Today on Real Life Radio. I hope you get this. Isn't it funny that all around the world you go, you'll go around the world, and what's everybody trying to do? Who want to reach God? They're working.
They're working toward it. Everybody. That ought to give you a clue right there. Salvation is of the Lord. This is Real Life.
Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibs. I'm David J. Thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's Word, the Bible. Hey, my friends! Come with me on our bold faith Hawaii cruise, June 12 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 Lucid. It's going to be a breathtaking trip. 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. Go into jackhibbs.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack now continues his series called "The Book of Ephesians" and a message titled "Master Moses Meet Father Abraham Part Two." Ephesians is a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, showing every believer who they really are in Christ. And here Paul reminds us that our salvation is a free gift, and there's nothing we could ever do to earn it. You see, so many of us try to work our way to God.
We do good deeds when we can. We keep the rules. We hope our good outweighs the bad. But the Bible says it's only by the Lord's unfailing grace that brings us not only to new life, but a relationship with Him.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that no one can keep the law perfectly. Nobody, no matter how hard they try. That's exactly why God gave us grace, a gift we could never earn or take the credit for. Before we get into the message, I had a chance to sit down with Pastor Jack and talk about it with him.
So let's get into that. Pastor Jack, it seems like everybody's got a rewards program. Right these days, buy nine coffees, we'll give you the tenth for free. Me, I'd be nine in a row. Right.
Are you a punch card kind of guy? You like that sort of thing? I'm not. I'm very guilty of not doing that.
However, I will confess. I'm a real, real fan of doing everything possible to earn points on my credit card. Me too. To fly free, I think it's great. If you listen, everybody, if you if you use your credit card right and pay it off every month, you you'll actually make money.
I get free miles and free airline tickets because I'm using their money to fly me around.
So I guess I am a little bit of a different card. I take it.
So I watch people like on Instagram and stuff like that, and then they'll say, "Okay, here's the best way to use your card, right?" And they go through eighty-two different steps to get you know, you know, eighty extra miles. I'm just I'm not that kind of guy. Yeah, I mean, I want to put the card down. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I want thing.
I want to use things that work for me. I mean, that's why yeah, I use the shovel. I'd hate to dig a hole to plant a tree with my fingernails. That's going to be a long day. But a shovel?
Hey, use a shovel when you need a shovel. You know.
So in this message, Pastor Jack Paul says that we're we're not saved by our works, right?
So so nobody really gets a chance to boast. Why does God care so much about you know taking away the bragging rights that you and I might think that we have? Yeah, first of all, God is so good to us, and He loves us so much. And God is reality, and we live in a non-reality world. And I speak for all of us; no one's exempt from that.
We make stuff up. We think that either a we're way worse than we are, or that we're way better than we are. Our perspective, at best, is flawed so terribly, and so God provided salvation to us at the expense of His own Son Jesus, and by purchasing our salvation, God extends to us His grace. That invitation to know Jesus is based upon the grace of God, and the moment you begin to think, well. I prayed extra hard today, so maybe God likes me more.
You're not operating in grace, and in fact, you are actually offending God. You can actually be sinning like that if you think that God likes you more because you prayed more today. That's actually a sin, believe it or not, because you're equating to God based upon performance. When He never asked you to base the relationship on performance, He asked you to base that relationship between you and Him. On the performance of his son Jesus, and you see, this is why the Gospels a stumbling block to somebody who's religious.
They hate the Gospel. They might claim they like it or love it, but the moment you tamper with their man made religion, yikes!
So that's in fact the the poster child for all of this. Is the thief on the cross? Yeah, the thief on the cross who Jesus said today you're going to be with me in paradise. But the guy paid nothing, prayed nothing, dressed got dressed for nothing. He was an absolute picture perfect example of how lost we are.
And Jesus said today you'll be with me in paradise because that man confessed faith, faith. In Jesus Christ.
So, for somebody who's just worn out from trying, right, to be a good enough Christian, I mean, the the thief on the cross that you you referenced earlier, he didn't try at all until the last moment of his life, right, or last few moments of his life.
Well, actually, technically, he didn't even try. Yeah, good point. He didn't. He he did not ask Jesus to save him. He didn't ask Jesus to to take him anywhere.
