Rabbi Schneider - How Do We Share Jesus?
I want to move forward today in this study. We're in the Gospel of John, chapter 1. We're talking about how the Word of God was in the beginning with God; that all things came into being through the Word, and that the Word is the Light that enlighteneth every man. So I just want to start, John, 1, beginning in verse number 1, and I'm gonna get into a brand new mystery today. Join me in this very important study. If you've got a Bible, I encourage you to bring your Bible out with you. Here we go, John, chapter 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing has come into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life, get it now, was the Light of men.
I want to concentrate on verse number 4: In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Bible says that this life, get it now, enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world. In Him was life, and that life was the Light of men. And the Scripture tells us that this life and Light enlighteneth, get it now, every man that's come into the world. I want you to hear me loud and clear. Deep down inside, and that includes you, everybody knows there is a God. There's some watching right now and you're saying to yourself, well I'm not really sure if there's a God. You know what? Deep down inside you know. You see, every man that enters this world is enlightened deep down in their core to know there's a God. That's why people that deny God their whole life get caught at storm in the middle of the sea, and, and the boat's gonna sink. And what do they do? They cry out to God because deep in their core everybody knows.
That's why when I'm witnessing to somebody and I say to a waitress, or say to somebody anywhere, what do you think of Jesus, I ask them. I always use that very specific question, what do you think of Jesus? Because you know what, when people respond to that question, you're gonna usually know where they're at. You're not asking them what do they think of Jesus, 'cause then they just might respond with some heady answer. You're saying, what do you think of Jesus? They're gonna respond from their heart. Well, you know, I used to go to church, they might say, or you know, I'm a Catholic, or you know, I was raised in a Baptist Church. You know, unless somebody says, I love Jesus, he's so important to me, unless they say something like that you know they're not walking with God. I ask people, what do you think of Jesus?
And you know, sometimes people will say, oh, I don't believe in God, or they'll be antagonistic, or you'll see hate coming from them; atheist type of a mindset. They say, you know, they, they, they look at you like they're looking down upon you. They look at you condescendingly like you're naïve for believing in God; that you're somehow ignorant for believing in God. We know that there's people like that all over the world. They look at those of us that believe in God as somehow being childish and ignorant. But I want you to know this, my friend, everybody knows there's a God. He lightens every man that cometh into the world. In him was life and that Light that was the light of men, and he lightens everybody that comes into the world. You see, when someone tells you that they don't believe in God, that they think you're foolish for believing in God, I want you to hear me loud and clear, listen to me, they're lying. Deep down inside at the very center of their being, they believe in God.
How do I know they believe? Because everybody that's born into this world is enlightened to some degree to know there's a God. Paul talks about this in the Book of Romans. Paul says in the Book of Romans, chapter numbers 1 and 2, he speaks about the fact. Let me read in Romans, chapter 1, verse 18, same truth, everybody knows there's a God. Listen what Paul says, Romans, 1:18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, get it now, hear this Word, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. So Paul said that God's wrath is revealed from heaven against men, get it now, who suppress the truth. What is the truth that they are suppressing? Well Paul tells us what the truth is they're suppressing in the next verse. He says, verse 19, because that which is known about God, get it now, is evident, hear it now, within them. That which is known about God is evident within them. And so deep down inside everybody knows Jesus enlightens every man that comes into the world with the inner knowledge of knowing that there is a God.
So Paul is saying men are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. They're denying there's a God. They're suppressing the fact they know there is a God in unrighteousness by denying that he exists. Listen again: Because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, get it now, first he talked about the fact that it's evident within them. Now he's talking about the fact that it's evident to them when they look at creation. Verse 20: For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that without excuse. What is Paul saying? That God's eternal nature is visible to all mankind that have eyes through his creation.
In other words, when those of us that have physical sight look into the sky and we see that it seemingly goes on forever, that bears witness to us of a higher power, of the fact, beloved one, that there is a God. When we look at the order of creation, now obviously there's disorder, the enemy exists in the world too, but when we look at the order in creation, when we look at, beloved one listen now, the divine intelligence that is built in to God's creation, deep down inside that's bearing witness to the fact that there is a God.
