What is Salvation? 2024

The transcription discusses the topic of salvation. It explores the meaning of salvation and its significance in the Christian faith. It emphasizes the importance of having confidence in one's salvation and not being influenced by fear-mongering. The transcription also mentions different interpretations of the name "Yeshua" and how it relates to salvation. It explains that salvation is obtained through believing in Yeshua and confessing Him as the Savior. The transcription also touches on the concept of sin and the consequences of breaking the Torah. It states that salvation saves believers from the second death and the wrath to come. The teaching encourages believers to strive towards personal transformation and to have confidence in their salvation. Have you ever been in a discussion with someone and you're not seen exactly the same way on a particular subject or interpretation? And that other person says, you don't believe like me, then you're not saved. Well, tonight's Drash is going to be all about salvation. What is salvation? And hopefully give you the encouragement and security in your salvation and not be fear mongered by people who say stuff like this. So stay tuned for this teaching on what is salvation. So this teaching or Drash is going to be all about what is salvation and it's going to be geared more towards those of us who are already in the faith with a respect to giving you more understanding about what is salvation and also to give you more confidence in your own salvation. Now if you would like more information about this, go to our website and click on the post for this Drash or more conveniently go down below in the description and there's a convenient link for you. Just click on that down there and it'll take you to the post on our website at Godhonesttruth.com and there you'll have the on-demand video. You'll also have the Drash slides like you see on your screen here. And you'll have the notes that we took for this particular subject where it's just the definitions, the scriptures, various quotes, things like that, but none of the commentary. So it's a great resource to reference when you're thinking about this kind of subject. Feel free to copy and paste and distribute as you will. This is for your benefit and your help if you want to go and study this further. So what is salvation? When we start talking about salvation and understanding salvation and studying salvation, this is the word soteriology. Some of you may have heard this before, some of you may not have if you're just coming to a deeper understanding on this subject. But anyway, soteriology technically and by definition means the study of salvation. It comes from the Greek word soteria which means salvation, which itself comes from the Greek word soter meaning savior or saved, something like that. So according to scripture, what is salvation? Well, in a word, salvation is Yeshua, literally and figuratively and everything else. Yeshua, the name of our Messiah, literally means salvation or Yahweh saves or salvation is of Yahweh, however you want to translate that or interpret it. But it means salvation. It's also used in other contexts in the Hebrew part of our Bibles, meaning something like welfare, prosperity, deliverance, victory, things like that, in addition to salvation. Here is your Jesenius' and Jastrow's dictionary entries, pretty much saying the same thing. It was the name of several people within scriptures, most notably our Messiah. Now there's different ways of spelling this word and they all mean the same thing. They all mean salvation. This particular spelling of the Yod, Sheen, Waw, Ayin, and Hey is popular amongst a lot of those in the Messianic faith nowadays. But the way that we normally use it here and a lot of other people also use it is according to this Strong's H3091, Yod, Hey, Waw, Sheen, and Ayin. Either way, it's typically pronounced about the same way. And this spelling also means salvation. And it's the name of a lot of people in scripture, again, most notably the name of our Messiah, who is also the name of the Son of Nun, who we refer to as Joshua, the successor of Aaron. And here is your Jesenius' Hebrew lexicon and Jastrow's dictionary entries. But yeah, as for how you spell it, it still means salvation or salvation is of Yahweh or Yahweh saves, things like that. However, nowadays most of mainstream churchianity goes by the name of Jesus. When you go into the, not to get on a diatribe of translating the Messiah's name, but when you get into the Greek text, it's not Yeshua, it's Yesus, and there's a whole thing behind that which we'll cover in our upcoming, it's going to be a while, but it's going to be in our upcoming video on Yeshua himself, more of like a scriptural dossier. But it's so similar to the Greek word for Joshua that you can actually think it's mistranslated in something like the King James that you would pick up today. Yesu and Yesus are so similar that it's come down to us now as a mistranslation in Hebrews 4, 8 through 9, where in the King James version it reads, "...or if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day that remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." Here in this context, it's talking