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David J: Today, on Real Life Radio,

Jack Hibbs: Jesus Christ had a mission, and the very need of the world that is around us right now is proof positive that his mission is viable. Are you with me?

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David J: On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues now in his series called The Life and Times of Jesus Christ and a message titled Christ and His Mission. This is a series about who Jesus really is. Not the Jesus of popular opinion, but the Jesus of the Bible, God Himself, who stepped into our world, and here we'll discover that Jesus came into the world with a mission that's still on target, still on schedule, and right on time.

You see, every one of us has a mission in this life. That's true. But Jesus came with the greatest mission of all, to seek and to save those who put their trust in Him. And the very brokenness we see in the world around us is proof that His mission still matters. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that Jesus came to fulfill every word that was written about Him. His birth, His teachings, His miracles, and His death and resurrection. Those were all part of Bible prophecy. So we need to take an honest look at how the Old Testament announced His mission, and how the New Testament records it coming to pass. Before we get into the message, I had a chance to sit down with Pastor Jack and talk about it with Him. So, let's get into that.

David J: And Pastor Jack in studio with me now as we continue our Life and Times of Jesus Christ series. This message is called Christ and His Mission. Jesus really did pick a bunch of losers, don't you think? I mean, you say God didn't choose Israel or us for that matter because we're more impressive than anybody else. He didn't pick us for that reason. In your words, He picked us because we're a bunch of losers. Tell us more. Give us some more on that, will you?

Jack Hibbs: First of all, God did announce to Israel, "Don't think I picked you because you're better than anybody else." "I picked you to be My people because you're stubborn, you're stiff-necked and hard-hearted and hard-headed," I might add. We're the same way. It's so easy right now, right, where the culture is throwing rocks at the Jew, you know what, don't throw rocks at Jews because it could bounce right back and hit you. Because you and I are just wired the same way.

And God came to earth, Jesus put it this way, He said, "I have come to seek and to save those that are lost." He said, "Those, those who are well have no need of a physician." Great statement, right? There are those who think they're just fine and they don't need God, they don't want God. Little do they know they're lost without Him, but Jesus said, "I've come to save those who are lost." And only our redemptive God can do that.

He comes to set us free from sin and death and then, of course, gives us eternal life. Why? Because we were completely condemned and lost. This is the work of the atoning Christ and He's worthy of all of our praise, folks, all of our worship, moment by moment, day by day.

Christ and His mission. Let's jump in. Daniel chapter 9, verse 24, in this great book, there is a prophetic layout that God has given that is so exact and so specific that when much of Daniel was fulfilled, the critics began to argue that Daniel was written after the historical fact took place. With such accuracy did the prophet Daniel speak.

Now, as you know, we are going through, in fact, today is part four of a series entitled The Life and Times of Jesus Christ. But this morning we come now to His mission. The mission of Jesus Christ. And Daniel chapter 9, verse 24 is a very powerful verse and we'll look at this in a moment and so I want you to hold your spot as you get there.

But we look or we turn in part four of our series, Christ and His Mission. In our previous studies, you know if you were here that we studied Christ and eternity. That Jesus never had a beginning. If you are a believer this morning, you understand that the Bible teaches that Christ has always been, Jesus was never born in the spiritual realm. He has always existed. The Bible says, in fact, that He is the creator of the spiritual realm, example, angels and the like, and also the physical realm, that Jesus Christ is the creator. In fact, if we do a good Bible study and thorough Bible study, we come to understand that right there in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, Jesus Christ is the very One at work.

And we went through the passages of scripture, the Bible, proving this very fact concerning Christ. Also, we saw in the following study, Christ and His first coming. That the scripture told us that Jesus would have a first advent to the nation Jerusalem, to the city of or the nation Israel, to the city of Jerusalem and specifically, as you know, as you've studied with me, the Temple Mount specifically. And of course, Jesus fulfilled that in His first coming not necessarily being born in Bethlehem, though that's very important. But His first coming actually took place on His passion week, on Palm Sunday, when Jesus introduced Himself as king to the nation fulfilling multiple scriptures.

