WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.840 Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim 2 00:00:05.840 --> 00:00:11.120 truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. How about this church? Now is the 3 00:00:11.120 --> 00:00:16.680 acceptable time for you to consider living forever. With Christ, forgiven of 4 00:00:16.680 --> 00:00:21.480 your sins, given a new life and a new meaning, and old by the way, don't receive 5 00:00:21.480 --> 00:00:26.960 that grace in vain. Join us and let's tell the world together that sins can be 6 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:31.680 forgiven. Life can be lived all over again. God can give you security of eternal 7 00:00:31.680 --> 00:00:35.720 life in heaven, and when you finish your course in this world, Christ receives you 8 00:00:35.720 --> 00:00:39.880 into the glory. What's better than that? 9 00:00:41.360 --> 00:00:47.800 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 10 00:00:47.800 --> 00:00:53.120 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled 11 00:00:53.120 --> 00:00:58.000 life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, 12 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:03.120 that's like saying, amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to 13 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:09.040 listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 14 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:16.840 And do this. Here's a command. And do this. This is what you're to do. What is that 15 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:21.280 Paul? The Apostle? What are you saying to us? Knowing the time that now it is 16 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:26.480 high time to awake out of sleep for now, our salvation is near than when we first 17 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:31.760 believe, verse 12, the night is far spent. The day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast 18 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:36.920 off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. What great words? 19 00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:44.640 And so we learned this. The second argument is attention. I owe you attention. And what do 20 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:49.640 we mean by attention? And I encourage you to do this, everybody. If you do not own 21 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:54.760 Daniel Webster's dictionary of the American language of English, you got to get it. 22 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:59.480 It's the 1828 dictionary. You can get it online or you can buy the book. You got to buy 23 00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:03.880 the book. It will impress Amazon. When they show up to your house, that dictionary is 24 00:02:03.880 --> 00:02:10.840 about that thick. And that book is about that big. And it is the actual original definition 25 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:18.800 of English words in 1828 by Noah Webster. It's the one and only real dictionary. Attention. 26 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:26.280 The act of attending to or the heating of the proper application of the ear to sound or 27 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:33.880 of the mind to objects presented for its contemplation. Literally meaning, a stretching 28 00:02:33.880 --> 00:02:39.880 towards or leaning towards. I love that. According to what God is saying to us in this and 29 00:02:39.880 --> 00:02:45.720 verses 11 and 12, you and I are to give each other attention and lean into each other's 30 00:02:45.720 --> 00:02:53.400 life. We're to lean in and find out how are you really doing? What's really going on? 31 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:58.800 And listen, if we really care, if you notice this, if we really care, this is one of the 32 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:04.320 remarkable things about church. It doesn't matter what cultural background you're from. 33 00:03:04.320 --> 00:03:11.240 It doesn't matter what financial background you're at. It doesn't matter your age. If 34 00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:17.800 any one of us honestly detects that the other one cares for the other one, there is a remarkable 35 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:26.280 connection that is timeless. It's not based on generation. When a kid knows that this old woman 36 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:31.960 or this old man, grandpa, style loves on them, there's freedom, there's love and there's 37 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:37.240 healing and vice versa. And remember last week, which I'm really happy to see you came back, 38 00:03:37.320 --> 00:03:43.160 you weren't supposed to, you surprised me. Last week I doubled down very hard on marriage. How can 39 00:03:43.160 --> 00:03:49.160 we talk about these things of love and only one another, nothing but love? And we talk it up, 40 00:03:49.160 --> 00:03:55.000 but then we're brutes and beasts at home in our marriages. And I made it very clear that you're 41 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.240 actually lying to yourself and you cannot be a Christian. The Bible made it very clear. 