Real Life Radio

Guest (Male): Today, on Real Life Radio.

Jack Hibbs: Your world view, as we often talk about here on Wednesday nights, is either a world view that incorporates God, or it does not incorporate God. Whatever your world view is, is how you make your decisions. Everyone of us make our decisions based off our own world view. The goal of a Christian is to have a biblical world view.

Guest (Male): This is real life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs.

David Jay: I'm David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's word, the Bible. Hey everybody, we want to introduce you to what we're calling our summer bundle. It's two great books, and you're going to want to get them for the little ones in your life. The first book is called Prayers and Promises for Kids. It's a great resource to not only teach your children about the promises of God, but how do we take those promises and pray them into our lives? You're going to find this a great resource to develop a prayer life with your child.

And then, the book The Red Coats Are Coming, written by our own Nancy Sanders, who attends our church. It is a great great book. It is featured by Adventures in Odyssey and the wonderful people at Focus on the Family, Prayers and Promises for Kids, and The Red Coats Are Coming. They're two children's books that are very powerful. Get a copy of both these books as we bundle them for the month of July.

Guest (Male): That's The Red Coats Are Coming and Prayers and Promises for Kids, couple of great books available as a bundle for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called The Parables of Jesus and a message titled Parable of the Rich Fool, Part One. You know, whenever Jesus spoke to the crowds, he often spoke using relatable stories with common everyday themes the Bible calls parables. In this parable, Jesus is teaching about foolish living and a wasted life. You see, when God is not in our thoughts, we fail to realize that everything comes from him.

Laying up treasures for ourselves and not being rich towards God makes us hold on too tight. Whether we're poor or rich, it doesn't matter. It's what we do with what we have. Today, Pastor Jack teaches that we often forget how it all begins with God, and when the blessing that comes is when we're generous with what we have. Wealth is not the issue. It's what we do with it that makes all the difference to God. Now, with his message called Parable of the Rich Fool, Part One, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Lord, in Jesus name, that you would continue to change our lives, Lord. In fact, change us so that inevitably, if we are faithful to follow you, that we determine each and every day to abide in Christ, Lord, that your work we yield to you, drawing us closer every day. We make that decision every day to get to get closer to you, that there's going to come a day that we're going to outgrow our bodies. Our spirit will no longer be able to be contained within us, and you're going to call us home. And God, I just pray that for all of us that we would be faithful to follow you.

And tonight, as we look at this message, that we would truly be tonight people wise, not foolish, but wise in how we conduct ourselves regarding our walk with Jesus. So Father, give us ears to hear and hands to apply and feet to go to the ends of the earth with a faithful witness of Christ. And we ask it in Jesus name, and all God's people said

David Jay: Amen.

Jack Hibbs: Amen. Then grab your Bibles tonight and turn to Luke's Gospel, chapter 12. Luke, chapter 12 in our study tonight, and we're looking at something like our 17th or 18th study in the parables. And tonight, we come to the parable of the fool or the parable of the rich fool, as some of your Bibles may highlight that, The Parable of the Rich Fool. And I want you to mark in your mind or in your notes. You should be taking notes. Everybody should take notes. Tell you remember things that you mark the word rich because this Jesus is going to give us a message that does not slam rich or poor.

Has nothing to do with being rich or poor. Uh that's why here on this screen, we've got it here as the parable of the fool because this is not a this is not a parable on economics. It's not a a parable on does God want you rich or poor? It's a parable about God not wanting you to be foolish. And here's the amazing thing about being foolish. You can be a genius and be a fool. Did you know that? You can be absolutely uninformed regarding the ways of the world or what the world would view as academic and be extremely wise person.

There are those that we say today they have street wise or they're street smart. What does that mean? It means that there's a there's a survival wisdom about them that you and I, if we were left on the streets of Detroit or LA, we'd probably die that night. But they know how to survive. And the same is true with various parts of America, predominantly the the South. There's a wisdom that people have. It's funny. It sounds funny, you know, you know, they got they're talking about this thing and they're saying it this way and it's like it kind of what?

