ANNOUNCER: The following program is sponsored
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ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Real Life with Jack Hibbs.
JACK: Read the Word, pray the Word out loud, pray it, read the
Word and then pray it out loud, even though you're all alone.
Watch what happens. Rehearse the presence of God in your life.
Are you doing that? Watch this. Don't say anything. Are you
doing that in your life, today as a believer? Did you do it
yesterday, the day before? The true believer is someone who
we're going to meet up with in a moment that that's their life's
event. It is a struggle to meet with God, but they meet with
God. They might hit and miss, but they've got to be with God.
Does that drive your heart? Does that ring true to inside of your
very soul? Do you recognize yourself in that statement? It's
because you're a child of a living God.
ANNOUNCER: Jack Hibbs message today is, do you know God? Find
your foundation in the Word of God, then grow through His
spirit and be strengthened. Trust in the Lord
wholeheartedly, his faithfulness endures Real Life starts now.
ANNOUNCER: Every day brings us closer to the fulfillment of
God's prophetic promises. Christ's return is certain and
His word, full of hope. For those who trust in Him in, 'One
Day Nearer Daily Devotions, In Anticipation of Jesus' Glorious
Return', by Steve Miller, you'll discover 365 devotions that
explore the incredible truths of Bible prophecy. These daily
readings will remind you of God's love, His wisdom and
sovereignty. As you look forward to Christ's return, this
devotional will help you focus on eternity, persevere through
life's challenges, and live with hope and joy in God's unchanging
promises. One Day Nearer is our thank you gift for a donation of
any size to Real Life. Visit jackhibbs.com or call
(877)777-2346 to request your copy. Order now.
MUSIC
JACK: Well, hey, holy New Year to you, right? Brand New Year,
and there's that sense of renewal. There's a sense of,
well, I'm going to leave that behind. Let's press on. Let's go
for it. Listen, I appreciate that, we all go through that
exact same thing, and it's normal, right? And with it
there's anticipation. So listen, we're sitting as a world and as
a nation, as a country right now on pins and needles, if you're
really being truthful about things, the world is vibrating
as it were. The Bible prophecies of scripture warn us and tell us
that unfolding times are ahead of us. And I'm not telling you
this to scare you, but to prepare you. We continue on into
this new year. What the Bible says is wars and rumors of wars.
There are many right now saying that we are actually in World
War III and that it's escalating. War in the Middle
East, Russia, Ukraine, on and on the goes. The conflict between
China and Taiwan and all of that dynamic. What does it mean to
us? Does God not see this? Doesn't He care? Oh my goodness,
friends, He does care. He does see, and He knows. And so He's
walking with us through this. The Bible has given us the
roadmap, and you can personally know Him at this time as the
world seemingly has fallen apart. Well, when you read your
Bible, you find out it's coming together. So let's grab our
Bibles and get into the study. Do you know God?
MUSIC
JACK: The just shall live by faith. When your faith is in
God, God declares you just, and the reality is you're a changed
person. Your lifestyle's different. You live for the
things of God. Nobody has to tell you you should be a
Christian now. Nobody has to tell you that you know should be
a Christian right now. You went forward last week. You should be
a Christian right now. No one has to tell you that the Holy
Spirit on the inside is saying, hey, you are my child now I'm in
you. Let's do this. It's amazing. And so in verse 9, we
also learned this, that the security of His sovereign acts,
His action is sovereign. God's actions are sovereign. Verse 9
says, for this is the word of promise, you should circle the
word promise at this time. I will come and Sarah shall have a
son. It's all about promise. And here's where in my opinion, the
study gets fun to me. The promise, a very promise is
something that is given by someone. And listen, the promise
is given to be believed. But you agree with that? You give a
promise. It is to be accepted. It is to believed. It's to be
believed. In fact, your heart gets broken when a promise is
broken. And I would say with you right now that if God gives
promises, then there's the ability regarding choice. Will
you believe Him in his promise? Will you trust Him in his
promise with what God has said? Will you trust Him? Listen,
here's a little test, regarding selection regarding being chosen
or elected. Remember that all based on the foreknowledge of
God? Then listen to this. Matthew 11, verse 28, come to
me, all you who labor and are heavy latent and I will give you
rest. What is the invitation? Come? Can you refuse? He says,
come listen. Do all of you, is every Christian full of rest and
peace at all times? No. It's because you didn't go, when you
should have come. Come to me if you're labored and heavy
laden, it's an invitation. The very word means an invitation.