about the people back after the exodus from Egypt. This was Joshua leading them, physically there with them leading them, not Jesus, not Yeshua. So it's almost like a mistranslation, but in the original King James 1611, it doesn't have Jesus per se, it actually has Yesus, which is also the way of translating the word Joshua. You can see this also here in the Geneva and in the Tyndale as well. And in the Tyndale, it's actually more along the lines of Joshua, the word for Joshua. But the Vulgate has Yesus, but it's actually referring to Joshua, the son of Nun, the successor of Moses. And we get that in more modern translations. Here in Hebrews 4, 8 through 9, and the Scriptures 2009 translation, it reads, "...or if Yehoshua had given them rest, etc., etc." This is one of the reasons that we need modern translations. Not because we want to change what the Bible says, but because culture and speech and language changes over time. We don't say Yesus, because back in 1611, when they had done the King James, they didn't have that J, of the J sound that we have now. So words were spelled differently and pronounced differently, but things are different now. We pronounce things differently. We have different words, different meanings, etc., etc. So what about coming to salvation, moving on in the teaching? How do you come to salvation? How do you get salvation? How do you get into salvation? We look in Acts chapter 16, verses 30 through 31, and having led them outside, he said, "...Masters, what do I have to do to be saved?" And they said, "...believe on the Master Yeshua Messiah, and you shall be saved, you and your household." This is when the jailer is leading Paul and his friends out of jail, asks him, how do I be saved? And they tell him, "...believe on Yeshua." And that's how we get salvation. It's more specifically spelled out in Romans chapter 10, verse 9. "...that if you confess with your mouth the Master Yeshua, and believe in your heart that Elohim has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved." So confess with your mouth, confess out loud to others the Master Yeshua, and believe, truly believe in your heart that Yahweh raised him from the dead on the third day, then you shall be saved. It's not some church creed, it's not some special prayer on an index card that was made up in the 18th century. We get it straight from Scripture. Scripture is sufficient to tell us how to get saved and what salvation is. We don't need commentaries from popular preachers, nothing like that, in order to get saved. We only need Scripture. And Scripture here tells us, in Romans, to get saved, to come to salvation. You confess with your mouth the Master Yeshua, and believe in your heart that Yahweh raised him from the dead. That's how you come to salvation. Now after that, you start having a better life, more in line with the way Yahweh wants us to be and act and go. Now of course, there's always the repentance of sins and the old way of life, turning away from the former things and becoming that new man that Paul tells us about. But to come to salvation, the very basic level of it, is to confess the Master Yeshua and believe that Yahweh raised him from the dead. Now what does salvation actually accomplish? We learn in 1 John 3.4 that everyone doing sin also does lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. Sin is the breaking of the Torah. That's what sin is, as defined by the Scriptures. Romans 6.23 For the wages of sin is death, but the favorable gift of Elohim is everlasting life, and Messiah Yeshua our Master. The wages of breaking the Torah is death. That's why we need salvation. We need to come to Yeshua to be saved. It's not from the first death, but there's two deaths that Scripture tells us about, the first death and the second death. Even though we have come to salvation, even though we are saved, we will still undergo the first death because of sin. However, we will be saved from the second death. Romans 5.9 Much more than having now been declared right by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. What's that wrath? That wrath is the second death, the being tossed into the lake of fire at the end of days. That's the wrath that we are avoiding by being saved and changing our hearts, our minds, and our lives toward his way of doing things. First Thessalonians 5.9-10 Because Elohim did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain deliverance through our Master, Yeshua Messiah, who died for us, so that we, whether awake or asleep, should live together with him. So that's what salvation accomplishes. It saves us from the wrath to come. It brings us into the nation of Yahweh, into the kingdom of Yahweh at the end of days. And while we're still here alive, it's going to be a process of changing ourselves. For some people it's going to be easier, for some people it's going to be harder. But it's a process that we work toward and that we should work toward. And now you know what salvation is in a nutshell. Like I said, there's a lot more that can go into this. There's a lot of nuances and ins and outs and various interpretations. That was not the scope of tonight's drosh. Tonight's drosh was to give you more confidence in your salvation and geared more towards