ANNOUNCER: The following program is sponsored by
generous friends and partners of Real Life.
ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Real Life with Jack Hibbs.
JACK: The Bible says He's the same yesterday, today and
forever. The Bible teaches that God is a firm foundation. He's
immovable. The fact that God cannot change is one of the key
factors of His very nature, and we revel in this
because what God says, you can take it to the
bank, spiritually speaking and stand upon Him.
ANNOUNCER: Discover in the message, 'The Choice Is it
Yours?' How Jesus remains constant through time,
and know that He is the same Yesterday, today,
and forever. Get out your Bibles. Real Life starts now.
ANNOUNCER: Is God different than he used to be? More tolerant of
sin, more politically correct? In today's world, many are
trying to reshape God to fit modern ideas, leading to
confusion about His true nature. This confusion has even seeped
into some churches. In, 'The Eclipse of God', bestselling
author, Erwin Lutzer reveals how our culture is trying to make
God more inclusive and accepting of things that the Bible clearly
says are wrong. But God's character hasn't changed. His
truth remains the same, and he calls us to stand affirmative
even as the world around us shifts. Pastor Jack Hibbs says,
many people hold to a horribly distorted view of God. Pastor
Lutzer shows us how to engage with the culture lovingly,
boldly, and effectively. This book comes at a critical hour.
'The Eclipse of God' will be sent to you when you make a gift
of any amount to Real Life today, visit jackhibbs.com or
call (877)777-2346 to get your copy. Order now.
JACK: Listen, we love choices, as Americans, we love choices as
a people. This is something that God has put within us. Choice.
Well, we love freedom and we love the freedom of choice. What
we're going to eat, where we're going to go, how will we
vacation? Where? It's all based on choice, but listen, what
about salvation? We need to know what God's word says, what we
believe and how we believe it matters because it winds up
really making a great difference in how we not only know God, but
we see the works of God. When it comes to a choice. We're not
spectators in this world when it comes to a choice. We are living
and breathing entities that God has made us with the ability to
choose. Listen, you're going to choose what you're going to want
for lunch or to have as friends. God gave you that bit of
sovereignty. But listen, when God gives you the invitation of
eternal life, it's God unfolding before you. Not only His plan,
but His invitation for you to know Him, even in these last
days. At the end of time, as we are now in this world, God is
calling you to know Him. So we're going to jump into Romans
chapter 9. So I'm going to want you to grab your Bibles as
usual, get some notepad and some highlighters and let's get into
this. But keep this in mind. The choice isn't yours, because the
answer to that is extremely, extremely important. God bless
you. As we study The Word of God together.
JACK: I'm going to give you two passages of scripture. They both
happen to be from their third chapters of their respective
books, but one is Romans 3:21, Romans chapter 3:21. This is all
introduction to where we're going. It's important though
that you get this, but now apart from the law, the righteousness
of God has been made known. Wow. To which the law and the
prophets testify. That's a huge statement. How to be right with
God, has been made known. And the prophets, not only the law,
Moses, but the prophets agree. Verse 22, the righteousness is
given through this, righteousness is given through
faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. All who, what?
CONGREGATION: Believe.
JACK: Believe there is no difference between Jew and
Gentile. Why? Because the premise is, and the requirement
is based on those who believe. Can a Jew believe? Yes. Do all
Jews believe? No. Can a Gentile believe? Yes. Do all Gentiles
believe? No. No. For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God? That includes me and you. You and I. And all are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as
a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding
of His blood to be received by what?
CONGREGATION: Faith.
JACK: Faith. Now, Galatians 3, Galatians chapter 3, verse 26,
for you are all sons of God through what?
CONGREGATION: Faith.
