Rabbi Schneider - How to Get Rid of Guilt and Shame
Last week Yadid, beloved ones, we were looking at the theme of baptism and we were showing how the origin of baptism is not something that was first introduced in the Brit Chadashah, which is a Hebrew term for the New Testament. The theme of baptism, which is referred to in Hebrew as mikvah, the gathering of water and immersing yourself in that water; the theme of baptism, the theme of mikvah was introduced beloved in the Hebrew Bible. This is evidence even in the New Testament where we see the people of Jerusalem coming out to John the Baptist and being immersed there in the Jordan River. This was before beloved, Yeshua was proclaimed as Messiah. And so this was very much a part of the Jewish religion before Jesus came, and by understanding what mikvah or baptism meant to the children of Israel, we can more appreciate what it means to be baptized or immersed in water in the name of Jesus, in the name of Yeshua, hallelujah today.
And so we were looking last week at the fact that water beloved, is the agent of creation. And last week I showed you in the Book of Bereshit, in the Book of Genesis, that in the very beginning, in the Book of Genesis, which is called Bereshit in Hebrew, the first two verses show us that from the very beginning, before there was anything else, all there was beloved was God, Elohim God, and the water. And so we read this in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 and 2, and it says there: In the beginning, Elohim, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, now listen to this: and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. All there was God and the water, and then God began to speak and he separated the waters, and he spoke again, and God then brought out of the water beloved, the dry land and he formed the earth.
So that water, listen now Yadid, is the womb of creation. Out of water the earth came. So listen: then God, then Elohim said let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. Continuing on, the 10th verse: And Elohim, God said, he called the dry land earth, and gathered the waters and he called them together the seas, and he saw it was good. And so when you were being called to go into the water to be baptized in Yeshua's name; what God is actually doing is he's calling you back beloved, to the womb of creation. He's allowing you to go back and start over. This is why Yeshua said to Nicodemus, unless you're born again, you can't see the kingdom of God. You see, in Messiah beloved, old things pass away, and all things become new, and that's why Yeshua said unless you believe and are baptized, you can't be saved. We believe and then we go into the waters of the mikvah, God washes away our old life, our sin is forgiven, the old life is buried and gone, and we come out of that water beloved, born a fresh and a new, a brand new life, a brand new slate, old things passed away, we're not alive, hallelujah, to Yeshua.
That is such a beautiful thing to know that regardless of where you've been, what you've done, what sins you've committed beloved, how shameful you may feel, that Jesus loves you and he's calling you to receive him in his name and to go into the waters of mikvah, be baptized in his name, and your old life is passed away. All that shame is gone, all the, all the, all the things that made you feel filthy, that you made you not be able to accept yourself, that made you not be able to love yourself, all that is passed away, is buried and God brings you out of that water beloved, a brand new creation, just like out of the water beloved, he formed the earth afresh and anew. I wanna challenge you today, if you're watching this broadcast, and the devil's just been beating you up, he's putting guilt on you, and condemnation on you; don't you know that Yeshua has forgiven you and that old thing is passed away?
You know I know people and you know, if you've asked them about the past, they can't even remember the past anymore. Why? Because Yeshua has made all things new. Now I also want you to consider this Yadid, beloved ones; that when God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, remember there was a River of Life that flowed, hallelujah, into that garden. And that River of Life that flowed into the garden beloved, branched out into four other rivers that watered the whole earth. I'm gonna read from you now, for you now from the Book of Bereshit, the Book of Genesis chapter number 2 and I'm gonna read verses number 7 through 10: Then Yahweh Elohim, then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. And Yahweh God, the Lord God planted a garden, so God placed man in this garden. And why did God create man? For himself. And the Lord God planted a garden toward the east in Eden, Eden is paradise, right? And there he placed the man whom he had formed. And why did God make the man?
Once again the Lord said let us make man in our image, cause the Lord wanted fellowship with him and he created this paradise, Eden, and into this place called Eden was a River of Life that flowed from the throne of God. And out of the ground, the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is in, pleasing to the sight, for food and for good. The tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; it's all taking place in this habitat for man. Now listen to this, verse 10, here's the key verse I wanted you to get: Now the river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four rivers. And these four rivers beloved, cultivated the whole earth, they watered the entire world.
