Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: But when you're young, you need to be focused more on God than ever before. Because what you're sowing to in your youth will matter later on in life.

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.

What do you do when heaven feels silent? When you've prayed, believed, even begged, and still nothing changes? When the person you love isn't healed? When the worst actually happens? When it feels like evil is winning? Where is God in all of that?

This May, Pastor Jack Hibbs' featured resource is *Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayer?* by Erwin Lutzer. It's an honest, biblical look at the questions most of us are afraid to say out loud. Not shallow answers, but real hope, real truth, the kind that meets you right in the middle of disappointment and points you back to God's greater purpose, even when you can't see it.

If you've ever wrestled with doubt, confusion, or silence from God, this book is for you. *Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayer?* is available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com/realradio. That's jackhibbs.com/realradio. Get your own copy of the book of the month, *Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayer?* by Dr. Erwin Lutzer, at jackhibbs.com/realradio.

On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called "Disciplines of Life" with a message titled "Disciplines of Dependability." As Christians, we really have to strive towards dependability. It's a spiritual discipline that helps believers to grow into something that others can depend upon.

This discipline is all about being consistent, to trust and obey God even when it's difficult. Dependability together with patience and humility is what you've got to have to face life's obstacles with faith rather than giving up when things get tough.

Today, Pastor Jack teaches that who and what we are is often decided in our youth. Influences through the years have created certain disciplines, but for Christians, our lives are being recreated where dependability begins in the heart. Now with his message called "Disciplines of Dependability," here is pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: So as we continue our series called "The Disciplines of Life," we're talking about the discipline of dependability. That's a great topic.

Guest (Male): You mentioned that dependability often gets proven during difficult seasons. That makes sense, but why do hard times reveal so much about a person's spiritual foundation?

Jack Hibbs: Honestly, when things are easy, when the road is smooth, there's no need to even bring up dependability, faithfulness, loyalty, commitment, endurance. But life is not like that. The road's bumpy and it's got its dangers.

When we talk about the disciplines of dependability, we're talking about developing a practice in our life. For example, in Lamentations, the Scriptures tell us that a good man will learn to bear the yoke of his youth. How to be a young man. That's missing today in America. It's missing in the world for that matter.

If a young man today is suffering, he thinks the world is coming to an end. No, the exact opposite is going on. The suffering you're going through is actually to be managed because it's making you into a man. This is what people need to realize.

We think if we just protect our kids from all things difficult, they're going to be just fine. No, they'll never learn dependability, both themselves and God, without difficulties and hardships. Quite frankly, it's something that we need to really stop panicking as parents, including for ourselves, when there's a challenge, because dependability is made in the fire.

Guest (Male): Dependability isn't usually the first trait that people think about when it comes to spiritual growth.

Jack Hibbs: You're right, and yet that's exactly what we must have. We may not even know it, but it's what we're longing for. What I mean by that is I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say, "Lord, please make sure you get me to the end. I want to finish well. Don't let me end my Christian witness on Earth and discredit your name."

Our minds go off on the proverbial rabbit trail because we know so many names that have crashed and burned right when they got near the finish line. We don't want to be like that. So Lord, cause me to exercise the discipline of dependability, that no matter what, I'm not going to take my eyes off of you.

Guest (Male): Discipline of dependability. Let's jump in.

Jack Hibbs: Would you bless now the going forth of your Word to our hearts? Father, we pray that we would leave this Wednesday night more in love with Jesus, more on fire in an age and in a nation that needs a true witness of Christ. Lord, make us revolutionaries, as it were, for the kingdom of God.

It is time, Lord, that America be revived. That's not going to happen unless your people are revived. Lord, we know that you're the God of revival. You love doing it. So Father, we're asking you right now to do it in our life. Start right here as an epicenter of revival. Lord, start in this corner of this continent in Southern California and Lord, cause an earthquake in the spirit to ripple across this nation. Start with us, Father, we pray in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, amen.

