Real Life Radio

Guest (Male): The Bible says every one of us has a spirit, but without Christ Jesus, we are spiritually dead. We're in a spiritual coma without Jesus.

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, have you ever thought about what's after life? Do you know that the Bible teaches life is after life? If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, my good friend Phil DeCourcy has written a great book, and that's the title: Life After Life. Exploring the Bible's wonderful promises about heaven and eternity, published by Harvest House Publishers. Get a copy for yourself.

David J: Life After Life by Phil DeCourcy. Exploring the Bible's promises about heaven and eternity. It's available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com.

Today on this very special Easter Passion week edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues with his message called "Live: Jesus Christ Is the Only Life to Live." We're so glad you could spend some of this Easter weekend with us. This Passion week of Easter celebrates the coming of the Messiah from his triumphant entry into Jerusalem to his death on the cross, to his glorious resurrection.

Today, Pastor Jack teaches us that things that happen in life are not the things that define who we are. We are people with lives that are far greater, created by God in his image and are called according to his purpose. Now with his Passion week message called "Live: Jesus Christ Is the Only Life to Live," here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Jesus Christ takes your plain life and mine, and he dips you in the righteousness of Jesus. Instead of nuts, he puts sprinkles on it. That's you. He covers you with his blood of righteousness. God the Father looks at you who believe in Jesus and sees you only washed in the blood of the Lamb, his son Jesus. That's what Resurrection Sunday is all about: acceptance.

God makes us acceptable through Jesus Christ to his requirements. Friends, listen, be set free. Stop trying to live to be accepted by this world. It won't work. The world that accepts you today will reject you tomorrow. He will never reject you if you come to Jesus Christ. Never. Come to him.

Jesus said in John 3:15, "For whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Which leads us to this: purpose. Your life, my life, purpose. We need purpose. You're no accident.

Maybe you saw in the news this morning, it comes up on your screen, whatever the Apple news service is that everybody gets on their Apple device. It says that there's been a new discovery found in China, proving evolution. They had to say that today. They waited until today to say it. There's an agenda to that.

I looked at it and I laughed. That's awesome. Aren't you going to give it a read? Of course, I'm going to read it. I want to know what crazy people think. It helps me do my job. How dare you say that evolution is the evidence, it's science? Really? How is it that evolution is the only science that breaks all the rules of science?

Can you repeat it? That's one of the requirements for science, for something to be scientific, it has to be repeatable. Evolution is not repeatable. There are no transitional forms. Somebody who didn't like God made up a story about this is my replacement of God.

And here's what's funny. Notice, evolution is very comfortable for those who don't want to do anything with God because it's morally acceptable. If everything has evolved, then I get to do whatever I want. If we're animals, then I get to treat you like an animal. Survival of the fittest. Ever heard that one? What if I'm more fit than you are? I survive, you die.

And then we get mad at kids when they act like animals when we've taught them that's exactly what they are. Are you hearing me? Is this a little too deep? No? I've been up for a long time. Maybe it's too much. But I'm being lovingly sarcastic to get you to this point to understand. Are you going to trust in the statement that says you're a monkey's uncle?

Or are you going to believe when God says I created you in my own image? And you know down deep inside, you worry and ponder down deep inside that there might be eternity after the grave. God put that in you. He says in the Bible, "I placed eternity in your hearts." You're always thinking about it. You're thinking about what if I die, is there a God?

You know why you're thinking those thoughts? Because he is. He's pleading with you. If evolution were true, you'd be thinking, "Can I grow another eye? I need an eye. Can I get another leg? I want longer legs. I want gills. I want to fly, I had to get my pilot's license when I was a kid. How about sprouting wings and grown some feathers?"

You laugh at that because it's ridiculous. God says, "I made you in my image for us to have fellowship." Your mom and dad, Adam and Eve, wandered away from me, and sin has been passed down in your DNA ever since, and you're born to run away from me. The moment you're born, you come out swinging, and the first chance you get, you tell a lie.

