Discovering The Jewish Jesus

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: If you are living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the spirit, you're putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Dustin Roberts: Welcome to Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider. I'm your host, Dustin Roberts, and today Rabbi and I are right here in the studio, exploring Paul's Epistle Season 2 on the book of Romans. And today we're going to be talking about what Christians look like.

A lot of people think Christians dress a certain way. They have to act a certain way. But we're going to find out today that's not what really makes someone a Christian, Rabbi.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: This is such an awesome study, Dustin. One of my favorite chapters actually in the word of God, Romans chapter 8. There are so many themes here that Paul covers that are so applicable to all God's people, but personally for me, these super impact me.

We were last time in verse number 9 of chapter 8, where Paul was speaking about the fact that if the spirit of God dwells in you, you're not in the flesh, but in the spirit. We're going to move forward now, Dustin, we're going to look at verse number 10.

"If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin." Paul just got done saying, remember, Dustin, that sin dwelt in his body, and he found himself wanting to do one thing, but because sin dwelt in his body, he found himself struggling with sin, whether it was lusting, coveting, jealousy, ill will towards somebody.

This nature that he had in his body, Paul was struggling with, but he's found that if he could find the spirit in him, and find his hope in Christ, he'd be able to overcome this sinful nature in his body.

Dustin Roberts: Yeah, absolutely. There's something that takes place when Christ comes and lives inside of us. It gives us this power that we wouldn't have without it.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Notice that it's about power. It's not about looking a certain way. A lot of times people think of Christians, and they think of them perhaps as having a particular political agenda, or they think of Christians as people that dress a certain way or behave a certain way. And of course, there are some unique characteristics of God's people.

But at the end of the day, the way that the Lord determines whether someone's a Christian or not has much to do, almost everything to do with whether God's spirit is living in them.

So Paul says, "If Christ is in you in verse 10, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who dwells in you."

It's all about the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, living in us, and empowering us, through which now we can live a victorious life. And this is what Paul is getting at. He's talking about the problem of sin. He's talking about his struggle with it, and then he finds his answer in the reality that the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lived in him, and that's where his hope was.

Dustin Roberts: Yeah, and this is exactly what Jesus was saying when he left his disciples. He's like, "I'm not going to leave you alone. It's important for you that I go away and I send the promise of the Father." He was exactly talking about this, "The spirit that raised me from the dead. I'm going to send that same spirit. He's going to live inside you, and it's going to give you power to be and live out this life of Christianity."

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Yeah, I remember in my life many years ago, and I was saying to the Lord, "What should I be praying about?" And I've been striving in prayer for so long. I had tried so many methods of prayer, and so many hours of prayer I was praying every day, and the Lord spoke to me. I just heard it in my inner spirit, and he said to me, "I want you to stop asking me for everything but one thing. And that is that I would give you the revelation that my spirit is in you."

Dustin Roberts: What happened after that, Rabbi? So you started asking, what happened?

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: What happened? There was a total empowerment that came on my life. From that day forward, there was a new power on my life.

Dustin Roberts: Wow. What are some of the things you noticed? Was it the way you thought? Was it the way you lived?

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I think first of all, I would say that I just felt a new energy. I felt a new anticipation. I felt a new reality of God's presence with me. Let's take a look at the text here because there's something else that I want to point out here that gets to this really fundamental reality.

You know, listen, there are a lot of people, Dustin, that are listening right now. But many that are listening right now have never seriously meditated on the fact that God's spirit lives, literally. It's a scientific spiritual reality is inside them.

A lot of times when people talk about this, it's like, "Yeah, I agree with that mentally." But few have really ascertained it in a way that they know it.

So Paul says here in verse 11, "But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you," this is a reality. This is not just a doctrine. "If the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit, who dwells in you."

This is a true empowerment that even touches our very cells, our physical body. I can see sometimes when people are experiencing the presence of God in their life because they physically look different. This is what Paul is saying. His spirit that dwells in you will give life to your mortal body.