And then finally, last week we saw Christ the Word made flesh. How we beheld the incarnation of Christ and we looked at Him in His physical advent. Jesus coming into Bethlehem being born as the prophets foretold that He would. We consider this also as we go through our study this morning, The Life and Times of Christ, yes. But also Christ and His mission and of course, Colossians chapter 2, verse 9, where it says there, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form." So when we talk about mission, what do we mean by that? Mission is extremely important.

You have a mission in this life. Let's say you work for DuPont or you're a sales rep for DuPont. Believe me, DuPont wants to believe you have a mission. And that mission is to go about all the area representing DuPont as their ambassador. And you are paid a certain wage for doing that. But as Christians, we have a mission. And by the end of the service this morning, you'll see what our mission has to do with Christ and His very mission and this world around us. But of course, Colossians 2:9 tells us, "For in Christ all, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form."

This word mission, Christ and His mission. The term assumes something very interesting. If you have a mission, you have a task, you have a job to perform. That's built into the very word mission. The word mission also implies that there is something to be had. Listen carefully to this. If you have a mission, there's something to be gotten out of it.

If you embark upon a mission, let's say it's a military venture. You are deployed on a mission, you have certain parameters, you have certain rules, you have certain things that you want to achieve. In fact, there are people, there are strategists who before you're deployed have gone through great lengths and studied various scenarios about the mission and its success. Why? Because you are to perform a certain task and you are also to receive something out of it, you are to somehow come out of the mission having completed the objective. It's very important that that be the case. If you don't have a goal to your mission, you're never going to know if you finish or have completed the mission. This is very important.

Christ Jesus had His mission and quite frankly, He's got one still and it's still going now. But let me stress this and I speak for you, maybe. Obviously, the mission of Jesus Christ was to come to this world. In fact, the scriptures tell us plainly, clearly. Jesus said that for this cause I was born, for this reason have I come into the world.

Now let me ask you something, have you had the week that I've had looking at the news? Now, I'm a news freak. I'm pathetic. You can look around and form your opinion of the world and say, you know what, there's nothing worth living for or yeah, there is, but you can be consumed with what you're seeing around you. The fact of the matter is, Jesus is real, everything that's happening is according to the scripture, and if you don't know your Bible, you're going to get consumed in depression over such things. Christ has come for a mission and that mission, friend, is right on target, right on schedule, just right. God has His mission.

The term implies there's something to be gained. And what might that be? In Luke's Gospel chapter 14, Jesus gave us an example. He said, "No man building a tower embarks upon the building of that tower without first counting the cost." He said that, "No king goes to war against another king without first taking inventory, checking to see if he has an arsenal fit for the battle, and if he doesn't, he sends overtures of peace before he goes to that war." He said, "If you go into a venture unprepared," He said, "People will mock you and make fun of you." Counting the cost and knowing what the mission will entail.

I don't know if you know this or not, but in a historical documentary. President FDR was summoned by William Churchill to meet him in the middle of the Atlantic in a clandestine meeting, a secret meeting. As England, as Europe was getting whipped by Germany. Churchill asked FDR to get America involved. And FDR lied to Congress, nobody knew where he was, it was a very top secret mission and in the middle of the night, FDR boarded a frighter and went out into the middle of the Atlantic to meet with Churchill to plan or to invite America in to the invasion of Europe against Hitler.

And nobody knew where FDR was at. And he mapped out this plan and in one of those meetings he said, "What is in it for America?" And Churchill responded, "A free Europe and a free world." And of course, you know the rest is history. The United States joined the alliance and Hitler was defeated. What's in it for America? You ought to ask the question right now, with what you're talking about, Jack, what's in it for me? You can go ahead and think that way if you're a non-Christian this morning. You might put your hand on your hip as a skeptic and say, "What's in it for me?" I want you to listen carefully because there's a lot in it for you. Jesus Christ had a mission and the very need of the world that is around us right now is proof positive that his mission is viable. Are you with me?

Look at the world and what you see in the world, the Bible has predicted. And the Bible has predicted that scenario to tell you that there's a remedy for the world's problems. And that remedy is Jesus Christ. Very, very important. Christianity is the message by which God has sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world with a mission that He might redeem all those who put their trust in Him. It's not called religion, friend. It is Christianity. It is the following of Christ. It is the giving of your life to Him.

