Rabbi Schneider - Help Bring Salvation to Israel
I began in Romans chapter 9 as I described the urgent prophetic anointing that Paul had to reach Jewish people. I'm continuing today now with Romans 10. 1. Brethren, Paul says, "My heart's desire and my prayer to God for them," speaking of Israel, "is for their salvation. I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge".
Now, notice what Paul said there. He said, "I testify..." They have a zeal for God but not in accordance with knowledge. And this should speak to many of us. Because many Christians are enamored with the Orthodox Jewish zeal for God. It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. We have much to learn from it. But notice what Paul did. He separated the zeal from knowledge. Some Christian people get so enamored with Judaism and with Jewish people that they don't understand the necessity of sharing with Jewish people the Gospel. They think to themselves, "Who am I as a Gentile to witness to the Jewish people? They're God's chosen people".
And look at their zeal and look at their commitment. Who am I to witness to them? But below that mindset is not biblical and it's not kingdom-oriented. Paul bore them witness concerning their zeal. But he said that their zeal, as sincere as it might have been, was not in accordance with knowledge. "For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes". In other words, Jesus is the end. He's the purpose to which the law aims. That righteousness cannot be achieved through keeping the law. Because in order to be justified through keeping the law, you have to keep the law perfectly, which no one's been able to do.
And so continues, "For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on the law shall live by that righteousness. But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows..." So Paul is contrasting the righteousness that comes through the law versus the righteousness that comes from being brought into a right relationship with God on the basis of faith. So Paul says, "But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: 'Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down), or 'Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).' What does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart'-that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Messiah, or as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved".
Paul is saying here there's a difference between the religious zeal of Orthodox Judaism, which is beautiful and precious and passionate, but it doesn't lead to true righteousness, because in order to have righteousness based on the law, you have to keep law perfectly, which no one can do. So Paul says, The message that I'm bringing is a righteousness that comes by faith, by putting our faith in the one that perfectly kept the law, and then offered Himself as an atonement on our behalf. That if we put our faith in Him, His righteousness becomes our righteousness, and His blood covers our sin. So this is the message that we are bringing to Jewish people, beloved, and Christian people cannot shrink away because they're intimidated from sharing the gospel, the good news of Messiah, with Jewish people.
In fact, if you really dig into this, you'll find that in Hasidic Judaism, which is a more mystical form of Orthodox Judaism, they actually believe in this concept of atonement taking place when a righteous one dies in the place of the guilty. Now, continuing on this theme in the book of Romans, we're gonna go to the next chapter. We're gonna go to chapter 11. Listen to what Paul says in chapter 11, verse 1. Paul says, "I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He"? He said, "May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin".
So Paul is saying, "God has not rejected Israel. I'm a Jew. God hasn't rejected me". What Paul's gonna do is he's gonna go on to talk about remnant theology. And he's gonna use the example of Elijah. And he's gonna say that Elijah thought he was the only Israelite that was a believer. He said, "Lord, I'm the only one". And the Lord said, "No, Elijah, I've reserved for myself 7,000 that have not bowed to the knee of Baal". And so Paul's gonna make the point that even though Israel in large has rejected Yeshua, there is a remnant of Jews that believe in Him, and that will come to faith in Him, just as there was a remnant of Israel that believed in the one true God of Israel in the days of Elijah.
So Paul says here concerning Israel, "In the same way then..." Comparing present-day Israel, and this concept of reaching the remnant, Paul compares that to the days of Elijah. So he says in verse 5, "In the same way then, there's also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice". So what we are doing, Church, is not being under an illusion that all Israel will come to faith, but rather we know that there's a remnant of Israel, there's a remnant of Jewish people that will come to faith. And this is what we're focused on: preaching the gospel, knowing that a remnant will respond and come to faith. And by the way, the Lord is using Discovering the Jewish Jesus to reach that chosen Jewish remnant that are living both in Israel and in the United States, and in fact scattered all over the world. It's critical that we take this to heart.
Many people are only taking a hold of what some has termed the prosperity gospel. In other words, they're in the gospel for what God can do for them. But the gospel transcends what God can do for you and I. We need to come into agreement with God and be like Jesus had said: when you pray, pray in this way, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. So we're praying, first of all, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So what we're praying for is for the kingdom of God to be established in the earth. And that is not going to fully happen until there's a critical mass, a chosen remnant of Jewish people that have come to faith in the Messiah. And when that happens, beloved, the plan of redemption will be complete and Jesus will return.
Paul speaks about this later on in the book of Romans, that the Deliverer will come forth from Zion and will remove ungodliness from Jacob. "This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins". And so he's saying the Deliverer is going to come out of Israel when the Lord takes away Israel's sin, when a critical remnant have come to believe in him. And then Paul goes on to say that even though many of Israel are not believing right now, the plan of God upon their lives is irrevocable. And God's plan, beloved, is to use the church, to use you and I to bring the gospel to these first covenant, and dearly beloved, Jewish people who now more desperately than ever need to hear and are open to the good news of Messiah Yeshua.
Many of us realize that there is no hope right now in the planet, that we're not going to be able to stop war. Deception and delusion is at an all-time high and many people, including those in Israel and those Jewish people that are scattered all over the globe, they realize that. They are ripe now for the harvest. Yeshua said the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. God wants to use you and I to reach Jewish people. I want to challenge you today to be bold about sharing your faith with Jewish people that you come into contact with. Just sharing your love of Yeshua with them, your love of Jesus with them. And building a point of contact with them by letting them know that you love Jewish people and stand with Israel. And then I want to encourage you today to support Jewish ministries that God has given a platform to, to reach his first covenant people all over the globe. Beloved, the Lord wants to use you and I to do that.