So there was one river that proceeded from the throne of God. This river flowed into Eden, and then out of Eden this river became four rivers, and these four rivers that flowed out of the one river that proceeded from the throne of God, watered the entire world. So man is in the garden, man sins, and when man sins, what does God do? He drives him out of the garden. The garden was the place of fellowship, and the water of life that flowed into the garden was man's connection to God. This is, see, this is why the Lord speaks about water. Yeshua said the Spirit, the Water and the Blood are all in agreement. This is why Yeshua command us to be baptized in water. Unless you're born again of water and the Spirit, Yeshua said, because water is the symbol beloved that connects us to our Creator. Water is the womb of life; the Spirit of God is symbolized by water, right? The Holy Spirit, one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit is water.
So man when he sins, he eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, despite God's command not to, and when he does, he, spiritual death comes upon him and he's driven out of the garden. We can no longer return to the garden at the present time, but hallelujah beloved, we can return to our connection to God through the water. Once again, the water in the garden is what connected man to God, and now the Lord says that I wanna reconnect you, I want you to go and be baptized in water in the name of Yeshua, and the water that you're baptized in is the same water that I water the Garden of Eden with. There's only one source of water beloved, and the water that we have on earth today presently, is the same water beloved, that was in the beginning.
In other words, the water that we read about in Genesis chapter 1 verse number 2, where it says the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water, Genesis 1 verse 2. The same water that we have on earth today is the water that we read about in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2, in other words God hasn't created any new water, so what God is doing is he's saying I want you to go back into the water, because water is the symbol of life that connects you to me. Now to prove this to you, I'm turning now to the Book of Revelation and I'm gonna go to the Book of Revelation where we once again read about the new heaven and the new earth, and what, and how the water beloved, is coming once again out of the throne of God, giving life to the world beloved, and healing the nations.
I'm reading Genesis chapter 22 verse number 1 and 2: John says the Lord showed me a river of the water of life. Where is John now? He's in the new heaven and the new earth; he's in the New Jerusalem. And he said and he showed me, the Lord showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and the Lamb. And then he goes on to say that this water beloved, listen now, was for the healing of the nations. It, it got, it caused these trees to grow that, that were for the healing of the nations. So once again, what connects us to the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth? Obviously God's Spirit is everywhere, we're connected to him, but water is the theme. The center of the new heavens and the new earth beloved, is once again the water of life.
So water is extremely important. This is why Yeshua said that he that is believes and is baptized, will be saved. So don't take being baptized in Yeshua's name lightly. If you've never done it, it's important to do. It's not what saves us, Yeshua saves us, but if we're, but if we're saved, if we're serious about him, we're gonna do what he tells us to do, because its very important to him that we profess through baptism that our old life is gone, and that we've gone back into the womb of creation, and we're born out of creation afresh and anew, hallelujah, wholly to him, cleansed by the blood of the blood of the Lamb. Listen to this, think about a child; not only is the world born out of the water, we read in Genesis chapter 1 that the Lord was moving over the surface of the water then he spoke, and out of the water came the dry land that he called earth. Not only is the earth, the entire earth pulled out of the water, not only is the water the womb of the world, but where did you come from, where were you before you walked into this world as an independent being?
When you were connected to your mother by her umbilical cord, where were you? You were enclosed beloved, listen, in your mother's what? Water sac. What happens when a baby's about give birth, what do they do? The water sac breaks, and when the water sac breaks beloved, the baby comes out, and he's birthed into this world once again, hallelujah, out of water. Isn't it an awesome thing that you and I can start again? That regardless of what your life has looked like in the past, that there's a new future for you in Messiah Jesus, that old things do pass away and all things become new. I just wanna ask right now, if you're, if you're hurting today, I want you to just, just get on your knees with me today. Do you know that you can have a fresh start in life? That it's not over beloved, till it's over? That the Apostle Paul himself said that he was the chief of sinners, but God gave him a brand new life, and you know what? God wants to wash your sin away, he wants to wash your guilt away, he wants to empower you, he wants to give you a brand new life, he's got a new destiny for you.
