(Open Doors to the Jewish Community conference at Deltona Alliance Church, Florida, 30-31 Jan 2010)
Jn 16:8-11 And when [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me: of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
The gospel is for sinners. The Lord Jesus says here that [the] sin is not believing in Him. Not believing in Him leads to lawlessness of all kinds.
The gospel was first brought from Messiah Yeshua to Israel and the Jewish people: to His own. This good news and its necessity to the Jewish people has never been changed . . . by God! The cross is still a cause of stumbling to the Jewish person – the idea that our God would actually become a despised and rejected Man hanging on the cursed tree! And even worse, that we insisted that He be killed in that way!!
The Holy Spirit in us who believe, whether we be Jews or not, bears witness with our spirit that we are sons of God, and without the Holy Spirit no one can call Jesus for who/what He is: LORD/YHVH. How then is it that some today teach that the Jewish people do not necessarily have to believe in Jesus in order to be saved; that God has another way for them, or that because of wrongs done to them by the Christian church He has shown partiality to the Jewish people regarding salvation? There is no other name under Heaven given to men by which they may be saved! There is no way to the Father other than through His Son! If we are uncertain in our own conscience about this mystery of the faith, then who will be convicted of the sin of unbelief through our evangelism?!
The gospel came first to the Jews, and praise God, He is faithful to keep His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and He is bringing it back to us! Judgment is also to the Jews first; so is honor: to whom much is given more is required; the first-born son has responsibilities greater than those less privileged. This is not a post-missionary time for the Jewish people. The Great Commission which the Lord Jesus Himself gave is until the end of the age, which has not yet arrived, but, thankfully, is getting nearer! God is so much more concerned and able to accomplish what He has commanded us to do than we are, that He will even be sending out angels to finish the job of preaching the everlasting gospel. (Rev 14:6) The glory will be His alone, who alone is the only wise God and Savior – both of the Jews and also of the Gentiles!
As God opens doors for you into your Jewish communities, if you are Gentiles (i.e., not Jewish), first of all, do not be embarrassed that you are not Jewish. Secondly, the Lord has given you a special calling as Gentiles to provoke His people to jealousy by your knowledge of Him more than they have: in Christ our relationship is personal, not distant. At the same time, God has called you to have mercy upon His people, since by their being put aside for a time, He has done that in order to show mercy to you. At the end of the day, we who have been saved will all know that we have all been disobedient, and have needed the mercies of God in order to be found worthy to stand by grace before the Son of Man when He judges the living and the dead. Such is the wisdom of our God and Father!
For those of us who are Jews, we know that it is God who defines who and what a Jew truly is. We can have a boldness such as Peter had after Pentecost when speaking with our own people. Jews may not be that honest, but they want to see integrity in others. Let them see it in us, that we fear God and not man, and we know who it is that we believe in, because Jesus is the one of whom Moses and the Prophets spoke and wrote. He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
Is 49:6 It is a light thing that Thou should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. . . .
