Skip to content Mysteries in the Gospel of John Season 9: Believers, Followers, and Disciples Mar 8 · 21 min ...more
Mysteries in the Gospel of John Season 9: Believers, Followers, and Disciples
March 8, 2024 · 21 min
Episode 2 of 4 In this episode, Rabbi Schneider breaks down the crucial distinction between being a believer in Christ and truly following Him.
Series Discovering The Jewish Jesus March 8, 2024 · 21 min · Discovering The Jewish Jesus
Episode 2 of 4 In this episode, Rabbi Schneider breaks down the crucial distinction between being a believer in Christ and truly following Him. ...more Show the full description Show less Episode 2 of 4 In this episode, Rabbi Schneider breaks down the crucial distinction between being a believer in Christ and truly following Him.
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0:00 So there's a difference between being a believer and being a disciple. Being a believer is not sufficient to save. We have to become disciples.0:18 We're in 1 of the most remarkable portions in my view, beloved ones, in the word of God in John chapter 8. It's such an amazing dialogue that takes place between0:29 Yeshua and the Jewish people that he was surrounded by in the land of Judea. Now keep in mind that although these Jewish people were believing in him and Yeshua had some0:41 very harsh words for them, this dialogue does not speak of all Jewish people. When John uses the word, as I said in last time's episode, when John0:52 uses the word Jews in the Gospel of John, he is not referring to all Jewish people. As I said, the apostles were all Jews. Jesus had salvations from the Jews. Jesus was a Jew.1:04 John was referring to the Judean religious leadership. So in John 8, Yeshua gets in a dialogue with the Judean religious leadership. Now many of1:16 them were believing, but they weren't believing with the saving faith. Jesus begins to speak to it says, the Jews that believed in him. And then Yeshua said to them, if1:28 you continue in my word this is review now. If you continue in my word, he said, then you're truly disciples of mine. So there's a difference between being a1:40 believer and being a disciple. Being a believer is not sufficient to save. We have to become disciples. Jesus said unless we pick up our cross, deny ourself, and follow him, we cannot be his disciple. And I1:51 began to talk about the different classes of people that attach themselves to Jesus. We had the seekers. Right? Those that followed him because they liked the miracles or because he turned the loaves into bread and fed2:02 them. Right? Does he multiplied the bread and fed them? They were the seekers. Then we had what John calls here in the book of in the Gospel of John, the believers. Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed. They2:14 believed, but they didn't continue with him. So we have people that believe, but even the demons believe and and tremble. And then we have disciples. And Jesus says here, if you continue, if you2:25 walk with me your whole life, if you keep, beloved 1, pressing in to know him more, If you're on, listen to me, a quest to know God. Are you on a2:37 quest to know God? Because listen what Jesus said would happen would happen if you were on a quest to know him. If you continue in my word, then you're truly disciples of mine and you will know the truth2:49 and the truth will make you free. Think about the reward of being on a quest for God. Yeshua said if you continue on with me, if you keep on pressing in for more, if you keep on letting me change3:01 you, if you'll if you'll allow me to change you from glory to glory, if you'll allow me to continue to sanctify you, if you'll allow me to make all things new in your life,3:13 if you're willing to be like Abraham that let go of the past so he could embrace the new thing, Jesus said, you're gonna know the truth and the truth3:25 will make you, listen, free. Can you imagine that to be totally and completely, truly, listen, free.3:37 I mean, that's 1 of the reasons that I keep on pressing on to know Jesus, because I believe in that. It's not about religion. It's about knowing Him and experiencing Him. In fact, the great Westminster3:49 Confession said that man's greatest goal in life is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. So let's continue on now. Jesus speaks about knowing the truth and the truth will set you free.4:01 And these Jewish leaders, religious leaders, they say, do you mean you'll set us free? We've never been enslaved to anybody. We're Abraham's children. And Jesus pointed out the problem of sin. They thought they were free4:12 because they didn't have, you know, somebody oppressing them right now. But Jesus said, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about sin. I'm talking about sin makes people slaves. So again, reviewing from last time's4:24 episode, Jesus said, the slave does not remain in the house forever. The son does remain forever. If the son makes you free, you will be free indeed. And he was he was talking about4:36 sin. Truly, say to you, he said, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. Now listen as we press on to some new material how this dialogue continues. Remember it started out in verse number 30 with4:48 these words. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in him. He's still talking to the same people. He's still talking to these Jews that had believed in him. So notice what happens next in verse 37.5:00 Yeshua said, I know that you're Abraham's descendants. In other words, they were physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I know that you're Abraham's descendants, yet he said, you seek to kill5:12 me because my word has no place in you. I speak the things which I've seen with my father. Therefore, you also do the things which you heard from your5:24 father. I mean, this is crazy, this conversation. It goes to this section of scripture speaking about these Jews that have believed in him. It goes from that to all of a sudden Jesus is gonna5:36 tell them that they're of their father, the devil. Now, once again, Jesus is not speaking about all Jewish people here. Okay? You need to understand that this is not an excuse for anti Semitism. He's speaking to the5:45 Judean religious leadership that was rejecting him. Now listen. He said, I know that you are Abraham's descendants, yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I5:57 speak the things which I've seen with my father. Therefore, you also do the things which you heard from your father. Now get what happens next. They answered and said to him, Abraham is6:09 our father. Jesus said to them, if