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Shabbat Shalom. I think you would agree with me that the world around us seems to be growing darker. It is becoming harder to afford necessities, hatred of other people is rising, and anxiety, along with depression, are rising even among children. The darkness in this world is spreading like a sinister forest. Most people, whether they follow Yeshua or not, feel things are somehow “wrong” and becoming worse.

One way to summarize this shared experience is in a familiar statement here at Congregation Shema Yisrael. A statement coined years ago by Rabbi Loren: “We live in a world that is satanically controlled, in rebellion against God, and under a curse.” This is the condition of our fallen world, and this statement rings even more true today than the first time Rabbi Loren spoke it. This was in his message on Psalm 25, on January 2, 2010, sixteen years ago.

This is our problem: we live in a profoundly broken world. A world, to quote Rabbi Loren again, under the very real and destructive forces of Satan, sin, and death. But is there any solution? Search online or in any bookstore, and you will find numerous potential solutions.

But I will save you the money and give you the answer for free. Everything broken and wrong in our world has only one true solution, and His name is Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah. In John 14:6, Yeshua declares Himself to be the answer to all our problems when He says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

So, our world has three problems, and Yeshua is the answer to all three. This world is satanically controlled; Yeshua is the Way out. This world is in rebellion against God, a rebellion built on lies; Yeshua is the Truth we stand on. This world is under a curse that ends in death; Yeshua is the Life. Together, let’s examine these three fundamental problems in more detail and see how Yeshua is the solution for each one.

Our first problem is that the world right now is satanically controlled. This world belongs to the Lord; He is our Creator, and it is His creation. But through sin, Satan has been given a degree of power and authority over it. We also need to understand Satan is not a red-skinned fool with a pitchfork.

Satan, HaSatan, the accuser described in God’s Word, is very real and a deadly threat. Satan is the great dragon, a ravenous lion, and a serpent. Satan is the god of this age, and the prince of this world. Satan is the tempter, the evil one, a murderer, and the father of lies.

With such a being exercising a level of control in this world, it is not surprising that everything is full of darkness, even deep darkness, to quote Isaiah. The evidence of Satan’s control in this world is our sins, the works of the flesh found in Galatians 5:19-21: “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” Though these words were written about two thousand years ago, they still describe humanity today. Antisemitism, the persecution of Believers, and the pervasive corruption in our world also stem from our sinful natures.

We can picture the world under Satan’s control like Egypt in the book of Exodus: a place of slavery, spiritual darkness, and suffering. This is what Satan wants for every human being: for us to suffer, to curse God, and to die in our sins. Satan’s power is real, but it is also limited and temporary.

God, in His mercy, in His Chesed, has not abandoned us to Satan’s control. The solution to Satan’s control is the One who was tempted in every way like we are, tempted by Satan himself, yet never sinned. Messiah Yeshua is our solution. Yeshua is the Way: the way to God, the path to righteous and right living, and the road out of darkness into His kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13).

While we were still His enemies, Messiah Yeshua died for us, saving us from our sins. Through Yeshua, who is the Way, we find our way out of Satan’s kingdom and out of our spiritual Egypt. This is the New and Greater Exodus. The Lord leads us through the wilderness of this world into the Promised Land, where we will live with Him forever and ever.

If we have accepted Messiah Yeshua as the Way, what does that look like in our lives? It looks like Israel being led through the wilderness by the Lord’s pillar of fire and cloud. That generation had to stay close to their guide, the Lord, and follow the right path. The same is true for us today. We must get close to God and stay close to God, another Rabbi Loren favorite.

But how do we do this? Today, we are blessed to have more than a pillar of fire and cloud to guide us through our lives. We have the entirety of God’s Word, which is the lamp that lights our path (Psalm 119:105).

We also have the Holy Spirit, who illuminates the Bible and keeps our feet on the path. So, we must let His Word light our steps and let His Spirit lead us. We must also never forget that Yeshua is our path, the Way out of Satan’s control and into the freedom of the Promised Land.

As we encounter every difficult situation, we must determine what the right steps are, what the right choice is. We should ask ourselves, does this choice move me towards God’s light, or take me back into Egypt? Am I choosing God’s path or my own?

Our second problem is that this world is in rebellion against God. This rebellion is based on many lies. Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44), and his first lie to humanity is found in Genesis 3. Satan began with a question: “Did God really say…?” Once Eve considered the question, Satan planted his lie, “You will not surely die.” Satan convinced Eve to doubt the truth of God and then exchange God’s truth for his lies. This is the root, the basis of every other lie.

