I think a lot of the problem, is with Shabbat. People don't know how it effects their worship on Sundays, should they change the worship time of their assembly, should they stop working on Saturdays, and with all the goofy regulations that the Rabbi's put out there about should or should not be done, people just recoil from it.
Also, the fact that modern Judaism is just a collection of Rabbinical teachings is very important, because a Judaizer would want people to follow the Rabbinical Law (which can't be done). Whereas someone who exhorts someone to follow the laws of God, is not a Judaizer, because Judaism transgresses the law of God by their traditions. Lets call things for what they are.
Judaism today is not what it claims to be, if it were, they would all love Jesus. Therefore, a Judaizer could more accurately be called a 'power and control freak', they don't want you to follow Judaism, they are not following Judaism, there is no such thing anymore and it is the enemy, who wants you to forfeit, because it is the only way to lose a battle that was already won for us.
So now we have a world where nothing is what it seems to be or claims to be, but we have to pretend it is because otherwise people freak out so bad that there's no way to get anything done. If you don't want to follow the laws, that's fine. When Jesus comes with a rod of iron, maybe you will repent, until then I am wasting my time, because nothing I can say will make a difference if you aren't listening. If you don't want knowledge, nobody can force it on you. I don't blame you.... in years past, I would have taken slavery over beheading too.
Have you been perfect before God according to the Law?
Matthew 5:48 [SUP] [/SUP]Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
I wasn't able to. I tried really, really hard to be perfect before God according to the Law, according to His 10 Commandments. The way the Lord Jesus magnifies them in Matt 5.
So, because I am not able to be perfect by working at the law, what is the solution? Is there one, or am I doomed?
Matthew 11:28-30
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28 [/SUP]Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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29 [/SUP]Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
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30 [/SUP]For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
That's the solution for those who labour and are heavy laden and cannot be perfect before God according to the law. The Lord Jesus came for sinners not for those who are righteous.
So how does this work? How does coming to Jesus cause us to stop working at the law and cause us to rest?
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
What fruit?
Galatians 5:22-23
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22 [/SUP]But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
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23 [/SUP]Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
So when a person comes to Christ, and ceases from their works, this fruit is caused to grow in their lives. How? By faith.
If a person goes back to the law and their own works they are turning their backs on this Grace, on the True Way.
Galatians 5:4-6
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4 [/SUP]Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
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5 [/SUP]For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
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6 [/SUP]For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
A christian doesn't turn back to the law to attempt to please God. The flesh can't do it. A christian turns to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and expects to fulfill the law not by what he/she does but by what the Lord Jesus Christ does in them.
That's rest. That's Shabbat. That's Shalom.
Those who would attempt to turn christians back to the law are the same as the pharisees described in acts 15:5.
Acts 15:10 [SUP] [/SUP]Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?