42 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:05.880 And so I said goodbye to many of you, but I didn't expect you to come back. But here you are, 43 00:04:05.880 --> 00:04:12.040 unless you're all visiting, which would be both sad and good, I guess, wouldn't it? But it's a 44 00:04:12.040 --> 00:04:16.920 remarkable thing, attention. We give attention to so much in life. Everything's clamoring for our 45 00:04:16.920 --> 00:04:23.160 attention. Everything's pulling on us. Well, I want to submit you today that if I slow down, I'm 46 00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:28.280 going to hear God, just like you're going to hear God say, love one another. And by doing this, 47 00:04:28.280 --> 00:04:35.640 you're also preparing yourself to not only be more like Jesus, but we're also getting ready 48 00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:42.840 for eternity. You think about that for a moment. When the Bible gives us these awesome truths, 49 00:04:42.840 --> 00:04:49.640 these are timeless truths. And so when the Scripture says, knowing the time, what do we learn from 50 00:04:49.640 --> 00:04:55.720 this? Well, mark this down. The attention that I should give you should be manifested this way. 51 00:04:55.720 --> 00:05:01.240 I should be calling you as a friend and as a lover of your soul and you of mine, 52 00:05:02.200 --> 00:05:07.960 calling one another both to wake up. We need to wake up. See, what do you mean by that? 53 00:05:07.960 --> 00:05:12.520 Well, right here, the Bible is telling us that know the time or knowing the time. This is a great 54 00:05:12.520 --> 00:05:20.840 word. The word in Greek is a chronology. Know the time. The Bible tells us that as a believer, 55 00:05:20.840 --> 00:05:25.880 we are to be knowing the time or knowing the atmospheric that are around our life. Listen, 56 00:05:25.880 --> 00:05:31.880 I'm convinced of this. I really mean what I'm about to say. Christians are the only ones that 57 00:05:31.880 --> 00:05:38.760 really know anything about real time. You see, what kind of statement is that? I'm not talking about 58 00:05:38.760 --> 00:05:44.920 what is a person that does? Is it a herologist that builds clocks and timepieces? Is that the word 59 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:56.840 herology? Anybody know? Herologist? H-O-R-O. Anyway, tell me later. There are those who make timepieces. 60 00:05:56.840 --> 00:06:01.560 There are those who study time. In fact, about 30 years ago, I think the study was at Stanford 61 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:06.200 University where they were able to conclude, listen to this, because we think time is a constant, 62 00:06:06.200 --> 00:06:11.000 don't we? In the physical realm, time is a constant. We also think light is a constant in the 63 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:15.880 physical realm. Guess what? If any of you have had basic physics, did you know that you cannot 64 00:06:15.880 --> 00:06:21.720 have in this world, in the physical universe, even though light and time is properties of a 65 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:26.680 physical universe, for entropy, I didn't mean this to turn out this way. It's just starting to 66 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:34.600 come out. I can feel it. Here it comes. So the second law of thermal dynamics is called entropy, 67 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:39.240 and that means that all things are going from an ordered state to a chaotic state. It means that 68 00:06:39.240 --> 00:06:45.080 the universe, including your body, said to say, not your body, my body, is going from an ordered 69 00:06:45.080 --> 00:06:53.480 state to a chaotic state. We would say it this way, the moment we're born, we begin to die. That's 70 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:58.920 based on the second law of thermal dynamics. Things are going from an ordered state to a disordered 71 00:06:58.920 --> 00:07:03.720 state. In other words, you buy a brand new car, and by the time you get at home, some nuts and 72 00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:10.200 bolts have fallen off of it. How did that happen? You can notice this. No nuts and bolts ever screw 73 00:07:10.200 --> 00:07:15.000 themselves on tighter. They always unscrew themselves. That's a good way to remember that. 74 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:23.160 So listen, according to time in this physical realm, time, you can manipulate time now. You can 75 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:31.080 move time in a laboratory and light. What about light? We now know that light, the great constant 76 00:07:31.080 --> 00:07:35.640 in the physical realm is slowing down, light slowing down. What does this mean? It means the 77 00:07:35.640 --> 00:07:41.640 Bible has been true all along. That there's an end coming. Even if you don't believe in God, 78 00:07:41.640 --> 00:07:49.240 according to science, there's an end coming. Science speaks of it. The Bible warns about it, 79 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:54.520 or for us as believers, it encourages about it. How are we encouraged? Because the believer is the 80 00:07:54.520 --> 00:08:00.760 only one, as I said, who really knows what time it is. You and I live on ET time, not Eastern time, 81 00:08:00.840 --> 00:08:07.960 but eternal time. Because heaven, listen to this, heaven is eternal. The lives that we are now living 82 00:08:07.960 --> 00:08:13.800 is such a huge contradiction. We live in this physical realm. We have to do a time all the time, 83 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:18.120 but yet we're living in light of eternity. I hope you're living like that in light of eternity. 