Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: Jesus said, "You did not choose me first, I chose you first." Jesus chose us. Why? Isn't this cool? Because he loved you. He loves us. He chose us.

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.

Jack Hibbs: Hey my friends, come with me on our Bold Face Hawaii Cruise, June 12th to the 19th, 2027. Listen, we're going to set sail for seven unforgettable days with myself, Dr. Frank Turek, and special worship with GIA Lucido.

It's going to be a breathtaking trip with destinations like Hilo, Kona, Maui, and the scenic cruise along Kauai's Napali Coast. You'll never forget this. This is more than a vacation; it's a time of rest, renewal, fellowship, and spiritual strength in the word of God, all centered around the Bible. You can reserve your spot by going to jackhibbs.com.

Guest (Male): That's the Bold Face Hawaii Cruise with Pastor Jack Hibbs. As you explore the beauty of the islands of Hawaii, you will grow in your faith and knowledge of how the word of God applies to your daily life. Once again, that's the Bold Face Hawaii Cruise, June 12th through the 19th, 2027. For more information, go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com.

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 One. 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 chooses us, but he also gave us the ability to decide for ourselves what to believe. Love isn't real unless it's chosen, and that's exactly why God desires a true relationship with us, not a programmed response, but one that comes from a willing heart. Now with his message called We Have Been Chosen in Christ Part One, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: God has chosen you, and there may be people in this crowd tonight that God has not chosen. And that might 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—if 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've 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's 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. 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 Guinevere's lines down. 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. I can't do it, but he always talks like he's eating something, and it's Camelot.

And right before he says it, 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.

Revelation chapter 5, verse 6 says—this is interesting, listen, hang on to your seats—Revelation 5:6: "In the midst of the elders stood a Lamb as though he had been slain." This is symbolic language. "Having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth." John sees this vision, and it's symbolic. He sees a Lamb, Jesus, having seven horns and seven eyes. That sounds like a nightmare, but it's symbolic language. John knew seven horns meant absolute reign and completion. Seven eyes means that God sees all. There's nothing that misses his sight.

Isaiah 46, verse 8. Isaiah 46:8 says, "Remember this and show yourselves men." I like that; he's being sarcastic. "Recall to mind, oh you transgressors. Remember the former things of old." And it's funny because you kind of sit there and start scratching your head; I can't remember. That's the point. Man can't remember. We forget. He says, "For I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from the ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand and I will do my pleasure.'"

Don't you like when he talks like that? You just kind of go, "Ah." I like when he talks like that. I'm going to do my thing; you can't even remember what yesterday was all about. I know the end from the beginning. I like that. The second point I want you to see is in the middle portion of verse 4, and that is man's choice is to decide. Man's choice is to decide. Back to Ephesians chapter 4. Man's choice to decide.

He says here that he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. Listen to this. Man has a choice; we know that and will fight to keep it. But when you have a choice, people, you must decide. Is everybody with me on that? If you want to have the ability to choose, with the ability to choose you've got to make a decision.

And you say, "Well, that's silly, of course." Well, listen, God has his divine domain and authority to choose, and he does. But God has engineered within every human being the ability to make a decision. It is part of God's nature in us, creating us in his own image. Now, listen. Remember we're talking about the monkey pressing the button? That monkey's been conditioned. It's like a robot. You can get robots—it doesn't matter; you get monkeys in here or robots. You have the praise group come up here and lead us in worship, and the monkeys will just be monkeys. The robots will just sit there. Why? They can't choose.

God has given you the ability to choose, and with that comes great, great accountability. You can choose right now to just do your own thing or you can choose to do God's thing. Tonight at dinner, I chose to have blue cheese on my salad. Why? I like blue cheese. Why do you choose whatever dressing you choose when you have a salad? Because you like it. I don't want you to choose what dressing goes on my salad, and you wouldn't want me choosing what dressing goes on your salad.

It is my choice; that is your choice. With it brings accountability. You're responsible. If somebody says, "The blue cheese is contaminated. It's terrible," and I hear that input and I say, "Blue cheese, please," and I get sicker than a dog that night, whose problem is that? Whose business is it? Who's at fault? I am. Choice demands a decision. A decision will result in an outcome.

The world outside these walls are teaching us and our children: do whatever feels good. What feels good to you? The world says, "Do it." You see, they're conditioning them not to make choices based upon logic and reason and on courtesy, but they're conditioning our kids and our world to make decisions based upon themselves. But what they fail to tell them is if you choose to do this thing, it could cost you your life. And they're so blinded to the fact that choice demands accountability; it demands an end; it demands a result.

It is given by God. Why? So we could goof up in the Garden of Eden and lose our spot in paradise? Why did Adam and Eve blow it? Wait, let's back up. Why did God allow them to have the ability to choose in the first place? Haven't you ever had that question laid on you? Are you ready for the answer? It's so simple. God had to place in the garden an item, in this case it was some fruit attached to a tree.