Church, grab your Bibles this evening and turn if you would to two places as we normally do on Wednesday night. That is Matthew chapter 28 and Lamentations chapter 3. It's just after the book of Jeremiah and just before the book of Ezekiel. Matthew chapter 28 and Lamentations chapter 3, written by Jeremiah the prophet.

Tonight, we're looking at the discipline of dependability. What does that mean? As we go through this special series on Wednesday nights about the disciplines of life, what does it mean to be dependable? What is God's definition of it? What does it look like in our lives? We're going to talk about that tonight and Lord willing, learn of that tonight.

Matthew chapter 28, regarding the disciplines of life, Jesus said, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And behold," and I love this, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

Lamentations chapter 3, verse 27: "It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and keep silent, because God has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth to the dust, and there may yet be hope." What a strong word.

It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. Who and what you and I are and what we become, listen church, is formed and shaped in our early years. It's interesting to me that Karl Marx, Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro have all announced throughout the careers of their tyranny that if we can just get the youth of a culture, then we'll get the future. That is the future is the youth. When you can control the youth, you will control the future.

America has a brand new future that's happening right before our eyes because the youth now are growing up and they're voters, and they're in the economy, and they're in the neighborhood, and they have now advanced. There's a whole another generation coming behind them. That's the way it has always been. That's the way it shall be until the Lord comes back.

Keep this in mind: the person that you are today, the life that you live, is very much formed by your early years. The struggles that you and I go through in our own private life, the things that we need to get victory over—how much of what you and I struggle with as Christians are things that are what we'll call residuals of our lives?

How much of that is something that controls us versus something that, through the power of God, is able to be overcome? I would say this: no matter who we are in Christ, no matter what kind of upbringing that you've ever had in your life, no matter how dark the painting or picture can be, the Bible says through Christ we are more than conquerors. That's very good news.

The Bible says in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 1, it says, "Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come and the years draw near when you say, 'I have no pleasure in them.'" Think of that. As you're young, remember now the days. Remember the Creator, your God, in the days of your youth.

Listen, church family, as we are young people gathered around here right now—it doesn't matter what age you are right now. If you've got some years to live, you're younger now than you will be later. We need to remember the Lord our God in the days of our youth because there are days coming when the Scripture says we will have no pleasure in those days.

Now, for some that are older and getting on in years, or maybe it's sickness or disease or ailment, life is a burden. Life is difficult. Life gets hard. It's a struggle to get out of bed for some people when in earlier years, it was something that they never thought about. God says, "You remember me in your youth."

There is no reason why our young people today in America or for that matter in the world should have some sort of an excuse as to why they can't follow Jesus because they're young. Oh no, it's the other way around. Because they are youth, they should be following Jesus absolutely, one hundred percent, crazy for God. This nation, this world needs to see kids crazy for God once again. Kids that are alive for Christ.

There are certain laws, by the way, in all of nature that you and I obey every day. Gravity's working on us all. There's entropy, which is the second law of thermodynamics. Entropy declares that everything in the scientific world and the observable universe is going from an ordered state to a chaotic state. Did you know that?

That's what the Bible says too, by the way. That's what science is. Everything's going from a perfect state to a disastrous state. Things are unwinding. We know that the burn rate of the sun, for example, is diminishing. It's losing strength. You and I as humans are losing strength.

We know from philosophy and also from science that the moment a child is born, a child begins to die even at its young age. Why? Because it started that downward progression of life. It's going against the clock. The clock is as it were against life.

It doesn't matter what you and I do in all of this life. There's not enough Botox or saline or corrective surgery or whatever that is going to make that change. There are laws that God has established. One of those things is how you and I, listen, are disciplining our lives as believers. I'm going to say some things tonight that need to be said.

Things that parents need to be listening to. If they're not going to listen to it, then you young people tonight, you tune in and listen and be better off for it. Remember, I'm not your parent. I'm not your dad, so I get to tell you stuff that I really value. You can choose to take it and live it out or not. It's your choice, but I hope you do take it.

