Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: If you are well loved and well taught, you should be growing up in Jesus, dependent upon Jesus—not the church's hotline, not a few people in the church, not the pastor or the priest, not the father or the mother. Jesus.

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.

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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 His Earthly Work." 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 His earthly work before the cross and before the resurrection. Jesus walked among ordinary people, making a difference everywhere He went and to everyone He met. Now, you see, when someone asks us why Jesus came, the answer is found right here in His everyday work.

He went about teaching the truth, proclaiming the good news, and healing the broken. And Christ is still doing that very same work today. So, today Pastor Jack teaches us that Jesus came to preach, reaching both the heart and the mind of every person who listened.

When the gospel is preached, the bottom line is decisions are made and lives are changed. Now, with his message called "Christ and His Earthly Work," here is pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: So the first thing that we see this morning is very, very important, and it is this: His teaching whispered obedience. Jesus' teaching whispered in it obedience.

Example, when Jesus taught, there had to be an explosive vitality about His teaching. Why? Because in Matthew chapter 7, verse 29, the Bible says, "For He taught them as one having authority, and not like the scribes or Pharisees."

Well, the scribes and Pharisees would go like this: they would open up the Old Testament, they would say, "And Isaiah said that my word shall go forth and accomplish what I've sent it out. It will not return to me void." Then they would close the book and they would say, "Rabbi Hillel said," and they would quote Hillel.

"And Rabbi Shammai said," and they would, and then "Rabbi Kaplan said," and they would quote all these ancient rabbis. And people would be falling asleep. It happened for millenniums.

Jesus comes onto the scene, opens up the Old Testament, and explodes with vitality. He spoke with one having authority. When He taught the Bible, people sat up, and it came to life.

Why? Because He spoke from what He knew. When He taught the Bible, the Holy Spirit took the truth of the Word of God and, through the messenger—in this case, Jesus—brought the Word of God alive to the listeners. That is extremely important.

Jesus taught as one having authority, but listen to this: very much unlike the scribes and Pharisees. Quickly, I don't want to make a big deal of this, but watch this: biblical authority is an awesome thing to be around and to embrace.

Did you hear me, everyone? You and I live in a culture that when we mention the word authority, we get all bent out of shape. Sometimes we're justified in getting bent out of shape. You want to know why? We have been given a very ill representation of what authority is.

Biblical authority draws you to it. You are invited to come and enjoy it. Well, Jack, I was in a ministry and there was authority all right, but I was beat to death by it. I'm not talking about worldly authority. No, no, no, this was in a church. I'm not talking about worldly authority.

When Jesus exercised authority, people gathered around Him. Isn't that an exciting and encouraging thing to know? When Jesus is in control, you want to get closer to Him.

The scribes—what did they do? They pounded on their pulpit, they put yokes upon people that they themselves wouldn't dare bear or try to even attempt to carry. They were men who were insecure and men who imposed authority.

Jesus taught in such a way that He caused the Bible to come to life and to light, and they saw it in front of them. Listen, excellent teaching is when the Bible is being taught and there are graphic representations to it.

For example, Jesus said in His teaching that for those who offend a little one, it would be better for him to have never been born, but in fact would have a millstone tied around his neck and cast into the sea.

Why did Jesus use that word picture or that description as a millstone? Because millstones were everywhere there, and they weigh anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 pounds. My friend, if you have a millstone tied around your neck and God throws you into the sea, you're going to go down.

And when Jesus taught like that, people went, "Wow. I see a millstone here. Hmm, with what He just said, I see little children standing around. Boy, if anybody offends any of these little ones, He's going to tie a mill—that millstone—around the offender's neck and cast them into the Sea of Galilee, which is right there. Wow!"

And that caused people to gather near and to gather around, not to drive them away. The scripture says in Mark 12:37, "And the common people," the word common in Greek means the bulk, the most of the people, the greatest of the attendance of the people, and normal people.

The common, normal, and most of the people heard Jesus gladly. The word gladly in Greek means to be receiving something sweetly or to receive something with pleasure or something that is enjoyable.

When Jesus taught, people gathered around and listened up. Everyone, unlike many of the messages that I might deliver to you here, they were pleasurable to hear. People went, "Awesome. My goodness, I understand these mysteries that He's teaching. Never before," as the scripture says in John 7:46, "has a man spoken like this man."

Jesus taught, and when He taught, He whispered obedience, and the people probably didn't even mention the word obedience; they just gladly followed Him to obey. When you hear Jesus teach, you're going to want to gather around Him more and more often. His teaching whispered obedience.

Very quickly jot it down; I don't want to spend much time there. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 7; Hebrews 13, verse 17; and Hebrews 13, verse 24. All of those three scriptures imply to the religious—I hate to use that term, but you'll know what I mean—to the religious overseer or the pastor or pastors or evangelist or you name it, that is ministering to your soul.

Listen to what Paul says, very important. He says, "Remember those who rule over you." Now, if somebody comes on the scene and says, "Submit! I rule over you! I'm the pastor!" you know what? I think it's time for you to find another church. There's something wrong with that guy.

