A License to Sin? | Journeying Through the Book of Romans Season 2

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Do you understand that Jesus came to deliver you from your sin, not just to give you everything that you want from the world? That his real mission is to save his people from their sin. Beloved ones, peace and blessings. We're going to pick up today in chapter number two. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but praise the name of the Lord. The word of God abides forever. Hear the word of God. Paul says, therefore, you have no excuse. Everyone of you who passes judgment in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. And so we're shifting gears now from where we were last week. We're shifting gears from chapter one, and Paul is calling us now to look at ourselves. He's first of all saying to us, this is sin. We're identifying it in the world, but now we saying, if we judge other people, we become guilty ourselves because in judging others, we condemn ourselves because we are doing the same thing that we judge other people for. I mean, this is something that we really need to cultivate in our heart, in our awareness, in our thought life, and in our speech. We need to be very careful about judging. Jesus said, judge not and ye shall not be judged. Let me read it again. Hear the word of God. Romans two chapter one. Therefore, you have no excuse. He's speaking to everybody. Everyone of you who passes judgment for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge, practice the same thing. Yeshua said, judge not and ye shall not be judged. I don't know about you, but every single day I have to make a decision to hold my tongue, to guard my lips. Conversation happens, and you can just feel the energy of the conversation drawing you into gossip or wanting to draw you in to saying, you know, an accusation against somebody. And you have to resist it. You have to resist being in agreement against other people. Judge not and you shall not be judged. We need to be really careful about this. And then Paul goes on to say this, and we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose, this old man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? In other words, so many people that are believers are experiencing God's love towards them and patience towards them, and they misinterpret that as a license to sin. It's like a child that doesn't get disciplined. They misinterpret their parents' love for them as feeling they can do anything they want to do without consequences. But Paul saying, no. The reason God is showing you love is because he's hoping that the love that he's showing you will draw you to his heart. And don't you realize that if you judge other people when God is forgiving you, it's going to bring his wrath upon you? So listen again. For do you suppose, this old man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things, what things, all the things that he listed. I went over those earlier in chapter number one and two. Do you suppose, this old man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and then do the same things yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness? In other words, it's kind of like thinking that because God hasn't judged me yet, because I've just experienced his goodness, he's never going to judge me. Paul says, oh no. He's only showing you gentleness now in hopes that his gentle touch in your life will soften your heart to him and lead you to repentance which in turn will cause you to guard your mouth and not judge people. So he says, or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to each person according to his deeds. Once again, this is the gospel. Paul was proclaiming the gospel. He began the book of Romans by saying that he had been sent as a messenger of Yeshua to proclaim the gospel and that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And how does he begin his gospel presentation? By talking about the wickedness in the earth, helping us to become aware of it so that we'll repent and change our ways. He goes on to say here that Jesus is coming back soon in verse number six. And when he does, he will render to each person according to his deeds. We need to remember this, beloved. We need to be disciplining ourselves so that we're walking in the spirit and not giving ourselves license to do what we want to do. Paul earlier was saying, you don't have license to give into your passions. Then he said, you don't have license to give into a depraved mind. Now we saying, you don't have license or freedom to practice this type of behavior because God is coming back and he's going to render to each person according to what he 's done. I want to help you understand something, beloved. This world is not your home. Our experience on earth is very temporary. This is just a testing place for us. It's just a testing place for us. If we'll practice obedience here, not that we're perfect, but we're striving to obey to be Jesus's disciples, we're going to be rewarded when he returns. That's when our best life now is, not on this earth. On this earth we're instructed to deny ungodliness and practice the truth. You see, the problem in the church today is we don't have an eternal mindset. We have a temporal mindset. We think everything is now. Often times all we're looking for is an experience in the here and in the now, wanting to satisfy ourselves now. But beloved, that's not what we're called to look for in this earth. Think about the life of Jesus. Jesus walked upon the earth, rejected, beat on, spit on. He said, the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. You think about the church fathers and what they went through? No, our best life now is not on this earth. On this earth we're being tested. It's a proving ground. We're storing up reward for when Jesus returns. So Paul says here, Jesus is coming back in verse six, who will render to each person according to his deeds to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, they're going to receive all the blessings of eternal life. But to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey in righteousness, their inheritance at the soon return of Jesus, Paul says, is wrath and indignation. We need to be ready to suffer a bit for Jesus in this world and stop thinking that we can satisfy ourselves or be fulfilled by the things of this world. The things of this world can never fulfill us, so that we should stop trying to use this world to fulfill us, and we should instead be living for Jesus.
