WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.840 Real Life presents the Jack Hibb's podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim 2 00:00:05.840 --> 00:00:09.140 truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. 3 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:12.880 I've noticed more and more in the Christian life over these last several years, 4 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:17.200 there's a great sense of urgency in the lives of those that are following Christ. 5 00:00:17.200 --> 00:00:21.080 What does it take to get urgent about the things of God? It's actually very simple. 6 00:00:21.080 --> 00:00:25.880 You pick up the Bible again, start reading, return to your first love that's in the Bible, 7 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:31.560 and find out what Jesus Christ wants for your life. He's thrilled to be your Lord and Savior, 8 00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:33.640 and he wants to use you in a powerful way. 9 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:44.600 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibs.com slash podcast. 10 00:00:45.160 --> 00:00:51.000 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, 11 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:56.200 then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying, 12 00:00:56.200 --> 00:01:00.280 amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. 13 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:05.800 Now, open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibb's. 14 00:01:07.240 --> 00:01:11.960 The Holy Spirit guides you and leads you. Now, there are people who claim faith, but if you 15 00:01:11.960 --> 00:01:16.760 notice, they're bouncing off the guardrails all the time and always getting themselves in trouble 16 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:22.920 or following the latest, greatest, strangest thing. And you wonder, where's the Holy Spirit in their 17 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:27.880 life? Well, I don't know, but one of the hallmarks of being a true child of God is that your life is 18 00:01:27.880 --> 00:01:33.960 led by the Spirit of God. And when God does that, he uses the guidance of the Word of God, the Bible, 19 00:01:33.960 --> 00:01:42.360 sanctification. Quite awesome, quite exciting. And I think about the sanctifying work of the Holy 20 00:01:42.440 --> 00:01:51.080 Spirit, where in our lives, we put him through a lot. He's with us every day. Remember, Christ said, 21 00:01:51.080 --> 00:01:56.440 I'll never leave you or forsake you, but technically Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father 22 00:01:56.440 --> 00:02:03.480 right now in heaven. So how is it that Jesus is with us, the Holy Spirit? And what we put him 23 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:12.120 through in just a day, think of the grace that he gives us. But he's there. And then I might add, 24 00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:17.560 he puts us through a lot of stuff too. Does he not? Have you ever tried to get away with something 25 00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:26.200 as a Christian? Yeah, you're laughing because you can't do it, huh? Because he's with you. And he'll 26 00:02:26.200 --> 00:02:33.000 bust you. And he'll tell you, no, you can't do that. Listen, this is terrible. I'll confess this 27 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:40.200 in front of you guys, but don't tell anybody. So, and if I already told you this, just ignore it, 28 00:02:40.200 --> 00:02:48.280 but I was asked to be on a broadcast. And so I went to their studios and it was a Christian 29 00:02:50.040 --> 00:02:55.800 organization. And they're doing this. I got the cameras all set up in this stage in this studio 30 00:02:55.800 --> 00:03:04.200 and everything. And so it's like, okay, here we go. So like three, two, one. And they go like that, 31 00:03:04.200 --> 00:03:09.880 you know? And the guy goes, okay, well, here we are. It's nice to have you. Before we get started, 32 00:03:09.880 --> 00:03:17.640 can we challenge you to a push-up contest? And I thought, this is actually a joke. They were joking. 33 00:03:17.640 --> 00:03:25.560 The cameras aren't really running. We're not ready yet. They must have a problem. And I 34 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:34.680 go, okay, whatever you want. And I didn't think the cameras were on. And so they got this young 35 00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:41.320 guy. I'll challenge you to a push-up contest. How old are you? I'm 65 and a half. How old are you? 36 00:03:41.320 --> 00:03:48.360 I'm like 39 and a half. So I know this is going to go. But remember, the cameras aren't running. 