Real Life Radio

David J.: Today, on Real Life Radio.

Jack Hibbs: Why? Why is this such a volatile thing? Why is it that people say, we don't talk about politics or God? Well, forget about politics, but let's talk about God. And that's that's really the issue. Because he's behind everything.

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.

Jack Hibbs: 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.

David J.: That's The Red Coats Are Coming and Prayers and Promises for Kids, a couple of great books available as a bundle for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com.

Guest (Male): On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series now called The Parables of Jesus and a message titled Parable of the Two Gates and Two Ways and this is part two. A parable is a picture story that's painted by Jesus that makes the truth crystal clear. In this parable, Jesus is teaching us a deeper meaning of a remarkable eternal truth. You see, Jesus spoke this parable after the Sermon on the Mount, bringing to light that the gospel is eternal and unchanging and not negotiable. So, we really need to make sure that we're on the right path by looking towards the one narrow gate that leads to eternal life.

So, today Pastor Jack teaches that when we give ourselves completely and totally to God, the evidence of our changed life is clear. We have, among many things, a new thought life, an eternal perspective, a mindfulness to pray, a joyfulness filled with hope and the desire to be ever closer to the Lord. Now, with his message called Parable of the Two Gates and Two Ways part two, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: It's called a theophany. It's a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ in the Old Testament. Happens a lot. He says, I am I have come and I am captain of the Lord's host. Oh, mama. You know what that word means? Captain of the Lord's host? I am the commander of the armies of heaven. Wow, that's one of the titles of God. When you see the Lord, you are often reading a word where it says the Lord of hosts, the Lord who's over the armies of heaven, the spiritual armies, angels. Yikes. Can you imagine? Jesus said he's the door.

John 10 look at the next verse 8 John 10 8. All whoever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. Radical statements, right? We covered that last Sunday. Radical statements, crazy if he didn't rise from the dead. But when he rose from the dead, you got to sit back and say, wow, Jesus said radical things and he backed them up. In this statement of being the door, it's absolutely exclusive.

I want to read something to you. It's a little lengthy, but I think you'll be blessed by it. Philip Keller writes this regarding Jesus being the door and us being sheep. And don't raise your hand, but are you one of God's sheep? You just that's you just talk to God about that. Listen. I'm quoting. Of all domesticated animals, sheep are considered to be the most human dependent. Sheep will spend their entire day grazing grazing while wandering from place to place, rarely looking up. As a result, they often become lost and that on a daily basis.

Sheep have no homing instinct as other animals do. They are totally incapable of finding their way to their own sheepfold even when it is in plain view. By nature, sheep are followers. If there appears to them to be a lead sheep that steps off into danger such as into a river or even off of a cliff, it is not uncommon among other sheep to blindly follow to their destruction. Keller continues. Additionally, sheep are easily susceptible to injuries and so need anointing oil to ward off infections. They are utterly helpless against predators. If a wolf enters the fold, they will not defend themselves.

By the way, sheep don't have any mechanisms or any tools to defend themselves. Think of that. They will not run, but they will huddle together, making their slaughter even easier. If sheep venture into moving water, they will drown. However, they do seem to avoid moving water and will not drink from any stream or lake unless the water is perfectly still. This is why David a shepherd knew what to write in the 23rd Psalm when he said of God that God's shepherding care, which quote makes us to lie down in green pasture and keeps and leads us beside what?

Still waters. If there is any protection at all available to the sheep, it is that of being able to recognize their shepherd's voice. So close is this verbal bond between shepherd and sheep that to this day in the Middle East, shepherds can divide their flocks that have mingled together among others by simply calling out to their sheep in their native voice. Is that amazing? Shepherds were uh were inseparable from their flocks. The shepherd would lead the sheep to safety, to safe excuse me, to safe places to graze and to make them to lie down in green pastures for hours on end in a shady place.

As night would fall, a shepherd would lead the sheep to the protection of a sheepfold. Listen now. Most often a stone enclosure with one small, narrow opening. Once the sheep were safely within the sheepfold, the shepherd would then lie down in the doorway becoming the very door itself, which kept the sheep in and safe and the enemy out. Is that cool? Isn't it true? I mean, you think about it. Evolutionists that are listening or that are here right now, go figure out how sheep existed thousands of years before a human ever came on the scene without God, without God's story being true.

Think of it. If evolution is true, how did sheep ever come to exist? By the way, some man asked that in the Soviet Empire, the Soviet Union, and he was arrested and put into prison. You can read about his life in Richard Wurmbrand's book Tortured for Christ. A scientist said, I have a problem with evolution. What is it? How could sheep ever exist without the presence of man taking care of them? And that guy was taken away. And the Bible calls us sheep. And Jesus says there's a very narrow way for you to get into heaven.