84 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:21.240 And if that doesn't mean you don't invest, it doesn't mean you don't brush your teeth, 85 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:27.000 it doesn't mean that you don't mow your lawn. You got to do those things. But we don't know when 86 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:32.520 the end is going to be, but we do know this, I will not always be around. Neither will you. 87 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:36.840 Young people have a hard time with what I just said, because they feel like they're going to live forever. 88 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:46.520 You're not. And there's going to come an end. Because time in this physical realm plays out 89 00:08:46.520 --> 00:08:52.120 that role upon our bodies. But glory beats a God. You cannot go to heaven and say, what time is it 90 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:58.280 in heaven? It's timeless, isn't it beautiful? And it's not a lot of time. The world sees God as 91 00:08:58.280 --> 00:09:04.760 some old man with a long white beard. That's impossible. That would be an old man, meaning there's 92 00:09:04.760 --> 00:09:11.800 time and the long white beard means there's age. He's eternal. The Bible says, Christ is the same 93 00:09:11.800 --> 00:09:18.040 yesterday, today and forever. No time in heaven. I can't wait to get there. Are you excited to go 94 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:23.960 there? I can't wait to get there. Man, it's going to be great. Could happen today. Think about that. 95 00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:27.960 The Lord could come back today or I could drop dead right now. He's so blessed, don't say that. 96 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:35.560 Okay, you could drop dead right now. Are you ready to meet God? Think about that. What a remarkable 97 00:09:35.560 --> 00:09:42.040 thing. And you and I, if we love one another, we are to call one another to wake up because the 98 00:09:42.040 --> 00:09:47.800 Bible says here that we're knowing the time that now it is high time that we awake out of sleep. 99 00:09:47.800 --> 00:09:53.560 This is a remarkable theological statement. You might want to write it down because this means 100 00:09:53.560 --> 00:10:05.400 that man without God is asleep spiritually. You ever seen someone in a coma? Without God, the 101 00:10:05.400 --> 00:10:12.200 spirit that is within you is in a state of coma. The Bible tells us when the spirit of God 102 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:22.120 quickens you, you become alive spiritually. And He makes us alive. Now, as believers, we are 103 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:27.960 to encourage one another and give attention to one another, calling each other to wake up. Why? 104 00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:33.480 Because it's high time that we awake out of sleep. First of all, Jesus said in Acts chapter 1, 105 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:39.000 verses 7 and 8. Jesus said, now paraphrase it. The disciples ask Jesus, awesome. Now that you're 106 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:44.040 risen from the dead, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? They know the right question 107 00:10:44.040 --> 00:10:50.520 to ask. They didn't have the right time. Jesus answered and said, listen, we got a lot of 108 00:10:50.520 --> 00:10:55.960 paraphrasing. Got a lot of work to do. That's not for now. You're going to go wait for the 109 00:10:55.960 --> 00:11:02.040 Holy Spirit's power. And I'm going to send you out to the ends of the earth. Why? Because 2,000 110 00:11:02.040 --> 00:11:06.520 years ago, He told the disciples, we got a lot of work to do, guys. You got to go and preach 111 00:11:06.520 --> 00:11:15.720 this word all around the world. That's the job. But listen, look at 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, I love 112 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:24.120 this. Paul says, oh, remember, numerous times Jesus will say, nobody knows the day or the hour 113 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:28.680 of the coming of the Son of Man. You got right, you've read that. Nobody knows the day or the hour. 114 00:11:28.680 --> 00:11:32.680 We do not know the day or the hour. We're not going to know the day or the hour. Don't let 115 00:11:32.680 --> 00:11:38.120 somebody say, oh, but God showed me a dream last night. And I'm going to write a book. It's about 116 00:11:38.120 --> 00:11:45.720 the day and the hour. God showed me. Listen, run away from that person. Jesus says, nobody knows 117 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:52.920 the day or the hour. Listen, what Paul says. Concerning the times and the