That's not how Jesus did it, and that's not what the word authority would mean. Remember those who rule over you, who spoke the Word of God to you, whose faith you should follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. They're going to stand before God in the end.

And every teacher, evangelist, pastor knows that I better be careful about what I teach and how I teach it because I will stand before God in the end alone, and He's going to hold me accountable. That fear in a godly way—or the word actually for fear as I should use is the word awesome—that awesome appointment that I know I have with God should cause me to be humble, to be simple, should be careful, and never assume or impose authority.

Paul says, "Remember those who rule over you." If somebody's ruling over you, this is what the result should be biblically: you should grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. If you are well loved and well taught, you should be growing up in Jesus, dependent upon Jesus—not the church's hotline, not a few people in the church, not the pastor or the priest, not the father or the mother. Jesus.

Hebrews 13:7 says, "Obey those who rule over you and be submissive to them." Why? Because they watch out for your souls. It should be a joy. Can you imagine? Jesus says, "My what? Yoke is easy. My burden, it's light." That was radical for the people to hear. It was inviting.

Another thing that we see this morning: His teaching whispered obedience, yes, but also His teaching painted pictures. When He taught, He had the ability when He came teaching to paint pictures with words. Very, very important.

You remember in 2 Timothy 3:16 that says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine." This now, in teaching, this would be now reproof. Consider this to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.

How did Jesus often do that? Hey, you don't come on the scene, and a lot of zealous Christians have this tendency: they get saved on Sunday and they get to work on Monday and they burn the whole company. "You're all going to hell!"

Somebody says something, "Oh, that's it! You're going to burn! You're out of here!" and that's not going to win people to Christ. Reproof, 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that scripture's given that it is to reprove. This word is very, very important because it's to show us what is disapproving, what's not pleasing to God.

How do you walk up to somebody and say, "Excuse me, but God's called me to rebuke you"? They will not listen to you, friend. Who made you the Holy Spirit in their life anyhow?

There's always the little faultfinders and sinsniffers that are around every church. I don't know why, but they're in every church. "Do you realize what you did?" What? "Did you hear what you said?" What? "You know what," and they're just faultfinding. Got a little notebook. They look like a spiritual Poindexter. "Oh," and away they write. Sinsniffers and faultfinders. You will never get someone to grow in Jesus that way.

How did Jesus Christ do it? When He reproved someone, how did He do it? Well, example, this way: when He was teaching the disciples, He said this. It says in Mark 12:38, "Jesus in His teaching said to them, 'Beware of the scribes who desire to go around with long robes.'"

Oh, men love long robes. Religion loves long robes. The longer, the better. They love greetings in the marketplaces. "Hi, Rabbi Joe!" "Yes, I'm Rabbi Joe." They love greetings in the marketplace where it's crowded. "Hello, hello! Oh, yes, thank you, thank you!" They love that. The flesh loves that, recognition. Jesus says, "Beware of that, be careful."

He says they love the best seats in the synagogue. Got a little name on it, little name there: "I donated $1,000, so this is my seat." Interesting. Wow. Jesus says, "Listen, don't be like those guys." And He says, "For a pretense, make long prayers."

He says, "But in reality, they receive the greater condemnation." See, long prayers for some strange reason, long prayers are synonymous with in the Bible of fleshly offerings. The scriptures warn us to be careful about prayer, to be short at prayer, quick at it. When you come before the Lord, speak it directly and that's it.

But not the religious person. Long prayers, all this stuff. So what's Jesus saying? When He's teaching, He's painting a picture. He says, "You guys, listen," and He might have even pointed across the courtyard. "See the scribes and the Pharisees? Look at them over there." He graphically presented the word to them.

He said things like this: "Consider the lilies of the field; they neither toil nor do they spin. Yet Solomon in all of his beauty was not arrayed like one of these flowers." And that, if you would have been there with Jesus and His picturesque teaching, you would have laughed.

You don't see a lily going, "Ugh, ugh, ugh," and stressing out. Jesus says, "Look at the simplicity of this." And it clicked in the mind of the people. My goodness, Lord, I understand this.

Now, the scripture warns us, and He taught us when He reproved us. And He continually does it because He loves us. He will often use very graphic pictures to get our attention. Why? That's how we learn. That is how you and I learn.

Matthew 23, verse 27: a very horrible verse. Matthew 23:27 says, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs." Well, that doesn't make any sense to you and I—not yet. "And indeed, they appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and uncleanness."

When Jesus spoke that picturesque statement, everybody recognized immediately what He was saying. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees! You're like a whitewashed tomb!" They paint tombs there white.

Graveyards, they paint them white so people don't stumble over them in the night because that would defile you. And they're very bright; they almost glow from a distance, even in the moonlight. Outwardly, Jesus says, "You look great on the outside, but the inside you're full of absolute hypocrisy."

