Rabbi Schneider — The Law and Grace
We are in the midst right now in a series from the Gospel of John. I'm calling it Mysteries in the Gospel of John. This is season 2 of this series. I'm taking time as I'm going through the Gospel of John because it truly is one of the most remarkable books in the entire Bible.
We know that the whole Bible is the Word of God. But some of us have special books in the Bible, favorites you could say. And the Gospel of John is one of my personal favorites because John brings forth spiritual mysteries that are talked about no place else in the Scriptures.
Now I'm not gonna go through and review everything that I've covered. I really want to encourage you, get this series. Get season 1 where I talk about the Trinity. I'm going to continue right now in this second message in season 2. I'm picking up in verse number 12 of chapter 1, where I left off last week.
Hear the Word of God: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name. And I discussed that last week.
Let's continue on with the 13th verse: Who were born, he's speaking of these that have received him now and have become children of God, and then he goes on to say this: Who were born not of blood nor the will of flesh nor the will of man but of God.
So John is saying here that those of use that have received Jesus have had this birth experience. And this birth experience that we've had, he said, it isn't a birth that's come through blood. It isn't a birth that's come through the flesh. But this birth that we've experienced, listen now, has come from God himself.
Now get this. There are certain capabilities that God has built into the flesh. In other words, God has built in to the flesh not just of humanity, but into the animal kingdom itself, the ability to procreate, the ability to reproduce, the ability to give birth. In other words, two rabbits can procreate and reproduce.
This is a birth by the flesh. This is a birth by the blood. Two monkeys, the same thing. You go to any species in the animal kingdom, they have the ability to reproduce themselves. This is because of a capability that God built into their flesh.
But John here is saying that this experience that one enters into when they receive the Lord Jesus causes them to experience a birth that isn't possible through anything of the blood or of the flesh. It's something that's happening in the spirit world and it's totally from another world. It's from the realm, beloved, of the supernatural, from God himself.
Now I'm gonna touch more about this in chapter 3, where John speaks about what he calls the born-again experience. Sometimes people hear that word born again and they completely miss it because soon as they hear that term born again, they think of a certain type of Christian. But listen, Jesus himself uses the term born again. He said that which is born of flesh is flesh. That which his born of Spirit is spirit. He said, truly, truly I say to you, listen now, you must be born again. Jesus said that.
So let's forget about every pre-conceived notion as to what we think the term born again means. Let's just put all that behind us and ask ourselves, did Jesus use the term born again, and if he did, what did he mean by it, because if Jesus said it, it's important.
So let's again receive the Word from the Spirit and understand how it applies to our life. So John is hinting on that now in the 13th verse when he speaks about people being born not of the flesh, nor of blood, but of God himself. And I'm gonna speak more to the point on this when we get to John, chapter 3.
Let's continue on now because we're going verse by verse through the Gospel of John. This is called expository preaching. We're going line by line, precept by precept. I encourage you even to start a Bible study in your home as I'm going through the Gospel of John.
Verse number 14: And the Word became flesh, speaking of Jesus, because remember, John said in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So he's saying that the Word was in the beginning. He was with God and he was God. And then he said in verse 14: And the Word became flesh.
So what's he talking about? That this Word, who is God, who has been in the beginning, he became flesh. And so Jesus is the Word. Jesus is therefore, get it now, God in the flesh. This is why Jesus said later in the Gospel of John, before Abraham was, he said, I Am. Jesus is God in the flesh.
Let me say it again. Jesus is God, Yeshua HaMashiach. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Listen to John 1:14 again: And the Word became flesh. Who's the Word? Remember John said in John, 1, earlier, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And now he says, and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. And so the Word that became flesh is God, who was in the beginning.
Now think about this. The person of Jesus, he is fully God because he's the Word, remember? The Word became flesh. John 1:1 says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So this Word who is God has now become flesh. That means this.
Get this now because there's an application for you and I. Jesus, hear me, he is fully God as the Word, but he is also fully flesh because the Word became flesh. He clothes himself in humanity. And what that means is that when you and I come to Jesus, he fully relates to us, and has compassion on us, and has empathy for us because he himself came to earth clothed in humanity.
He understands us, beloved, as another human being would understand us because he lived his life on earth for 33 years clothed in humanity. So when we come to Jesus, get this now, he can fully relate to us in our humanity because Jesus is humanity. But he's also the Eternal Word that has been from eternity. And so Jesus is kind of that conduit between God and man.
Jesus is fully God so he relates to God as God, but he's also fully man so he relates to us man to man. And he is in the middle between God and humanity so that he can be the bridge to bring us into our experience with divinity.
We hail your holy name, King Jesus, and thank you, Father God, for what you have done and the wonderful plan you have made by bringing us to yourself through Jesus. Jesus said, I am the Way. I am the Truth, and I am the Life. No man cometh to Father but through me. He is the Way, fully God and fully man.