Today on Real Life Radio, you are an object of God's attention and love. You are an object of His kindness and grace. You, whoever you are, whoever you are individually, He has not, He has absolutely picked you out to shower you with His grace. 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. One nation, born in liberty, rooted in faith, sustained by providence. That's the American story. A new documentary film from Pastor Jack Hibs and historian Tim Barton, filmed at the very places where it happened.
Pre-order today ahead of its Thanksgiving Day release, and receive a free Thanksgiving Kids Guide with your gift to Real Life. Visit jackhibbs.com or call eight seven seven seven seven seven two three four six to pre-order yours now. Once again, that website jackhibbs.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues in his series called "The Book of Ephesians" and his message titled "From Death to Life, 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 in this passage, Paul reminds us of two of the most powerful words in all of Scripture: "But God." You see, we were once dead in sin, hopeless, and far from God. But he who is rich in mercy and great in love, reached down to give us new life. That is grace that we could never earn or we ever deserved.
So today, Pastor Jack reminds us of the incredible grace the Lord has for His people. He didn't wait for us to become worthy of His forgiveness. Instead, we have a place with Him because through Him, our salvation is complete.
Now, with His message called "From Death to Life," Part Two. Here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. When we were not even asking for forgiveness, Christ died for us. That alone is one of the most incredible thoughts. That while we were so far from Him, He died for us.
Amazing! He forgives. He's gracious. He's so gentle. In John five twenty four, the scripture says, "Jesus says, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who has sent me has past tense everlasting life.'" First John three fourteen says, "We know that we have passed from death to life.
Do you? Because we love." The brethren, do you? Do I? You want to be with them, help them, serve them, do for them. It's a mark of a believer.
Holy Spirit does that kind of work. How can that? How can that be? How can that happen? Because God's gracious in our lives.
He's forgiven us. He's been gentle, kind, and so the Lord works it out in us. Mankind tonight, by the way, is divided into two groups. And they're right here in this scripture. Those of us who are alive, been resurrected from the dead, and those who are still dead, the Bible says, in their sins.
And that's a tragic thing. God will forgive all sin, but He will not forgive the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ, the offer of salvation. He won't do it. There's no second chance after death. You know that.
He will not forgive the sin of rejecting Christ and somebody dying in that condition, rejecting Him. All manner of sin, Jesus said, shall be forgiven, except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Shall not be forgiven in this world, He said, or in the world to come.
So you don't want to die without receiving Christ first. He says here in verse six. Listen to this. Note this: that we're seated with Christ, and I warn you about how I view this verse up front.
Now, my view of this is a little different. Verse six, he says, he's raised us up together. First of all, together means Jew and Gentile alike.
So you're going to want to mark that down. That's kind of neat. He's raised us up together. Wait a minute. Did we need raising up?
Yeah, we did. We were dead. He's raised us up together and made us to sit together in the heavenlies, literally in Christ Jesus. What does it mean to be seated with Christ? Does it mean you walk in and you take a seat that's been arranged for you?
No, it doesn't mean that. Does it mean that you're dragged in and put on a seat by force? Doesn't mean that. This is what it means. First of all, to be seated with Christ, it means to be placed on a seat.
By invitation. That's something that the Holy Spirit does. But note this: He's raised us up. That's from the world, from our death, what we were born into. Secondly, He sat us down.
That's being at rest. We're sitting down now. People, listen to this: Jesus is sitting down in heaven. We're running around trying to catch up. We shouldn't be.
Jesus is sitting down in heaven. His work is done. We're supposed to be sitting with him. And here's the part I warn you about. I don't see myself sitting next to him.
I've read commentaries, lots of them. It will tell you that we're seated on thrones. I have no problem with that. It's theologically correct, as Christ is. That's what it means that we're sitting with him.
That's okay.
Okay, that's fine. That's fine. I don't. You know what? When I read about mercy, when I read about all this stuff, and I read about what He's done for me, I'm going to get off my seat, and I'm going to go over there and jump on His lap, and that's where I see myself.
When I when I see Jesus seated in the heavens, I see this kid sitting on His lap, because there's no other place. I'd rather be. Yeah, this this is the way it ought to be. You know, I've been trying to lose weight and been exercising and go to this health club, and it's really fun. You know, the mirrors everywhere, right?
They got these mirrors. It's really great. I think they're kind of like twisted mirrors, make you look a little bit bigger. It's like in the weight room part, they make it look bigger so you look more buffy, you know. But in the other part, they bend the mirrors so that you look thinner, so you keep coming back.
I don't know what the deal is. It's kind of weird. But you know, people are in there and they're like, looking. It's really funny. But you know, you can't.
And it's guys. You know what I'm talking about? It's kind of this weird thing. You know, guys get into a health club or even on like a football field or a baseball diamond. There's this this this thing.
That's inside of us. It's really sick. Where it's like I'm a guy, and you see guys who are really prone to this stuff, and they're like chest sticking out, you know, and they kind of walk a little different. They don't walk like that at the store. You see them at Alpha Beta.
