Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: What about him who doesn't hear? Well, Romans Chapter 1 says that God has spoken to him, His divine existence, His eternal Godhead and power. So don't worry about the guy with the bone in his nose. Worry about the guy that's sitting in your seat right now, called by your name.

Guest (Male): 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.

Guest (Male): What if one of the most neglected commandments in scripture isn't about what we do, but what we don't do? What if learning to stop is exactly what your soul has been longing for? This September, Pastor Jack Hibbs is honored to feature "Stop in the Name of God" by his late friend Charlie Kirk.

While Charlie was known for courageously speaking to the issues of our day, this book reveals another side of his heart—a desire to help believers rediscover God's gift of Sabbath, rest, and dependence upon Him. It's a timely reminder that our value isn't found in constant activity, but in walking closely with Christ and trusting His design for our lives. We hope this message continues to encourage believers for many years to come. "Stop in the Name of God" is available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com/realradio. That's jackhibbs.com/realradio.

David J: On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series now called The Book of Ephesians and a message titled "We Have Been Chosen in Christ, Part 1." Ephesians is a letter the Apostle Paul wrote from prison to the church in Ephesus, showing every believer who they really are in Christ. And right here, Paul tells us something amazing: that before God ever made the world, He chose us.

You see, that's a truth that we can hardly take in if you think about it. It means our place with God isn't based on how good we are, how good-looking we are, or even how much we've messed up. He chose us out of His own love. And that, well, it's the most secure thing we could ever hold on to.

So today, Pastor Jack teaches that God is the one who calls, leads, and accomplishes His purposes for our lives. And He alone is sovereign. Long before the foundations of the world were laid, God placed us at the very top of His priority list. 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.

In continuing in the Book of Ephesians, in this message, Pastor Jack, we're going to get into one of the big ones: that God chose us before He ever made the world, right? Man, God's been speaking to me personally about that. And that's a wonderful thought for some people. For you, for me, it's a good thought. A real head-scratcher for others. Talk to me about that, would you?

Jack Hibbs: Well, it's a head-scratcher. First of all, let's be honest, it's a head-scratcher for all of us because of the magnitude of that statement. It demands that the God that He is, we know this from Old Testament revelations of God and the word, that He's transcendent. We think along a timeline. We put in our directions on Google Earth or whatever maps, and we're going to go from point A to point B, and that's how we think—a linear. We think on a flat plane.

Where, in a sense, that God being transcendent, He's more topographic, meaning He can go to the mountaintop and look down and see not just the valley, He can see all the valleys. Think of that for a moment where He's eternal. He's not subject to the timeline. So when He says, "I've known you before the worlds were ever created," you say, "That's impossible." You are 100 percent correct. It is impossible for us to even fathom that.

Because we're like the ant walking around on the kitchen table. Little do we know that a hand can come in and scoop us up off that table. We can talk to that ant, look at that ant. What's remarkable about the Book of Ephesians is that reality is like God's reality where He can come down and scoop us up and talk to us. But how He talked to us is the Book of Ephesians will reveal to us that He entered into our timeframe. He entered into this tabletop like an ant. He became an ant.

We mere mortals, He became a mortal to tell us, "Hey, I've come from where I've come from. I'll tell you all about it, but the fact of the matter is I made all you guys. I've known all you guys forever. And the announcement is this: the Gospel salvation message." But even though I made you and I'm eternal, I will not make you make that choice. It's got to be relational.

The very theme of the entire Book of Ephesians is found in verse 3 that we've just come through. He says there, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places." That is the very theme of the entire book. And in fact, usually in any book of the Bible, you're going to find the theme in the very first verse of that book—or the very first chapter, excuse me, of that book.

And so tonight, we are building upon the very fact of the Book of Ephesians that we are blessed, we have been, in Christ, in God, in the heavenly places. And as we get into verse 4, I want you to realize something. You might want to jot this down in your notes. This is rather spectacular if you think about it. Beginning in verse 3 all the way to verse 14, it is not only one of the most powerful declarations of Christianity and stating such a fact regarding our life in Christ, it's certainly one of the strongest statements made.

