Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: Today on Real Life Radio, but they wind up according to George Barna 84 or 88% wind up losing their faith in college. Why? Unable to defend what they believe. You are to know what you believe and your faith is the greatest asset you have. Consider what's at stake. This is Real Life.

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 his series called *Disciplines of Life* and a message titled "The Discipline of Durability." The Christian walk is full of disciplines, trials, and setbacks, but God uses the hard seasons of life to shape our faith from the inside out.

So, when it comes to durability, it's realizing that we can't do life relying on our own strength. You see, durability isn't about being tough enough to handle life on our own; it's about staying connected with Christ no matter what. When times get hard, when people let us down, when circumstances don't go as planned, our natural response is often to pull back or just simply give up. But the Lord calls us to endure until His return, and that's exactly what we've got to do.

So today, Pastor Jack teaches that we must consider what's at stake. Our faith in Jesus Christ is the most valuable thing we have, and everything else in life depends on it. When we understand the eternal significance of staying faithful, it changes how we approach every challenge. 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: So Pastor Jack, in this "Disciplines of Durability," you say anybody can start the Christian life strong. Durability is about whether you're really willing to stand years down the road. You pointed out the orange trees outside, right? The roots and the vines doing all sorts... this is during the message, of course. They're doing all the work while the branches just hang there and they're loaded with fruit. Right? All the branch has to do is hang in there. So durability isn't really about gritting our teeth, is it?

Jack Hibbs: No. In fact, John's Gospel is so beautifully displayed before us as abiding. Abiding with Him. And so that's the key. If you're connected to Christ, all of the nutrients are flowing. Think about that. The roots coming up from the soil, the trunk, the bark, all of that doing its work to produce, at some point outwardly at the end, the fruit. And so we are to hang in there, literally speaking.

God is faithful, and the reality is that when we just spend that time with Him, He galvanizes us really regarding the things of this life. He'll walk us through difficulty. We won't escape the trouble, but He'll take us through the trouble, and by doing that, we become more durable in our everyday Christian life.

David J: And you say during this message, you say as long as we're still here, we've got no authority to punch out, if you will.

Jack Hibbs: It's true. We have no—exactly right. We have no ability as a Christian to quit. We can't give up. We can't jump off the end of the building. We can't walk away from it all. We do not have that authority. When we came to Christ, we surrendered. He has all authority, and if somebody today is saying, "Well, I'm so depressed, I'm so down, my wife left me, my husband left me, the dog bit me, my car won't start, I'm quitting," sorry, you can't quit.

You named the name of Jesus, you believe He died on the cross and rose again from the grave, and you're having a rough time. It's not the end of the world. He will see you through this because He's the one that's durable. It's His strength that we are tucked away in.

David J: And we're talking about the discipline of durability. Let's jump in.

Jack Hibbs: Turn to Matthew chapter 28 tonight as we are looking in the *Disciplines of Life* series. Church, my goodness, we're coming down tonight to study thirty. Our 30th study in this series. We have one more to go, 31. Thirty-one messages in a series entitled *The Disciplines of Life*. And tonight, the discipline of durability. That is a tremendous topic. Study 30: the discipline of durability.

Matthew chapter 28, beginning at verse 18. And then we'll go to John chapter 15. Matthew chapter 28, verse 18: "And Jesus came and spoke to them," them being the disciples, "saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.'" That's all authority. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." That's a commandment to the believer, every one of us. We play, each of us, a role.

"Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." Before I read John 15, durability—listen to this. The word means lasting power, staying power, or the power to continue on. Moving forward kind of power, without perishing or without ending. Church, listen, it's the state or attribute of being durable. The uninterrupted, prolonged continuance of a pursuit or a cause.

John chapter 15, verse 5 is our verse that we launch out tonight from. The discipline of durability is found in the word "to abide." To abide. John 15:5, Jesus said, "I am the vine, and you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit. For without Me, you can do nothing." Translation: if you don't have Him, you will be doing nothing. If you do not have Him, you will be doing nothing. But if you have Him, you will be doing exactly what He wants you to do.

How does that work? Because He is the vine and we are the branches, and by supernatural naturally abiding in Christ, fruit is produced. So without Him, we will be accomplishing nothing, but with Him, there's nothing that we cannot do to glorify God. And that is important when we talk about being durable as a believer and what that means.

Matthew chapter 10, verse 21 teaches us, Jesus said, "Now brother will deliver up brother to death." He's talking about the last days. "And a father his child." He's talking about because of spiritual reasons, there will be tremendous treason, as it were, being committed in the natural realm. "Children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. And he who endures to the end will be saved."

The Bible tells us to abide in Christ, and at the same time that we are to endure until the end. For 2,000 years, the Christian has been called upon to endure. And I want you to listen to this loud and clear. Make no mistake about it. The Bible clearly teaches that the Lord could come back for His church tonight. That is the doctrine of immanency. It teaches that at any moment, without warning, the Lord can appear in the atmosphere and call His people home, that is to heaven. Totally different from the second coming of Christ.