those of you out there who are already in the faith, who are already saved. To give you confidence in your salvation. And you should be confident in your salvation. Unfortunately, all throughout history, we have seen various types of persecution come against believers, against believers. Telling them that they're not saved if they don't believe exactly as that person does. I have heard this not specifically worded exactly like this, but they always have this insinuation that, oh, you don't interpret this like I do, then you're not saved. Okay, that is a scare tactic, a form of fear mongering to try to get you over to their side to scare you into their way of thinking instead of taking the time to lovingly and civilly and calmly explaining why it is they believe the way they do and then hearing you out as well. A lot of times that doesn't happen nowadays. It's a rare thing, it's a beautiful thing, but it's a rare thing. But just know that these scare tactics have no teeth whatsoever. You can have confidence in your salvation and know that that person cannot take away your salvation because you are secure in your salvation no matter what they say. What do I mean by all this? What do I mean by you can be safe and secure in your salvation? John chapter 10, verses 27 to 29. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them everlasting life, and they shall by no means ever perish. And no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. So once you're saved, once you're in Yeshua, you cannot be snatched out by anyone, even if they disagree with how you interpret a certain subject or topic. They can't take away your salvation. Yeshua has you. Your salvation is secure. So yeah, it can be hurtful and harmful when you first start hearing it. But know that they can't do anything about your salvation. They do not have that power or authority. John chapter 5, verses 22 through 23. For the Father judges no one, but has given all the judgment to the Son, that all should value the Son, even as they value the Father. He who does not value the Son does not value the Father who sent him. So who is the judge of our salvation? Yeshua and Yeshua alone. Not some other person. Only Yeshua. Again, Acts chapter 17, verses 30 through 31. Truly then, having overlooked these times of ignorance, Elohim now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has set a date on which He is going to judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed, having given proof of this to all by raising him from the dead. So who is it that Yahweh has appointed to judge the world? Yeshua. So again, Yeshua is the only one who is the judge of our salvation. In Corinthians chapter 5, verse 10, for we all have to appear before the judgment seat of Messiah in order for each one to receive according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Over and over and over again, Scripture tells us the only one who can judge our salvation is Yeshua. Now we did a video just a little while back about judging and judging others, and we should be judging others on what they are doing, and they should be judging us on what we're doing so that we can sharpen each other, correct each other, get in the right way of living. But that's in what we do. That's the judging part, for us anyways. As far as judging salvation, that only belongs to Yeshua, not any other man. So no matter what anyone else says, they cannot take you out of Yeshua's hands. They cannot judge your salvation. They do not have that power, and they do not have that authority. No matter how many degrees they have, no matter what title they have, no matter how big of a ministry they have, they cannot take away your salvation. You can remain confident in your salvation. Now if you come against someone else in the faith, another brother or sister, and you have a difference of interpretation over a particular subject, it's okay to discuss with them back and forth about why each of you believes the way you do. Go through the Scriptures, go through the lexicons, the church history, stuff like that. At the end of the day, you may not come to see eye to eye, but realize that each of you are still brothers and sisters in Messiah, because neither one of you can take away the other's salvation. That is only Yeshua, He's the only one that can judge that. No one else. So be confident, be secure in your salvation, knowing that it's only Yeshua and no one else that can judge your salvation. So this comes up a lot, especially if you're like us in the Messianic way of thinking. A lot of those within mainstream churchianity will tell you that, hey, you're doing that Torah stuff because you just want to be back under the law. You think that you can be saved by works. I mean, how many of you have ever heard that before as you went through this life? So how do you respond to that? And think for yourself, are we saved by works? Let's go through some scriptures to find out what it is that salvation and works have to do with each other. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 9. For by favor you have been saved through belief and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of Elohim, it is not by works, so that no one should boast. So this goes back to the by faith alone, by grace alone kind of concept, that you are not saved by the works that you do, not even the works of Torah. You are only saved by putting your faith and trust in Yeshua and repenting of your sins. That is salvation, not your works. So no, for anyone out there who's watching this, who may be coming from a mainstream churchianity perspective, no, you cannot be saved by works, it's only through Yeshua our Messiah. Second Timothy chapter 1, verses 8 through 9. So do not be ashamed of the witness of our master, nor of me his prisoner, but suffer hardship with me for the good news according to the power of Elohim who has saved us and called us with a set-apart calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and favor which was given to us in Messiah Yeshua before times of old. Titus chapter 3, verses 5 through 7. He saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his compassion, through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the set-apart Spirit which he poured out on us richly through Yeshua Messiah our Savior, that having been declared right by his favor, we should become heirs according to the expectation of everlasting life. So again, over and over and over again, we're not saved by works, not even the works of Torah, it's only through Yeshua. But works are important, and they're still relevant in a believer's life. James chapter 2, verse 20. But do you wish to know, O foolish man, that the belief without the works is dead? So if you have belief, or you say you have belief, but you don't have works, that belief is dead. Think back to what Yeshua said, that you shall know them by their fruit. You shall understand them and know them by the fruit that they produce. What is that fruit? It's the works. What are we showing other people in our lives? What holidays are we celebrating? What holidays are we not celebrating? What foods are we eating? What foods are we not eating? All this kind of stuff. Are you set apart, according to Yahweh, or are you still doing the things of the world? You're still doing the things of the world, you're still producing the fruit of the world, instead of producing the fruit of Yahweh. So works are important. James chapter 2, verses 24 and 26. You see then, that a man is declared right by works, and not by belief alone. Whereas the body without the spirit is dead, so also the belief is dead without the works. And what works is that? The works of Yahweh, what He wants us to do. Okay. What does He want us to do? Well, He's laid it out in the scriptures, the Torah, and the guidings and the teachings of Yeshua. James chapter 2, verses 17 through 18. So also belief, if it does not have works, is in itself dead. But someone might say, you have belief and I have works. Show me your belief without your works, and I shall show you my belief by my works. Again, it's that fruit that you're producing, and you shall know them by their fruits. Here James is telling us, or actually it's Jacob to be correct here, but Jacob is telling us that you can tell a person's belief by their works, and they will show you their belief by their works. Are they wearing tzitzit? Are they eating clean, the way they're supposed to be? You can see their belief, you can see their faith, by their works. And finally, 1 John chapter 5, verses 2 through 3. By this we know that we love the children of Elohim, when we love Elohim and guard His commands. For this is the love for Elohim, that we guard His commands, and His commands are not heavy. If you ever come from a mainstream churchianity background like I did, coming from a Baptist tradition, you'll often hear that, oh, no one can do the Torah. No one can do that. It's too hard. No one can do that. That raises the question of, well, why did Yahweh give us the Torah in the first place if we couldn't do it? No, we can do it, and scripture says it's not too hard. It says it back in the Tanakh, and it also says it here in 1 John again. It's not too hard. It's not too far away. We can do it. One of the other reasons that we should do works and do the commands of Yahweh is to show that we love Yahweh. What is the love for Yahweh? That we obey Him, that we do His commands, 1 John chapter 5, verses 2 through 3, and His commands are not heavy. We are not saved by works, but works are still important. It shows our belief, it illustrates the kind of belief that we have, that's the fruit that we produce, and the works, the following and obeying what Yahweh has told us, is the love for Yahweh, so that's the importance of works. Works is the fruit of our salvation, not the root of our salvation. Once we come to salvation, we do these works out of gratitude for Yahweh for saving us and giving us such righteous instructions on how to live life and go about this world. We do it out of gratitude, not out of necessity for salvation. We do it out of gratitude because we love Yahweh. That's one misconception. A lot of people think, oh, you're just wanting to go back under the law, you think that you're saved by works, you think you're saved by the Torah, blah, blah, blah. That's a misconception that a lot of people have about those of us who have a Hebraic mindset like Yeshua did. There are also other misconceptions as well. Let's