And oh by the way, it's through the door which I am. Don't listen to others, watch out, give yourself totally to God. Makes perfect sense. The evidence of a real Christian life You might want to jot this down or think of it very carefully. The evidence of a real Christian life You may be able to add to this. I 'm sure you can, but these are the basic fundamentals. There are few. A new thought life. If you're a Christian, if you're one of God's sheep, you have a new thought life. That's part of knowing who the door is and knowing him.

You have a new thought life. Number two, you have a desire now to draw near to God. Is that amazing? Do you have a desire to draw near to God? I'll ask you this. If Jesus appeared today, would you go toward him or away from him?

Guest (Male): Toward him.

Jack Hibbs: Isn't that awesome? And thirdly, simply this. You now have an eternal perspective on things. You think once you thought to the end of your nose, now you think eternally. How is this going to affect my life eternally? How is this going to affect my family eternally? How is this going to And on and on it goes. Are you with me? This is awesome. I love this. It's so true. In relation to the new thought life, it's been said that there's a prayer mindedness now. Now I let me let me encourage you with this word because the mention of prayer can discourage people because none of us feel that we pray enough.

I understand that. I I I'm constantly judging myself on that. I don't feel like I pray enough. And then I have to remind myself what the Bible says. The Bible says to pray without ceasing. So, how do you do that? No, you make it worse. No, no, no, I'm not. No, listen. To pray without ceasing is to be in an attitude of communion with God. Are you riding your bike? Yeah? Talk to God. Be in an attitude. Are you God mindedness? Are you That If you are God mindedness, listen. And you Lord, nice day. Thank you.

Oh, Lord, I need your help. Lord, I'm hungry. Lord, uh help that man. Lord, are you with me? Are you got that a prayer mindedness? In answer to a desire to draw near to God, it's a fellowship awareness. Sheep do this. The guy just said He just talked about how sheep do that. The only thing that they will do when danger comes is that instead of running I mean, think about it. If one wolf shows up and there's 10 sheep, he's only going to get one of them if they run. But they don't run. They fellowship together.

Come on, let's get in here and we'll all get eaten together. And the wolf just calls his buddies and they all, you know, eat. Lamb chop. But a fellowship awareness. Christians desire to be around other Christians. You say, man, I don't want to be near a Christian. That's probably because you're not a Christian. Honestly. You know, the old saying. What is it? Birds of a feather flock together. You don't ever see an eagle walking around with turkeys. You might see an eagle eat a turkey, but you're not going to see them hanging out together. Yeah, you see one bird of one type, you're probably going to see another bird of that same type.

It's pretty amazing.

David J.: 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: And then the answer to the eternal perspective is there's a joyful hopefulness even in the darkest of hours with a with a Christian. And you think about our history. Isn't it awesome? Think about the wonderful history that we have as Christians over these last 2,000 years of incredible witness in the time of darkness. It's awesome. It's world renowned. I had a I had a former Muslim at a university tell me he'd become a Christian. And he said, you know, the amazing thing in the country that I grew up in was the fact that as Christians were killed, it's just part of our our nation's history, the country he was from.

He says Christians were killed for Jesus. He said the amazing thing is that they would die respectfully and they would die almost obediently. They weren't screaming and freaking out. There was a sense of composure and calm. And their witness in dying was undeniable. This man became a Christian. This man became now an internationally known speaker. Uh this guy now works very much with friends of ours in Washington on counterterrorism. Is that an amazing thing? How can you say that? Well, there's a sense of joyful hopefulness in the darkest hour as And that's part of the Christian life.

You see, Jack, I I I I I'm doing pretty good until that one. Listen, don't worry. Don't worry because for all of us, there will be that time where we will be put in the grip of darkness of some sorts. Could be mental, could be physical, could be It could be persecution where the joy His is so neat to announce to you. And if you don't know Jesus, I hope you get so jealous with what I 'm about to say. There is a joy that comes into the believer's life in the moment of danger or threats that is so outside of our world.

It is so God. It is so beyond us. We can't conjure it up. We can't wish it to be so. We can't do a little dance. We can't like, you know, hang garlic around our neck and make it happen. He comes in like a flood of joy. And it is You If you've never experienced it, you have no idea what I 'm talking about. For the Christian, your day will come, my friend. And God will show up so big that your friends are I've had this happen. Your friends will become a little upset with you because you're not freaking out about the situation because they're freaking out for you.

And you're like, I have peace. I don't even know how to tell you that I am calm. This is not human. It's not me. I would normally have jumped off the building by now. And I have a peace. What does the Bible say that passes all understanding? And it's native to the Christian. The next thing is this very quickly. I need to wrap this up. In verse 14 it continues and difficult is the way. And what do we get out of this given ourselves totally to God is because half measures will not work. Half measures Listen.

A halfhearted commitment It's going to be flushed out. It's not going to work. Why? I want you guys to embrace this truth. Don't run from it. Difficult is the way. Jesus is not saying sucker, difficult's the way. No, he's saying, hey, here's the deal. Difficult's the way. And don't read don't uh panic about it because it's the difficult way that thins out the flock because there's some within the flock that are not real. And that's it's sad to say, but true. There are those in any Christian church that are just not real. They actually know it.