Having said that, if Jesus doesn't come tonight, then you and I will wake up tomorrow morning to endure another day. And if He doesn't come back in the next six months, we're going to have to endure the next six months. You see where I'm going with this? If He doesn't come back for the next 10 years, we will endure the next 10 years. If He doesn't come back for another 150 years, then we will live our lives—church, listen—we will live our lives to the glory of God until our end, and then He'll call us home.

But until that moment, as a believer, we have no authority to punch out or to bail out of this thing that we are experiencing called our journey or our relationship with Jesus Christ. This is a very critical thing because I hear too many Christians today saying, "Well, Pastor, before it gets too rough, He's going to come for us, right?" We don't know that.

There are Christians dying in China and in North Africa for their faith in Jesus Christ. And if you apply that kind of thinking, then what happened to them? It is just so foreign to us in the West to suffer violence because of the name of Christ. Yes, I believe He could come back tonight. Yes, I pray that you're all ready. I'm ready. Are you ready? But listen, if we have to live on and die for Jesus, listen, God's grace will be there for us to die for Him. And you need to be considering that.

This is a very serious issue. And so tonight when we talk about being durable and that discipline, it's not that we're being strong enough in ourselves. It's not that we're going to be tough enough to take on Satan. It's not that we're going to be somehow smart enough to outmaneuver the world. No, it's all about you and I—listen, right now, starting tonight, tomorrow, the next day—continuing on with Jesus Christ.

I have to tell you tonight that I am moved. I've been wondering, I've been a little bit worried about preparing for this message tonight because there's been some things that have been kind of pent up inside of me in talking with people and bumping into people around town that, "Hey, how are you?" I'm asking them. "Oh, I'm okay." "Well, I haven't seen you in a while." "Oh, I'm not going to church now anymore." "Well, how come?" "Well, you know what, this happened in my life and that happened in my life..."

Just recently, I said, "And what? Why are you taking it out on God? Because people have upset you and you're not going to church any longer, you have fallen right into the hands of Satan and of this world, giving up on God." Listen, that is flirting with disaster. I've got to tell you right now, one of the ways that you're going to know that you are a child of God is that you will have a burning, unwavering passion and desire to finish the call that's on your life.

I'm not talking about being a pastor or an evangelist. If you are, praise the Lord. But if you are a mom, if you are a corporate leader, if you are whatever, you are a Christian first and you're concerned and you are very, very devoted to seeing your Christianity to the end. In fact, I'll say it for you: one of the greatest fears that we have is somehow like Paul the apostle said, "I don't want to wind up being disqualified in the end for having somehow messed up my Christian life or my witness." This is a critical thing and it's all about abiding in Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to abide in Jesus? You're going to hear that word over and over again. I have saved it for the nearing the end of the series because it is vital. We're going to look at 10 things tonight. We may be here till the morning, but we're going to get 10 things tonight. The discipline of durability, church, mark it down, take notes. Number one is this: it means that we consider what's at stake.

If we are going to endure until the end, wake up and consider now what is at stake. We are talking about eternity. We're talking about Christianity. We're talking about the fact that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God and that the Word of God, the Bible, will absolutely be fulfilled. It has been, it is, and it shall be fulfilled in its totality. Jesus said not one jot or tittle, not one hyphen or comma of the Hebrew language, will pass away until this entire Word is fulfilled, the Bible.

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: Consider what's at stake. The greatest asset, the greatest resource that you and I have, the greatest possession that we have—listen, it's not our cars, it's not our airplanes, it's not our boats, it's not our fill-in-the-blank whatever you have. It is your faith. It is your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You lose that and it winds up affecting everything in your life.

Listen, there are husbands and wives bailing out on their marriages because ultimately they have sacrificed their faith. There are young adults giving up on following Jesus because what happens? They fail to make that transition into faith or they give up on their faith or they go to college or university and they have their faith constantly attacked and bombarded—maybe because the church hasn't prepared them for it, I don't know—but they wind up according to George Barna 84 or 88% wind up losing their faith in college. Why? Unable to defend what they believe.

You are to know what you believe and your faith is the greatest asset you have. Consider what's at stake when we think about enduring until the end. Listen, we're not having church tonight. I mean, we are and we aren't. Yes, when we gather together, this is the church. It's not the building, it's you. But what we're doing right now, we are in training right now. We are in encouragement. We're getting refueled right now. We are getting an alignment in the middle of the week.

We are getting recharged for tomorrow. And we're going to go live for Jesus so out there that we're going to need Sunday to get recharged again. Consider what's at stake. There's a war going on right now as we speak. You all know about that. Well, there's a war that is much greater than what's happening in the Middle East. It's a spiritual war that's invisible. Consider what's at stake.