They don't walk like that, but in the spa, you know, they're like, and it's like. This is great. This is just something, and it's really funny because you know, men, we're men, and here I'm thinking, you know, we're sitting there with, and you know, working out or whatever, you know, and and there's some, there's always some animal in there. He's got veins and muscles coming out of his ears, and it's like, meh, look at that guy, and I'm thinking. Paul said in First Timothy four somewhere that physical exercise profits a little, but godly exercise is you know where it's at.
I'm gonna have a shirt made up by the way that says that and walk in there. You know, and it's funny because you know you're looking around. It's like you got kind of like. What time is it? Santa Claus.
It's kind of weird. It's weird for me because I'm sitting there, I'm standing there, whatever I'm doing there, and I'm thinking, you know, I'm sitting on the lap of Jesus Christ right now. I'm in this knucklehead place, and but I'm seated in God's lap at this minute. It's kind of a weird thing. Don't you feel like sometimes you're like a secret agent from heaven, like that?
They don't even have a clue that you're seated in the heavens. Wow, that's a mind blower to me. I like that. I think we're sitting right on His lap in the heavens, and this is a positional thing. You understand that?
Of course, we're sitting here talking right now, but according to God, we're in there. Am I going to make it? You're asking me. I know not even to ask you if you're going to make it. Have you put your trust in Christ?
Yes, you're going to make it. Can I be sure? Ask Him. Look at His Word. The Scripture says, "If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things." Isn't that incredible?
Verse. Are you trusting in Jesus? Yes, you're going to make it. You're gonna make it. Amazing thing.
We could go on all night about this. We won't. But it's such a precious thing. Another thing we want to realize in verse six is that there's special recognition given both here and now. The believer is positioned with Jesus in heaven.
Yes, at rest, absolutely. But also, the believer shares in the finished work of Christ because he is officially now at rest. We are at Bible study tonight to strengthen our faith, show us how to walk, so we can go back out into the world and be effective people. Why? Because it's all been done.
We are so saved and so secure in Christ that we're in here right now doing our workout, so we can go out there and be strong in front of a world that needs what we've got. But the the believer has a special place, both here and now, here and of course there in heaven as well. He, that is Jesus, sat down. He sits now, and he is seated. And I love that.
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.
You know, there's only one time when God gets up from His throne when He is not seated, and it's found in Acts chapter seven. There's only one place, and that's when a believer dies. Did you know that? When a believer dies, Jesus gets off the throne. Stephen was preaching the gospel, and they start throwing rocks at him, and he's about ready to die, and he looks up and he sees Jesus up off his throne, looking over, maybe over a cloud.
And I, again, I'm sorry for this. If this offends you. But I, Stephen says, "Behold, I see the son, one like the son of man, standing at the right hand of the glory of God, and he's making this verbal announcement about what he's seeing." And they kill him. And he and he says to them, "Remember, you know, Lord, forgive them." And he, Jesus, gets up off the throne for one thing, and that is to receive you into the kingdom. Come on, Stephen.
You come on up here. Come on up here. Puts him on his lap, sets him down. How you doing? It's the only time you see Jesus standing up after he's in heaven is to greet somebody who's dying.
In this case, of course, it's Stephen. I like that. I don't want to talk to Peter. I don't want to know Peter guarding. Who's going to let me know Peter guarding the gates?
You ever heard about the thing, Peter? You know Peter. Forget that. I want. I'm going to be crying out to Jesus, man.
Jesus, yes, come on up. You see Peter or somebody else? I don't want to see those guys. I want to see Jesus' face. I'm get nervous.
See somebody else there, you know? Wait a minute. What is this? What deal is this? Verse seven.
We'll wrap this up. He says here, verse seven. And by the way, listen. I know some of you laughed when I said this is the greatest chapter in the Bible. You want to hear something?
I mean this. This is the greatest verse in the Bible. This is the greatest verse in the Bible. Watch this. That in the ages to come.
The word "ages" is eons. Eons, the successive running of eternity without end. There is nothing bigger. Forever, you know. Tonight, twenty-four hours from today, nine o'clock.
Tomorrow, twenty-four hours from now, we will have traveled over two million miles through space. Listen. Our solar system is spinning about. Our solar system is in a universe that's spinning around. You got the moon going around the Earth.
You got the Earth, right? The moon's going around the Earth. You got the Earth going around the Sun. You got the Sun spinning on its in its cluster. You've got clusters of clusters spinning around.
Take it all. Put it on the back of a flatbed truck. And drive it through the blackness of space, 24 hours from now, two million miles down the road, and God, and you still don't hit the end. And God says, "I measure that out in the span of my hand, from my pinky to my thumb. I measure the expanse of eternity that way.
Isn't that awesome? That's fun stuff to think about. Eons." Verse seven says that in the ages, the eons to come, for all successive eons, millions upon billions of years. Of course, they don't exist there, but forever running, never to end. That in the ages to come, He God might display the riches.