JACK: Faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized
into Christ, notice not baptized into water. Baptized into
Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are in
Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. Did you get that? Well, wait a minute. Somebody might be
saying, wait a minute, you mean Abraham's DNA? Nope. Well,
listen, not physical, DNA. There are some people walking around
today saying, I'm going to go to heaven because I have physical
DNA in me from Abraham. I don't need to listen to anything that
you guys are saying. I'm going because I'm related to him. And
God says, no you're not, because I'm not looking for physical
DNA. You might say today, you know what, pastor? I got drug
here by people. I just can't wait for this to be over because
I'm going to go to heaven because my mom and dad, they
believed in God. I grew up in a Christian home. What does that
have to do with you? How does that help you? How do you
benefit from that? You're not going to go to heaven based on
their faith. Listen, I was speaking at a Christian school,
a high school, true story, and they hold to a certain belief
that they are especially selected. They're especially
elected by God. Well, whatever they asked me to speak, it was a
student assembly, so I just gave them the Bible and I thought,
you know what? There's a lot of kids here. I'm just going to go
to John 3. I'm going to teach on John 3 starting in verse 1. And
I went through Jesus saying to Nicodemus, you must be born
again to enter the kingdom of heaven. Nicodemus, that was
quite a righteous guy. And I said, I don't care about any of
you and your heritage, but I do care about your soul and you
need to be born again. Just like Jesus said, Nicodemus had to be
born again. And the principal of that school came up and grabbed
the microphone right out of my hands. And he walked me to the
parking lot and he said, you'll never speak here again. And I
said, yeah, that's great. Let me ask you something. What just
happened? And he said, these kids' parents are going to
heaven and that means they're going to heaven automatically.
And I said, let me tell you something. If I would've known
that in advance, I wouldn't have come and spoke here, because
that's sick. God, listen, I told you before God has kids. He
doesn't have grandkids. And this is a very, very important thing.
So as we look at this, number one, write it down. It's our
only point for today. And the choice is it yours, and it's
based on verses one through five, and that is the scope of
God's sovereignty. Will you write that down? The scope. Or
you can even enhance your notes by saying, what is the scope of
God's sovereignty? How sovereign is God anyway? Well, He's all
sovereign. And some.. Listen, some people have a problem with
this, because it must be a different kind of sovereignty
because, if God would allow people to make choices, then He
can't be as sovereign as we might think. So that doesn't
work, right? No. He's got to be sovereign enough to where He
condemns people to hell as He wishes, and He sends people to
heaven as He wishes, and that's the way that it is. And if that
were true, then we've got a bad God and let's end this service
now and go home. Why? Because you've got this situation going
on. You've got heaven now, and you'll join them later,
rejoicing for God's salvation provided by Jesus Christ. But
you also have those that are in hell responsible for having
rejected the opportunity. If there was no such thing as
choice, how could someone be held responsible for their
outcome? And this goes deeper. Write it down in verse 1 and 2.
The scope of God's sovereignty includes sorrow and grief for
the lost. Will you write that down? Friends, you and I who are
going to to heaven, we should be sorrowful and we should be
grieving over the lost in our own lives. Do you know any lost
people in your life? Do you know anybody who doesn't love Jesus
and they're lost? They're going to go to hell. Listen, your
child, your parent, your mom, your uncle, your dad, your
grandpa, they've rejected Christ. They don't want anything
to do with Christ, and unless they turn, they're going to
burn. And that doesn't make God happy and it should make none of
us happy. We should weep over that reality that is before us.
Think about it. The only thing that keeps you from ultimate
grief and sorrow regarding that person is that there's still
breathing. But if God or the world or Satan were to yank the
carpet out from beneath them and they fall into eternity, your
guts would be wrenched if you're a believer. Look, we're not only
a believers in heaven. Jesus taught us to be believers in
hell. It's real. Satan is a real fallen angel and he hates your
guts, and everything about you. But Christ loves you and he
wants you in heaven with Him. But I find it fascinating here,
noticing this, when Paul says, I tell the truth in Christ, I'm
not lying now, he goes deep. My conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and
continual grief in my heart. My heart's broken, he's saying. Why
Paul is your heart broken? Because God provided the way of
salvation through the Jewish people. The gospel came to my
brethren first, but many of them have rejected His offer, and I'm
grieved over that brings great sorrow to my heart. And listen
to this,I love this, I love it and I hate it, but it's truth.
He says that my conscience is also bearing me witness in the
Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. What is he saying? The Holy
Spirit in me, is sick, is moaning, is grieving, is
sorrowful. And I'm exactly the same way regarding those who I
know that are lost without Jesus. That's the life of the
Christian. If we really believe. I ask all of us this question,
when was the last time you honestly cared about someone
else's eternal soul? Your nearness to Christ and His
person will reveal the depth of your care for the lost. There's
no buttering this up. I like you, like Paul, need to be
grieving, need to be sorrowful over the fact that you and I may
know lost people in our lives. And we pray for them, do we not?
And this is why we grieve and we put on our Jewish sandals, so to
speak in a moment because I'm speaking from the Jewish
prophets and Paul himself being Jewish. Isaiah 7:14, therefore
the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold the virgin shall
conceive and bear a son and you shall call His name Emmanuel.
That word Emmanuel is God among us, God living among man, God
with us. And listen, what's the rumor? How does this happen?