Have you ever noticed the difference in somebody's physical countenance? They look like a totally different person when they're praising God, when they're with God's people. They look totally beautiful. But when you see them when they're disconnected from God in the sense of fellowship with him, their face looks all droopy, you see the bags under their eyes. It's like you're looking at two different people.

Dustin Roberts: It's absolutely different. It's all based upon the mindset of they're connected or they're not connected. And when you're connected, your identity changes. That's why I was saying there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ just in the last episode. Your mindset, the way you walk through life, the countenance you walk in, it changes when you know you're in Christ.

And that's like the challenge. I love what you're saying, to be aware that Christ is in you. He's not like coming to visit and leaving when we sin, and then he's like, "Oh, I'll visit today again now." He's inside us every day, every moment once we accept him. That's what Paul's trying to help us understand here.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: That's a very good word, Dustin. I love what you just said. It's not like the Holy Spirit leaves if we sin. We have to be confident of God's love for us even if we sin.

Now some people might take this as an excuse that I'm saying that people should be free to sin. That's not what I'm saying. Paul goes into all this. "Should we therefore then sin that grace may abound?" Paul says, "Absolutely not." But on the other hand, when we're truly trying to grow in grace and to love God, we need to have the confidence that even when we fall, God is still with us. He still loves us. He's still right here wanting to help us overcome that thing.

Now again, if a person has the attitude, "Well, since God forgives me, I'm just going to sin," this is not thinking of one whose mind has been redeemed and enlightened.

I just want to again accent what you just said, that beloved friends, we need to understand that Jesus is in us and with us every second, and he never will leave us or forsake us. His love is real, it's constant, and it's unconditional.

Dustin Roberts: We don't stop being God's sons and daughters just because we sin. We're adopted into the family.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Exactly. Now, think about this because the next thing that Paul says here is this. "If you are living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the spirit, you're putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

So again, what is happening here? Paul is talking to people that truly love God. They're trying to live for God, but they find themselves disconnected at times and sinning. But they're not living a lifestyle of sin. They're not living in habitual sin, but they're on the journey.

Paul wants these people to know, "God loves you. He hasn't forsaken you. He understands that you're flesh. He understands that there's evil in your body. He's with you still. He loves you. He's still empowering you, helping you to overcome, but this does not give you an excuse to practice sin because he says here, 'For if you're living according to the flesh, you must die.' But if you live by the spirit and you're putting to death the deeds of the body, you'll live."

Dustin Roberts: I love that. That's exactly what he's saying. "If by the spirit, by the power that's inside you, you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." In other words, if you're using that to overcome and to fight against that, you're exactly walking in what Paul is saying we should be walking in here, and that's what produces life and sanctification.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Amen. Now notice this, Dustin. You and I, we're doing a Bible study in the written word of God. But notice, as we're in the word of God, Paul's not talking here about the word of God. He's talking about the spirit of God.

Dustin Roberts: Uh-huh.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Why am I saying this? Because a lot of those that perhaps are even listening to us right now, they're all focused on the word of God, but they have little understanding or appreciation of the spirit of God. We need both the word and the spirit. And if you have just the word without the spirit, you're going to be a pretty bankrupt Christian. But if you think you can just go with the spirit without the word, you're going to go astray.

Dustin Roberts: I hope you're enjoying this message today. We're going to learn more about walking in the spirit right after this. Thanks for tuning in to Discovering the Jewish Jesus. And in the meantime, I want to ask you a question. Did you know that you can explore content just like this on our website? Just visit DiscoveringtheJewishJesus.com and there you'll have access to a treasure trove of resources like articles and videos, and even custom study notes on messages that are tailored to deepen your spiritual journey.

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Rabbi K.A. Schneider: You know, Dustin, the spirit is the third person of the Trinity, right? In the very beginning, what do we have? We have the spirit of the Lord moving over the surface of the deep, over the waters. The spirit of the Lord is so important, but there are many believers that truly love God. They've never really been taught about the spirit of God. They don't understand the spirit of God is a present reality that we can even have fellowship.

The scriptures speak about the fellowship that we have with the Holy Spirit. I want to encourage our beloved listeners today, open yourself up to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life. He's a real person, and he's with you.

