Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

David J: Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David J, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's word, the Bible.

This Independence Day, don't just celebrate. Stand for what this nation was built on. Our Faith and Freedom Collection is bold, patriotic apparel that declares your convictions and starts conversations, perfect for July 4th and all summer long. Order now and we'll include a free Happy Birthday America kids guide, a faith-centered resource for the children and grandchildren in your life. Visit jackhibbs.com or call 877-777-2346.

On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack brings us a special Independence Day message called Living Free. This week, America celebrates her 250th birthday, and millions of us will gather with family and friends to enjoy the freedoms that we hold dear.

But have you ever stopped to ask yourself where those freedoms really come from? You see, liberty was never the invention of governments or man, for that matter. It's a gift from God Himself. From the colonial pulpits that shaped our founding fathers to the words of Jesus in John chapter eight: "If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

True freedom has always begun in the heart. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that the same God who gave us life gave us liberty. And the greatest freedom of all is a soul set free by Jesus Christ. It's a freedom so rich and so complete that it simply has to be shared. Now with his very special message called Living Free, here's pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Tonight, we exercise our rights and our liberty to gather together as a free people. We have become so accustomed to these freedoms that we rarely often think as to where they come from. This coming week, we celebrate America's birthday, and it is a birthday that still to this very day causes those around the world who are in tyrannical settings to still want to come here to seek shelter.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the United States every year sees more immigrants applying for their citizenship to be in America than all other nations of the world combined every year. Though this country is not perfect, it is still the best place to be free, and we need to remember that. It was wisely said by Henry a moment ago that these liberties sometimes have to be defended even at the expense of war. There are such things as righteous wars.

I encourage all of you to study and to read the peril that brought this nation into birth. I commend to you to read the books by David McCullough titled 1776. Please make it your summer reading. It will change your life regarding the nation that you have that God gave you. Read the book Samuel Adams: A Life by Ira Stoll.

It will change your life to see what kind of a founding father, the very spirit of the revolution, Jefferson called Sam Adams, as he was the only one they said that began the conversation of understanding liberty. The Bible tells us in John chapter eight, verse 36, Jesus speaks to us and announces, "Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

That verse is not only, of course, joyfully, preeminently about our salvation from sin and death, the grave and hell, but if such a liberty takes hold of you, it will demand that it be the very thing that holds your life captive to that truth. Such liberty will cause you to be liberated and free in every area of your life. You will tell others, you will tell the world, and you'll conduct yourself in freedom.

Our founding fathers were shaped by the pulpits of colonial America from the 1620s all the way to 1775. It was the pulpits that gave the truth about liberty and freedom. The ultimate is having our sins forgiven in the Lord Jesus Christ. After that happens to you, such freedom has got to be shared. It's incumbent upon us to share it.

It would be equal to us in the midst of a famine finding great amounts of food. Imagine finding a stack of Krispy Kreme, In-N-Out, fish tacos, all together, and you're the only one that's enjoying it while you know that your countrymen are starving. After the second or third bite, it's no longer satisfying because you are partaking of something that every human soul needs. We need to remember that.

Somebody might say all of this for a country's birthday? No, not all of this for a country's birthday. I'm sorry to tell you, if you don't already know this, but very few nations, if any, really celebrate their birthdays like we do in all the world. I want you to see what Thomas Jefferson had to say.

He said, "God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God, that they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."

Thomas Jefferson said that, the man who universities proclaim to be a deist or an atheist. Would to God more deists or atheists spoke like that. He speaks more clear than most Christians who should be thankful for their country. I do believe in what he said. We should tremble at the mismanagement of freedom.

Again, Thomas Jefferson said the reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart. What about the words of John Adams, the cousin of Sam Adams? John Adams said, "And may that being who is supreme over all, the patron of order, the fountain of justice, and the protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation and its government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence."

John Adams said that in his inaugural address when he was elected as president. We also know this from our remarkable Christian American history, the son of John Adams, John Quincy Adams. He said, "The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth."

"Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God." John Quincy Adams said that. That's crystal clear.

Remember this in your holiday celebrations. Let people know it. Benjamin Rush, America's first Surgeon General: "The gospel of Jesus Christ prescribes the wisest rules for just conduct in every situation of life. Happy they who are enabled to obey them in all situations. If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind, the mission of the Son of God into all the world would have been unnecessary."