What a fantastic announcement. Wait, the Old Testament says
that God is going to tabernacle among us. Yep. Wow, that's
amazing. Do you know anybody with a scandalous, a rumored
life that he was none other than the son of God? Do you know
anybody who was born of a virgin? At least the rumor. Do
you know any history about how Israel dealt with the one who
was, well, according to the Pharisees, they called Him, "a
you know what"? You know when a kid is born without a dad, that
in the King James, not the new King James, the old King James
uses the actual word, "a you know what"? They called Him "a
you know what", the Pharisees inscribed said Abraham's our
father, we don't even know who your father is. You're a "you
know what". Can you imagine saying that to God's son? God
heard that. Oh, if I were God, I would've punched them right
then. But good thing for them, I'm not. And God is saying, look
at this. What does the Bible say? Know your old Testament.
What's happening here? The virgin shall conceive. Secondly,
Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6 and 7, for unto us, a child is born
unto us. A son is given, and the government will be upon His
shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor,
Mighty God. Wow. Really? A child, a son, called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God. My dear friends, I remind you I'm
reading out of the Hebrew Old Testament, everlasting father.
Everlasting father means father of time, the governor of time,
prince of peace, and of the increase of His government and
peace, there will be no end upon the throne of who?
CONGREGATION: Jesus.
JACK: And over His kingdom. Wow. Kingdom seriously really? More
on that in a second. To order it, to establish it with
judgment and justice from that time forward even forever. See
the words, His kingdom? His kingdom. It's speaking about the
Messiah coming back to the earth and establishing the promised
kingdom. David never established it. David had a lot of it,
but it wasn't fully established. Solomon came the closest. Do you
know what I'm talking about? The kingdom was given in its
parameters to Abraham. Abraham, look that way, look that way,
look that way. Look over there. It's all yours, to the
descendants of yours, who will believe in me. And you say,
that's the Jewish people. Don't be so fast. Before Abraham was a
Jew, he was a Gentile. He was not a Jew until he praised the
Lord. The Lord called him out of Ur of the Chaldees. He was an
uncircumcised gentile. A pagan worshiper. And because he
believed God when God spoke to him, the Bible says God
appointed or bestowed upon him righteousness and declared him
righteous. Abraham had done no works. Moses had not yet been
born. And there was not even a five commandments. There was not
even seven. There were not even 10. And Abraham is the father?
Yes. Of an entire race of people, the Jews, the Hebrew
people. Yes. That's how the nation was established. But
eternities altogether different. I had summer in Jerusalem. I was
walking with Amir, many of Amir. We were walking in Jerusalem and
I wasn't thinking, and I asked a Hasidic Jew, an Orthodox Jew,
the black hats with the curls. So they have a certain belief
system. It's not all Jews are like them... But excuse me, do
you know what time it is? And the guy looked at me, and it was
like... I mean, it is just not like he just looked at me and
like, oh. He just looked at me and I asked Amir, what was that
all about? And he goes, he's not supposed to talk to you, because
you're a Gentile. He knew instantly you were a Gentile. I
said, oh, how does he know that I got my clothes on and stuff?
CONGREGATION: (Laughing)
JACK: And he said, we know. Here's the thing. The thing is
this, is that they believe God created you to burn in hell. You
are actually the fuel for the flames of hell. And I said, how
does their evangelism program work? And then there isn't one.
Why? Because they believe that they were born into this. And
this is going to become a very key factor. Did you not read
names like Abraham, Sarah? Did you not read names like Isaac
and Rebecca? We need to pay close attention for these next
several weeks, if not months. Is it your choice or is it not your
choice? Can you call out the God or not? Call out the God. Are
you automatically doomed and it's sealed and it's over for
you, or does it matter nothing how you live, you're going to go
to heaven anyway? Because God's picked you and maybe he picked
you, not you. People who believe that by the way are not easy to
be around. Because number one, they're trying to get you to be
as miserable as they are, because they're not sure if God
picked them. It's absolutely insane. God doesn't want you
insecure. He wants you more secure. This is not a game to
Him, but He does require us to think. And He unlocks these
truths to babes. Children can understand this. He's so
awesome. Genesis chapter 15, verse 5 says, then the Lord
brought a Abraham outside and said, look now toward heaven and
count the stars if you are able to number them. He wasn't. And
he said to him, so shall your descendants be and Abram what
believed in the Lord. And that is God accounted it to him for
righteousness. Listen, for some reason I've never had this
experience with women. It's always men on their death bed.
