Rabbi Schneider - A New Creation
The Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, able to pierce between the division of soul and spirit, even the bone and it's marrow. Hear the Word of God, Romans chapter 5, beginning in verse number 20: And the law came, and that the transgression might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. That is as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through reign through righteousness to eternal life Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now Paul has been building this tremendous theological treaties here, talking about the purposes of God in times past, and how the purposes of God in times past were all fulfilled in one Messiah Jesus. And Paul is calling us out of all religious systems, he's calling us out of all self-righteousness, he's calling us out of all self evaluations based upon our own works, whether it's the Mosaic Law or some other standard of works, righteousness that we've been holding ourselves accountable to. He's calling us out of all these religious systems beloved, to look at the person of Jesus. And he's telling us this beloved: that the purpose of the law was to convict man of sin, but when men became exceedingly sinful, because of the law.
In other words, the law pointed out their sin to them. It's kind of like this beloved: the purpose of the law, let's use this example. Have you ever seen somebody that looks like a great athlete, and they have the right uniform, and they've got the right clothes, and they've got the right haircut. Let's say for example, somebody that, that let's say goes to the golf course. And this guy, he gets to the golf course, and he looks like a million bucks. I mean this guy drives to the country club where this beautiful manicured golf course is, and he gets out of his brand new jaguar, and you see this guy when he steps out of the jaguar, he steps out, I mean he looks like a lean mean machine. He's six foot three, a hundred and eighty-five pounds, he's lean, he's tan, he's got his special beautiful golf clothing on, his special shoes, his special shirt, he's got the golf cap on, and then he pulls the clubs out of his car.
He's got those brand new clubs: they're as shiny as shiny could be. I mean this guy looks like a million bucks. People see him get out of the car; they're taking a second look at him. And then they set him up with a caddy, and this guy that looks like a million bucks gets to the golf course, and he takes that first, the caddy hands him that first club. And he takes that first club, and he gets in position, and he looks at that ball, wup, he whips it, and then he looks again, same thing. Once again, this time he misses the ball, and he hits the grass, and the grass goes fall and flying everywhere. And then the third time once again, he lines up; I'm not a golfer, so I'm not sure how good this stance is. This time he whips again incomplete and now this guy takes his club, he throws it in anger, 50 yards from where he is and everyone says, this guy stinks.
See when all he had was his clothes, and all he had was his beautiful car, and his beautiful clubs; everyone thought he was a good golfer. But then when they actually put him on the course, it became evident that this guy couldn't golf at all, that when it came to golf, he stunk. See, that's kind of what the law did. The purpose of the law Paul says, was to expose sin. Even as putting that golfer on the golf course exposed the fact that he might have looked good, but he really was not a good golfer. The Scripture tells us, God tells us that the reason he gave us the law was to cause us to realize how corrupt we really are. But the Bible says when the law exposed our corruption; it said grace, the Lord said, abounded even all the more. In other words, the grace that God released on our lives through Messiah Jesus, more than solved the solution of our corruption and our addiction to sin.
Listen once again to what the Lord says here. Verse number 25, 20 rather, Romans chapter 5: And the law came, and that the transgression might increase; in other words, the law exposed sin. The law made man realize what a transgressor he was. It exposed his nakedness and his moral corruption. And the law came and that the transgression might increase, but get this now, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that as sin reigned in death. In other words, sin causes one to die, and it was reigning, because all men were sinners, but what did God do? He sent forth his only begotten Son that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So Paul continues that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And so once again, the point is beloved; it's not in religion, it's in relationship with Jesus. Our eyes should be completely fixed beloved, on Jesus. And I think a lot, even perhaps of those that are watching right now, have even replaced Jesus with religious doctrine. I'm teaching doctrine right now; there's nothing wrong with doctrine. Doctrine is just the correct interpretation of Scripture. But some people beloved, have made doctrine - God, rather than Jesus - God. Our relationship is with a person, it's the person of Jesus, it's the person of Jesus beloved, that righteousness comes to us by. It's the person of Jesus that brings us into fellowship with God. It's the person of Jesus beloved, that fills us with the Lord's glory. It's the person of Jesus that brings to us the revelation of the love of God.
