Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: God's predetermined desire was for me to become part of his family by adoption. Isn't that great? And it's true for you. Listen, he's not stuck with me. He's not stuck with you. He's stuck on me. He's stuck on you.

David J: This is Real Life. 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.

Jack Hibbs: Hey my friends, come with me on our Bold Faith Hawaii cruise, June 12th to the 19th, 2027. We're going to set sail for seven unforgettable days with myself, Dr. Frank Turek, and special worship with Gia Lucid. It's going to be a breathtaking trip. This is more than a vacation. It's a time of rest, renewal, fellowship, and spiritual strength in the word of God, all centered around the Bible. You can reserve your spot by going to jackhibbs.com.

David J: On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues now in his series called the Book of Ephesians and a message titled, We Have Been Chosen in Christ, Part Two. Ephesians is, of course, a letter the Apostle Paul wrote from prison to the church in Ephesus, showing every believer who they really are in Christ.

And here Paul reveals that long before we ever chose God, God in his love had already chosen us. You see, before the world was ever formed, God knew you and he set his love upon you. That means that you're not an accident or an afterthought. You're chosen, you're accepted, and you belong to him.

So today, Pastor Jack teaches that grace means we are fully accepted in Christ and nothing can change that. When we struggle or fall, God sees Jesus covering us, and heaven welcomes us because our sins have already been forgiven. Now, with his message called, We Have Been Chosen in Christ, Part Two, here's pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: God's predetermined desire was for me to become part of his family by adoption. Isn't that great? And it's true for you. Listen, he's not stuck with me. He's not stuck with you. He's stuck on me. He's stuck on you. That's why this doctrine, predestination, is so exciting.

The very thought that you might think to come to God, God's already put it in you, so he gets all the credit. He saves you, but the wonderful thing is he's stuck on you. He doesn't go, "Oh no, oh no! That guy's raising his hand! Oh no, he's going back to the prayer room! Somebody stop him, I don't want him! Gabriel, Michael, look at the book, see if he's predestined."

No, he says, "I'm not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." If your hand goes up, you either don't understand anything at all about what's being preached on or taught on, or you understand enough for the Holy Spirit to put his face by your ear and say, "Raise your hand. You are under conviction. You need Jesus as your Savior. Raise your hand because this is reasonable and you need to do that."

It's like, "Wow, I don't understand why I'm even doing this, but you know what? I need Christ in my life." And the Holy Spirit all your life has been preparing you for that moment. But it's your responsibility to choose. A lot of people don't like that, but it's biblical and it is true. You must respond.

We're sons. There's a very touching scene in the Bible that only happens like this in one place. And in Luke chapter nine, there's a man that lost his son's life, and he was weeping over the death of his son. And he comes to Jesus and he says, crying out, "Oh, you know, Lord, touch my son and reach him."

He says, "Teacher, I beg of you, look upon my son, for he is my only son." And then in the Greek, it is, "Teacher, Master, I beg of you, look upon my son. He is the son of me." That's how it is in the Greek language actually, "son of me." And the only other place that happens in the Bible is on the Mount of Transfiguration in Mark chapter nine when the cloud comes down and overshadows them and a voice comes out of the cloud and says, "This is the son of me. Hear him."

And I love that because as much as Jesus Christ is the Son of God, listen, this is radical. By his sacrifice on the cross and purchasing us with the cost of his blood, we have been received in him by the adoption as sons. And in our culture, that may not say much to you.

But in the Greek and Hebrew culture, in the Roman culture—in fact, Ben Hur, the movie, has something to do with this—where you can be a slave and be offered or given the opportunity of adoption by a Roman citizen. And that moment that you are adopted into the Roman citizen's family, listen, your history, they annihilate your history. They erase it.

They remove all things concerning your past. They put the family ring on you. They put the family robe. They give you a brand-new name. They give you a brand-new room. You have a whole new title and just as though you'd been in that family since day one. And God does that same thing to us.

When the Bible says Jesus is the Son of God, don't think in our mentality, "Well, you know, the Father's the big kahuna and then the little boy, well, he's just kind of like." Not in the Bible. Not in the Hebrew mind, not in the Jewish mind, not in the Greek mind. When you say he's the Son of God, you're saying that he is God come in the flesh.

Make no mistake about it. That's why the book of Luke portrays Jesus as the Son of Man because he represents us. But also the Gospel of John reveals Jesus Christ as the Son of God, God come in human form. It's incredible. And look at this. It says that, in love having predestined us to the adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, look what it says, "according to the good pleasure of his will."

