How To Point The Jew To The Messiah

HOW TO POINT THE JEW TO THE MESSIAH OPENING TEXTS: Romans 9:1-5; 10:1-10. We owe the Jews a debt & we owe the Gentiles a debt, this is because as the Hymn says, " Oh to grace how great a debtor, daily I`m constrained to be...." Everyone who is a Christian has the Holy Spirit of Christ dwelling in them & we all have the love of God in our hearts: "We love Him because He first loved us." (1Jn 4:19) However there are many things that seem to creep into our lives to steal away our first love for Christ. "The lust of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, & the pride of life." We can be spot on doctrinally ( which is very important) BUT we can be like the dead sea (which only has water flowing into a stagnant salty sea with no out let,... no flowing water). Jesus Christ said unto the church of Ephesus which was such a church (Rev 2:4-5) "Neverthe less I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." These few verses picture one thing that is the opposite of revival.---- eventual church closure. Revival of our first love - Jesus Christ, will be shown in our love for each other John 13:35; our love for God`s word John 14:24; 2Thess 2:10; our obedience to His Word & our love for the lost 2Corinthians 5:14-15. What I am going to do is the first of a 2 part series. This first one is called, "How to point a Jew to the Messiah." The next one is a suprise. 1.- Firstly you need to let the Jew that you seek to witness to, that you have a genuine love for his race & tell him why! The Jews are " beloved for the father`s sakes." Romans 11:28 If you don`t have a love for Israel then the otherwise open doors of witnessing to them will be closed. You need to tell them that you love them because, "unto them were committed the oracles of God" Romans 3:2. Moses, King David, Isaiah, Jeremiah were all Jews. Tell them that you love the Jews because Jesus was a Jew. The one in whom they have forgiveness for sin, "was of the seed of Abraham". (Hebrews 2:16). Let them know that the butchering of the Jews in the Holocaust & the crusades that were carried out against them in history was not carried out by true Christians (John 16:14; 1John 4:20). Let them know that you strongly reject Anti-semitism, for it is of the pit of hell & is cursed by God (Genesis 12:3).This, I have found, will remove a major barrier. 2.-Use the direct method! Liberal English speaking Jews may see the name of Jesus as controversal. Even though they may be strongly prejudiced against, " the God of the Christians" Let the testimony have no uncertain sound.

3.-Use thee scriptures. Psalm 19:7-8; Romans 10:17. If the Jew you are witnessing to be an Orthodox Jew, then he would accept the whole Old Testament as scripture; He believes in the coming of a personal Messiah, & he rigidly observes the Sabbath & other prescribed days. He wears phylacteries & other articles when he goes to prayer. He may be a Zionist & repeat with all orthodox Jews,"Next year - next year in Jerusalem." at the Passover celebration. He may be a Reformed Jew , one who has drifted away from the synagogue entirely & belong to a greatly increasing number of Jews who are without hope in the world, having given up the hopes & customs of his fathers to a great extent. BUT NO MATTER WHAT TYPE OF JEW HE OR SHE IS, ..THE WORD OF GOD IS THE ONLY BASIS ON WHICH YOU CAN DEAL WITH A JEW. IT MAY BE THAT THE JEW MAY ADMIT THAT IF THEY ACCEPT THE SCRIPTURES, THEN THEY WOULD HAVE TO ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST!. 4.- Point out very carefully that the Old Covenant predicts two Messianic Advents. The Orthodox Jew believes that at the coming of the Messiah, the national hopes of Israel will be fulfilled. An Orthodox Jew repeats every morning, "I believe with a firm faith in the coming of the Messiah & although he tarry, yet will I wait for Him till he come."(Lets look at Psalm 102:16; Isaiah 9:7 & Micah 4:3). The Jew will tell you that since prophecies such as these have not yet been fulfilled, the Messiah has not yet come. There is also another rabbinical interpretation which claims that two Messiahs were predicted; one Messiah - the son of David, the other Messiah, the son of Joseph. It may prove useful to mention this rabbinical interpretation to not only point out how the Jews are being miss-led. There are however a few references in the Old Covenant that refute the idea of there being two Saviors (two Messiahs). THERE IS ONLY ONE SAVIOR -THE MESSIAH ACCORDING TO THE OLD COVENANT {PSALM 106:21; ISAIAH 43:3, 10-11, 15, 17, 21-25; 49:26; 60:16; Jeremiah 14:8; DANIEL 9:25-26; Hosea 13:4, 9, 14}. There were many saviors in the sence of deliverers for the nation of Israel from their oppressors, in the Old Testament (2Kings 13:5; Nehemiah 9:27) , but that is not the same in the sence as the one who alone Save people from their sins. Only God can redeem & save souls from sin. The Jews need to be made aware that while it is evident that the Messiah will come to fulfill the prophecies referring to His reign on earth.... He has already come to fulfill numerous other prophecies referring to His sacrificial death as an atonement for sin. Yes, Isaiah 11 refers to the second coming of the Messiah but the Jew must not overlook Isaiah 53, which has literally been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. 5.- It`s very handy to keep on you & in your memory a list of Messianic Prophecies! E.g. Birthplace in Bethlehem MICAH 5:2; VIRGIN BIRTH ISAIAH 7:14; CALLED THE SON OF GOD PSALM 2:7,12; THE MESSIAH WOULD BE BOTH GOD & MAN ISAIAH 9:6; THE SACRIFICE FOR THE SINS OF OTHERS DANIEL 9:24-26a; ZECHARIAH 9:9-11 ; 13:1-2, 7 TO NAME JUST A FEW!