Listen to this: the early church used to sing verses 3 to 14 as a hymn. And it is one of the longest sentences you'll ever see. Paul seems to take off and not land until he accomplishes verse 14. And in this one sentence in the Greek language, it has one main verb and that is "blessed." Verse 3, "He has blessed us." It has three stanzas as they used it for a song. Verse 6, it says, "To the praise of His glory." Verse 12, "To the praise of His glory." And then the song ended in verse 14, "To the praise of His glory."

In stanza one, it's verses 4 through 6. You might want to look at this or jot it down or maybe make a little circle in your Bible. It's kind of neat. In verses 4 through 6, in the first stanza, it stresses God the Father. See that there? In the second stanza, it stresses God the Son in verses 7 through 12. And then in the third stanza, in verses 13 to 14, it stresses God the Holy Spirit. Why am I pointing this out? Because there's a beautiful manifestation of the Trinity of God right here in the first chapter and in fact in the first 14 verses.

So I think that's neat to point out. First thing we want to realize tonight, if you're taking notes, jot it down. The first point we want to see is that God's choice is to choose. God has a choice and He chooses. And we're going to see this right now in verse 4. It says, "Just as He," that is God, God the Father, "chose us in Him," that is Christ Jesus, "before the foundations of the world." Now listen to this: God makes decisions and choices.

And the world, in fact, let's get specific, a lot of Christians don't like God's choices sometimes. Everybody right now is picketing and voting and lobbying for choice. And it's kind of a weird thing that we're even doing this kind of stuff, that we even see it in our culture. There are those who say, "I'm pro-choice." Well, okay. If you really think about it, we are really pro-choice. You out there, we choose life.

There are those who say, "I'm pro-choice and I choose death," or "I choose abortion," or "I choose military," or "non-military," or whatever it is. But mankind will go to war to defend his right to choose. And people will picket, people will even throw themselves in front of motorcades or trains or blow themselves up to get the point across that they are for choice. And yet God says in the Book of Ephesians right here, verse 4, that He is a God who chooses.

And people get upset with that. "How can God choose? What do you mean? He should consult me first." No, He's sovereign. We're going to look tonight at some deep theological truths, and I may confuse you more than help you out. So I want you to listen carefully, and I don't care how far we get along tonight in this message, as long as it's logical. I washed my tongue tonight; I can't do a thing with it.

But this is such an important truth and it's debated greatly. Have you ever heard of those who hold to the Arminian view of salvation? Raise your hand if you've heard that. Wow. How many of you heard of the Calvinistic view? Even, hey, that's interesting. Well, listen, both those guys were great theologians. They loved God and they're great, super guys. But listen, we're building our theology on what God has said through the power of the Holy Spirit revealed in the word of God.

Both of those guys expressed scriptures and in truth. But you must look at the full counsel of God to get doctrine correct. And if you just let the Bible speak to you completely, you'll understand what God's trying to say. And we're going to begin with this tonight by realizing that God has a choice in the matter. And what is it?

First of all, it says here, verse 4, "just as He chose us in Him." Choice is God's sovereign domain. You can jot that down right now. In fact, not only is choice God's sovereign domain, but because you have the ability to choose, and you alone. Hear me out. You alone as a human being have the prerogative to choose. Animals do not have the ability to choose. Did you know that?

"Well, Jack, I saw on PBS just last week the monkey hit the green button and the banana comes out of the chute in the laboratory. He chose." No, he didn't. If you listen to the program carefully, they shocked the little monkey every time he hit the wrong button. He got electrocuted. When he got conditioned to realize, "Hey, the green button means banana," he's not making a choice. He's been conditioned to go after the right button. Are you with me? You better be. If you miss that deep thing, you won't get the whole deal.