Matthew 19:14, Jesus said, let the little children, what's the
word? Come to me. Watch this. Do not forbid them. Could they have
forbidden them? Of course they could have. Let the little
children come to me for such is the kingdom of heaven. John
6:37, Jesus said, all that the Father gives me will come to me.
And the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. Is
that beautiful? You say, Jack, I don't know if I understand that
yes, you do. God gives the invitation and you respond to
it. You are responding to God's overture you for exercising your
choice by giving your life back to God, so that when you get to
heaven, you're going to thank Him. You're not going to pat
yourself on the back for getting up there. Boy did I make the
right decision. None of us are going to do that. John 7:37, on
the last day of the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried
out saying, if anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink.
Are you thirsty? I had somebody tell me after first service
today, he said, pastor Jack, I'm thirsty on the inside. I am so
dry. What do I do? And I said, press into Him. Draw yourself.
Pull yourself into Jesus. And he said, how do I do that? And I
said, start reading in John's gospel. John's gospel unpacks
the beautiful nature of Jesus like no other gospel. And then
he asked the question, which all humans do. Well, what do I do?
No, read John's gospel. Yeah, yeah, I got that. But what do I
do? I said, there's your problem. I said, you got to get
alone with Him. It's like I'm sentencing someone, to prison.
Get alone with God. People think what? No, you do that and you
have to work at it. You know, get up early in the morning to
be alone with God and your mind will go a thousand different
places than where it's supposed to be. Read the Word, pray the
Word out loud, read the Word and then pray it out loud even
though you're all alone. Watch what happens. Rehearse the
presence of God in your life. Are you doing that? Watch this.
Don't say anything. Are you doing that in your life today as
a believer? Did you do it yesterday, the day before? The
true believer is someone who we're going to meet up with in a
moment that that's their life's events. It is a struggle to meet
with God, but they meet with God. They might hit and miss,
but they've got to be with God. Does that drive your heart? Does
that ring true to inside of your very soul? Do you recognize
yourself in that statement? It's because you're a child of the
living God. Third and final arguments in verses 10 to 13,
and that is the choice is of yours and that is the
faithfulness of God's sovereignty. And the first thing
is this, is that His sovereign call. God is sovereign with His
call upon our life. This is going to sound over simplistic,
but it's true nonetheless. So Jack, God is sovereign. You just
said you read a moment ago that Jesus said all that the Father
calls brings them to me, they'll come to me. Jesus said. Yes.
Well, what if I don't want to do that? Then God's not calling you
to do that. God is not calling you to come to Christ. Well what
if I don't want anything to do with Jesus? Then God's not
calling you, into the family. You're not in the family. You're
not a child of God. Well, what if I want to be? You see, they
start having this argument. Well, what if I choose to be?
Well then choose to be. Well what if I don't want to be? Do
you or do you not? When given the opportunity, do you want
Christ in your life or not? If you do, it's because God is
calling you. He knew that you'd respond before the universe was
ever created before time was ever made. His calling. And by
the way, when He calls, He doesn't recall. He's not a Tesla
maker, or for that matter, a Ford either. I have a Ford and,
if you lease a new vehicle, you now drive a covid vehicle.
I went and looked, why is everything falling off? The
bumper's falling off, the thing's falling off. And then I
looked, it was assembled during covid. By who? I know by who.
People wearing a mask, they couldn't read the instructions
because the face shield was fogged up. And then I'm driving
this thing and the wheels are coming up. I digress. I vent.
Watch this, watch verse 10. We'll read it together. The
God's sovereign call. And not only this, but when Rebekah also
had concede by one man, even by our father, Isaac. Parenthetical
insert. Holy Spirit drops this in for us, for the children not
yet being born. Listen, the children not yet being born nor
having done any good or evil, why? What's the deal? Ah, that
the purpose of God, according to election might stand not of
works, but of Him who calls. Watch this. As it was said to
her, the older shall serve the younger. Listen, in Judaism the
older doesn't serve the younger, the younger serves, the older,
the firstborn. That's king of the hill man, firstborn, that's
top shelf. But did you know that God has made in His sovereignty,
the option to be exercised that whichever one of them shows
faith in Him, the firstborn or the last born, that is the
issue, not status. Are you tracking? This gets kind of
deep, gets kind of technical here. You ever heard of a guy by
the name of Judah? Of course you have. Jesus is the lion of the
tribe of Judah. Well, guess what? Reuben was the older
brother, not Judah. That's odd. Have you ever heard of a guy by
the name of David? David wasn't the first born. Can you name me
David's brothers? Probably not, but who's the one you know?