They just try to or often try to deny that God's speaking to them. You can't read my word and live like that. And they say, no, that's okay. I I can. I can. And here's the scary thing about God. He's a gentleman. You can say, I I You know, I get I I I I don't want to be in this group or that group, but I like going to church. There's a lot of moral people. It's a good thing to do. It's kind of traditional for me. And I like how I feel, uh but there's no change in your life.

And Jesus is speaking to you about that. Here's the sad thing. The longer you act like that or or embrace that kind of denial, the the harder it is to hear his voice until the day comes when you can't hear his voice anymore and he just stops talking because you will not hear. Halfhearted measures are never going to work. Everything Listen. Everything about our salvation is complicated. This is an unusual thing to say. I know in church and among Christians, but hear me out. Everything about our salvation is complicated. What I mean by that is this.

It's deep. It's involve It's involved. Okay? It's expensive. It's costly. It's final. God bought salvation for our souls. So, you might ask the question, why is it being a Christian so difficult? It's a good question. Because This is the simple answer. The way Jesus is speaking about is not of this world. The word difficult here means this is awesome. Don't miss this meaning. Circle it in your Bible. The word difficult in the original Greek manuscript, the original Greek language of the Bible, it means to crowd out, means to push out of the way. It means to be afflicted.

It means to be to harassed, ridiculed, reduced, to be set aside, to be discarded. The Listen. The world will discard you. Is it not Who are you? What are you? I have a masters. I have a PhD. I I have all this stuff and I love Jesus. And where you work or where you teach, there's a system around you that is seeking to marginalize you. Why? It's not because you're ignorant. You're brilliant. But you're a Christian. I spoke to a man who is a leader in our nation in politics, called Yesterday for Prayer, has an issue.

We prayed together. What's the deal? The deal is he's okay in in these areas. They'll tolerate him. But they're going after him because he's a Christian. Don't let that scare you from for running for office or making an influence in your community. But the way's difficult. You understand that? When you become a Christian, you're going to say, pastor, I brought my friend here tonight. Don't say it. Don't say it. When you become a Christian, hell loads its guns. You want an easy life? Listen. You want an easy life, don't become a Christian. You want it smooth for now?

Don't do not become a Christian. Jesus said this world will hate you because of your association with me. Look, I'm going to tell you the truth. You want it easy? Don't become a Christian. Easy now, hotter than Helsinki later. Uh be accepted now by the world, rejected by God later, or be rejected by the world and be accepted by God later. You got to This This is a This is a tough, true thing to say. If you're here tonight and you're not a Christian, uh listen. If anybody can argue argue you into being a Christian, uh look, I know enough to argue you out of being a Christian.

If you can be argued in, you can be argued out. My challenge to you tonight is, hey man, you count the cost. Jesus says you come and you follow me. It's going to be tough, but man, when it's over, it's awesome. It is hard being a Christian. A real Christian's going to be hated. Bible tells us in James chapter 1 verse 2, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect or complete, lacking nothing.

Again, watch. 1st Peter 1 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That's the proof, positive right there. Because Jesus Christ is risen, the Bible says now the Holy Spirit lives in the believer. This is our source of strength to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled that does not fade away reserved in heaven for you. Watch. Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

These are strong, encouraging words. Why is God being so encouraging? Verse 6. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation, the coming, the appearing of Jesus Christ. That's awesome. Very quickly, got to wrap this up. Next thing is this. Verse 14 teaches us to give ourselves totally to God because he desires life for you.

Life. Notice the argument in the Bible which leads to life. God wants you to live. Are you thinking about suicide? Stop it. Don't do What are you What are you doing? What are you thinking? Don't do it. God gave you your life. God is wanting to be in control of your life. The very thought of suicide that you have is because you've been in control of your life. Give it up. Let him take control. He wants you to live. He's the God of life and he gave you a life for a purpose.

David J.: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio with a message called Parable of the Two Gates and Two Ways part two. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called The Parables of Jesus. It's a series that highlights the teachings of Jesus while he was here ministering on this earth. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Guest (Male): So, 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/nogod. That's k n o w God. And 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 no God tab at jackhibbs.com.

Jack Hibbs: Hey Christian, I'm speaking to you. Listen to this. You and I are not allowed to give up. I have to confess many times in my life I've thought about giving up, but God has put people around me in life. They wouldn't let me do that. And I'm here to tell you you're not allowed to give up either. God's not done with your story. He's still writing it. He loves you and he's going to complete it. Father God, in Jesus's name, may we not get in the way of what you're wanting to do. If we wiggle, if we try to jump, Lord, hold us tight because you and you alone have the words of eternal life.

In Jesus's name, amen.

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, livestreamed 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.

David J.: 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.