ANNOUNCER: The following program is sponsored by
generous friends and partners of Real Life.
ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Real Life with Jack Hibbs.
JACK: You and I, Without Jesus, you know why life is so brutal
and you're so tired? You've been carrying a dead man around all
these years. You. And you're trying to prop yourself up.
Parties. Drugs. Fun, money, whatever, I don't know. It
doesn't matter. The response to emptiness
is endless. But aren't you tired?
ANNOUNCER: Today, Jack Hibbs talks about choices shaped by
divine design. As Salvation's path is revealed, know that you
are free to love or hate God. Stay tuned
for the message, stumbling over Christ.
ANNOUNCER: The cross. For many, it's become little more than a
symbol we wear around our necks, display in our homes, or hang
from our rear view mirrors. But what if, instead of being a
decoration or accessory, the cross motivated and shaped the
way we lived every single day? What if it wasn't about hiding
or minimizing our sin, but actually crucifying it in order
to move forward in the freedom Christ offers in, "Born
Crucified," by L.E. Maxwell. You'll discover what it truly
means to live a cross centered life. This short yet powerful
book is a classic for every Christian's library, reminding
us that the cross isn't just a symbol? It's the key to victory
over sin and the power to serve God effectively. If you're ready
to experience the freedom and purpose found in a life centered
on the cross, this book is for you. "Born crucified" 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, I don't know about you, but stumbling is never good
if you're walking down a path. Are you on a hike? Are you
trying to make your way through a room that you're not familiar
with and you stumble over something? Listen, usually
stumbling doesn't turn out ever to be a good thing. Listen, God
does not want you to stumble over Christ. He doesn't want you
to trip over Him. He wants you to know Him. And I got to tell
you right now, straight up everybody. Do you have thick
skin? Because you're going to need some thick skin and an
honest heart. An open heart. Because today's message is to
the point. It might even sting. It might even burn. Don't trip
over it. Learn from it. I'm not going to make apologies for the
Bible, because the Bible doesn't have to have any apologies made
for it. It is God's truth. And you might say, "Jack, can you go
a little easy on us right now?" I cannot do that right now when
the Bible is crystal clear and direct, I must do the same. So
yes, we're in Romans chapter 9, but by way of Romans chapter 9,
I want to point out a couple of scriptures to you. Jesus said in
Matthew's gospel, "come to me, all you who are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest." And number two, Jesus speaks to us
regarding His comfort for us. Why? Because you're going to
need His comfort in just a moment. So grab your Bibles to
get to Romans 9. I'm going to ask you to turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 6, verses 9 through 11 and hang on. Here we go.
MUSIC
JACK: Paul is speaking to the Greeks at Corinth, and He says,
"do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the
kingdom of God?" He says, "there's a lot of people who are
not going to go to heaven. They're called the unrighteous.
They're not going to make it so don't be deceived." No
fornicators. You know what a fornicator is? A fornicator is a
person who's not married, who's having sex with somebody who's
not married, or they're having sex with someone that is
married, which makes them both a fornicator and an adulterer.
When two married people are committing adultery, it is
adultery. Funny enough, it's not fornication, it is pure
adultery. But when someone is single, having sex with somebody
that they're not married to, it is called fornication. That word
fornication is the Greek word porneia recognize that word?
It's the root word to our word pornography. Idolaters. Idol
worshipers. Simply put, pleasure seekers. Next, adulterers. Next,
homosexuals. Next, sodomites. Next, thieves, covetousness,
drunkards, revilers. Man that all that describes our era. But
now revilers you can catch on the evening news almost
constantly now extortioners people using other people to get
rich. They'll destroy other people's lives and walk away
with their wealth, and they can go to sleep at night. Wow. They
will not inherit the kingdom of God. They're not going. But
thank God for verse 11, because I don't know about you, but I
could point to several of those things over there and say, that
was Jack in 1977. Can you? Has your life changed? Rephrase. Did
He change your life? Verse 11 is pure joy and liberty, "And such
were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified,
but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. And by
the Spirit of our God." And all God's people said, "Amen" to
that. If you look at that and say, "I can't believe I heard
that I'm never coming back here again." You're nothing more than
someone who is stumbling over the truth, like Israel did 2000
years ago when Jesus presented Himself as Messiah. Your your
arrogance and your self-righteousness and your
passion to justify yourself is causing you to miss the truth.