I mean it's like what? And these gems of wisdom fall out of their mouth. It's like, man, that's brilliant. Well, you know, my pappy taught me and my grand pappy and there's just something about it. And in the same manner, if you have wealth or if you do not have wealth, it has nothing to do with you being foolish. It's just that this man in the parable that Jesus is trying to communicate mismanages his life. And the Bible tells us we know this. It's been a while since we've been in these parables, but in Matthew 13, you can just write down that reference.

In Matthew 13 verses 1 to 3, the Bible says there that on the same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea and a great multitude or multitudes were gathered to gathered to him. So they wanted to hear what he had to say. So much so that he got into a boat and he sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore and verse 3, Matthew 13 says then he spoke many things to them in parables. And he revealed to them these technicolor truths. Down home, brilliant common sense. Everybody knew the pictures that he developed in front of their minds.

But as we look at this church, I want you to pay very close attention to the big idea of what's happening in Luke chapter 12 because uh it's extensive. But then Jesus comes down to the driving point of what he wants us to know. In fact, in your Bibles, open to Luke chapter 12. Look uh at verse 1. It says and by the way, it's necessary because it sets up. Follow along with me. It sets up Jesus getting to the big idea. And uh so it says in verse 1, in the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another, he began to say to his disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed nor hidden that will not be known. So listen to these warnings he's giving. And imagine you being in the audience. Therefore, whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light. And what you have spoken in the ear or like a whisper in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops, meaning in the end, nobody will get away with nothing. Everything that you and I and every human has ever done will be made public. Look at verse 4. And I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.

But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him that is be an absolute reverential awe of him. Notice the capital H, God, who after he has killed has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins and not one of them is forgotten before God? But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Remember that. This is Jesus speaking. That's how much he cares and knows about your life. Do not fear therefore. You are more valuable than many sparrows. Verse 8, also I say to you, whoever confesses me before men acknowledges Jesus.

Whoever acknowledges Jesus, whoever owns Jesus before the public or before men, him, the son of man, also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies me before men, him will be denied before the angels of God. And anyone who speaks a word against the son of man, Jesus, it will be forgiven him. But to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. That is the rejection of what the Holy Spirit says. What does the Holy Spirit say? Come to Christ. The Holy Spirit around the world, Jesus testifies in John's Gospel messages to every human come to Christ.

Think of that. Think about those who live in places where there's no radio programs, no Bibles, no missionaries. The Holy Spirit is still somehow working in the jungles of South America. How? I don't know how. He's God. He's somehow revealing himself and the need for the non-believer to trust the son. Verse 11. Now, when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Here it comes.

Watch this. Jesus is laying down somewhere. I don't know. I I might have counted five warnings right there about watch out, be wise. You know, be in the game on this. And then verse 13 says, then one from the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. It's kind of like here in church. It's like I see people and we're we're we're in a message and I see people now they're going to tell me later. I was just writing notes in my Bible on my phone. But I see people going like this and then afterwards I'll see them in the foyer.

They'll come up to me like this. Something about the jaw hanging. Um you know, um and they asked me this question that is it's from somewhere out in Jupiter land somewhere. It's like had nothing to do with the message. And you're wondering were you listening? Or what's even worse is that they asked me a question that was answered in the message. That really hurts. That really hurts my feelings. And this guy comes this guy comes out of some part of the crowd and he's got his his cell stone. And he's like and and the word he uses is rabbi, command my command.

He orders Jesus, tell my brother to divide the inheritance among us. Has nothing to do with what Jesus is talking about. It's a great thing to know that it happened to him too. But Jesus said to him in verse 14, man, you don't see this very often in the Bible. Look at the word. Jesus says, man, who made me a judge or an arbiter over you? I'm here preaching the Gospel. I'm not your attorney, dude. Go find somebody else. Is that awesome? I love this. But Jesus will seize the moment to enlighten them all about a very serious issue.

