FOLLOWING IN HIS STEPS BY THE WORD
The whole human race is in a degenerate condition from the state in which it was originally created. The scripture tells us that "there is none righteous, no, not one; .. .. there is none who does good, no, not one."
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:10, 12c, 23)
We are told that all the apparent righteousness of man is as filthy rags in Yahweh God's sight. It is polluted and stained with sin, for the impetus behind all good works is a motivation of self-interest for one's own ego and/or the appraisal of man. It falls short of the righteousness and glory of God in which man was originally created, which is the only acceptable standard to Yahweh God (Isaiah 64: 6-7; Jeremiah 17: 9-10).
Therefore the only way of approach for man to a holy God is through the Way which Yeshua has provided in the offering He made for the sins of mankind, walking in the Truth of His Word and living by the Life He has imparted to those who put their faith in Him for salvation from the judgement of eternal punishment.
Yeshua said, "I am the Way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me." John 14: 6
Our access back to the Father is through the impartation of His life to bring us into relationship with the Father. In this relationship with the Father and the Son we have an assurance of eternal life.
"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yeshua the Messiah whom you have sent." (John 17: 3) It is received and sustained by relationship with the Father through the Son.
Yeshua was sent to show us the Way, He demonstrated and lived out the Truth in His life, and then imparted His own perfected human Life to us so that we could also live out of this eternal, spiritual quality of life.
"And this is the testimony: that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son, has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." 1 John 5:11-12
Eternal life is a spiritual quality of life, in that it's source originates from the Father -- it is not natural. It is also everlasting, in that it will go on forever in those who allow it to consume and overtake all that is earthly, natural and corruptible in the fallen, human nature. For this reason we must walk in the truth of His Word.
Walking according to the Word of God will not effect salvation in us if we attempt to do it on our own initiative, by our own efforts to be righteous. He must have His Word abiding in us through faith, as a source to empower us in living according to the truth of His written Word. Yeshua said to the unbelieving religious Jews who questioned the source of His life, "You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." John 5:39-40
The scribes and Pharisee of Yeshua's day studied and searched the scriptures, just as the Rabbinic Jews do today, as a source of receiving the life of God. But they rejected Him as the source of life (John 5:35-38). The source of Life is in Him personally. As He said, "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me shall live because of Me." John 6:57
Yeshua said that He was the living bread which came down from heaven from the Father (John 6:51), and He likened His flesh (the substance of His life - i.e. His nature and personality) to bread and His life-force to blood. He instructed His disciples to "eat His flesh and drink His blood" in order to partake of His life.
What does it mean to eat His flesh and drink His blood? He said that - "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him" John 6:56
Remaining in spiritual union with Him depends on --- feeding on His flesh, and drinking His blood Our spiritual sustenance is to come from Him personally, so that we will be recipients of eternal life.
What we spiritually 'eat' and 'drink' actually determines our destiny! When Yeshua was tempted to act independently from the Father to satisfy His own needs, He answered, "Man shall not live by bread alone,but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" Matthew 4:4
He was likening the Word of God to 'bread'. He also referred to Himself as the 'living bread' which came down from heaven, on the basis that He was the living Word, the manifestation in human form of the nature and essence of the Father (John 6:51). He was a living expression and revelation of the Father, visible for all men to see (1 John 1: 1-20). He was also the appointed mouth-piece for the Father, to speak the Father's words to us and bring to completion the revelation of God's purposes to us (Hebrews 1: 1-3; John 12:49-50).
Therefore the words He spoke were anointed with life and power. As He said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63
Yeshua has existed from the beginning as the Word of God (John 1: 1-3). It was He, who in creation, spoke the worlds into existence. It was He who came into the garden and spoke to Adam, the first man. Again, at Sinai, it was He who gave them the Father's laws and precepts (Genesis Ch.1; Colossians 1:15-17; Exodus 20-23). All recorded scripture has originated from the Father through the Son to the prophets, so it is all the Word of God - that which the Son has spoken from the Father through the Spirit of God.
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God" 2 Timothy 3:16
Therefore all scripture is empowered with the life of God to those in relationship with the Son. It is God-breathed (2 Peter 1:21). The words of scripture are 'spirit' and they are 'life', to those who feed on them. This involves a process of digesting the Word and making it part of our lives - i.e. part of our flesh. Just as Yeshua lived by every word of God, so also are we to live by the Word which has been implanted in our hearts by His Spirit. But the written Word of itself, without the empowering of the Spirit, is lifeless.
The Word of God has been implanted into our hearts as a deposit of His Spirit. It is like a seed which needs to be watered so that it will grow up to maturity. The scripture likens the operation of 'water' to the Word of God which is applied to this 'seed' to cause it to grow (Luke 8: 5-15; 1 Peter 1:23; 1 Corinthians 3: 6-8).
Our heavenly Father is like a farmer, who after He plants the seed, waits for the rains to come upon it so that it will grow to maturity and He can reap a harvest from what is sown (James 5: 7)
Likewise we are to tend and nurture the growth of the Word in our lives so that we will grow and reproduce the likeness of the Seed that was planted in our lives. We need to come to maturity as a son of God. In His death, He offered Himself as a Firstfruit of a future harvest, a perfect sheaf that was presented to the Father as a sacrificial offering, of that which was to come forth from the earth. He was that "grain of wheat" that fell into the ground and died, to bring forth an abundant crop in the final harvest of souls. The Father is waiting for the harvest of what has been planted to come to the maturity of the likeness of His Son, Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of Man (John 12:24; Ephesians 4:13).
As we meditate in His Word, feed upon it and incorporate it into our lives, we will be transformed into the likeness of the One we are beholding through the reflection of Him in the mirror of the written Word. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
"Then Yeshua said to the Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free'". John 8:31-32
It is by 'abiding' in His Word that the transformation will take place. We are not to be 'forgetful hearers', who after looking into the mirror, go away unchanged by the image of the One they have beheld (James 1:22-24).
If we allow the Word to wash over our lives, it will cleanse us and set us free from all defilement of the flesh. Just as we eat and daily wash our physical body, so we must also feed and cleanse our spirit daily.
We need to have a balanced nourishing diet of the Word, consuming and thoroughly digesting it, to sustain our spiritual lives and to grow into His likeness. We need to provide time in our lives to do this.