I'm not talking about a doctrine, I'm not talking about memorizing words on a page, I'm not even talking just about memorizing Scripture. I'm talking about beloved; Paul's whole point is to bring us to the person of Jesus. You see Yeshua said to the Pharisees in John chapter 5; he said you search the Scriptures. Notice again, he said to them, John 5, you search the Scriptures he said to the Pharisees, because you think in them, the Scriptures themselves, you have life. He said yet, it's these that bear witness of me, and you refuse to come to me that you might have life. In other words Jesus was saying, you guys think that your life is in the Scriptures, but the purpose of the Scriptures is to bring you to me that you might have life. And what I'm preaching right now beloved, is not doctrine for doctrine's sake; I'm trying to bring you to the person of Jesus.
Lord, establish your church I pray. Father, call your people into a living and vital relationship with Jesus. And if you're watching right now and you don't know him; I want you to know there's forgiveness for you. The Lord will accept you if you come to him beloved, humbly, calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus, ask him to forgive you for your sins and saying Lord, I wanna turn my life over to you now, completely. Jesus will save you and you will receive from him beloved, the gift of righteousness. He'll give you a brand new life. Old things will pass away and all things, hallelujah, will become new.
We're pressing on now, Romans chapter 6 verse 1: What shall we say then, Paul continues. Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? May it never be. In other words Paul is saying, I'm telling you that where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more. And Paul is talking about the grace of God. But some people, when they hear this message about grace, they're afraid if we teach grace too much, then they're gonna feel free to sin. And Paul's addressing this here. He said well, if God's grace came even more when people were sinning badly; well maybe we should just keep on sinning badly and more grace will come.
Let's listen again. I want you to get this, because some people, if they don't hear this correctly; they'll think you know what, it doesn't matter what I do. I can just continue to sin, because God's grace is so great, it'll keep on covering my sin, but beloved, this is obviously the absolute wrong mentality. When we've really been touched by the love of God; we're not even gonna be thinking about such a thing. We're just gonna be set free in the grace of God, knowing there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, and that are sins are completely washed away, and that we become the righteousness of God. We're not gonna be asking ourselves the question: well if the Lord forgave me, can I keep sinning and he'll keep forgiving me?
This is what Paul was addressing here, listen again. What shall we say then, are we to continue in sin may abound, that grace might increase? May it never be; how shall we who die to sin, still live in it? In other words, he's saying, how can you even ask such a question? It's complete nonsense. A person that would ask that question does not know the love of God and has not really been touched beloved in a deep way with the love of Jesus, because the Bible says we love him, because he loved us. When we really understand that Jesus loves us, when we turn our lives over to him, we're not gonna be asking ourselves, how much can we sin and still get away with it? We're gonna say Lord Jesus, I love you, I wanna please you, I wanna eliminate everything from my life that displeases you. I love you Jesus. We're gonna be impassioned beloved, to love him. Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments, you'll obey me.
Let's continue on: May it never be, how shall we who die to sin, still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Messiah Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore we've been buried with him through baptism into death in order that as Christ was raised from the dead for the glory of the Father, so to we might walk in newness of life. In other words, Paul's saying, how can you even ask this question? When, when Jesus died, you were in him, and when he died, you died to your old nature. You died to your old life; you died to your old passions. You died to living a life of sin. You've now been raised, that life is gone, that life is sinning, your past life is over. You've now been raised to walk in newness of life in fellowship with God, so don't even consider the past life of how you can keep on engaging in that type of a lifestyle.
