Today on Real Life Radio. Listen, people, we are saved by God's grace, and that alone. We are not saved by works, by being good enough. You are not even saved by faith. Doesn't that sound strange?
I thought we were. No, you're not. If you were saved by faith, then salvation would be of 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. 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 with his series now called the Book of Ephesians, and a message titled "Master Moses Meet Father Abraham Part One." Ephesians is, of course, a letter the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, showing every believer who they really are in Christ.
And here, Paul reminds us that we're saved by grace, and there's nothing we could ever do to earn it. You see, so many of us wear ourselves out trying to work our way to God. But grace is God's unearned favor, freely given. It's a gift we simply can't buy, and we never could repay.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches that when we live a life of sin and we come home broken and unworthy, the Lord wraps us up in His grace and His love and comfort we never expected.
Now, with his message called "Master Moses Meet Father Abraham Part One." Here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibs. How are you going to get to heaven? What's your plan? Is your answer, well, you know what? I'm going to follow the Lord the best I can and be the best I can.
You're missing it.
Well, you know what? I'll attend church more often. You're missing it.
If you are assigning anything to your salvation outside. The grace of God that comes through Jesus Christ to save you—you're missing it. And what you and I might be stapling onto that grace is in the front, and is an abomination to God's work. Very serious. It says right here in verse eight.
It says that for by grace, for by grace. You have been saved. In your Bible, you should underline the words "have been saved." It appears not only in the English but in the Greek as a past tense. It's a done deal—something that happened in the past. Isn't that amazing?
Something that's done. And so, what are we saved from? And I want to methodically go through this.
So try to stay awake, but you'll be stronger for it. What are we saved from?
Well, from hell, for one thing. That's true. From a life of aimlessness and and emptiness, that's true too. But what are we saved from? We're saved from ultimately and really originally from the demands and from the grip of sin.
Listen to this. The purpose of the law. Why did God give the law? The purpose of the law was twofold. Number one, to establish before mankind God's righteousness and holiness.
This is God's perfect standard. The giving of the law. Moses knew all about that, and so did the children of Israel. But the other function was to announce what standard God would accept into His presence. The law.
Revealed God's holiness, and also it declared what God would allow into His presence. You will not make it into the presence of God. Listen carefully, unless you are absolutely perfect, you're not going to make it. None of us will stand before God unless we're perfect. And I don't know how many times you were reminded today.
Maybe as many as I was reminded today that we're not perfect. We got a problem here. God gave the law to intensify sin, to expose sin. Paul says in Romans chapter seven, "I was alive once without the law, and then somebody came up and read me the Ten Commandments, and it killed me." And I, you know what? I I love one of the greatest tools in evangelism is the Ten Commandments.
If you share the Lord with somebody and they're already brokenhearted, forget the Ten Commandments. You don't need it. But how many people have you and I run into, and you say, "Brother, you need Jesus Christ." I'm doing pretty good myself. Hey, listen. Whenever you hear that, you just go for the law.
Well, really, that's pretty good. Let's go over here. Exodus twenty. Let's go down the Ten Commandments.
Now, how you doing? It's great because they may not admit it verbally, but their eyes—watch their eyes—they'll go to and fro, left and right. Look like those little, you know, little dogs in the back of the car. The little heads go up and down. The eyes move.
Their eyes start moving. They get a little nervous. It get kind of warm in here. Jesus. Expounded on the spirit of the law.
Law says, "Don't covet your neighbor's wife." Oh, I haven't done that. I haven't committed adultery. Jesus. Well, you know, Jesus interprets the law because he gave it and he knows what it means. He says, "Don't even think about her.
Don't even think about him." Ooh. Usually, that gets most guys right there. The law was given to intensify sin, so that we would all be aware of who we really are. Listen to this. And First Corinthians fifteen fifty five, it says, "Oh death, where is your sting?
Oh hell, where is your victory?" The sting, by the way, in the scripture means a goad or poison or toxin. Oh death, where is your toxin and your poison?
Well, it says, "Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, hell, where is your victory?" Well, the Scripture says this, and the strength of the law, or of sin, is the law. Where's the victory of the grave? Where's the victory of hell? It is in the law, because the law exposes sin.
Once you realize you're a sinner, hell and death has got a power over you. But you don't need to stay there. You need to realize, my goodness, I'm a sinner, and you jump over to Jesus Christ. But until you do that, you're bound by the demand of sin. And so the Scripture says in Romans or First Corinthians, excuse me, that the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this. Jot it down. Galatians three twenty one. Says, is the law then against the promises of God?
Certainly not, for if there had been a law given which could have given life. Truly, righteousness would have been given by the law. That's a great statement, but the Scriptures has confined all of us under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. For before faith came, listen, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterwards be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor.
The word in the Greek is pedagogueus. It means a schoolmaster. He's got a schoolmaster. Think a little house on the prairie. This is what the law looks like.
