Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: If you are being tempted to think or feel you're alone, that God has abandoned you, that there's no hope. Has God forgotten me? No! You are—listen—you are growing strong. You are growing excellent in the grace of God. And God has, in his sovereignty, allowed you to sense that darkness.

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.

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On today's edition of *Real Life Radio*, Pastor Jack continues his series called *Disciplines of Life* with a message titled "Disciplines of Darkness." When life feels dark, confusing, or hard, this is not evidence of God not being there. Instead, God uses it for a time of spiritual growth. We don't often understand what God is doing. Even Christians go through seasons of pain and uncertainty. But in those times, that's when God's power and direction is more meaningful than ever.

Today, Pastor Jack teaches that the discipline of darkness isn't a punishment but a spiritual process depending on faith rather than feelings. Temptation will come, especially in dark times, but when we endure, it can deepen our trust in God and helps us grow spiritually. Now with his message called "Disciplines of Darkness," here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: There are dangers in the night. I mean spiritual night. And Jesus is what your eye takes in. It matters. If therefore your eye is good—the word means focused, or solo, single eye on what is good—if your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.

But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? A filthy light, meaning what is being exposed to your eye? What does it do? Church, listen. We live in a very dangerous age. What are you allowing to see? What are you taking in?

That goes—listen—it's processed into your brain, it affects your emotions, it goes into your thought process. It begins to work on the type of person you are. The Bible says in another place, "To the righteous, all things are righteous." In other words, a kid will see a cloud and say, "That looks like Bozo the clown" or "Look at that cloud, it looks like Mickey Mouse."

That's how the righteous see things. "Isn't that a nice thing? Isn't that pretty? Oh look at that, what a wonderful..." To the ungodly, everything's filthy. "Look, it's Mickey Mouse." "Doesn't look like Mickey Mouse to me. You know what it looks like to me?" And out comes some horrible thing. Everything they see is dirty.

Because we have strayed so far from God that to the ungodly, everything is ungodly. And what happens is they take what is evil and begin to call it good. "It's art." One more time I hear that stuff: "It's art." What in the world's going on? It's a departure.

It's dangerous. Proverbs chapter one, verse ten. You guys okay? You're awful quiet. All five of you are doing great, that's wonderful. Proverbs 1:10 says, "My son"—any fathers in here? Write this down. Any sons in here? Write it down—"My son, if sinners entice you, do not give into them.

If they say, 'Come along with us. Let's lie in wait for someone's blood. Let's waylay someone harmless soul. Let's swallow them alive like the grave, and whole like those who go down to the pit. We will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder. Throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse.'

My son, do not go along with them. Do not set foot on their paths, for their feet rush into sin. They are swift to shed blood. How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds. These men lie in wait for their own blood. They waylay only themselves."

That's a reference to the end of the age and judgment. Things that go on in the dark after the fear of God's removed from the heart of someone. It's very important. Number five: discernment, or I should say discerning. Either way, the discipline of darkness is to discern the right path to take according to the Bible.

What are the benefits of walking in the light? Here we go. It's this: freedom. Can you write that down? Freedom. What are some of the benefits? Number one's freedom. Romans chapter 13, verse 11 says, "And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to wake out of our sleep, for now our salvation is near than when we first believed.

The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light." What a great word. "And let us walk properly, as in the day. Not in revelry or in drunkenness, not in lewdness or lust, not in strife or envy.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust." That's talking about being free. Listen, everyone, being free and applying the Bible so that you stay free. Meaning this: whatever God has brought you out of in your life, or whatever is those things or that thing that has a tendency to snare, grab, or trip you up, avoid those things at all cost.

Now, I need to see how many Christians are here tonight. Raise your hand if you're a Christian tonight. Okay, put your hands down. For us who raised our hands a moment ago, there is something that we know super special that we better avoid. I'm going to admit that for you.

If it's drinking, if you have a tendency to deal with your problems by reaching for the bottle, because that's one of your learned response behaviors. You saw your family, your mom, your dad deal with troubles by reaching for the bottle. That is a learned response behavioral act.

When daddy yelled at mommy, mommy picked up the bottle. Or when mommy yelled at daddy, daddy picked up the drugs. So the tendency has been embossed upon your mind and heart that when life gets rough for you, even now that you're a Christian, the temptation comes and says you either go to the Bible or you grab a pill.

Go to the Bible or grab the bottle. You're going to have to make a decision. Are you with me? You understand that? Listen, to stay free, discipline yourself to reach for the Bible. Number one: how do you do that? Get the alcohol, if that's your thing, out of the house.