It's ridiculous, it's buried, it's gone, it's completely forever, it's gone; you have a new life now. And your life now beloved, is to walk in fellowship with God, and to do those things that are pleasing to him, and keep the door shut for Satan and sin to get into. That we reject you Satan, we reject sin. We now present ourselves to you Father God, to walk in a way that pleases you. Even as in our past life, we presented ourselves as vessels of unrighteousness, doing the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, engaging in the things of the world; that life is died and is buried. We were, we were crucified in Jesus, that life is gone and now we've been raised, even as Jesus was raised, to a brand new life walking in purity beloved and in truth. And Satan, we crush you under our feet in Jesus' name.
You see, those of you that were baptized, those of you that went into the waters of the mikveh, we say in Hebrew, in Jesus name. When you went under the water, the significance of that was your old life, your life of sinning, it was buried. When the water went over you, it meant that, that old life of yours is completely buried under, underground, under the water. The waters attached to the earth. And so your old life is completely severed, and you come out of the water a brand new creation, even as Jesus beloved, was raised from the dead, alive as the righteousness, hallelujah, of God. And so we're not asking ourselves, well since the Lord forgave me this time, can I do it again; will he forgive me next time? That type of a mindset shows that you have not been renewed by the love of God.
So let's continue on here. In verse number 5: For if we have become united with him in likeness of his death, certainly we shall also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we also shall live with him. Even so in verse number 11: Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Yeshua HaMashiach, and now Paul gives us the application. Paul just got done saying what I was explaining before I read this Scripture; that our old life is gone and now that we're, we're raised from the dead, we're walking in fellowship with God to present ourselves to him, and now Paul gives the application here.
Let's look as we continue on beloved, in verse number 12: Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lust. And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. And so we have choices every single day that we make. Are we gonna live in a way that's in conjunction with the Word of God? Are we gonna live every day in harmony with truth? Are we gonna live every day choosing to love God by presenting ourselves to him and not presenting the members of our flesh, not presenting our heart, and our soul and our body to sin? We have choices all day long that we make every single day. It involves every area of our life.
That's why in the Torah, in the first five books of our Bible; God addresses every area of life. In the Torah, God addresses beloved, what we eat. These are, that's called the laws of kashrut, you've heard it known as kosher. God cares about what we eat. Are we gonna present ourselves to sin or are we gonna present ourselves to the Lord? If we just go on feeding our flesh, and we're already way, way overweight; we have a choice every day, are we gonna present our body as an instrument to the Lord, and watch our diet, and eat those things that are healthy for us, and watch our calories? Or are we gonna present our body as an instrument of unrighteousness, and keep on eating the cupcakes, and the cookies, and the fat, and all the things that make our body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, sick?
You see we have choices every day. God says now that you've been released from that life, now that you're released from being a slave to sin; present your body to the Lord as an instrument of life and righteousness. It involves beloved, what we choose to look at with our eyes in such a culture today that's so filled with deception, visual deception. We have a choice of what we're gonna look at. Are we gonna sin in front of the television entertaining our self with lust, and with violence, and with jokes, and with mindsets that are appalling to God? Or are we gonna close our eye gates and not watch those types of things on television, and not listen to that type of nonsense on the radio, whether it's in song or in talk shows that is offensive to the Lord. We present ourselves now beloved, not as instruments to sin and corruption, but we now present ourselves as instruments to the Lord.
And I want you to know, when we choose to present ourselves to the Lord, when we close our eye gates, when we watch what we eat, when we're careful with how we dress. Did you know that the Lord in the Torah, he had certain dress restrictions for the children of Israel? For example, they couldn't wear certain types of fabric mixed together. It was, it was a way for God to gain mastery over their entire lives. It's interesting that the high priest and I should say and the priesthood as a whole; they had long underwear, they weren't actually called long underwear, but for our vocabulary today, that's what they were, they completely covered their legs.
