Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: Every bit of his human core was crying out, "I don't want to go to the cross." And yet every bit of his spirit was saying, "The cross we must go to if we're to save mankind." He had flesh just like you and I did. If a bee stung him, it hurt.

Guest (Male): 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 you to be aware of a great book and please listen up. Our friend Charlie Kirk, right before he was assassinated, Charlie Kirk had finished up a book titled *Stop in the Name of God*. And I gotta tell you, friends, you're gonna want to get a copy. It teaches you how to rest in our Lord Jesus Christ. *Stop in the Name of God* by Charlie Kirk. Get a copy for yourself. It's the featured item for this September.

Guest (Male): That's *Stop in the Name of God* by Charlie Kirk. Get your copy at jackhibbs.com.

On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called *The Life and Times of Jesus Christ* and his message titled "Christ, the Son of God." Now, this is a series about who Jesus really is, not the Jesus of popular opinion, but the Jesus of the Bible, God himself, who stepped into our world. And here we'll discover what it truly means to come to him.

You see, a lot of us think that we know who Jesus is, but if someone were to ask us about him, would we really know what to say? You see, many of us are not aware that Jesus really isn't less than God. He is fully God, sent down to this earth in human skin to make a way for a relationship with him.

So today, Pastor Jack reminds us that believing in Jesus is only the beginning. We're also called to receive him, to trust in him, and remain close to him every single day. The closer we stay to him, well, the more our faith is strengthened and the more our doubts and fears begin to fade away. Now, with his message called "Christ, the Son of God," here's Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Christ, the son of God, we must believe in the son. Believe in the Son of God. Well, you might say, "Well, I certainly do believe in him." Listen, I don't mean believe in him in a historic sense, although all that is important. I mean believe in him as an absolute trusting sense. Why? Because Jesus was presented by God.

He said earlier in our text, he said, "This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased." Listen, he is—can I put it this way? And it's certainly accurate. This is my only approved, authentic, genuine, completely authorized version of me. There is no other. And this one that I'm showing you is the standard of what I will accept into heaven. Nothing less.

Listen, my friend, you've got to be just like Jesus to get to heaven. Did you know that? Well, you know, I walked the grandma across the street today, so I get my brownie point. You don't get nothing. You've got to be just like Jesus to get to heaven. Well, how do we get there then? In Second Corinthians 5:21, the Bible says that he, Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Are you ready for this? This is shocking what I'm going to give you.

Even though Jesus never sinned, never did he sin. In Second Corinthians 5:21, that message is this: that Jesus received from the Father the brunt—read Isaiah chapters 52 and 53—the scourge, the beating, the judgment, the pain, the isolation, the treatment, as though he himself had committed every one of your sins and mine multiplied. Listen, look at who you are. Look at who I am.

Statistically, I am in the middle of my life. He paid all of my sins' debt from this moment past, all of it. So stop bringing up the past, Jack, and look to the future. Stop bringing up the past, Mike or Karen or Bill or whoever, and look to the future. All the past he's paid for, this current day he's paid for, and until I go to heaven, he's paid for it.

This is outrageous. The Father heaped upon him all my judgment. In return, the doctrine that Paul teaches us, that God imputed to us his righteousness. There's only one way to get to heaven, that's to be just like Jesus Christ. How does that happen? To be imparted by God with the holiness of Jesus Christ or else we're not getting in.

Do you see now how human works is ridiculous in the mind of God? Boy, do we need to meditate on that. Jesus was presented to us by God. He's the only one acceptable. Secondly, Jesus revealed the will of God to us. He revealed the very will of God to us. Jesus exposed God's heart to us. Jot it down, I have no time to read it. Second Peter 3:9 and 10, simply, God is not willing that any should perish. Jesus came to preach the good news.

Matthew 7:21, Jesus warned not everyone who's associated on an outward basis with me shall enter the kingdom of heaven. He says many, many people call me Lord, but not all of them will enter into the kingdom of heaven. Why? Because you need to make sure that you've experienced the revelation of Jesus Christ that comes through God.

