In a letter distributed among some of the churches in South Africa recently, regular churchgoers were warned against a movement in our country in which people are keeping the Shabbat, observing the Scriptural feasts, abstaining from unclean food and using Hebrew Names to refer to the Almighty and his Son. I believe what we have here today is a number of people belonging to this so-called "movement". In the churches out there people are being warned against people like you and me and against meetings like the one we are having right now. That’s not all. In the same letter the statement was made repeatedly that the members of this movement engage in these activities (like keeping the feasts and the Shabbat) NOT BECAUSE THEY WANT TO, BUT BECAUSE THEY FEEL THEY HAVE TO. Because they feel they have no choice in the matter. Because they feel it they don’t do these things, they cannot be identified with the nation of Israel and therefore, will not be saved (all this, according to the letter).

What can we say about a statement like this? First and foremost, this letter is just echoing an unspoken view that one will find frequently among those who like to chop and change the Word of Yahweh to suit their needs. The view I am referring to, is this: It is OK to do something good, because you WANT TO, but it is NOT OK to do it because you feel you MUST do it. If you do it because you feel MUST do it, it is legalistic, and legalism is the worst of all known sins. If you have decided to do it, of your own free will, because you WANT to, it is fine. But if the Almighty has told you to do it and you do it plainly for this reason, and this reason only, you are falling into legalism and cannot be saved by grace alone.

I am afraid, there are too many people who do not know what the fear of Yahweh is all about, any more. And there are too many people who haven’t got the slightest idea what it means to be saved by grace (more correctly: by favour) alone. Did Avraham prepare to sacrifice his own son because he wanted to, or because he feared Yahweh and acted plainly upon the word of Yahweh? Did Mosheh keep the feast of Passover in Egypt because he wanted to, or because he received specific instructions in this regard from the Almighty Himself and because he had learned to fear Yahweh more than anything else? Did Y'shua drink the cup that was given to Him by his Father because He wanted to, or because He knew that it was the perfect will of his Father and because He feared his Father like no other man did? How can it be wrong to do something because the Almighty ordered it, but right, if man has decided to do it of his own free will? Isn’t this putting man’s own wishes and desires and decisions above the wishes and desires and decisions of the Almighty? Can you see how humanistic and self-centered our thinking and even our belief has become?

What about all this talk about legalism and being saved by grace alone? Some of us come from a background in which the maxim "saved by grace alone" was understood in such a way that the seriousness and the full extent of sin was not recognized any longer. Sin wasn’t such a bad thing, for there was always going to be forgiveness. And the laws and commands of the Father were not all that serious, for the Messiah came to obey them in our place, anyway. What a complete underestimation and misrepresentation of what the Messiah came for in this world! How can we even think or suggest that Messiah came to reduce the seriousness or the graveness of sin? Did He not tell those whom He had healed, that they should go away and sin no more? Where on earth do people get this idea from that because Y'shua kept the laws and commandments of Yahweh, we do not have to keep them any longer? This was never the meaning of the concept of Yahweh’s favour! Yahweh’s favour is sending his Son, and granting his forgiveness, not so that we can go out and sin once again, but so that our lives may be cleansed and put back on the path of life once again. The path that had already been walked and tested and approved of by the heroes of faith (including the Messiah Himself) of which we read throughout Scriptures.

Do we engage on this path because we HAVE to? Yes, I believe we do. We have come to know the Set Apart One and his set apart ways. And we have realized: His ways and his path is the only feasible option for us. If we do not choose this way, the only alternative is death and hopelessness - a labyrinth consisting of ways of destruction. In this sense we have chosen Yahweh’s path because there really was no other option. However, I would like to challenge the writer of this letter, and I have put this challenge before him in writing, to get to know any one of the growing number of believers in the Messiah who also diligently keep the Torah and the Appointed Times of Yahweh. Get to know them better and find out whether they keep the Shabbat because they MUST, or because they WANT to. Ask them, and test their answers, if their obedience and loyalty towards Yahweh is primarily based upon obligation and legalistic plight or upon love and gratefulness and adoration for their Elohim - Who He is and what He had done in their lives.

Those of you who have gone through all the trouble of preparing for this Feast of Tabernacles – even those who came to Yzerfontein for this day and for this meeting only – you could have stayed in the comfort of your homes. You could have saved yourself the trouble of finding someone to keep an eye on your house or look after your dogs and cats. You could have spent some time with family members instead or you could have watched your favorite program on TV. You could have used the money that was needed to get here, for something else that you needed very urgently. You COULD HAVE, BUT YOU CHOSE NOT TO. Why? Because Yahweh the Almighty has become a reality for you and you have chosen not to allow your own schedule to interfere with his schedule of appointed times any more.

Those of you who keep the Shabbat from week to week, who will not do your cooking and your washing and your shopping and your work out on the seventh day of the week – you could have made life a lot more easier for yourself if you just relaxed and did whatever you wanted to on this day. You could have saved yourself the contempt and the animosity of those people who keep on shaking their heads when they see and hear how you have suddenly become all Jewish. Or you could just have reasoned the same way many other are reasoning: I’ll keep any day of the week I like – any day that suits me. Or you could have said, very piously and very religiously: In the Messiah every day is a Sabbath – why keep only one day per week? YOU COULD HAVE DONE AND SAID ALL THESE THINGS, BUT YOU CHOSE NOT TO. Why? Because you have discovered that missing out on the blessing of the seventh day Shabbat has made you life miserable and incomplete. And you have made the choice never to let that happen again.

Let us conclude by looking at the Names of the Almighty and his Son; not the Hebrew names, but the true names of the Almighty and the Messiah – the Names that were revealed and used and revered from the beginning, but almost became obliterated because of certain manmade regulations and doctrines. Those of you who have come to know these Names and use them reverently, you could have said like so many others are saying: "I know that these are the true Names but why should I use them if no one else uses them?" You could have stuck to the territory that you knew and felt safe in and you could have kept on using false names for the Almighty and his Son. You could even have used the argument traditionally been used by the Jews: His Name is too holy to speak out or to write down or even formulate in one’s own inner thoughts. YOU COULD HAVE, BUT YOU CHOSE NOT TO. Why? Because you have come to love his Name. You have come to realize that Yahweh is the greatest Name there is. And you have discovered the true and deepest meaning of Y'shua whose Name means nothing less than "The Salvation of Yahweh". You have seen that the Name of Yahweh is a strong tower and you know that in the Name of Y'shua every knee will bow. And you have made the choice that you would like to be one of those on whose foreheads these Names will be written – as a sure token that you truly belong to the one and only Elohim of heaven and earth. HalleluYah!!