Rabbi Schneider - Predestination
In last week's broadcast, I laid the foundation for this study by talking about the Hebraic foundation beloved, of the Book of Ephesians. I did that by showing you that Paul, beloved, was an Israelite, educated under the leading sage of his day, Gamaliel. Born beloved, the, born from the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day. At the end of Paul's life, I pointed out, he still considered himself a Pharisee and believed beloved, that he was worshipping God the same way his fathers had worshipped God. That he was simply beloved, on trial he said, for the resurrection of the dead. Paul saw himself as very Jewish, and he saw his message as very Jewish, and so I wanna encourage you to get that entire teaching, cause it will really help you to understand Ephesians from Paul's perspective, from a Jewish prospective.
Last week beloved, I began and I talked about verse number 2. Let me read verse 2 for you, it says this: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Yeshua HaMashiach. I want you to know, those of you that are listening right now, that's God's heart to you, listen: Paul says grace to you and peace to you from God our Father and from Yeshua HaMashiach; that's how God feels about you beloved, grace towards you and peace towards you through Yeshua. You don't have to be afraid of him beloved. He's coming right now to you as your watching, as your friend. Jesus died for your sin, and now God is reaching out to you, he's looking past your sin, because Jesus died for it, and he's coming to you in love, and he's coming to you in friendship, and he's coming to you in fellowship, and he's coming into your room right now and he's saying: grace to you and peace, do not be afraid, I love you.
And so Paul begins by putting God's people at ease so they can receive from the heart of God. Some of you are having a hard time receiving from the Lord, because you think God's mad at you, you think God's rejected you, you think God doesn't love you, you feel condemned. But beloved, the devil is the accuser of the brethren. If you have truly turned your life over to Jesus, if you've repented and are in the process of repenting; and what I mean by that beloved, we don't become perfect at once. Paul said, not that he'd attained or that he had become perfect, but that he kept on pressing on. If you're truly seeking to love the Lord, if you're truly seeking to live for the Lord, if you're really seeking him, if you're heart is crying out to him: God, I wanna be right with you, I wanna live for you, I don't wanna sin against you. If you're tramped in a sin saying God, deliver me, deliver me, deliver me; you're crying out to him day and night to deliver you.
I want you to know beloved, God loves you and he's saying to you, grace to you my child and peace to you. And he's at work in your life beloved, both to will and to do according to his own good pleasure. Every one of Paul's letters begins the same way: Grace to you, and peace to you from God our Father and from Yeshua HaMashiach. Just be at peace, God's with you, God's there for you, God loves you, and God wants to be with you.
Paul continues on and he says in verse number 3: Blessed be the God and Father of Yeshua HaMashiach. And we begin our Hebrew prayers by saying: Baruch Ata Adonai Eloheinu, Melech Ha-Olam, which means Blessed art Thou O Lord, our God. Baruch Ata Adonai Eloheinu, Melech Ha-Olam, Blessed art Thou O Lord, our God, King of the Universe. This is what Paul was doing here: Blessed be the God and Father of Yeshua HaMashiach, it's a very Jewish blessing. Even as we begin the prayer, Baruch Ata Adonai, Blessed art Thou O Lord, what's Paul doing? He's saying Blessed art, blessed be the God and Father of Yeshua, the Messiah. So he's beginning the Book of Ephesians beloved, in a very traditional Jewish way. He continues on there and he says: Blessed be the God and Father of Yeshua HaMashiach, and get this now, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. First he says of the Lord, that he's blessed; he says blessed be the God and Father.