37 00:03:48.440 --> 00:03:59.080 So I thought, so we're doing push-ups. And he starts, I could see him, I said, am I? 38 00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:13.320 He starts weakening. And that's very inspiring. And so he taps out, I think, at 29. 39 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:24.040 Little did he know, I can do 50. I know, I can do 50. It's just, I'm not strong, I just can do 50. 40 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:31.800 And so watch the Holy Spirit. This is real. At my expense, I'm going under the bus right now. 41 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:40.760 Here we go. So what do I say to me? Let's blow these guys out of the water. So I say, I'll stop 42 00:04:40.760 --> 00:04:48.280 at 50, like nothing happened. So I, 30, 31, and I hear the Holy Spirit say, what are you doing? 43 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:58.120 I'm doing 32, God. 33 in the Lord says, you're gloating. Stop. 44 00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:08.520 So I get up and I sat down and long behold, when they published it, it was on there. 45 00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:21.160 And, but it reminds me where I was willing to do what I wanted to do, because I had the situation, 46 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:29.080 but the Holy Spirit stepped in, unbeknownst to anybody in the universe, and taps me on the noodle and 47 00:05:29.080 --> 00:05:33.560 says, Jack, you're gloating. Stop it. Just beat them enough and then quit. 48 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:45.240 And, and so I was humbled. I won the contest, but I was taken to the wood shed by the Holy Spirit. 49 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:51.480 Are you with me? Because that's pride. And the whole time I sat there, I could just hear the Lord 50 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:58.280 saying, don't, don't do that again. And I love you, Jack, but don't do it again. And so we put 51 00:05:58.280 --> 00:06:03.960 him through stuff, but he puts us through stuff. But the stuff he puts us through is always for our 52 00:06:03.960 --> 00:06:09.800 good. Always for our good. And we're going to, we're going to know a lot about that today, which 53 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:15.000 brings us to really the argument of this portion of Romans chapter 8, and that is glorification, 54 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:21.000 redemption, justification, sanctification, to what end glorification. Friends, listen, 55 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:27.560 according to the Bible, God's intent, and he will fulfill it, is to get you the believer into heaven, 56 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:34.200 glorified, but the glorification begins before you enter heaven. He's working in your life now. 57 00:06:36.200 --> 00:06:41.960 And he's developing us, and he's working in us. So number one, mark it down. The title of the 58 00:06:41.960 --> 00:06:48.920 message is, what are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? And the answer is, when time is 59 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:54.840 running out, what are you waiting for? Time is running out. But you might be surprised on how I 60 00:06:54.840 --> 00:07:02.280 throw this out to you. As a believer, I know time is running out. That's a great thing for the 61 00:07:02.280 --> 00:07:08.280 Christian. The world doesn't want to hear this. In fact, in the world right now, they already turned 62 00:07:08.280 --> 00:07:12.520 off the message. If they're, if this is airing later on the radio, they, they'll turn it off. 63 00:07:12.520 --> 00:07:17.160 Why? The world doesn't want to hear about time running out. Why? It makes them nervous. They 64 00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:22.040 get scared. They don't want to come to an end. They want to keep maybe milking it one more day, 65 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:29.720 you know? For the believer, when time is running out, and it is running out, the glorious thing is 66 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:36.520 this that for us as Christians, the meaning of it all is, and mark it down, is that we're to be 67 00:07:36.520 --> 00:07:43.960 looking now to prep this expectation as a Christian every day. Times running out. So how are we to 68 00:07:43.960 --> 00:07:50.840 respond as believers? You do know that we are one day closer to going to heaven. This is very, 69 00:07:50.840 --> 00:07:57.000 very important. Mark this down if you would. It's second Corinthians, and it's in chapter 6, 70 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:04.280 and the Bible tells us there that, beginning of verse 1, we then as workers