See the Lord was covering the flesh, he was covering up the soulish energies, because he didn't want his people living in the flesh or in the power of the flesh, and we have a choice every day, what clothing are we gonna wear. Are we gonna wear clothing that's seductive, that draws people to our self or are we gonna wear clothing beloved, that's modest, that glorifies God? So Paul said your, your life that you're crucified to living in sin. Present yourself now as a vessel to the Lord, living to bring glory to him. Every day all day long, from the second we get out of bed in the morning, we have a choice. We can present ourselves to God. When we get out of bed, we say:
Lord; I give this day to you. Lord, I want this day to count for you. Father, I wanna make those decisions today that will please you and bring me into fellowship with you. And Lord, I know that as I do, you are a rewarder of those that diligently seek you. You release revelation to me, you release the knowledge of your love to me, you releasing an abundance of your Holy Spirit to me that eventually rivers of living water will flow from my innermost being and I'll thirst no more. Jesus, you're my prize, Jesus, you're my reward, Jesus, you're all I wanna see, Jesus, you're all I wanna want.
Every day we have a choice beloved, from the time we get out of bed, all day long we make those choices beloved, to choose him. To make the choice to stop gossiping when somebody is talking about things that you know are not of the Lord. Paul is saying, your old life was buried and you need to keep it buried. You need to not allow yourselves to be entrapped in sin any longer. You now present yourself as an instrument of righteousness. You present yourself now to the Lord; don't let yourself be brought back beloved, to living in sin.
And I want you to know beloved; some of you may need to repent right now. I want you to know beloved, if you're sincere, God will forgive you, and release you, and renew you right now. So if you need to repent, I ask you just to get on your knees right now, pour out your heart to the Lord, ask him to forgive you, cleanse you and to renew you to live a victorious life beloved, in him, presenting yourself to him. Not that your perfect, none of us will ever be perfect, but our heart can be right before him as we strive beloved, it live in victory in Jesus. Hallelujah and Amen. And so once again we're continuing on in verse number 7: For he who has died, and we were died, we died in Messiah, Paul's making the point. He who has died, and we died in Messiah, that's what baptism is all about once again. We go under the water, showing that our old life has died, listen now, is freed from sin.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death no longer is master over em, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Even so, here we go, this is powerful beloved. Listen, we don't just need sugar-coated preaching, we need real truth beloved, because the Bible says unless we repent, we will also perish. Listen, here we go: Even so Paul says, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive in Christ Jesus; therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal obey that you should obey it's lust, and to not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourself to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Sin shall no longer be master over you. This is serious beloved.
In one section of Scripture, the Scripture says to us: you have not yet resisted sin to the shedding of blood. We need to strive beloved, to resist sin. God has redeemed us from this life, and some of you right now feel trapped. There's a sin in your life that you just can't seem to get free from. For some you, it may be an addiction to food. To some of you, it may be an addiction to sex. To some of you, it may be an addiction to drugs. To some of you it may be relationships that you're laughing at jokes that you know you shouldn't be laughing at or you're bound to people that you know you shouldn't be bound to. I want you to know beloved, that the power of God's Spirit in you can get you free from these things, but you need to be serious about wanting to be free. We need to keep on crying out, so let's just right now:
Father God, I pray right now, those that are under the sound of my voice, Father through this television broadcast. Those that really wanna be delivered Lord, those that really wanna get free, those Father, that are hurting inside: they know they're trapped, they know they're in situations that they shouldn't be in. Father, but they're calling out and they've got a yes in their spirit. I ask you to free them right now Father God, through the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Father, we thank you that greater is he that lives within us than he that's in the world. And right now I speak Father God, over these under the sound of my voice that are calling out to you Father, and I ask you Father God, to deliver them at once in Jesus' name. Satan, I command you to take your hands off of the lives of the people of God that have been purchased by the blood of Jesus. Satan, they're no longer yours and you have no dominion over them. I command you, out in Jesus' name. And now Holy Spirit, I pray that you'll strengthen them with divine might in their inner man and set them free, because you said Lord Jesus, who the Son sets free is free indeed. We thank you Father and we love you, in Yeshua's name.