So but first of all he's saying that God is the Blessed One, God is the Blessed One. in other words, he is the one that is blessed and so Paul was giving back to him that praise, blessed, because God's the only Blessed One. And if you and I wanna be blest, we have to be blest from the one that has the power to bless us, and that is the Blessed One, the God and Father of Yeshua HaMashiach. So with that in mind, let me read it again. Paul said: Blessed be the God and Father of Yeshua HaMashiach, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah. And so we're gonna see that we've been raised with Messiah and seated with him in heavenly places. Listen: the Scripture tells us to seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else will be added unto us. In other words, the Father is saying if you seek me first, the Blessed One, if you seek first the one that has the power to bless you, he's gonna bless you, cause he's the rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
Now beloved, the blessing may not come to you in the way you think it's gonna come. Some people are looking to become you know, really wealthy, but you know what? God hasn't called us to a mountain of money, he's called us to Mount Sinai, he's called us beloved, to himself. You'll be blessed though beyond your wildest belief beloved, when you're blessed by the Blessed One. You might not experience it fully in this world, none of us will, but beloved, the Bible tells us: Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and neither has it ever even entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those that love him. So listen to this again: Blessed be the God and Father, Baruch Ata Adonai Eloheinu, Melech Ha-Olam, blessed be the God and Father of Yeshua HaMashiach, who has blessed us beloved, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
What type of a blessing do we have? A spiritual blessing, but beloved, some people are looking to the Lord not for a spiritual blessing; they're looking to the Lord beloved, for worldly blessings. Listen: don't use God to fulfill the American dream. Seek God beloved, for his own presence. He said to Abraham, I am your exceedingly great reward, and so the blessing that we have beloved, it's a heavenly blessing, it's a spiritual blessing, it's love, it's power, it's joy, it's peace, it's self control, it's being in victory in the spiritual realm. And beloved, we have these things, and it's going to become more evident to you as we proceed through this study in the Book of Ephesians. I'm continuing on now in the 4th verse: Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Let me read the verses together now: Blessed be the God and Father of Yeshua HaMashiach, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah.
Get this now, just as he chose us, get it now, who did he choose? If you know him beloved, if you love him, who did he choose? He chose, listen now, you. Listen: God chose you. Let me say it again, God, let me say it again, God chose you. Just as he chose us in him, verse 4, before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. Do you know what an awesome blessing that is Yedidim, beloved ones, to understand that God chose you? Listen: you didn't choose him, he chose you. Jesus said you did not choose me, but I chose you. Jesus also said if you were of the world, the world would love you, but because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. You need to understand beloved, that God chose you. You didn't choose him. It wasn't your initiative, beloved, that brought you into a salvation experience; it was God's initiative, first by sending his Son, but then by drawing you to himself through the Holy Spirit beloved, and through divine providence.
When you understand that God chose you before the foundation of the world to be his; beloved, that will revolutionize your life and it will become the foundation of much of your Christian doctrine. Listen what Paul said: Blessed be the God and Father of Yeshua HaMashiach, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, listen now, just as he chose you, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Now you may say to yourself, well he chose me, but, but I chose him. No, he chose you. Jesus specifically said you did not choose me. Did you know that Jesus said that? Look at the Scripture reference on the bottom of your screen and look it up. Jesus said you did not choose me, but I chose you. You did not choose him; he chose you, hallelujah and Amen. And when did he choose you beloved? Before the foundation of the world; not by deeds of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy.
Let's continue on. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. Listen to the next verse now, Ephesians 1:5, listen to this: He chose you, now verse 5 says: He predestinated us to adoption as sons through Yeshua HaMashiach, to himself according to the kind intention of his will. Now sometimes when you bring up predestination; people say I don't believe in predestination. Let me tell you, if you accept the Bible, you believe in predestination, cause predestination is in the Bible. Get your Bible out beloved, and look at Ephesians chapter 1 verse number 5. And this is not the only place that the Holy Spirit speaks about predestination in the Bible. Read it for yourself, Ephesians 1:5: He predestinated us adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. Paul said he chose you in him before the foundation of the world, and he predestinated you to adoption as a son; isn't that an awesome thing?
That is something beloved, to get excited about, when you realize your salvation rest in God. You didn't contribute anything to it; God saved you. You had to yield beloved, but man is made willing in the day of God's power. See the Bible tells us we're gonna see in a second that we were dead in our transgressions and sins. We didn't have the ability to respond spiritual, but God saved you beloved. He made you alive in Messiah through a sovereign act of his will, and if you'll bear with me on this, and stick with me on this over the next several weeks; I think you'll find beloved, you'll find it so powerful and so anointed, and if you'll receive it, it will bless you. Because when you know that God chose you beloved, when you know that it wasn't you that chose him, but that it was he that chose you; I'm telling you, that will give you such a love for God, that will give you such a zeal for God, that'll make you so excited about being Jesus' beloved, and you'll be willing to bear the reproach of being rejected when you witness for him, because you'll know what a privilege it is beloved, to be chosen by him.
