Rabbi Schneider - Can I Just Believe in God?

I want to talk to you today about Yom Kippur, what it means for you and I. And I want to talk about getting freedom from accusation. I want to begin today by taking a look at a foundational scripture. I love the scripture from the Torah, from the book of Vayikra or Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11. Hear the word of God. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it as the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement". And so this is so critical to understand that the only way to receive forgiveness, the only way to be brought into right relationship with Hashem, with Father God is through a blood atonement. This is all about Yom Kippur.

That the means by which Israel was forgiven each year was when the high priest of Israel-we read about this in the book of Leviticus chapter 16-the high priest of Israel took the blood of a bull and a goat, he brought the blood into a place that was first in the tabernacle, and then later was built into a permanent structure called the temple. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they built this tabernacle according to the pattern that God showed Moses to build it when Moses was on top of Mount Sinai. And they traveled... and so the tabernacle was portable. And in the very back of the tabernacle was a room called the Holy of Holies. Inside the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. And inside the Ark of the Covenant, beloved one, were the Ten Commandments, the literal stones that the Lord wrote the Ten Commandments on.

So you have the Ten Commandments in this sacred space, the most sacred space in the planet called the Holy of Holies. Inside the Holy of Holies is the Ark of the Covenant. Inside the Ark of the Covenant are the Ten Commandments. Once a year, the high priests would bring in the blood of the bull and the goat, and they would pour that blood on top of the Ark of the Covenant that housed the Ten Commandments. And when the Lord saw the blood, He overlooked the sin of the children of Israel that year. What the Brit Chadashah (the New Testament) clearly declares is this: That the blood sacrifices in the Torah, although effective, were only shadows who found their fulfillment in King Yeshua.

Let me state it again. The blood sacrifices in the Hebrew Bible, in the Torah, were shadows of that which would ultimately be fulfilled by King Jesus Himself. It's kind of like a credit card. You go to the merchant and you check out whatever you're buying, your groceries, whatever it is, you give merchant your credit card. And your credit card has no real value but your merchant accepts your credit card, he runs it through the machine and he accepts payment because he knows that real payments coming, that money is going to be transferred out of your bank into his or her bank. That's the way these shadows on the Hebrew Bible were. These blood sacrifices in the Hebrew Bible that took place on Yom Kippur, they could never really take away sin but the Lord used them because they were a shadow of what would ultimately take away sin.

And that was His own son, God Himself clothed in humanity, dying on the cross for our sins and spilling His blood. His blood being spilled was the fulfillment of all the blood sacrifices in the entire Torah. And because His blood is perfect, is ever alive, there never needs to be another blood sacrifice again. So I'm going to read now from the book of Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11 and 12. "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption". Through his own blood. The blood of Yeshua has given us access into a relationship with God and into heaven itself. Consider the words of Jesus. "He who was an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant you eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God".

Now, listen how it is that we overcome. Let me say it again. Jesus is saying to the church, "He who overcomes will eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God". Now Jesus is going to tell us through the word how it is we overcome. This is the key verse for today. "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death". Jesus said, "He that overcomes will eat of the tree of life and be in the paradise of God".

Now we learn how it is that we overcome: through the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. The Scripture says if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. When we apply the blood of the Lamb to our lives, by faith and by confession, the word of our testimony, it releases us to inherit that which God provided for us through the death, burial, and resurrection of His son. The blood of the Lamb is the key to receiving the inheritance of God. But it's not enough that Jesus spilled His blood. We must do something to make it applicable and effective in our own lives. We're going to talk about that in a second. What is it, first of all, that the blood of Jesus has the capability of accomplishing for you and I?

Number one, beloved, through the blood of the Lamb you and I have redemption. Let me say it again. Through the blood of Yeshua, we have been redeemed. But in order to experience redemption in real life, in order to enter into this redemption, we have to confess it, we have to testify to it, we have to believe it and speak it. The same way we were saved. If we believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord, that God raised Him from the dead and then confess with our mouth that He's Lord, we will be saved. When we believe and speak, something supernatural happens. When we believe in our heart the truth of God's word, and then confess it with our mouth, this speaking oracle that we've been given as unique creatures of God's creation. There's no other creature on the planet that has the ability to communicate like you and I do that are created in Hashem's image. As we believe in our heart the truth of God's word and then speak it with our mouth, it releases the kingdom into our lives.

The first thing that is released into our life through the blood of Yeshua is redemption. Hear the Word of God. In Him we have redemption. In Him we have redemption through His blood. I want to state something plainly once again. I want you to consider how the children of Israel were able to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We're talking about redemption. What does redemption mean? Redemption means that we've been purchased. When you're redeemed you've been purchased. The scripture says here that we've been redeemed, we've been purchased for Hashem, for God by the blood of the Lamb. But how do we enter into this reality? How do we actually feel it? How do we experience it?

Beloved, we have to confess it over our... we have to, with our mouth, declare it and believe it. I want you to consider with me what the children of Israel had to do with the blood of the Lamb. We know the story. The children of Israel were redeemed by the God of Israel when they took a Passover lamb. And then they put the Passover lamb to death, and they gathered the blood of the Passover lamb and put it in a basin. It was so precious. None of it could fall to the ground. It's a reflection of the precious, spotless blood of King Jesus who is the Lamb of God. They gathered the blood of the Passover lamb in the basin. None of it could be wasted. None of it could fall on the ground. But it wasn't enough that the blood was in the basin. Get this. The blood in the basin did not save them. It wasn't until the blood in the basin was applied to the lintels and the doorpost of their individual homes and they went inside their homes that they were saved.