David. Ishmael was born first, was he not? Then Isaac. Watch,
I'm being technical with you. Was that a true statement that I
just made a moment ago? Ishmael was born first, but Ishmael was
the result of Hagar and Abraham. Was that the promise that God
had made? Nope. God said it's got to be impossible for me to
be in it. And Isaac is the one that's impossible. He's the son
of promise. Tracking? He's the baby. He had an older brother,
alright, from the same father they share. Now all of a sudden
we've got Rebekah and we've got two boys, Jacob and Esau who are
from the same mom and the same dad. So there's no question.
What's happening here theologically? Have you ever
used a microscope and then zoomed in?
This is what's happening. Are you guys bored?
CONGREGATION: No.
JACK: I feel like you're bored.
CONGREGATION: No.
JACK: Okay, well, we're almost done if that's any consolation.
So watch what happens here, when God knows what's in a heart from
all time and eternity, He doesn't learn about you as you
are born and live your life. He's always known, that His
purposes would be fulfilled. You read a moment ago, the children
in the womb not having done any good or any evil, right? They're
babies. And so watch, it's not only calling it's love, verse
13. As it is written, Jacob, I have loved, but Esau I have
hated. And if I stopped right there, you'd say, I'm done with
this. God, haven't you always thought that when you've read
that, Jacob, have I loved Esau I hated that God has favorites?
Well, look at there. Oh boy, if he's sovereign, that's pretty
painful. Yikes. He picked and dumped the other. Poor Esau.
Wait a minute, this is fun. Don't miss this. Paul is quoting
Malachi, put that up on the screen if you would. Paul is
quoting Malachi or if you're Italian, Malachi chapter 1,
verse 2. It's the only Italian prophet in the Bible. I'm
kidding. Watch this, don't miss it. God is speaking to Israel,
and Israel speaks back. I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet
you say, in what way have you loved us? God says, the Israel,
I love you. And Israel says, yeah, how? Really? You know like
a spoiled kid. Was not Esau, Jacob's brother says the Lord.
Yet Jacob, I have loved but Esau, I have hated. WHat the
world's going on here. Ah, two nations. Number one, what
nation, in fact, his name was changed. Jacob, his name was
changed to Israel, from Jacob came Israel. By the way, Jacob.
Now look, be honest. When you read the Old Testament, you read
about Jacob's life. You read about Esau's life, I guarantee
you, you would not hang out with Jacob. If you're going to hang
out with anybody, you'd hang out with Esau. You want to know why
Jacob was a creep, a bonafide creep? In fact, his name means
that he is a crook. His name means crooked, heel catcher,
supplanter. Manipulator. That's what his name means. Jacob means
manipulator. And when you read about his life and when you see
his life in the Bible, what's he doing to people? Manipulating
them. This looks really bad in the moment and then does a
switcher. It's like a movie. You can't figure it out. Watch how
this goes. Esau. Esau is Esau. You don't hear Esau having any
spiritual struggles in the Bible. He's not wrestling with
God. You don't see any spiritual events with Esau. Esau is just
Esau. He's a man's man, burly dude, it seems, rugged. He was a
hunter, and he came from the field the Bible says, and he was
starving and exaggerating I think. He comes into the house
and he says, Jacob, make me some of your stew, your special soup.