He's got a school, a principal's outfit on, and he's got a ruler, and he's waiting to swat you the moment you step out of line. Schoolmaster. And the law just stands there waiting. And it points to the righteous path, yes. But the moment you step out of line, it thumps you.
It's our schoolmaster. He says, our tutor, to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under the demands of the tutor. Jesus said in John one seventeen, or the Scripture says in John one seventeen, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Isn't that great?
It's a beautiful thing.
Well, so we need to understand this as we go through this thing about grace. For by grace.
So what is grace? The Bible tells us that grace is God's unmerited favor.
Now that is the theological definition of grace. It is God's unearned favor.
So why do we go around trying to earn it? God says, "I want to give it to you." God wants to be good. He wants to give you His grace. You didn't earn it. You didn't ask for it.
He just gives it, and we are unworthy. That's what makes it so beautiful. In fact, God is so mean sometimes that when we deserve it the least, when we've been the worst. God goes, Gabriel, get a shovel. I'm gonna throw a humongous, Lord of Grace, right on that guy's head.
It's weird, and don't you feel like a real jerk when that happens? You come home, you know, you bite the dog, you kick the TV, you slam the door, you know, and then. Your wife's made you your favorite meal, and it's like, ah, brother, I don't deserve this. I can't believe it. And you get kind of bent out of shape because God's good.
We sang the song tonight. That God is good to me. He's so good. He gives us grace. You want to jot these down?
These are beautiful examples. And listen, don't worry if we don't get past these three words tonight. It's okay. It's okay. We're not on a race anywhere.
Listen to this, Luke chapter fifteen, the prodigal son, the parable of the prodigal son. Great story about grace. Says a certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me my portion of goods that falls to me." So he divided them. Of his livelihood, and not many days after, the younger son gathered all that he had and journeyed to a far country, Hollywood. Is probably where he went, and they wait, and he wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
But when he had spent it all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in need. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, isn't that great? When he came to himself.
He said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.' And here's the point of the parable that Jesus gave: I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired servants." And he arose and he came to his father. But when the father, but when he was still a great far off, the father saw him and had compassion on him and ran and fell on his neck.
Now this is the father running to the prodigal son and falling on his neck. Should have been the other way around. The prodigal son should have ran to the father and fallen on his neck. The father had compassion on him, and he said. And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I am no longer worthy to be called worthy to be called your son." But the father said to his servants, "Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and bring out a ring and put on his hand, and his sandals on his feet, and bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry.
For this, my son was what was it? Say, lost, away for a while. It says, dead." My son, who was dead and is now alive again, he was lost and now he's found. A life without grace is a dead life, and the whole story here is a life that is absolutely swallowed up by the grace of God. This father in the parable is a picture of the father in heaven.
It's God reaching out. Moses and the law told us how to reach God. You do this, this, this, this, this. You might be accepted. Abraham comes on the scene, and God says, "Won't you come with me?" God invites him to come.
God meets him, and have you come into that relationship with the Lord? Have you met Him?
Some of you in this room maybe have never met Jesus Christ, never known God like that.
Some of you in this room don't even know the Lord at all. What are you doing? How long will you sit and not decide? He is so loving. He is so good, and he's saying it's grace.
You come back.
Well, I've been. You know, I'm not even worthy to be called your son. Praise the Lord! Come on. He wants to bless you.
Wants to put a ring on your finger and sandals on your feet and a robe. How do you handle that? You know, maybe I can mow God's lawn for it.
Now, just take it. It's very uncomfortable. I understand 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. Second example, in a parable. Listen to this, Luke 18.
And Jesus spoke this parable, verse nine: Who trusted in themselves? He speaks it to those who trust in themselves. That's us.
So many of us. They trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. He says, two men went up into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other was an IRS agent. And the Pharisee stood and prayed, thus with himself, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers.
Listen, this is how the law talks, by the way, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector here. I fast twice a week. I give. A tenth of all that I possess, and the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as even raise his eyes up into heaven, but beat on his chest and said, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." Jesus said, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, but the other did not. Every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." That story, that parable, is about the grace of God.
Some of us fit into that category, one or the other. We are either like that tax collector, and we beat on our chest and say, "My God, forgive me," or we think, "You know what? God's pretty good, pretty well off. He's doing fine to have me on board." Can you imagine? Heaven's going to be a good place there.
When I get up there, it's going to be great. Everyone's going to be so happy to see me. Jesus says to those kind of people, "I never knew you. Depart from me, man. While we did all these great miracles, I never knew you, man.
That's a scary thought, isn't it?" Final example of God's grace, great example. Matthew chapter twenty, verse one. Jesus said, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning.
Now listen carefully, and hired laborers for his vineyard.
So five thirty in the morning, he hires all these guys.
Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent the men out into the vineyard.
