Today on Real Life Radio. Every morning he wants me to go out in his power. He's got all this grace, and he wants to fill up my cup so that it goes over and floods the place. And same with you, grace. It's the power that gets us through.
It's the freedom we can depend on it. 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.
There's a story every family should watch together—a story about faith, courage, and conviction that built this nation. The American Story is a new documentary film from Pastor Jack Hibbs and historian Tim Barton that brings America's founding to life, filmed at the actual places where it happened. Hear the stories of Pilgrims, the First Great Awakening. And the revolution itself, tracing the conviction that liberty and human rights ultimately come from God. And when you pre-order the American Story on DVD, we'll also send you the Give Thanks Holiday Kids Guide free, filled with Thanksgiving history, family activities, and biblical lessons on gratitude for the next generation.
Pre-order today ahead of its Thanksgiving Day release and receive a free Thanksgiving Kids Guide with your gift to Real Life. Visit JackHibs.com or call eight seven seven seven seven seven two three four six to pre-order yours now. Once again, that website JackHibs.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 grace produces both humility and the strength to keep going when obstacles come our way. It's only God's grace that has the power to carry us through.
Now, with his message called "Master Moses Meet Father Abraham Part Two," here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibs.
So Paul says here in Philippians three three, for we are the circumcision whose worship. Who worship God in spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. That means no circumcision. We don't trust in it. We don't trust in any baptism.
That doesn't do anything to you. Taking communion is not going to save you. Doing penance, anything of the flesh, it won't work. No confidence in the flesh. Though I also, he says, might have confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, he says, I more so. And you go, man, that's a pretty big statement, Paul. He goes, Oh, yeah.
Well, watch this. What day were you circumcised on? Seventh day. He says, I was circumcised on the eighth day. Circumcised on the eighth day.
What tribe or what nation are you from?
Well, I'm from. America, big deal. I'm from Israel. Oh, what tribe are you from? Chino Hills Indians.
I'm from the tribe of Benjamin. Wow. I'm a Hebrew, and not only a Hebrew. I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He says.
If you want to brag, he says, "I can brag you under the table, pal." Concerning the law, I was a Pharisee. I can quote you any verse of the Bible, a drop of a hat. I can do Bible bash and whip you any in a drop of a hat. Just I can even quote the verse before you got the last reference right out of your mouth. Concerning concerning the law.
I was right on the Pharisee, and listen concerning zeal. I I was so zealous that I went around having Christians killed. That's how zealous I was. Concerning the righteousness was, can you say this? Concerning the righteousness which comes by the law, I was blameless.
If you're going to get there by works, you're going to have to outdo this boy here. Listen to this. But what things were gained to me? All of this position and this gain, these I have counted loss for Christ. I love the word in the Greek.
It's bandini. Yeah, no, I'm kidding. It means it means bandini. It's Garbage. He's going to say this in a moment here.
Yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but bandini that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, which is really no righteousness at all. But he says. Which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. And isn't it funny tonight that the world thinks they can work their way into heaven? And the moment somebody comes into the presence of the worldling who is even viewed as being better than they, what does the world say?
Did you did you catch that? Did I lose you? If the world out there is saying you need to work your way into heaven, the moment somebody who is better than them comes into their presence, you know what they do to them? Do you think they lift them up and say, you know, put them on a little gurney and lift them up high and say, "Hey, this guy's better than us"? And we believe that you have to work your way into heaven, so look at him; he's really good.
No, they don't. They say, "You little self-righteous thing, you." The world gets all upset when somebody better than they walks into the room. Moleier than thou. It bugs him, but yet they'll tell you their message, and their message just be good enough. Contradiction.
No boasting's allowed. Romans three twenty three, you know it well. Starting there, Paul says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement. Through faith in His blood, He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance." He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished, to demonstrate at this present time his righteousness, that he might God might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law of works? No, but by the law of faith. It's absolutely amazing.
Do you tonight trust Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross?
Now, our tendency might be to say, "Yes, I do." And in the foreseeable future, there's no possible scenario that's going to test us on that. There's a, you're not on your deathbed right now. The doctor hasn't told you today. You've got 25 minutes. You got an hour, so we can say that.
We trust him. We trust him to take us into eternity by his sacrifice. We borderline call him a liar, concerning our mortgage payment this month. By how we live, oh man, what am I? I don't know.
I don't know if I can pay this bill, my mortgage, my rent. Oh, my my. How are we going to eat? How are we going to eat? And we start to worry, and God says, "Don't worry about those things.