Men somehow who are not Christians and they're dying.
And the family says, can you come? Can you come? And when you
go, there's still too much of that person alive. How do I
know? Because they'll say, Reverend, what do I do? Do you
want me to write a check? I'll give half of my wealth to the
church. What do I do? Just tell me what to do, Reverend. Just
tell me what to do. And I tell them, there's nothing you can
do. There's nothing you can do. There's no hope for you, unless
you put away that thinking, and cast all of your sins and all of
your very existence upon the mercy of God and call out to Him
because He died on the cross for your sins and rose again from
the dead. And if choice was not involved in it, then what was He
doing... doing it for? Then why would I tell a man on his
deathbed, you can choose Christ now, he'd say, I don't know if I
believe that pastor, then stay miserable, but I'm going to go
with the thief on the cross who chose Christ. He started earlier
in the day not choosing Christ, and then he ended his day
choosing Christ and just slipped right under the gate and went
into heaven. How's that for a deathbed conversion? Wow.
JACK: So the choice, is it yours? I mean, it's an important
thing to ask. How about this? How does God save? If it's
choice, how does God save? Well, friends, this is what's built
into the gospel. That would be the cross. The gospel that
you've all heard of is the cross of Jesus Christ. And it's not
just the cross, but it's the empty tomb. He rose again from
the dead. But listen, why did He go to the cross? That's the
whole point because He died for your sins and mine. And I know
people kind of kick back and freak out about that and how
dare you say that, but can we just be honest for a minute? All
of us have fallen short of what's been expected of us. Well
put that on a grand scale. All of us has fallen short of God's
glory and God's perfection that makes us sinners. The word sin
or sinner is an old English word, which means we miss the
mark. So who is it that God saves? All those who put their
trust in Christ, frankly. That's a choice you have to make. Say,
why doesn't God just save me? He's given you the ability to
exercise your free moral agency of choice. He built that into
you to choose. Listen, God's going to get all the praise in
heaven because He provided the way of salvation. We're all
going to be clapping and adoring God, the God of our salvation.
No one's going to walk around heaven saying, my, my wasn't I
smart to choose God? No, because God gave us the opportunity to
choose, and listen, flip that around. No one's going to be
walking around in hell cursing God that they're down there. I
was cheated. It was wrong. Oh, no, no, no. People who are in
hell actually earned that. They wanted that. They rejected Him.
They chose. They chose wrong. So let me ask you, where are you on
these issues? Can I invite you to pray right now with me, dear
Lord Jesus come into my life? I ask you, dear God, if all of
these things that this pastor has taught on this Bible study
right now is true, then I want to know you. I want to know your
forgiveness. I want to know new life. I want to know what it
means to start life all over again as a new creation. I've
heard this, and now I believe this. Jesus died for me. He rose
again from the dead, and I put my faith in Him in Jesus' name,
and all God's people said, amen. If you've prayed that prayer,
let us know. Please reach out to us at jackhibbs.com and we'd
love to hear from you, get information to you, and you can
also follow us on all these various social media platforms
from Facebook to Instagram and beyond at
jackhibbs.com. Until then, my friend, God bless you, and
we'll see you again. Back in the Word of God.
ANNOUNCER: You are watching Real life with Jack Hibbs.
ANNOUNCER: Is God different than He used to be? More tolerant of
sin, more politically correct? In world many are trying to
reshape God to fit modern ideas. Leading to confusion about his
true nature. This confusion has even seeped into some churches.
In, 'The Eclipse of God', bestselling author Erwin Lutzer
reveals how our culture is trying to make God more
inclusive and accepting of things that the Bible clearly
says are wrong. But God's character hasn't changed. His
truth remains the same, and He calls us to stand firm in it
even as the world around us shifts. Pastor Jack Hibbs says,
many people hold to a horribly distorted view of God. Pastor
Lutzer shows us how to engage with the culture lovingly,
boldly, and effectively. This book comes at a critical hour.
'The Eclipse of God' will be sent to you when you make a gift
of any amount to Real Life today. Visit jackhibbs.com or
call (877)777-2346 to get your copy. Order now.
ANNOUNCER: Life is
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ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Real Life Radio with Jack Hibbs.
JACK: God's word never will return void. God's word is
spirit. It's power and it has its effects. God did not give us
Bible prophecy to scare us, but to prepare us, you are
the light of the world. Jesus said, you are the
salt of the earth. How does that happen?
ANNOUNCER: Jack Hibbs truly believes we are living in some
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