Real Life Radio

David J: Today, on Real Life Radio.

Jack Hibbs: Can you imagine being a Christian, being used by God, and God trying to get through, trying to break through, to speak and we won't listen to him. And God says, you know, you're not usable to me anymore.

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.

Guest (Female): Looking for an inspiring way to pass some time? Or maybe just need some help to get through your workday? How about listening while you work? The Jack Hibbs podcast brings you real stories, real people with real life experiences. From inspiring journeys to thought-provoking conversations, we've got it all. So discover a world of knowledge, laughter, and connection. The Jack Hibbs podcast and so much more are available on our website at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com where faith meets real life.

David J: On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series now called First Samuel and a message titled When the Glory Has Departed, Part One. Samuel of the Old Testament was a man, of course, dedicated to God as Israel's last judge and the first of the prophets who now hears from God concerning Israel's apathy toward the things of God. You see, chapter four is really a very somber chapter. When a nation whose roots are in God begins to slip away from an honest and true relationship with God, well, time is short for that nation unless there's some sort of miracle.

So today, Pastor Jack teaches that a true Christian wants to see God's glory displayed in their lives. So how do we keep from growing cold in our relationship with the Lord? Well, one thing we can do is to stay in God's word. The Bible has a way of keeping our spirits fed and our faith strong. Now with his message called When the Glory Has Departed, Part One, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: The need of personal application. We need to consider a few things and maybe if this blesses you, you write it down in a personal place for you. When we hear a Bible study, when we hear the word of God go out, when we hear a verse, we need to ask a few questions. You want to ask this question, what does the passage mean? What is the passage? What is the verse? Or what is the chapter? Or what is the Bible study mean? You want to ask yourself that question. The second thing is you want to ask this, what does the passage mean to me?

Well, if it meant this to Israel, what does it mean to me? If the Bible is eternal, and it is, but it's talking about an ancient event, well, then if you put those factors together, I have to ask the question, what does it mean to me? Can I do and can I be guilty of what Israel did? The answer is yes. Me too. I don't want to do that. I don't want to fall into that error. I don't want the glory to depart. Can you imagine, and we've all failed, but we must repent as we said earlier.

But can you imagine being a Christian being used by God and God trying to get through, trying to break through, to speak and we won't listen to him. And God says, you know, you're not usable to me anymore. This is kind of weird, okay? But I've had a lawnmower for years and um it's a good lawnmower. And I it has been really acting up and it's worn out and I took it to the shop and the guy says, well, you know, you can kind of keep using it, but it's not going to work much anymore.

It's a good mower. And so I I went to um oh, I don't know, Home Depot, of course. I went to Home Depot and I I bought a new one. And it said on the tag this was rated more of the year in 1998. So I thought, well, it's got to be really great. So I bought it, almost killed myself putting in the back of the truck, get it home, almost killed myself getting it out, get it out there in the yard, fire that baby up. Started right up. First pull. You know, all right. Took five steps into the grass and pooped out.

I turned it over. The blade's all coated in grass. Grass was dry. Clean it off, started up again, took five or 10 more walks, steps I should say, with it. And all of the grass gets stuck in the design of the thing. This got this big neck that comes up and deposits into it. Easy empty handy case or what What a stupid thing this is. It's all stuck right there and and I looked at my old mower and I thought, man, and I'm thinking brand new mower, take the engine off, put it on the old one, bypass all this new fandangled garbage.

So I cleaned up the lawnmower, I take it back to Home Depot, and I said, this is the worst lawnmower I've ever seen in my life. And they said, hey, here's your money back. Said thank you very much. And so I went and bought a different one. And this is the deal. I bought this Honda. And I was really having a hard time cuz I'm thinking I'm going to buy American. You know, I don't know. Were any of you raised like that? Nobody was raised like that. Yeah. So I buy a Honda cuz it says it's the mower.