God, who is God, who is sovereign over all, existed before we ever came along. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's never had a beginning. Listen, He'll never have an end. He does not live where time is. And you and I have a hard time with that. You and I, if you hold the Arminian view or the Calvinistic view or the view in between, you and I have been conditioned to think from one end of the line to the other end of the line. We get on a train, we get off the train. We get on a plane, we get off a plane because we've reached our destination. God does not have a destination. He lives where He lives, and it is now. It never changes.

And He is sovereign over this thing about choosing. The Bible says that God chose you. "Well, Jack, what does it mean about those outside? What does it mean regarding the little guy in Africa running around with the bone in his nose and the little grass skirt with the spear, who's never heard the Bible?" Jesus said, didn't He, to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature? Converting them, literally, is what we're talking about, and baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

What about him who doesn't hear? Well, Romans Chapter 1 says that God has spoken to him through nature, that God has spoken to him His divine existence, His eternal Godhead and power. So don't worry about the guy with the bone in his nose. Worry about the guy that's sitting in your seat right now, called by your name. Are you chosen of God tonight?

God chooses, listen, those whom He will to go into heaven. And that ought to get your eyebrows up. Because the logical thinking is, "Well, does that mean God chooses people not to go to heaven?" And I want to default to the time question again. And we're going to be going through this maybe in the next couple of years as we go through this on Wednesday nights. The word "chose" here in the Greek language is very important. It means to have selected. It's in the past tense.

In the Greek, it's past tense and it's in the aorist, meaning it was done once in a moment of time in history. The word "to choose," He's chosen us. He chose us. The word means to have selected, to have elected—that is us—to have called us out from among others. And he did it at some point in time. People, this is a fact. You're not going to change it. It's a done deal.

This is amazing. It means in one moment of time, at once, God did this thing called election, this thing called choosing us and calling us. And it also implies in the Greek language that He did it in and of Himself, meaning He didn't get any help from us. You notice, and we'll hit this soon, that it says "before the foundations of the world." Well, the reason why that's in there is so you and I can't get any ideas. I'm glad He did it back then because you and I would have totally messed it up if it was going to happen later on.

Guest (Male): 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: Why don't you turn in your Bibles right now to Romans Chapter 9. Romans Chapter 9, a little bit to the left. Just a little bit. Romans, Hebrews, and Ephesians is just absolute theology books. Romans Chapter 9, beginning at verse 10. Listen carefully. God's chosen us.

Verse 10: "And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet born, nor having done any good or evil," underline it. Listen, you're going to heaven tonight has nothing to do with you being good or evil, you being a good Christian or a wimpy Christian or a whatever. "Having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls)."

We have been chosen in Him, God choosing us. And it is absolutely by His sovereign love for you. It has nothing to do with how cute you are, how wealthy you are, how broke you are, or how ugly I am. It doesn't matter. He's chosen us in His own purpose and His own will. Now turn to 1 Peter Chapter 1, a little bit to the right. 1 Peter Chapter 1.

1 Peter Chapter 1, verse 2 says, "to the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Right there in 1 Peter Chapter 1, verse 2, underline the word "foreknowledge." So important. You're going to say, "Well, why are we doing this?" If you do it now, you won't be confused later. Now grab your Bible and go back to Romans Chapter 8, verse 28. Romans Chapter 8, verse 28. And we'll read to verse 30. Listen to this. God's chosen us.

Verse 28, Romans Chapter 8: "And we know that all things," have you heard this verse before? "work together for good to those who love God." Every believer and non-believer knows that verse. And I've heard that quoted by people who don't even know who God is. "Well, remember all things work together for good, man." Where'd they get that? Well, they're paraphrasing the scriptures. But listen, keep reading. It's conditional.

"We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called," you ought to underline that, "according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew," there's that word, underline "foreknow." "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He," that is God, "might be the firstborn among many brethren." God the Son.