All he asked was Jesus, remember me. All right, thanks, Pastor Jack.
So here it is: Master Moses meet Father Abraham, Part Two. Listen, why don't you grab your Bibles tonight and open them to Ephesians chapter two. And we continue what is really part two of the message called "Master Moses Meet Father Abraham." And I know that's a funny title, but it's very important that we understand it. And that is Master Moses, the lawgiver Moses, the great patriarch of the rules and regulations of God's rule and reign and mandate to humanity. Concerning what we should do and the standard of God, when God gave Moses the law, He gave to man the standard of what He would accept into heaven.
It was the absolute perfect law, and it's given in Exodus chapter twenty concerning the great ten commandments. That when Jesus came. And spoke. He interpreted the law, and when he did that, he said that the law came through Moses. Yes, but the truth of the matter is.
It wasn't just to the Pharisee and the scribe and to the nation of Israel that if they didn't physically do this, but they did physically do the other, and they thought they did all of the things right, which they really weren't doing. But let's say they felt like they were living a right and just life. I haven't broken the Ten Commandments. Maybe a good Jew would say, "I've been really right on about the whole thing." Jesus comes on the scene, who in fact is God in human form, the Son of God, second person of the Holy Trinity of God. Jesus comes on the scene and he says, "Well, let me tell you, as we covered last week, the fact and the truth of the matter is." It's not what you do or what you don't do," he said.
"The truth is, what's in your heart," he said. "You may never have committed adultery physically, but if you've thought it, you're guilty of it. That's how perfect the law is." You go. That's not. Yeah, that's not all that nice.
You know, it's pretty scary.
Well, the whole thing was that Jesus Christ was giving to us the law that it was spirit, as well as truth, and it discerned and revealed the intents of the heart. Very important.
Now Abraham comes on the scene much earlier than when the law was given, and God establishes a wonderful relationship with Abraham all through faith. And all through this thing of justification by faith alone, Abraham was saved before the law ever came. People, listen. Those of you we've been mentioning it. Those of you struggling in a legalistic relationship with God, I know.
After last week, some of you coming out of, some of you still in cults, and you're visiting here tonight, or you're coming on Wednesday nights. Listen. You're to be commended for your zeal. You are very zealous and you try very hard. But the fact of the matter is, you have failed even to meet the standard of somebody like Nicodemus.
You've even failed to meet the standard of somebody like Paul the Apostle. You look at of his achievements as a good Jew, and we couldn't meet up to his standards, and you're not doing it now, and we're not going to make it. And so, what do we do? The Scripture says that by the keeping of the law, no flesh shall be justified in God's sight. We're not going to make it by keeping the law, because the fact of the matter is, the law can't be kept.
Well, so do we throw it to the wind? No. Paul says, "We acknowledge that the law; it is holy, just, and good, and it's a great thing. But the law must be used properly." Paul, the apostle, tells us throughout the book of Romans, but specifically Romans chapter seven, he tells us that it is the law that condemns all men under sin. Man.
Well, don't get too wrapped up into that depressing thought, because the next chapter after Chapter Seven in the Book of Romans is Chapter Eight, which is one of the most liberating revelations you could ever touch. The law, as we mentioned before, was to drive you to a place of saying, "I can't do this anymore. I've been trying so hard. I was baptized. I was this.
I got my confirmation. I was to communion. All this went through. I, I did. I went door to door.
I knocked on every door I could find. I got my. I went through my missionary time. I did my two years. I pumped my bike all over these hills." And inside, there's still an emptiness.
There's still a void in my heart, and I don't have the assurance that if I died today, I'd go to heaven.
Well, the good news is, Jesus Christ has come, and to give us that life, and it's absolutely abundant in and through Him, and it's free. And it cannot be earned. That is why God established a relationship with Abraham by faith before the law ever came along. That's why it's silly, futile, and frustrating for you and I to try to approach God on a legalistic basis. It doesn't work.
So, Master Moses really needs to meet Father Abraham, and here's the deal. Remember, growing up on your block, on your street, kind of a weird thing. Seems like every street that any of us grew up on, there's a bully on the street, and some of you were the bully, and that's okay. But some of us weren't the bully. But on that street, if there was on my street, there was Bobby Kelly, and he was a great guy because he would he was a great guy.
