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 --> 00:00:10.880 truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. Are you a Christ follower? 3 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:18.120 Before you say yes, Jesus says you've got to deny yourself. You cannot deny 4 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:21.880 yourself unless you understand yourself and I'm not talking about psychology. 5 00:00:21.880 --> 00:00:28.720 All you need to know is this, I'm not good for me and you're not good for you. We 6 00:00:28.720 --> 00:00:33.320 in and of ourselves, without Jesus, we're not good for one another. But with 7 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:39.440 Christ, everything changes. Can you say amen to that? He changes everything. 8 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:47.640 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 9 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:52.960 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled 10 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:57.640 life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To 11 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:03.000 us, that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to 12 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:08.520 listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack 13 00:01:08.520 --> 00:01:15.040 Hibbs. I'm reminded by the way the 18th century evangelist, the great George 14 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:23.880 Whitfield, who preached the gospel here in the colonies, was probably outside of 15 00:01:23.880 --> 00:01:33.880 the Bible. George Whitfield was reaching people in the 1760s, 1765, 1775. 16 00:01:33.880 --> 00:01:40.000 Whitfield was preaching in the U.S. colonies having come from England and no 17 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.880 microphone, no speakers, no platforms. He did carry with him, by the way, an 18 00:01:44.880 --> 00:01:50.840 actual portable pulpit made out of wood. And he did that, by the way, because the 19 00:01:50.840 --> 00:01:55.480 churches in England would not let him preach. They forbade him to preach because 20 00:01:55.480 --> 00:02:01.440 he preached a simple gospel, very simple. And if you read his writings, it's a 21 00:02:01.440 --> 00:02:06.680 simple gospel. And if you've ever attended in his day the Billy Graham Crusades, 22 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:11.240 you're wondering, how can anybody get saved with that message? It's so simple. But 23 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:18.640 there's power in the simplicity of the gospel. When Whitfield would preach, tens of 24 00:02:18.640 --> 00:02:23.880 thousands would gather together. In fact, when he was preaching at the Boston 25 00:02:23.880 --> 00:02:28.680 Commons, it's a grassy area that's still there today. A guy that was in the 26 00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:33.560 crowd was so blown away by what was going on that he could hear the gospel so 27 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:38.000 clearly that he went way to the back and he could hear Whitfield preaching. And 28 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:42.520 looked around and he saw tens of thousands of people. And so what that man did 29 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:45.360 was right in the middle of the sermon, I don't know if he was paying attention to 30 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:48.840 or not, but he walked right through the crowd, went to the front of the podium, turned 31 00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:54.440 around and paced it back off and then did the math and figured out that there 32 00:02:54.440 --> 00:03:00.480 were 30,000 people listening to George Whitfield preach the gospel. And that man 33 00:03:00.480 --> 00:03:06.680 that did that concluded it had to be done by supernatural means. And that man 34 00:03:06.680 --> 00:03:12.720 was a guy by the name of Ben Franklin, who from that time forward under the 35 00:03:12.720 --> 00:03:18.120 missionary works of George Whitfield. He preached Christ and people were 36 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:24.240 transformed and churches that were dying were renewed and people who were 37 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:28.800 wayward came back home and people who heard the gospel for the first time were 38 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:34.400 converted. And it's simply this that Jesus Christ died on the cross for all of 39 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:40.080 mankind, Jesus died on the cross for all. But to those who believe in him, 40 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:46.840 qualified, but to those who believe in him, trusting him, he would grant the 41 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:53.200 eternal life, resurrected life, the power of God's spirit upon your life. And 