And he said to them, take heed and beware of covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. Boom. Jesus is warning about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He's warning about these things about life. He 's warning about these things. You need all these things. Jesus is just given incredible wisdom for life. This guy asked this knucklehead question and Jesus says, man, I'm not an attorney. That's not what I'm called to do here. I'm called here to preach the Gospel. And oh by the way, everybody, they must have all heard that.

Beware of covetousness. Can you imagine I I don't know if Jesus did this or not. It's not polite to point. I get that. But it would have been so appropriate for him to say, beware of covetousness. Right? I mean talk about a teachable moment. That's it. This is amazing what's going on here right now. And so the parable begins. Then he spoke a parable to them saying, the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, that's always dangerous, saying, what shall I do? Since I have no room to store my crops, and so he said, I will do this.

I will pull down my barns and build greater bigger barns. And there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many good things laid up for many years. Take your ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul will be required of you when now watch this. Then whose will those things be which you have provided or worked for? Verse 21. So he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God, so is he. Wow.

This is absolutely awesome.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And for now, let's get back to our teaching. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.

Jack Hibbs: Church, mark this down. Very very amazing. This thing about covetousness. As we consider the fool, we'll go as far as we can tonight, as far as we need to. This is very serious stuff. The main thing that we look at and getting into this is number one is that God was not in this man's thoughts. Write that down because as Christians, we want to maintain the fact that God is always in our thoughts, but we also want to be very aware of witnessing, sharing with others. So listen. God thoughts. We know this from the man in the parable story that regarding him being foolish, forget about him being rich.

The rich part doesn't matter. One of the reasons why he's a fool is that God, the concept of God, the idea of God, the person of God, the existence of God. Do you know someone who says I do not believe in the existence of God? It doesn't matter if they're rich or poor, does it? It doesn't matter if they're known or not known. Uh it doesn't matter what what job they have. God is not in their thoughts. This is very important. Your world view, as we often talk about here on Wednesday nights, uh is either a world view that incorporates God or it does not incorporate God.

Whatever your world view is, is how you make your decisions. Everyone of us make our decisions based off our own world view. The goal of a Christian is to have a biblical world view. We are to have the Bible be our authority. In this man, what made him a fool? That's a question you ought to ask all the way through this. What made him a fool? It's not his ability to make money. Has nothing to do with it. It's what he did with what he had. And the first thing my friend mark this is is there room in your mind?

Is there room in your thoughts? Is there room in your concepts? Your your thinking for God? And this is vital. And please, don't think I'm asking you tonight to have enough room in your heart and in your mind and in your existence uh to make room for the church. I 'm not talking about that. To make room for I don't even want to say Christianity because the world doesn't even know what that is anymore. Let's just start with what this message is about. Is there room in your heart to consider God? To think of God?

This man would not do that. And there's a few reasons as to why. Look at verse 16. When it says then Jesus, he spoke a parable to them saying, mark this, the ground, that's the earth, right? The plot of land of a certain rich man, that's irrelevant. Exact not exactly, but it's not regarding the foolishness. Yielded plentifully. Stop right there. This man failed to think, put it down this way, about origins. Jesus is saying, the guy is a fool because he's not thinking. And he's not thinking in light of obvious origins. You say what what is that?

Church, in arguments for God, by the way, for arguments of whatever position you might hold in life, there should be origins to your argument. You should have uh the fuel, the energy uh to defend your arguments. This guy is absolutely a contradiction. Look at it carefully. He failed to think of origins, the ground, rich or poor. Does a rich man or a poor man have any true authority over the ground? The answer is he does not. Why? He didn't make it. Well, he might own it. He doesn't own it. Even if he owns it, he doesn't own it.