We talked about this passage and we'll look at it now. There in Daniel, Daniel chapter 9, verse 24. It says there, "490 years" or your Bible might read "77s." Don't let that confuse you, the word "490 years." "490 years are determined for your people." That's the Jewish people. The message is given to Daniel. "And for your holy city." That's Jerusalem. And this now unveils the most significant prophetic verse in all of the Bible.

One, to finish the transgression. Two, to make an end of sin. Three, to make reconciliation for iniquity. Four, to bring in everlasting righteousness. Five, to seal up vision and prophecy. And six, to anoint the Most Holy. Three of those utterances there in Daniel 9:24 were fulfilled at the coming of Christ. There are three remaining, three that are going to be fulfilled. To finish transgressions, that's the Messiah's introduction of Himself to Israel. We'll hear more about this later. Jesus presented Himself to Israel. Why? To finish the transgressions, God's Messiah had come.

Secondly, to make an end of sin, Jesus Christ, according to the prophets. In His perfect life that He lived as God in human flesh, removed sin's dominion and power over mankind by fulfilling the law. Thirdly, to make reconciliation for iniquity is the death of Christ upon the cross, whereby Israel might be saved. Well, that's how you and I are saved. To look back at the cross. To trust what Christ has done on the cross.

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: Number five is the sealing up of vision and prophecy. Christ will consummate all the prophetic passages of scripture and bring them to a conclusion. When you read the book and the prophetic books of the Bible and come to Revelation, how exciting it is to read the back, the end of the book and it says that we win. We win. Jesus is triumphant.

And then finally, the sixth thing of Daniel 9:24 is that Jesus will anoint the Most Holy. That is when He delivers the kingdom and all that there is into the presence of the Father. And the eternal state or what is called the Day of God begins. That's going to be a tremendous time. The first thing we want to see this morning, though, regarding the mission of Jesus Christ, and again, it is wonderfully outlined for us there in Daniel chapter 9, verse 24. What we want to see now, those are our first point this morning. And it is this. It is the purpose of Christ's mission.

The purpose. Somebody might ask you when you share with people. They might say, "Why did Jesus come?" What is the purpose of His coming? What was His mission? That's a great question. You and I ought to be able to make that clear to them. The first thing is that Jesus Christ fulfilled all that was written. His purpose was that He might fulfill all that was written.

Now listen, this is an invitation for any of the skeptics that are here this morning. You might be sitting here saying, "I don't think the Bible has the authority to rule over my life." Which means I just gave a definition of a teenager. It does have the authority to rule over your life. See, the funny thing is, you may choose not to bow to its authority or not. That's the issue, okay? That's the thing. It has nothing to do with the validity of the Bible. It's perfect. It has no errors.

It's absolutely without debate. You can concoct your argument. But you'll lose. God's Word is true. Jesus came and one of the very important things for Him to perform is all that was written of Him. Many times as you read in the Bible, especially Matthew's Gospel, why Matthew's Gospel? Because Matthew was a Jew, he was a Levite and he's writing to his fellow Jews. That's why he says in there, "And it was fulfilled as it was written by the prophet Isaiah saying," and there it is. "And it was as it was written by the prophet Micah," and there it is. Why did he do this? Because Jesus Christ came to fulfill all that was written in the Bible.

Muhammad didn't do that. He didn't even care. He didn't have a book written about him in advance to fulfill. Nobody has. So my friend, if you're a skeptic, stand back right now and take a scientific look at the validity of the Bible. Wow, it says this and behold, this event took place. The Old Testament makes the announcements and the New Testament is the record of its fulfillment. Isn't that ironic? That at this hour the Jewish nation, whom Jesus said, "I have come to My own, but My own have not received Me." That if they would just look to the New Testament, it is the bonafide account of what was promised in the Old.

But this even was foretold by the Lord Himself. The invitation is to consider the mission. If you're a doubter this morning, and I hope you are. I can really relate to you, I want to see it, I want to touch it, I want to smell it. Before I'm going to believe it. I don't think God disparages that at all. I just think what He does hold us accountable for is that when He does show the facts that we respond.