And that is a fatal decision. No one's pointing at you here right
now. God loves you and He's telling you the truth. And He
wants you to have a new life. And you'll either say this
watch. You'll either say, "I'm going to reform myself by by
taking a morality course and a lifestyle change." Which will
never work. Or you're going to say, "I can't change. I see
what's true. I'm going to come to Him in full surrender because
I can't do this." And that's when He moves in. To stumble
over His offer is to say, "I don't need this and I don't need
Him. It's my life and He's going to have to deal with it." My
friend, you are stumbling over Christ. Don't do that. We see
this in the third argument of this verse is that, what do you
know for sure? It says there in scripture, "even the
righteousness of faith." How in the world is this possible? By
faith you can know that you're righteous? Yes I know. Look, I
understand people get upset when you when you claim to know
something for sure. You know, we live in a world. It's illogic
when you when you say, "I don't need Jesus, I'm good enough." Do
you understand that you wake up to the pursuit, "i'm going to do
this on my own." You can't because you start tainted. The
moment you get into the blocks to run, you don't have any shoes
on. "I'm going to start running from now on really, really
good." Impossible. You showed up really, really bad. "But I got
the uniform." Doesn't matter. Are you hearing me? That's us.
That's humanity. And when you hear this, you either stumble
over it and die. Or you fall upon this truth and you say,
"Lord, have mercy upon me." And He changes your life. We've all
heard of Saul of Tarsus. You know him as Paul the Apostle,
Greatest convert to Christianity to date. Look at Philippians
chapter 3. Philippians 3. Listen to him talk to us about morality
versus faith in Christ. "Though I also might have confidence in
the flesh," because people were bragging about how great they
were. Paul says, "all right, let's just do this. I might have
confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have
confidence in the flesh, I more so." He's rolling up his
sleeves, "you want a piece of me?" He's rolling up his sleeves
and he's saying, "you want to talk about righteousness
according to human effort. I'll take you on. If anyone thinks he
may have confidence in the flesh, I more so circumcised the
eighth day," that was prescribed by Moses. Did you know that from
God? Circumcised the eighth day. Right now Paul would say, "all
right, let's start here. What day were you circumcised on?"
"Oh, man. My parents, they had a donkey layover. The camel broke
down. I got circumcised on the 10th day or the ninth day. I
almost got circumcised on the eighth day." Paul says. "(blows
tongue) You miss of the stock of Israel. I know my pedigree."
Wow. "Of the tribe of Benjamin." I'm right in line. That's where
all the big wheels came out of. "A Hebrew of the Hebrews.
Concerning the law of Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the
church. I killed people. I killed people who said they were
Christians. I hunted them down. And I even got so elevated, I
oversaw the killing of other Christians. That's how zealous I
was for the truth. We're going to eradicate the world from
these crazy Christians who follow this Christ man." Did you
know that? Anybody remember Stephen getting stoned to death?
Who was the boss of the stoning? You're looking at him. He hated
Jesus. "Concerning righteousness, which is in the
law, blameless. But what things were gain to me? These I've
counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things
lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and
count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in
Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the
law," which is impossible, "but that which is through faith in
Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." By faith,
Israel had the truth, but they desired, they changed it. It was
always by faith. But the Jewish leadership said, "we're going to
pursue it by works of righteousness," and legalism was
appealing to them. It's brutal and it will slay you
spiritually. Second thing is this what do you say about the
gospel verses 31 to 32? What do you say about it? Very quickly.
This won't take long. Verses 31 to 32. Can you recognize it?
"Repent and believe." Believe. Simply put, put all your weight
on Jesus. See, right now, without Jesus, you're carrying
your own weight. Listen, according to the scriptures. You
and I are spiritually dead. You know how hard it is to carry a
dead man. How is it that somebody who weighs 200 pounds
living feels like they weigh 350 pounds when they're dead? Isn't
that weird? Their weight doesn't change. You and I. Without
Jesus, you know why life is so brutal and you're so tired?
You've been carrying a dead man around all these years. You. And
you're trying to prop yourself up. Parties, drugs, fun, money,
whatever, I don't know. It doesn't matter. The response to
emptiness is endless. But aren't you tired? Now see, young people
today. Young people are going, "Oh, man. Leave me alone. I'm
just getting started on that whole thing." Oh, can we spare
you some grief? We could. We could actually save your life if
you'd listen. Nothing this world has given you and I we're taken
into heaven. Nothing. "Well, pastor, I just won the lottery.
I just won $500 million dollars." And what are you going
to do with it? Are you going to wind up, like, 75.6% of the
people who win lotteries? Broke in ten years on drugs, divorced.
Completely messed up. Why? Because it's not the answer.