I'm going to die. Jacob being the manipulator says, well, what
are you going to give me for it? I don't know. I want your
birthright, Esau. Are you hearing me people? Yes. I want
your birthright. You're the firstborn. Watch this. He says,
what good is a birthright when I'm hungry? I'll give you my
birthright. Just give me the soup, will you? Jacob Connives
and manipulates the birthright away from Esau. But what do we
know about Esau? Esau has no passion for God. He has no
inclination toward God. In fact, Esau winds up becoming the very
father of the Idemite kingdom. Enemies of Israel. They're
brothers. One had a heart to worship God, eventually. Did you
know that Jacob, the one that if you saw Jacob coming today,
wait. Hey everybody, here comes Jacob, put your wallet in the
front of your pocket. That dude, here comes Jacob. Hey Jacob, how
you doing? You're like, don't watch out. Somehow that guy will
wind up on top every time. But he's the one struggling with
God, battling with God. He had a heart for God. When did God know
that? Before he was ever born, before the children ever did
good or evil. The man that gives away his birthright for some
porridge. What is he saying? What I pray none of you are
saying, man, this is nuts. What good is this? I want to live it
up. Give me another pot of porridge, another drink. Give me
another million. Give me another fill in the blank. What good is
this stuff? I want it all now, that's Esau. Do you see why?
Now, watch Malachi. We read it a moment ago. Guess what? That was
written after Jacob and Esau were born. They lived their
lives, they were dead. And hundreds and hundreds of years
later, Malachi makes that pronouncement. God speaks to
Malachi and says, Jacob, have I loved Esau Have I hated. What
does this mean? Jacob chose the right way in the end. In the
end, Esau chose the wrong way. So God says, I'm with Jacob.
Based on what? God, my foreknowledge. I've always known
this. I didn't learn it. You see, we're the ones learning it
now. Oh, I just think that's so unfair of God, that prophecy was
given long after the boys had died of old age. God says, I
knew both their hearts and one had a heart for me, and the
other one didn't. Isn't that amazing? See, I dunno if I liked
that because Jacob, he is quite a conniver. I know. Isn't it
something some people have said? I can't believe that God didn't
love Esau. Well, first of all, God's nature. He did love Esau.
He's responding to Esau's decision. For God's so loved
the... Yeah, God is not willing that any should perish. God
weeps over the death of the wicked. God wants you to come
and live with Him. But here's the thing. What's amazing to me
is, how much love and grace and mercy God expressed and gave to
Jacob. A guy that didn't deserve it.
JACK: So listen, there's always, always a conflict in life. It
doesn't have to be with nations, does it? What about your own
life? Children, marriage, friends, family, business,
neighbors? It never ends. But listen, one thing is certain,
the Lord Jesus Christ stepped into our time zone when He went
to the cross and died for us, to pay the price that our sins
wracked up against God. And nobody could pay you the price,
but Christ Himself. So the Bible teaches us that Jesus is the
way, the truth and the life my friend. And that's so
wonderfully comforting and it's my prayer for this entire year
for you that your footing is strong and well-placed on the
Word of God. That you lean upon the Holy Spirit to lead you
through this life. And I pray that your year would be strong
because you've trusted in He who is mighty. You can trust in
Christ. He'll never let you down. You can put all of your
heart's concerns upon Him and the battles and the raging
confusion that's around us and growing, need not threaten you
my friend. He will never fail us. Contrary to what you're
hearing in the world today, pick up your Bible, and read it more.
Some of you're going to have to make some tough decisions. Maybe
you've considered yourself religious or you've gone to a
church without a Bible. It's time for you this year to dive
into the Bible like never before, and live for God based
upon His plans for you, not someone else's plans for you,
His plans for you. Friends, let's do this together all year.
Jackhibbs.com is where you can find us and a lot more teaching
there as well. But may God bless you as you
live for Christ this year that's ahead. And may He
crown it with his goodness. Amen.
ANNOUNCER: You are watching Real Life with Jack Hibbs.
ANNOUNCER: Every day brings us closer to the fulfillment of
God's prophetic promises. Christ's return is certain and
His word is full of hope. For those who trust in Him. In, 'One
Day Nearer Daily Devotions, in Anticipation of Jesus' Glorious
Return', by Steve Miller, you'll discover 365 devotions that
explore the incredible truths of Bible prophecy. These daily
readings will remind you of God's love, His wisdom and
sovereignty as you look forward to Christ's return. This
devotional will help you focus on eternity, persevere through
life's challenges, and live with hope and joy in God's unchanging
promises. One Day Nearer is our thank you gift for a donation of
any size to Real Life, visit jackhibbs.com or call
(877)777-2346 to request your copy. Order Now.
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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 effect. 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
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