I liked him because he did everything I asked him to do, so I liked being around him. Then there was Bobby Schroeder, lived next door. He's just fun guy. He's crazy, and it's funny because when when I wanted to have when I was in a certain mood, I'd play with Bobby, and then when I was in his. When I was in a certain mood, I'd play with Bobby Kelly, or Bobby Schroeder, or Bobby, or Danny up the street.
And and but on the street, always on the street, there's somebody. And I had one on my street where the guy was just like the monkeys at the zoo, where the little monkeys picking on the other monkeys' back. And what do you got there? What do you got there? You ever seen those monkeys on the thing?
You know what I'm talking about? Where you go to the zoo and the monkeys they're swinging around having a great time, but there's always a couple off in the corner. And the one guy's like trying to relax and eat his banana and kick back, and the other monkey's picking on his back, taking the little fleas off of him. What are you going to do? And there's there's somebody like that on every street growing up, and maybe in every house.
You know what? You know you you know you got this one with you right here. And you know what? And they're picking again. What is it?
And that's how Moses, I think, had a tendency by revelation to maybe be like. You know what? You you stepped at what is that's number nine? That's eight. You stepped at a line over there on that one right there.
Moses knew the law; God had given them the law, and the holiness of the law was so great on the mountain, and it was so vivid in his eyes. And there's a tendency to be so consumed with the law that rather than applying it to your life, Romans chapter two talks about. In Romans three, you wind up self-justifying and imposing it on others, and you're wondering how come you're not doing that? And that's how Moses might have been on his street. But then Abraham comes along, and Abraham and Moses—I don't know if they would have gotten along, though they were loved by God.
They're totally different kind of ministries. Maybe a very legalistic ministry, maybe a very gracious ministry over here on this side. The beautiful thing is the Lord's calling us to a relationship in grace with Him.
So we are in Ephesians chapter two. I just remembered that just now. The whole chapter, by the way, is in relation to grace that saves us. And so we covered last time, verse eight, and then we'll hit nine right now. But in verse eight, he says, "For by grace you have been past tense, it's done, saved through faith." And no, it goes on to say, "And that not of yourselves." That's true.
But there's some people that you and I might know, or maybe we've come out of a denomination or a background or something where it says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith and baptism." No, that's not what the Bible teaches. By grace you have been saved, but now that you've been saved, you got to work your tail off, partner, to keep it that way, to keep it saved. No, that's not what the Bible says. For by grace you have been saved. Plus, in Portuguese, it's nada.
Nada. That sounds like nothing, doesn't it? Nothing. In Southern California slang, it's zip. In Russian, it's nit.
That sounds like no nothing, doesn't it? Faith plus. No way, nothing. The moment we begin to attach some words onto that thing. We have to take an eraser and erase faith off the formula.
Don't you dare do that, because it's faith in Jesus Christ alone, people. Alone, it's faith in Jesus Christ alone that will get you into heaven. Thank God that's why. For some few precious, privileged folk. Who live their lives alienated from Christ?
For some, feel there is still the deathbed conversion situation that happens, and it's a great thing to see. How can it happen? By faith in Jesus Christ alone. But Jack, I'm an okay kind of person. I'm okay.
Don't ever think like that, because you're not okay. You need Him so desperately. 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. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God. And here's the text for tonight, verse nine: Not of works, lest anyone Should boast not of works. You see, the law was given to expose us our shortcoming of works.
You can't do it, and you would back up and try again. You'd fail. You ever gone through those airport detector deals? They drive you nuts.
Now you know, though you like them because of the security thing, but it's crazy. And you walk through there. Beep! Can you please step it, monsieur? Can you step it?
Okay, and you pull out, put your key. You going through your pockets.
Okay, step through again, please. Beep.
Okay, try one more time.
So you walk through there again, and you you go through, and that thing just searches you and picks just right right there. And then if they if it goes off and they can't, and your pockets are empty, what do they do? Can you step over here, please? And then they do this one thing. Up your armpits, you know it's like, oh man, and you're like this.