In other words, your good works matter nothing to God. "The perfect morality of the gospel rests upon the doctrine which, though often controverted, has never been refuted. I mean the vicarious life and death of the Son of God." Wouldn't you like to have one of the ratifiers of the US Constitution, the Surgeon General of the United States, be as bold today?

Now, I don't know the sincerity of this comment recently, but you saw it in the news. I certainly have never heard it from the lips of any president in my lifetime. We'll let God be the judge as to the depth of it, but you saw President Trump come out that night with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President J.D. Vance.

You heard Trump's brief statement, shortest speech that Trump has ever given, saying "God and God. We love you, God." There was a clumsiness to it, and there was almost an innocence to it. It was almost like a little kid not knowing how to talk to somebody in authority. "God," like he's trying to get God's attention. "We love you, God."

You've never heard a president, no matter what, say such a thing. As great as Reagan was and as big of a believer that Reagan was, Reagan never said such a thing. What I'm saying is this: it's very possible, I pray and hope as you do, that God is not done with America. He could be, maybe He should be, the way that we've treated Him.

But when you see even a president go to the podium on a historical moment and say like a child, "God, we love you, God," it was in some way, shape, or form a little bit of an infusion of encouragement to me. He didn't have to say it, but he said it.

David J: You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And now, let's get back to today's message. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.

Jack Hibbs: Patrick Henry said this: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."

I want you to look at that for a moment. Especially young people, this is an absolute. I know of no other country in the history of man, any nation, that has ever had the spirit of its revolution bring forth a government that is somehow applied to all people within that country, no matter what their faith is.

Many countries of the world demanded either worship of the despot or the tyrant, like what's going on in many countries today. For example, Xi Jinping of China is worshiped as an emperor. What about Kim Jong Un? Worshiped. Our founding fathers, in that statement that Patrick Henry gives, basically says this: because we're Christians and we have founded this country, God is true.

We're not threatened by any atheist or any other religion. Let them be false. They are. But for somebody to worship a different god or not God at all, that's their liberty or freedom. That's written within them, given to them by the God they don't even believe in. Think of that.

Our founding fathers said that's okay, they'll stand before God someday on their own, but they should have the freedom to not believe in God at all. No nation in the history of man has ever afforded such a thing. These Christian values that make this country great allow for the atheist to have the exact same representation as the Christian.

Why? Because this government was established for equal protection, rights, and freedoms under this Constitution. No wonder why people want to immigrate here to America. They get it. I was speaking to a woman this last Monday or Tuesday, I believe it was. She came to the United States in the mid-sixties, immigrated from Mexico, and she told me she's done well in America, very well.

She said, "In my country of my birth, at best, I would have survived." She's a landowner in Los Angeles, has tremendous income, has a tremendous blessing, and she knows that that was a gift given to her by America. We need to stop apologizing for America. That is a very sick insult, and I'm not talking politics. I'm talking about that's a sick insult to the God that gave us America.

We're throwing it back in His face. Maybe you grew up in a home like this. When we complained at home, my dad said, "Do you want to live in the Soviet Union? I will mail you to the Soviet Union." My dad may or may not have been joking. You didn't know. You never would have wanted to play poker with my dad.

But one thing was certain, that you were to be thankful for what this nation affords you, and it's still true to this very day. Why is Elon Musk, why does he live here? Why does he have numerous homes? He's an interesting guy. Richest man in the world, but some of his homes are like 25 feet by 25 feet in size. What's with that?

Funny guy. Why is he in America? Why isn't he in the Soviet Union? Why didn't he make his home in France or why not South Africa where he's from? He's a South African. Why doesn't he move back to South Africa? Because the freedoms here afford people the opportunity to do whatever they want to do.

The danger is our young people have forgotten that they are asleep in the land of opportunity. Anything is available to them if they will apply themselves. It's a tragedy to see our young people, as it were, in a coma with such opportunities before them. They become so dumb to the truth that now they are voting and saying socialism will work under us because it's never been done right before.

Literally, that's their mantra. That's what they're chanting. They're deluded and they're sick, and they've been lied to by the enemy of their souls. What about my good friend, I love this guy, I feel like I know him, Samuel Adams? He says, "I recommend my soul to that almighty being who gave it, and my body I commit to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for the pardon of all my sins."

That's pretty clear, isn't it? Samuel Adams, father of the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence. From his last will and testament, John Adams, his cousin, said, "Poor Sam Adams, he was born a rebel." He tried to preach a sermon, graduated from Harvard University, tried to preach his first sermon.