The spiritual confusion created by multiple competing “truths” for how we are to live provides fertile soil for the seeds of Satan’s lies to grow. In our modern world, we would call this “subjective truth,” truth that is relative, “your truth, my truth.” Subjective truth is fine for picking out clothes or paint colors, but disastrous for ethics and morality.

As Satan’s lies grow in every generation, they eventually bear fruit in calling what is evil good and what is good evil. Unfortunately, most of humanity has accepted this lie (Isaiah 5:20). Fast forward to Romans 1:25, and we are told that humanity has exchanged God’s truth for a lie. We worship the creation, ourselves, animals, and the Earth itself, instead of our Creator. We even invent new evils, evils that were unknown to the Roman Empire, the Canaanites, and every other terrible ancient society. We also encourage one another in our rebellion against God.

The solution for this rebellion and confusion is Truth, Truth with a capital T. Not subjective truth, but objective or unchanging truth. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God.

Yeshua is the Truth, the only source of Truth. Yeshua defines what is true and what is a lie. His life, death, burial, and resurrection are the perfect proof that He is the source of truth.

So we can be certain and confident that His righteous standard of living is true and found only in Him. Truth must be the foundation of our lives; therefore, Messiah Yeshua must be our foundation, our unmoving Rock of Truth.

As Believers, we are called to stand on the firm foundation of God’s Truth. We must reject the lies and subjective “truths” of this world. How do we know what is true? We must be familiar with the genuine article, the Word of God. For example, if I wanted to recognize pyrite, “Fool’s Gold,” from gold, then I need to be familiar with real gold. I need to experience it so I can tell what is real and valuable, gold, from what is fake and worthless.

The Truth of God is more precious than gold. Messiah Yeshua offers us only the Truth, and the Truth is priceless. For those who are His disciples, Messiah Yeshua promises us gold refined by His fire. Messiah’s Gold is real and valuable; it is His blessings to us. Blessings that make us truly rich, spiritually rich, that lead to eternal treasures.

So, the next time something sparks our emotions, online or from a friend, we should ask ourselves: is this objectively true, or is it only another example of “my truth, your truth” or just a plain lie? What does God’s Word say is true?

Our final problem is that this world is under a curse. Since the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, this world has been filled with decay and death. Scientifically, we call this decay the law of entropy. On a basic level, the law of entropy describes how everything moves from order to disorder. This is true for everything in this universe: our bodies, minds, families, cultures, and governments. Because of sin, we have decay. Everything and everyone break down until they reach a state of death.

Biblically, we can identify this decay as the universe sliding away from Shalom (peace, wholeness, completeness, harmony) toward Tohu VaVohu, formlessness, void, chaos. In Genesis 1:3, the Lord made light appear in the darkness; He brought Shalom to the chaos. Because of the curse of decay and death, Genesis 1 is now running in reverse.

Decay and death are observable to everyone but seem wrong and unnatural. This is because we were not made to die, but sin has corrupted our lives. In response, many people believe nothing can be done about this terrible curse. Some have even embraced the philosophy of Nihilism, which is becoming more popular today for those known as “Doomers.” Nihilism is a perverse lie that states that our lives and our universe have no inherent value or meaning. Nihilism rejects all traditional forms of truth, knowledge, and societal values. This lie is offered as a type of “answer” to decay and death. We should accept that there is no objective truth, make our own subjective truth, and then accept death.

But there is a true answer for the curse of death and decay. Messiah Yeshua is the Life, who gives us real life now and in the world-to-come. He is the Second Adam, succeeding where the first Adam failed. Adam brought sin and its curse into this world. Messiah Yeshua brings life.

We can know Messiah Yeshua is the Life because He alone has triumphed completely over the curse of death in this world. Because of His sinless life, death could not contain Him, and He rose from the dead. If we want to experience the Life found only in Messiah Yeshua, then we should read, understand, and trust what He taught.

I appreciate this quote on Messiah’s resurrection, reminding us of Messiah’s uniqueness, from Rabbi Loren’s 2004 message, Yeshua Is Wonderful, Part 2:

His resurrection makes Him absolutely unique in the history of the world, putting Him on a level far higher than any of the prophets of Israel or the leaders of any other religion. It sets Christianity and Messianic Judaism apart from all other religions, philosophies, or ideologies. Buddha is still in his tomb, as are Mohammed and Confucius. Charles Darwin is dead and is not evolving! Marx, Lenin, Freud and Einstein are still dead and buried. Only Yeshua, of all human beings, has overcome death and is alive now. Therefore we ought to listen more carefully to Him than to any other human being who has ever existed. We must pay very careful attention to every word He ever uttered.