go over some of those. So some other misconceptions that people have about salvation. Some people think that they are saved because of their heritage. They come from a certain line of family members. You think, well, my daddy was a preacher and he was saved, so I'm saved as well. Nope, it doesn't work like that. We are each responsible for our own individual sins. We do not get salvation by heritage, by lineage, things like that. Once again, reiterated for the umpteenth time in my life, we are not saved by works. Whether that be works of the law, works of the Torah, or even just by what we consider good works. That's not what saves us. It's only by faith in Yeshua. Some people have the misconception that salvation is by predestination. That the work of Yeshua on the cross was pointless because we were already selected for salvation long before that. That's not true. We are not predestined or pre-elected to be saved and then others pre-elected or predestined to die and go into the lake of fire. That is a false view of salvation and there's a whole bunch more that goes into that, but we'll get into some scriptures here in a moment about all these as well. There's also the misconception that everyone is going to be saved, that a loving God would not ever punish anyone, so therefore everyone is going to be saved at the end times no matter what you do. That's false as well because scripture plainly tells us that there will be those who are cast into the lake of fire and that there will be those who are not allowed into the kingdom. Other people sometimes think that salvation is by church affiliation, that you've got to be with the right church, you've got to be with the right denomination, the right particular group, and that's not true. There are those who are saved that are in the Catholic Church, in the Baptists, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians, the Messianics, etc., etc. And then in each of those, there's also those who aren't saved, so it's not by church affiliation, it's not by denominational affiliation. Another misconception, it's actually pretty rare, but some people think that you have to be perfect to be saved. Well, no man is perfect. We're told in scripture that all have sinned, therefore no one is perfect, and if you have to be perfect to be saved, no one would ever be saved, and that's just blatantly false. Some people believe in reincarnation, but this is false as well. Scripture tells us that it is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment, and if you're judged unrighteous and not going into the kingdom, you'll be thrown into the lake of fire. Some people think, just like the salvation through heritage, that you are saved by being a member of a particular race. Unfortunately, this is a sad truth. There are some of those within Judaism who hold to this belief. There are some of those within the black Israelite groups who believe this as well, and of course we all know that there are some within these white supremacist groups that hold to this kind of thing also, but this is blatantly false. It's not the color of your skin that obtains you salvation. Again, it's only through Yeshua, our Messiah. Other people, I've seen this a lot within mainstream churchianity, is that all you need is grace for salvation and then you can do whatever you want. You say the sinner's prayer, preacher declares you to be saved, but she can't grant anyways, but then you can go out and do whatever you want. You can be a drunkard, you can be a homosexual, you can be a greedy, swindling politician. They think it's like a license to sin once you come to salvation, and that's false. We need to turn away from the ways of the world and go towards the ways of Yahweh. Others, even prominent people, have said before that Yeshua is just one way to get to heaven. A famous one that comes to mind is that interview with Billy Graham. Yes, there was a TV interview where Billy Graham actually said that there's going to be a place in heaven for people like Muslims and non-believers, etc., etc. If anyone would like to see that clip, let me know. We played it a while back, and it's shocking to hear someone as prominent and as famous as Billy Graham say this kind of thing. However, it is false, because there's only one way, and that's through Yeshua. And the final one we're going to list tonight and talk about real quick is that only bad people go to hell. Well, what is your definition of bad? Because according to scripture, we're all bad, we've all sinned, therefore we would all be going to hell, be thrown into the lake of fire. But that's not the truth. There are good people, who we would consider good people, according to our culture and our times, there would be good people that still go to hell, because they don't come to salvation in Yeshua. There's a lot of good atheists out there. There are, well, I mean, just think about it. About any demographic that's not Christian, Messianic, there's lots of good people in each of those demographics, but if they do not come to Yeshua, they're going to be cast into the lake of fire. So no, it's not only bad people that go to hell, it's the unsaved that are cast into the lake of fire. So let's go through some of these and back up