the G-d of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for HaShem searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts... We can not fool G-d; He looks on the heart. We need to go beyond our political correctness and our phoney politeness and get to the attitude of the heart because that is what G-d sees and that is what He judges. When someone offends you or takes advantage of you, what you are thinking? Is it how to get even? That thought is the real you. When someone insults you, but you take it quietly yet inside you are burning up and want to hurt them back, that is the real you. The way to get honest with G-d is to examine every thought you have and see if that is really who you are because that is the you who G-d sees! People around you may be impressed by you, even your spouse may think you’re the greatest, but G-d does not see what they see. G-d looks at the heart. Yirmeyahu {17:9} The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? {17:10} I HaShem search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. What G-d is saying here is that the real you is what is in your heart and that apart from His divine intervention in your life, your heart is the most deceitful thing in the whole world. In fact, nothing else or no one else is more likely to deceive you and lie to you than your own heart. Not only is your heart deceitful above all things, but it is also desperately wicked. This means that if it were left to itself, which means being separated from G-d in your life, there is no telling what you would do. That means none of us are inherently good. If you are a good and moral person then you are either acting under the restraints and fear of consequences taught to you by your parents or you are responding to the laws enforced by our government both of which are marginal and not sustainable. The only sustainable way to be a good and moral person is to be a believer in Yeshua HaMashiach. Yeshayahu (Isaiah) {64:6} For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy rags; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. I don’t think that G-d could have made it clearer. His assessment of our situation, apart from the transforming power of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) who gives us a new heart and who writes Torah on it, is that our heart is the pits! You may think that you are a good person, a humanitarian or religious person worthy of sainthood, but to G-d all your goodness is as filthy rags. That’s because, without the Ruach HaKodesh, your motivation can not be of G-d and your empowerment can not be of G-d. Why, because you’re not of G-d; therefore, you’re deceived and that’s what the heart does; it’s deceitful above all things and is desperately wicked. Yechezkel (Ezekiel) {36:26} Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. {36:27} And I will put My Ruach (Spirit) within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. If you’re a believer in Yeshua HaMashiach then G-d lives inside of what He calls your heart, He has taken up residence in that part of you where He says your decisions are made. As a result He is in the process of reprogramming your heart, but this reprogramming takes a lifetime. That’s because the world wants you to conform to its standards, but the Word of G-d wants you to be transformed and, therefore, there is a constant battle between the two. Romim (Romans) {12:2} And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of G-d is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. The word renewing literally means to replace the old with the new. This means the choices that you normally would have made, which in the past were made to satisfy self, will be replaced with choices that will satisfy G-d. In order for that to happen the Ruach HaKodesh has to apply the Word of G-d directly to your heart, the place where G-d says those choices are made. The Ruach HaKodesh writes the Torah on your heart so that you can make the right choices. He literally transforms your heart. Unless we change the motivation of the heart we will not change. G-d has atoned for our sin so that we can live in victory, but our choices in life determine if we are going to walk in that victory. If you have not already done so, please consider inviting Yeshua HaMashiach into your life so that HaShem can give you a new heart. Baruch HaShem Rabbi Ya'acov Farber |
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