We don't know if it was an apple. For it to be a temptation to me, it would have had to have been an avocado. I don't really dig apples. We don't know what it was. It was beautiful to look at, though. And whatever it was, Satan said it could make you wise, give you liberty, put you on top, Eve. You can really go places if you just take that fruit. The fruit had nothing to do with it. The tree had nothing to do with it.

Satan came along and basically said, "Why don't you choose? Because you're going around this place choosing all kinds of things anyway. But didn't God say this tree right—yeah, uh-huh, choose that one, will you? Go for it. Ah, he did say no, didn't he? Yes, he did. So why don't you go for it?" And she exercised her God-given ability to choose, and she chose wrong. And the result is the headache you're having tonight and the death that you and I are feeling and the human race—wars, suffering, pain, and death because sin entered the world in that instant. She spiritually died.

Why did God in the creation allow such a thing to happen anyway? Because of this thing: you cannot have those robots and those monkeys worship God from a true heart. You can get a robot to clean your house, drive your car, do anything you want. But listen, you don't come home to your robot and say, "Tell me you love me." "I love you." "Tell me again, it just really warms me up." "I love you." Oh, wow, what a charge. It's programmed.

And God has instilled within us the ability to choose, and without choice, God could never be loved just like you could never experience love if someone did not choose to love you. True relationship with God is exercising choice, and choice being brought under the domain of God. I choose to follow God. Why? Jesus said, "You did not choose me first, I chose you first." Jesus chose us. Why? Isn't this cool? Because he loved you. He loves us. He chose us.

You can have your husband or your wife, and if they don't love you yet they say they do, it does nothing but break your heart because it's not real. God wants a real relationship with us. And so God, listen, knowing in his foreknowledge that Adam and Eve would sin out, they would foul out of the garden—in advance he knew it—would you, if you were God, create the garden anyway and put Adam and Eve in there knowing that they were going to foul out?

I wouldn't, because I'm so stupid, I would think, "Let's just make a bunch of people that just love me." And God says, "I'm just, I'm holy. You can't do that, and it doesn't work that way. For it to be true, it's got to be real. For it to be real, it's got to be choice, or else it won't work." There's nothing greater than when your child comes up and says, "I love you." Wow. Usually you're pulling them apart or whatever's going on or you're battling the thing, and for them to just say, "Love you," it's like, "Whoa." Why is it so great? Because it came from a heart responsive and true.

God knows everything, and man has the choice to decide, and that is a serious thing. It says before the foundation—this word "before," listen, jot this down, it's a fantastic word. In the English, it's the word "before." But listen to this: in the Greek, in its original writing, it's the word *pro*, P-R-O. It's pronounced like that too, and it means prior to, or in priority of. It means in front of everything else, above everything else, and before everything else.

Now, listen to this. He says just as he chose us in him, that is in Christ, before—priority one, he chose us tops before he ever made the world. When God made the world, he had already put you on top of his list. Isn't that a trip? Before I did all these things, I made you priority one on what I was doing, why I was doing. The next time you think you're just nothing, you need to realize this: you are before everything according to God.

He put you in front of everything in his creation before all the world's foundations were laid. Charles Spurgeon said—you've heard this before—he says, "I'm so glad that God chose me before the foundations of the world were ever laid, because he sure wouldn't have chosen me after I was born." And you know, sometimes we feel like that, and that's not theologically correct, but we know what he's saying.

But listen, being his child tonight, God's child is the most secure, precious thing that you can experience. He never un-selects you. He never un-saves you. He never un-chooses you. You are either chosen in Christ or you're not chosen in Christ. And if you're chosen in Christ, you're probably saying tonight, number one, "Oh man, am I glad." Number two, you might be saying, "I'm not sure if I am." Number three is, "Hey, I'd like to accept Christ and be sure about this." Every one of those three hearts, and it may be representative in this room tonight, God has chosen you or else you wouldn't think those thoughts. The person that's not chosen could care less and never thinks about it—maybe argues about it, but won't think about it seriously.

Just to bring a little bit more security into our soul, Malachi chapter 3, verse 6: the Lord says, "For I am the Lord and I do not change, therefore you are not consumed." I'm the Lord, I don't change, and for that reason you're not going to burn. I like that. Thank you, God, you do not change. Isn't that funny? And then all the whacko theologians running around are trying to change the Bible, trying to massage it and change it and make it say something else. Hey man, I'm glad he doesn't change. God doesn't change.

Consider this: we have our free moral agency. That's what it's called within us, that we can choose, and we enjoy it. In Joshua chapter 24, verse 15—Joshua 24:15—Joshua in that incredible moment there, standing amongst all the people, he says, "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve."