Real Life Radio

David Jay: Today, on Real Life Radio.

Jack Hibbs: Well, there were 12 stones publicly out in the open, and 12 stones privately that Joshua had set up. Both of them speak of worship. We should be worshiping God publicly, and we should be worshiping God privately. And I think when we worship God privately, our kids are bound to see it.

Jack Hibbs: This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David Jay thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's word, the Bible. Well, friends, listen. It's been 2 years here at the Real Life Network, and God has been so good to us. God put it on our hearts to create a network that would be cancel free, censorship free, uncompromising, so that we could bring the truth to anyone anywhere. God has been so good to us these last 2 years, everybody, and we want to thank all of you.

So today, we are amazed that over 70 million minutes of biblical worldview truth has been on our programming and viewed by you, the audience, on the Real Life Network. Every piece of our content on the Real Life Network is rooted in God's word so that it's safe, it's secure. So listen, spread the word with us, will you? Encourage friends and family to join the Real Life Network and that we might grow together this community of believers all around the world.

David Jay: So if you haven't checked it out already, that's the Real Life Network streaming the best in Christian and conservative content. Sign up and start streaming today for free at reallifenetwork.com. That's reallifenetwork.com. 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 3. Samuel, the last judge of Israel and the first prophet, was called by God to bring the nation back to true worship. Yet, Israel refused to listen and went their own way. The result was disaster when they faced enemies without first seeking the Lord.

So today, Pastor Jack reminds us that when we allow God's glory to depart from us, there will be no spiritual worship or influence about the things of God. Worship creates a tender heart towards spiritual things that our children need to witness, or they too will become complacent. Now, with his message called When the Glory Has Departed, Part 3, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Father, we ask, Lord, that you would this evening speak to us from your word. And Father, as we go now through this portion of scripture that we have been looking at these last couple weeks, we pray, Father, that it would have such an effect upon us. Lord, maybe not at the very moment, maybe not even this evening, but Father, as the days progress, may we find your word working in our hearts. And Father, we ask now that you bless the going forth of your word in Jesus' name, and all God's people said

Guest (Male): Amen.

Jack Hibbs: Amen. Once you grab your Bibles and turn to First Samuel chapter 4 and you're no stranger to this chapter. We've been here for a while. The title of the message is really part 3 of what we've been stating, and that is when the glory has departed. This chapter is dealing with the horrible truth that Israel has in fact departed from its dependence upon God. We see how in chapter 4 verse 1, Samuel begins to speak to the nation the word of God, but they have no appetite to listen. And they take it upon themselves to go to battle.

And there is that age-old enemy, those warlike brutal men that represent the flesh and Israel to be representing a people governed by God and they go to battle. And so the Philistines are lined up, Israel's lined up. They get ready to go to battle and clash. The war commences and immediately, right from the start, Israel loses 4,000 men. And they're defeated. They go back to regroup and rather than call upon God and seek his face, they call for the ark. Get the ark here. Bring the hardware instead of God. They put their trust in the box, the ark, rather than God.

And so as they bring the ark in, the children of Israel begin to scream and yell and hoot and holler so much so the ground begins to shake. And the Philistines across the way, they hear this great great cheering and fear strikes them and they say, oh oh, the ark of the covenant of God has come among the children of Israel. We've heard about what happens. We've heard about what went on in battles in the past. We better muster ourselves for war because if we don't whip Israel, we'll be their slaves. And so the enemy rallies itself.

The flesh rallies itself against the spirit and goes to war. However, in this case, God is not with them because they're putting their trust in things. And they are overwhelmingly taken captive. In fact, the ark, as we'll see next time together, is taken away and Eli's sons are killed and there's a great slaughter, all because Israel trusted in the arm of the flesh rather than in God. And so as we've been going through this chapter, we've studied a few things. And as we look at it, and you might want to remember that we're considering 10 areas of defeat that happen in our lives where the glory departs.

And in the context of our study, we're talking about the believer. We're We're not caring about the non-believer. We're talking about the glory departing from those who profess Christ to know the Lord. We need to remember that. We need to maintain the edge, which is the key to our spiritual growth. They lost it. We need to learn from their mistake. If you're taking notes tonight, you might want to jot down Jude chapter 1 verse 20 and 21 where the Bible says there, but you, beloved, build up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. That verse speaks about us continuing that we've got to make an effort to continue. Listen, everybody. Christianity, though it is a gift given to us by God, that he's called us freely by his grace and his mercy. The very faith that he gives us is a gift. But we are not to sit idle on that. We are to act upon it. We are to be diligent people about what he has given us. And we are to, as Jude says, keep ourselves in the love of God.

