Real Life Radio

David J.: Today, on Real Life Radio.

Jack Hibbs: Jesus this morning, the same deal. You you finally, you must make the decision for me. You've trafficked around Christianity. You've played the game. Come on, make the commitment. This is Real Life.

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

Jack Hibbs: Hey everybody, we're very excited about this special offer. It's called Bold Stand. It's a back-to-school faith guide for your young one. It's going to help them take a stand for Christ even in the public-school culture. It's very, very well done. It's a pamphlet. They can put it in their backpack or put it within the pages of of any book. It's very colorful. It's in cartoon style. And I think your kids are going to love it. So please get a copy for yourself. Bold Stand back-to-school faith guide.

David J.: Get this and more at jackhibbs.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues in his series called, The Life and Times of Jesus Christ and a message titled, Christ and the Sinner. Now 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 see the most important message any of us could ever hear. That Jesus came to save sinners. You see the word sinner, it's not a popular word, and telling someone they need Christ can feel like an impossible task. But this is the one message that changes everything and can determine the course of one's eternity. So today Pastor Jack teaches us that deep down, every heart already carries the weight of guilt, no matter how well we hide it. So when we finally come to Jesus and admit our need for Him, that guilt, it's gone and we truly are free. Now, with his message called Christ and the Sinner, here's Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: I remember when David Hocking was in this pulpit. It's pretty intimidating to preach after David Hocking teaches, you know. His voice sounds like God's voice. He's about the size of God, I would imagine. Don't you think Paul, God would select a man like Paul? Or a man unlike Paul, big big big boisterous guy? Samuel thought, surely the Lord is picking this son of Jesse. No. He says, Jesse, don't you have any more kids? God said, not every one of these boys, big strapping strong. You know, these guys who know, you know, they're contractors, they're you know. Nope. Well, something's wrong here. God's sent him on a mission. He goes, I don't have, I've got one more boy, but he's out in the field tending sheep. He's a little boy, he's the baby of the family, he's just a runt. Bring him here. And the moment he showed up, God said to Samuel, He said, Samuel, you anoint this kid here. I don't judge according to the outward appearance of man, I judge according to the heart. That's the guy guy that I have anointed. Jesus says, when the crowd's pressing, It's funny because you see these things on TV. Oh, there's a crowd coming, rent the stadium another night. There's a crowd coming, keep the TV rolling. There's a crowd coming. Get more chairs. There's a crowd coming. Jesus says, let's get out of here. Why? Because I've come into this world for one reason, to preach the gospel. And I've got to do it. And for a Christian, you and I, we're to tell people about Christ. What's our purpose for living? I thought it was to give my life to DuPont or IBM or Cisco or whoever you're working for or raising these kids. I'm so That is the greatest evangelistic field. I'll tell you if you can win your kids to Christ, you can win the world to Christ. I'm serious. Your kids see every day. And they're smart enough to know what a hypocrite looks like, you know. What a great calling we have. Consciously man's guilty. And man knows it and you as a Christian, I want you to know that they know that they're guilty. You used to feel guilty until Christ set you free. That's why we go to them with compassion. We don't knock on their door. Hi, you wretch. You poor, lonely, lost sinner, you. No, man, our heart's weeping before we even knock on their door. We know that if they're rejecting us, they're not rejecting us. They're rejecting Christ. Have you accepted Christ? Have you said, yes, you know what, man, this is convicting? It's convicting to me first. I want you to know that. But if it's convicting, it's just the Lord putting approval to the fact that number one, you're a Christian. Number two, there's not much time left. We need to tell people. And they really want and need to be told. Jesus loves you and he knows you're a sinner. I know you're trying to hide it, but he knows you're a sinner. Consciously, men walks around in the condemnation. If that were not true, there'd be no drug problem. If that were not true, there'd be very, very or I should say much less sin in the world than there is now if man was not guilty. I was watching as I'm a documentary addict on World War II. And they're interviewing this Navy uh, gunner. And he was talking about how many Japanese planes he had shot down. And the reporter asked him, old man now. He asked him, how do you feel about that? He says, well, it was war. And I had to do this. The reporter acknowledged that. Then there's no other question asked. He was silent for a moment. And then that gunner said, I do everything I can to not think about where I sent those men that I shot down. Even though he was fighting and God, don't don't email me about this, read your Bible. God sanctions war. He doesn't approve of it. He sanctions it. He knows how goofed up we are when we go to war with each other. He's allowed that in his book because of man's