some of these with actual scriptures, because we should always base these, whatever we believe, on scripture itself. So the first one, salvation through heritage. Thinking that, oh, because your family line was good Christian people, then therefore that automatically makes you a Christian as well, and you're automatically saved. That is false. Romans chapter 9, verses 30-32. What shall we say then, that nations not following after righteousness have obtained righteousness, even the righteousness of belief, but Israel following after the Torah of righteousness has not arrived at the Torah of righteousness? Why? Because it was not of belief, but as by works of Torah, for they stumbled at the stone of stumbling. So here Paul is telling us that even the Jews of his time would not be saved because they were trying to get salvation by works of the Torah. And you can't do that. You have to come to Yeshua, and he's talking about the Jews, even though they had Torah and they were doing Torah, and they were sometimes doing it fairly well. But they rejected Yeshua, and therefore they did not have salvation. Same holds true today. Romans chapter 10, verses 12-13. Because there is no distinction between Yehudi and Greek, for the same master of all is rich to all those calling upon him. For everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved. It also goes on later in the Brit Hadashah to say that Yahweh is no respecter of persons. This goes for your ethnic or racial lineage as well. There's no respecting racial or ethnic lineages. It's all about if you come to Yeshua in faith, if you confess him with your mouth and believe that Yahweh raised him from the dead. Has zero to do with your ethnicity or your race. Another misconception that salvation is by works. We've already said this multiple times, but it bears repeating because that misconception is so prevalent within mainstream churchianity about those of us who have a break mindset in which to live like Yeshua did, be more like Messiah. But let's go over it again. The misconception that salvation is by works. This is false. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 through 9. For by favor you have been saved through belief, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of Elohim. It is not by works, so that no one should boast. Second Timothy chapter 1 verse 9. Who has saved us and called us with a set-apart calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and favor, which was given to us in Messiah Yeshua before times of old. Titus chapter 3 verses 5 through 7. He saved us not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his compassion, through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the set-apart Spirit, which he poured out on us richly, through Yeshua Messiah our Savior, that having been declared right by his favor, we should become heirs according to the expectation of everlasting life. There's still going to be those out there who do not hear this and still who have that same misconception, but we go by scripture and scripture says that salvation is not by works. There it is. Put up on a big poster. Maybe that'll get rid of that misconception nowadays. But anyways, moving on. Salvation by predetermination or by pre-election. This is a false view of salvation because we are not selected for salvation before Yeshua by some arbitrary means. Otherwise, that would negate the entire purpose and reason behind Yeshua dying for our sins. But according to the GotQuestions.org website, they hold to this belief. They ask the question, is it possible for a person to be saved but not predestined? Their answer is no. It is impossible for someone to be saved without being elected by God to salvation. So the election is what brings you to salvation in their view, not Yeshua. And this is a false way to go about salvation. Again, this really gets into the weeds if you dig in on this and there's a bunch of history behind it and there's a bunch of big mainstream preachers who believe this. They don't tell you a lot. You have to dig into what they believe. But people like John MacArthur, John Piper, Matt Slick, James White, people like this think that your salvation is through election, not through Yeshua. This is false. John 1 chapter 3 verse 16, For Elohim so loved the world that He gave His only brought forth Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but possess everlasting life. Who can have everlasting life? Is it only the predestined? Is it only the pre-elected that get salvation? No. It says that everyone who believes in Him. First Timothy chapter 2 verses 3 through 4. For this is good and acceptable before Elohim our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Does He desire for only a certain people that He's selected to come to the truth? To come to salvation? No. His desire, as we are told right here from scripture, His desire is that all men to be saved. All men. Not just a select few, not just that predestined few, all. Like I said, there's a lot more that goes into this, but these are sufficient to show how this whole concept of election to salvation instead of Yeshua for salvation is a false concept of salvation. Another misconception, the universalism that we talked about before. It