You know, people that just, you know, go on and on about evolution, go on and on about the big bang, never answer the question, well where did the big bang come from? And how do you get out of a big bang intelligence within creation? How do you explain from a big bang that man knows how to reason? You can't explain that from a big bang. You can't get reasoning out of a test tube. How do you get the capacity to care about another human being from a big bang? How do birds know how to fly south from simply a big bang? How does the body have internal intelligence built inside it so that when it begins to overheat through physical exertion or through the temperature outside, the body automatically knows to perspire to bring the body's temperature back into a place where it functions normally? How does the body know to create antibodies when we get an infection? How do all these things happen? It's because, beloved ones, God built it into creation.
In other words, if you, if you, this is, this is an old argument that some of you have heard before. But if there was a glass of ink here on the table, a jar of ink, okay, and there was some paper laying on the ground, and I walk by this podium right here, and by accident my elbow hit the jar of ink, and all of a sudden that ink fell to the ground. The jar of ink just tipped over; that ink fell to the ground on the paper. And when I picked up the paper I saw in the paper a house, a man, a woman standing next to each other, their little happy child standing there, the dog outside, the green grass, the manicured yard, the fence around the yard, beauty, and order, and, and all. Could, could, could that jar of ink that just, the ink that just spilled onto that paper, could it just have randomly spilled on to the paper and create such a perfect picture of a house, a dog, man, woman, the sunshine and the grass? No, intelligence and beauty is built into creation.
The fact is, beloved, listen to me, everybody deep down inside knows there's a God. They know it because when they came into the world they were enlightened through the Word. That's what the Gospel of John is telling us here; that he is the Light that enlighteneth or lighteth every man that comes into the world. And mankind knows there's a God when they look at creation. So when you're witnessing to somebody and someone looks at you cynically, kind of laughing at you sarcastically, listen, don't you believe them. It's a spirit. It's the spirit of the anti-Christ that's working in them. It can make you feel weak. It can make you feel impotent. I want you to know, do not be intimidated by that. It's the devil deep down inside whoever you're witnessing to. It doesn't matter what they say. I don't care what they say. Everybody knows there's a God.
Now I will say this. There are times that something happens in somebody's life that really hurts them; somebody gets killed, somebody gets murdered, a loved one dies young. They see maybe something really horrendous happen. Maybe their parents got divorced. Things have happened to individuals that have upset them, that have hurt them, that have confused them. And often times when things like that happen, people respond to that by denying there's a God. They do it because they're hurt and they do it because they're angry. And sometimes they've denied there's a God so long because of their hurt or their confusion or their anger, even though deep down inside they know, but because of their hurt and their anger they deny God. And sometimes they've done it for so long, they've denied that he exists for so long, listen, they suppress their knowledge of God for so long, like the Scripture says, that they've convinced themselves often times that they really don't believe in God. But hear me, beloved child of God, deep down inside they know. They know. Creation is witnessing it to them, and Jesus enlightened them when they came into the world. Don't every back down. You are right, and at the end of the day they know you're right regardless of what they're saying.
Let's continue on. We're in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, and we were just making the point from verse number 4, in him, in Yeshua, who's the Word made flesh, he's the Son of God incarnate, in him was life, and that life was the Light of men. And then it goes on to say in verse number 5: And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Now other translations render that verse: The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never, get this now, extinguish it. The darkness could not understand the Light, neither can the darkness extinguish the Light. That's why the Bible says that the natural man receiveth not the things of God.
In other words, before you knew the Lord, you probably read the Bible and it didn't make a lot of sense to you. But once you were born again, once you became a child of God, once you came into a real relationship with God; and some of you that are listening right now, you came from a different tradition, and you know, you think that you're not the born-again type because you think of the born-again type as some type of religious extremist or some religious fanatic. But beloved one, when I use the term born again, I'm actually using the word of Jesus himself in John, chapter 3, when Jesus said unless one be born of the Spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus there. And Jesus said to Nicodemus, that which is born of flesh is flesh.