"Well, I have it for medicinal reasons." Buy aspirin, get it out of your house. No excuses. Seriously. Or whatever your thing is. Can you not leave the internet alone? Do you keep going to pornography? Take the computer and eBay or sell it now. Get it out of the house.

Give it to a friend, throw it, take a baseball bat, kill it. That happened in this church—not here—it happened to somebody in the church who went home and killed their computer with a baseball bat. I'm serious. "Twelve hundred bucks, twelve hundred bucks." Twelve hundred bucks is nothing compared to saving your marriage or saving your kids or whatever it is.

Freedom. To be free is to exercise disciplines that allow you to stay free. Secondly: unity. First John 1:5: "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and we walk in darkness, we're liars"—or we lie—"and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another." Listen, Christians. The people of the world where we once lived, that's not who he's talking about. When you go to work tomorrow, your neighbors, they don't know God.

Holidays, you've got to be with unbelieving neighbors—I know it stinks—or not neighbors, unbelieving what? Relatives. Thank you, family. So you go, "Oh man, it's Christmas. You've got to be with these people." I understand that. We all have to do that.

But that's not what that verse means. It's talking about those who claim to be Christians and do unchristian things. The Bible says watch out. Have no fellowship with that, we'll hear in a moment, but do have fellowship with those who do walk in the light.

Revival is number three. First John 1:7 goes on and says, "And the blood of Jesus Christ, His son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth's not in us." This is not the practicing of sin now. This is the believer admitting and understanding I fight with sin every day.

You might have a sinful thought, a lazy thought, sinful action, lazy action. It's not our lifestyle anymore. We don't live like that any longer. But we do have sin. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins"—that's as a believer to the Lord—"He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Isn't that great? Number six: the disciplines of darkness is this: walk in the light. What do we do? We walk in the light.

According to the Bible, we are commanded by God to walk in the light. I can hear my mom right now in my head. Maybe your mom too, or your dad said, "Jack, make sure you're home before... dark." The Bible tells us in Second Corinthians 4:7, "For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, and He has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." The amazing thing is that God has called us out of darkness into the light. I told the people, the new converts on Sunday when we went over to the tent together, I told them you're going to experience a change in the way that you think.

How do I know that? Because it happened to me. You're nodding your head, it happened to you. Out there, they know. They're going to go out into the world and there'll be a change of thought taking place because they have come out of darkness and heading into the light. It's an amazing thing.

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: In John 12:46, the Bible says Jesus said, "I have come as a light into the world, and whoever believes in Me should no longer"—or does not—"abide in darkness." How great is that? Number seven—we have to hurry—the disciplines of darkness is number seven this: keep yourself safe.

Keep yourself safe. What do we do about that? Well, according to the Bible, how do we keep ourselves safe? It's this way: by keeping ourselves in a continuous state of fellowship with the Lord. Matthew chapter five, Jesus said in verse 13, "You are the salt of the earth."

He went on to say that "You are the light of the world." He put that on us. It's amazing. So here's how we do it. Mark it down. I could give you a thousand verses; I'm going to give you one big one. First Thessalonians chapter five.

First Thessalonians 5:1 says, "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren..." This is cool. "Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren..." That is regarding the Lord's return. "When's He coming? What's going to happen?" They were all asking.

Paul says, "Hey, calm down. Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren..." Everybody pay attention. "You have no need that I should write to you." Profound statement. Paul is saying concerning the times and the seasons, when that time comes—yet future, he said that 2,000 years ago—you will have no need for me or anybody else to write you and tell you we're in the times and the seasons.

He says you're going to know. Whoo! "For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night." Read the fine print: "For when they say"—not you—"they say, 'Peace and safety,' then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.

They shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not in the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober.

For those who sleep, sleep at night." He's talking spiritual sleep, dead. "And those who get drunk, get drunk at night." He's not talking about alcohol, though that's not good to partake of. He's talking about those who are enamored and lost in the things of the world.

They are intoxicated with the dumb things of life. "But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation." Wow. Jude verse 20 says, "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

Verse 21 is a reference to the Lord's return. Man, I tell you, if you believe what the Bible says, that Jesus could come at any time—or you could choke on your burrito and go see him at any time—you're concerned about that. You want to be ready about that.

You're living with the sense of eternity in your minds. And it's going to affect the way that you live. Here we go, number eight and we'll be done. The disciplines of darkness is this: remember heaven is full of light. It's where you're going.

So listen: we should start practicing the light. John chapter one, verse four: "In Him was life"—Jesus—"and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." Some see Jesus, some don't see Jesus.

Lots of verses, time doesn't allow. How about this? Ephesians 5:6: "Let no one deceive you with vain, empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them.