So he goes, 'Listen, I'll pay you a denarius if you work all day today.'" Great, thanks. We'll do it. They go out and they work. Watch what happens. And he went out about and about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
It's just like Abraham in the valley of idleness and a fatness, a flabbiness, standing in the marketplace. They were idle, and he said to them, "You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right, I will give you." And so they went, and again the master of the field went out in the sixth hour, and then in the ninth hour, and did likewise. He's hiring people along the way as the day goes by. Obviously, he looks at the field and he's going, "Man, you know the sun's going down. They're not going to make it, so I'm going to hire some other guys to speed up the process." And so they're all out there working.
And it says that about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, "Why have you been standing here idle all day?" And they said to him, "Because no one hired us." And he said to them, "You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right." You will receive.
So when evening had come, and the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, "Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning from the last to the first." And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received the denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more because they worked all day, and they likewise received the denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner. And they said, "These last men have worked only an hour, and you made them equal to pay that what we've received." But he answered and said to them, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree to work for a denarius?
Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to the last, or I wish to give to the last man the same as I have given to you." Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish to do with the things that I have, or is your eye evil? Isn't that interesting? You worked all day, didn't you? Agree to get a denarius?
Yes, I did. This guy worked an hour and he got the same pay, a denarius. What's your problem? Did you agree to work all day for me for this price? Yes, but he's got same amount of money and he did none of the work, hardly at all.
So, what are you looking at him for? People can't handle grace. You're too good to him. He should get less. I should get more.
That's that works mentality. God's grace gives. You and I know people. If we were God, now I can't believe you're blessing him. God, the guy's a crook.
Look at him, and then you start thinking. If I did that, you would shoot me on the spot, God. You ever had that thought? Oh, you did. I didn't think I'd see that many reactions, especially this group over here.
I can't believe this. You're so good to them, and I've been guilty of that. It's a weird thing. It's a corrupt thing. God, I've been a good boy all week.
Please bless Sunday. I've studied so hard. I know, guys. I know pastors who have been golfing today.
So will you really bless this one? Because I've been here all day, been here all week. Then you fall flat on your face. Come out there and you just open, and it's like you know, it's like for me on this side, it's often like licking granite. You know, it's not too filling.
God, I can't bless this thing. I've been. I've been. I've worked. I and God just goes.
I'm sick of hearing about I. He loves to show us grace. It's just the way that he is. Listen, people. We are saved by God's grace and that alone.
We are not saved by works, by being good enough. Listen, hang on to your seats. This is theologically correct, but rarely ever heard. You are not even saved by faith. Doesn't that sound strange?
I thought we were. No, you're not. If you were saved by faith, then salvation would be of you. No, no. I thought faith was a gift of God.
The Bible implies that faith is a gift of God, but nowhere in the Bible does it say that faith is a gift of God. And you might say, "Yeah, it does." Right here in Ephesians eight and nine. No, it doesn't. It doesn't at all. It says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith." And where it says, "And that not of yourselves," it is a gift of God.
In the Greek, it is not faith is a gift of God. It is salvation is a gift of God. And you lose it in the English language. There is no salvation coming to you and I except by the sovereign grace of God only. Our faith does not save us.
And you're hearing a lot. Of trash on radio and TV that your faith can save you.
Well, Jack, didn't Jesus say your faith has saved you? To the people and the to the women and to the men in the Gospels. If you read it carefully, their faith brought them to the object of their faith, which was Jesus Christ. They came. Their faith was only a vehicle.
It is not the mode that saves them. It says right here, for by grace you have been saved. People, get this now, and we'll get into it heavily next week. Bring your friends. Ask them to take a furlough from maybe their other church or whatever.
Especially if it's legalistic, come just next weekend. We're going to cover this thing about how saved we are. And listen. It says in your Bible that you have been saved.
Now, what do you think that means? For by grace you have been saved. Are you tonight saying, "I, oh boy, I hope I get saved. I hope I'm saved in the end." What if somebody, what if somebody breaks into your house or into your place and they've got a bazooka and they're going to hold you hostage? What do you think, man?
I hope I'm saved. How do I say this without hurting somebody? If you're hoping that you're saved, you're probably not. Listen, you don't hope for salvation. You have it or you don't have it.
These things were written, First John five. These things were written that you may know that you have eternal life. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio, and his message called "Master Moses Meet Father Abraham Part One." Thanks for joining us today. You know this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called "The Book of Ephesians." It's 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.
Everybody, you know what time it is. It's a Friday, which means we're going to be doing 360 prayer, and we love it. And we love you.
So let's do this together. Father God, we come before you. We take Lord this week and we leave it with you. Everything that has happened this week, we place back into your hands. And Lord, as the weekend is before us, we pray that you'd give us that Sabbath.
And Father, that we'd go to a house of worship and praise you in spirit and in truth.
So Lord, get us. Ready for the next week, we pray in Jesus' name and all God's people said, "Amen." 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. dot 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 and. 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.