He's the answer. That money's not going to hold you. That
money's not going to cuddle you and calm you and give you peace
in the midst of a storm. But Jesus will. Jesus does. That's
what the gospel does. Recognize that. Secondly, will you respond
to it? In Romans 9 verse 32, the Bible says, "why? Why? Because
they did not seek it by faith, as it were, but the works of the
law, that they stumbled at the stumbling stone." The the answer
to what he's saying is in verse 31 when it says, "But Israel,
pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained
to the law of righteousness." Then when he says, "why?" At the
end there at verse 32. It's because they pursued
righteousness by trying to keep the law, not by faith. In other
words, to pursue it by faith is to lean on Jesus's
righteousness. To do it by works is to lean on your own. And so
will you respond to this gospel of His? Now this gets fun to me,
I love. Here we are reading the New Testament, but I just I just
love how this church goes. People will often say when they
come here is, "I just I get so much Old Testament with the New
Testament." Well, there is no other testament. It's the old
and the new. There's not another. There's not a third.
The old is what announces is coming. And the new records,
what has come and what has come is exactly what the old said
would. No contradiction. Beautiful harmony. Are you guys
ready? We're almost done. Are you ready? All five of you are
ready. So watch this. Almost 3000 years ago. Isaiah chapter
28, verse 16, "Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, I lay
in," what? Zion. God says, "I lay in Zion a stone for a
foundation, a tried stone," which means it's been tested,
proven, and found to be true, "a precious cornerstone, a sure
foundation. Whoever believes will not act hastil," or the
word is will not be anxious. Isn't that an amazing verse?
Almost 3000 years old. God is saying, "I am going to
establish," this is a prophetic verse. Hey, how about this? It's
not been fulfilled yet. It started with Jesus's first
coming. Where's Jesus returning to?Jerusalem. Where's the throne
of David? Jerusalem. Powerful. You guys might remember when
there was a warrant, as it were, out for the arrest of the
apostles. Because Jesus had ascended back to heaven, Holy
spirit came down on the day of Pentecost. They were filled with
the power of God, and they're out preaching the gospel. And
they really shaken it up. They're preaching the gospel.
Thousands of people are getting saved. Eyes of the blind are
opening up. I mean, they're doing it. They're doing it. Look
at Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. Now, as they spoke to the
people. So this is, think of the apostles. They're all in
trouble. They're all in trouble for being just like Jesus.
That's what they're in trouble for. "Now, as they spoke to the
people, the priests, and the captain of the temple and the
Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they had
taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from
the dead." "Hey, you can't say that." Can you imagine, "Jesus
Christ, He rose again from the dead. And He'll raise you from
the dead, too." "Don't say that." Why would- why would we
not say that? "Because we don't want you to say it. We know His
tomb is empty. We know He's gone. But don't say it." This is
one religious group beaten up on people who had experienced the
personal risen savior. You remember that now? "This doesn't
meet our standard. We're, we're- We have a tradition." Whatever.
We're going to follow Jesus. "And they laid hands," verse 3,
"and they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the
next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those
who heard the Word believed, and the number of the men," this is
male men, not men, males, not mail men but, that's not
mankind. Mankind. It's males. This doesn't include women and
children, "and the number of the men came to be about five
thousand." Can you imagine one sermon and you have a
megachurch? (Claps). "And it came to pass on the next day
that their rulers and elders and scribes," all of the religious
hierarchy, "as well as Aeneas, the high priest, and Caiaphas,
John and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the
high priest were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when
they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by
what name have you done this?" You know what they did? They had
prayed for a man, and the man got his legs back. Power and to
walk again. Only legalism would be upset at that. "Hey, we're
not in on that. How dare you give somebody the ability to use
their legs again? You should have checked with us first." Is
that funny or what? And so verse 7, "and when they had set them
in the midst, they asked by what power and by what name then
Peter," verse 8, "filled with the Holy Spirit," the old Peter
is gone. Now this is a new one. "Said to them, rulers of the
people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a
good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been
made, well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people
of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom
you crucified," you can see him insert that, "who you crucified,
whom raised, who God raised from the dead by Him, this man stands
here before you whole." This is the- notice, notice what the
Holy spirit. This is awesome. Just act like you're impressed
by this. When the Holy Spirit. Not yet. Timing. Timing is
everything. Peter, who's just like you and I. The difference,
right? The difference in Peter's life is now he's full of the
Holy Spirit. So what does that mean? It means the Holy Spirit
is speaking Bible right out of his mouth. Are you watching
this? Watch what happens. Peter's mouth might be moving,
but it's the Spirit of God just delivering the Word. Watch what
happens. It's so cool. "This is the stone which was rejected by
you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone." He's
quoting Isaiah. Why? Because the Holy Spirit wrote Isaiah. "Nor
is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Now when they
saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they
were uneducated," that they had gone to- no, I'm not going to
say I was going to say Yale, MIT, Harvard, UCLA, USC, "and
untrained men," they are Galileans, "they marveled." I
love this next part, "And they realized they had been with
Jesus." Yeah. How did these country bumpkins have this kind
of power? Oh, wait, they were friends of Jesus.