seasons, 118 00:11:53.000 --> 00:12:01.720 it's different than day or hour. Concerning the times, the years and the seasons, it starts out 119 00:12:01.720 --> 00:12:10.440 broad. Concerning the times, years and seasons, months. Paul says, I don't have to write to you. 120 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:14.760 You'll have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day 121 00:12:14.760 --> 00:12:21.960 of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. But listen, it's not going to happen to you. He says, 122 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:27.240 for when they say, that's not you. You're not a they. You're not a they and you're not a them. 123 00:12:29.560 --> 00:12:36.360 For when they say peace and safety, sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains 124 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:43.640 upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, verse 4, brethren, are not in darkness. 125 00:12:43.640 --> 00:12:49.000 You're spiritually alive now so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons 126 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:54.840 of light in sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep 127 00:12:54.840 --> 00:13:02.040 as others do. Don't become a toast. But let us watch and be sober. And to be watching and to be 128 00:13:02.040 --> 00:13:06.920 sober that is spiritually level, it means that we're going to be loving one another. It doesn't mean 129 00:13:06.920 --> 00:13:12.280 you go and roll in some seminary to be to get your doctorate in theology. That's not what it means. 130 00:13:12.280 --> 00:13:18.680 Who needs that? I'm not, listen, I'm not downplaying learning. What I'm saying is you're learning and 131 00:13:18.680 --> 00:13:26.280 your knowledge means nothing to us unless you're loving one another. What would it matter if you've 132 00:13:26.280 --> 00:13:33.560 achieved this now than the other thing and you're just gross to be with? And you exhibit nothing of 133 00:13:33.560 --> 00:13:40.440 what you suppose that God has done in your life. Oh God loves me. Does he now? Then why is it so rare 134 00:13:40.440 --> 00:13:47.080 if never you're loving toward other people? How can that be? You think God loves you. You know 135 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:51.880 God loves you but you can't return that love to others. It's a serious situation where it looks 136 00:13:51.880 --> 00:13:57.080 like you don't really know what you're talking about. Because we don't want to hear theology, 137 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:05.880 we want to experience it. And I'm not talking about bells and whistles and little shivers up your 138 00:14:05.880 --> 00:14:13.320 spine and goose bumps. I'm talking about love. Real rolling up your slaves love for one another. 139 00:14:14.120 --> 00:14:22.040 And so he says and do this knowing that the time is that it's high time. This word high time is 140 00:14:22.040 --> 00:14:28.120 an amazing statement because it means that it's a designated time. It's a particular time. It's a 141 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:33.720 time that has been known to God. It's a time that God has revealed to us. We are now living according 142 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:38.920 to the apostle for the last two thousand years. Watch for the last two thousand years. The 143 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:45.560 apostle announced it's high time. You said, well, Jack, you just contradicted yourself. If he 144 00:14:45.560 --> 00:14:50.440 said it two thousand years ago that now's the time and it's high time that we'll wake at a sleep, 145 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:59.000 then how does that apply now? Do you remember in eternity there is no time. In this world there is 146 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:05.800 time conclusion. If he said it back then two thousand years ago, how much closer are we to it now? 147 00:15:06.760 --> 00:15:14.520 We are more responsible now than those than them, than what they were living. And you and I live 148 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:21.560 much further down the timeline in chronology and yet you and I are living in light of eternity. 149 00:15:21.560 --> 00:15:26.840 I believe the Bible believing Christian who's looking at the world through the lens of the Bible, 150 00:15:27.640 --> 00:15:33.160 they see, they understand, they look at things and number one thing is this. Don't you and I want as 151 00:15:33.160 --> 00:15:38.840 many men and women and boys and girls to join us in heaven forever as possible. It's always that 152 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:45.080 way, no matter what it is. Listen, this church holds elected officials accountable for their 153 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:49.880 authority, for their position. That doesn't mean we want to establish a kingdom on earth. That 154 00:15:49.880 --> 00:15:56.280 ain't going to happen. We want as much as they want us out of here. We want out of here more. 155 00:15:57.240 --> 00:16:03.080 But in the meantime, in earth time, we are going to do the right thing. We're going to stand for 156 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:07.480 