together with him. 71 00:08:04.280 --> 00:08:12.360 Notice the beauty of this. We then as workers together with him. That's the Lord. Also plead with 72 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:20.520 you not to receive the grace of God in vain. That simply means that when you hear Bible doctrine, 73 00:08:20.520 --> 00:08:26.920 you better reel it into your soul, better bury it in your heart somewhere. Don't let it bounce off 74 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:34.600 into the dirt. It's valuable. It's the most valuable thing. And so Paul is saying to the Corinthians 75 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:43.560 that we are working together to get the word to the world. Watch verse 2. For he says, and this is 76 00:08:43.560 --> 00:08:48.680 what God says today, in an acceptable time I have heard you. Did you know that God wants to hear 77 00:08:48.760 --> 00:08:57.320 from you? For some of you, he's been waiting to hear from you. Like A.W. Tozer says, he's been waiting 78 00:08:57.320 --> 00:09:06.040 to hear from you, and you have made him wait so, so very long. Don't do that. He's waiting to hear 79 00:09:06.040 --> 00:09:12.600 from you. In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you, 80 00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:19.240 behold. Now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Do you sense urgency in 81 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:26.040 that? You should. That verse is extremely urgent. But when I think about the ministry of Jesus 82 00:09:27.400 --> 00:09:35.480 in the four gospels, wasn't his ministry urgent? He was always on the go, always, on the go. 83 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:39.880 And by the way, even when he took a break, the Bible tells us he went away and he prayed to his 84 00:09:39.880 --> 00:09:45.640 father, and he prayed about the disciples. He prayed about the coming, suffering at the cross, 85 00:09:45.640 --> 00:09:54.360 and he recharges his batteries, communing with his father. But there's an urgency. I've noticed 86 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:59.560 more and more in the Christian life over these last several years. There's a great sense of urgency 87 00:09:59.560 --> 00:10:03.480 in the lives of those that are following Christ. What does it take to get urgent about the things 88 00:10:03.480 --> 00:10:09.000 of God? It's actually very simple. You pick up the Bible again, start reading, return to your first 89 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:13.800 love that's in the Bible, and find out what Jesus Christ wants for your life. He's thrilled 90 00:10:14.520 --> 00:10:20.840 to be your Lord and Savior, and he wants to use you in a powerful way. But know this, for the believer, 91 00:10:20.840 --> 00:10:27.720 time is running out, and that's a good thing. We need deadlines. Do you work good on deadlines? 92 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:32.360 I have to have, you know, we're all different, but we're all in some way shape or form. We are 93 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:41.240 all victims of procrastination. I'm terrible. I've always been this way. It's not good. I'm not 94 00:10:41.240 --> 00:10:49.640 commending this. I'm trying to change it. It just hasn't worked. But I'm able to do something 95 00:10:49.640 --> 00:10:56.600 well, but I have to do it non-stop. And the only way that I can do it non-stop is if I do it when 96 00:10:56.600 --> 00:11:08.840 I only have three hours left. If there's a deadline for a book, you have to have these many words 97 00:11:08.840 --> 00:11:17.400 by a certain time. And in my mind, I think, I haven't got three months. And you think about it, 98 00:11:17.400 --> 00:11:21.640 just do a little bit every day. Isn't that always the line? I'll just do a little bit every day. 99 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:27.960 And then two weeks goes by and you haven't started yet. And then two months goes by and you haven't 100 00:11:27.960 --> 00:11:37.000 started yet. And then you start to sweat and freak, and that's why God made coffee. Pots and 101 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:45.560 pots of coffee. But time is running out, but for the believer, that's a good thing. Because we've 102 00:11:45.560 --> 00:11:52.360 got a date with eternity, guaranteed by Jesus. And it's called glory. And in Romans 8 from this 103 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:59.640 chapter, verse 18, on, it's about the glory that awaits us. And we want to bring as many men and 104 00:11:59.640 --> 00:12:04.360 women and boys and girls with us as possible. We want to share the good news. And there's a good 105 00:12:04.360 --> 00:12:11.240 life to be lived with Christ. I found out last night that my son-in-law was reading Kirk Cameron's 106 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:17.080 new book, Brave Book Series, up in Sacramento area, at the public library and all of the 107 00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:23.400 woke groomers or whatever they got all upset. They got all upset because he was reading a book 108 00:12:23.400 --> 00:12:30.520 to the kids that came to the library on character. Don't tell lies. Speak the truth and be nice to 109 00:12:30.520 --> 00:12:36.760 one another. And some of the people made a comment, we can't live like this. Isn't that funny? 