Rabbi Schneider — The Lamb of God

Welcome today to this very important issue of Discovering the Jewish Jesus. We're in the midst today in a series from the Gospel of John. I'm calling it Mysteries in the Gospel of John because there are many things that John brings to the surface which previously were unrevealed to God's people.

You know we asked Father just now for revelation. We asked that he would reveal mysteries to us. Did you know that Paul said in the Book of Colossians that he had been made a minister of the Gospel, he said, which for ages had been hidden. And then he went on to say, and the mystery of it. And he began to reveal to, reveal to us mysteries.

We speak about the mystery of Christ in us, the hope of glory; the mystery of Jew and Gentile becoming one in Messiah. So John reveals to us many other types of mysteries as well.

In fact, one of my favorite portions of Scripture in terms of mystery is when Jesus and revelation, is when Jesus says to Peter, Peter, who do you say that I am? And Peter said, you're the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus responded to Peter and he said, blessed are you, he said, for flesh and blood has not, get this word now, revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And upon this rock, Jesus said, I will build my church.

I believe that the rock that Jesus was speaking of there that he built his church on is the rock of revelation. And revelation has to do with mystery, 'cause we can't perceive mysteries.

We can't perceive those things that are hidden without revelation that comes to us through the grace of Father God by the Spirit. John has been sent, beloved, to reveal to us the mysteries of the Father and his Gospel is the Gospel that focuses more than any other of the Gospels on bringing to the surface these truths that had been previously concealed but now revealed as John makes them known.

So with that introduction today, I'm gonna pick right up where we left off last week. I'm gonna begin today in John, chapter number 1, verse 22. I want to encourage you as I'm going through the Gospel of John, have your Bible out, take notes, even gather people around your home, have a Bible study around it.

Let's continue now, John, chapter 1, verse 22. This is concerning John the Baptist: Then they said to him, Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? So once again, just to clarify, we're not talking about John the Apostle that wrote the Gospel of John.

In this portion of Scripture we're reading about John the Baptist. Let's read it again: Then they said to him, Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? He said, John the Baptist said, I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the LORD, as Isaiah the prophet has said.

I want to just focus on two principles in this verse where I believe, beloved ones, there's application for you and I. First of all John said, he was a voice crying in the wilderness.

Do you know, especially those of us that are living in the United States, do you know that as we share the Gospel of Jesus with friends, family, people in the grocery store, wherever we go, as we lift up Jesus, we are voices crying into the wilderness because the amount of people in this country, beloved, that is following the Lord passionately is very minimal.

Jesus said, straight is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. So we also have this forerunner calling. You see, John the Baptist was a forerunner. He was sent to make straight the way of the Lord. That's what John said here. He is a voice of one crying in the wilderness, get it now. Make straight the way of the Lord. He was sent before Jesus to prepare the way as a forerunner.

So two principles and applications; number one, he was a voice crying out in the wilderness. And number two, John was a forerunner. Let's think about this as it applies to God's call on our life today. Number one, Jesus called us to be his witnesses. He said, you shall be endued with power, right, and you shall be my witnesses.

So if we want to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, we have to be living lives of being witnesses. This is what Jesus said at the end of the Book of Matthew, the end of the Book of Mark, go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation. Matthew, as you're going, as we're living our lives, make disciples of all nations.

So our lives are here, beloved, to make straight the way of the Lord, to prepare the earth for a second coming by spreading the Gospel. We've been called to be his witnesses. Those that are calling out into the wilderness, into all those around us, that, that are living in darkness, come to Jesus, just like John the Baptist did, repent, turn to God, right?

Come to God, because if you don't, your life is meaningless. You're gonna die in emptiness. You're gonna die in a lost state, fate, and be suffer... You're separated from the Lord forever, right? And then secondly, we're forerunners. We are sent before Jesus's return to prepare the atmosphere, to prepare the world for his return. Think about it.

John the Baptist was sent before Jesus's first coming to prepare the world for Jesus's coming. He was sent before the Lord's coming, preaching a gospel of repentance, baptizing people in the Jordan River, a baptism of repentance. And why did he do it? He did it to prepare the way, church, for Jesus's first coming.

Now think about this. Even as John the Baptist was sent to earth to prepare the way for Jesus's first coming, you and I are in the world right now, get it beloved ones, to prepare the earth and prepare the spiritual atmosphere around us for Jesus's return.

So I want to ask you today, will you receive the call of John the Baptist in your life to be a witness, to prepare the world for Jesus's return by being a forerunner, calling people to him, sharing with people that he's gonna return, you're gonna meet him, calling people to repentance? If you'll do that, you'll be walking, beloved, in a John the Baptist type of anointing.

You'll be walking in a forerunner anointing. What do I mean by forerunner? One that is going before the Lord in preparing the world for his return. It's an awesome thing. I love when someone comes up to me and says, you know what?

I see the same type of anointing that was on John the Baptist on you. But I want you to know, all of us partake of the same anointing perhaps at different levels and to different extremes. But every one of us is called to eat his flesh and drink his blood. And when we eat Jesus's flesh and drink his blood, this is his word now.

For those of you that are not familiar with the Bible, when I say that Jesus said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in yourself, I know that sounds perhaps a little bit raw or gory, but Jesus was speaking here in the spiritual sense. He was speaking about receiving him deeply, his fullness into our lives.

And when we receive Jesus into our lives, when we truly partake of him as he is, not the way just that we want him to be, not just the pleasant part of truth, but the hard part of truth as well, when we take him in his fullness into our life, eating his flesh and drinking his blood, you know what the result's gonna be?

Fruit, and part of that fruit is gonna be, we're gonna be witnessing Christians because there's no other type of real Christian than a witnessing Christian, since this is the mandate of the church. Jesus said, if you deny me before men, I'll deny you before the Father. But if you confess me before men, I'll confess you before the Father.

We're gonna take a John the Baptist type of anointing on ourself. We're gonna be witnessing Christians telling the world that Jesus is returning and inviting people to him in repentance just like John the Baptist did. Well I love that and I'm trusting that some of you right here are also getting the fever, catching the fever, praise God, and even have the fever.