what's right and we're going to be salt and light because this is what Christ has called us to do 157 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:14.360 with all the while looking up. Second Corinthians chapter six tells us we then as workers together 158 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:20.120 with him that is God also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. In other words, 159 00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:26.120 experience his salvation. Please do and run with it. For he says, God says, 160 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:31.640 in an acceptable time, I've heard you and in the day of salvation, I have helped you. 161 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:38.840 Paul goes on, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. How about 162 00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:45.320 this church? Now is the acceptable time for you to consider living forever with Christ, 163 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:50.280 forgiven of your sins, given a new life and a new meaning. And oh, by the way, don't 164 00:16:50.280 --> 00:16:56.920 receive that grace in vain. Join us. And let's tell the world together that sins can be forgiven. 165 00:16:56.920 --> 00:17:01.960 Life can be lived all over again. God can give you security of eternal life in heaven. And when 166 00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:06.920 you finish your course in this world, Christ receives you into this glory. What's better than that? 167 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:09.880 What's better than that? There's nothing better than that. 168 00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:17.560 The second thing is this, everybody, is also verses 11 to 12. Is that for now, 169 00:17:18.120 --> 00:17:22.360 our salvation is near than when we first believe in the night as far as spends. 170 00:17:23.080 --> 00:17:28.520 So if I owe you my attention, I'm going to be encouraging you to get ready. To get ready. 171 00:17:31.400 --> 00:17:33.560 You and I are to encourage each other to get ready. 172 00:17:34.520 --> 00:17:44.120 When he says that our salvation, I hope this warms your heart. For now, our salvation. Do you 173 00:17:44.120 --> 00:17:49.400 know what's implied here that you own it? It's your salvation. Can you all hear me? This is 174 00:17:49.400 --> 00:17:55.880 important. If you have salvation, you're not going to lose it. You're not going to lose it. 175 00:17:55.880 --> 00:18:01.320 The problem is, some of you think you have it and you don't. And then people wake up around 176 00:18:01.320 --> 00:18:06.760 you to find out you didn't have it. They thought you had it. The Bible says in 1 John, 177 00:18:06.760 --> 00:18:12.120 these things have been written that you might know you have eternal life. You need to make 178 00:18:12.120 --> 00:18:17.640 sure in your own life do you really, really know the Lord Jesus Christ in the sense that you are the 179 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:24.520 sinner and he is the Redeemer, that he is God and you're not, that he did it all and you can do 180 00:18:24.520 --> 00:18:29.160 nothing but turn to him and love him and thanks for all that he's done. That's it. 181 00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:34.120 That he died in the cross for you because you couldn't buy your way into heaven. 182 00:18:35.800 --> 00:18:39.080 And then he rose again from the dead to sanctify your life forever. 183 00:18:40.360 --> 00:18:46.200 We will become completely redeemed for all time and eternity. And by the way, we will not be in 184 00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:51.880 heaven like this. We won't be in heaven saying, oh man, how long have we been up here? A long time. 185 00:18:52.840 --> 00:18:56.760 There's no keeping of time. It doesn't exist because time is physical. 186 00:18:58.120 --> 00:19:05.720 Isn't it fascinating? It's physical. In eternity, it's not physical. But it's more real than what 187 00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:10.600 you and I are living in right now. See what does that mean? Like we, or can we like shake hands, touch 188 00:19:10.600 --> 00:19:14.600 each other? Can we give each other a hug? And you can do that here. Why can't you do it there? 189 00:19:14.600 --> 00:19:21.400 It's going to be better there than it is here. What, listen, whatever is of this world is going to 190 00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:26.760 fail in comparison compared to what God has in store for us. The Bible says, I is not seen, 191 00:19:26.760 --> 00:19:31.160 ear has not heard, neither has it ended in the mind of man, the things that God has prepared for 192 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:36.680 those who love him. He's talking about heaven forever is going to be awesome. And I can't wait to go, 193 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:40.600 yes, you're so, you guys, yes. 194 00:19:41.560 --> 00:19:52.440 This Jack Hibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. 195 00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:59.640 Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more 196 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:01.800 and stay connected.