you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you're seeking to kill me. A man who has told you the6:21 truth, which I heard from God, this Abraham did not do. You're doing the deeds of your father. They said to him, we were not born of fornication. We have 1 father,6:32 God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I've not even come on my own initiative, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I'm saying?6:44 It's because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father, the devil. Wow. Talk about political correctness. I mean, today, you6:56 know what I'm saying? I mean, today there's like no place just to be straight with people. Yeshua says, you are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the7:07 beginning. What was in these people's heart? They wanted to kill Jesus. I mean, they hated his guts because his word brought conviction of sin. Jesus continues about the devil. He says, he7:19 does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. It's really7:31 interesting. Whenever he speaks, he speaks from his own nature. In other words, this is just who the devil is. He just is a liar. That's why 1 of the signs of the end of the age is7:43 deception. Jesus begins in Matthew 24 when he's talking about the end of the age. And the disciples are asking him, tell us, when will be the signs of your coming and of the end of the age?7:54 When's the end of the age gonna come and what are gonna be the signs of it? The first thing that Jesus said was that many people would be deceived. The God of this world has blinded humanity to the truth. I mean, now8:06 people can't even think straight. They really can't think straight. I mean, they are so taken captive by their smartphone. They're just they're just like they're they're like they're zombies.8:18 They can't think straight. And they're being misled by all this false information in addition to simply the power of the air and the way the devil, the powers of darkness have entered the mind of humankind. I8:30 mean, deceptions on the earth right now. People don't know up from down, right. I know you're in agreement down from up. They don't know left from right. It's all messed up and twisted around. Jesus said the devil when8:40 he speaks to his own nature, he's a liar. That's what's going on right now. Mass deception preparing the earth for the end of the age and the soon return of Jesus. Because it's only when there's mass deception8:52 on the planet, beloved ones, that the antichrist can arise. And Yeshua can't return until the antichrist has arisen. So right now the power of the Holy Spirit has begun to take9:05 withdraw so that the powers of darkness can escalate. And it's all to prepare the world for Jesus' return. Yeshua continues in verse number 45. He says, but because I9:16 speak the truth, you do not believe me. Which 1 of you convicts me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe me? Isn't it interesting? It starts out9:28 in John 8 31, these Jews that had believed. But it wasn't the type of belief that's true belief. Right? It didn't go deep. It was very, very surface. Yeshua continues, he was of God, hears the words of9:40 God. For this reason, you do not hear them because you're not of God. You know, we have so many that are sitting in churches today and, you know, they are self identified9:52 Christians and they think they're fine because they go to church once a week, but they're not really in alignment with truth when it comes to what's going on in our culture today. When it comes to what's actually going10:02 on on the planet, many that self identify as Christians and think they're okay because they've been going to church their whole life. When it comes to questions like a same sex marriage, what do they do? They10:14 lean towards the direction of the LGB the movement there, the, you know, the transgender movement. They're not standing in God's word. They're not standing in truth because they they're not rooted in truth. When10:26 it comes to abortion, many many people that self identify as Christians, rather than standing on God's word, thou shall not murder, instead they take the side of what they call women's10:38 reproductive rights, that a woman should have a choice to do with whatever she wants with her own body, including the living fetus, the living child that's inside her. And so this is what Jesus is pointing at. Yeah, you10:50 might these people that are in churches, they say they believe. They think they believe. They call themselves believers. But you know what? They weren't disciples. They couldn't continue on with the truth. They11:01 couldn't receive the word. That's how we know if we're really disciples. Will we receive the word when it's hard? Will we beloved 1 receive the word and walk in the word when it's against the spirit11:13 of the age? When it's against the culture? When it cost us something? When it cost us something to be different, to stand out, to be loud, and to be vocal for Jesus.11:25 Yeshua continues on. Once again, which 1 of you convicts me of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason you do not hear11:37 them because you're not of God. The Jews answered and said to him, do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? I mean, to me when I read it,11:48 it's almost comical. I mean, to me, it's almost laughable. Here here he is, the Son of God, you know, true I mean, mean, the sword of truth. I mean, living12:00 fire. You know, all these miracles, you know, straight as an arrow. And how do they respond to him? Because they wouldn't receive it? The Jews answered and said to him, do we not say12:12 rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? I mean, it's nuts. You know, here's another example that I find really humorous. After Yeshua raised Lazarus from the dead, we'll get you, God willing, a little bit12:24 later in the gospel of John, the Jewish religious leadership. And once again, I wanna point out, when we speak about Jews here, we're not talking about the Jewish people as a whole. We're talking about the Jewish12:34 leadership in Judea. Remember, Jesus is a Jew. Paul said the gospel is the power of God to salvation to the Jew first and also the Gentile. We're not talking about Jewish people as a whole. We're talking12:46 about the religious leadership that we're rejecting them. But what's what's amazing with what is going on right now is that the church is12:58 unwilling to preach the gospel as it relates to taking a point with things that are actually going on in the world right now. But I want to get back to the point I was talking about. I was actually talking about in13:10 John