Secondly, Luke 22, it says in Luke 22 verse 40, and when he came to the place, he said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw away there in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he knelt down and he prayed and he said, "Father, if it be your will, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done."

What was the will of the Father? Jesus performed it. It was not that man could be saved any other way. That was not God's will. Jesus even said, "Father, if there's any other way, let this cup be removed from me. If man could get saved by good works, if he could be saved by moralizing his world, then let's go for it. If man can be delivered from hell into heaven any other way, then let's do it."

And Jesus finally said, "But not my will, thy will be done." Every bit of his human core was crying out, "I don't want to go to the cross." And yet every bit of his spirit was saying, "The cross we must go to if we're to save mankind." He had flesh just like you and I did. If a bee stung him, it hurt. We somehow make him something other than a human, but remember he was the god-man.

He was revealing to us the very will of God. And that will, by the way, right now is gentle, kind, merciful, and forgiving. Don't wait because that same will will be judgment, wrathful, and vengeful in the end. Receive him now. Also, Jesus is the pinnacle to God. Simply, I'll just say this: he is the only way.

Thirdly, we see that we must accept the son. We must accept him. Charles Spurgeon, this is a radical quote of 100 plus years ago, so listen to the English because it's well written and we just don't get it these days. Charles Spurgeon says, "The sinner's reception of Christ results in this primarily: First, fellowship between God and man is restored, and second, that divine intercourse hallmarks the Christian life."

That's beautiful. That divine intercourse hallmarks the Christian life. If you've accepted Jesus Christ, you will have fellowship restored with God. You will. You'll be experiencing that now and you will forever be hearing the wooing, the flirtation, if I can put it that way, of Jesus saying, "Come with me and let's sit aside and let's talk and fellowship." As Spurgeon calls it, "holy intercourse." If that word ever meant anything, it means the relationship between the Christian and their God.

But we must accept him. We so trivialize these words these days. "Oh, you know, I believe in God, come to Christ, accept him." It's much deeper than that. Am I boring you? Thanks, good, because I gotta hurry. I'm excited about this. The second thing that we see—or I should say the first thing that we see here—is accepting him means receiving him, that we receive him.

This is so important. It's important to us, it's important to you. Mark chapter 12, beginning at verse 2. It was so important, Jesus said this: "Now, at vintage time, he sent a servant to the vinedressers that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. That they took and they beat him and sent him away empty-handed."

"And again, he, the owner of the vineyard, sent yet another servant and at that time, they threw at the head and sent him away shamefully treated. And again, the owner sent another, but they killed him, and many others, beating them and killing some. Therefore, still having one only son, the owner sent his beloved last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'"

"But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'Hey, look, this is the heir. Come let us kill him and inherit the vineyard for ourselves.' So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. Therefore, what will the owner of that vineyard do when he comes? He will destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others."

Jesus is telling the story about himself. If you reject the reception of Jesus Christ, then judgment is hanging over your head. You might say, "Well, it's a fire and brimstone message." It's a fire and brimstone message if you want it to be. Well, I don't appreciate what he said this morning.

If it leads you to say, "Jesus, have pity on my soul and forgive me of my sin and be the son of God to me," then this would be the greatest day of your life. We must accept the son. Accepting means receiving, accepting means dedication. Man, I wish we had another hour. We need to dedicate our lives to God.

Don't raise your hand, but does your marriage stink? It's because someone in that marriage unit is not dedicated to God. Does your relationship with your kids stink? Someone's not dedicated to God. Don't look to your kids to be the ones. They probably are dedicated to God; it's probably your problem.

We hear much more from youth saying, "I wish my parents would get right with God" than we hear from parents saying, "I wish my kids would get right with God." Dedication. Is your home dedicated? At night when you pray, do you pray for the parameter of your home? I do, every night. I pray for the property line of our home, then I pray for the neighborhood, and then I pray for even though I may not know some of you, I pray for your home. Lord—and my kids hear this—we pray together. I'm not saying that we're something. Most of the time we fall asleep while we're praying. I'd rather fall asleep while we're praying than watching *Seinfeld*.