Cute as a button, you're in the kitchen, you stole the cookies, the crumbs are on your face. Mom says, "Did you steal those?" "Who me? Not me." You don't teach your kid how to lie, they already know, they come out knowing how to lie. That's why they're so cute, you'd kill the little stinkers if they weren't so cute. "Did you just paint the cat?"

And then they big blue eyes, it's like, "Oh man, go ahead, finish off, paint the dog." But we're born sinners, the Bible says. And grandma's always get upset at that. "I want you to know my grandkid's not a sinner." Big sinner. We're all sinners. And we need to come to Christ. Acceptance, purpose.

The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18, "When people do not accept divine guidance, that's vision, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law, that is God's word, is joyful." Wow, isn't that something? What describes a lot of our American inner cities today? Is it this: "When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild"? Vision.

Acceptance, purpose, vision. And the word vision means to move or to be moving with intention, to have direction, eyes on the target, so to speak. Or we might say in our modern-day tongue, to drop a pin on the map. That's the location. Where are you going? Right there. Where are you going in life?

Right now, every single one of us should be able to answer this question. Where are you going? Where do you intend to land? Where are you going? When all of this is done, where will you go? Friends, listen, you've got to ask this now. Please hear it from me. I'm not an insurance salesman. I'm not selling you anything. My question to you is: where are you going to end up?

Heaven. Well, you two are going to be... that's awesome. Do you have that assurance? The Bible says these things have been written that you might know that you have eternal life. Wow, what a beautiful thing that is. Also this, and finally this point: Jesus Christ is the only life to live because your life needs a life.

People will say to us, "Find a life, man." Well, can I ask you, are you really living? Are we really living? As a believer, listen, I thought when I was from zero to 19, I thought I was living. Nineteen years of age, that's when Jesus got a hold of me. I was 19 and a half years old. And I thought I was living because everything I was doing was for me.

All the appointments I made and the phone calls I made, the clothes I bought, the places I went, the money I had, you know what I did with it? Whatever I wanted to do. Now, not on Solomon's scale, but I lived for me. And in those days, my mind, my life without God, this is what I thought: that you all evolved for my pleasure. Isn't that what the world thinks?

Listen, young ladies in here, let me tell you something. Watch out for young guys. Because I used to be one. And I'm telling you, without God being the governing factor of your life and the stability of your life, a young man is crazy. He doesn't, listen, he doesn't know how to handle himself. And you come along all pretty and all beautiful and all that stuff, and they go insane.

Why does that happen? Because we're wired from birth with a little bit of a short in the wiring, and a guy thinks the world is my playground. In fact, I'm going to get a license plate: "He who dies with the most toys wins." You ever seen that? "Look out for number one." That came from pagan hedonism, when one individual thought all of you exist for their pleasure.

People still live like that. I want you to know, that's not living. Thank God life is far greater than that. In John 14:19, Jesus says, "Because I live, you will live also." Wow. You say, "Well, I'm breathing, I'm fine," but you're not living. The Bible says that we can be alive in this world but be dead at the same time, spiritually.

And so because you and I need a life, we need that defined. What is life? What is living? I could start by saying that the things that have happened and gone on in your life and in my life is God, maybe, listen, God not causing those things to happen, but God will use those things to happen. We're almost done, so listen carefully.

God did not cause that thing to happen, but he'll use it. You should thank him in advance for that because what you thought was a mean hand of cards dealt to you, if you hand your life over to God, he'll take that deck of cards that the world handed you and he'll reshuffle them because he's the redeemer. You can say today, "My life's so messed up, it's impossible for God to fix me."

Don't say that too loud. He loves that stuff. He takes things that have been discarded, that look like junk. And if you and I are really honest, when we take a deep close look on the inside of us and we remember the things of our lives, there's shame and there's guilt. And you know what God says? God says, "You bring that to me. Bring it here."

David J: 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: A picture pops into my mind. I don't want this to be you. I don't want this to ever happen. We were on the driveway of our house in Chino Hills. Our youngest daughter, I think was maybe one and a half years old. It was a hot summer day. She had her little bikini bottom on. She's trying to help me in the driveway cleaning the car.