And this is fantastic. God is good. Are you ready for that? I think it's Psalm 71. I think. Oh well, it's either Psalm 73:1 or Psalm 71:3, where it says God's good. He's good. The Bible says he's good. The Bible says he's light. The Bible says he's love. The Bible says he's holy.

It's interesting to me that God's created light, he's given light, and he himself is light. The Bible says that he's created love, that he's given love, and that he himself is love. The Bible says that he's created holiness, he has given us holiness, and that he himself is holy. I like that. But listen, ask this question. You probably already have. If God is so good, why is there evil everywhere? Why is there evil everywhere around?

Yes, it's true. There's war, there's death, there's pain, there's sickness. Bible teaches that God is the Creator and Sustainer. The Bible also said he's the Redeemer. And when you mention him as Redeemer, it presupposes something is lost. It means something's fallen. Why do we go to Pomona Valley Hospital and visit a baby that's not going to make it?

And you hear a parent or somebody say, "How could God do this?" God doesn't do this. Why is there war? Why is there death? God did not predestine these things. Why are you sick? Suffering. God did not predestine this. He knew it was coming because he knew, based upon man's choice, these things would come into the world.

And the book of Romans tells us that there was no death in the world until sin entered the Garden of Eden. No death. Jesus said, we said it earlier tonight, in John 10 verse 10, that Satan has come to kill, rob, and destroy. He's the one responsible. "Well, why doesn't God do something about it?"

He is doing something about it. And that's where you and I have a hard time. We want God to come down just like a genie. Now, fix it. But God doesn't work on our time frame. He doesn't work on our time zone. Are you going through pain, or have you had a rough life, or maybe a rough life is just about ready to be unfolded in front of you and you're a Christian?

Has God forsaken you? No. The world is out to rip you off, Satan is out to destroy you, and the very nature of Adam and Eve being within us is working against us. The flesh is warring against the spirit. And God has done it all. He not only put himself on the cross and died for the sins of the world, but he sent his Holy Spirit to live inside of the hearts of men for 2,000 years.

And it is his redemption that brings it about. And I confess with you, it's not happening quick enough. Look, I don't know if you're excited about Jesus' return tonight or not, but I'm excited. I need it bad. This place pretty much stinks. What is left in the world to get you excited? "Oh man, let's get some. Let's do it." Five minutes later, "Why'd we do that?"

It's fleeting. It's passing. God is redeeming. The book of Romans again says the whole nature travails waiting for the redemption of the sons of God. That's us. And I'm sorry, you've probably heard this a hundred times, but every time I see, you drive down Peyton and Chino Hills Parkway, and you see those, you'll either see a dead coyote on the road, a dead squirrel.

I've seen a dead deer. Saw a dead bobcat. And it's sad because Romans says the whole nature groans and travails until the son of men are redeemed. And that poor squirrel gets splattered and he's going, "Oh man, these guys, when are they going to get redeemed?" That deer's trying to make that crossing and, "Oh no, oh no!" Boom, he's hit and he's dying on the side of the road. "Oh man, I'm groaning waiting for these jerks to be redeemed."

The nature that God has created is waiting for the sons of men to be redeemed. They're under the groaning travail of the fall. That's why he's called the Redeemer, because something's fallen. This world is fallen. You're to blame, I'm to blame, Satan is to blame. He has good pleasure.

And I like that. This is impossible for us to understand, but God has eternal purposes in mind when he deals with us regarding everything that happens in our lives. God has an eternal purpose in mind, but you and I want it fixed now. And he's got something better in store, and we won't believe him. But we better believe him.

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: The third and final point is this: the believer has a glorious acceptance in verse six and we'll be done. It says here, "to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he has made us accepted in the beloved." First thing I want you to see is that it's to the praise of the glory of his grace.

Grace, this fantastic word, you know what it means. It means to give something that you don't deserve. But grace produces the truest form of praise. That's what he's saying here. Verse six, look at this. It says, "to the praise of the glory of his grace." What does this mean?

It means that the grace that God puts in your life or he wants to put in your life should generate this interesting word used for praise. It is the Greek word *apenos* and it means laudation or laud. To laud him, or laudation, to speak forth to him in a spontaneous outburst. It's a spontaneity of love.

Have you ever been doing something, driving, thinking, whatever, and for me it's like a nature thing. I'll see a cloud and the sun's behind it and it's like awesome and it's like, "Man, God you're good." Just for a moment. That's the word that's meant here. That grace is so affecting your life that there's times when you just shoot a hot one right up to God. "I love you! This is great!" And then you get, it's spontaneous, which I think is the most truest form of worship.