110 00:12:37.400 --> 00:12:46.120 I thought it was great. What do you mean we can't live like this? Listen, it's easy to criticize 111 00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:51.000 people who don't hold your biblical worldview. But listen, it's another thing to love them enough 112 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:56.600 into the kingdom of God. They're blind. They don't see. They don't know. And so we urge you, 113 00:12:56.600 --> 00:13:02.840 so to speak, right? To consider the forgiveness of God and that God's got a glorious plan for you. 114 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:08.760 And you don't have to worry about the coming end. For us as the believers, the coming end is the 115 00:13:08.760 --> 00:13:16.200 entrance into the beginning. It's absolutely awesome. It's thrilling. But we practice expectation, 116 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:23.240 verse 18 says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time, in this present time, 117 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:29.720 Paul is saying that there are sufferings. Now, I don't know if you know this or not, 118 00:13:29.800 --> 00:13:38.680 if you don't, please go about to prove me wrong. I know no other individual in history 119 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:48.920 that has suffered protracted pain over decades like the Apostle Paul. I mean, there may be 120 00:13:48.920 --> 00:13:54.920 somebody. I just haven't come across them yet. For decades, because he knew Jesus Christ, 121 00:13:54.920 --> 00:14:05.640 he was beaten with the Roman flagellum, which is also known as the cat of nine tales. It's a, 122 00:14:05.640 --> 00:14:13.960 it's a wooden handle with a leather ball at the end with nine leather strips of bone, glass, 123 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:23.080 and rock. And Paul was whipped at least three times and each time, each time stands for 39 124 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:35.720 whippings. He was stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked numerous times. I mean, over and over, 125 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:41.000 it goes, Paul the Apostle, all he had to do was denounce the name of Jesus and everything would 126 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:48.120 have gone calm, right? He couldn't do it. Christ had become so big to him and so real that even if 127 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:53.080 he would have denied Christ, he would have had to confess that I'm lying. I mean, think about it. 128 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:58.200 What if somebody stormed into your life today and said denounce Christ or I'm going to cut your 129 00:14:58.200 --> 00:15:03.240 head off? I would, first of all, say, listen, it's possible you pull my fingernails out. That's 130 00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:07.560 going to hurt. It's possible that you're going to pull my teeth out with a pair of pliers. That's 131 00:15:07.640 --> 00:15:15.480 not fun. If at any time my emotions cave in and say I denounce Christ, I must tell you now I'll 132 00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:24.920 be lying. Are you hearing me people? If you extract that confession from me before you get started 133 00:15:24.920 --> 00:15:32.280 on torturing me, I won't mean it. So go at it. Right, think about it. They just might save 134 00:15:32.360 --> 00:15:37.160 themselves some grief and just cut your head off and be done with it. Do you understand what I'm 135 00:15:37.160 --> 00:15:45.320 saying? You have taken away the power of the enemy to bring upon you condemnation or you've taken 136 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:50.760 away the opportunity that you could cave in such a moment and deny Christ. No, you tell it right 137 00:15:50.760 --> 00:15:55.880 at the front. If I do under duress, it's not going to be me denying Christ. That'd be my weak 138 00:15:55.880 --> 00:16:04.200 flesh screaming for mercy. But I won't mean it. Expectation. Expectation of this 139 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:08.920 sufferings. Who