That is an effort on our part to seek the Lord. When you wake up tomorrow morning, the Bible is just not going to automatically download into your heart. You've got to pursue it. Very important that we continue to remember that. In Philippians chapter 2 verse 12, there the Bible says, therefore, as you have always obeyed, not, as Paul says here, in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Well, wait a minute. Who's at work here? Me or God? Listen, God's at work by the power of the Holy Spirit in you, but you and I are to cooperate with him. We are to, as Paul says here, work out our own salvation. That doesn't mean we work to obtain salvation or even work to keep it, but we are to give ourselves to God. They failed at that. We don't want to fail at that. We want to continue on. And so in our study tonight, we come to number 3 out of the 10. When the glory has departed, listen.

Number 3, there will be no spiritual posterity. There will not be a handing down to our children what God has done in our lives. Listen, Eli failed miserably at this, and we know from the chapters that we've read thus far that his own children became horrible servants, if you can even use that term, of God. They led the people astray astray. They didn't lead people to God. They led people away from God. And so Eli's family, what can we learn from it? Though he was a priest of God, his children failed terribly. The failing of passing on the importance of worship and of commitment to our kids.

Listen, mom and dad, and those of you who might ever consider or want to be parents, and of course, the application is much broader than that, but as we look to Eli, consider a few things here. Children must see us worship. The question that we have tonight is, did Eli's kids see him worshiping God? What kind of home do they grow up in? Say, well, Jack, they grew up in the priest home. But what does that mean? Just because Eli was a priest, just because you might be an usher, or you might have a big Bible, you know, your kids might look and, oh, you've got such a big Bible, mom, or such a big Bible, dad.

It doesn't mean anything unless it's well worn. It doesn't mean anything unless it's applied. We can take in so much knowledge, but is it being lived out in our lives? What did Eli's sons witness? We don't know, but we have to ask the question, did they see him worship? Everybody, our children must see us worship. Worship creates within us and our kids a tender heart. A tender heart. Worship accomplishes things in our lives that we will never be able to do in and of ourselves. That when they see us bow our hearts and our heads and our bodies before the Lord and seek him, when they hear us say, praise the Lord, and mean it, it will do something to them.

Now, granted, cheer up, mom and dad. Your kids may not fall on the ground and like prostrate before the Lord and sing hallelujahs, but I guarantee you, if you're seeking God in due time, listen. They're going to pick it up. Our kids are being taught much more by what they see than what they hear. Remember that. What is and what are the things that our kids are seeing us do? Did Eli's kids see him worship? I love this. Joshua chapter 4 beginning at verse 1 it says, and it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan that the Lord spoke to Joshua and said to him, take for yourselves 12 men from the people, one from each tribe, and command them saying, take for yourselves 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan River from the place where the priest's feet stood firm, and you shall carry them over under the other side and leave them at the place of your lodging tonight.

Then Joshua called the 12 men whom he had appointed there from the 12 tribes, one man from every tribe. And so Joshua said to them, cross over before the ark of the Lord, before your God, into the midst of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone upon your shoulder according to the number of the tribes. And so they did that. And Joshua went on to tell them that what this means is that it's a memorial to all of your children from this time on when their kids, the posterity of those that God was using, when they would see the stones, they would say, hey, this is where our mom and dad worshiped.

This was the altar. And by the way, in Joshua chapter 4 verses 6 on, it says there that that stone altar is there until this day. Was that the time of Joshua's writing? It's there to this day. What I love, if you read the fine print, Joshua, by the way, goes back himself. If you remember our study in Joshua and he takes 12 stones and stacks them up in the middle of the river riverbed um in a stack his own 12 stones. And then the Jordan River flows over and and it goes again. And you say, well, what's all about that?

Well, there were 12 stones publicly out in the open and 12 stones privately that Joshua had set up. Both of them speak of worship. We should be worshiping God publicly, and we should be worshiping God privately. And I think when we worship God privately, our kids are bound to see it. And I'm not saying that you should show off in home in your worship, but I think that it's a great thing for you to have your kids hear you worship the Lord. You say, well, Jack, I don't sing very well. I don't sing good either, but I tell you what.