And somehow she got to a little pint of paint. It had not yet been opened. But when you're one and a half, just barely walking, that might as well be a five-gallon bucket. Are you hearing me? And I didn't know it, my back was to her. And I looked, she made some noise like, "Here," or, "I'm helping, Daddy, I'm helping." And I looked, and I was probably 20 feet away from her.

She's walking toward me like this. And you know, they stumble. And as soon as they stumble, the auto-reflex is for them to... so she goes to shield herself. She drops the can of paint, and the edge of it, it lands just on the edge like a blade and lands right on her big toe. And just the spurt of blood, and you know when it's bad when someone just goes silent.

Right, you know what I'm saying? When they're really hurting, they go silent. And then it comes out. You know what? Isn't it amazing, it hurt me more. You say, "Well, you weren't bleeding." Trust me, it hurt me more. Did I feel responsible? Terribly responsible. Did I regret turning my back on her? I wasn't even thinking about it, that makes it even worse.

Did she wander into the garage to find that? Yep. Did I intend for that to happen? Nope. But I can tell you what, I was the only one in the midst of the moment to be able to pick her up and to immediately get ice. And that's another thing, they think you're killing them when you put their toe in ice. Trying to help them, trying to love them.

Then we're trying to bandage it, and then she's freaking out thinking we're trying to kill her. Listen, God sees that you dropped something on your foot. In fact, it wasn't on your foot, the world dropped it on your heart. And that stuff has been shaping your personality and how you respond to people. And the reason why you can't trust anyone anymore. You've been broken.

God wants to pick you up and you think he's trying to hurt you. And then he starts to wrap you up with words that strike straight to the heart, and you think, "What are you trying to kill me, God?" No, I'm rescuing you. I'm saving you. Jesus defines his love by action. He works in your life, he changes your life.

Our life needs forgiveness. We need forgiveness, we need to issue forgiveness. And you say, "Oh, I'll never forgive those people." Well, listen, you're going to die bitter then. Don't do that. This church knows what I'm about to say well. Theologically, humans, we completely messed up the Bible when God says to us, "Forgive those who hate you. Forgive those who abuse you."

And we think it wrong. Instantly, our emotions run to the front of the line. And our emotions say stuff like this: "I'll never forgive them. I'll never give them the satisfaction." And notice how you say it, how you think, "I'll never give them the satisfaction. I'll never forgive them." And then you're wound up. Somebody says, "You want some lunch?" "What do you want?"

"Do you want an ice cream dipped in chocolate?" "What for?" You're all wound up. Why? Here's the deal. Please get this, this is free. God gave you and I the ability to forgive those who hurt us so that they do not have control over our lives anymore. So we can be freed from what happened to us. He gives us that power to forgive.

Where does that come from? Oh, it comes from him. It's all organic in him. He is willing right now today to forgive you and I if we will ask him. Jesus said, "If you'll come to me, if you'll acknowledge me before people, I will acknowledge you before my Father which is in heaven. If you are ashamed of me, then I must be ashamed of you before my Father which is in heaven."

And it all starts with forgiveness. And here's where it ends, because your life and my life needs an ending. It needs an ending. I don't know what you think about when you think the word ending, but I always think about a bow on top of something, a bow. I refuse, pastoring this church, I refuse to conduct funeral services. I won't do a funeral.

You say, "Whoo-hoo, look at you." No, I'm sorry, I won't do a funeral. I do graduation services. There's a big difference. Because you know it's really tough, by the way, when you're doing a funeral, that means you're doing a service for an unbeliever. That's tough. Because you know people come up and say, "Hey, Bob was a cool guy, we drank a lot, chased a lot of women, used to race boats out at the river, and he's up there right now racing a big drag boat up in heaven and kicking back on some Budweiser and it's great."

The guy walks off and I'm over here just like, "Oh man." It's not that what's being said, it's what I'm going to say. And somebody comes up and says, "I remember when we robbed a bank back in '65." It's like, "Oh my goodness." Doing a funeral? That's a funeral. I'm the one, I'm like, "Man, Lord, why wasn't I dead?" It's like, "This is going to be like pulling teeth."

And then you come up there because you know someone always says something about, "I know he's looking down right now." You ever hear that stuff? Nowhere in the Bible. And then I have to come up there, I'm always the last one to wrap it up, and I give a message, and I'll spare you the grief. I'll get to the punchline.