So Messiah Yeshua is the Life, but what kind of Life does He have for us? Messiah Yeshua does not simply restore this world to what it was in the Garden; He forges something better, something new. He gives us new lives, a new perspective, a new nature, and new power. In Messiah, we are not heading for death, but to a new Earth, a new Heaven, and His eternal rule in the New Jerusalem. As God declares, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:5)

Messiah Yeshua as the Life compels us to ask: what sort of life are we living? Are we walking on a road heading toward death, or toward life? If you have yet to place your trust in Messiah Yeshua, then you are still on the path of Satan, a path that leads to decay and death. You must get off that path and move to the right one!

If we are followers of Messiah Yeshua, then we have the promise of life, abundant life, life beyond anything we can imagine. But we must ask ourselves whether we are walking in newness of life. Do our lives reflect the reality of the life we have in Messiah Yeshua? There is a simple question we can ask ourselves every day, in every situation: “Am I living in a way that preserves and increases my Shalom, or increases my chaos?” Are the things we are doing and thinking about leading us down the path of life and Shalom, or down the path that leads to chaos and death?

This morning, we began with a quote from Rabbi Loren: “We live in a world that is satanically controlled, in rebellion against God, and under a curse.” We have seen how all three of these statements are tragically true, and that they all trace back to the Garden of Eden. But we have also seen how Messiah Yeshua is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

However, there is a second part to this verse we must consider. Messiah Yeshua continues and says, “No one comes to the Father.” This is an absolute declaration, an objective truth, the same as Yeshua being the answer to every issue in this world. No one can stand before God the Father or be in a right relationship with the Lord on their own. There is nothing at all we can do to save ourselves or this world. Everything is hopeless if we are relying on ourselves, on humanity. We cannot heal this world; we cannot even heal ourselves.

Fortunately, the verse continues. There is one exception, one way we can be saved. Yeshua goes on to say, “No one comes to the Father…except through Me.” There is only one Way, one Truth, one Life. Everything else is a lie. Rabbi Loren has pointed out in the past that this makes our faith, the teachings of Messiah Yeshua, radically exclusive. This truth is found in Ephesians 4:5-6, where we read that we have “…one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

But in one important way, faith in Messiah Yeshua is also radically inclusive. The answer to the problems of this world, Messiah Yeshua, is available to everyone who trusts and obeys Him. Messiah Yeshua died for the sins of every single person. He died for your sin and my sins. There is only one path, but that path is accessible to everyone.

We can understand this entire verse if we imagine this world under Satan’s control like a dark and frightening forest covered in deep darkness. The kind of forest found in the scariest of movies. True faith in Messiah Yeshua is the one lit path that will safely lead us out of this dark forest to blessing and safety. It is inclusive because everyone can step onto this path and take it. But it is also exclusive because there is only one safe path. Other paths may appear to be safe, but each one only takes you deeper into the forest, where you become even more lost than when you started.

That is the reality of our lives in this fallen world. But most refuse to accept it. We want to be our own god and save ourselves or be saved in a way that does not require us to change. But this is as ridiculous as standing in a scary dark forest and complaining that there are not dozens of lit paths. Or demanding that we should be allowed to hack our way through the forest and expect to get out safely. But there is one path. It is lit. And it is open to everyone.

Everything broken has only one true solution: Yeshua. The world offers only the broken road, the lie, and the curse. Yeshua offers the Way out, the Truth to stand on, and the Life that makes all things new.

All of us must be on the right path; if today you are not, I encourage you to accept Yeshua’s invitation. To experience the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Today, leave Egypt, leave the lie, leave the road to death. Messiah Yeshua is here right now, ready save and transform your life.

For those of us who have placed our trust in Messiah Yeshua, we are called to continue the work of the Lord. The work of walking, standing on, and living for our wonderful Savior. We need to get close and stay close to the Lord, standing on the Truth and choosing Shalom over chaos. This is a lifelong journey, but a journey we can accomplish, because we do not walk through this world alone. We walk down His path together as a community, and together with the Lord every moment of our lives.

Let’s Pray:

Heavenly Father, in a world full of darkness, we pray that more people, Jewish and Gentile, would experience the saving light of your Way, Truth, and Life. May you return speedily and in our days, and bring Satan’s power in this world to an end. May this world that is desperately searching for Shalom soon experience the infinite wholeness and completeness of the Prince of Peace, Messiah Yeshua. Amen?