You don't have to sing to worship. You can worship the Lord in your prayer time over your children or you can worship the Lord even at table when it time to eat. When you say, thank you, Lord, so much for these wonderful things that you've put on the table tonight, God, that's worship. It makes their heart tender. What would have Eli's sons turned out like if their hearts would have been tender? They wouldn't have prostituted the worship of the Lord that we see so often going on with them. Tragically, in this chapter, their lives are going to come to an end because they weren't serious about the Lord.

Not only that, but listen. They need to hear why we worship. We need to tell our kids why it's important.

David Jay: 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: Look, it's 8:30. Just down the freeway here about 40 minutes or so, there's worship going on tonight at the Staples Center. The um I always get confused. What's the thing tonight with the music? Is it the Grammys or the Emmys? The Grammys. Grammys. And all the limos, they were talking on the news tonight before I came. They had a traffic jam for miles of limos. And then they had a traffic jam for all the people who don't have limos. And they're trying to get out and get a parking spot so they can get in line to see the limos pull up so that the doors open up and all of their idols come walking out so that they can pay homage and worship them.

And they're going to sing and they're singing now and everyone's, oh, you know, there's whoever is the big thing now. And they're all going to go bananas, you know, and really it's it's worship. People will be singing tonight and there'll be those in the audience crying and you know, worship. They're not ashamed of it. Proud of it. Are our kids seeing us worship God and honor him? They need to. They need to know it. And mom and dad, it's not too late to start. You can start tonight. You can start tomorrow. You can just do it.

And they'll see and they'll hear the great things of God. It's an awesome thing. Also, concerning the posterity and the lack thereof of spiritual growth in Eli's life, listen. Our kids need to know who we worship. We need to tell them who God is. We need to tell them he's the creator. Hey, when you get on Nature TV or Discovery or whatever you're watching, the National Geographic, when they're talking about evolution and stuff, that's okay. Don't turn it off. Teach your kids. Tell them, listen, junior. When that guy mentions evolution, that's just for people who don't believe in God.

That's their excuse. But listen, junior. You see that funky little lizard with the eyes that go all kind of independent weird? God did that. You see that neat platypus that looks all confusing and nobody can explain? God did that. You see the whale how he does it? God did that. Tell them the wonderful works of who God is. That's the great thing. Point them to God. Let's worship God. They might say, well, God who? The God who's the creator, the God of our Bible, the God who came and died on the cross for us, the great creator.

Psalm 34:11 says, my people or my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121 verse 2. Another great scripture that tells us how God is the creator. Psalm 124 verse 8. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Psalm 100 verse 3. Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We've gone through these verses. They're great to know. We want to pass them on to our kids. When the glory has departed from a believer's life, know this.

Number 4, there will be no spiritual awareness. You'll grow dull in your spiritual awareness. I made a jot down here in my notes and I don't mean it to offend anybody, but this is a Wednesday night. I don't think it would offend anybody here on a Wednesday night, but in in the United States, and maybe it's true everywhere, I don't know, but in America, you know, there's this interesting species of Christian. They show up on Easter, Christmas. They do their little thing and the way they go. Um they're not aware. If you talk to them, they'll often say, well, I used to go to church all the time.

What happened? They will argue tooth and nail to convince you that they're going to heaven. And you know, maybe they are. Maybe they're in a backslidden state. I don't know. I'm not going to judge that. It's not my place, but the thing is they're not hungry for God anymore. There's not an awareness. They're not wanting to be in tune of what God is saying and what God's doing. Is that happening in your life? Do you recognize that happening you right now? That there's not an intense passion for God. Your spiritual awareness is dwindling. That's a scary place.

Very quickly, how do we recognize if our spiritual awareness is going away? Number one, there'll be no interest in spiritual things. There's just no interest anymore. You don't see behind the scenes anymore. You know what I'm saying? I'm assuming tonight that when you turn on the news or when you watch a program, as I believe Christians would do, is you see the truth behind what's being pushed. When you hear the news, listen. Don't believe what you hear. It does a spin on it. ABC. It's quite funny, you know. If you're a junkie like I am with news, you'll hear ABC News spin it their way.

You'll hear NBC spin it their way. You'll hear Fox spin it their way. You'll hear NBC They all spin it. It's all spun up and confused and crazy. Well, how are we going to know what's happening? I don't know if we can know, but I know the one who knows.

David Jay: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio with his message called When the Glory Has Departed, Part 3. Thanks for being with us today. We're glad you're here. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's 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. Two things that you've made a major difference in my life. Can I throw this out in front of the audience right now?