clearly tells us in John chapter 14 verse 6, Yeshua said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So not everyone is going to be saved. There's some other verses, I should have put up a lot more, but again, you can read your scriptures. Yeshua is the only way to the Father, there's not other ways to get to the Father. There's no other way to salvation except through Yeshua and there's going to be those who do not come to Yeshua, like some of the Pharisees and Sadducees back during the time of Yeshua when they rejected the Messiah. They did not come to salvation and it's not going to be good for them at the end of days. There are those today, prominent atheists, stuff like that, who will not be in the kingdom of heaven. They will be cast into the lake of fire. Even though they are good people, they may help a lot of people, they may save a lot of lives, but all the same, without Yeshua, they're not going to be saved and scripture tells us that there will be those who are cast into the lake of fire. So, no, not everyone gets saved. Another misconception is that you have salvation because of church affiliation. And you see this, not just picking on the Catholic Church, but they have a lot of history, a lot of creeds, a lot of writings that we can look at for various reasons, but especially for the topic of salvation and how they view it. And one of the things they have written out in their mindset goes something like this, whoever desires to be saved should, above all, hold to the Catholic faith. Anyone then who desires to be saved should think thus, this is the Catholic faith. One cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully. Now how contra-biblical is that? That to say that if you don't believe this church decree, then you can't be saved. That's not scriptural. Scripture is sufficient for laying out the necessary requirements for salvation and the process for salvation. We do not need external, later church decrees and decisions to tell us what we have to do to be saved, what we have to believe to be saved. It's right there in Scripture for us. And unfortunately, churches are still doing that today, all throughout history. There are those in the Reformation, even, who tried to say that if you don't believe like us, then you're not saved. They try to take on that role and authority of Yeshua, but they do not have that role and authority. So again, be secure in your salvation, knowing that salvation is fully described and sufficiently described in Scripture about what it is and how to obtain salvation. Be safe and secure and confident in your salvation, knowing that the only one who judges your salvation is Yeshua, our Messiah. No other man, no matter how many degrees they have, no matter how big of a ministry or TV show that they have, no matter what title they may have, they cannot judge your salvation. It's only Yeshua, so remain confident and steadfast in that. Another misconception, reincarnation. A lot of people know about Hinduism and their concept of reincarnation. They're kind of famous for that, but come to find out, and I found this out actually rather recently, that there are certain sects of Judaism who believe in a form of reincarnation as well. The Kabbalists, more specifically, but I'm trying to do some more research into that for an upcoming, what do you call it, episode, so I've got to do some more research on that, but it was kind of interesting to find out that it wasn't just the Hindus, that there are other people as well. But anyways, reincarnation is a misconception about salvation because reincarnation is a falsehood, it's not true. Hebrews 9, verse 27, and as it awaits men to die once, and after this, the judgment. So what does Scripture tell us? I can't even talk. What does Scripture tell us? That men are going to die. All of mankind is going to die once, physically die. Then we can undergo the judgment, and hopefully you're going to be saved and get to go into everlasting life with Yeshua in the kingdom of heaven. But if you're not saved, you're going to be cast into the lake of fire. Not reincarnated. Another misconception, salvation by race. Does your ethnicity or your skin color have anything to do with your salvation? Not in the least. Romans 9, verses 30-32. What shall we say then? That nations not following after righteousness have obtained righteousness, even the righteousness of belief, but Israel following after the Torah of righteousness has not arrived at the Torah of righteousness. Why? Because it was not of belief, but as by works of Torah, for they stumbled at the stone of stumbling. We just covered this a little while ago. Reading through the Brit Hadashah, we see that it's not about race or ethnicity, because one of the biggest and greatest revelations that we see in the Brit Hadashah is the acceptance and the bringing in of those outside of the people of Yahweh, referred to as Gentiles. And they weren't of Judean or Israelite lineage. They were brought in, so it's not about race or ethnicity. Another misconception, all you need is grace and then you can do whatever you want. Come to salvation, you have the grace, now you have a license to sin. No, that's false. James chapter 2, verses 14 and 17-18. My brothers, what