Man, I hope that's said about us.
JACK: Well, listen, I pray that this message has opened your
eyes. I understand it could have been a little bit of a jolt or a
shock, but if it opens your eyes and you're alert, then you won't
be stumbling over Christ, will you? You'll be trusting Him.
You'll be running to Him for hope and to be friends of
Christ, as it were. Jesus said, "I want you to be my friend." He
said, "I call you friend," but how does that happen? Well, the
first Word of the gospel you rarely ever even hear in church
today, and that is repent. Turn from your sins and believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're talking about choices, friends.
God didn't make us to be robotic. He made you and I to
exercise our love freely. That's the way love is designed. It's
got to be freely given. And listen. You also have been
designed to have emotions that even include hate. You know,
there's some people who hate God, and when you ask them why,
they can't really give you the good answer as to why that's the
case. But listen, it's the way that things are. The choice is
yours. You're free to love God and you're free to hate God.
What a horrible, terrifying responsibility. But if you
choose God, then the joyous truth of all that is that God
knew that you were going to say yes to Him before the world ever
began, and yet He will not bend your arm for you to make that
decision. It's got to be by love. It's got to be by a
willful decision. By the way, those who wind up in heaven can
only give God all the thanks for for providing the way of
salvation for those who wind up in hell. They're responsible for
their choice of rejecting Him. Wow. So listen, friends, as
always, I pray that you're getting a lot out of these
messages. We'd love to hear from you. Just give us a thumbs up or
write us a note. Let us know that we're making an impact in
your life, and you can connect with us at jackhibbs.com or at
any one of our social media sites such
as Facebook, Instagram, so many more.
So listen. Until next time. God bless you.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching Real Life, with Jack Hibbs.
ANNOUNCER: The cross. For many, it's become little more than a
symbol we wear around our necks, display in our homes, or hang
from our rear view mirrors. But what if instead of being a
decoration or accessory, the cross motivated and shaped the
way we lived every single day? What if it wasn't about hiding
or minimizing our sin, but actually crucifying it in order
to move forward in the freedom Christ offers? In, "Born
Crucified" by L.E. Maxwell, you'll discover what it truly
means to live a cross centered life. This short yet powerful
book is a classic for every Christian's library, reminding
us that the cross isn't just a symbol, it's the key to victory
over sin and the power to serve God effectively. If you're ready
to experience the freedom and purpose found in a life centered
on the cross, this book is for you. "Born Crucified," 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.
JACK: Well friends, listen up. We are living in remarkable
moments, remarkable times, and you literally need the Real Life
network to be able to be available to you, in an instant.
In fact, we have just been meeting on how we can reach you
live 24/7, 365 in the event of an emergency. In the event of a
crisis, in the event of war in the Middle East, or in the
United States. How can you connect with us and get
biblically based honest news in light of what's going on in the
world around you? Reallifenetwork.com. We cannot
be canceled, and for this reason now we see the clarity of why
God brought us to do this channel in the first place.
Reallifenetwork.com. Sign up, subscribe, get ready because we
will come to you even if we're in our pajamas in the middle of
the night. We will literally be broadcasting the truth to you.
ANNOUNCER: Jack Hibbs truly believes we are living in some
of the most exciting days in history, which brings some great
opportunities to share with the world, a powerful, no nonsense
presentation of the gospel to this generation who are
searching for answers and truth. Will you stand with us in
sharing this message in real and practical ways? We ask that you
commit to support Real Life and the teachings of Jack Hibbs with
a gift of your choosing. Simply go to jackhibbs.com and there
you can simply follow the instructions of how to give a
one time gift or a recurring gift. If you would prefer to
call, our toll free number is 877-777-2346. Again that's
877-777-2346. And of course you can write us, our address is
Real Life with Jack Hibbs, Box 1273, Chino Hills, California
91709. Your gift will be faithfully put
to work, because it's our desire that through
Jesus Christ, you will know Real Life.
ANNOUNCER: The preceding program was sponsored by generous
friends and partners of Real Life.