42 00:03:53.200 --> 00:03:58.320 there's listen, there's a there's a relationship in all of this. There's God the 43 00:03:58.320 --> 00:04:03.880 father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit. And the Bible teaches us clearly, 44 00:04:03.880 --> 00:04:09.120 Jesus said it, that when he goes away, the spirit of God will come and he will 45 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:15.040 instruct you and he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of 46 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:19.560 judgment. But Jesus says the Holy Spirit will become your teacher. Listen, and he 47 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:25.400 said that he would use the word of God. The Holy Spirit uses the word of God in 48 00:04:25.400 --> 00:04:29.600 your life. People will often say, I don't think God speaking to me or I don't 49 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:33.440 understand the Bible. Are you reading the Bible? Are you reading it because the 50 00:04:33.440 --> 00:04:38.240 Holy Spirit has been commissioned by Jesus Christ himself to use the word of 51 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:43.520 God into people's lives. So there are those, you and I know, then they criticize 52 00:04:43.520 --> 00:04:47.920 the Bible all the time, but they have never stopped to read it because if they 53 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:51.960 read it, the spirit of God's going to speak to them. And they're going to be brought 54 00:04:51.960 --> 00:04:57.920 to the place of decision. Yes, for Jesus or no for Jesus. And of course the 55 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:02.360 book of Romans is all about those who said yes to Jesus. Paul is writing to the 56 00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:07.680 believers in the epicenter of Rome and those that emanated out from that 57 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:15.200 location. But it's that gathering together. It's important. I'll give you an 58 00:05:15.200 --> 00:05:19.440 illustration as to how important you understand this about the Bible, about the 59 00:05:19.440 --> 00:05:25.200 Holy Spirit and about who Jesus Christ is. So at least and I do not do much 60 00:05:25.200 --> 00:05:33.240 fast food dining. At our age we're trying to protect ourselves, but push 61 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:38.440 comes to shove. We had to do that this week and I we walked into a particular 62 00:05:38.440 --> 00:05:43.160 place and I said, well I want this and she said, well excuse me, do you want a 63 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:48.480 combo? And I said, no, I don't, I don't want a combo. I want this and I want 64 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:52.440 that. And she said, are you sure you don't want a combo? I said, I know what I'm 65 00:05:52.440 --> 00:05:58.960 doing here. I don't, I don't want a combo. And I'll tell you what, I'll take 66 00:05:58.960 --> 00:06:05.600 I'll take that. And she goes, that's a combo. And I had no idea that was a 67 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:11.200 combo. There are Christians today that have no idea that there has to be a 68 00:06:11.200 --> 00:06:17.200 combo for you to grow in life. And that combo is a constant feeding upon the 69 00:06:17.200 --> 00:06:22.800 Bible. Now the Holy Spirit's got something to use in your life to do what, to 70 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:27.320 exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and how you live. And that's what this closing 71 00:06:27.320 --> 00:06:31.520 argument is all about. As we've been looking at this study, busted or broken, 72 00:06:31.520 --> 00:06:35.400 that's for you to decide how you're going to go on that. But we've learned these 73 00:06:35.400 --> 00:06:40.040 two things previous to what we're going to learn today. We started in verse 14 and 74 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:45.200 we learned that we need to come to the end of ourselves. We need to come to the 75 00:06:45.200 --> 00:06:49.400 end of ourselves. It's not about us. It's about him. And listen, and when it's 76 00:06:49.400 --> 00:06:54.880 about him, it's about others around us. It's called church. Secondly, in 77 00:06:54.880 --> 00:07:00.400 verses 17 to 18, we saw that we need to come to the end of me or the end of 78 00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:06.720 you, of course, the end of me, where it's not about us. It's about him and it is 79 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:11.760 about others. And now we come to the closing argument and it's coming to the end 80 00:07:11.760 --> 00:07:17.320 of us collectively as a people. And that emanates out like the believers in 81 00:07:17.320 --> 00:07:22.240 Rome throughout the entire empire. So it begins in my life. It affects my home, 82 00:07:22.320 --> 00:07:28.280 my neighborhood, the church, and beyond. And that is us in all of this today. By 83 