No. It's a superlative, exceeding riches of what of his grace. If mercy is not getting what you deserve, grace is getting so much, getting what you never never deserved. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. God's you're thinking you need a spanking.
God doesn't give you a spanking. He holds that back. Grace is you don't deserve this, Jack. But I am going to spend eternity showering you with my grace. Listen, I hope this blesses you as much as it blessed me.
You are an object of God's attention and love. You are an object of His kindness and grace. You, whoever you are. Whoever you are, individually, he has not. He has absolutely picked you out to shower you with his grace.
And you, I don't know, things aren't going that good for me. Just wait. You are not at home yet. He is going to bless. Watch this—the greatest verse in all the Bible.
How can that be true? That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Get a load of this. The reason why this is the greatest, greatest verse in the Bible is because number one, right here is the answer to so many questions people have. This is the reason why you have a free will to choose.
Verse seven. This is the reason why we worship, out of a true or willing heart. Verse seven. That in the ages to come, think if God knew in His mind that Adam and Eve were going to sin, He did know. You know.
Then why did He go through with the deal? Verse seven. He knew that they were going to sin before they were ever created. But God went through with the deal because He was looking at the end of the race. I'll go ahead; they're going to exercise their will to disobey me, and the fruit of that is going to be years of pain.
However, there will be an offering made for them. Those in the past will look toward Christ. Those in the future will look back at Christ. I'll make a redemption for them for their blunder. But I tell you what—that very blunder that pulled them down and destroyed their lives—I will resurrect them and redeem them so much.
I will save them so big, and be so much loving to them that in the ages of all eternity, successive running, I will show all the created universe my kindness and goodness toward them who believe in me.
Well, if God if God's loving, how can a six year old and an eight year old beat a four month old or four week old almost to death? He is sick over it. He hates it. That happened the other day because of man's deprivation. That is hell on earth.
And in God's wisdom, in the end, He'll make it right. You and I cannot fathom it ever being right. You and I cannot fathom God. I can't fathom being forgiven. You can't fathom God.
You've got to believe Him that you've been forgiven, and you are so important to Him. That you will receive all the attention for all eternity that God has to give. He's going to bless you. We're the object of His attention, and it's an amazing, amazing thing. Real quickly, we'll end.
Exceeding riches. This is a great word. Exceeding riches. The word is hooperbalo. Doesn't that sound like a great word?
Hooperbalo. Ballo must be something. Hooper Ballo must be real big something. That's a great word. The word means to go beyond all others, to surpass all before it, to excel past them all, to boldly go where no man has ever gone before.
It means beyond all that. Think about it. It's beyond it. Is that amazing? Gosh, man!
We leave here today thinking, I don't know what God thinks about me. Then you've been sleeping. His goodness will end here. You can close your Bibles if you want. The other last night it was last night.
It's about nine o'clock. Stepped outside. And I don't know where you were last night, about nine o'clock, but the sky was still a little twilight, just in the horizon, little, almost the most amazing color blue. And the temperature was probably about seventy-three, seventy-four. Did you feel it?
And just felt the air, the wind, the breeze was blowing. It was for me, it was perfect. It couldn't have gotten any better. It was just perfect. And.
I want you to think about this for a second. In fact, you can. Why don't you stand up? And you've been sitting for a long. Listen to this.
Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many mansions, and if it were not so, I would have told you. But I go now to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also." Okay. In First Corinthians, the Scripture says, "Paul says, 'I has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them who love Him.'" Last night, to me, last night was perfect.
Well, that's because there was not a war going on in my neighborhood. There wasn't a riot. We didn't have to flee for our lives. We weren't putting out fires. It was just right, but there is a place where we're going that is more than real, and it is beyond some night where the temperature is right and the stars are right, and it feels right.
No matter what this world can show us and produce for us, it's not it. I has not seen, neither has it entered into the heart of man. What God has prepared for them who love Him. Are you excited about this thing? I can't wait to get going.
Let's pray, Lord Jesus. We praise you for your incredible work. Oh God in heaven, we pray right now. We understand that when we pray, we actually enter into the spirit realm. That you're hearing right now, our prayer.
You see behind the scenes. You know behind our hearts' motive. You know all things, Father. I pray tonight for any of those who do not yet know this incredible joy that drives us, that they would come to know that. Father, I pray for your children, Lord, here tonight.
Us, maybe, who are struggling with things in our lives, Lord, and we've been hanging on to them unnecessarily.
So. When we realize how vast and awesome you are, how foolish we've been not to come and bring them to you. Whatever it is, Lord, your word declares that you're concerned about the little sparrow before he even hits the ground, and you've gone to that extreme to put that in your eternal words so we might believe that you care. Forgive us, Lord, for accusing you of not loving us. And not caring.
Thank you, Jesus, for all that was paid. Lord, if there be one in here tonight that just senses themselves to be an extra, super duper sinner, then Lord, may tomorrow we see them as an extra, super duper lover of God, because that's the way it ought to be. We thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio with his message called "From Death to Life Part Two." Thanks for being with 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 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.