This mower was the mower for 1999. So I buy the I buy the Honda. And there's no Briggs and Stratton motor on that Honda, you know. It's a Honda Honda. And it all works different. There's no choke. There's none of the things that I've grown up with. You look at it and it almost starts. And when I started it, first pull, I mean out of the box and wow, it was so quiet. I thought piece of junk. This can't do anything. It's just and I start walking with it and it's like it's sucking up everything, man.

And I am afraid now my little dog runs by. She does She does not She hates this lawnmower. She's scared to death of it. Strange. And she's running by and I'm thinking go away, get away. This thing's going And I mowed my lawn and I pulled it up and it's like I mean I pulled it up And I looked over at my old mower. And for a moment I was thinking about there's a little cartoon about a car that's no longer wanted and it goes into a junkyard and it's sitting there and it's looking around and it's all sad.

My mower, it's still My It's not usable anymore. How sad that is. I got a new mower. And how sad it would be for us to be no longer usable. God says, you know, you can't do it. You're not doing it anymore. The glory's departed from your life. I'd love to use you. But But you have no power anymore. You have no strength. You can't go on like you used to go. You haven't been with me. You're How sad that is that someday it could be that God says to me or to you, you know, you're no longer fellowship with me.

There's no longer that connection of power. I I I can't use you anymore. I think I'd rather be dead and be in heaven than to be in a place where God can't use us anymore. Another thing that we consider on this fact that there will be no spiritual word in the life of a person where the glory has departed is that there'll be no changed life. There'll be no change in life. It says in verses two and three that Israel was defeated by the Philistines who killed about 4,000 of their soldiers. And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, listen, why has the Lord defeated us today?

Excuse me. You You recognize that kind of talk? Who defeated who? They attacked themselves when they never went to God, when they never yielded to God. And And when a heart is wayward from God, that's exactly how it thinks. It's exactly how it talks. Why do the Lord do this to us? How many times does God have to take the rap when in things that he's not even involved in? Earthquakes are going on over the world right now, aren't they? People are saying why is This is a horrible act of God. Wait a minute. Read your Bible carefully.

And he has done something about it. He sent his son into the world to save our souls first. This world is bent on sin and it's got all of the plagues of sin. Thank God he's taking us to a whole new world, isn't he? Wonderful to think. Changed life. They say, why has the Lord defeated us? Wow. They're accusing God, bitter at God. This is an emotionally charged life that speaks times like this, why has the Lord defeated me? Remember Remember in Second Corinthians five 17 that says therefore if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation.

Remember that. You and I have to remember that. In Ephesians four 23 the Bible says be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you may put on the new man. Why? Because we got an old man. Put on the new man which is created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. We have an old man. We have a new man. And the new man and the old man wage the war. One is to be crucified. How often? Daily. The other one to be renewed day by day. Kill the one, renew the other.

I know we've mentioned this in the past, but it bears repeating where Harry Ironside was coming from Chicago. He was going to be preaching in uh of all places Glendale, California. He was coming out here and uh Dr. Ironside stopped uh in North Dakota. And he did some preaching there. And he gave an altar call and uh excuse me, they gave they uh had an offering go at this crusade thing and there was a big Indian. And uh that Indian asked the usher to lower the plate. Can you lower the plate, the offering plate? Can you lower it?

And the usher kept lowering it. He was lower. And he bends down more. He says lower. So the usher got kind of ticked off and he just put the offering plate on the ground and the Indian stepped inside the offering plate. He says I don't have any money. But uh I I can give God me. Harry Ironside saw that. After the service, he said that was a wonderful picture. I'll never forget that. Spoke volumes to me. I'm curious, are you a believer? He said, oh, yes, I'm a believer. He said, well, how do you know you're a believer?

You're so sure. It's not often that I see someone so sure that they're a believer. And he says, well, I'm sure I'm a believer. So right, Harry Ironside said, well, tell me how you know for sure. He says, well, he says ever since I accepted Christ, I found that there's a white dog and a black dog living inside of me. And he says they fight constantly. And Ironside says, well, which uh which dog wins? And he says whichever one I feed the most. Isn't that great? Whichever one I feed the most. You been snooping around the internet on pictures and websites you ought not to be looking at.