Beloved, he wants to give you the gift of eternal life; he wants to crown you beloved, with the crown from heaven. He wants to give you a name that no one knows but him. Beloved: just believe today, believe him, receive him, surrender your life to him, give yourself to him completely, and then go be baptized or immersed in water in his name and come out beloved, afresh and anew, a new creation. It's amazing the change you're gonna see in your life beloved, if you're serious and do this sincerely unto him. Hallelujah in Yeshua's name. Well, I wanna talk about some other concepts that relate to the principle of being immersed in Yeshua's name once again, reviewing the Israelites the Jewish people called a mikvah. The word "mikvah" means a gathering of water, and again it's all part, if you go to Israel, you'll see the mikvah baths all over Israel even today. They existed during the time of Yeshua, very important.
First of all beloved, when the high priest came into office, he was clothed, he was, he was, he was washed from the top of his head, to the bottom of his feet with water. And so by nature of the fact that when a high priest came into office in ancient Israel, the Torah commanded him to be bathed from the top of his head, to the bottom of his feet with water; it speaks to us of the fact that being immersed in water speaks of consecration. That when we go into the waters of a mikvah to be baptized in Yeshua's name, we're consecrating ourselves to him, we're saying Lord, I am yours now, I exist for your purpose as I'm your property. I exist for you alone. Which ties us into the next concept, and that is that in Judaism, when a woman is about to be married, what does she do right before the marriage? She goes beloved, to a mikvah bath, which we would call a baptismal pool.
Again, same concept. She completely immerses herself in the waters of the mikvah bath, completely under the water. Why? Because she's, she's professing beloved by faith, that old things are passing away, that she's coming out now consecrated to her husband. You see beloved, when a Jewish bride goes into the waters of a mikvah bath, just like you and I are immersing in the waters of Yeshua's name, she's, she's professing that things are changing for me, I'm going into the mikvah bath a single woman, but I'm gonna then go under the waters of the mikvah bath, and I'm gonna be raised out no longer a single person, but now I'm gonna be united to my husband. And so it is with you and I; we've been living autonomously from the Lord, we've been living as self agents, but God has convicted us and brought us to himself, and so we go into the waters of the mikvah, go under the waters of the mikvah, no longer living as independent agents, but now we come out of the waters beloved, united hallelujah, to Yeshua the Messiah, just as the bride comes out of the water now united to her husband.
The other thing that is symbolized beloved, is that before the Jewish bride is, is married, she was under the authority of her father, living in her father's home. But she goes into the waters of the mikvah, and as she is immersed and completely buried under that, she comes out no longer under the authority of her father, but now that authority is transferred, now she's living under the authority beloved, listen: of her new husband. And, and isn't that the same thing with us? We go, before going to the waters of the mikvah; we're under the authority what, of sin? But we go under the water and the Lord says your no longer under the authority of sin, you're under my authority, and I give to you the authority and the power now to live as my son. I've called you into freedom. We come out of the waters of the mikvah, transfer to a different Master; we're now under the authority beloved of Yeshua, the Messiah.
Now get this: in ancient Israel, listen: the water, get this now, the water of the mikvah pool, which we would a baptismal pool; the waters of the mikvah pool had to be, listen now, gathered in a place that was connected to the earth. Why? Because it symbolized death. Where does a person go when they die? They go where? They're buried in the earth. And so you don't wanna just, you know if you could avoid it, you don't wanna be, you know immersed in a bathtub, you know. You wanna go to a natural place, you wanna go to water that's gathered together in a natural place that's connected to the earth, because it symbolizes beloved, the old life is dying. It's passing away. Just like when we die, we're buried under the earth, and that's what the New Testament teaches: old things pass away, that our old life is dead and it's gone, and so we're immersed in a place, buried in the earth and coming out beloved, hallelujah, a brand new creation.
Now we also see that we, that there's a baptism, there's a mikvah taking place, read in the Book of Matthew where people are coming to the, to the waters to John the Baptist, not to Jesus yet; Jesus hadn't been introduced to the scene. It wasn't until Jesus came to the waters of the Jordan to be immersed by John that he was first introduced by the Messiah, where John pointed at him and said behold the Lamb of God. And by the way as a side note, John said when Yeshua came, why are you coming to be baptized? The Lord opened John's eyes to see that Yeshua was the Messiah, and John said why, why are you coming to be baptized by me, I have need to be baptized by you? And what did Yeshua say? No, let all things be done that's fitting for righteousness. And Yeshua himself, listen now, was baptized in a baptism for sinners unto repentance.