6.- Beseech the the person to carefully study, 7 read out loud the 53rd chapter of Isaiah! This passage is not read out in the synagogue & if one consults a "rabbi" he may be told that it is speaking of two Messiahs, (which is plainly incorrect), or he will be told that Isaiah 53 refers to the sufferings of Israel. I once told a Rabbi in Bondi who told me that it refers to the sufferings of Israel, after I got to read it out to me, that, "I know that the Jews have suffered much throughout their history & the holocaust whose perpetrators justly deserve punishment by man & are cursed by God- but If this passage is referring to the sufferings of Israel why then does Isaiah a Jewish prophet say in verse 8, "... for the transgression of my people was HE (singular) smitten. When the Jew reads Isaiah 53, he needs to experiment with the passage by substituting the word "Israel" wherever the pronoun "He" occurs then see if the passage sounds intelligible. If, however, he were to substitute either the word "Messiah" or "Jesus" then the prophecy will make sense!. After all "IF in verses 5 & 6, "HE" refers to Israel, then to whom does "we" refer to ? 7.- Explain the fact that the Jews as a nation rejecting the Messiah, Jesus at His first does nothing to disprove His Messiahship! Note: Psalm 69:4,8-12; 118:22-23; Isaiah 53. 8.- LOVINGLY tell the Jew that he is a sinner & needs atonement for his sin! This diagnosis will touch a sore spot, & he may protest that he is not a sinner....But the scriptures say that all men are sinners (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Isaiah 64:6). Every Jew knows that he needs a sacrifice for sin, even an Orthodox priest on the celebration of the Day of Atonement swings a fowl above his head, repeating, "This is my substitute. This fowl goes to eternal death & I to eternal life." NOTE LEVITICUS 17:11. WE MAY ASK THEM THE QUESTION, "WHAT TAKES CARE OF YOUR SIN TODAY FOR YOU DON`T KEEP YOUR SACRIFICES? "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1JOHN 1:7. All the Old Covenant types pointed to Christ`s death on the cross. 9.- When or If the Jew questions you about keeping Jewish laws & ceremonies, ONE PASSAGE WILL SUFFICE: Jeremiah 31:31-33! 10.- Ask the Jew to read the New Testament! The New Testament is the key to the Old Testament & will prove that Jesus Of Nazareth is the one, " ...of whom Moses did write" John 1:45. 11.- Commit the result to God! A Jew needs a double conversion. A head conversion & a heart conversion. Perhaps you may do some sowing & another reaping, but that`s O.K. After all it is not your job to convert the Jew. Only God`s Holy Spirit & His word can convict him & enable him to call Jesus Christ as their saviour. It may happen on the spot: it may take days, weeks, months, even years before a Jew recieves Jesus Christ as his Saviour but , " but there is life for a look at the saviour." Our duty is to give to the Jews the Gospel Roman1:16-17.