Notice the next thing Paul says here in Romans 8 verse 14, "For all who are being led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God." So again, I'm all about the word of God. But you know what? I know that if I'm going to have a vital relationship with the Lord, I need to be in fellowship with him through his spirit.

Dustin Roberts: That's so good because we go to church, we do read the word, and we pray. And oftentimes when we pray, it feels like this external thing. We're like, we're way down here and God is way up in the sky somewhere in the universe, and we feel like he's so far away. But what you're saying is he's not really far away, he's actually inside of us.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Yeah, isn't that what Paul said over and over again? He said, "If the spirit dwells in you."

I want to encourage our listeners today, Dustin, to ask God to give you revelation that his spirit was in you. That revelation changed my life. And what spirit is in you? The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. And this spirit that we've received, it's a spirit that frees you and brings you into the revelation that you're a child of Father God, that you actually begin to think of God as your daddy.

So listen what Paul says next, Dustin. If you'd read verse the 15th.

Dustin Roberts: "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out Abba Father."

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Wow. What jumps off that verse when you read that? What jumps off the page to you? What comes to you?

Dustin Roberts: Well, when I hear this, it says, "You've not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again." What that tells me is, I don't need to live in fear of messing up with God. In other words, I still got to mess up and we need to have fear, but God's our Father. My kids don't fear me when they mess up, like, "Oh, Dad's going to beat me." No, they know I might discipline them, but they're not in slavery to me. They feel free with me. And that's what I hear here, that I can look to him as a father and have genuine close relationship with him.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Yeah, it's really interesting when we speak about this concept of being confident in God's love for us, that we've been freed from fear through the knowledge of God's love for us, even if we find ourselves falling short and sinning and struggling, and even if we feel like we're backsliding a bit, we keep reaching out to God, knowing that he's with us. He will continually deliver us and bring us from one level of glory to the next. We have that confidence that he'll never leave us or forsake us, that his love is unconditional, that it sticks and that it's stuck.

But on the other hand, that is not in contrast to having the holy fear of God. They're really two different things because having the holy fear of God, that doesn't put somebody in slavery. The fear of the Lord is clean and it converts the soul. So somehow we have to understand that although these concepts sound like we're talking about the same thing, they're really two different things.

In fact, the fear of the Lord, the Bible says, the spirit of the fear of the Lord was on Jesus, but Jesus wasn't a slave to fear.

Dustin Roberts: No, not at all.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: In fact, when we fear the Lord alone, we get delivered from every other fear.

Dustin Roberts: Amen.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It's really interesting.

Dustin Roberts: Amen.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Jesus said, "Don't fear a man that can kill the body and then do nothing more, but fear him that's able to destroy both soul and body in hell." So we have that holy fear of the Lord, that we're afraid to practice a lifestyle of sin, knowing we'll go to hell. But on the other hand, we have that confidence in his love that we're his. And because we're his and we know he loves us, we're going to love him back.

And as we're on this journey towards perfection, we don't feel that he leaves us or forsakes us when we fall.

Dustin Roberts: Amen. I'm loving this message, Rabbi. It's a mind-shift change to really not think about God as out there, but to think about God as internal. This is really sitting heavy with me today. I feel like this is so good, and if we, as the body of Christ, can just connect with God inside of ourselves, what that can do for us and how the confidence, hope, that peace that we talked about in Romans that we can walk in, that's where it comes from.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Yeah. You know, Paul said, he said, "The Lord is not so far away that he's in heaven, that you got to go to heaven to reach him. And he's not so far below that you got to go to the bottom of the ocean to find him, but he's here. He's now. He's inside you. He's like the air that we breathe. He is right here right now." He's all around us and he's in us. And I think that all of us should be praying for a revelation of this reality because this is the truth that sets us free.

Dustin Roberts: Yeah, it makes me just want to meditate and allow my spirit to connect with his spirit. And you know, it says verse 16, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God." There's this connection, this talking happening.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Yeah, that we are the children of God. The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God. Paul actually addresses this in the 15th verse. He says, "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out Abba, which is daddy in Aramaic, Father, or in Hebrew."

