Discovering The Jewish Jesus

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I think many Christians think that being a Christian is just to put on a smile and be a nice person. I'm looking to reign in life through Jesus Christ.

Dustin Roberts: Welcome to Discovering The Jewish Jesus. I'm Dustin Roberts, your host, and today our Bible teacher Rabbi Schneider is right here in the studio with us. We're going to be talking about something really impactful as we explore Paul's epistle in the book of Romans.

Jesus died for the ungodly, for people who didn't know Him and for many who never even considered loving Him. Yet, He died for them anyway. It's a really big deal, Rabbi.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It's an amazing thing when you think about Jesus coming to earth and dying for somebody that had never even thought about Him a day in their life. He was dying for people that He was completely unknown to.

This is how Paul continues on in the text. As you know, we've been in Romans Chapter 5. We just got done talking on the last episode about how Christ died for the ungodly. Paul continues by saying, "For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die." Of course, Jesus didn't die for the good man. He's the one that died for people that knew Him not. This is an incredible thing.

Then it goes on to say, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." What I love to remind myself of, and dear listener today I want to share this with you because hopefully it'll be a blessing and minister to some of you as well, is if Jesus died for you and me when we were completely estranged from Him, yet in that state, Jesus came and died for you, then why would He reject you now that you love Him?

Oftentimes what happens is when we first find out about Jesus, we receive this free gift of grace and we have confidence that our sins are forgiven, that we're accepted and loved by God. Then we start going to church, and we start listening to Bible teaching, and we start hearing about the Christian standard of living. We don't live up to it at times. All of a sudden, we think because we haven't lived up to it at times that somehow we've lost our salvation and that God hates us.

Dustin Roberts: This is so powerful what you're sharing. That's exactly what happens. You get convicted and you feel bad. Maybe you were rejected as a child. We have this rejection. We feel this rejection, and it's really condemnation from the enemy because Jesus is not rejecting us.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It's really important because the devil is so powerful in the sense that he's constantly intruding into our thoughts unless we become strong enough and aware enough to have a shield up. His purpose is to continue to steal, kill, and destroy. What's he going to steal? He's going to steal the knowledge of God's love for us.

Dustin Roberts: I think about those who are listening right now. I just pray if you're listening and you feel like Jesus has left you, just know, like Rabbi's saying, God loves you today. He saved you. He knew you were going to make the mistakes that you've made. He loves you right now, right where you're at. I encourage you to reach out to Him if you're struggling.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Amen. And so, beloved one, I just want you to consider that if you're struggling with feeling that God has rejected you or if you've lost your salvation, if you still love Jesus, if your heart is still going out to Him, I want you to know the same one that died for you when you didn't know Him, you didn't deserve it, you had no claim. His blood and His love is still reaching out to you and He's still drawing you to Himself.

Let's continue on with the text. Right after Paul says, "Christ died for us when we were yet sinners," Paul continues by saying, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." Meaning that if God sent His Son to die for you when you were completely estranged from Him, how much more now is His love and blood covering your life that you're living for Him and that you're reaching out to Him?

Dustin Roberts: It's even greater.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Even greater. "For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God," think about what we've been saying again, if while we were enemies, we didn't think about the Lord, but yet He died for us. "If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of a son, much more, having now been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." So I want you to get into your mind, if you've given your life to Yeshua, if you're seeking to grow in Him, if you're seeking to live for Him, if you're talking to Him every day, if you're praying, I want you to have confidence you're saved.

Dustin Roberts: This is an opportunity for us to get up every single day and feel good and to have hope. To not reverse back and to not live in self-pity and to feel bad because I love this revelation that you're sharing, Rabbi. I feel so good inside right now because it just makes me realize that my Father has confidence in me. It's not based upon mistakes I've made. He's chosen me and He's got my back.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Paul really gets deep into the theology of this and gives us the nuts and bolts as to why. We jump down to verse 15. Paul's on the same theme, and he's comparing how Adam's sin was transmitted or imputed to all mankind, but now Yeshua's death and atoning blood is imputed to everyone that receives Him. I'm going to pick up now in verse number 15. "For if by the transgression of the one, the many died," he's speaking of Adam and through Adam, everybody became sinners. "For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many."