I know we come in here and, "Okay, his praise the Lord and lift your hand," and we should do that. By the way, we're offering sacrifices of praise most of the time, especially first service. Although first service, did you know this? First service on Sunday mornings, those guys clap the loudest and they sing the loudest.

Second service, they sound louder because there's a zillion of them. Third service, it's like, "We made it. Oh, you know." Now don't tell third service I said that. But a lot of not everybody, a lot of people are just, "Oh man, I can't believe we even didn't even plan on coming today, but we made it to third. Wonder what time he's going to be over. Has he started yet?" You know, it's kind of funny. I don't think it's funny, but it is.

Praise, spontaneous praise, the Lord, man. It's great. Just flows out. It's what happens in Psalm 8 verse three when the scripture says, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your hands and the moon and the stars that you've ordained." That's what the psalmist is doing. He's wigging out. He's freaking out on God. It's the truest form of praise.

Also this. It says, "by which he has made us accepted in the beloved." That's what grace does. Grace enables us, you guys. Do you feel accepted? If you don't, you don't know anything about grace. Are you struggling with being accepted by God? You think he's accepted you? No. Then you don't know anything about God's grace.

You need to master that in your heart. Now, the funny thing is you're probably truly totally accepted in the beloved and born again like all get up, but the point is you have not enjoyed his grace. And you need to realize, man, he just wants to bless me because I'm his kid.

I know you guys don't do this in your home. You would never do this in your home. But in our insanity sometimes, we'll be all set to do something and we're getting ready to go down to the beach or go somewhere, do something. It's a big deal. We've been talking about it for days. And here we go! And one of the kids act up, right? And you got the car, the car's already loaded. You even got their lunch in there. You got their clothes in there.

"Now, if you don't shape up, you're not going. Look, it's like right now." You know, at the last minute you're going away for two weeks and, "That's it, you're not going. You can stay at your aunt's house." Well, without consulting the aunt, I don't know if that's a good idea. But the funny thing is, is we respond that way. We all do that.

Well, because of disobedience or because we act up, God doesn't say, "That's it! Get out! Get out! You're not going." He doesn't do that. We may break fellowship with him and communication, he won't talk. First John 1:9, Isaiah 59:1 and 2, that's what it's all about. He won't talk to us when we're being disobedient. He's still in our hearts.

Our names are still written down in heaven. He still loves us. It doesn't change anything. You still love your child when they're disobedient. You may not like them, but you love them. The beautiful thing is we are accepted in Christ because of the grace that has enabled us to be in him. This word accepted, and we'll wrap this up quickly, I promise.

The word accepted here means to be endued with grace, to be highly favored, to receive special unearned honor. Isn't that neat? I just wrote down in my notes preparing this, "He's with me." That's what's going to happen in heaven. I'm going to be up there, my knees are going to be shaking. "Oh, what's going on?"

Approach the throne and Jesus going to say, "It's okay, he's with me." Oh man. Remember, it's not what you know. It's who you know. "I'm with him!" The Father leans over, "Can you recite Isaiah 59? Quote to me the book of Hezekiah," you know. And me, I'd start looking for it. No, Jesus is going to say, "He's with me."

Wow, grace! Colossians 3:3. Colossians 3:3 says, "For you died and your life is hidden in Christ in God." Isn't that great? Oh man. When you go to Russia, you buy those little Matryoshka dolls. Everybody's been bought these things. I mean, they're, you know, the little things, they're little dolls and they're really great. And then you open them up and they keep opening up, right? The little one, the little, little, smaller, smaller, smaller.

Well, you take that thing and you put them in there and you seal them up. If you didn't know what that thing was, you would say that's the only doll there is until you start taking them apart and there's one inside another inside another, Matryoshka doll. And that's how we are, we're in Christ.

God looks at that Matryoshka and it's Jesus, and inside that Matryoshka is us. But that's all that the Father sees is Jesus. That's why grace is bountifully deposited into your account. Start seeing yourself hidden in Christ. There's a day coming, people, and hopefully it's tonight, when we will be released from this struggle of sin in this body that's in our fight amongst ourselves here.

Grace has made us accepted. Listen, I want to leave you with this story I read today. This is so neat. This is beautiful. During World War II, young women from Wales, the country of Wales, this beautiful place, applied for United States passports. They were fearing the war, fearing invasion.

Many of the young men that they loved and would have married gone off to war, and Wales being a small country, they had suffered great losses. And the women were scared, young women. So they made application for US passports and they were denied. And their hearts were broken. Then they attempted to stow away in a freighter that was heading back to the United States across the Atlantic.

And they stowed themselves away in lifeboats. And when they got to New York, they were discovered by the US customs officials and they sent them back to Wales. And the women were devastated.