We're all murderers, we're adulterers, we're worshipers of false gods, we're idolaters, Welcome to Connections with Rich and Bobby. Hi, I'm Bobby, Bobby Hamlin. And I'm Rich, Rich Homeris. We're continuing hearing from Joe Jakowicz as he shares his testimony of how the Lord changed his heart as a Jew to follow Jesus. We left off with Joe being witnessed to by a young Christian named Bob, who was telling him about the Messiah from Joe's own Bible, the Old Testament. But Joe wanted more proof and asked Bob to go with him to visit his rabbi. So off they went. I want to ask the rabbi some questions about the verses you just shared with me from the Bible, and I want to get the rabbi's take and the rabbi's interpretation of this. He says, okay. So we drove off the base. All the while we're driving to Camp Lejeune, he's still witnessing to me. So by the time we got there, he shared about 25 messianic prophecies from the Old Testament with me that kept deepening my conviction as we drove and went along. which we might clarify messianic prophecies is what you find about the Old Testament prophesying about Jesus. Yes, these messianic prophecies are predictions and prophecies about the coming Messiah from the Old Testament before Jesus was born. They are prophecies that predict his birthplace, how he would die, what they would say to him, what he would even say as he was suffering, when he would be born, and very precise prophecies that could not be faked by a real good schmoozer who pretended to be the Messiah. So, how many baby Christians who are 19 years old saved for 8 months do you know that have memorized 25 messianic prophecies in the Old Testament? God had laid on Bob's heart a very special topic of study called Messianic Prophecy. And so God had prepared him for me. And I just was amazed in the weeks and months after my conversion, thinking about how before I even prayed asking the Lord to show me the truth, God had prepared this young man for me, eight months leading up to my own conversion. Doesn't that give encouragement to all of those that are tuning in that perhaps the Lord is preparing you to be a witness, to let your light so shine before men that they might see our Lord, our Savior, and that just as this person, Bob, was being prepared for you, that each one of us can be used of the Lord mildly, but we have to just be willing and be available to be used of the Lord. Yes, and on the other side, it also tells you that if you don't know God, that you're so important to Him that He has made preparation for you to learn what you need to know and that you can go to Him directly. So everything that you're sharing, Pastor, means so much. The more you think about it, the more it reveals about God and who He is. But anyway, so let's continue with your story. So we get to the rabbi's chaplain's office in Camp Lejeune, and I walk up the steps. He's witnessing to me right up to the very door of the chaplain's office. And there's a sign on his office that says, Chaplain Rosenthal is away on 30 days leave, will return on such and such a date. Now, God had arranged for that chaplain to be away on leave. Can you imagine if he had been there and that we had this impromptu meeting with me on one side and the chaplain on the other side and here's this baby Christian and all the arguments and the contention and the strife over what the Bible says and so forth. I would just be more confused than ever. But God had taken him out of the way. So I was disappointed, but we were walking down the steps back to my car from the chaplain's office. And Bob says to me, he says, well, Joe, what do you think? I said, what do you mean? He says, is Jesus the Messiah? I mean, I've shown you in your own Bible. I've given you the proof. He says, well, yeah, I guess he has to be. Who else could be? It couldn't be anybody else. So he says, well, there's a few more things I need to show you yet. So we get in the car, we're driving back to the other base, and once I got to agree that Jesus is the Messiah, he says, well then, the New Testament must be the Word of God, right? Because the New Testament is all about Jesus. It was written by all Jews who had become believers. Jesus himself was a Jew, so shouldn't the New Testament be the Word of God as well because it's part of the whole Bible?" I said, well, yeah, I guess so. And as soon as he got me to agree that the New Testament was the Word of God, he began to talk to me about sin. He took me to passages like Romans 3.10, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none that does good. No, not one. They've all gone out of the way. Passages like, if we offend in one point in breaking the Ten Commandments, we offend in all. We've broken all the Ten Commandments in our heart, and we're guilty of the entirety of breaking the law. We're all murderers, we're adulterers, we're worshipers of false gods, we're idolaters, we're all the rest. And I thought to myself, wow, I'm in trouble. Yes, he was in big trouble, as Ephesians 2 verse 12 says. Remember that at that time you were separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenant of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. Stay with us. We'll continue with Joe's story in just a moment. You're listening to Connections with Rich and Bobby, and we'd love to connect with you. Just go to our website at connectionswithrichandbobby, that's all one word, and Bobby is b-o-b-b-i dot com. That's connectionswithrichandbobby.com. There, all of our podcasts are posted, along with all of our contact information. Also, you can connect with us on social media by friending us on Facebook, post on Instagram, or tweet us on Twitter. Now, let's return to Joe and hear what happened to him next. Would God answer his prayer? So I was slain. I mean, I was guilty. There's no way I was going to get out of going to hell. So I said, well, what hope is there? So as he's talking to me about sin and self-righteousness and pride, and he took me to the passage in Isaiah where it says, all of our sins are as filthy rags. And I saw even the best part about me, all of my good deeds were unacceptable, they were filthy rags, because I did those deeds to try to earn my salvation, or to pat myself on the back, or to earn favor with God because of who I was, or because of any goodness in my own, my self-righteousness, which is rejected totally by the Scripture and by God. So I was getting so convicted. I was driving my car and the car started swerving on the highway and I wasn't paying attention. I was banging on the steering wheel. My questions weren't answered. I