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: I think God's happy when we fall asleep praying to him. Did you hear what I said? I think God's happy when we fall asleep praying to him. It's better to do that than some other stupid thing. Be praying, Lord Jesus, and you pray. Also this, accepting means assent.

Accepting means assent. In Matthew 16 verse 13, this is a wild portion of Scripture. It's awesome. And when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi—many of you have been there on our tours—he asked his disciples, listen, here's the question: "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" So they said, "Some say that you're John the Baptist, some say that you're Elijah, some say that you're Jeremiah."

Notice all guys who had been dead now. They're all dead. John the Baptist, these two other guys are dead. Some say you've come back from the dead, you're so powerful, or you're even one of the ancient prophets. And he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Simon Peter piped up and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

And Jesus answered and said to them, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, Simon the son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter. You're a little—his name Peter, little stone. You're a little pebble. I say to you, pebble, on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

There are two thoughts of belief. One's right and one's wrong. The wrong one is this: that it was a declaration that the church was going to be built on Peter. Believe me, you don't want Peter as a foundation for your church. I can't believe he said that. Well, read your Bible. Secondly, which is the right view, is upon the declaration that Peter made.

"You are the Christ, the son of the living God." On this rock, I will build my church. I want to introduce to you a third view, which is just as right, I believe, as the second. Jesus, it says, went to Caesarea Philippi. If you know anything about that place, that's where Pan was worshiped. It was the central place of pagan worship. It's the headwaters of the Jordan River.

It comes out of the ground. There's a big cave right there. They believed that it was the descent. It's a gigantic rock. And in that rock was carved out, and idols were placed, and people would worship their idols in front of this gigantic rock. I mean, it's like to us, we would say it's a small mountain or a very large hill. Big rock. And the Jordan waters come out, this big cave.

And they would throw their virgin children into there, their firstborns into there. They would throw animals into there in the worship of Pan. You know who Pan is. You ever watch the little cartoon Hercules? Pan's that little kind of geeky thing with a goat body and a human head. Jesus was there, the central place of pagan worship in the world.

When it came vacation time, Jesus took his disciples to the darkest place on earth. Can you imagine? "Hey, let's pack up and vacation in Amsterdam," if you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. "Let's pack up and vacation in Vegas, Atlantic City, Bourbon Street, New Orleans." Oh yeah, I want to parade my kid around while there's naked women and men on display in the storefront window. Oh yeah, sure.

That was Caesarea Philippi. Jesus takes the boys on a vacation to take a break, takes them right in the darkest place in the world. And he says, "Who do you guys say that I am?" Why did he say that? Because all of these gods were there and people were worshiping. And in front of the god that you're worshiping, you would declare that god's name and then do their worship, often sexual activity.

Jesus, looking at all this that's going on, turns to the disciples in Caesarea Philippi and says, "Who do you say that I am?" Isn't that cool? They would shout up and say, "Great is Artemis," "Great is Diana," "Great is whoever," and then they would do those sexual acts or those pagan worship scenes.

And Jesus simply turns to his disciples and says, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter makes his declaration and I think it can be said and argued that Jesus, when he says, "Upon this rock, I will build my church," upon this rock—see this big rock here? I'm going to build my church on paganism, worldliness, carnality, because he's just going to crush it. Because all this is just a lie. It's not true. Look at that. Oh, come on, go ahead and say it again. Aw.

That's exactly, exactly the result or the action we're supposed to have. Because the Scripture says regarding our ascent to him is that we're to see him. John says, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." What? The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? The Jewish mind would say, "What? The Lamb of God? That's the Lamb of God!"

Moses told us to take that little lamb into our house for five days. Five days and five nights. We select them, he's without spot, he's without blemish, he's cute as a button. Look at him. Don't you want to take him home right now? Look how cute he is. You want to take him home. That's exactly what God said to Moses. "Moses, get a little lamb, give it, have the people select their lamb. They take it home and they play with it. They would feed it, it would sleep on the bed with them."