Else we go away given information, but willfully rejecting Christ, that would not be good. Now, He was to fulfill all that was written. As the scripture says. It says in Luke chapter 7, verse 20. When the men had come to Jesus, they said to Him, "John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, 'Are you the coming one, or do we look for another?'" And at that very hour He cured many infirmities and afflictions and evil spirits, and to many He healed their sight or opened their eyes. Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things that you see and hear." "That the blind see and the lame walk, and lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." Listen, He fulfilled all that was written, that was His point.

John the Baptist, He was doubting. Doesn't that encourage you? John the Baptist, first of all, He was Jesus's cousin. Mary and Elizabeth were related. John and Jesus were cousins. Six months age difference between the two of them according to the Bible. And John was taken prison. He was in prison. And John says to his disciples, "Go and see how it's going with Jesus and ask Him, 'Is He the Messiah or what?'" Why did John ask that question? Because He was expecting Jesus to bring in the deliverance from the Roman Empire, to establish Israel as the prominent governmental ruling reign of the earth. That was not the mission of Jesus. He was first to come, as you saw in Daniel 9:24, to give Himself for the sins of the nation.

That's why He came. There's a blasphemous book written, The Reluctant Messiah. It's a damnable heresy. In that book, it portrays that Jesus was caught up in the fervor of everybody laying on Him titles and He was somehow polluted by His own megalomania and then the whole thing turned on Him and He wound up getting killed. What a blasphemous book. What an ignorant author. When the Bible says of itself, "All of these things have been decreed in advance."

Jesus was to fulfill all that was written. So what does He tell John's disciples, "Go back and tell John the things that you what? Hear and see." What was John supposed to do with that information? As soon as His disciples came running back, they said, "John, this is what we see, this is what we hear." And that would have triggered immediately in John's mind. The book of Jeremiah. The book of Isaiah. The book of Micah. John would have known.

Jesus came to fulfill that which was written of Him. Luke chapter 24, the great passage regarding the Emmaus road. Jesus after His resurrection, traveling there on the Emmaus road, He comes up to two disciples that are very depressed. They're you can just see them. Read Luke 24 later, it's kind of sad at first, they're walking along, they're so bummed and they're saying, "Oh, you know, it's the third day, nothing's happened, what a bummer." "Uh, we followed Jesus in vain." And you can see them just kicking a can going down the path. Boy, were we duped. I thought for sure He was the Messiah. And Jesus comes alongside them, sounds almost mysterious, and it is. And He says, "Hi." "Why is your face so low?" "Hanging down." And they said, "What, are you a stranger in here?" "Don't you know what's transpired in these regions lately?" "Jesus Christ who claimed to be the Son of God, did all these wonderful works and spoke about a kingdom, but they took Him and crucified Him and after all it's the third day."

And Jesus said to them in Luke chapter 24, verse 25, He said, "You foolish ones and of heart and slow to believe." "Spiritually retarded." Which is most of the world and maybe many in here today, spiritually retarded ones. "You don't even know me." "You claim to know me, you claim to have followed me, you've missed it."

He says, "Didn't the Bible say about Christ how He ought to suffer and enter into His glory?" "And beginning at Moses and all of the prophets, He expounded to them from the scriptures the things concerning Himself." Luke 24, verse 31 says, "And when their eyes were opened, they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight." "And He said and they said to one to another, 'Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the scriptures?'" Wow. What did He do? Jesus pulled alongside them and He says, "Hey, let's have an Old Testament Bible study right here, right now." And from the scriptures He opened to their understanding Himself. Isn't that great? He performed all that was written of Him.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs. Here on Real Life Radio with His message called Christ and His Mission. Thanks for being with us today. You know this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called The Life and Times of Jesus Christ. It's a series about the real Jesus of the Bible, God in the flesh, and why knowing Him more deeply changes everything in your life. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

David J: America's founding wasn't just political, it was biblical. In The American Story: The Beginnings, Tim and David Barton uncover the scripture anchored principles that shaped this nation from day one. It's the history they don't teach anymore and the history every American needs. Give a gift to Real Life and receive the book, plus a free kids guide for America's 250th birthday. And check out our faith and freedom collection, bold apparel to wear in celebration of America. Visit jackhibbs.com or call 877-777-2346.

David J: 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.