00:07:28.280 --> 00:07:33.480 wave introduction, Matthew chapter 16, the Bible says in verse 24, then Jesus 84 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:38.520 said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny 85 00:07:38.520 --> 00:07:44.560 himself, take up his cross and follow me. And you got to stop and ask yourself, 86 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:50.960 are you a Christ follower? Before you say yes, Jesus says you've got to deny 87 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:56.000 yourself. You cannot deny yourself unless you understand yourself. And I'm not 88 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:01.160 talking about psychology. All you need to know is this, I'm not good for me. And 89 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:06.800 you're not good for you. We in and of ourselves, without Jesus, we're not good 90 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:11.720 for one another. But with Christ, everything changes. Can you say amen to that? He 91 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:17.280 changes everything. And so as we continue on with this, when he says that if 92 00:08:17.280 --> 00:08:21.680 anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, secondly, take up his cross 93 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:26.920 and thirdly follow me. This is the path. This is the course of a disciple. For 94 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:32.560 whoever desires to save his life, in other words, live for you. Live for yourself. We 95 00:08:32.560 --> 00:08:37.200 all live for us. What we're going to lose it. But whoever loses his life, that 96 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:42.600 means willingly, give it up. Give it into his care. Give it into his control. Give 97 00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:48.000 it into his power. Coming to him and saying, Jesus, you've given me life and I'm 98 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:52.680 given my life back to you. My goodness, listen, you may be a believer in here today 99 00:08:52.680 --> 00:08:55.920 and saying to yourself, I'm going to do that again today. I'm just, in fact, right 100 00:08:55.920 --> 00:08:59.200 now, I'm just dedicated myself to God. That's a good thing. You should do that 101 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:04.720 every day. But maybe you're not a Christ follower and you're saying, wow, that's 102 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:12.240 serious. Yes, it is serious. But you also know it's true. These are the words in 103 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:19.000 the instructions of Jesus himself. And so he says, for whoever desires to save 104 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:24.480 his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life from my sake will find it. 105 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:31.160 Jesus, the epicenter, give up your life, watch, give up your life and let him live 106 00:09:31.160 --> 00:09:36.640 his life through you. That is called Christianity. We don't see much of an 107 00:09:36.640 --> 00:09:42.200 example of Christianity in the world that we live in today. I don't care if you 108 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:46.120 see it in print. I don't care if you see it plastered on the building. It means 109 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:53.440 nothing. It is an observable fact that you can watch and see to determine that is 110 00:09:53.440 --> 00:10:00.360 the nature of Christ, okay? It's very important. Now look at this verse 26. By the way, 111 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:03.880 when I read verse 26, we don't have to think about ourselves, although we 112 00:10:03.880 --> 00:10:12.080 should, you might be thinking, oh, if I was, if I just had Bill Gates' money or Jeff 113 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:18.680 Bezos or Elon Musk, if I just had their money, really? Listen to what Jesus said. For 114 00:10:18.680 --> 00:10:24.640 what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what 115 00:10:24.640 --> 00:10:30.240 will a man give in exchange for his soul? He can't. I love this. You've heard me say 116 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:35.080 this before, the currency of this world, no matter what currency you hold in your wallet 117 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:43.640 or in your bank, does not exchange over into the currency of heaven. Your money, my money, 118 00:10:43.640 --> 00:10:49.880 whatever you have, if it's a nickel, does not transfer into the kingdom of heaven. It 119 00:10:49.880 --> 00:10:57.240 doesn't work that way. God operates off an incredible and different economy and that 120 00:10:57.240 --> 00:11:03.760 economy is based on blood. His blood, not yours. Oh, just tell me what to do, Pastor. 121 00:11:03.760 --> 00:11:08.600 Just give me marching orders and I'll better myself. Give me 10 steps to improve myself. 