And they would become very attached. And then at the end of that five-day period, which is the 14th of Nisan, that little lamb would be taken by the head of the house down to the temple. And the father would be petting that little lamb and stroking that little lamb and then get a brazen bowl, a brass bowl, and put a bowl underneath the little chin of that little cute thing and slit that thing's neck from ear to ear.

And the blood would flow in and everybody, just like you said, "Oh, how cute." That's exactly when John says, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." People said, "What in the world is John talking about? Lambs die. Lambs spill their blood. How can Jesus be the Lamb of God?"

He is the Lamb of God. In the book of Revelation chapter 5, it says that I saw a lamb as though it had been slain. Jesus, the Lamb of God. There in Leviticus 23 verse 5, as you see that's projected for you on the 14th day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover. Passover what, people? Can you see, maybe you can't, maybe you can't.

See just above the ears of that little guy? I apologize for you guys over here, we have a camera projector burned out. See the marks of the blood right there? That's blood supposed to be up on the top too. We had to cut it off; wouldn't fit. That blood there back in Egypt formed the shape of a cross. With whose blood does it form the shape of a cross on the doorpost and lintel of that house?

The blood of the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ. It was all a model, it was all a type. And then finally, we're going to have to end with this. We must abide in the son. We must abide in the Son of God. Can you write fast? I'm going to go through this and we'll be done. Abiding produces fruit in your life. If you're fruitless, you're not abiding.

Abiding means start hanging out with God. Start doing the things that hang out with God. Abide in God. Abide in Christ Jesus. It's the only way you're going to produce spiritual fruit. Abiding enables us to live life really, truly. Jesus says, "I've come to give you life and that more abundantly." You're not living until you've had Jesus.

And thirdly, abiding displaces all doubt. Oh, I wish we could go into this, but the more that you abide in Jesus, fill your life with him, you're going to be a fanatic, you know. You're going to be what the word originally meant. Thank God to Noah Webster and all of his hard work. Enthusiastic. Only a Jew or a Christian can use the word enthusiastic.

Anyone else, if you're not a Christian or if you're not Jewish, you're not allowed to use the word enthusiastic. Did you know that? Can't use the word enthusiasm or else you'll be a hypocrite. "En" is internal, indwelling. "Theos," God. "Asm," "astic," activity. Internal dwelling of God produces activity, excitement.

The word can also be translated fanaticism. Oh, there he goes. That's right. I'm fanatic about Jesus. He's my lamb. It displaces all doubt too. The more you abide in Jesus Christ, the less doubt you will have. We need to get out of here for second service. If you have not made Jesus Christ the Son of God in your life, you're in trouble. Putting it mildly.

And I'll leave you with this. You might be saying, "Jack, I have so much doubt. How can you know if Jesus is real?" You can know. I want to ask you a couple questions if this is in your heart. Just a few. If you don't believe in Jesus this morning, what do you believe in? I'm curious to hear and I'm sure it's going to be something wild.

What do you believe in? Let me ask you a question: is it real? How do you know it's real? Can you answer these questions? What evidence do you have? Fifth question I wasn't really going to ask, but I feel rather ornery. Fifth question is how stupid can you be? There's overwhelming evidence. It's a sure thing. Jesus, the Son of God. You can bow your knee now or you can bow your knee later. It's better to bow now.

Father, in your name we pray. We thank you for Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. And we ask you, Lord, that you would possess us with an ever-deepening appreciation and knowledge. And Lord, may we embrace the Son of God who is altogether lovely, who has given his life for us. Father, we thank you so much and we pray in Jesus' holy name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio and his message called "Christ, the Son of God." Thanks so much for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called *The Life and Times of Jesus Christ*. It's a series about the real Jesus of the Bible, God in the flesh, and why knowing him more deeply really changes everything. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

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/knowgod. 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 Know God tab at jackhibbs.com.

Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you'd like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what's going on with this ministry. And please, if you're ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We'd love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. See you on the next episode.

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.