Rabbi Schneider - How Does Jesus Save
We have to remember that Paul told us in the book of Corinthians that what we call the Old Testament, that Jewish people call the Tanakh; has not been written just for the Jewish people, but it's written for the whole church today upon whom the end of the ages has come. We are looking at God's holy calendar. He gives us the holy days in His calendar in the 23rd chapter of the book of Leviticus. I want you to understand that these appointed days of the Lord in Leviticus 23, once again, are not just for the Jewish people, but they're for us upon whom the end of the ages has come; because they all find their fulfillment in Messiah Jesus and God wants us to remember these days and be taught about them, because they teach us about God's redemptive plan.
Now we're concentrating on the fall holy days. And in the last several broadcasts, in fact three broadcasts going back now, I was focusing on the Feast of Trumpets, often times called Rosh Hashanah or Yom Teruah. And I talked about how it relates to the return of Jesus and heaven. I really want to encourage you if you didn't have an opportunity to hear those broadcasts to make sure you get them. Information's available at the end of the broadcast or you can even watch them on Youtube, really critical material. But today we're moving forward and we're focusing on the next of the holy days in the fall. It's called Yom Kippur, which is Hebrew for the Day of Atonement.
So let's begin now, beginning right into the word of God. I'm reading now from the book of Leviticus chapter 17, verse number 11. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of God abides forever. Leviticus 17:11 gives us the key principle of Yom Kippur. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement," sayeth the Lord. On Yom Kippur the high priest of the Jewish people would take the blood of a bull and the blood of a goat. He would bring it to a place that was first in the tabernacle and then later in the temple, because the tabernacle was the portable sanctuary that the children of Israel used to meet with God when they were in the wilderness.
But when they got into the Promised Land they turned it into a permanent structure that they called the temple, but the overall setup is the same. At the very back of the tabernacle and later the temple was a room called the Holy of Holies. Inside the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. Inside the Ark of the Covenant were the Ten Commandments and on top of the Ark of the Covenant is where blood was poured on Yom Kippur. The high priest would bring into the Holy of Holies and pour the blood of the bull and the blood of the goat on top of the Ark of the Covenant, often referred to as the mercy seat. And when the Lord saw the blood on the altar on top of the Ark of the Covenant He would forgive the children of Israel for their sins that year.
Paul in fact talks a lot about this very ceremony in the New Testament, in the book of Hebrews. I'm gonna be reading now Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11 and 12 and then 25 and 26, where Paul is actually describing this ancient Biblical right that I just explained and how Jesus completes it. Hear the word of God. "But when Christ appeared as 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. Nor was it that he would offer himself often as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the consummation of the ages he has been manifest to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself".
Jesus completed this ancient ceremony that the high priest performed every year when they brought in the blood of the bull and the goat, by offering Himself once and for all on the cross. They came and put a spear in His side as He hung on the cross. His blood was shed once and for all, when that happened God provided a remedy for man's sin that satisfied Him. This is why during Jesus' last meal with His disciple, often referred to as Communion or the Lord's Supper. It was actually a Passover meal, many of you know. Jesus lifted up thecup of juice, the cup of Passover wine. He blessed it and then He said, "This is the blood of my covenant for the forgiveness of sin".
You see, when Jesus was crucified and died the veil in the temple that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies where the high priests entered into once a year to make atonement with blood during the Day of Atonement; when Jesus died on the cross that veil that separated mankind from where God's presence dwelled inside the Holy of Holies, the scripture says was broken in two. It tore in half and the reason that God gave this sign, the reason that God caused this phenomenon to take place was He was showing that atonement for sin was once and forever completed through Jesus own atonement, through His own sacrifice. And because of that mankind as a whole now had access to God.
We could come before His thrown of grace, not just the high priest that was able to come into the Holy of Holies once a year on Yom Kippur, but through Jesus all mankind, his sin has been dealt with and he can come. Man, woman, child, we can all come to the Lord knowing our sin has been removed when we receive Jesus and because of that we have access to His presence. But here's what I want you to understand, although the blood of Jesus is God's final remedy for man's sin, get this again, although the blood of Jesus provides atonement, the opportunity for forgiveness for every man, woman and child that has ever lived, it's efficient for that; The fact that He died on the cross and shed His blood does not necessitate that automatically everybody has been forgiven.
I want to go now to the key scripture in this sermon that we're doing now on atonement that will also continue next week. I want to bring you now to the key scripture. We're going to the book of Revelation. I'll be reading there Revelation chapter number 12, verse number 11. Hear the word of God. "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". I'm gonna read it again, because it's a lot to take in. But I want to stress the word of God here and I'm gonna continue to press it in after I'm done reading, so you can fully understand it.
Let's listen again. "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". How did these saints overcome during the end times? Through the blood of the lamb, listen now, they had to overcome. So it wasn't just that the Lamb's blood was shed, but they had to overcome through the blood of the Lamb. In other words, there was effort required on their part. They had to be cooperating with the blood of the lamb in order to overcome. And Jesus told us in Revelation 2:7, "He that overcomes will enter paradise".
So they didn't automatically overcome just because Jesus died on the cross and because His blood was shed there, but they overcame by taking His blood, working their faith through their testimony and their committed lifestyle. They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony and because they did not love their life even to death. Three principles here, the blood of the Lamb, their testimony and their sold out life.
Now we're gonna better be able to understand what this means to us, how this applies to our life as we go back in time thirty five hundred years ago and look at how the children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt and saved through the blood of the Passover lamb, because the blood of the lamb that the scripture writer refers to in Revelation 12:11 is rooted originally in the Passover story. This is why John the Baptist pointed at Jesus as Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River and said, "Behold the lamb of God". So these end time believers that overcame by the blood of the lamb, we can understand what that means better by going back to the blood of the lamb that was shed thirty five hundred years ago and see how the ancient Israelites used it to be saved.