122 00:11:08.600 --> 00:11:15.960 Not going to get it. Can't give it because you cannot improve upon the blood of Jesus. 123 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:20.160 And that's what he has done for you and has done for me. And so we look at the first 124 00:11:20.160 --> 00:11:25.000 thing here. It's in verse 19. Coming to the end of us means this. We need to face 125 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:31.000 up with anger. We who are angry. You may say, I'm not angry. I'm talking about an anger 126 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:36.560 that you and I have living within us native to the human. You say, well, I'm a Christian. 127 00:11:36.560 --> 00:11:42.440 You still deal with anger. Let me explain how this works. It says in verse 19, beloved, 128 00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:48.760 do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. For it is written vengeance is 129 00:11:48.760 --> 00:11:54.200 mine. I will repay says the Lord. So the first thing that we need to write down, and I know 130 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:58.760 you're not going to want to do this because you don't want to admit that there's anger. 131 00:11:58.760 --> 00:12:03.480 Well, I'm going to say it for all of us. There's anger with us. Well, there's something that 132 00:12:03.480 --> 00:12:09.800 happens and it will make us angry. We may not even show it. But there'll be anger on the inside. 133 00:12:09.800 --> 00:12:15.240 Now watch this. The Bible here is telling us Paul is speaking to the believers and he's being 134 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:21.320 tender because he's saying, first of all, beloved brothers and sisters, he is saying, do not 135 00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:33.000 avenge yourselves. Do not go on a campaign to write what is being done against you. Do not 136 00:12:34.040 --> 00:12:41.960 pick up arms as it were and go to war because of what people are saying. We're tempted. I was tempted 137 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:50.680 this week. What is today? Sunday, so Friday. So Friday, the cybersecurity group said, hey, 138 00:12:50.680 --> 00:12:56.360 we're working on this. And what is this? I have this link. I look at this link and it's my 139 00:12:56.360 --> 00:13:02.360 Facebook page and I thought it was me. You couldn't tell the difference. And then you start looking 140 00:13:02.360 --> 00:13:13.320 at it and there's 60, 60,000 followers who I have been asking money from you and you've been 141 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:24.040 mailing the other me money. This guy's a scammer. He's an imposter. Are you hearing me? Listen, 142 00:13:24.040 --> 00:13:30.920 those kinds of antics, though as horrible as they are, actually speak to the fact that there's an 143 00:13:30.920 --> 00:13:38.680 original. If you have a hundred dollar bill in your wallet, a Benjamin Franklin, that is the most 144 00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:49.880 most. What's the word? Counterfeited currency, I'm told, in the world, why do they make knock off 145 00:13:49.880 --> 00:13:55.800 hundred dollar bills because there's a real hundred dollar bill? Why does somebody attack you or 146 00:13:55.800 --> 00:14:03.240 attack me or whatever it might be or Jesus and make up cults and try to redefine who he is? Why? 147 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:08.040 Because there is an actual original. That's why there's all the other falsehoods. They're trying 148 00:14:08.040 --> 00:14:13.800 to cheat and they're trying to get something out of you. And I've told you guys for years, 149 00:14:13.800 --> 00:14:19.560 I will never ask you for money. Ever. I will never ask you to meet me somewhere. Never. 150 00:14:21.560 --> 00:14:26.600 But there are those who are doing this. And the fact of the matter is that when I saw that, 151 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:33.880 I got angry. Nobody could tell, but I got angry on the inside. And I wanted to ask the cyber guy, 152 00:14:33.880 --> 00:14:38.840 can you drop a cyber bomb on that guy? Can you blow up his computer from here? 153 00:14:40.920 --> 00:14:44.840 That's how I felt like. Are you hearing me right now? When somebody wronged you 154 00:14:46.120 --> 00:14:52.280 and you get angry, notice it's explosive. It may not even be explosive. I'm not talking about you going, 155 00:14:52.280 --> 00:14:59.800 hey, no, you can look completely normal. And on the inside, you're screaming. You're angry. 156 00:15:00.760 --> 00:15:03.240 And you want to do something about it because you've been wronged. 157 00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:10.600 And God says, I'll take care of it. I want to encourage you let God take care of your problems. 158 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:16.680 He knows how to do it. But he's telling us, listen, don't avenge yourselves. 