Today on Real Life Radio, God's predetermined desire was for me to become part of His family by adoption. Isn't that great? And it's true for you. Listen, He's not stuck with me. He's not stuck with you.
He's stuck on me. He's stuck on you. 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 Turick, 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 going to jackhibbs.com.
On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues now in his series called "The Book of Ephesians" and a message titled "We Have Been Chosen in Christ, Part Two." Ephesians is, of course, a letter the apostle Paul wrote from prison to the church in Ephesus, showing every believer who they really are in Christ. And here Paul reveals that long before we ever chose God, God in His love had already chosen us. You see, before the world was ever formed, God knew you, and He set His love upon you. That means that you're not an accident or an afterthought. You're chosen.
You're accepted, and you belong to Him.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches that grace means we are fully accepted in Christ, and nothing can change that. When we struggle or fall, God sees Jesus covering us, and heaven welcomes us because our sins have already been forgiven.
Now, with his message called "We Have Been Chosen in Christ," part two, here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibs. God's predetermined desire was for me to become part of His family by adoption. Isn't that great? And it's true for you. Listen, he's not stuck with me.
He's not stuck with you. He's stuck on me. He's stuck on you. That's why this doctrine, predestination, is so exciting. The very thought that you might think to come to God, God's already put it in you, so He gets all the credit.
He saves you. But the wonderful thing is, He's stuck on you. He doesn't go, "Oh no, oh no." That guy's raising his hand. Oh no, he's going back to the prayer room.
Somebody stop him! I don't want him. Gabriel, Michael, look in the book, see if he's predestined. No, he says, "I'm not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." If your hand goes up. You either don't understand anything at all about what's being preached on or taught on, or you understand enough for the Holy Spirit to put His face by your ear and say, "Raise your hand." You are under conviction.
You need Jesus as your Savior. Raise your hand, because this is reasonable, and you need to do that. It's like wow! I don't understand why I'm even doing this, but you know what? I need Christ in my life, and the Holy Spirit.
All your life has been preparing you for that moment, but it's your responsibility to choose. A lot of people don't like that, but it's biblical and it is true. You must respond. We're sons. There's a very touching scene in the Bible.
It only happens like this in one place. And in Luke chapter nine, there's a man that lost his son's life, and he was weeping over the death of his son. And he comes to Jesus, and he says, crying out, "Oh, you know, Lord, touch my son and and reach him." He says, "Teacher, I beg of you, look upon my son, for he is my only son." And then the Greek, it is. Teacher, Master, I beg of you, look upon my son. He is the son of me.
That's how it is in the Greek language, actually, son of me. And the only other place that happens in the Bible is on the Mount of Transfiguration in Mark chapter nine, when the cloud comes down and overshadows them, and a voice comes out of the cloud and says, "This is the son of me. Hear him." And I love that because, as much as Jesus Christ is the Son of God, listen, this is radical. By His sacrifice on the cross and purchasing us with the cost of His blood, we have been received in Him by the adoption as sons. And in our culture, that may not say much to you.
But in the Greek and Hebrew culture, in the Roman culture, in fact, Ben Hur, the movie, has something to do with this, where you can be a slave and be offered or given the opportunity of adoption by a Roman. Citizen, and that moment that you are adopted into the Roman citizens' family. Listen, your history—they annihilate your history, they erase it, they remove all things concerning your past. They put the family ring on you, they put the family robe, they give you a brand new name, they give you a brand new room. You have a whole new title, and just as though you had been in that family since day one.
And God does that same thing to us. When the Bible says Jesus is the Son of God, don't think in our mentality.
Well, you know, the Father's the big Kahuna, and then the little boy, well, he's just kind of like not in the Bible, not in the Hebrew mind, not in the Jewish mind, not in the Greek mind. When you say he's the Son of God, you're saying that he is God come in the flesh. Make no mistake about it. That's why the book of Luke portrays Jesus as the Son of Man, because he represents us. But also, the Gospel of John reveals Jesus Christ as the Son of God, God come in human form.
It's incredible. And look at this. It says that is, in love, having predestined us to the adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself. Look what it says. According to the good pleasure of his will.
And this is fantastic. God is good. Are you ready for that? I think it's Psalm seventy-one. I think.
Oh well, it's either Psalm seventy-three-one or Psalm seventy-one-three, where it says God's good. He's good. The Bible says he's good. Bible says he's light. Bible says he's love.
The Bible says he's holy. It's interesting to me that God's created light; He's given light, and He Himself is light. The Bible says that He's created love; that He's given love, and that He Himself is love. The Bible says that He's created holiness; He has given us holiness, and that He Himself is holy. I like that.
But listen, ask this question: You probably already have. If God is so good, why there's evil everywhere? Why is there evil everywhere around? Yes, it's true. There's war.
There's death. There's pain. There's sickness. The Bible teaches that God is the Creator and Sustainer. The Bible also said He is the Redeemer.
And when you mention Him as Redeemer, people, it presupposes something is lost. It means something's fallen. Why do we go to Pomona Valley Hospital and visit a baby that's not going to make it? And you hear a parent or somebody say, "How could God do this? God doesn't do this.
Why is there war? Why is there death? God did not predestine these things. Why are you sick, suffering? God did not predestine this.
He knew it was coming." Because he knew, based upon man's choice, these things would come into the world, and the Book of Romans tells us that there was no death in the world until sin entered the Garden of Eden. No death. Jesus said, we said it earlier tonight in John ten verse ten, that Satan has come to kill, rob, and destroy. He's the one responsible.
Well, why doesn't God do something about it? He is doing something about it, and that's where you and I have a hard time. We want God to come down just like a genie, now fix it. But God doesn't work on our time frame. He doesn't work on our time zone.
Are you going through pain? Are you? Did you have a rough life, or maybe a rough life is just about ready to be unfolded in front of you? And you're a Christian. Has God forsaken you?
No, the world is out to rip you off. Satan is out to destroy you, and the very nature of Adam and Eve being within us is working against us. The flesh is warring against the spirit, and God has done it all. He not only put Himself on the cross and died for the sins of the world, but He sent His Holy Spirit to live inside of the hearts of men for two thousand years, and it is His redemption. That brings it about, and I confess with you, it's not happening quick enough.
Look, I don't know if you're excited about Jesus's return tonight or not, but I'm excited. I need it bad. This place pretty much stinks. What is left in the world to get you excited? Oh man, let's get some.
Let's do it. Five minutes later. Why we do that? It's fleeting. It's passing.
God is redeeming. The book of Romans again says the whole nature travails, waiting for the redemption of the sons of God. That's us. And I'm sorry. You've probably heard this a hundred times.
But every time I see, you drive down Peyton and Chino Hills Parkway, and you see those—you either see a dead coyote on the road, a dead squirrel. I've seen a dead deer, saw a dead bobcat, and it's sad because Roman says the whole nature groans and travails until the son of men are redeemed. And that poor squirrel gets splattered, and he's going, "Oh man, these guys! When are they going to get redeemed?" That deer is trying to make that crossing, and oh no, no! Boom!
He's hit, and he's dying on the side of the road. Oh man, I'm groaning, waiting for these jerks to be redeemed. The nature that God has created is waiting for the sons of men to be redeemed. They're under the groaning travail of the fall. That's why he's called the Redeemer, because something's fallen.
This world is to blame. Satan is to blame. He has good pleasure, and I like that. This is impossible for us to understand, but God has eternal purposes in mind when He deals with us regarding everything that happens in our lives. God has an eternal purpose in mind, but you and I want it fixed now, and He's got something better in store.
And we won't believe Him, but we better believe Him. 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 third and final point is this: the believer has a glorious acceptance in verse six, and we'll be done. It says here, "To the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he has made us accepted in the beloved." First thing I want you to see. Is that it's to the praise of the glory of His grace? Grace, this fantastic word—you know what it means.
It means to give something that you don't deserve. But grace produces the truest form of praise. That's what he's saying here, verse six. Look at this. It says, "To the praise of the glory of His grace." What does this mean?
It means that the grace that God puts in your life, or He wants to put in your life, should generate this interesting word used for praise. It is the Greek word "aphinos," and it means laudation. Or laud to laud him, or laudation to speak forth to him in a spontaneous outburst. It's a spontaneity of love. You ever been doing something, driving, thinking, whatever?
And you, for me, it's like a nature thing. I'll see a cloud and the sun's behind it, and it's like awesome. And and it's like, man, God, you're good. It's just for a moment. That's the word that's meant here.
That grace is so affecting your life that there's times when you just shoot a hot one right up to God. I love you. This is great. And then you get it's spontaneous, which I think is the most truest form of worship. I know we come in here and we, okay, raise your hand, lift your hand, and we should do that.
By the way, we're out. We're offering sacrifices of praise most of the time. Especially first service. Although first service, did you know this? First service on Sunday mornings, those guys clap the loudest, and they sing the loudest.
Second service, they sound louder because there's a zillion of them. Third service, it's like we made it. You know.
Now don't don't tell third service I said that, but a lot not everybody a lot of people are just oh man I can't believe we even didn't even plan on coming today but we made it to third and wonder what time he's going to be over has he started yet you know it's kind of funny I don't think it's funny but. Praise spontaneous. Praise the Lord, man. It's great; just flows out. It's what happens in Psalm eight, verse three, when the Scripture says, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your hands, and the moon and the stars that you've ordained." That's what the psalmist is doing.
He's wiggin' out. He's freaking out on God. It's the truest form of praise. Also, this it says. By which he has made us accepted in the beloved.
That's what grace does. Grace enables us. You guys, do you feel accepted? If you don't, you don't know anything about grace. Are you struggling with being accepted by God?
You think he's accepted you? No, then you don't know anything about God's grace. You need to master that in your heart.
