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 --> 00:00:12.400 truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. But wow! God says I've got this! 3 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:16.680 God has saved you before you ever woke up and realized that you had sinned and 4 00:00:16.680 --> 00:00:21.200 that you have chipped wrecked your life. God is saying, I knew this about you! 5 00:00:21.200 --> 00:00:23.920 Come to me now! 6 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:32.680 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 7 00:00:32.680 --> 00:00:38.000 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled 8 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:42.840 life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, 9 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:48.400 that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. 10 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:53.840 Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 11 00:00:55.440 --> 00:01:00.000 Heaven, when you read about it in the Bible, it's there in black and white to a degree enough 12 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:05.200 for us to get excited. But I have to tell you, and I told you this before, is that I've been 13 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:11.360 victimized by myself for a long time thinking that when I thought about heaven, I never 14 00:01:11.360 --> 00:01:16.080 meditated on it enough. I should think about it more because when I do think about it, 15 00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:23.360 my first thought is white floor, white walls, white ceiling, white robes, white lights, 16 00:01:23.360 --> 00:01:28.960 just sterile. And kind of like this, hello, hi, how are you? Are you welcome? 17 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:32.640 You know you in a nice restaurant, they host us. 18 00:01:33.440 --> 00:01:36.640 We have a text, right? 19 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:47.600 Didn't you read about heaven? And there's a lot of freaky looking things up there with weird 20 00:01:47.600 --> 00:01:55.680 wings and eyeballs, right? Angels that have one head and four faces on each side of their 21 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:02.720 bottom head. One head with a face and a face and a face and a face. That ought to freak you out. 22 00:02:02.720 --> 00:02:07.520 You're not going to walk in there and you're like, oh, it's so cool. You're going to freak when 23 00:02:07.520 --> 00:02:14.720 you get there. And the music is incredible. And it's very loud. It's very loud. And it's beautiful. 24 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:22.000 And again, this guy should send me royalties. You know Randy Elkorn's book, Heaven, I have 25 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:27.360 talked about that book all over. It is so good. If you want to get healed of having this white 26 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:32.800 monochromatic heaven, you got to read his book. It's a great theological work on the doctrine 27 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:39.200 of heaven. And the Bible says there's trees in heaven. And here's what we do. Trees. 28 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:47.280 What does that look like? It says trees. Yeah, but you know, it's heaven. So what does it look like? 29 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:54.480 Trees. The Bible says there's rivers. Really? Like what? Like the best river you've 30 00:02:54.480 --> 00:03:00.320 ever seen in your life, but better. The Bible talks about animals being in heaven, horses at least. 31 00:03:01.200 --> 00:03:05.440 And during the millennial reign of Christ, the Bible says the lion will lay down with the lamb. 32 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:12.480 What could that possibly mean? The lion is going to go give the lamb a little lick and a kiss. 33 00:03:12.480 --> 00:03:20.400 It's going to happen. That's the government of God. And for the believer, we get excited about it. 34 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:24.800 We don't talk about heaven enough until you get older. Then you start thinking about it. But 35 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:29.760 young people, you need to think about heaven. It's there. We're going to go there. It's going to be 36 00:03:29.760 --> 00:03:36.560 amazing. Heaven, the proof. It's within us. And then also we'd learn that heaven's love is a 37 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:44.480 constant contact for us that the love of heaven is present in the life of the believer. 38 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:51.760 Our friend Timothy Meeney years ago, decades ago, maybe a century or two. I don't know. I don't 39 00:03:51.760 --> 00:03:57.600 know. I remember used to sing a song. Heaven's love is way beyond me. And it's a beautiful song. 40 00:03:57.600 --> 00:04:04.000 And heaven's love is beyond you. The love of God for you. You think about this right now. And if 41 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:07.440 you're new to the Bible right now, if you've just tuned in or you just walked in here today, 42 00:04:07.440 --> 00:04:12.320 you didn't know something. The God of the Bible has gone to great lengths to communicate to you 43 00:04:12.320 --> 00:04:19.520 that he loves you. The God of the Bible wants you in heaven. I got on the plane yesterday or 44 00:04:21.280 --> 00:04:29.280 evening and getting on the plane to my left. There was a young woman. And I'm going to guess, 45 00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:36.160 I don't know, 25-ish. I don't know. I'm bad about this. But she had a black Meeney on. She had 46 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:45.680 black makeup. She was just goth looking, right? And that's all that's fine. It's totally fine. I 47 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:52.160 lived through the 70s. I made it. It's fine. And so here's the thing, though. I was walking. You 48 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:55.760 