Did you hear what I'm saying? It's not enough that Jesus died on the cross and spilled His blood. Knowing that won't save you. It won't save you until you apply it to your life. Even as the blood of the Passover Lamb in the basin, that was not enough to save any Israelite. Rather, they had to take the blood, apply it with a hyssop branch to their individual house and then go inside their house in order to be saved. So how do we apply the blood of Yeshua to our lives? Not with a hyssop branch any longer, beloved, but through, hallelujah, our testimony. It's the same today as it was back then. And it's not enough just to testify without faith. We really have to believe it. You see, Jesus taught, "If you ask for anything in prayer, believing that you've already received it, you will have it". If you believe and do not doubt, nothing will be impossible for you.

Listen again what I'm saying. It's not enough just to declare. Because I see some people they're always declaring the Word of God. They're running around their house like chickens with their head cut off casting out demons, but they're not operating in faith. They're operating out of fear and hypertension. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about believing that it's already done. It's already done. We're not fearfully trying to make it done, but rather, we believe it's already done. Jesus said, "If you ask for anything in prayer, believing that you've received it, you'll have whatever you've prayed for".

We need to believe that what Jesus said has happened to us has already happened. We don't wait to feel it happen, we simply truly believe that it has already happened. The blood of the lamb has been shed. He has purchased us, we now belong to God. The devil no longer has any hold on us. We're no longer of this world. We have been purchased unto God by the blood of the Lamb. You don't have to make that happen through your own effort. You don't have to pray that that will happen. If we'll simply put our faith in Yeshua, and believe that it's happened already-past-and declare it, beloved, we will have it. We will experience it. 1 Peter 1:18, "Knowing that you were not redeemed..."

Notice that it's past tense here. It's already happened. Peter says, "Knowing that you're not redeemed..." It's already happened. We're not trying to get redeemed. If we put ourselves in the hands of Yeshua, we've been redeemed. We're safe in Hashem. We're protected. We're owned by God. Let's begin to believe it and stop chasing after it. And let's begin to stand in it. This is why Paul was praying for us in Ephesians 1:18 when he said this, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints..."

What's the point? The point Paul is saying, "I pray that God will give you revelation to be able to understand what God has already done for you". Paul said, "I pray that God will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him". It's one thing, beloved Church, to confess these truths. But it's another thing to really apprehend them. And there's sometimes a world of difference between the mind and the heart. This is why we need to commit ourselves to God and depend on Him and stop going after other people, so that He can give us revelation that we can really understand the depth of His word, and how it applies to our individual lives.

Finally, I like to read a beautiful Psalm, Psalm 107:2. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so..." Let's begin to confess, "I am redeemed". We don't have to run in fear. Listen to me, my friend. If you will cling to God, you don't have to be afraid of being vulnerable to the devil's attacks. God has got you. The blood of Yeshua is over you. Even as the children of Israel were inside their homes they were protected by the blood of the lamb, not having to fear what was on the outside. So when you're clinging to God, the blood of the Lamb is covering your life and you don't have to be afraid. Let me say it again. You don't have to be afraid, beloved one, of the devil. Don't be afraid of the devil. You've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. God has got your back. And then the Scriptures tell us that through the blood of Yeshua we've been cleansed.

It's a remarkable thing that when we come to Jesus old things pass away and all things become new. Paul said, "No adulterer, no homosexual, no thief, no liar, no gossip," and he just went on to name a plethora of sins, "will inherit the kingdom of God". And he said, "And such were some of you, but you've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. You've been washed. You've been cleansed. Your old life has passed away". All things have become new through the washing of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Titus 3:5, "We've been renewed, we're being cleansed".

I'm not the same person I was five years ago. I'm not the same person I was 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago. And if you're walking with Hashem, neither are you. You're constantly being cleansed and being, beloved one, transformed. "If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin". I want to speak a word of cleansing over you right now. It doesn't matter, beloved one, what you've done in the past. I know some of you have done things in the past you are so regretful of, you can hardly even face yourself. You feel like you can hardly live with yourself. You feel defeated, discouraged, depressed. But I want you to know in Jesus you are washed with the blood of the Lamb. And we're continually being washed. Because the blood of the Lamb it's like a fountain.

If you've ever seen a waterfall and you ever observed the waterfall, the water just keeps on coming over the waterfall. That's how the blood of Jesus is over your life and my life. The blood of Yeshua over our life it's like the water coming over a waterfall. It just keeps on coming. We keep on being washed by the blood of Yeshua and the Spirit of God. We're being transformed. So don't let the past keep you down. Don't let who you've been in the past hold you back from being who you are right now. Because you are redeemed. You've been set free beloved, and you're being washed by the blood of the Lamb.

Sometimes we feel such shame and such defeat because certain people think certain things about us because of what they knew about us before we were walking with Yeshua, before we repented. And they can't believe that we're anything different from how they knew us. And soon as the enemy uses that to beat us up and to keep us down, we think about what people think about us. And it's somehow if we're not careful can get in us. And we allow what people think about us to beat us up. But I want you to know it doesn't matter what people think about you and I. And the truth is... we really need to get this.

There's a lot of revelation here, beloved. I hope you're taking a hold of it. The truth is, oftentimes, generally speaking, what we think people are thinking about us... Let me say it again. Generally speaking, what we think people are thinking about us is not really what they're thinking about us. That's what the Bible says. Our fight is not against flesh and blood. It's against principalities and forces of spiritual wickedness. See, the battle isn't with flesh and blood. It's not what people are thinking about us. The battle is the thoughts that the enemy is putting in our mind. I can't tell you how many people have said to me, "Rabbi, you're not the same person you used to be. You're not the same person that you were five years ago, or 10 years ago, or last year". Why? Jesus is cleansing me and transforming the same for you as you're believing and clinging to Him.