In other words, we come into the world born from our mom as flesh. Jesus said, that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is spirit. And then Jesus said to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again. So when I speak about being born again, and I'm not speaking about some right-wing religious extremist, I'm talking about those that are born of the Zoe life of God. You've receive God's Spirit; that God's Spirit came into your life. You didn't have God's Spirit when you were born, but it was some time after you were born you heard the Gospel, you believed in Jesus, and when you did, God's Spirit came in you and you were born again. You received the very life of God. When you came from your mother, you received a physical life. When you put your trust in Jesus and open your heart to him, he came in and gave you God's life as well.
That's what we mean by being born again. People that don't have God's Spirit, they can't understand spiritual things. But people that have God's Spirit, they understand God's, God, they understand mystery. So John says here in verse number 5: The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Now let me just cover myself here. When I say that people that don't have God's Spirit can't understand spiritual reality or spiritual mystery, that's true, but everybody understands, beloved, that there's a God. I just want to go back and cover myself. Everybody understands there's a God, whether they're born again or not because Jesus enlightened them and because they see it in creation.
Again, I just wanted to, so there's no confusion. But we're talking about other things, other mysteries, other truths that we have to, we have to have God's Spirit to be able to reveal these things to us. And so the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn't understand it or cannot extinguish it. That's why your secular friends don't understand you. That's why they don't get you sometimes, 'cause they can't understand your frame of mind, because they're in the world. They're, they're not, they don't have God's Spirit to think the way you think, to see what you see. But I love the next word that is used to interpret John, chapter 1, verse 5. It says: The Light shines in the darkness. And for example, the King James Version and others speak of the fact that the darkness, listen now, can never, hear it, extinguish or put out the Light.
In other words, because you're born of God's Spirit, because you have God's Spirit living in you, listen now, the darkness can never put you out. The darkness can never defeat you. The darkness can never kill you. You're alive forever. The darkness can never extinguish the Light, beloved one. This is why you're more than a conqueror. Whatever you go through in your life, from now until you die, those of you that are born of God's Spirit, whatever you go through, listen, you're gonna get through it, you're gonna conquer it, you're gonna get to the other side of it. Nothing is gonna snatch you out of the Father's hand because the eternal life of God that lives in you, it cannot be extinguished. It cannot be put out. It can never die. That's why Jesus said, he that's born of me overcomes the world.
You see, you are a conqueror and a winner. The Bible says if the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is being imparted to you by his Spirit that lives in you. You are being strengthened by the eternal Zoe life of God. It is a supernatural life that cannot be conquered by anything. That's why Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell can never prevail against it. I want you to know, those of you that have God's Spirit living in you, those of you that love Jesus, those of you that are his, I want you to know, beloved, God has something so beautiful for you. Eye has not seen and ear has not heard and never has it even entered into the heart of man the things that God has, has prepared for those of you that are his. God's Spirit is in you and nothing is gonna put you out. Jesus said, he that believes in me, listen now, shall live even if he dies.
As I close today, I want you just to hear this. We're gonna pick up next time and we're gonna read in the 14th verse of this same chapter that this eternal Word, this Son of God that's always been, in John 1:14, we read: He became flesh; that God became flesh and we call him Jesus. Here's what you need to, to, to leave with today. God didn't send an agent to save, to save you. God did not send somebody else to save you, beloved one. He didn't send an agent to save you. Listen, he himself came for you. God loves you, listen to me, individually, specifically, and very, very personally. And he himself came and died on the cross for you to bring you into relationship with himself so that your sin would not separate you from him.
God loves you and I so very much, and what he's looking for today, beloved ones, is a response back from us. What he's wanting to elicit from our hearts right now is for us to give him our love back. You see, he's looking for a partner in love. He loves us unconditionally and what he's yearning for, beloved, is for us to love him back. Will you love him back? Will you seek to love him, my friend, and cherish him the way he cherishes you? Maybe you're watching right now and you've never received Jesus. He's knocking at the door of your heart today. All you have to do is open up and say, I'm sorry, Jesus. Please forgive me. Come into me. I love you. God bless you, beloved one. I love you too, and Shalom.