And Jesus said if you were chosen by me, he said you're gonna bear the same thing that I bore. Jesus said if you were of the world, the world would love you, but because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. We lift up the name of Jesus today, hallelujah and Amen. I'm gonna read that verse again: He predestinated us to adoption.
Now let's think about that word "predestinated". Of course the meaning of the word is fairly obvious; it means that God determined our destination in advance. He chose us before the foundation of the world and then he determined beloved, what our destiny was in advance. And the destiny that he predetermined beloved, is that we would be his. He predestinated us, Ephesians 1:5, to adoption as sons. So get it now: he chose you before you were born, and he predetermined beloved that he's gonna adopt you as his son. Now some people say well the reason that the Lord chose me, was because he knew that I would choose him. But beloved, that negates the Scriptures, that's not what Paul was saying.
In fact if we go to the Book of Romans now, chapter number 8, I wanna show you a Scripture that many people will use to try to refute what I'm teaching here. Romans chapter number 8; beloved, the early reformers believed this beloved, the reformers of the Protestant Reformation, they taught this: They believed that when man started getting prideful in his own accomplishments, he began to want to put himself in control of his own destiny, and so he began to reject that which is clearly revealed in Scripture.
Now I'm teaching that God chose us in him before the foundation of the world; I just got done reading the Scripture. I didn't say it, the Scripture said it; and that he predestinated us to adoption as sons. I didn't say it, the Scripture said it. But some people will say the reason that he chose me was because he foreknew that I would choose him, and because for, God foreknew they say that I, that I would choose him, he chose me. Making God's choice of them determined by their choice of him. But remember, Jesus said you did not choose him, but I chose you. Now let me tell you where people get this concept from that they were chosen by God, because they choose him first, and because God knew in advance that they would choose him, that God chose them. In other words that God's choice of them was determined by their choice of him.
Let me read the Scripture that they used to get this, this concept from. I'm reading from the Book of Romans chapter number 8 beginning in verse number 29: For whom they foreknew, and this is where they get it from, the word "foreknew". They say God foreknew that I would choose em, and because God foreknew that I would choose him, they say he chose me and this is where they get it from. From for whom he foreknew, he also predestinated, there's that word "predestinate" again. Remember, you can't say the Rabbi's teaching predestination and turn me off, because beloved, I'm just reading what the Bible says, the Bible uses the word "predestination", the Bible uses the word "choosing", so don't reject, because if you reject me beloved, I'm just reading what the Word of God says to you. Here we go again, verse 29 Romans chapter 8: For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to become conformed to the image of a Son; there's that same language again, predestinated to become conformed to the image of his Son.
Ephesians predestinated, right, to the adoption of sons. For whom he foreknew, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren, at whom he predestinated these he called, whom he called, he justified, whom he justified, he glorified. But here's what you need to understand: when Paul says here, whom he foreknew, whom he foreknew, he predestinated, Romans 8:29. Paul's not saying he foreknew that we would choose him; Paul's saying he foreknew us. There's a big difference. Paul's not saying God foreknew that you would choose him, that's not what the Scripture says at all there in Romans 8:29, rather what Paul is saying is God foreknew you, he fore loved you. He loved you and chose you before the foundation of the world, he foreknew you before the foundation of the world and already planned it in advance that you were gonna be an object beloved, of his mercy, that he was gonna adopt and bring to himself as a son.
And so you see this concept that God choose us, cause he foreknew that we would choose him. The Bible doesn't teach that, not at all. The Bible doesn't teach that God chooses one over another, because he would know what they would do; rather, the Bible teaches that God is sovereign beloved, and he does what he wants to do. That's why Paul says in Romans 9: you will say to me then, there must be injustice with God if God chooses some. But Paul answers back, who are you old man that answers back to God; doesn't the potter have the right over the clay to make from the same lump, one vessel for honor and one for dishonor? And Paul teaches this very, very strongly, so let me back up again. We're in the Book of Ephesians; we're in the very beginning of the Book of Ephesians. Paul begins his book by blessing the Father, Baruch Ata Adonai. And then he speaks about how God the Father, the Blessed One, the one that has the power to bless; that he has blessed us, those that are his, he's writing to believers, he's writing to the church in Ephesus that the Blessed One has chosen us before the foundation of the world and that he predestinated us to adoption as sons.