would say, why don't all the Jews believe? Why don't all the Jews see this? Why don't the rabbis see these truths from the Bible? They know more Hebrew than anybody else. They're smarter than me. Why hasn't God opened their eyes to the truth? It's so plain from the Old Testament prophecies that Jesus had to be the Messiah. Nobody else even came close to fulfilling even a small portion of the prophecies about the Messiah. The car is swerving. He says, pull over, pull over. So we're on a highway. I pull over on the shoulder of the highway. We sat there in my car on the shoulder of the road. He got to a place where he said, look, he says, he says, what are you going to do? I said, well, I don't know. I said, well, what do I have to do to be saved? and he took me to a few verses in Romans 10 where it says if you believe in your heart that God is raising from the dead if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord you shall be saved for with the mouth one confesses and with the heart one believes unto righteousness for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved he took me to First John 1 9 if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness So I said, but look you don't understand Bob. I said Jesus can never forgive me Just what are you talking about? I said, well, you don't know what I've done against Jesus I not only was a Jew, but I was one of those Jews who persecuted Christians But the biggest example of persecution of all when I was a sergeant still in the infantry before I became a rifle instructor There was one man in our platoon named Metcalf, Private Metcalf. He was the only Christian. And for a whole year, he laid a wonderful testimony in his life. I mean, this man walked the walk. He lived the life of a Christian. He would get up at 5 o'clock in the morning, a half hour before Reveille when we all woke up, and he would get on his knees and he'd lean on his footlocker and he'd be praying. You could hear him sobbing. Sometimes I'd get up and use the bathroom. He would, I'd hear crying and what's that? And it's, oh, it's Metcalf over there praying. And I'd see him reading his Bible during breaks and he would witness to all the men in the platoon. And over a year, he built up a lot of respect on the part of the men because he was the real thing. But I secretly nurtured a hatred and a resentment for him because of his testimony, especially since I was Jewish. Well, one day after being in the field on maneuvers and bivouac, for a couple of weeks. We did a 10-mile force march back in the rain and in the mud on a Friday to get the weekend off. We were all unshaven after two weeks, having stubble beards and filthy. We didn't take any showers. The lieutenant called me and said, Sergeant Jackowitz, he says, once you get cleaned up and get the barracks cleaned up, give all the men a weekend pass, okay? I said, yes, sir. So I gathered the whole platoon together. It was 50 Marines that were soaking wet and were all tired. I said, OK, get over here. So I announced. I said, all right, the lieutenant said that was get everything cleaned up and then we'll have a weekend pass. And they all went, yay. And they cheered. And then the devil put it in my mind. Now's your time to get Metcalf. And right when they were yelling real loud, yay, and cheering, I said, wait a minute. And they all stopped. I said, except you, Metcalfe. And I pointed at him. You get your toothbrush and go into the showers. And you scrub the grout between the tiles. You're not giving a weekend pass. And he was shocked. I caught him at a very weak moment. He said, why me? I looked at him with the meanest look I can give. And I said, because I said so. And he just lost it. He ran at me. He was probably about 15 feet away. He ran at me as fast as he could. And the platoon had a high regard for his testimony as a Christian. And a couple of the guys ran at him and grabbed him before he could get to me. And I was in my fighting stance, had my fists ready to go. The only thing I wanted to do was make his Jesus look bad. While he was standing there, every vile profanity you can imagine came out of his mouth as he was cussing and screaming at me. And as he was doing that for about 30 seconds, 45 seconds, I was just scanning the faces of the other 50, 49 Marines standing there. And they were all in shock. Their eyes were bugging out of their heads. They only heard wonderful, beautiful words from Mekev that whole year, gracious words proceeding out of his mouth. And now they heard things from him that they would never imagine of him. And when he was done, he had no strength left. He kind of slumped over while those two guys were holding him up. I took the floor, and I had my opportunity. And I said, you see guys? And I addressed all the men as they were in shock. I said, you see this Christianity thing? It's not real. It's just a religion for old women and children. So there's nothing to it. It's just a fake. And they all looked at me, and they said, yeah, I guess you're right, Sarge. And they all walked away shaking their heads. And as Mekhef looked up, and he's like Peter, when Peter denied the Lord three times, tears filled his eyes, suddenly realizing what he did. He broke free of the guise, and he turned around and ran out the back door, like Peter, just like Peter, when he denied the Lord. And the Lord looked at him, remember? And he went away and repented bitterly with tears. Same exact thing that Mekhef did. The plagues of our past sins can place barriers before us, like the one Joe is describing, that can hinder our walk in fellowship with God. In our next podcast, we'll hear what happened to Joe next in his desire to know the truth, the truth about God and this Jesus. So be sure to join us then and spread the word by inviting others to listen in as well. Just point them to our website at ConnectionsWithRichAndBobby.com Now you've been listening to Connections with Rich and Bobbi, and we'd love to have you subscribe to our podcast on this platform or any of the others like iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify. If you have a smart speaker, you can listen by simply saying, play the podcast Connections with Rich and Bobbi. And you can connect with us on social media, on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. This is Connections, connecting with one another, as Romans 1, verse 12 says, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. So thank you for listening, and remember, tell others and spread the word. God's word. And don't forget to join us next time on Connections with Rich and Bobby.