I'll take care of you." But we're worrying, worrying, worrying, and we're supposed to trust Him to get us into heaven. Isn't it funny? We're trusting them for the big deal, or freaking out over the rent. And for some, you go visit them at the hospital, and listen—they don't care about what they're going to be eating. There's this question: Am I going to make it?
And here's the question: He asks them.
Well, we can find out right now if you're going to make it. Tell me what you believe about Jesus Christ. People, listen. Everybody, grab this. If you go visit your loved ones, don't spoon feed them the gospel.
Do you understand what I, what I mean by that? Don't go like this. If they're on their deathbed, don't say, don't say, Grandma. Jesus Christ died on the cross, rose again from the dead. His blood washes us from sin.
Do you believe that? Yeah, sure. Don't put the words in their mouths, so for for them to just go, yeah, sure. Don't do that. Say, Grandma, can you tell me right now what you think about Jesus Christ?
Who is he? Just ask them who he is. Jesus said to the disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" Not, are they swallowing the propaganda? No, he said. Who do men say that I am?
When you ask them, who do you think Jesus is? What are they saying?
Well, some say you're Elijah. That's a wrong answer.
Some say you're other prophet. That's a wrong answer.
Some say you're Jeremiah. Wrong. Peter had the right answer. He couldn't even take credit for it. Peter was probably about to say, "I'm hungry," and the moment he went, you know, I'm going to say something because I don't know what else to say, so I'm going to say something.
And he opens his mouth, and out of his mouth it says, "Thou art the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, the Son of the Living God." And Jesus says. Flesh and blood has not revealed that to you, but my Father in heaven. That's where you got that. You couldn't think of that one on your own, Peter. And we ask people, who Who is it that you say Jesus really is?
Well, he is a great guy. He went around doing all kinds of good stuff. That's not the answer. I think he's one of the greats. It's not the answer.
You can say he was the person who changed the course of all human history. It's not the right answer, though. It's true. It's not the right answer, and you can slip off into a Christless eternity. Why?
Well, gosh, what's the big deal? Please understand this. A moment ago, you were thinking it's too easy to get into heaven by just having faith in Him.
Now I'm telling you that it's got to be proper faith, and you're thinking it's kind of narrow, isn't it? Isn't that funny? It means that you're you're going to pull up and sit right on him, and you're going to ride on his lap right into eternity, and you trust for him to stay still and take care of you. Do you believe that? That's the salvation that comes.
From grace alone, God's grace working in us. Grace and works—it's like—it's like oil and water. It's not going to mix. But because salvation works in your life, and you have that grace, you're going to be producing works. But the works don't save you.
Real quickly, and we'll wrap this thing up. Salvation. Because it's by the grace of God is eternally secure in Him. You can never, never lose your salvation. Listen, you can never lose your salvation because it was never found.
It was given. 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. The question tonight is: Are you truly saved? I love what one commentator said. He says your salvation was given apart from any works, and we must be careful to remember that. Though we didn't get it by any works, it is also true that by any bad works we cannot lose it, for it is by the grace of God, is a gift given freely, and it is freely received.
An legalistic mind has a hard time with things like that. Paul tells us in another place that the law pays no dividends but death. The law can never compliment you. It sees no good in you. The law demands and points to Jesus Christ and to Him alone as its hero, because He alone fulfilled the law.
But outside of Christ, the law has no hero. That's why the book of Ephesians is the book that says, "Those who are in Christ." And if you're in Christ tonight, the law looks and sees you in Him. I've told you this before. I can't think of any. I should have brought them out here tonight.
I've got the little Matryoshka dolls. You've seen them. Many of you have them from Russia, and you know the little. You pull, you pull them apart, and it's the little guy, little guy, and it gets smaller and smaller and smaller. They're really a lot of fun.
If I held the matriska up and you were not familiar with that matriska, you would think, "Well, that's a nice little wooden doll." You have no idea. There's about ten of them on the inside because they're hidden inside the other, and that's how we need to be in the Lord. Grace produces strength to continue on. It will end with this thought right here. Grace produces.
Strength to continue on. Listen, people. When we get tired in our Christian experience, burned out, it's because we've missed to, missed to apply. We've missed applying this great thing of grace. God's grace.
It's upon us. We sing this song often on Wednesday nights. Listen. Blessed is the man whose strength is in you. That's the Lord whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
He's wandering toward heaven. He's on his way. As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring. The rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength.
Each one appears before God in Zion. That is grace to continue on. God will see to it by His grace. We will make it by His grace. One of my favorite verses you are very familiar with.