His father said the sermon was so terrible, he said, "Sam, you've got to do something else than ever occupy a pulpit." Little did he know that God had him to be really the birth founder of this nation in many ways. Sam Adams again went on to say this: "We have appealed to heaven." Remember the flags earlier this year? Remember the banners and the stickers?

"We have appealed to heaven for the justice of our cause, and in heaven we have placed our trust. Numerous have been the manifestations of God's providence in sustaining us. We have been reduced to distress, and the arm of omnipotence has raised us up. Let us still rely in humble confidence on Him who is mighty to save. Good tidings will soon arrive. We shall never be abandoned by heaven while we act worthy of its aid and protection." Remarkable.

Because I'm on a roll with Sam Adams, Sam Adams said this: his biggest concern was that Americans—this is Ira Stoll writing about Sam Adams—his biggest concern was that Americans would fall prey to immorality and lose that which made their cause righteous.

He said, "I have long been convinced that our enemies have made it an object to eradicate from the minds of the people in general a sense of true religion and virtue, in hopes thereby"—think about socialism, think about the woke world that wants to erase history—"in hopes thereby to more easily carry their point of enslaving them."

"Indeed, my friend, this is a subject so important in my mind that I know not how to leave it. Revelation assures us that righteousness exalts a nation. Communities are dealt with in the world by the wise and just ruler of the universe. He rewards or punishes them according to their general character."

"The diminution of public liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals." In other words, he's saying live out your faith, be bold about that. Back to Patrick Henry. When Patrick Henry said, "This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them an inheritance which will make them rich indeed."

Those were his last words. Patrick Henry died upon saying that. Friends, tonight Jesus Christ, He is not only the fulfillment of all liberty and freedom. Sam Adams isn't the originator of the American Revolution. John Adams stated, he said, "But what do you mean, revolution? You mean revolution the war? Nay, revolution was in the hearts and the minds of the people."

When we speak of revolution right now with our liberty and freedoms that we enjoy, I'm talking about the revolution of pulling souls, men and women and boys and girls, from the grip of Satan. You want a revolution? You and I belong to a kingdom that will reside forever.

For now, God has allowed you and I to live in this nation right now that grants us the freedom, at least for now, to proclaim the gospel. We're running out of time. We've got the greatest message in the world, and God help us and have mercy upon us if we sleep on it, because we have something that the world longs for.

They might think they're coming here to maybe live in safety, but where is our safety? They may be thinking they're coming here for opportunity, but where is our opportunity? They might be coming here because they want to get rich, but what are our riches really?

The God of heaven has provided us the opportunity in this country to be a free people. These things about riches, what we acquire here in this life, we should keep a light touch on them. They should cause us to thank God the more if we have two pairs of shoes.

We should be so grateful that probably tonight, or if not after service, you'll be able to eat here on campus and have fun, that you get to do that. And regarding the abilities that we have to invest in whatever your heart desires to make a life, you can do that.

It's my commitment, it always has been my commitment even before I was a Christian, that it made sense to me that God placed me in the United States. Even though I didn't even know God, I later put that together. I was taught to love my country, to sacrifice for my country, and to even die for my country, to even afford the atheist or the man who might hate us or the woman who might scorn us, because the cause is greater.

I have been so spoiled in my life to have enjoyed a cause greater than anything this world can give me. We are so rich. We are so blessed. We are a nation of laws, but if our laws are not upheld and if our leaders are less than worthy, then our nation will soon decline in the peril.

We need to pray. We're encouraging you to come on out. Can you pray for an hour? Didn't Jesus say, "Can't you pray with me for one hour?" We'll give the entire day and the entire year of this nation's birth to Him and celebrate Him who is mighty to save.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio with his special message called Living Free. And thank You, God, for 250 years of our nation. The freedoms that we celebrate this week were purchased at a very great price, but the freedom found in Jesus Christ was purchased at the greatest price of all. And to live free, truly free, is to know Him. Thanks for joining us today and we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

This Independence Day, don't just celebrate. Stand for what this nation was built on. Our Faith and Freedom Collection is bold, patriotic apparel that declares your convictions and starts conversations, perfect for July 4th and all summer long. Order now and we'll include a free Happy Birthday America kids guide, a faith-centered resource for the children and grandchildren in your life. Visit jackhibbs.com or call 877-777-2346.

Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you'd like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what's going on with this ministry. And please, if you're ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We'd love to see you there in person.

It has been so good to be with you today, and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. See you on the next episode. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.