And then on Monday or Tuesday or whenever you're wondering why you're struggling with temptation and lust. You know what? If we weren't civil people, I'd like just come slap you right now. What do you expect? Why do I have this problem? Oh, shut up. You know exactly why you have this problem. You have a problem with money, but you go on the the net and you're buying stuff and it's You know, you get this thing. Well, I didn't You know, I didn't see any cash go through my hands. It's kind of like I didn't see any money fly, so it must be okay.

Well, the bill comes in 30 days. And then you wonder why you can't tithe or pay your bill or feed your kids. But you got that, you know, plastic plated bracelet. You know, it's like what are you doing? Look, all of us struggle and all of us have that thing that God will say, the Holy Spirit speaking, don't look that way, don't go over there, don't think, don't talk, don't You know what I'm saying? You know what I am saying. So who wins? Whatever dog you feed. The white dog, obviously representing the Lord and the walk that we have in Christ, his new man.

If he feeds on the word, if he feeds in fellowship, he's going to be stronger and that white dog eats up and puts down the black dog. But he start tampering in things he ought not to be tampering and then that black dog's going to kick the snot out of the white one. And you be be walking around in a defeated Christian experience. What's frightening about that truth is that you and I can make that decision 100 times in one day. I don't know where they came up with this number with, but in uh one of Billy Graham's books he had made a mention, the book about uh the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit.

Billy Graham mentions in there that uh some psychologist that he consulted in regarding this said that an average American makes two to 300 decisions a day. Uh I thought I made three, maybe four at most, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and maybe a snack somewhere, you know. Two to 300. I don't like to hear that. That's two to 300 potential blunders. But if your spirit filled and the white dog's winning, you'll do just fine. You'll do okay.

Guest (Male): 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: And so a life that is not changed because the glory has departed and there's no feeding upon the Bible, listen, we become carnal. Now due to the time we're at, we are going to end on this this point here, but let's spend some time on this fact. In your Bible uh in First Corinthians chapter three um there's a very interesting passage and and why you're turning there or jotting it down, consider this. First Corinthians three beginning at verse one. There are many many people. There are many churches. There are many pastors that teach that there's no such thing as a carnal Christian.

They say it's impossible. You're either carnal or you're a Christian. And uh the word carnal means flesh, meaty, beefy, uh non-spiritual of this world. Flesh. Flesh is in control. So the question begs, if a Christian is someone who is born again, how can they be carnal? Well, it's very simple. It goes back to the white dog, black dog. We are creatures that have been redeemed. Listen, here's the deal. We have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Note that song is sung in heaven. Have we been redeemed? Yes, we have. Are we going to be redeemed?

Yes, we will. When did God redeem us? Before the foundation of the world were ever created. So which one is it? All of the above. We were saved in eternity past in the mind of God. We are saved. That is true biblical theology and so is this. We shall be saved. What does that mean? In the mind of God, he saved us. He knows with his foreknowledge, he knows. We, you and I, are in the process of Christian growth. We're being saved. Well, what have I done today? You go to heaven. Why? Because you're saved.

But we are in the process of practical sanctification. We are growing. And when we all arrive in heaven, we're going to rejoice because we're saved. We've We're in the We were in the process of being saved. And we're gloriously saved in the kingdom. It's wonderful. But does that negate the fact the Christian struggles? No, not at all. Listen. First Corinthians three one says, and I, brethren, Paul is speaking could not speak to you as to spiritual people. Pause. And I, who? Brethren, Christians. And I, Christians, could not speak to you as to being spiritual people.

In other words, you're carnal people. But as to you is carnal as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food. For until now you are not able to receive it and even now you're still not able for you are still carnal. For where there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behave like common or unredeemed men? You see, you can be a Christian and be carnal, but you're not going to go anywhere. Uh you're going to you're going to be in a an arrested state of spiritual growth.