This is just something that we really need to get back to theology. We have so much preaching today that's all topical-oriented. People are looking for what the congregation is going to want to hear about. We have all these topics on people's felt needs, but we need to just get back to sound theology and get grounded in the truth.

Paul continues, "The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from the one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification." Meaning that Jesus's shed blood covers every single sin. It only took one sin for all men to become guilty, Adam's sin. But through Jesus's one act, all our sin is now covered.

Paul just continues to elaborate on this, and he says in verse number 17, because of what Jesus has done for us, we can reign in life.

Dustin Roberts: I think of the verse in 2 Timothy that says if we endure, we'll also reign with Him. This is our opportunity. It says if we deny Him, then He'll deny us. But this is our opportunity knowing what He's done for us that, like you said, we get to reign in life and in the life to come with Him.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I really want to encourage our listeners right now to consider this concept of reigning in life. Let's listen to the verse here. Verse 17, we're still in Romans 5. "For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace of the gift of righteousness," the righteousness of Jesus is given unto us, it's a gift of grace, it's free. "Those of us that receive it," Paul says, "will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ."

I want you to think about this concept of reigning in life. Many people do not think about themselves as being one that reigns. Some of you are listening right now and you probably never even considered the fact that you could reign. But the Bible says right here that you can reign in life. What do you picture when you think of reigning in life? Someone that's reigning in life is someone that's living in victory, right?

Remember Paul said that even our tribulations do not separate us from this hope. The tribulations are just going to make us stronger and more complete. I want you to get a vision, my beloved friend, that you can reign in life. No matter what season of life you're in, that you can live in life as one that's reigning. Not that you won't have difficulties, but that you can have the mind of Christ and the supernatural impartation of the Holy Spirit at work in your life so that you can live above your circumstances and you can reign in life.

Dustin Roberts: It's really in contrast to death reigning in your life. Before the gift, before receiving it, death is reigning. You have no hope. We're like those who have no hope; there's no future. But reigning in life with Jesus means a whole different outlook on life. It's like a big contrast that we can live in victory and we can live in that hope and walk through life at a level of peace that without Christ, we wouldn't have.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Unless people believe they can reign in life, it's unlikely that they will reign in life because you're not going to rise higher than your vision. You've got to have a big vision. Jesus said, "If you believe, you'll see the glory of God." So I want to encourage you, my beloved friends, to believe what Jesus said through Paul the Apostle. You can reign in life.

We can experience the resurrection power through the Holy Spirit in us in every season of our life, lifting us up above every obstacle. This is why Paul wrote, "Neither height or death or any created thing can separate us from the love of God," and that we are more than conquerors through all these things. I don't think many Christians think this way. I think many Christians think that being a Christian is just to put on a smile and be a nice person. I'm looking to reign in life through Jesus Christ.

Dustin Roberts: Amen. This is exactly what victory in Christ should look like. We should be walking in authority, ruling and reigning in Christ every day, not letting the world control us, not letting random thoughts control us or the thoughts of the enemy. We should be walking around in victory.

It doesn't mean we have to pretend either. This is something we can't do by our own merit. It requires living in this faith and striving to enter into it, but the result is reigning in life.

Amen. Friends, you're listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider. We're going to continue our conversation in just a moment, but first a quick announcement.

God has given Rabbi a new vision for Israel. It kept on hitting him, Acts 2:22. Men of Israel, listen to these words. Face Israel, confront them and challenge them. Challenge Israel with the good news of Messiah Yeshua whom God raised from the dead. So our ministry at Discovering the Jewish Jesus has now launched into this new assignment.

Friends, we can't do it without you. We need your financial support to accomplish this calling. To evangelize on the ground in Israel. To reach them with the love of Messiah Yeshua. Will you stand with us? Give today at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com. And now let's continue our message, Rabbi.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: We're going to continue now. We're moving into Chapter 6. We've established this concept, this theological foundation of this free gift that we've received through the blood of Yeshua. We have peace with God, our sins are atoned for, and not only that, that through the power of God's Spirit in our life, we can arise and transcend and reign in life.

I really want you to grab a hold of that. We're not just here to survive; we're here to grow and to conquer, to enter into more and more freedom, to continue to get breakthrough in our spirit so that our heart can expand in the love of God, our mind can continue to take on thoughts of light that we truly are being transformed from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. We're getting stronger every day as we continue to receive Yeshua into our life through faith.

From here, I want to move on to the next subject that Paul begins to address. He begins to address the concept of if we are to walk now with complete confidence in our relationship with God all because of what Jesus did for us, can we also then still have this confidence if we practice sin? Dustin, read for me please Chapter 6 verse 1.

Dustin Roberts: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Paul answers, read that next verse for us.

Dustin Roberts: May it never be. How shall we who died in sin still live in it?

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: This theological question that Paul is raising here is very pertinent in theological circles, and it kind of is the dividing line between those that teach that once a person is saved, they're always saved, versus those that say you can't teach that because if you teach that, people would just continue to live loosely and not fear God and they'll live in sin.

Listen again. Paul says if we're to have this hope that we're saved by grace, what should we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? In other words, if the Lord looked down upon us and we were trapped in our sin, and He was moved in compassion when He saw us trapped in sin and as a result He came and saved us, Paul raises the question, should we then continue in sin that grace would increase? He says may it never be. How can you who died to sin still live in it?

The point is, even though we're building ourselves up now in confidence knowing that our sins are forgiven and we're covered in God's grace, this should not slip into some type of thinking that supposes that it doesn't matter what we do, that we can live any way we want to because Jesus's blood covers our sin.

Dustin Roberts: It's like going to church and then forgetting what you were taught and then going out Monday through Saturday and doing whatever you want and then coming back and saying I'm good now.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: The thing that's the faulty argument here of those that say well if we teach people that they can be confident in their salvation and they shouldn't be afraid of losing their salvation, they say the danger is that people will then return to sin. But the truth is that when you really have a revelation of God's love and what He's done for you, you're not going to have any desire to lead a life of sin.

In addition to this, with the revelation of God's grace, where we're in communion with God because His Holy Spirit is bringing revelation, what is also imparted to us is the holy fear of the Lord. Not the fear of the Lord that paralyzes us, but the fear of the Lord that recognizes as we study God's word that He disciplines every child that He receives.

If we willfully choose to sin against Him when we're in relationship with Him, we're going to be facing some hard chastisement that could really hurt and affect our lives. So Paul says may it never be. How can you continue to live in sin when you've been brought into relationship with God?

Dustin Roberts: And that is the danger if we choose to just ignore what God has done and just say oh we do whatever we want. If we really love God, Rabbi, you think about a partner in a relationship. You don't want to hurt your partner. If you love them, you don't want to do things that hurt them. If we're really in a relationship with God, if we're saved, we don't want to hurt the Lord.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It's knowing God in the spirit. Paul says if we're saved, can we sin that grace may continue to abound? May it never be, Paul says. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? And then he says this, "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of God the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."

The point is here, when we're in relationship with God, we came into this relationship by being baptized into Christ. When we were baptized into Messiah, we were baptized into His death. When we go down under the water at baptism, what we're symbolizing there is that that water that we go under has covered us, our old life has passed away. We come out of the water a brand-new creation to newness of life.

It's interesting also that the water that we go into when we were baptized is the same water that flowed into the Garden of Eden at creation. There's no new water in the world. All the water that's in the world has been here from the very beginning. Where did this water come from that was in the Garden of Eden? There was a river we read about in the book of Genesis that broke out into four rivers giving life to everything. That same water is the water that's in the world today.