Verse six. It's in Zechariah chapter four, verse six. Great verse, you know it. It says, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit," says the Lord of hosts. But here is verse seven.
Who are you, O great mountain, great obstacle? Who are you? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a valley, and he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of works, works. Let's work it. No, it says with shouts of grace, grace unto it.
You got an obstacle in your life? You got a marriage gone goofball, crazy kids, wife, husband, job? Ask God. Lord, I need you to shower your grace on my life. What a funny thing!
It's free. We run around. We got this cup. Oh man! You look in the cup.
It's all dry. No dust in it. I need grace. You need you, right? You need grace, man.
Oh, I wish I had grace. God is saying, "Man, I got I got so much grace around here. I got to get rid of some of this grace up here." Oh, I need grace. I'm not going to make it. And God's saying, "Man, I got I got so much grace.
I I gotta we gotta build more walls, and so we can hang grace on it." And we're I need more grace. And God's saying, He told James. He said, "James, will you tell them that they have not because they ask not? Will you ask?" God says, "Ask." Will you ask me? He just wants you to ask him.
Well, I don't know why I'm having such a difficult Christian life. Was the last time you asked him to fill you up with His Holy Spirit? You're supposed to do it every day. The day I can I can set my watch to it. In fact, it's late.
I need to stop, don't I? You can set your watch to. When I start running out of power, the Lord goes. When's the last time you asked me for some super duper power? When's the last time you asked me to fill you up?
That he is so convicting. Every morning he wants me to go out in his power. He's got all this grace, and he wants to fill up my cup so that it goes over and floods the place. And same with you, grace. It's the power that gets us through.
It's the freedom. We can depend on it, with shouts of grace. And grace assumes that there's a need in our lives, and there is a great need in our lives. But God wants to remove the obstacles from our lives by grace. And listen, it is the obstacles He has placed in our lives, so that grace can be appreciated and received.
No, I am this. You can close your Bible, even. We need to shout. We're not going to shout. We're not going to shout.
We're not going to bark either. We're not going to laugh.
So let's just calm down a little. But in our hearts, we need to shout unto the Lord, and to that thing that's in our lives. God's grace will get us through this thing. God's grace. There was this little guy I grew up with.
Some of you did too. Whenever there was an obstacle in his way, Felix the cat would always call for this guy, and he was a little guy dressed really kind of weird. And Felix would like need to go through a mountain. And he would get this little guy called Vavoom. Remember him?
Any of you born back in '39? And Felix would point that guy to the big mountain, and that little guy go Vavoom, and he'd go a couple feet forward, Vavoom, and then he'd get on the other side, and Felix would go, Thanks. And that obstacle just became a tunnel, and Felix passed right through all the debris. We need to shout grace to the great mountains that keep us back, and walk through like it's a valley. He's promised us.
We need to ask him. Let's pray, Lord. I know, Father. Your proverbs tells us that the that the rock badger is a feeble folk, a feeble little gopher thing. But he has great strength.
Your Bible says great strength. But he's got not one tool to defend him. He's got not one. Stinging tail. He doesn't have big fangs.
He doesn't spit fire. He doesn't throw arrows or quills or anything like that. He's learned to hide in the rocky places, and thereby has defense. Hidden in the rocks, he's strong.
So nothing can come near him. Father, in the name of your Son Jesus Christ, Lord, I pray for not only this body for myself, Lord, that you would rain down upon us grace, grace, Father, for every person's growth in this place. Grace to teach us to sing new songs of worship. Grace to walk outside there tomorrow with that crazy boss who's on our tail. Or those coworkers who drive us up the wall.
Maybe the spouse we go home tonight that will mock our Christian experience. What'd you do tonight? Grace that fills us up and gives us the power to go on. Grace that says you can't work your way into my presence. I've given you a gift.
It's free. Don't insult me like that. You take that gift and you enjoy my relationship with you, Grace. Oh Lord, I ask with my brothers and my sisters that you would rain down upon this church grace upon grace. Over and over again, that Lord, by Your grace, all that we touch would turn to praise and honor toward You.
In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. 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. Are you searching for answers these days in a world where truth is hard to find?
Well, my friend, as you heard in our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you'd like to learn more about what that means to you personally, just go to our website, jackhibbs.com, and then click on that tab there that's labeled No God. And there you'll be guided through what committing to Jesus Christ really means and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God. That's the No God tab at our website. JackHibs.com.
That's JackHibs.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. 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.
dot com. That's jackhibbs. dot 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.