That was graphic teaching. People got it. Somebody today—and I'm just making this up if this offends you or upsets you, I'm sorry, I don't mean to—but somebody might say today, "Be careful of that man over there. He's as truthful as a politician."

Whoa, that means I understand exactly what he meant. He meant don't trust that man, you know? Watch out. Jesus in His teaching unlocks to the heart of man what He's trying to convey.

Let's continue on with this. His teaching whispered obedience, His teaching painted pictures, and His teaching warned of consequences. Yes, warned of consequences. And that corresponds to 2 Timothy 3:16. The third admonition there is that the Bible is profitable for correction. That means it straightens us out.

In Luke chapter 22, verse 25, the Bible says, "And He said unto them, 'The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors. But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is the greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs among you as he who serves.

For who is greater: the one who sits at the table, or the one who serves? Is not the one who sits at the table greater? Yet I am among you as one who serves.'" Jesus is obviously the greatest, but He came serving.

And He taught regarding correction this type of a warning: that if we are Christians—and He's speaking to His disciples—He says don't get all haughty and puffed up that you know the way to heaven. Don't be all haughty and puffed up that you know how to find a verse in the Bible, that you know how to serve people.

He says, "In fact, I, being the Creator of the universe, I've humbled myself and I'm serving you." What an excellent way of teaching a deep truth that, look, let's be honest, every one of us have a hard time with. I'm going to confess something of yours because it's something of mine: all of us enjoy being served. And don't tell me you don't. We do.

Jesus says, "Listen, the example is this to those who follow me: serve one another." And He taught us that if we didn't do this, that there's consequences. And there are obviously consequences to many things—things that we neglect to do and things that we shouldn't be doing.

And Jesus teaches not by slamming down the cosmic flyswatter out of heaven and splatting you. He teaches by picking you up. Remember I've told you before how God spanks? I think it's a wonderful way how He spanks when He spanks us who believe, His children.

He'll never spank somebody who's not His child, by the way. But when He spanks us, He comes down and scoops up. Catches us right in the rear end there, and with His spank we're uplifted. Only God can spank like that.

If you don't discipline a child with love that way, you know what you're going to do? You're going to raise up a child that is filled with guilt because that infraction will load up on their conscience over and over on top of the next, on top of the next.

It must be cleared, and you owe that to your child to love them that way. Let their heart be freed because the judgment has come. God does that with us. He corrects us, but it always builds us up, always builds us up.

So the next thing that we see this morning in Christ and His earthly work is this: and that is His teaching brought about assurance. When Jesus spoke, He brought about assurance to our hearts. Assurance, and He does it today.

The Bible tells us in John chapter 10, verse 27, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. They follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish." I love when God talks like that.

"They will never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand."

If I count the hands that are involved, there's the hand of Jesus and there's the hand of the Father, and the Bible says in John chapter 10, you're right in the middle. You are right in the middle of the hands of God and you're safe.

When Jesus taught, He brought assurance to the soul, to the heart, of everyone who heard Him. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 15, beginning at verse 3, He says what man is there among you that has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray?

Does he not leave the 99 and go after that one sheep that is astray? And once he's brought him or caught him, he brings him back and rejoices. That's how God loves you. Are you sinning? I know we sin. We sin in our thoughts or we sin in our imaginations. We may even sin in action.

But are you backslidden right now? Are you backslidden as a Christian? Are you looking back at a time when you were more right-on with God? If you can, you're backslidden.

And God would say to you right now, "I've left the hundred and I've come," or "I've left the 99 and I've come after the one." That's you. And He says, "I want to pick you up and put you over my shoulders again and bring you back home." I want to encourage you, friend, listen to Him.

Listen to Him because a faithful shepherd, if a sheep continues to wander away, a faithful shepherd will break the leg of that lamb to keep him from wandering off. He loves you, He loves me.

Jesus' teaching brought about assurance. It's awesome to realize that when Christ taught, the scriptures say, yes, that the common people heard Him gladly, but it says that gathered to Him were all the tax collectors, the IRS agents today, the prostitutes, the muggers, the bums, the thieves, the outcast.

Now, that's teaching. That is an awesome thing Jesus did, this very teaching. The next thing that we see this morning, the second point to our study, is this: and that is Christ came to earth to preach.

Here's the difference: the teaching is instructive, preaching is evangelistic. There's the teaching that goes to the body, that goes to you. Those who are already saved, those who already know Christ, He teaches.

Preaching is evangelism. The word preaching means to herald forth the news or the evangel, good news, God news. So Jesus came to earth to preach. We saw this in Matthew chapter 4, verse 23. He went all about preaching the kingdom of God.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio and his message called "Christ and His Earthly Work." 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. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Daniel Cohen: Daniel Cohen here from Israel. If you love Pastor Jack Hibbs' fearless approach to teaching God's Word, you'll love the Real Life Network. It's built for warriors who want the truth, God's truth.

On *The Daniel Cohen Show*, we bring you stories the mainstream media downplays. It's time to start getting your news from people you trust, and it's totally free. Sign up now at reallifenetwork.com.

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.