So with that said, I'm going now to the book of Exodus chapter number 12, verse 21 and 23. Hear the word of God. "Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, 'Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families and slay the Passover lamb. You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts. And none of you shall go outside the door of his home until morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your house to smite you.'"
And so let's think about this. Here were the children of Israel. They slayed the Passover lamb and when they slayed the Passover lamb they had to very carefully collect the blood of the lamb in a basin. None of it could be spilled on the ground, because this blood was so precious. But hear me now, the blood in the basin could not save anybody. In order for the blood of the lamb to actually save anybody the blood had to be applied to every individual Israelite home. Each Israelite family had to take a hyssop, dip it in the basin, get the blood on the hyssop and then very carefully so that none of the blood spilled on the ground, come to their own individual residence, put it on the door frame of their home, then go inside and shut the door. They were enclosed, encased, surrounded by the blood of the lamb and only then when it had personally and specifically been applied to their life were they saved.
The point is beloved, the fact that Jesus died on the cross doesn't necessitate or necessarily save anybody. In order for His death and blood to save us we must apply it to our lives. How do we do that? Revelation 12:11 gives us the key. "Through the word of our testimony". Again we read, "They overcame by the blood of the lamb," get it now, "And the word of their testimony". We don't have the blood of Jesus in a basin somewhere that we can go to it and put it on our lives physically. So how do we get the blood of Jesus onto our lives, in us and through us? We get it over us, beloved ones, by applying it to our lives through the word of our testimony.
So what we're going to do now is we're going to go into the word of God and we're gonna see what the blood of Jesus can accomplish for us. We're gonna see what blessings come to us through the blood of Jesus if we will apply them to our lives through our confession. I want you to hear me, what we speak is supernatural. In fact, you were saved by what you said. I'm gonna show you this principle now through this foundational scripture that most of us have heard, Romans chapter 10, verse number 9. Hear the word of God. "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved". What happened? We believed in Jesus and then we confessed Him as our Lord.
The same is true about the blood. We believe in the efficacy and the power of the blood and that we confess the blessing of the blood of Jesus over our lives and in so doing we receive the blessing and the impartation to overcome. So let's begin now to see what the word of God has to say about the blood of Yeshua and then we're gonna follow through to make it personal by confessing the blessing of it over our life. We're gonna testify of the blood of Jesus over our lives and overcome just like we read about in Revelation 12:11. First of all we see that through the blood of Jesus we have redemption.
I'm going now to the book of Ephesians chapter 1, verse 7. "In him we have redemption through his blood". To be redeemed means to be bought or it means to be purchased. You see when Adam sinned, when he obeyed the voice of the devil rather than God, something happened. God had to purchase us back for Himself. How did He do it? He did it through the blood of the Lamb. Ephesians 1:18 says this, "I pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints". Think about this. The Lord shed His blood to redeem us. In other words, He took the blood of Jesus and He purchased us for Himself through Jesus' blood. Why did He purchase us? Just so that He could forgive us? No, not just so He could forgive us. But He purchased us, beloved, listen now, to marry us.
Jesus didn't die on the cross just to forgive us for our sins, but He died on the cross in order to make us His bride, in order to marry us. This is why Paul prayed, "I pray that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened, that you would understand," get it now, "The riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints". In other words, you are so beautiful, you are so valuable to God. God purchased you for Himself. He redeemed you by the blood of Jesus. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says this, "Knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ".
You have been redeemed, purchased for Father God to be the bride of Jesus by the blood of the lamb. Now what we're gonna do is we're gonna take the principle of Revelation 12:11 overcoming by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony by confessing by testifying of the blood of Jesus redemptive power in and through and over our lives. Psalm 107:2 says, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so". So let's turn this in to a personal testimony now. Let's say, I want you to repeat after me. We're applying the blood of Jesus to our life through our speech. I want you to repeat after me.
Father God, Lord Jesus, Thank You Jesus for purchasing me by Your blood. Thank You for redeeming me. I love You. I give my heart to You. And Father I declare I've been redeemed. I've been purchased by Your Son, the precious Lamb of God.
Beloved ones as we close today I want you to consider this, the blood of Jesus is always flowing, it's always present, it's always powerful, it's always here. God loves you so much He sent His Son to suffer for you, because He's got a purpose that is so beyond anything that we could ever fathom that the Bible says about it, "That eye has not seen, ear has not heard and never has it even entered in to the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those that love Him". God has got a destiny in store for you. You've been purchased to be married for Jesus. You've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
The Bible climaxes in Revelation chapter 19 with what the scripture calls the marriage supper of the Lamb. "Blessed are those," John writes, "That are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb". Those of you that know Jesus you're gonna be there. You've been redeemed by the special, I mean there's no words to describe it, by the incredible value of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the price that was paid for you, because that's how valuable you are. "Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, never has it entered into the heart of man the things that God's prepared for those that love Him".
I pray that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened, that we would understand the hope of our calling and the incredible inheritance that God has in His people, the church. Beloved, this is Rabbi Schneider saying I love you. God wants us to walk in love. When we know that we're loved we can walk in love. God loves you. You're loved. You don't get your value or identity from how other people treat you, because they're never gonna treat you the way you deserve to be treated. Think about what the world did to Jesus. They crucified Him. They spit on Him. They pulled out His hair. They pulled out His beard. They laughed at Him. They mocked at Him. You'll never know who you are by the world, but you can know who you are by the word of God. God loves you so much He sent His Son to spill His blood for you and because of that you're redeemed and going to heaven to forever be with God.