For you were once in darkness, but now you are the light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light." Okay, I'm going to give you a couple more verses. This is fun stuff. Jesus is the light. How much of the light? Watch this.

Revelation 21. I love this. This is the best. John says I saw—verse 22—Revelation 21:22, John says, "I saw no temple in it"—in heaven. I saw no temple in heaven, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb—that's Jesus—are its temple.

The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it. Think about that. In heaven, when you look up in the sky, there's no sun or there's no moon. For the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light.

And the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day. There shall be no night there. That's heaven. That's where you're going to be. Man, Revelation 22:5: "There shall be no night there.

They need no lamp or light of the sun, for the Lord gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever." Last verse, John 8:12, Jesus said to them, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life."

So listen, Christian. This is good stuff. We're all done. You can close your Bible. This is good stuff because here's the thing: whatever's coming against your life, whatever's hitting you and I up and attacking us, we can say, "Hey, wait a minute. I'm a child of God. I'm walking in the light."

Watch. Hear me out. If you are being tempted to think or feel you're alone, that God has abandoned you, that there's no hope. Has God forgotten me? No! You are—listen—you are growing strong. You are growing excellent in the grace of God.

And God has, in his sovereignty, allowed you to sense that darkness. Don't sin. Don't panic. Check all the bases. "Lord, I'm keeping my nose clean, I'm in the word, I'm walking with you. What's wrong?" Let me tell you something. Are you listening?

This is very cool. When anything is wrong, He will tell you. And He will tell you quick. Are you with me? When you do something wrong, He goes, "Hey!" When you say, "Lord, is there something wrong? I don't feel you, I don't sense you.

It's like the heavens are brass and I don't—I don't feel you anymore. Did I sin against you, God?" If He doesn't answer you in about a minute—let's go all the way out to like two minutes—if He doesn't answer you, my friend, then you just—you need to say, "Lord, okay then.

I understand that by faith I'm going through a dark time, and give me the strength to make it through." Let me tell you something. I went through a two-year period when I thought—I didn't hear God speak to me like, "I love you, Jack."

He gave me messages and he anointed the teaching, but it was like, "God, where are you?" "Jack, I told you where I'm at. I dwell within you. And you're going to have to come to the grip of believing His word or believing your feelings." Feelings will rip you off, man.

So check this out. On the other hand now, you may be in the darkness where you have gotten away from Him. And you say right now, "Lord, have I done anything wrong?" And before you even form the sentence, you know what it is. "Lord, have I..." Right?

The Bible says all those who are His kids, He disciplines them. If a person claims to know Jesus and lies, cheats, and steals and feels nothing, and makes plans to do more of it, they never knew Him. The child of God who knows Him and does such a thing is a miserable person in this world.

The Lord will see to it. If you're miserable tonight, God bless you in all of your miserableness. It's because you belong to Him. Stop goofing off and come on home. If you're doing bad things and you're not miserable tonight, then you're as lost as lost can be.

And if tonight you've checked all the bases and it still feels dark, my friend, put on your boots. It's a great day. God's teaching you a wonderful thing and there's going to be some tremendous victories. You're right on target.

Father, we just pray right now that as we just close out this service and worship, that we would be making decisions individually right now in our seats. Father, some of these decisions will be made—maybe, "Lord, thank you for this moment.

Thank you for the encouragement, God. I'm going to stay the course." Some tonight might be, "Lord, I'm coming home. I'm coming back. I need you, Jesus." And some tonight might be a confession is in the heart of someone tonight that they are an idolater, or a violent person, a covetous person, an adulterer, or a fornicator, or a drug user.

My friend, you need to know tonight that God is busting you right now because He loves you. We do not condemn you. God doesn't condemn you. Satan would—he's working on condemning you. You need to say yes to Jesus right now while you've got that chance.

You tell Him about it right now, right in your seat. He's listening to your mind right now. If you're saying yes to Jesus, at the end of this song tonight, you come and get a Bible up front here. There'll be people here to pray with you, to love on you.

Church, the hour is late. God has given us warnings. Nations in turmoil, violence everywhere, earthquakes happening, all these warnings. Wake up, for our salvation is near than when we first believed. In Jesus' name, and all God's people said, amen.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on *Real Life Radio* with his message called "Disciplines of Darkness." This message is part of Pastor Jack's series called *The Disciplines of Life*. It's a series highlighting the disciplines of a Christ follower and the high cost of sharing your faith with others in a lost and broken world. And we'll continue on the next edition of *Real Life Radio*.

As you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you'd like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com/knowgod. That's K-N-O-W-God.

There you'll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God. Don't miss out. That's the Know God tab at jackhibbs.com.

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*.