The Torah of Surrender
Entering the Narrow Gate...
Yeshua warns us to enter by the “narrow gate,” for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter it. “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13-14). It is a dreadful possibility that not everyone who calls Yeshua “Lord” truly belongs to him... Many people say they are one of his followers but they are fooling themselves because they don’t obey his commandments. That is the essence of the matter. People may profess they “believe” in the Lord for any number of reasons, but they are still unknown to God (Matt. 7:20-23).
Some people admire Yeshua as a compassionate teacher or regard him as an advocate for the downtrodden and oppressed; others seek him for their personal prosperity (or as superstitious protection from evil); still others may feel wordy affection for him and venerate him as great teacher, even regularly attending religious ceremonies in his honor. Perhaps most surprising, however, is that many of the self-deceived may be “ministers” in various forms of professional Christian service. Priests, pastors, deacons, worship leaders, church administrators, card-carrying church members, as well as seminary professors, popular preachers, and respected Bible “scholars” may seek Jesus for personal power. Whether they be self-righteous Pharisees or hedonistic Sadducees, whether self-appointed prophets or button-down traditionalists -- any of these may be not belong to the Lord at all...
The true test for whether you belong to the Lord is straightforward and simple, however, namely, that you will honor Yeshua’s authority and keep his commandments (John 14:21; 1 John 2:3-6). Of course that does not mean we will never fail in our obedience, but when we do we will come before the Lord and confess our sin, asking to be restored to fellowship. Even if we ask “seventy times seven” times for forgiveness, we can be assured of God’s love and grace for us (1 John 1:9). Remember that the opposite of sin is not our virtue but God’s goodness, and it is the obedience of that faith that is essential. “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living the life of trust. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Yeshua the Messiah is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith” (2 Cor. 13:5).
A life that is fully surrendered or yielded to God is not formed by the ups and downs of impulsive emotions but rather by the sober decision to believe. Once that decision is made, anxiety will be displaced by divine peace. The decision may be sometimes faltering, and it made need to be reaffirmed throughout the day, but the decision must be made.
But how does this happen? What is the source or impetus of this essential willingness? Is it a matter of our own inner resolve? Do we need to be convinced or persuaded in order to make the decision? Do we need “signs and wonders” to believe? Does our relationship with the Lord depend on our ability, our passion, our willingness, our earnestness -- or on His?
On a mysterious level no one is able to turn to the Lord and cleave to him apart from God’s personal choice of them. It is the divine prerogative, and it is a miracle. As Yeshua said, “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me” (John 6:44). This was foretold by the prophet by a vision: “The Lord appeared to me from afar saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have seized you in grace’” (Jer. 31:3).
Now this may offend human pride which seeks to justify why it is worth being “chosen” (and that wants, moreover, to be the one who makes the choice), but Yeshua was clear: “The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life... Therefore I said to you that no one can come to me unless he is enabled to so by my Father” (John 6:63-5). Tragically, because of these words many of Yeshua’s supposed “disciples” turned back and “walked with him no more” (John 6:66). These people turned away because God’s authority and prerogative reduced them to nothing, and ironically they felt justified as they rejected him. A true disciple, on the other hand, accepts that faith itself is a gift from above, and that we need God to even need God!
Unless God calls you to know him you will not know him. How could it be otherwise? There may be signs of quickening by the Spirit of God, however, leading to rebirth - a sense of the mystery and wonder of life, a haunting anxiety that your soul is in trouble, an inner cry of the heart for deliverance from evil (both your own and outside you), a poignant lament that you are in exile, that you have a terrible need for mercy, that you no longer trust yourself and that you are desperate over the shattered mess of your life.... These sorts of concerns are preconditions for being enabled to turn to God and come to faith in salvation in Yeshua.
Just as you must realize you’re sick before you’ll seek the cure, so you cannot come to the Lord before you realize your desperate need for him. You must push through the crowd to touch the tzitzit of his robe (Luke 8:43-48). It’s a matter of life and death: find God or die... Yet it is this very wound, our incurable need, this blessed fault, that impels us to come and know the Lord, just as it is His very wound, given for our healing, that makes us whole.
Jeremiah 31:3
וְאַהֲבַת עוֹלָם אֲהַבְתִּיךְ
עַל־כֵּן מְשַׁכְתִּיךְ חָסֶד
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
Jer. 31:3b Hebrew page (pdf)
Thank you John. Praying for you and your family. Also my unsaved Husband. This message was the reminder much needed.
…btw… you are in my prayers.