Now, the funny thing is, you're probably truly, totally accepted in the beloved and born again, like all get up. But the point is, you have not enjoyed His grace, and you need to realize, man, He just wants to bless me because I'm His kid. I know you guys don't do this in your home. You would never do this in your home. But in our insanity, sometimes we'll we'll be all set to do something, and we're getting ready to go down to the beach or go somewhere to do something.
It's a big deal. We've been talking about it for days, and here we go. And one of the kids act up, right? And you got the car, and the car's already loaded. You even got their lunch in there.
You got their clothes in there, and Now, if you don't shape up, you're not going. Look, it's like right. You know, at the last minute, you're going away for two weeks, and that's it. You're not going to go. You can stay at your aunt's house, but you know, without consulting the aunt, I don't know if that's a good idea.
But the funny thing is, is you. We respond that way. We all do that.
Well, because of disobedience or because we act up, God doesn't say, "That's it, get out, get out." You're not going. He doesn't do that. We may break fellowship with him in communication. He won't talk. First John one nine.
Isaiah fifty nine one and two. That's what it's all about. He he won't talk to us when we're being disobedient. He's still in our hearts, where our names are still written down in heaven. He still loves us.
Doesn't change anything. You still love your child when they're disobedient. You may not like them, but you love them. The beautiful thing is we are accepted in Christ because of the grace that has enabled us to be in Him. This word accepted, and we'll wrap this up quickly.
I promise. The word accepted here means to be endued with grace, to be highly favored, to to receive special unearned honor. Isn't that neat? I just wrote down in my notes preparing this. He's with me.
That's what's going to happen in heaven. I'm going to be up there. My knees are going to be shaking. Oh, what's going on? Approach the throne, and Jesus gonna say, "It's okay.
He's with me." Oh man! Remember, it's not what you know. It's who you know. I'm with him. The father leans over.
Can you recite Isaiah 59? Quote to me the book of Hezekiah, you know, and me, I'd start looking for it. No, Jesus say He's with me. Wow, grace. Colossians three three.
Colossians three three says, "For you died, and your life is hidden in Christ in God." Isn't that great? Oh man, when you go to Russia, you buy those little Matryoshka dolls. Everybody's been bought these things. I mean, they're you know the little things, little dolls, and they're really great. And then you open them up, and they keep opening up, right?
The little one, the little, little, much smaller, smaller, smaller.
Well, you take that thing and you put them in there, and you seal them up. And if you didn't know what that thing was, you would say, "That's the only doll there is." Until you start taking them apart, and there's one inside another inside another matriska doll. And that's how we are. We're in Christ. God looks at that matruska, and it's Jesus, and inside that matruska is us.
But that's all that the Father sees is Jesus. That's why grace is bountifully deposited into your account. Start seeing yourself hidden in Christ. There's a day coming, people. And hopefully it's tonight when we will be released from this struggle of sin in this body that's in our fighting amongst ourselves here.
Grace has made us accepted. Listen, I want to leave you with this story I read today. This is so neat. This is beautiful. During World War II, young women from Wales.
The country of Wales, beautiful place. Applied for United States passports. They were fearing the war, fearing invasion. Many of the young men that they loved and would have married gone off to war. And Wales being a small country, they had suffered great losses, and the women were scared, young women.
So they made application for U.S. passports, and they were denied. Their hearts were broken. Then they attempted to stow away in a freighter that was heading back to the United States across the Atlantic. And they stowed themselves away in lifeboats.
And when they got to New York, they were discovered by the U.S. Customs officials. They sent them back to Wales, and the women were devastated and hurt severely. But at the close of World War II, thousands of U.S.
soldiers visited the area of Wales, and they fell in love with young girls, and they married them. And it said that there were ceremonies held almost every weekend, multiple ceremonies throughout the churches in Wales, because U.S.
soldiers were marrying these women, these young women from Wales. Falling in love. It was so prevalent that when the United States heard about it, I can't believe this is great story. The United States sent medical ships laden with medical supplies, clothing, shoes, for the new brides of these U.S.
soldiers, to make them prepared for their new arrival into America. Once they were rejected, the brides were now accepted because of their newlywed husband who had American U.S. citizenship. All that the custom agents had to see was that she belonged to him. She was clothed.
She was put shoes on her. She was made up, and the U.S. even sent ships to Wales to make sure that they were physically okay. Because why she had taken a U.S. husband, and in coming back, that story went on to say that when that particular ship returned, the U.S.O.
and the officers' club and all these groups and the Salvation Army rolled out red carpets as these ladies were coming off with their new husbands, and they couldn't believe it. How is this possible? They were accepted in their beloved, and that's exactly how we are in Christ. He's clothing us. He's getting us ready.
He's putting shoes on our feet, and he's going to get us in. We're with him. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio, and his message called "We Have Been Chosen in Christ, Part Two." Thanks for joining us today. You know this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called "The Book of Ephesians," a series through Paul's letter to the Ephesians, discovering the riches, the walk, and the warfare 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.