Before we get into this, jot down 2 Corinthians 4:16. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day." That's the last thing in a young person's mind this evening is my outward man's perishing. Because when you're young, you're deceived by how you feel. You feel so good.

I want to challenge you because listen, us old people now, we would say, "Man." I remember I was reading Benjamin Franklin and he was talking to Thomas Jefferson. The conversation went this way: somebody's age was stated and the guy was 70 years old. "I'm 70 years old today." Benjamin Franklin, who was well into his 80s, turned to Jefferson and said, "Oh, to be 70 again."

Well, think about that for a moment. I'm 52. Oh, to be 32 again. Why? Because I know more now than I did then, but now I don't have the energy to pull off what I know, which is the right thing to do. If I had life—you've heard this before—if I had life to live all over again, I would do it this way or I'd do it that way. What does that come from? Based upon life's experience lived in light of God.

And then to look back and see young people and go, "Oh, don't do that!" And they think, "What do you know, you old-timer?" And then their car blows up or they run into the glass wall and you say, "I told you." There's some bit of pleasure, by the way, for us old people watching you do that.

But when you're young, you need to be focused more on God than ever before. Because what you're sowing to in your youth will matter later on in life. The things that you and I are enjoying right now as older believers is because we invested in the things of God early on in life. I'm so grateful for my spiritual heritage and that Christ saved me young in life at the age of 19.

Now if I had to do it my way, I guess I would have said I wish I would have been grown up in a Christian home, but God knows His plan. These influences that you and I have had in our lives have caused you and I to have certain disciplines in our lives. These disciplines become our lifestyles.

So here we go. Number one is this: the discipline of dependability is this, that we are to be training our new heart. Would you jot that down? As a Christian tonight, you've been granted a brand new heart. My friends, listen, do not think for a moment that you can come into religion and just carry your old world into some preconceived notion that you've just added religion onto your life.

No, you and I have been given as a believer, Christian, a new heart. That's one of the great hallmarks of God's work in our lives. We don't become religious; we become new people. We've been given a new heart and we've got to train that new heart, instruct it in the things of God. It's been well said that the heart is the great fundamental. Isn't that a great statement?

The heart is the great fundamental. Noah Webster, in his 1828 dictionary, says that dependability is the act of loyalty, reliability, steadfastness. Webster adds: "as in a dependable friend." Isn't that a beautiful thing? To him, he writes that dependability is that which is found like it is in a dependable friend. Loyalty, reliability, steadfastness.

That's a strong word. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 5:8 regarding the heart: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Have you ever thought about that for a minute? Think about that. This is not the study I want to give right now, but let me put this in front of you. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

You want to freak out for a moment? God is Father, Son, Holy Spirit. In eternity, the pure in heart—there's not going to be a section in heaven where the pure in heart sit. Did you know that? "Well, I'll be a peacemaker, I'll be over here." No, you're not. No, those in heaven will have all of those things because the true believer in their heart right now—you, right here this evening—you long to be a peacemaker. You long to be pure in heart, don't you?

Pure in heart. What does that mean? They shall see God. How? How are we going to see the Holy Spirit in heaven? I don't know, but we're going to. It says God. You will see God. How are we going to see God the Father when the Bible tells us that no man can look upon Him?

Because you will be glorified. You will be in your glorified state. You will be in your absolute total redeemed state. Obviously, we can really relate and associate, and so we should, with Jesus Christ. But to see the Holy Spirit, to see the Father, to see the Son—blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. That is going to be an awesome moment.

And when we talk about the disciplines of dependability, we're talking about something that is installed in the character of a believer. A brand new heart's been given to us. Now, why do we need a new heart? Because the Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9—now watch the doors, this is where people leave. Cameras, get ready. Follow them out all the way.

Because nobody wants to hear this if they're deceived. But if you're honest with yourself, you'll say, "Wow, the Bible like looks down into my soul." Jeremiah 17:9 says, this is God speaking, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" If you keep reading verse 10, God says, "I know it." God knows. Do you know that?