That's tragic. Why? There's really no deep change in your life. Does God want to change us? Yeah. But there's no real deep change because we're not allowing it. We're carnal. We fight with people, arguing. I want that. She's got that. If I can't have that, then you take hers. And uh how come this and how come that and why didn't they pick me? I mean everybody knows I'm the right person for the job. Why didn't they use me for that ministry? I I would have done it better than anybody else. Yeah, that's the re- that's the that's why they didn't pick you.

How can this be? Carnal. We need to repent of that stuff. Why? It will disable us. And those things left unchecked will cause the glory of God to depart from our lives. You say, well, Jack, that was in the Old Testament. Yeah, I know. But we can become as what Paul said. We can become like one of those who after having served Christ, we ourselves wind up being removed or cut off, disqualified. Not from salvation, but from being used by God. You wonder here in Samuel what God really wanted to do. We're not going to quite know, but you wonder what could have been done if Israel would have said we've sinned.

We ask you, Lord, to forgive us. Knowing the Lord like you know the Lord, he would have said, all right. Great. And you know what you did? He would have told us a story about a man who had a son who requested his inheritance and ran away from home, who went and spent it all in riotous living. And then after a while when all things were spent and he was now broke, he loaned himself out to tend the pigs in some man's stable. And as he's feeding the pigs, he began he begins to eat with the pigs.

The servants in my father's house do better than I do. I will arise. I will go to him perchance he will have me. And I'd rather be a servant in my father's house than to live like this. And so the man leaves the pig's pen and he heads home. The Bible says that when the father saw him so far away, the father made an announcement, kill the fatted calf, get my ring and my robe, get my slippers and remote control and bring out the beamer and my boy's back. The kid man, the boy he the man young man, he's coming up.

He's he's just he's he's going to be happy to lick dust at his father's house. What happens? His father runs By the way, in that culture when Jesus told us of that story, that parable, fathers, patriarchs never run. It's forbidden. Did you know that? A man of authority, the senior uh one of a family, the father, the grandfather, you are not supposed to run. It shows um weakness and uh emotionalism. You're not to run like that. And what happens? The the the father pulls up his skirt, his robe, and takes off. That's how you have That's how you ran then and he runs after his own son to him.

That must have just caused tears. Can you imagine to well up in that son's face? Oh my gosh, my father's lost it. He's doing everything that that uh is demeaning to a father and to a patriarch of a home. He's He's not acting you know, in a respectable way. He's lost control. But you know what? If he's going to lose control at all, I'm glad he's losing it over me. He's welcoming me back. He wants me. I wonder if his friends are watching. What a message he sends to me. And the father says, my son who was lost, really, who was dead, now's been found, now's alive, now's come back.

Isn't that amazing? Has the glory departed in your life? Are you dead in your walk with Jesus? Come on back. Come on home. He's running to you right now. Father, we thank you for your word, for your truth. Oh Lord God, we have to confess that we've all sinned and come short of your glory. Lord, we have been unprofitable servants. We have erred. But oh Lord, thank you for loving us so much that you would forgive us, that you would encourage us even in the rebuke. You pick us up. And as a fellowship, Lord, keep us usable in Jesus' name.

Amen.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio and his message called When the Glory Has Departed, Part One. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack series called First Samuel, a series highlighting the prophet Samuel who was called by God during one of Israel's darkest ages to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. 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: Here our featured resource for the month is a great book by Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher of yesterday. Words of warning. Listen to the subtitle everyone, for those wavering between belief and unbelief. You need this book. Everyone needs this book. If you're struggling with belief and unbelief, get it. Maybe you have a friend who's struggling with belief and unbelief and they're wavering. This book Words of Warning by Charles Spurgeon is just the right fit for you. Order yours right now at jackhibbs.com/realradio.

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.