depravity. He doesn't like it. Here's a man who's under the sanction of war, shoots down other men and yet he goes to bed at night. I get it. We've talked to men in the streets of Russia who killed people in Afghanistan. And they're tormented. People who've had affairs, people who've cheated, people who've defrauded their children or whatever it is or whatever the case might be, guilt. You see that's why the Ten Commandments by the way is so powerful to the self-righteous. The Ten Commandments just whittles them away to the person who's already broken by the holiness of God. You don't throw them the Ten Commandments, you might hit him in the head. You give them the grace of God because they're already broken. They know that they're a sinner. But mankind by and large, though they'd the witness is in their head. I'm guilty, I'm guilty, I'm guilty. You'll ask them, are you guilty? I'm not guilty. I'm fine. Let's just be real and honest. Mankind is guilty until they come to Jesus Christ. That's why when you come to Christ, you just, oh my gosh. What is this? It's gone. You're free. Amazing. Continuing on. The sinner's condition, spiritually hopeless, consciously guilty. Physically condemned. When I say physically condemned, I mean body, soul and spirit. I mean the whole nine yards. Everything. The Bible says that there'll be a resurrection of both the damned and the redeemed. The Bible says in the book of Daniel chapter 12 and John chapter 5, beginning at verse 28, that all mankind will live forever. Did you know that? All of mankind will live forever. Some will be resurrected to everlasting damnation and some will be resurrected to everlasting life. Where will you be in eternity? Let me ask you this question. Assuming we're all Christians this morning, you are in the church where there's schools of evangelism taking place here weekly. Do you know how to lead someone to Jesus Christ? Or do you say to them, you know what, listen, listen, do you know what? Can you just admit that Jesus is real? Yeah, sure, Jesus is real. Can you say that he's uh, God and Lord? Yeah, sure, he's God and Lord. Uh that he rose from the dead? Listen. Yeah, he rose from the dead. Uh can you say that he's coming back? Yeah, he's coming back. Do you believe it? Yeah, sure I believe it. Do you know you can almost give a perfect presentation but if you leave out the fact that they're sinners, they will be illegitimate children still when you're done with them? Because unless they come to the feet of Jesus and grab hold of His ankles and say, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner, they're lost. You say, well that's a little bit of legalism. It's pure gospel. It's not legalism in it all. You see the church in the 20th and on the brink of the 21st century is so pathetic and so weak that we'd rather have larger numbers than tell people the truth. And the fact of the matter is, we will stand before the Lord and He's going to say, what did you tell people about My Son? Moving on quickly to this second point this morning, the sinner's responsibility. The sinner's responsibility is to count the cost. Jesus never, never, never coerced people into the kingdom. In fact, I bet you if we were traveling with Christ, we would have been a little bit upset. Check it out. Jesus is walking on a road and there comes one running to Him. Listen, running, kneeling down and crying out. Not crying out loud, but crying out. He didn't come kneeling and running and Jesus says for crying out loud, who's this guy? He came crying. We know from Matthew, Mark and Luke, He's the rich young ruler. He comes running. He's heard about Jesus. He comes running up. Falls. Good master. What must I do to inherit? That's all he's into is inheriting things. Rich young ruler. How can I get some of this eternal life stuff you're talking about? Jesus knew exactly what to do. He didn't say, the grace of God has been shed abroad and Jesus says, you know the law, you're Jewish. And Jesus went immediately to the first commandment. That's what led him to the Christ. The first thing that is being said in that conversation, is the commandments of the ten that lead to man's dealing with man. That's why he said as Jesus is talking to him, He says, all these things I've kept from my youth. Then Jesus goes to the very first commandment. And it's shot him down. Because this young rich young rich young ruler had gods in front of God. Now, I don't know, if I would have been Peter, I would have said, Lord, I mean, cut him some slack, will you? Maybe in a couple weeks he'll catch on. Let's visit him again. Let's get his phone number. Let's get his address. Jesus said to him, listen, go sell everything that you have. Is everybody awake right now? I'm going to ask you a question. I'm excited about this because this sets me free. Jesus, why in the world did Jesus say to him, go sell all that you have and come and follow Me? Is that the gospel? That is not the gospel. If you sell everything that you have, is that how you get into heaven? No. What was Jesus digging at? He had gods in his life. Things, toys. Maybe he had a donkey for every day of the week, different color. He was rich. He had his youth. He had authority. He was a ruler. Jesus says, go sell all that you have and come and follow Me. And it says that the man went away sorrowful. And it says Jesus too was also sorry and sad. How come I didn't pipe up and say, can you lower the standard, Jesus, a little. Come on, cut the man some slack. Oh Jesus saying, come up here. Come up here. Come on.