Two things particularly.

Jack Hibbs: Well, I think so, Davey, but it depends on what you're talking about.

David Jay: The kind of coffee that you like.

Jack Hibbs: Oh, yes.

David Jay: I drink it every day.

Jack Hibbs: Yes.

David Jay: I won't mention the name, but I drink it every day. Still, I think it was 10 years ago, maybe 20 years ago.

Jack Hibbs: Yes. Oh, yes, sure.

David Jay: Also, around that same time, you turned me on to Charles Spurgeon.

Jack Hibbs: Absolutely.

David Jay: You were the first guy that said the word Charles Spurgeon to me.

Jack Hibbs: Let me ask you something. Do you remember doing for I believe it was for TBN? You did a Charles Spurgeon video series. You were Charles Spurgeon.

David Jay: Go ahead. I did. I did. That's exactly it.

Jack Hibbs: In your voice, you were acting out sermons and devotions by Charles Spurgeon. You did that back in like 1893 or something.

David Jay: Uh-huh. We shot that 1894. 94. Yeah, when I was a younger man.

Jack Hibbs: Well, listen. I mean, Charles Spurgeons worthy of of anyone mimicking his his sermons or his devotions. And so the resource for September, this wonderful book Words of Warning, that's the title of the book, but Davey, I love the subtitle for those wavering between belief and unbelief. Listen. All people waver at times between belief and unbelief. It depends on what's going on in your life. I actually think everybody needs to get this book because who does not struggle at times where is God going to show up? Am I going to get that new job? Is he going to heal my son?

You know, when I die, am I really going to go to heaven? This is a great book by Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest communicators ever in human history, truly.

David Jay: Now, Spurgeon was a guy who didn't hold back.

Jack Hibbs: No.

David Jay: Right. So how do you think this book lines up with you know, what you're always encouraging us to do today? Live bold, live a bold and honest faith.

Jack Hibbs: Well, he lived it. He He preached. He crafted his sermons. Again, all of them biblically based. He crafted them and then he went and delivered them. And then after he said amen, Spurgeon was famous for going out and living them. And a lot of people don't realize that you're talking about an era of say, 1863 where when he issued a sermon in London, his sermons were reproduced and sent out in newspaper form all around the world. All around the world. He was probably the most read minister of his time. And the power behind Charles Spurgeon was his command of English.

Now, many of us don't have that command.

David Jay: Fantastic.

Jack Hibbs: His understanding of the truth. Well, we thank God understand the truth, but he lived it out and we can say we can too.

David Jay: My favorite quote from Charles Spurgeon as a as a not very small man myself, he said the barrel-chested man is probably called to be a preacher.

Jack Hibbs: You are talking about the book Lectures to My Students by Charles Spurgeon. And that's exactly right. Think about it. In those days, he he doubted a man's calling to the pulpit if he didn't have a barrel chest because

David Jay: If you weren't large-chested, no microphones.

Jack Hibbs: Because he was speaking to over 10,000 people in the audience with no microphone.

David Jay: No microphone. Isn't that something?

Jack Hibbs: And so his understanding back then was he got to be able to bellow, he said. You got to bellow.

David Jay: You got to be a big feller.

Jack Hibbs: And God's God not God is not going to call a little feller to preach. He's got to call a big feller.

David Jay: So for people who don't know much about Charles Spurgeon, why is why is he such a big deal to today's church?

Jack Hibbs: Well, first of all, Spurgeon was a a self-taught basically genius of of a young man. I think he was I think he was saved at the age of 16. Having said that, at the age of 5 and 6 years of age, he read the famous book, for example, Pilgrim's Progress. He read it nearly 100 times.

David Jay: Yeah. Right.

Jack Hibbs: That's not normal, folks, but listen. Here's the deal. His ability to paint pictures with words is what I would say was the original Technicolor. He's able to communicate in ways and he by the way, he was a profound student of nature. So in his sermons, he would often talk about how this particular time of harvest or this time of seeding or this time of spring or winter, he will he will communicate in ways that your mind will just drive that devotion into your soul in in the colors of the rainbow and beyond. I mean, it is high definition, articulation, and logic that truly glorifies God.

I mean, he just raises the bar in your life to come up into the clouds where Spurgeon, I think, spent so much time with God.

David Jay: Get Words of Warning by Charles Spurgeon for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com/realradio. That's jackhibbs.com/realradio. 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.