God what listen, God could take away that man's life in a moment. It may be on paper, but God owns everything. So consider this for a moment and I I hope you kind of get excited about thinking this way. I think it's fun, but I'm the one that thinks this way, so I have a bias. It's amazing to me that the ground of a certain rich man, what did it do? It yielded plentifully. The ground will do that if you're rich or poor. God built it in. Do you hear me? There are things in nature that nature is God has established and you ain't going to change them.

It's the hand of God. When you look at what is obvious, you should be able to conclude this is the work of God or this is the hand of God. This has overwhelming evidence of origins from God. The man is this is what we can understand. The man is rich because the ground has produced. Note this, everybody. I may be making too big of a deal of this. His wealth didn't make the ground produce because the ground produced, he was wealthy. Where did that where's the origin of the blessings? God. The man is not mindful of God, so he misses.

How many times do you and I go through life and we miss so much that God does for us? And we what do we write it off to? Mother nature? Isn't that silly? Who is this mother name? It's not nice to remember that commercial? It's not nice to fool mother nature. Remember that commercial? Lightning bolt would come. Who is that? There's nobody. It's absolutely crazy. But all these blessings, all these good things that God produces in life, I want you to track this through. And and if God speaks to you tonight, you you ought to start enumerating blessings that God has put into your life.

It's a good discipline. The awesome thing is that the immediate opening thrust of this parable is exciting to say the least because Jesus opens this up to the understanding regarding origins on here. This guy is really something in the parable, but it's the ground that produces. James chapter 1 verse 17 says regarding origins, every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights. Did you know that? You say I don't believe in God. I I have no room for God in my thoughts. Yeah, I know. That's who we're talking about tonight.

We're talking about you. And everything good in your life God has given. You say I I find that highly highly offensive. It doesn't matter what you think. This is the this is the issue. God has blessed your life. Now, as Christians, if you ever heard that thought, what does why do why do good things happen to bad people? We're always talking about how how do why do bad things happen to good people? Do you know the answer to that? Why do bad things happen to good people? C.S. Lewis said the reason why bad things happen to good people is because there are no good people.

We all have our angle on things. C.S. Lewis says the more amazing question is why do why do any good things happen to anybody? Hm? Think of that. So I don't believe in God because there are bad things in the world. Then how do you explain all the good things? Ground opens up and swallows people. Tsunami sweeps cities away. Volcanoes blow up and destroy people. I understand that. And by the way, the Bible answers all those issues too, by the way. But how do you explain the amazing feats of love and compassion and heroism and faithfulness and deeds of remarkable love done.

How do you explain that? By the way, you cannot have the presence of evil. Evil is evil. Did you know that evil cannot exist? There would be no evil. You cannot define evil. Evil could not exist unless good existed. You ever think of that? Think of it. Go ahead. That's wrong. How do you know what's wrong? The only way you know what's wrong is because you know what's right. Nobody should do that. Then tell us what people should do. And you'll have an opinion. Where do you get that from? This man is wealthy because the ground produced and honestly that freely came from God, but he's got no room to think about God.

And we live in a culture. We live in a world today that is so busy. You fill in the blanks. So this, it's so that or just overall busy or self-absorbed. I can't think about God, says our world. We need to be very careful.

Guest (Male): Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio with his message called Parable of the Rich Fool, Part One. We're glad you're here today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack series called The Parables of Jesus. It's a series highlighting the teachings of Jesus while he was ministering here on this earth. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Guest (Male): Today, more and more Christ followers are living out their faith no matter what. And one way we can help is through our website at jackhibbs.com/realradio. You'll find access to Pastor Jack's devotions, YouTube channel, podcasts, Facebook, live streamed events, and so much more. Again, our website is jackhibbs.com/realradio. That's jackhibbs.com/realradio. And don't forget to download the Real Life mobile app for on the go access to all that Pastor Jack has to offer.

Guest (Male): 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.