David J.: You are 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: Jesus this morning, the same deal. You you finally, you must make the decision for me. You've trafficked around Christianity. You've played the game. Come on, make the commitment. But I'm not going to play with you. My goodness, he said, he would say perhaps if you could see what's on the other side of this veil of temporal life. There is a world of angels rooting for you and trying to convince you and protect you as I try to reach out to you by My Holy Spirit. And there's a host of hellish demons reaching and clawing and screaming and like Jesus said to Peter, like it's amazing to me. Jesus said to Peter, Peter, Satan came to Me and he asked Me asked me about you by name. He wants you to sift you. He wants to sift you like wheat. You know what that means to be sifted like wheat in Israel? And Palestine throughout that area, they take a log and they ram nails into the log and they strap it to a donkey or an ox. And they pull it all around the grain. The blades are spinning, the nails are churning into the the crop until all the thing is broken up. That's the word Jesus used. He said, hey, Peter, Satan came and he asked Me. He asked Me about you personally by name. If he could sift you like wheat. And Jesus, you said no way, right? In the Gospel says, Jesus says, when you've come back around, strengthen your brethren. Wow. Count the cost. Jesus says, pick up your cross and follow me. Pick up the cross, follow me, he says. The sinner's responsibility is to make a decision. Count the cost. And then, be a man, will you? Be a woman. Be an intelligent listener and decide. No more. Be on the fence. Jesus is, I am the way. Definite article, in front, each time. The way, the truth, the life, there is no other way to the Father but through Me. Well, maybe after I die, I I I I'll decide. Bible says it's too late. The Bible says you're a fool. Make a decision. Thirdly, the sinner's responsibility is to turn to the truth. God, God knows that we are able to come to the truth. He knows that we're able to respond and we as Christians, both being encouraged by this message, I hope. And being challenged to go out and tell people. But maybe there're the non-Christian this morning. God has given you the ability to make the choice about it all to turn to the truth. I found a perfect example in the mailbox. Magazine recently, again, on evolution. And then Adam and Eve showed up in your mailbox. Did you see them? I think it's U.S. News and World Report. New discoveries about the Bible. And you know, it's just they're starting earlier every year. Usually they start attacking the Bible like around Christmas, a couple weeks before Christmas and Easter. They're starting a little early. I just warn you, don't get your theology from magazines. I don't care if the guy is the professor of religion from Harvard. That means diddly and diddly in Hebrew means nada, nothing. That's a joke. Get your theology from the Bible. But turn to the truth. Make the decision. What makes truth? God's revealed Word is truth. This book does not contain truth. It is in fact truth. Every moment of it. Turn to it. It's reasonable, it's responsible. According to Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, it's the only smart thing to do. You have nothing smarter and more intelligent to do. For sure, certainly. Third, the gospel's priority and we'll be done with this. The gospel's priority. The first thing that we see is that it's our only remedy. The gospel priority. Listen, not skits at church. Or even skits on the street. Not some ragtag ragtag band. Not video presentation, not stage lighting. The gospel's the only remedy of man's soul. Christ and the sinner. He loves us and has loved us so much that he came Himself. He sent no one to take His place. He came and did it Himself. Don't you appreciate that? Have you have you ever had something really big pending and an assistant shows up? What is this? Well, you know, I'm acting on behalf of the corporation and what does Fred Flinstone say about this? Well, you know, I talked to him a couple weeks ago and Oh, Jesus says, angels step back, move out of the way. And he crawls through Mary's womb into the world for us. The gospel. Let's give them the gospel. First