You say, "How do you do a funeral for an unbeliever that's probably toasting in hell somewhere?" This is how you do it. We know this for sure, based on the Bible, if Bob could speak to us today, Bob would say, "Love Jesus with all of your heart." He would say, "Bow your knee to Jesus." He would say, "Come to Christ." I spare them the details, but you know what I mean.

Oh boy, oh boy, if I could do it all over again, I would have gone to church that day to hear the gospel instead of the other stuff. But when a believer dies, it should be a party. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Jesus said, "If you believe in me, you'll never die." You say, "Well, that's a lie because when we die, we're dead."

No, you're not. Listen, the Bible says God made you body, soul, and spirit. Did you know like God is a Trinity, so are you: body, soul, and spirit. You say, "I don't believe it." Yes, you do. Your body's your body. Have you noticed, now young people you don't know this yet, but listen, get smart real quick.

I'm going to tell you this in advance. As you get older, you become keenly aware of the spiritual ramifications and deep theologies of the Bible. Your body, you look at it in the mirror, and you say, "Who is that? What is this? Why do we have a problem?" Because inside, we're still 21.

That's why you see on America's Funniest Videos, some 65-year-old trying to jump a fence, and he doesn't make it and we all laugh. He felt like he was 21. He thought he was. He forgot to look in the mirror that day. When we look in the mirror, we see something changing. But on the inside, we still have this vitality.

When you lay down at night, your mind, listen, your mind is your soul, psuche. That's the word for the mind, psuche, it's where we get the word psychology. The words of the mind. Your mind is awake, it's like waiting for the morning for the body to wake up. And your spirit, the Bible says every one of us has a spirit, but without Christ Jesus, we are spiritually dead.

We're in a spiritual coma without Jesus. And the Bible says that when we die, those two elements leave our body. And we bury your body at Forest Lawn, we're not burying your spirit. You're gone, you're gone. The moment you died, the real you that animates you like this, this is not your body doing this. My body is only hearing commands from the command center that this is what the machinery's doing. Are you hearing me?

You guys need to make a decision right now. If you're not a follower of Jesus, you need to do that now. In fact, now's a good time to do it. Let's just bow our heads in prayer. I'm going to ask everybody remain seated. No one interrupts, please. It's a holy moment.

Heavenly Father, we come before you right now and God we pray that you would be speaking to people right now that first of all, they would be realizing they have to ask themselves the question: Did any of this make sense? Does any of this apply to me? Is there any of this I can relate to? Because if they can, that would mean that you're speaking to them.

And now the responsibility's upon them to make a decision for what they know. Sixty minutes ago, they didn't know much about this, now they know enough. And as we are in an attitude of prayer, friend, what will you do with this responsibility now? Listen, we love you here. Though we may have never met you, for Jesus' sake, we love you. He loves you.

But if today if you fold your hands and you double down on your pride and self-righteousness, I love you, but I pray that you'll never be able to sleep again until you give up. Because I want you in heaven with us. God wants you in heaven with us. And know this, God saves, he's personal about it.

As you pray this prayer because you mean it, some of you may feel something. Many times people say they feel the change happening. I didn't, I never felt that feeling. Some people never feel anything. But thank God it doesn't say when you feel this feeling then you'll know. It's all based on your decision. Do you want him? Jesus said if you come to me I will in no wise turn you away. How good is that? He will never turn you away.

So pray this and mean it. Are you ready? Body of Christ, church family, you want to pray it with them? Dear Lord, I quit. I have come to the end of myself. I surrender, and I proclaim, it's Jesus Christ who was crucified, who rose again, and he's my savior. He's my Lord, he's my king. And I celebrate the fact that he has forgiven me of all sin. In Jesus' name, amen. Wow.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio with his special Easter Passion week message called "Live: Jesus Christ Is the Only Life to Live." Thanks for spending this part of your Easter season with us. Our prayer is that in celebrating Passion week, you'll come to realize the urgency to come to Christ, knowing that he is the only way to eternal life. 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.

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.

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.