I actually heard the Lord speak to me one time, and he called me "little buddy."

Dustin Roberts: That's awesome.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It melted my heart.

Dustin Roberts: That's awesome. I love that.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It was like I obeyed him in something, and I asked him what he wanted me to do about something, and I truly submitted my heart to the Lord, and I literally heard him say to me, "Little buddy."

Dustin Roberts: I love that. He could have, he could have said all sorts of things to you, like, "Do this, do that." And I love what he's ultimately doing is affirming a relationship with you.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Yeah, because I felt like it was time. But I'm just thinking about this word here. We call him Abba, Daddy. And I actually heard him relate to me as my daddy when he called me "little buddy."

Dustin Roberts: Wow, how special. Wow, how special.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Now listen to this. Again, the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God. "And if children, heirs also. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." In other words, we're not just like that old song that people love to sing, "Such a worm as I." I mean, that's a great song, and many of the verses are great words. But it just makes it seem like, you know, that we're such pitiful things.

But I don't think Jesus came to die and shed his blood seeing us just as these pitiful things. He redeemed us from being pitiful things. But that's not how he sees us. He sees us as his children.

Dustin Roberts: Yeah, and it seems in church can sometimes get off balance. They go really far one way of saying that, "I'm, like what you're saying, this wretch like me." And then they go to the other extreme, say, "I'm an heir with Christ. I can have whatever I say." And there's this imbalance. But really, Paul here is so balanced back and forth. He's like, "Old wretched man that I am." And then here he's saying here, "I'm an heir with Christ." There is this healthy balance of us understanding and walking with God in who we are, sons and daughters. And I love how he builds on it, what you just said. Now, we're heirs of Christ. And we need to not throw that part out. We need to receive that and walk as a true son in that confidence that he is with us. He's got our back. He's standing here with us, and we're not on our own.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: We need to have confidence. We need to stand up in the Lord and confidently affirm that we are his children, that we are loved, that he's our daddy, that we're heirs with Christ, that our destiny is to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

Because unless we stand up strong and have a boldness as to who we are in Christ, through his blood and by his grace, and now we affirm who we are in him, children and heirs, we won't be able to overcome the accusations of the devil.

We're going to pick this up, Dustin, in times to come here. Those of you that are listening today, I pray that this was holy medicine for you, that it brought you comfort, helped you to love yourself in the Lord and accept yourself in the Lord, know that God's love for you is unconditional. It's all about his love, beloved ones.

I want to ask you today, if you've been blessed, if you're being fed, would you look up to the Lord and see if you feel the Holy Spirit nudging you, leading you to make a financial contribution to this ministry? Because the truth is, as I always say, everything we do costs money. That is the truth. I wouldn't be able to be on radio or podcast or television or go to Africa where we're launching a campaign for Jewish Jews in Israel. All these things cost money.

And without you, beloved children of God, that are being fed and blessed through this ministry, who feel God's love through this ministry, without you supporting it financially, we can't do what we do. So let's not muzzle the ox's mouth. I ask you today, would you make a contribution out of your finances, out of your resources, to Discovering The Jewish Jesus? You'll be blessed by being obedient if you feel the Holy Spirit leading you to do this, and it will equip us to continue to preach the gospel, to reach the ends of the Earth, and you'll share in the reward of that which is being wrought, the fruit that's being wrought through Discovering The Jewish Jesus, because you, beloved one, made it possible for us to do it.

Dustin Roberts: Amen. Thank you, Rabbi. And friends, if the Lord is calling you to give to Discovering the Jewish Jesus today, you can give in several convenient ways. First, reach us at 800-777-7835. Or second, give us a visit online at DiscoveringtheJewishJesus.com. You can also text your donation to us. Just type the keyword "give" to the phone number 88777.

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Now here's Rabbi with God's special and sacred blessing.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: In the book of Numbers chapter 6, the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over his people. And the Lord said, "When you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them." Receive the impartations of the Lord's blessings.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: 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. Join us tomorrow, and Rabbi Schneider explains the way of the Father and who he really is to you. That's coming up Thursday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.