Rabbi Schneider - The Gospel, The Free Gift
So the gospel is that we were guilty, we were separated from God, but because of God's love for us, He demonstrated it by sending His Son. So Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us". That's the gospel now, okay? The gospel is your guilty, but God loves you. And if you repent He'll wipe away your sin and you'll have eternal life.
So Paul continues in Romans 10:9-10. He says, "...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord..." Now what does it mean to confess Jesus as Lord? You're not just saying that Jesus is Lord. You're saying, Jesus is my Lord. You're saying, Jesus, I am making you my lord. So how to be saved? We believe, number one, that God raised Jesus from the dead, that Jesus is who God's word says He is: That He is God's Son that the Father sent to die for our sins, shedding His blood on our behalf. We believe He is Lord, that He's been raised from the dead as a Father's right hand. We recognize that we're guilty but that Jesus died in our place. And we come to Him, we say, Jesus, forgive me, I'm a sinner, I receive you into my life. I believe that your death paid the debt for my sin. And I come to you now, and I thank you, and I am now confessing you, listen now, as my Lord, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord..."
It's not just saying, Oh, I believe that Jesus is Lord. The Bible says even the demons believe and tremble at that. But you're confessing Him as your Lord. Meaning that you're coming to Him to submit your life to him. That's why Jesus said in the Gospel to some of His hearers, "why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and then don't do the things that I say"? So how do we become into our salvation experience? How are we saved? By recognizing who Jesus is, what He's done, accepting Him as our Lord, and repenting, meaning we turn to Him to lead a brand new life, to follow Him. We're not saved by our works, but we must come to Jesus to receive eternal life. And coming to Him involves denying ourselves to say, "Father, I surrender to You. I'm going to live for you from now on". It's a changing of the heart. It's a changing of the mind. It's a changing of our attitude.
God's Holy Spirit in us doing the work, it's a free gift. But there must be a circumcision of the heart that gives us the evidence that we truly get it and we've truly received Jesus as our Savior. "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord," as your Lord and my Lord, subjecting our lives to Him by God's grace, "and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with", Romans 10:13, "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved". Here's the good news, my friends. It doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter what you've done. The blood of Jesus, His life given in your place, has more efficacy, it's more powerful than any sin you've ever gospel.
So some of you right now, you don't even realize it, but you're beginning to feel something even in this moment. You're beginning to allow yourself to feel your guilt. Many of us are experiencing deep guilt. But it's so painful and we're so uncomfortable with it that we won't even allow ourselves to feel it. But I want you to allow yourself to feel your guilt right now because God wants to forgive you and heal you of it. He wants you to know He loves you. But the first thing that has to happen is we need to recognize it, admit that we are guilty. Some of you have mistreated your children. Some of you have cheated on your spouses. Some of you have stolen, you've lied, you're cheated, you've cheated your employers. I mean, the list goes on and on. Just the selfish condition of humanity is sin and rebellion. All of it God forgives. All of it He forgives.
The good news of the Gospel, beloved, is that Jesus died for our sins. And if we will simply come to God... Remember Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. Okay? God loved you even when you were sitting against Him. He loved us even when we were hostile towards Him. That's how great His love is. That's the banner of love over our lives. God loved us even when we were broken and isolated from Him. He loved us even them. But we were separated. Despite His love, we were separated from Him. He wanted to bring us to Himself. That's why He sent Jesus. He loved us even when we were sinning and He wanted to save us from the consequences of our lifestyle of our sin, and even of our nature. So what did He do? He commanded His love towards us by sending His Son. He did something real and concrete. He manifested Himself in our reality, in our world, in the physical flesh and blood of His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, who lived as a man, depending on the Holy Spirit for 33 years, and then He went to the cross to be crucified to die in our to invite you just to turn your life over to Yeshua, over to Jesus right now if you've never done that. Just come to Him and say:
Jesus, I believe everything that Rabbi Schneider said that you are. I believe your word. Thank you for dying for my sins. I come to you right now and I give you my life. I receive you into my life as Lord. And I thank you for your gift of forgiveness. Jesus, thank you. I love you, and I give you today my heart.