Verse 30: "Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified." See the progression? And what is the thing that happens first? The word is "foreknowledge." God foreknew. God has chosen you. And there may be people in this crowd tonight that God has not chosen.

And that may drive you up the wall. But listen, here's a little hint, a clue. It will only drive those up the wall who have been called. It doesn't drive up the wall those who have not been called. You want to know why? Because they don't care. They don't care about God's election. Now, does God prepare people for hell? The answer is no. People prepare themselves for hell. And we'll see this later on in Romans Chapter 9 again.

You cannot have a good God—have you had somebody say, "Why should I believe in your God? My child was born crippled and I won't believe in your God that you say is a God of love." Listen, he's talking about your God, but in the wrong context. Satan is responsible for that garbage. And so he'll say, "I'm not going to come to Christ because you've got a bad God. Because a bad God sends people to hell." Now that sounds logical, and I would have to agree. If God sends people to hell, you got a bad God.

But the Bible teaches that God saves people. And those who refuse to bow and to love and to know God, they choose the path of being without Christ in eternity. It's called hell. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God ordains or foreordains or predestines any person to hell. Are you aware of that? Nowhere in the Bible does it say that. But it does say that God foreordains people to heaven. And there's a great, great difference, and we need to understand this.

And we'll come to it as we go through here. But notice in Romans Chapter 8 the progression: foreknowledge. What is foreknowledge? He's chosen us, but it's based upon foreknowledge. That means God not only knows all things, but in our timeline—remember we take off in the airplane and we land somewhere in the airplane—somewhere along the line, God, who knows all things in His foreknowledge, knowing what's going to happen before it happens, engineers into our lives situations and circumstances based upon His foreknowledge.

Now, I don't usually do this and I'll probably get in trouble for doing it. I don't recommend movies because I just don't want to do that. But there's a movie that I'm actually going to write a thing out because I've seen it nine times. And to me, it is one of the best Christian movies I've ever seen that's not even a Christian movie. But it's called First Knight. And I don't know if you've seen that movie. Oh, have you? My gosh, everybody must have seen this. Fantastic movie.

And if you watch it with your Bible open, it parallels the scripture so great. Well, I've got the movie down now where I have a hard time watching it without saying the lines with the actors. I've got it down. Even Guinevere's lines. I've got Princess Guinevere's lines down in that movie. And we just showed it to some friends just recently and the movie's going on and I start talking kind of like Sean Connery, you know, and I can't do it but he always talks like he's about to eat something, you know, in this Camelot.

And right before he says it, I'm like, I start to say it because I know it's coming. How do I know that? Foreknowledge. I know it's coming. I know it's coming in the movie. I've seen it enough to know. God has seen it enough to know. Because where He lives, in the eternal now, He sees in His attribute, He sees Adam and Eve in the garden and He sees the end of the age, all at the same time. Isn't that bizarre?

But that's how powerful God is, and that's one of His attributes that He has. He's omniscient, He's everywhere, He's all-knowing. There's nothing that can escape Him. He knows all. So not only is He sovereign in this thing of time and choosing, but we need to understand that He knows all things. He knows the absolute equation and its very answer. Situations to life, blessings, the cursings that seem to come into your life—everything in between. God knew before you were ever born what would come into your life. He knows.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio and his message called "We Have Been Chosen in Christ, Part 1." Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called The Book of Ephesians. It's a series through Paul's letter to the Ephesians, discovering the riches, the walk, and the warfare of every believer. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Guest (Male): Everything Pastor Jack Hibbs is doing has a home: jackhibbs.com. It's the place to catch the latest message, revisit a series, listen to the podcast, stream Real Life Network, or find resources that help you stay steady in God's Word. Whether you have five minutes or an hour, start there. The site keeps it easy to watch and listen, learn and grow. Visit jackhibbs.com today and stay connected to what God is doing through this ministry.

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.