The heart's wicked, says the Bible. It's deceitful. It needs to be renewed. It needs to be changed, I should say. A new heart. And that heart needs to be trained in the things of God. It's being born again, Jesus said. In Psalm 14:1, the Bible says—I love this—go out tonight. It's going to be crystal clear. Look at the stars. It's been beautiful at night for the last 10 months.

"The fool has said in his heart, there is no God." Look up at those stars because the Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God. Think of that. This morning I was outside early. It was beautiful and it was dark, and the sky was so brilliant and you think about that. The heavens declare the glory of God.

Sometimes when I'm looking at the heavens and you're thinking about that, it's almost as though as the Scripture says that night unto night and day unto day they utter their speech. There's no place where their voice is not heard. It means that the heavens are shouting to a world that's looking on: God is real! But the fool says in his heart, "No God, no God, no God."

Well listen, this is the very reason why, as Jesus said, we must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven. We need a brand new heart. The moment that we come to Christ, that heart needs to be trained in the things of God. Ezekiel 36:26 says that God speaks to the believer and He says, "I will give you a new heart, and I will put my spirit within you." A brand new life.

In 2 Corinthians 5—you're going to have to write these down fast, I have a lot of verses—in 2 Corinthians 5:16, the Bible says, "Therefore from now on we regard no one according to the flesh." I quote this verse often, I love it. We don't look at each other anymore according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Do we believe that tonight? Listen, have you had a rough life? Has the input into your life been very bad? Have you had horrible parents or horrible grandparents? Or did somebody raise you—were you raised by a pack of wolves in the wilderness?

Whatever that was, listen, you are not an animal. You have been created in the image of God. You're not an angel. You're redeemable. Angels are not. You are God's treasure so much so He says, "I've sent my Son to die on the cross for your sins and to not only pay the price that you and I couldn't pay for ourselves."

He did that, washing away that sin of yours and mine, but on top of it, giving us a brand new start in life. All the stuff that—mark it down in your head, just think for a moment—all the stuff that we would say is against us. Is it life? Somebody might say, "Life's not fair." Let me tell you something: absolutely not. Life's not fair. It's not supposed to be fair.

Where do we get that concept? "Life's not fair." For you to say that life's not fair is for you to immediately admit that there is something better, and to assume that what's difficult must be bad. I was talking to someone yesterday at the hospital and they said, "Well, the worst thing that can happen is..." and they said what they said. And I said, "But is that really the worst thing that could happen?"

Yeah, actually, I thought that's what they said. Is it really the worst thing that could happen, that this person's life ends in death? Not for the believer. That's not the worst thing that can happen. See, we get this concept. And let me tell you something right now: we need to rejoice. God is not fair regarding salvation either. You don't want God fair regarding salvation. Fair is all the super nice good people get to go to heaven. Where are the rest of us going to go? Jesus died for the entire world. He died for the sins of all humanity at the cross. And that's an awesome thing, and that's a wonderful thing.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio and his message called "Disciplines of Dependability." Thanks for being with us today, we really appreciate you being here. This message is part of Pastor Jack's series called "The Disciplines of Life." It's a series that highlights the disciplines of a Christ-follower and the high cost of sharing our faith with others. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

You know, the Apostle Peter, in his letters to the church, urged his fellow Christians to keep on learning and growing in the faith in spite of their suffering and pain. Unlike today, however, resources were scarce. Still, they persevered, and Christ-followers were growing in both strength and numbers.

Now, there's no limit of ways to access quality materials on Christian living, including Pastor Jack's website. When you go to jackhibbs.com and click the media icon, you'll find not only Real Life Radio episodes, but Real Life Podcasts, Real Life TV, Real Life Basics for Christian growth, and even news updates. There's also specific verse-by-verse studies from books of the Bible and so much more. So head on over to our website at jackhibbs.com and click on the media tab. That's jackhibbs.com.

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.