know how you walk in slow and you walk in the next person in the bag and then you move forward 49 00:04:55.760 --> 00:05:00.560 and you're getting to your seat. And I looked in our eyes caught and she looked and she looked at me 50 00:05:01.440 --> 00:05:05.600 and there was a moment where I'm looking at her and I'm thinking she's staring. So here's exactly 51 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:11.920 how I think. She's staring. Does she go to first service, second service? No, really. Is she 52 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:18.720 first service, second service, third service? And she's looking and I'm thinking, what service? I don't 53 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:28.160 know. And then she just put her head down and she looked mortified. I got the sense that she 54 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:33.600 recognized me but I don't know her. She doesn't know me. I don't think. And then I looked at her 55 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:42.160 t-shirt and it says, I hate me too. That's exactly what I did in my heart. Not so loud as you just 56 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:49.520 did it in my heart. And there was no opportunity to talk to her but I just said, dear God in heaven, 57 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:58.960 speak to her, convince her, show her your true nature who you really are. The love of heaven 58 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:06.480 is constantly reaching out to every man, woman, boy and girl to contact with us, to make contact with 59 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:12.560 us, to tell us that God loves us, that Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again from 60 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:19.280 the dead. Why would he do that? Because he loved us and he loves us. So church, we dive into it now. 61 00:06:19.280 --> 00:06:24.960 It's this number two is the hope of heaven. It is the hope in verse 24 begins by saying and watch 62 00:06:24.960 --> 00:06:33.200 it. Get your highlighter ready. I'll exaggerate it when I get to it for we were saved in this hope. 63 00:06:33.840 --> 00:06:43.920 But hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for 64 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:53.120 what we do not see, we eagerly await for it with perseverance. What a huge statement. You do not 65 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:59.760 hope for that which you possess. You've got it. You see it. Whatever it might be. Oh, I've never 66 00:06:59.760 --> 00:07:04.880 owned a car before and you get a car. You no longer hope for a car. You drive the car. 67 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:13.840 Hoping doesn't apply. But for the Christian, it's so beyond all that. Because we have the 68 00:07:13.840 --> 00:07:20.720 proof of heaven dwelling in us by the Holy Spirit and we have now been conditioned and prepared for 69 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:29.840 eternity, heaven. Even though we haven't seen it, our hope is confirmed because God has made us these 70 00:07:29.840 --> 00:07:36.960 promises. This gets very, very important here, church, real quick. The hope of heaven. Listen, 71 00:07:36.960 --> 00:07:45.760 heaven's assurance is our hope. Please make note of this. Every time, listen, when someone 72 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:55.760 is dying and they call the church and I or a pastor goes to that home or to that hospital and it's 73 00:07:55.760 --> 00:08:02.400 a believer and they want to hear scripture read. I'm telling you right now, just get ready for it. 74 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:08.240 You and I are going to experience this unless Christ comes for us and I hope he does. But listen, 75 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:12.800 every time I go, I better take my Bible when I go, right? Why? Because the believer, 76 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:18.480 lying there as the outward man is perishing, the believer says things like this, pastor, 77 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:27.120 when you read me scriptures. Pastor, tell me about Jesus. Just talk to me. Just tell me from your 78 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:33.760 heart again from the scriptures about Jesus. I have never, once, once ever have someone come 79 00:08:33.760 --> 00:08:39.360 and say or have me come and say, Pastor, just tell me what was on the front page of the early times 80 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:45.840 today. It's never happened. No one says, Pastor, how's my stock? How's my stock doing today? 81 00:08:47.040 --> 00:08:54.000 How much money did I make today? Nobody on their deathbed asked that question. The believer on 82 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:00.240 their deathbed says, you know, Paul said it in Timothy. Second Timothy, he says, when you come, 83 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:07.360 bring the parchment. Paul was saying before I, before my head is decapitated in Rome, 84 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:11.520 can you bring the scriptures when you come and while I'm in prison, will you read to me? 85 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:17.440 Oh, and bring my, he said, bring my cloak. It's the outer garment. Bring my jacket. I'm freezing 86 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:24.640 down here. When you come, bring it. I left it in Troas. Tell me the truth when I'm dying. 87 00:09:26.160 --> 00:09:32.320 Tell me the truth when things hurt. Tell me the truth when you speak about what God has for me in 88 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:39.440 life. God has heaven for the believer. As believers, we don't make it up being a believer. Oh, 89 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:44.480 believer, what do you, what do you believe? We don't make anything up. We're believing in what God 90 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:49.600 has said. And you need to find out right now with what you're believing and does it bring you 91 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:54.240 assurance. Listen, is what you're hanging on to going to walk you through the valley of the 92 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:59.920 shadow of death? Is what you believe in going to comfort you in that hour of decision? 