 Okay, one of the frequent talking points of the Christian Bible and later Christians is that they are only guided by the word of God and not the traditions of men. Now for the past two thousand years there's been an ongoing attack on the oral Torah of Judaism and on the legitimacy of any rabbinic teaching that's not firmly rooted in the text of the Hebrew scriptures. This is what Orthodox Christianity describes as Sola Scriptura. Only the scriptures, meaning for them, they insist that the only thing that they pay attention to is what the words of the Bible say and what the words of the Bible teach and if it's not there, they're not interested. They call those other teachings the traditions of men. It's only for men we only follow what God says. However, if you look at facts on the ground and facts matter, today's Messianic Jewish movement, the movement of Jews who believe in Jesus, they seem to be very inconsistent on this topic. For example, they will virtually all celebrate Chanukah. I would say, where do you find Chanukah in the Bible? Chanukah is a post biblical holiday. Right? Not biblical. Did they forget the idea that they only follow the word of God and not the traditions of men? And yet they will have Chanukah. They will light the candles. They'll have eight nights. Where did that come from? Most Messianic congregations will celebrate Bar Mitzvah. When? When the boy reaches the age of 13. Where did they get that from? The Bible never says that a boy becomes responsible for fulfilling the commandments when he reaches the age of 13. It's not in the text of the Bible and there's nothing in the Bible about having a celebration for a Bar Mitzvah and yet virtually all Messianic congregations have Bar Mitzvahs when the boy reaches 13. They also will light Shabbat candles. Where did that come from? Nothing in the Bible speaks about lighting Shabbat candles and yet that's almost always done in a Messianic congregation or Messianic family. Or at a wedding, they will invariably have a chuppah, a marriage canopy. The Bible never speaks about getting married under a chuppah, a canopy, and if you watch a Messianic Jews for Jesus wedding, you could think that, oh, that's almost a normal Jewish wedding. Where did they get all the customs from? Not the Bible. Or the wearing of seat seat. Now, the Bible does speak about wearing seat seat on the corner of your garments, but the Bible never tells you how to tie that seat seat. And just by coincidence, the Messianic Jews tie it just exactly the way normal Jews do. And we didn't get it from the text of the Bible. This is part of our oral law and rabbinic tradition. And Messianic Jews will generally have only men wearing seat seat. The Bible never says only men should wear a seat seat. It's only rabbinic tradition that Tali is a man's garment. Now, it may be possible for women to wear a seat seat. Not going to get into that tonight, but in general, it hasn't been a practice of Jewish women for the past several thousand years. And you find the exact same thing in the Messianic movement. You'll find many of the men wearing seat seat, but not their women. Or the fact that in almost every Messianic congregation, they refer to the current year as five, seven, seven, eight. Well, where did they get that from? The Bible never tells us what year it is. That's part of the oral law, part of rabbinic tradition. And yet, if you get any Messianic congregation, their website will probably have the year of the Hebrew calendar. Again, not something that they derive directly from the pages of the Bible. Also, if you ever go to a Messianic congregation, virtually all the men are wearing a kippah, a yamlka. You don't find that in the Bible. That, again, comes from the Talmud or using the title rabbi. We don't see anybody called rabbi in the Bible. And it's interesting that the rabbis are really the opponents of Jesus in the Christian Bible, and yet every Messianic congregation today. Practically, the leader is called the Messianic rabbi. They take that title or a Passover Seder. Of course, Passover appears in the Hebrew Bible, but it doesn't tell us in the Hebrew Bible to have four cups of wine. It doesn't tell us to have three pieces of matzah. It doesn't tell us about having a Seder plate or harotet or saltwater, anything like that. All of the practices, practically, are developed in the oral Torah and in the rabbinic teachings. And yet if you go to a Messianic synagogue to their model Seder or their Seder or a Jews for Jesus family, you'll find that they're celebrating Passover in a very similar way to the way rabbinic Jews do. And I can give numerous other examples. So the claim that they only follow the Word of God and not the traditions and not the traditions of men is very, very flimsy. Now, it's interesting to me that virtually all of these Messianic Jews ignore the fast days of the Hebrew calendar. We're going to have one this coming weekend, Shivar Sabah Tamuz, the 17th day in the month of Tamuz. I don't know of any Messianic congregations that will fast. And what's interesting is that this is a practice that's not just rabbinic. There is a reference of source in the Bible for it. If you go to the Prophet Zechariah, Zechariah, Chapter 8, verse 19, it speaks about the fast of the fourth month and the fifth month and the seventh month and the tenth month. And those refer to the fast. This is the fast of the fourth month. Tamuz is the fourth month. And this is the fast will be the 17th of Tamuz. The fast in the fifth month of is Tisha B'Av. The fast of the seventh month is Somgadalya. And the fast in the 10th month is Asarabah Tavit. And so here the Bible speaks about these fasts. And yet even so, the virtual, almost unanimous majority of Messianic Jews do not observe these fasts.