Why would our Messiah go to a baptism that was for sinners unto repentance when he had never sinned? It's a precious thing beloved, because he did that, because he was so identifying with you and I in our humanity. Isn't that an awesome thing that he so loves us, and so united himself to us, that he identified with us even in our sin, and he went to the waters of the mikvah with John the Baptist immersing, to be identified with us in our sin, even unto repentance? And you know what? Here was Yeshua, perhaps at his most vulnerable point where he himself takes upon flesh and blood, and goes to a baptism beloved, for sinners. Like he was a sinner, he was never sinned, and yet he bows his knee to the Father, and he says Lord, I'm gonna so identify with these beloved ones that you've chosen and given to me to save; I'm even going to identify with them in their sin.
And you know what? It was at this, this point, perhaps Yeshua's weakest point, that he comes out of that water, having identified with us in our sin, that he comes out of water beloved, and the sky opens up, and the Lord says: You are my beloved Son and in you I am well pleased. And you know what that teaches you and me? That God beloved, he doesn't just love us in our strength. Sometimes we think we can only be loved by the Lord when we're strong. We think that God will only come to us when we're performing well. But no beloved, it was when Yeshua made himself the weakest, identifying himself with us even our sins, that the sky opened and the Lord said: you are my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. God loves you and I beloved, even when we're weak.
Well as we continue here, we also see as we're gaining insight into what immersion means for us in Yeshua's name, by looking at what it meant to the ancient Israel. It was customary that in ancient Israel, when a Gentile wanted to convert to Judaism; they went through a mikvah process, or they went to baptized. Now let me say first of all that I do not advise any Gentile to convert to Judaism, because we're not identifying with Judaism beloved, we're identifying with Jesus. But the rabbinic mindset of the day was that if a Gentile wanted a place in the world to come, they had to become a Jew. That was the mindset of the world before Jesus came.
That's why when Gentiles first believed, there was a debate in the Book of Acts chapter 15, about these Gentiles; do they need to convert to Judaism. And they, because it was the rabbinic mind, if a Gentile wants a place in heaven, they need to; they need to become a Jew. No longer is that the case. I would never, I would never convert any Gentile to, to being Jewish, because being Jewish is; you're born Jewish, number one, and secondly, God tells us not to identify with anything, but, but Jesus. But, but what happened in ancient Israel is a Gentile that wanted to convert to Judaism would once again go to the waters of a mikvah. He would get baptized. Why? Because it was signifying, listen to this, a complete change of status. That this Gentile was literally, listen to this now, being transformed, hallelujah, from a Gentile to a Jew. Isn't that awesome?
So God is saying to you that when you go into the waters of the mikvah in Yeshua's name, when you're baptized in Yeshua's name, it's so radical what has happened to you, the life that you now have in my Son is so radical, the life that I'm giving you now is so radical, the things have so substantially changed for you that it's even greater than what it was signifying for a Gentile that was suddenly supposedly coming out of the water a Jew. You've been completely changed; you are a new creation in Messiah Jesus. And those of you that have really been born again, you know that there's always change, change that's taking place in your life, because water Yadid, beloved one is a symbol of change.
Listen: when it's real cold, water changes into ice. When it's real hot, water evaporates into the air. If I take this glass of water right here and pour it, it's not gonna remain in the shape that it's in, in this glass, it's gonna change forms. Water is constantly changing. You pour it into a river, it's gonna change shapes along the bank of the river. Water is an agent of change and we're commanded beloved, to go into water, because in Jesus, hallelujah, we're being changed Yadid, we're being transformed.
Father, right now I release healing anointing, Father God, and I release transformational anointing Father God, in the Spirit Father God, to all those that are watching right now. Father, I pray that you release the water if the Holy Spirit right now into the hearts of those that are thirsty Father God, that they might receive Father God, change in their life. That you might be even now Lord, this second, transforming your people Father, cleansing them of sin Father God, and strengthening them in life and righteousness. Establish your kingdom Father God, on the earth and these that are watching right now: build your kingdom Father God, cleanse your people, and transform them into the image and the glory of Yeshua Ha Mashiach.