93 00:10:00.560 --> 00:10:08.320 In that moment when you come, no wonder. As you're reading scripture to somebody, the Bible says, 94 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:17.520 God says, precious in my sight of the death of my saints. It's amazing thing. But note this, would 95 00:10:17.520 --> 00:10:27.120 you, it says, for we were saved, compound past tense. Notice it says, we're saved. For we were 96 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:31.520 saved in this hope, church family, whatever we're going to learn, we're going to learn from the 97 00:10:31.520 --> 00:10:36.560 Bible. The Bible makes commentary on the Bible. So get excited about this because you have an 98 00:10:36.560 --> 00:10:42.720 assured hope. It's Ephesians 1. Listen to this. Grab all these as you see them happen. Again, 99 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:51.760 I'll try to exaggerate it so that you mark it. Ephesians 1 verse 3, blessed past tense. Be the 100 00:10:51.760 --> 00:11:00.080 God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the 101 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:05.440 heavenly places in Christ. What does that mean? It means that in heaven is reserved for you 102 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:15.760 everything you need. Forever. Verse 4, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of 103 00:11:15.760 --> 00:11:20.720 the world, meaning before the foundation of the world was ever laid, that physical universe 104 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:27.840 was ever created, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Verse 5, having 105 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:35.520 predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his 106 00:11:35.520 --> 00:11:44.480 will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved. Can 107 00:11:44.640 --> 00:11:52.080 you look at that? Right now, Christian, you are accepted because of the blood of Jesus Christ 108 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:58.480 that guarantees your assurance in heaven. It's the blood of Christ, and this is speaking from 109 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:05.440 God's perspective. Where are you, so to speak, seated in the stadium? What's your vantage point? 110 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:11.840 I can't see because of this. I'm over here and I can't exactly see the whole field. We're up here 111 00:12:11.920 --> 00:12:19.600 and everybody's too small. God is right over every moment, every play, so to speak. He sees it all, 112 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:26.080 and before you are ever brought into this world, God had gone before us with his redemption plan. 113 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:31.920 I'm so glad he wrote it down in advance. Why would he do such a thing? We're not making this up as 114 00:12:31.920 --> 00:12:38.240 we go along. I'm reading to you something that's 2000 years old and what's 2000 years old is 115 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:46.560 quoting the ancient scriptures. It's absolutely awesome. Verse 7 says, 116 00:12:46.560 --> 00:12:51.360 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches 117 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:57.280 of his grace, which he made, past tense to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 118 00:12:57.280 --> 00:13:02.880 having made known to us the mystery of his will. According to his good pleasure, which he 119 00:13:02.880 --> 00:13:08.240 purposed in himself, that here it is, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, 120 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:16.320 that means God worked in seasons to bring man to a glorious conclusion. That word that in 121 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:22.560 dispensations of fullness of times is one of your favorite verses, Jeremiah 29 11, answers to that. 122 00:13:22.560 --> 00:13:26.880 God says, I know the thoughts I think toward you, thoughts of hope and for a future, not of 123 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:31.920 destruction, but to bring your life to a glorious and full completion. That's right out 124 00:13:33.040 --> 00:13:39.920 of the Old Testament and reminded us again in verse 10 of Ephesians chapter 1. The fullness of 125 00:13:39.920 --> 00:13:45.280 the times he might gather together in one, all things in Christ, that's the body of Christ, the church, 126 00:13:45.280 --> 00:13:51.440 church age believers and more, tribulation saints, Old Testament saints, all of us, both which are 127 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:56.880 in heaven and in which are in earth and him and in him also we have obtained an inheritance 128 00:13:56.880 --> 00:14:02.320 being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel 129 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:09.360 of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. Boy, 130 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:15.760 that is deep stuff and it's kind of shallow in English, it's deeper in the original languages, 131 00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:24.400 but wow, God says, I've got this, God is saying to you, before you ever woke up and realized that 132 00:14:24.400 --> 00:14:30.240 you had sinned and that you have shipwrecked your life, God is saying, I knew this about you, come 133 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:36.720 to me now. I knew that you'd flub it up, come to me. See, you and I think I flubbed it up, I cannot 134 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:41.840 come to him. Again, I was away this weekend and I had a chance to speak to a group of people, 135 00:14:41.920 --> 00:14:49.200 small group of people they, I found out, are gazillionaires who support Christian ministries 136 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:54.240 all around the world. These people, I'm not going to mention their names, some of them are household 137 00:14:54.240 --> 00:15:01.600 items, you have in your house, you have under your sink and then don't care about that stuff anymore, 138 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:06.640 all that stuff they just sell, that stuff was just to make money and it's the money that we take 139 00:15:07.040 --> 00:15:12.080 and that's how we build hospitals in Africa. This is what we're doing to build this center in South 140 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:16.560 America. This is how we're reaching the people in these abandoned nations in Africa. 