Dustin Roberts: This is Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider, and he'll be right back. But first, we want to help you go deeper into God's word. That's why we've come up with a free gift. It 's called 18 Messianic Prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures. It's a PDF and MP3 teaching bundle where you can see for yourself how Jesus fulfills Messianic prophecy throughout the Torah, the prophets, and the writings. Get yours at myfreegift.com/prophecy. Every day Israelis young and old are encountering Jesus through discovering the Jewish Jesus because of friends like you. Your gift is opening hearts in Tel Aviv, the Galilee, Jerusalem, and beyond. But the impact, it doesn't stop at Israel's borders. Across Africa, massive crusades have drawn crowds by the thousands. Your gift is reaching Israel and the world. Visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com and give today. Now back to Rabbi.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Paul says this, verse nine. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Again, he's speaking about the reward, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good. When? Not right now. Think about the apostles. They were murdered, hung upside down, boiled in oil, beaten. I 've been saying this shipwreck. Not right now. Now we're living for Jesus. Once again, beloved, part of the deception in the church today, and some of it comes from the New Age movement which has seeped into the church is that Christian people or people that, you know, believe in Jesus, even if the Jesus they believe in is not the real historical Jesus, they're thinking what they should expect is that God is going to give them everything in this world and that will make them happy. But the Bible says in the book of first John, all that's in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life, it's not from the Father, but from the world. You see, the New Age theology that's gotten into the church, it's made it about now. Everything's about the now. And so especially the younger generation, all they're looking for, listen, is an experience in the now. They go to church and all they're looking for is an experience to feel good when the worship's going. Frankly, sometimes I look around and I see everybody almost in a frenzy with the worship music, and I'm asking myself, God, is this you that they're feeling, or have they just worked themselves up into an emotional state the same way they would at a rock concert? Because true discipleship and true worship goes way beyond getting goosebumps when the worship music's playing. True worship is obedience to lifestyle. It's waking up in the morning as a soldier of the cross, as a soldier of Christ to say, I put you before me, Lord. I'm going to follow you today. I'm going to deny myself. I 'm not going to ask myself what my plans are. I'm going to ask what your plans are. I'm not going to do what I want. I want to ask what you want. I want to be like Jesus that said, not my will, but thy will be done. Father, I want to be like Yeshua that did nothing apart from you. You see, it's a different gospel. Today people are just looking to be fulfilled in the now. But Jesus said, everyone that wants to be my disciple must pick up his cross, deny himself and follow me. Do you see the two gospels? On the one gospel that we're hearing often times now, it's all about God giving us everything in the world so we can live our best life now. But the gospel that Paul preached is that we deny ourselves worldly lust. We live for Jesus. We have an eternal mindset and that our best life comes not in this world, which the Bible says we're strangers and pilgrims in. But our best life comes at Jesus's return when he rewards us for all that we 've done out of our love for him, beloved. Come on. Come on with me now. Let's use common sense here. Let's reject that which is not of God and receive the solid written truth. This is the gospel. It's recorded for the saints once and for all. It doesn't matter what's acceptable to man today. It doesn't matter what's acceptable in Christian culture today. Times are always changing. What matters is what does the eternal word of God say? The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of God abides forever. Then Paul goes on to say, continuing here in verse number 11, for there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned, what's going to happen here? Is Paul's going to go on to tell us now, you know what? You guys are all guilty. I'm telling you to do good, but I 'm telling you now you're going to find out that we're all guilty and we desperately need Jesus. We need to repent and turn our lives completely over to Jesus because you're all guilty and in danger of God's wrath. And so let's see what he does here. He says, for there is no partiality with God for all who have sinned without the law. This is the Gentiles, those that did not receive the Ten Commandments during the time of Paul's writings. The Gentiles did not have the law. For there is no partiality with God for all who have sinned without the law, the whole Torah, will also perish without the law. And all who have sinned under the law and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. So he's looking at the world and he's dividing the world into two classes, Jew and Gentile. Those of the Gentile world that sinned against God without the law, and we're going to see that they sinned against God even though they didn't have the law because they went against their conscience and the Holy Spirit was bearing them witness in their conscience about right and wrong, but they rejected the truth and still they what was wrong. So Gentiles are guilty for sitting against their conscience, and Jews are guilty because they had the written Torah and they sinned against that. The whole world Paul's about to say is guilty. Why is he doing that? Because he's preparing us to receive Jesus. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God. In other words, just because the Jewish people heard the law, that doesn't make them just, but the doers of the law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law, these not having the law are a law to themselves in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternatingly accusing or else defending them. On the day when according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. And so Paul is just going to continue on now by saying to the Jewish person, listen, don't think that you're better than the Gentile just because you've heard the law. Just because you've heard it doesn't make you right. And by the way, there are Gentiles that have never heard the law and yet they're doing those things that the law has instructed, and they're more righteous than you. But Paul is going to continue to tell us there's no one righteous before God. Whether Jew or Gentile, no, not one. And so as he continues here, he says this, on the day, he says, this is all going to be revealed when according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. Beloved, what's the point of all this? When I first came to know the Lord back in 1978 as a Jewish person, frankly, I was raised in a conservative synagogue, and I did not have a deep revelation of sin. I just knew that I was lost when Jesus appeared to me, that I was confused, that I was desperate. And when Jesus appeared to me, I knew that God loved me, that he was alive, that Jesus was the way to him, and that Jesus was the way out of where I was living. He was the way out of fear and depression and confusion. And I started devouring the word of God. But you know what happened? The longer I journeyed with Jesus, the more deeply I became convicted of my own sin. And now after walking with Yeshua, after walking with God, the longer I've walked with him, the more convicted of sin I am. I mean, I've been cleansed of so many things, but I'm more convicted of sin now even though I'm much more, quote, righteous or cleansed than I was in 1978. But the work of the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin so we can be cleansed. Do you understand that Jesus came to deliver you from your sin, not just to give you everything that you want from the world? That his real mission is to save his people from their sin. When he was born, the angel appeared to Mary and said, you shall call him Yeshua for he shall save his people from their sin. Father, we ask you for a spirit of conviction so that you will show us what in our soul needs to be cleansed so we can be washed of it by the blood of Jesus and transformed by the living spirit of God and become pleasing to you in all our ways. Beloved, I say this with authenticity before the Lord. Discovering the Jewish Jesus is one of the best and most important ministries that you can partner with on the earth. We are reaching the world with the gospel, and more precisely today, we're reaching Jewish people with the gospel, which is the mandate of the church. Paul said to the Jew first and also to the Greek or to the Gentiles. Yeshua came and he first brought the message to the Jewish people, and then the message spread from there around the world to Jerusalem, Samaria, and all the nations of the earth. We are broadcasting right now in 97% of the homes in Israel that have television sets as well as a big portion of the entire Middle East. By you becoming a monthly partner with this ministry, you take a step forward and be part of God's steps on the earth to reach around the globe to gather in a harvest of precious Jewish souls. When Jewish people come to faith in him, that creates the spiritual climate for the Lord's return. Now is the time. I believe more than ever before to bring the good news of the Jewish Messiah Jesus to them, and you can be a part of doing that by becoming a monthly partner today.
Dustin Roberts: Thank you, Rabbi and friends. If you'd like to stand with this ministry as we bring the gospel to Jewish people in Israel, visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call 800-777-7835. And also you can text the keyword give to the phone number 88777 and give that way as well. I'm Dustin Roberts, and I'd like to explain more about how your partnership is helping us pursue that mission through our Israel outreach, which is where we're reaching Jewish people directly living in Israel. As Rabbi shared, it's a critical time to make the good news of the Jewish Messiah available to his people. And your monthly support, it helps provide the resources needed to keep that outreach moving forward. What we've done is we've put up billboards in the land of Israel directly in Hebrew that challenges people to receive Jesus as Messiah. It asks them, what if he is the Messiah? What if he's right? And it sends them to a website that explains how Jesus fulfills Messianic prophecy in the Hebrew Scriptures. And not only that, we're also putting digital ads on their phones in Israel where people get it right in their home, right where they're at while they're on the internet on their phone. They get these same ads and it sends them to the website what if he is right.co.il in Hebrew to explain Jesus to them. So thank you so much for helping us reach people in Israel with the gospel. And we have a gift for those who've not yet become a monthly partner that comes from Israel. It's a beautifully handcrafted shofar. If you've never become a monthly partner and you want to support this ministry monthly, visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com and partner today. Now here's Rabbi with the ironic blessing.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: The ironic blessing in the book of Numbers chapter six is not a blessing that comes from an impersonal being out there somewhere in the heavens. This special blessing comes from a person, Yahweh, God Almighty, our creator and maker. So receive God's blessing into your life right now. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance, and the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. And now in Hebrew God bless you and shalom.
Dustin Roberts: I'm your host Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. A lot of people say, I'm a good person. I'm going to heaven. But Friday, Rabbi Schneider explains why good works can never earn salvation right here on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.