Corinthians 15, as we saw, verses 1 through 4. Jesus Christ came from heaven. He died. He rose again from the dead. He came to set sinners free, to save them, to save them from their sins. Listen, it's our only power. It is our only power, says the scripture. It's our only remedy. It's the only power. Second Corinthians chapter 6. We're almost done, quickly. Second Corinthians chapter 6. Bible says, verse 1, to He gave them power to be called children of God to all those who believe in Him. Paul the Apostle said concerning this great power, he says, woe unto me if I preach not the gospel. I like to say this, woe unto me if I preach not the gospel. If you're a Christian in here, the Bible applies to us. Woe unto us if we preach not the gospel. What are we doing? What are we doing if we're not preaching the gospel? It's the only remedy, it's the only power, it's the only message. What are we going to tell them? We can fill churches with shows. We can fill churches with all kinds of things. What's the message? Message is the cross. If the Christian today, a professing Christian today cannot answer the question on what basis are you saved, I have serious, grave doubts of their position in Christ. Why? On what basis are you saved? It's the cross. It's the cross. And I want to end with this. Listen. The Scripture says that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But it is the power of God unto salvation to all those who believe to the Jew first and to the Gentile. That means there's only one way for the Jew and the Gentile. Regardless of some stuff you've heard on TV recently, there's a couple ways to get saved. No, turn that guy off. The cross. Without it, there's no salvation. When you and I are witnessing to people, you start to get dry in your mouth and get a little tensed up. Because you hear in your head the Holy Spirit saying, Get to the cross. To the cross, tell them. You know this is true. If you're if you're just going to tell them little sweet lies, nice lies. Oh, you look so nice today. Oh, you're so sweet and you're so going, you know. Do you believe in God? Yes, oh, praise the Lord sister. Hallelujah. Come What does that mean? You're a sinner. The person who is ready for the kingdom will say, yes I am. Or the Christian who knows will say, I am a sinner, but Christ Jesus died for my sins on the cross. If you're lost, you'll say, I'll have nothing to do with this message. I wish you would shut it now. And I'm going to in about 35 seconds. But you know what? I pray not, but in eternity, God may remind you of this message. My hands will be clear. The gospel will have gone out and you will have decided. Jesus said, you're either for Me or you're against Me. No man putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. You know why when you look back holding a plow, I don't hold a plow, but you ever look back when you're driving your car on the freeway at 150 miles an hour? We're in Germany, you can look back on our little freeways here, but you go to Germany and look back at 150 and you're in some other country. You look back and the wheel goes like. Don't look back. Are you free? To the Christian this morning that's like, yes. To those of you who are in the balance. It's tragic news today. Christ and the sinner. He's come to set us free. All those who will put their trust in Him shall not be ashamed.

David J.: Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs. Here on Real Life Radio and his message called Christ and the Sinner. Thanks for taking your time to spend 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 and will continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. Are you searching for answers these days in a world where truth is hard to find? Well, my friend, as you heard in our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And if you'd like to learn more about what that means to you personally, just go to our website, jackhibbs.com. And then click on that tab there that's labeled, Know God. And there you'll be guided through what committing to Jesus Christ really means and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God. That's the Know God tab at our website, jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. 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.