Dustin Roberts: Rabbi, this makes me think about how God used that water to cleanse the earth with Noah. When Noah went into the ark, Noah went through the waters, the ark went through the waters, and what came out was righteous Noah, what God had preserved. And that's what baptism is. It's this symbol of going into the water and God washing away the old you and you saying I am a new man in Christ.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: That's beautiful, and that completely ties into what Paul is speaking about here, that we were baptized into Christ's death, went under the water, then we were raised out of the water into newness of life. Now get this one, this will bend some people's minds right now.

The water that we're referring to here that was from the very beginning, remember there's no new water, it's the same water that the earth was formed out of. We read in the book of Bereshit or Genesis once again in Chapter 1 verse number 9 as God is creating the world. "Then God said," Genesis 1:9, "let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear, and it was so."

Now in the very beginning all there was was the Spirit of the Lord at the beginning of Genesis 1 hovering over the surface of the deep. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.

We continue to read in Genesis 1 as God is creating the world, He then speaks to the water, gathers it together in one place and as He does, dry land appears. Here's the point: the dry land was birthed out of the water. The water is the womb of the world. So when we go into the water at Christian baptism, what we're actually doing is going back into the waters of creation. And even as the earth appeared out of the water at creation, when we come out of the water at Christian baptism, we come out of the water a brand-new creation.

Why would we go back to sinning when our sin has been covered, it's passed away, we've gone under the water, we're baptized into Christ's death, now we come out of the water a brand-new creation? Hey listen, if you love this teaching today, I really want to ask you, would you support us financially? Because without your financial support, beloved, I can't stay on radio.

The truth is everything we do, it all costs money. Without listeners that are being blessed and contributing, there's nothing we can do. I've got 50 people that are employees of this ministry, and we broadcast all over the world. We've only been able to do it for almost 20 years now because people like yourself that are being blessed and have goodness in their heart want to sow into God's kingdom by sowing into Discovering The Jewish Jesus because they want to continue to be blessed by our ministry and they believe it's a good ministry that they want others to be blessed from as well.

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Dustin Roberts: Amen, and thank you, Rabbi Schneider. And friends, if the Lord is calling you to give to Discovering the Jewish Jesus today, you can reach us at 800-777-7835 or give online by visiting us at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com. And you can also text us your donations. Just type the keyword "Give" to the phone number 88777.

Rabbi is serious about equipping believers to reach Jewish people. That passion is at the heart of our Israel Awakening initiative. Right now, we're in the middle of our most ambitious outreach to Israel yet. We're putting up strategic billboards across the Holy Land, digital advertising reaching thousands upon thousands, and also powerful media placement.

We're bringing the message of Yeshua to Jewish people in Israel like never before. And because of your partnership, our efforts are bringing fruit. Jewish people are discovering Jesus as Messiah. If you'd like to learn more about this initiative or how you can be a part of preparing the world for Jesus's return, I want to encourage you to visit DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com today and click on Israel Awakening. Your support makes all of this possible, so please give online or call us at 800-777-7835 or again text "Give" to the number 88777. Now here's Rabbi with the Aaronic Blessing.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: The words from the Aaronic Blessing in the book of Numbers Chapter 6 verses 22 through 27 help us to realize how good God is to you and I personally. So receive His blessing into your life and then, beloved one, go bless somebody else in Jesus' name today.

Yevarekhekha Adonai veyishmerekha. Ya'er Adonai panav elekha vikhunekha. Yissa Adonai panav elekha veyasem lekha shalom.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with His countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. God bless you and Shalom.

Dustin Roberts: This program is produced and sponsored by Discovering The Jewish Jesus, and I'm your host, Dustin Roberts. Be sure to come back next week when Rabbi Schneider shows us how our lives can reflect the likeness of Jesus' resurrection. That's Monday on Discovering The Jewish Jesus.