It's kind of weird. It's just weird, but you know they gotta do it. And that thing is scanning, scanning, and you're going, you know, there's nothing on me. I don't know. Maybe your machine's broke.
This is a true story. I was somewhere, and and and we're all running to get on this airplane. We flew from. Estonia to Stockholm, from Tallinn to Stockholm, and we get there and everybody's getting on the plane, and so I'm getting on the plane. Beep, can you step back?
And I'm like, everything's off of me, and the beep.
So they go, can you come over here, please? Oh man, okay.
So I go in this room. And they're just going all over, and then they hit my boots, and my boots have got metal toes on them, and they're going me me.
So then, and they still weren't going to let me go, and they started asking me questions.
So I'm thinking, well, I'm no, I'm not some kind of a, you know, maniac bomb guy or something. But somebody could have planted something somewhere, and maybe it's on my bags. I don't know, but you know, I'm not freaking because I'm not guilty. But you know what happened? In my bags, I had a in my my checking bag.
I had a a metal clipboard and a rubber band around my metal clipboard. That was not a crime.
Well, I had a tape recorder strapped to the metal clipboard with batteries in it and wires. And when that thing went through the X-ray machine, it looked like a bomb. And so they're talking. Asking me all this stuff, and then they start asking me stuff that really got me. What's your mother's maiden name?
What if I told you? How would you know? I mean, you're Delta Airlines. What is this like? And you know, I'm a long way from home.
How are you going to know this? It's really weird.
Well, come to find out, they went through my bags and everything was fine. And I get on the airplane. Everyone's like waiting, you know. Sit down and we leave, and it's just a crazy thing. The law goes and searches and scans and looks, and it ain't right here.
It's an impure thought, just one.
Well, now we are going to become religious people, and we're going to have a relationship with God, and we're going to now live a new life. We're going to work really good at it. And that's okay, but don't for a moment, people. If anybody's in this room, please don't for a moment think that you're going to get to heaven because you don't set the detector off. Because that thing picks up certain things, but God's detector picks up even the thought.
And even if we're trying to be good and work good at it, the thing is that we can't do it, and it's not by works. Why not? And I hope you get this. Isn't it funny that all around the world you go, you'll go around the world, and what's everybody trying to do? Who want to reach God?
They're working. They're working toward. Everybody, that ought to give you a clue right there. Salvation is of the Lord. It's freely given.
Yet you go and you go around where the gospel of Jesus Christ is not presented to people freely. And what are they doing, man? They're working for it, not by works, lest any man should boast. That means if there's works involved, then we boast. We're so good at it.
I'm going to lead all of you into a deeper life with God. It's through the simple path of humility, and I've written my book, "One Hundred Ways to Be Humble." I saw a guy on TV. I won't mention his name because you'll get upset with me. This guy, well, he wrote, he did a message, and we happened to have caught him on TV. We came home one day.
I was very depressed after a Sunday morning message, and so I just came home and I sat down and I just thought, Lord, I just like blew it, man. I blew the message. It was the worst. And I'm not the guy to be around after a Sunday service. And because you know, there's the message you preach in front of the people.
Then there's the message you preach all the way home. And the one on the way home is always better than the one that you give to the people. And he goes, "You send 29.95 in the greatest message that I have. This is that I've ever heard." He said. And he said, "You just send in right here.
The phone number's on the screen." And that message was just delivered recently, and he said that message was on humility, and it was the greatest message I have ever given. I kid you not. I fixed my whole day. I felt great after that. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hughes here on Real Life Radio.
And his message called "Master Moses Meet Father Abraham Part Two." Thanks for spending part of your day with us today. You know this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called "The Book of Ephesians." It's a series through Paul's letter to the Ephesians, discovering the riches, the walk, and the triumph of every believer. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. One nation, born in liberty, rooted in faith, sustained by providence. That's the American story.
A new documentary film from Pastor Jack Hibbs and historian Tim Barton, filmed at the very places where it happened. Pre-order today ahead of its Thanksgiving Day release, and receive a free Thanksgiving Kids Guide with your gift to Real Life. Visit jackhibbs.com or call eight seven seven seven seven seven two three four six to pre-order yours now. Once again, that website 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.
