Rabbi Schneider - A Remnant Call
Beloved, I want to declare to you today, one of the most penetrating truths in the word of God. I want to talk today about the doctrines of election and remnant theology. Now, what do I mean by this? What I mean is that from the beginning of God's revelation, in his word, we see that he has a chosen people, that he has sovereignly elected to be his own out of all the peoples of the earth, not because of anything that these chosen ones did, not because there was something found in them that qualified them, but rather because God just determined in his grace to show them mercy. This truth that I'm proclaiming, beloved, it can set you free because when you realized that God loved you even before you were born and he chose you to be his own, not because of anything you did, but simply because he chose to love you, that will give you a security in his love that will propel you forward in the grace of God.
This doctrine that I'm teaching right now, it's often not taught. We live in a country and in a culture where everybody wants everything to be fair by their own standards. And so people in today's culture think it would be unfair if God created one person different than he treated another person. But the truth is when we look in God's word, we see that from the very beginning, he didn't treat everybody the same way. Consider Israel for example. In the book of Deuteronomy 7:6 God said to Israel, "I have chosen you Israel to be a people for my own possession, to be a people for myself out of all the peoples on the face of the earth". So there's no question, the word of God teaches that God chose Israel to be as first covenant people out of all the peoples on the face of the earth. He didn't choose all the people, but rather he chose only Israel.
So the question that we need to ask is why did he choose Israel? The Lord said, it's not because you are a great, he said you were the fewest of all the people, but I chose you because I loved you. Yes, it also had to do with Abraham obeying the call of God on his life. When Abraham offered up Isaac whom the scripture calls his only son and after Abraham offered up Isaac, the Lord said, "Because you have done this thing, I will greatly bless you, Abraham. And through your seed, all the nations of there shall be blessed". But I want you to understand it was only because God supernaturally appeared to Abraham, that Abraham had faith. This is why a Ephesians chapter 2 tells us, "By grace we've been saved through faith and the faith that we have, it's not of ourselves. It's the gift of God".
I want you to hear me today. God has an elect remnant in the world that belonged to him. And it's for these elect that Jesus died. Now I know that sounds like a strong statement, but Jesus taught this in John chapter 6 and in John chapter 10 in John 6, Jesus said, and I'm going to teach on this a little bit more on the program today, he said, "No one can come to me unless the father draws him. All the father gives me will come to me. And he that comes to me will in no wise be cast out". When people were grumbling against him in John 6, Yeshua said, don't grumble against me. Don't think you're above me, judging me. Yeshua went on to say no one's going to know who I am and come to me unless the father reveals it to him. This is the same truth that he was teaching in John 10, when people were grumbling against him once again, accusing him of all types of things and Yeshua said to those that were accusing him that didn't believe, he said, "You believe not, because you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. My father has given them to me. And my father is greater than all. And no one shall snatch them out of my hand".
Perhaps the strongest statement that Yeshua made along these lines, him coming, knowing that he would accomplish the salvation of the elect is found in what is called the high priestly prayer in John 17, where Yeshua is coming to the end of his earthly life and he offers up his last prayer to the father. And he says, "Father, I pray not for the world, but for those who now has given me out of the world". Jesus had a chosen people. He said, you did not choose me, but I chose you. I want you to hear today, church, that if you believe in the Lord, it's not because you simply had a 50, 50% chance of believing or not believing. You believe because God chose you before the foundation of the world and brought you to a place of faith and commitment. It's God that's at work in your life, both to will and do for his own good pleasure.
Those of us that are believers, we are a chosen generation or a remnant in the planet. This truth that I'm proclaiming, it's always been taught. It just that the mindset of the world today doesn't like to hear it, because once again, they think it makes God unfair. But we have to realize that the Lord is not dealing with innocent humanity. He's dealing with a fallen world. The scripture says that there's none that see God, no, not one. So what the Lord did is he intervened in humanity who was not seeking him and out of an entire race, the entire human race that was walking away from him, God broke into some of their lives, just like he did the Apostle Paul, when the Apostle Shaul, or Paul, was going to arrest any Jew that believed in Jesus and on his, the road called the road to Damascus. All the sudden Paul, who was dead set against faith in Jesus, all the sudden he was knocked off his horse by a blinding light. And then he was on the ground, he was blinded by the light. And then he heard the voice of Yeshua say to him, "Paul, Paul," or "Shaul, Shaul" in Hebrew, "why are you persecuting me? Now get up and be told what you must do for me".
So the Lord intervened in Paul's life. He intruded and brought Paul to a place of faith. And this is the case with all God's elect. Now your conversion experience might've seemed to you to be nothing like Paul's. You may not even remember the exact day, that you gave your life to the Lord, because for some of it was a very gradual process. But let me ask you this question, beloved one. Why do you believe, but the majority of people don't believe? What makes you different? Why do you believe, but the majority of people in the earth do not believe? Is it because somehow you're smarter? Is because somehow you figured it out? No. The reason you believe, beloved one, is because you're chosen. The Bible tells us in the book of Ephesians chapter 1 and chapter 2, I'm going to actually begin to quote from chapter 1, beginning in verse 3, and the scripture says, "Blessed, be the God and father of the Lord, Jesus Christ who chose us".