Luke 18:8, Jesus says, "When the Son of Man comes or returns, will He find faith on the earth?" Notice Jesus' own heart is, "When I come back, will I find faith?" And listen, when you read those challenges like that, how does that affect you personally? Do you say that when you read that, "Dear Lord, please when You return, find faith in me. Dear Lord, find me believing. Dear Lord, find me trusting." I pray that that's everyone's desire tonight, or else you're not going to make it. You won't even care about abiding. You won't even care about being eternally minded.

In 1 Timothy 4:1—these are our days, church—1 Timothy 4:1, the Bible says that the Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, clearly says that in the latter times some will abandon the faith. How do you know you're not going to give up on faith in the Lord? I'm not talking about faith in faith. You have to have faith in an object. Some people say, "Just have enough faith." Always ask someone when they say to you, "Just have enough faith," ask them, "In what?" "Well, you know, faith in faith."

Faith in faith is insanity. You have to have an object to put your faith into or onto. This water. Onto this stool. Hear that? That's the sound of faith. It's going to hold it up. I have no doubt about it. Do you have that faith in Christ? Consider what's at stake. You're wise tonight. You're here tonight investing in your faith.

Consider what's at stake. The Bible says—and I love this—about how to abide. You might say, "Well, how do I do this? How do I consider what's at stake and how do I abide in Jesus Christ and that very word and what does it all mean to abide?" If you're a note-taker tonight, the word means to take up residence. Jesus says abide in Me—take up residence in Me, live in Me, dwell in Me, be that branch that's flowing out of that vine relationship with the Lord.

Now listen to this. David—I love David. He was a radical. King David, shepherd boy David. You know what I love about him? Him and Abraham absolutely bless my heart. Here's the reason why: they had a born-again relationship life in the Old Testament with the God of the Old and New Testament, who's the same God, by the way. Same God. You say, "I see them differently." Then you haven't read the book of Revelation yet. He's the same God.

Right now, we're in the age of grace. There's a day coming when He's going to roll up His sleeves. He's the same God. And David and Abraham and others have that amazing relationship with the Lord. And listen to what David did in 1 Samuel 30:6. 1 Samuel 30:6, the Bible says, "Now David was greatly distressed." He had good reason to be. "For the people spoke of stoning him." If you're in the ministry, you know what that feels like.

Because the soul of all the people—he was grieved, and every man for his sons and his daughters—but David—look at it, church—David what? Strengthened himself in the Lord his God. That is a beautiful Old Testament scripture announcing to us that David chose to abide in the Lord. To make his dwelling with God. Why? Because he had no dwelling anywhere else. You say, "What are you talking about? He was David, he could have snapped his finger and people would have built him a house in a moment." That wasn't his affection.

One thing have I desired and that I will seek after: that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. He didn't care about an earthly home. He cared about strengthening himself in the Lord. Are you down? Are you under attack? Are you depressed? Are you whatever? Strengthen yourself in the Lord. What does it mean? It's that word "strengthened" is the word "abide" in the New Testament. And that is he took up the Word of God.

Why was David a psalmist? Why for that matter, why was David a psalmist? Why was David a warrior? Why was David a singer? Why was David a king? Why was David a shepherd? Because he made his abode with God. Isn't that wonderful to think about? In this room tonight, what are we in this life? That is, what are we doing in this life? What is our vocation? Whatever it might be—and there's a great diversity of what that might be tonight—did you know this? That there is that unifying fact is that we are all, I trust, as believers, abiding in Christ. And that means that we are considering the eternal stakes at what's at the heart of all that we do.

Number two is this: if we are going to exercise the discipline of durability, of abiding in Christ, number two means that we will resist false doctrine or doctrines. You can circle the "S" on there. Resist false doctrines. Church, listen, are you awake tonight? This is huge. There are more lunatics tonight than ever before in Christianity. And they have access to the internet, which makes them doubly dangerous.

They are sharing and spewing their demonic influence ever so gently, some of them ever so gently to pull people away from the truth. Some are just flat-out out-right crazies. But there is a plethora. I personally believe that when Jesus said—now listen, I may be unique about what or how I hold this view—but I see things differently these days in the sense that when Jesus said, "In the last days many false prophets will arise," 20 years ago you would have thought that that was limited to only pulpits or only outreaches or only publications in printed form in the books or something like that.

Not—I don't think that anymore. I think the avenue of the internet has allowed many—the word in Greek means not a few, that means a whole lot—not a few false prophets will arise in the last days. And if you're getting your Bible theology from the internet rather than reading the Word of God yourself, you're open to deception. Why don't you listen with Bible open to the Holy Spirit teach you out of His Word?

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio and his message called "The Discipline of Durability." You know, this message, by the way, is part of Pastor Jack's series called *Disciplines of Life*, a series on the disciplines God builds into the Christian life—trials, the setbacks, and the hard seasons of life that He uses to shape a believer's character and to deepen our faith. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Do you need encouragement, clarity, and solid teaching for everyday life? At jackhibbs.com, you'll find sermons, podcasts, devotionals, and streaming content designed to help you grow in your faith. Visit jackhibbs.com today and stay connected to what matters most.

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 to know. 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.

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.