after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. So after Yeshua raised Lazarus from the dead, the Jewish leadership, the religious leaders got together. They said, what are they what are we gonna do with him? They they13:21 said, what are we gonna do with this Jesus? He's doing so many miracles. It's undone. Everybody's starting to follow him. We've got to stop him. And they got together. They said, what are we gonna do with this man? If we13:33 don't stop him, they said, everyone's gonna believe in him. And they're gonna stop following us, the Jewish religious leader said, and they're gonna start following Him. And they said, and we're gonna lose our place.13:46 And so it says from that point forward, they got together. They started planning. Listen, it says from that point forward, they were plotting to kill him. They were plotting, literally plotting as13:58 to how to kill him. And what I find is is kind of funny about the situation is it wasn't enough for them to kill Jesus. They also wanted to kill Lazarus. Jesus just got done raising14:09 Lazarus from the dead. So their way of solving the problem was not just to kill Jesus, they needed to kill Lazarus too. Because Lazarus here was a dead man that had been raised to life, and now he's walking around14:20 telling people that Jesus raised him from the dead. I think it's just humorous here, what what's going on here. So Jesus does all these things. I mean, it's wisdom. It's words from heaven. Right? I mean, it's it's just14:31 like who can deny it? And what's their response? The Jews answered and said to him, do we not say rightly that you're a Samaritan and have a demon? I mean, it's just like so childish. Jesus answered,14:43 I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. But I do not seek my glory. There is 1 who seeks and judges. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone14:54 keeps my word, he will never see death. Do you know that we might not realize it, but the Bible teaches that the greatest15:06 fear is the fear of death. Why is death such a huge fear? First of all, it's the fear of the unknown because no 1 fully understands other than the guiding light we15:17 have from God's word, what exactly happens at death. And so because it's unknown to people that don't have God's word and aren't saved in the light of the truth of God's word, they really believe15:29 it. For people that don't have God's word, the fear of death, the fear of the unknown is the biggest monster fear of all. And and another reason that makes us such a monster15:41 fear, beloved 1, is because we can't control what happens at death. I mean, when we leave our body, we are not in control. But notice what Jesus said here.15:53 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.16:05 I don't know. Maybe you're watching right now and and you have a fear of death. Maybe you maybe you maybe you don't even realize it, but the the fear of death is binding you. Like I said, it's the mother of all16:17 fears. So father, we thank you today for your word and for your light. We thank you, Yeshua. We thank you, Jesus, for this word that you spoke to us.16:30 That if we would believe in you and follow you, we would never see death. Thank you for delivering us, Jesus, from the devil and from death. We worship16:41 you and we praise you. We say yes to you today. We receive your love and we love you, Yeshua. The Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham16:53 died and the prophets also. And you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste of death. Remember Jesus said in another portion of17:05 scripture, you are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. They didn't understand it. They were trapped here down below in the natural with what they saw with their17:16 eyes. They could not fathom what he was talking about. Jesus They continued on, surely you're not greater than our father Abraham who died. The prophets died17:27 too. Whom do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me of whom you17:39 say, he is our God. And you have not come to know him, but I know him. And if I say I not know him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his17:50 word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old. And have you seen Abraham? Like I said, for18:02 me, it's comical, this conversation. Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.18:14 Therefore, they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went to the temple. Wow. What an incredibly intense drama. I wish I could have been there18:26 to to to see that all happening. It's a conflict between the powers of darkness and the powers of light. And you know what my friends? That conflict is18:38 still going on. I want to encourage you to be strong, to have courage. Jesus said, if you were of the world, the world would love18:49 you. But because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. The student is not greater than his master, Yeshua said, if they persecuted me, they're gonna19:01 persecute you. Beloved ones, let's stay strong for Jesus. Let's keep pressing in. Let's keep digesting his word, eating his flesh, drinking his blood, waking up19:13 every day, putting 1 foot in front of the other in obedience, dying to our self to obey him. God's got a great reward, beloved, for his own.19:25 Beloved, week by week, I'm committed to accurately preaching and teaching the word of God. Those of you that have been following my ministry for a while, note that I oftentimes go19:37 through whole books of the Bible, line by line, simply teaching and preaching God's word. Do you know there aren't a whole lot of people left that are teaching and preaching this way? There's19:49 a lot of motivational sermons and so on. But to simply teach God's word, beloved, it's becoming rare and rare. I want to encourage you if you're being blessed by this ministry to20:00 financially support us. We are going all over the world through broadcasting and on the ground outreaches, teaching God's word. You know, the Bible says that we should support20:11 financially men that are being faithful to the truth, that go out for the sake of the truth. I wanna ask you today, would you sell a financial offering into this ministry? You'll be rewarded for what you20:23 do and beloved, your offerings will be used to reach people all over the world.
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Rabbi Schneider is equipping the body of Christ, building the church, and evangelizing the world. From the Old and New Testament, learn the biblical roots of Christianity and Jesus' Jewish heritage.
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