use is it for anyone to say he has belief, but does not have works? This belief is unable to save him, so also belief, if it does not have works, is in itself dead. But someone might say, you have belief and I have works. Show me your belief without your works, and I shall show you my belief by my works. So even after salvation, we don't get to go do whatever we want against the will and instructions of Yahweh. We need to turn our lives around, correct ourselves into His correct and righteous way of doing things. And how is that? It's by the way He's told us, the way He's instructed us. And His instructions is Torah, right? Works of the Torah do not bring us salvation, but works of the Torah correct us and give us a better life and a better walk with Yahweh because we're obeying His commands and the way He told us to go about living life. Another misconception, Yeshua is just one way to get to heaven. No, blatantly false, you don't go through Islam, you don't go through Hinduism or Taoism or any other ism. It's only through Yeshua. John chapter 14 verse 6, Yeshua said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He is the only way to the Father, He is the only way to salvation, He is the only way to everlasting life. There are not two doors, there are not many ways to heaven, there's only one. And that's through Yeshua. And once again, it's something I've wanted to reiterate through this entire drash tonight. The only way is through Yeshua and Yeshua is the only one who can judge your salvation. No one can take him, I'm sorry, no one can take you out of his hand. Once again, it bears repeating, no other pastor, no other person regardless of their status can take away your salvation and judge your salvation. That is only for Yeshua. So be safe, be secure, be confident in your salvation, knowing that no one else can take it from you. So in summary, this is a rather short drash or teaching, but I felt it upon me that it's going to be necessary and that's something that we should teach on and give it in the style that we did, geared the way that we geared it, because there's a lot of people out there who come against or who come in contact with opposition because they have understood now that all of the Torah is still relevant to us nowadays. And there's a lot of opposition and pushback because of that. And sometimes people will even say that, well, you're not saved, you're not really a Christian if you're doing that kind of thing, and no, that's not true. We're still saved because scripture is sufficient to tell us what salvation is and how to obtain salvation. And it's, again, not by works, not by works of the Torah, it's by confessing with your mouth that Yeshua is Messiah and that Yahweh raised him from the dead. That's what you need for salvation. And no one can take it away. Again, be safe and confident in your salvation. So in summary, the study of salvation is referred to as soteriology. This is something that lots of people are very passionate about, about this field of study, but there is the technical name. So when you hear someone say the word soteriology, know that it means the study of salvation. Yeshua is the word for salvation. It means salvation or salvation is of Yah or Yah is salvation, things like that. Salvation is believing in the Master Yeshua, that you confess him with your mouth and believe that Yahweh raised him from the dead. Salvation saves us from the wrath to come. If we are saved, we are spared and not sent into the lake of fire. Yeshua is the only judge of our salvation, not any other man. We're not saved by works, but works are still important and relevant in our lives. It's what changes us. It's what guides us. It's what illustrates and shows our belief. It's the fruit that we produce. We're not saved by heritage, ethnicity, church creeds, predestination, denominational affiliation, et cetera, et cetera. We are only saved through Yeshua. No one can come to Yahweh except through Yeshua. And that's just the God honest truth. We hope this teaching and this astrology has been a benefit and encouraging to you, knowing that no other man can take your salvation from you, no other man can judge your salvation because that's only in Yeshua. He's the only one who has the authority and power to do that. Not any other man. So be strong, be confident, be secure in your salvation because of that. So if you got something out of this tonight, let us know down in the comments below what it is that you got out of this. Or if you disagreed, let us know about that too down there in the comments. While you're taking care of all that, make sure to also hit that like button, hit the subscribe button and ring the bell so that you're notified every time that we go live or upload a new on-demand video. And also hit that share button and share this video around with someone that you may know. Odds are someone is going to need to know to be secure in their salvation, so let them know. Thank you for joining us for another production from God Honest Truth Ministries. We hope that we have been of service to you and if you have any feedback, then please reach out to us by email. And make sure to visit our website at GodHonestTruth.com for more information, resources and contact.