141 00:15:18.400 --> 00:15:25.360 They're so impressive. God designed to work and move in our lives in whatever position or station 142 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:31.760 we are in life and all they cared about was not their money but the fact that, hey, God's done this 143 00:15:31.760 --> 00:15:38.000 for me, I can't wait to go out and bless other people and you think about that. You guys are 144 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:43.680 an amazing church and I'm not just saying that. Your faith is spoken of all over the world literally. 145 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:52.160 You wonder why I said faith. I didn't say your attendance, I didn't say how beautiful you are, 146 00:15:52.160 --> 00:15:57.760 your faith because some of those people came up and they said, we know about your church. 147 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:06.640 We've seen what influence it has for righteousness and for what's good. That's all of you. That's 148 00:16:06.640 --> 00:16:13.920 not me. That's you doing the right thing and that honors God. How do you do that? Because you're 149 00:16:13.920 --> 00:16:19.600 secure in Christ. You've got this assurance of this hope that you're not hoping for. If you are 150 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:24.560 today saying, I hope I make it to heaven. Friends, I want to introduce you to Jesus Christ today. 151 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:29.200 If you're hoping you're going to make it to heaven, let me just cut to the chase. If you're hoping 152 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:35.200 to make it, you're not going to make it because that's not how you get there. You want to be certain 153 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:40.240 that you're going to make it and that's the hope the Bible speaks about. Not a hope, I hope. It is a 154 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:48.080 hope I know. It's a hope assured and that scripture there in Ephesians backs up Romans beautifully, 155 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:56.960 saved and hope that you can have now. This upsets people every time I bring it up. It's unnecessary. 156 00:16:57.920 --> 00:17:05.920 It's wrong that you should be upset by this. Listen carefully. The Bible says, saved. 157 00:17:09.600 --> 00:17:14.000 Jesus said to Nicodemus, unless you're born again, you will not see the kingdom of heaven. 158 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:23.120 Nicodemus, all of our righteousness put together stinks compared to the righteous deeds of Nicodemus. 159 00:17:24.800 --> 00:17:26.960 And Jesus says, you're not making it. You're not going. 160 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:36.240 Nicodemus was befuddled. He said, what you would say, how can this be true? Pastor, are you nuts? 161 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:43.280 I've been a good student, good citizen. Good. You don't get points for that. You're 162 00:17:43.280 --> 00:17:52.320 supposed to be. That doesn't get you to heaven. It's amazing if God writes the Bible and just writes 163 00:17:52.320 --> 00:17:58.160 in the Bible. All of you be good citizens, vote in every election, mow your lawn, use a deodorant, 164 00:17:59.760 --> 00:18:05.760 be nice to people and heaven's going to be fantastic. It's going to smell good too. He didn't say 165 00:18:05.760 --> 00:18:16.560 that. The Bible says that we are all lost, selfish, sin-bent, and that God sent the Savior, Jesus Christ, 166 00:18:16.560 --> 00:18:21.280 to die in the cross for our sins, and to be risen from the dead for our eternal life. Listen, 167 00:18:21.280 --> 00:18:29.200 your salvation is only as secure as Christ is alive. Did you hear that? Your salvation is only 168 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:39.360 as secure as Jesus in heaven. Let me make this very clear. If you're born again, 169 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:47.760 then you're in the family of God. The word here is called saved, and if you're saved, 170 00:18:48.800 --> 00:18:54.880 you cannot find me a verse that says you could become unsaved. People want to argue about this. 171 00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:00.640 They're wasting my time. You want to argue about it? You go, go and sit in the corner, 172 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:07.680 argue about it with yourself all day long. When God says, you come to me, you repent of your sins, 173 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:14.480 heck homologale. Say the same word about sin that I say about it. Believe in me, and you shall live. 174 00:19:15.520 --> 00:19:16.480 You'll have eternal life. 175 00:19:16.560 --> 00:19:26.480 This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener 176 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:33.840 supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to 177 00:19:33.840 --> 00:19:40.480 learn more and stay connected. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. 178 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:44.160 Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? 179 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:48.480 Progressive makes it easy. 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