Paul is speaking to the church to believers. "Individually," he says, "who chose us in him, in Messiah. The father chose us in Messiah". Paul said, "before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless in love". And then Paul continued and he said, "The Lord predestined us to adoption as sons in him". God chose you before the foundation of the world and then he predestined you to himself through faith. Now you may again have had a specific experience that you can remember the day that it happened, or maybe you just remember, even as a young person, always believing. Either way you believe, because God gave you faith. This is why Paul said in Ephesians chapter 2 to us, "By grace, you've been saved through faith". And that, meaning the faith, is not from you. It's not of yourself. It's the gift of God.
And so God has a chosen people. Jesus, when he came to earth, he knew that not everyone would believe. This is why he said in John 10, "You believe not because you're not my sheep". This is why he said in John 6, "No man can come to me unless it's been granted from the father". God has an elect remnant people. What is a remnant? A remnant is a small portion leftover. We look in the scriptures we find, for example, in the book of Bereshit, or Genesis, that God decided to start all over and he saved only a remnant, Noah and Noah's family. We read in the book of Isaiah, that Isaiah says, "Though the people of Israel be as the sand of the sea," Isaiah said, "only a remnant will be saved".
It's interesting that even as Israel is a remnant people, because God chose Israel out of all the peoples of the face of the earth, so to beyond that, even in Israel, there's only a remnant that will be saved. Jesus said this. "Broad and wide is the way that leads to destruction and many," that's the larger portion of people, "be that take it. But straight and narrow," Yeshua said, "is the way that to life and few there be that find it". You see, there's only a remnant of people that will be saved. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 24 regarding what's going to happen in the earth during the end days, which we are entering in right now to the last days to the end days in its real form. Listen to what Yeshua said. Matthew 24, verse 21 and 22, "For there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will". He's speaking about what's going to be happening in the middle of the tribulation here. We're entering into these days. I'm going to be speaking at another time about the end times and why we are entering into the end times based on what we're seeing happening on the planet right now. You can know that.
Listen as Yeshua continues. He says this. "Unless those days," these tribulation days, these final seven years, "unless those days had been short, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the elect," there's Jesus using the word elect, "those days will be cut". Once again, Jesus is referring to the remnant of people in the earth. Those that are chosen to the father and he refers to them as the elect. He speaks the same truth in the 24th verse of this same chapter. Hear the word of God. Yeshua is again speaking about the end times. He says, "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect". Once again, Jesus is talking about all types of delusional powers in the earth. So strong are these powers of darkness that everyone would be deceived if possible, Jesus said, even the elect. But it's impossible for the elect to be deceived because they belong to the father. And Yeshua said that no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand.
Do you remember, beloved ones, when Peter came to faith? Yeshua said to Peter, "Who do they say that I am"? And Peter said, "Some say Elijah, some say John the Baptist," Jesus said, "Who do you say that I am"? And Peter said, "You're the Christ. You're the anointed one. You're the Messiah". In other words, Peter knew that Jesus wasn't just Elijah. He wasn't John the Baptist back from the dead. Peter knew that Yeshua was the prophesied Messiah. And then when Peter exclaimed that, when Peter said, "I know who you are, you're the Messiah". Jesus' response to him was, "Blessed art thou Simon, son of John. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven". And then Jesus went on to say, "And upon this rock," what rock? The rock of revelation. Jesus just got done saying to Peter, "flesh and blood has not revealed this to you," revealed what? Revealed to Peter that Yeshua was the Messiah.
So Jesus says, "Flesh and blood didn't reveal to you, Peter, that I'm the Messiah. But my father who is in heaven did, and upon this rock," the rock of revelation, the rock of the father revealing Jesus to his own. So I want you to know today that those of you that have truly given your heart to the Lord, didn't do it because there was something in you that was different than everybody else. But rather you did it because the father was at work in your heart, by his spirit and brought you to himself by his grace. This is why John says in the first chapter and the 13th verse that we were born again, not by the will of man, nor by the flesh. But we were born by the will of God. Born again by the will of God.
I want to encourage you today. Don't ever doubt your faith. Sometimes I run into believers and they're a little bit wobbly in their faith because they think, "Maybe if I was born in Iran or Iraq or Saudi Arabia, maybe I would have a completely different faith. And some of these people from the other world religions, they think they seem to be as convinced that they're right as I am that I'm right. So how can I be sure," believers sometimes think, "that I'm right". I want to encourage you. Don't doubt your faith. You have a faith that was given to you as a gift. And I can tell you as a Jew, that the only sacrifice for sin is a blood sacrifice. And there is no one in the planet that has ever died for the sins of the world. Shedding his blood as an atonement for sin, but Yeshua Hamashiach who died with a sign over his head, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
Beloved, we have the truth. Don't ever doubt it. Be convinced of it and recognize that God has a call on your life to be his witness, to reach others that are his chosen people that have not yet come to faith. You see Jesus said, "As the father sent me, so also now I send you". We have a mission, beloved one, in the planet to continue the mission of Jesus by being his witnesses and know that when you share your faith with your dentist, with whoever it might be, your dentist, your doctor, your neighbors, your work associates, extended family, know that when you share your faith, it's not just your words that will make the difference in the life of the elect.