Now as we look at the words of Jesus, what is very plain is that Jesus did not choose everybody. Jesus, for example, in John chapter 6, began to talk about his life, and he, and he began to talk about who he was, and they began to grumble against him. And Jesus said: Don't grumble among yourself, no one can come to me, Jesus said, unless it's been granted from the Father. So as we turn to the gospel of John chapter 6, we read these words, Jesus said in verse 35: I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe. But then he says in verse 37: All that the Father gives me, shall come to me. What did Paul say in Ephesians chapter 1? Blessed be the God and Father of Yeshua HaMashiach that has blessed us and chose us before the foundation of the world.
Now in John 6 verse 37, Jesus said: All that the Father gives me shall come to me. So there were these that were grumbling against him, these that were rejecting em. Jesus said you know, I know that you don't believe, but then he said in verse 37: But all that the Father gives me, shall come to me, and the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. He continues in verse 39: And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing. In John 10, Jesus said to those that were not believing: You believe not he said, because you're not my sheep. But Jesus said I know my sheep, my Father has given them to me.
Now some of you might not like this, but I challenge you to order the teaching, and look up the Scripture references that I'm sharing with you, for yourself, because all I'm doing is I'm sharing what Jesus said. Jesus continues in John chapter 6, they're not believing in him; they were saying: Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say I've come down out of heaven? Jesus answered, listen, Jesus answered: do not grumble among yourselves; no one can come to me unless it has been granted from the Father, unless my Father draws them. Jesus says in verse 43: Do not grumble among yourselves, no one can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him. He continues on and he begins to say you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood, and this was too much; they couldn't handle it anymore. So I'm reading now in verse number 54. Yeshua says: He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. And then he continues on, and these things he said in verse number 59, in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum.
Once again, notice the Jewish thing, where is he teaching this? He's teaching this in the synagogue in Capernaum, very Jewish. These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, when they heard him saying, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood; they couldn't handle it, it sounded like grotesque to them, it was unkosher. So it says in verse 60: Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this said, this is a difficult statement; who can listen to it? Jesus, in verse 61: But Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled said to em, does this cause you to stumble? And then he said what if you should behold, I'm just gonna skip that and get right to the point. Jesus said this: But there are some of you, in verse number 64, who do not believe. And in verse 65 he says this: For this reason I said to you, that no one can come to me unless it has been granted from the Father.
So Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1: Blessed be the God and Father of Yeshua HaMashiach, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world and predestinated us to adoption. You know when John 17 beloved, when Jesus is praying what we call: the high priestly prayer, listen what Jesus said in verse number 6, Jesus said, I manifest, and he's speaking to the Father. He said I manifested thy name to the men who now gave me out of the world. So Jesus manifested himself to the ones that Father gave him; he didn't manifest himself to everybody. Jesus said: I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, that you revealed these to the babes, but hid em from the wise and prudent. So Jesus said, I manifested thy name to the men whom now gave me out of the world. And in verse number 9 of John 17, listen to this striking statement. Jesus said: I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom thou has given me.
Beloved, if you know Jesus, it's because he chose you before the foundation of the world. He pre-loved you beloved, and he planned in advance that he was gonna save you and bring you to himself. Your salvation beloved, rests on the solid anchor and the solid foundation of the sovereignty of God. Jesus said: All the Father gives me will come to me, and he said of all the sheep that the Father has given me in John 10, I will lose none. When you understand beloved, that God chose you before the foundation of the world, that that's how much the Father loves you; I'm gonna tell you, you're gonna get on fire for Jesus. You're not gonna care if you're rejected, you're just gonna be so blessed that you're his, you're gonna love him so much beloved. So I want you to continue to join me each and every week. Tell a friend, God's gonna do something radical and life-chasing, life-changing. God bless you and Shalom.