wants to hear this? Sufferings. In this present time, the Bible says there's 140 00:16:08.920 --> 00:16:16.520 sufferings. When he says consider, write that word down. It's a mathematical or it's a term 141 00:16:16.520 --> 00:16:23.560 of math in the first world. You'll recognize the language even in the Greek. The word means 142 00:16:23.560 --> 00:16:30.920 to reckon. Watch this. I reckon I've done the math. I've looked at the word of God. I've looked 143 00:16:30.920 --> 00:16:38.280 at life. I have figured this out from God's word. I have reckoned to count the word would be run 144 00:16:38.280 --> 00:16:46.040 the numbers, we would say. Run the numbers or let's see if it's all worth it. I have run the numbers 145 00:16:46.040 --> 00:16:51.320 and I found this to be true. What I'm about to tell you, that's what the apostle is saying. He 146 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:56.760 said everybody in Rome, listen up. What I'm about to tell you, I've taken it to the lab and I've 147 00:16:56.760 --> 00:17:02.280 tested it and it's truth and here it is, that there's sufferings that you and I go through in this 148 00:17:02.280 --> 00:17:12.360 present time. We will suffer people. Every single one of us will suffer. We need to remember this. 149 00:17:12.360 --> 00:17:16.680 God doesn't abandon us in the suffering. Now look, if you're not a Christian, you're going to 150 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:23.320 suffer exactly the same way we suffer. We all suffer. The difference is for the non-believer, 151 00:17:23.320 --> 00:17:29.480 you've got nobody to hold your hand. You've got no promise. You're terrified and you should be. 152 00:17:31.480 --> 00:17:37.880 There's nobody with you. And in that hour of death, when that time comes, you're all alone. 153 00:17:38.840 --> 00:17:46.280 And yet just know this. Officially, God didn't want it that way for the Christian we suffer, 154 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:54.600 but He holds our hand. I can't explain it, but the more suffering the Christian goes through, 155 00:17:54.600 --> 00:18:00.920 the bigger Jesus gets and the closer He gets. And I can't explain it. It is absolutely awesome. 156 00:18:01.320 --> 00:18:09.400 More peace comes to you. The bumpier the road, I don't know how He does it, the more He flattens it out. 157 00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:19.080 Seemingly makes no sense. And in this world of suffering, I have expectation. I can expect God to be 158 00:18:19.080 --> 00:18:24.760 there. And listen, He wants you and I to practice that expectation now. Imagine if you and I take the 159 00:18:24.760 --> 00:18:30.360 Word of God and apply it to ourselves now and when the bumps come, when the pain comes, 160 00:18:31.480 --> 00:18:37.080 we're able to meet it. Why? Because our suffering has a purpose. 161 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:43.320 See, Jack, I have a hard time with your God because that's really the reason why I don't believe in Him 162 00:18:43.320 --> 00:18:50.520 is because there is suffering. So can you explain that to me? Yeah, how can a loving God allow all 163 00:18:50.520 --> 00:18:56.360 this suffering? Well, first of all, we're not big fans of suffering either, but let me ask you 164 00:18:56.360 --> 00:19:05.640 something. What would you do if you were a God? See, when we start to approach things theoretically, 165 00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:14.520 we have a lot of we have a wealth of options when it's theory. Look, if you're going to the 166 00:19:14.520 --> 00:19:20.120 right university, the right college, I'd like to know. Please tell me one, but I can spread the 167 00:19:20.120 --> 00:19:26.520 news. But what's really tough is when you talk to somebody that just graduated with their PhD and 168 00:19:26.520 --> 00:19:33.640 something, how do you? I'm 24 and you're going to what? I'm going to tell you how to live your life. 169 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:44.760 Do you have kids? No. Have you ever been married? No. Do you have a dog? You hear what I'm saying? 170 00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:51.640 You can get anything on paper. God's not interested in that. He's interested in experience. 171 00:19:52.520 --> 00:20:00.040 Why? Because when we walk with Him through life, something happens called sanctification 172 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:05.800 and that leads to glorification. That's what God does. 173 00:20:10.760 --> 00:20:15.720 This Jack Kibb's podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener 174 00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:22.840 supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibb's.com 175 00:20:22.840 --> 00:20:26.040 to learn more and stay connected.