But rather the father will anoint your words by the Holy Spirit so that when he's working in the life of someone that you're witnessing to, he will bear witness supernaturally by his spirit with your witness and use your witness to bring people to himself, both Jews and Gentiles. I have prepared a special clip for you that I'm going to roll in just a minute. I want you to watch this clip with an open heart. I talk not only about some of the things that I've already shared in today's broadcast, but I go deeper sharing with you how I believe discovering the Jewish Jesus is an end times ministry on planet earth right now. Soon things are going to get so dark, people won't be able to believe. We need to make a difference why we can, while there's still light in the world so we can be used of God to bring people to himself and there'll be reward for every single one of us. Let's watch.
Shalom Yedidim that's Hebrew for beloved friends. I want to tell you about something that happened to me about 15 years ago. It always stuck with me. I was shepherding a messianic congregation in the Toledo, Ohio area. And there was a man that used to come occasionally. And he looked almost like a John the Baptist, his hair was long. It was unkempt. I didn't know him. He just would come in and out sometimes a little crazy wild-eyed looking type of a guy. And he came up to me one day after the Friday evening service. And he said to me, "God has given you the remnant". And that really resonated with me because as a Jewish person, that believes in Yeshua I've always taken very seriously what I call remnant theology. What this means is that when we study the scriptures, we find that God always has a chosen elect people. And God's chosen elect people are always just a sliver of the mass population.
So for example, Israel was God's special first covenant people. And yet they were only a small number of the people that were inhabiting planet earth. The scriptures tell us that the same thing is happening today. That God has a remnant people that are his. Not from amongst Jews only, but from amongst Gentiles and in fact from every tribe, tongue, and nation, we see this concept illustrated in John chapter 6, where Jesus said, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourself". And the masses all laughed. They said, who could listen to this? They accused him of being crazy and having a demon and Yeshua looked at his disciples. He said, "Do you also want to leave"? And they said, "Well, where are we going to go? You have the words of life". And then Yeshua said, "This is why I said to you, that no man can come to me unless it's been granted from the father".
Now the reason, beloved, that I tell you that story is I am very focused on reaching that remnant. You see there's a chosen people on the earth right now in present day history that God chose before the foundation of the world according to the book of Ephesians and God is just waiting for them to hear the gospel. Because when they hear, the Holy Spirit's already prepared their hearts to believe. They're going to believe and receive. This is why everywhere we go around the world and preach the gospel, people come to the Lord and are saved. Who are these that are coming? These are the Lord's remnant. These are the Lord's chosen people.
I believe Discovering the Jewish Jesus is a chosen ministry by the Lord to reach an end times remnant and to build up the remnant who is already the church. That's you. The book of Zechariah tells us in Zechariah 8:23, "In the last days, 10 men from all nations will take a hold of the garment of a Jew and say, 'We want to go with you because we know that God is with you.'" And the Apostle Paul told us that when Jewish people come to faith, it will be like life from the dead for the entire church. I believe that Discovering The Jewish Jesus is an end times soul-winning ministry to win the remnant, to strengthen the church, god's remnant people. And to reach those that are God's chosen people, but they've not yet been reached with the good news of Messiah Jesus.
I want to ask you today, if the Holy Spirit is even right now, bearing witness with your heart that what I'm saying is true, you can feel it. I want to ask you to become a monthly partner with the Lord through Discovering The Jewish Jesus. Beloved, we're reaching people. Lives are being saved.
I just received probably five days ago a testimony from someone that wrote in her name was Barbara from Florida. And she said, "Rabbi, the Lord spoke to me and said, I have chosen Rabbi to reach my remnant," but we have to do it together because without you beloved, I can't do it. Everything we do, the truth is costs money, the crusades, the television, the radio, the YouTube, it all costs money. That's why even Jesus had a treasure.
And so I want to ask you, would you open your heart? Let the Holy Spirit speak to you. And if you feel him saying, "Yes, there's only one life and it'll soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ for him will last". We need to use our finances for God's glory today. If you feel the Holy Spirit just putting weight on this, would you take a step of faith and would you come into covenant with God in this matter and say:
Lord, I want to partner with you to reach the earth for the gospel. I believe that you've chosen Rabbi Schneider and Discovering The Jewish Jesus to be a tool in your hand during these days and Father God, I want to sow my finances into your kingdom and into your work. I'm going to become a monthly partner with you, Father, today through Discovering The Jewish Jesus.