159 00:15:17.560 --> 00:15:22.520 And that word avenge, let's take a look at that. Don't do this to yourself. Do not take the 160 00:15:22.520 --> 00:15:30.440 matters into your own hands. Don't seek to vindicate, to make a plan, to punish or to take 161 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:39.000 revenge upon someone, an act of premeditation by organizing ill or to manipulate vengeance against 162 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:43.400 another individual. This is where, hey, you hurt me. I'm going to hurt you back. 163 00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:51.000 And you do that in anger. Now, I want to be clearer. Church, you do know that there's an 164 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:55.960 anger that God sanctions. Did you know that, right? There's an anger that God even encourages you 165 00:15:55.960 --> 00:16:02.040 to operate under. The anger of holiness, the anger of righteousness, when you see something wrong, 166 00:16:02.040 --> 00:16:06.600 and you say this is unjust, this is unfair, these people are being hurt or whatever it might be, 167 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:11.800 and you stand up, and you can stand up because you're standing on the truth. It's not emotion. 168 00:16:11.800 --> 00:16:17.080 In fact, are you listening? You may not even want to get involved, but you have to get involved 169 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:24.280 because the Spirit of God is leading you to stand for righteousness and you're compelled, 170 00:16:25.400 --> 00:16:31.480 but you're confident because you're standing upon his truth. And it's a fight, if I can put it 171 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:37.080 this way, it's a fight that you didn't pick. God says to you, though, I want you to stand up for 172 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:42.280 this issue or stand up for that person or stand up against this other thing. Are you hurting me? 173 00:16:42.280 --> 00:16:49.480 It's very important, and we must know the difference, but we can be angry if we are seeking to 174 00:16:50.520 --> 00:16:56.680 extract our own wrath or judgment out of it. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10, 175 00:16:56.680 --> 00:17:02.040 now you'll find this in various places of Scripture. Obviously, it's right here in Romans 1219, 176 00:17:02.040 --> 00:17:07.720 but in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 30, it says, for we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will 177 00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:15.000 repay, says the Lord, and again, the Lord will judge his people. Now, all of this comes from 178 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:20.120 the foundation verse, and that is Deuteronomy 32 verse 35. The Bible says, I will take revenge. 179 00:17:20.120 --> 00:17:26.840 This is God speaking. I will pay them back. In due time, their feet will slip. Their day of 180 00:17:26.840 --> 00:17:33.880 disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them. That is a strong verse. People 181 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:39.640 listen up. God is saying, and in this case, he's saying to the nation of Israel and to the wicked, 182 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:46.120 he's saying, I'll take care of it. In due time, their feet will slip. That's a tremendous statement, 183 00:17:46.120 --> 00:17:50.680 because you know what it implies. It implies that people that are doing evil and doing wrong think 184 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:56.520 it's never going to catch up to them. And God is waiting. He's patient, and he says to us, 185 00:17:56.520 --> 00:18:03.000 in due time, their feet will slip. And what comes to your mind when you slip, they're going to fall, 186 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:08.760 what comes to my mind? Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon? I mean, I've never done this because 187 00:18:08.760 --> 00:18:14.680 I'm just, the Bible says, do not tempt the Lord thy God, but there's people who get on those little 188 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:20.600 donkeys, those little burrows, and they go down the wall of the Grand Canyon, nearly 5,000 feet down 189 00:18:20.600 --> 00:18:27.320 to the Colorado River. And that donkey, if that donkey had a heart attack, dropped dead, or saw 190 00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:33.000 rattlesnake, you're going to go flying without wings or a pair of shoots. And all you're going to have 191 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:39.880 a, hey, no, no, it's a donkey. That's terrifying. This is thinking about that picture. The wicked, 192 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:45.240 their feet are going to slip in due time. So you got, I hope this is not you, but you might be 193 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:51.000 here today saying, I've never gotten caught. I've never gotten busted. I highly recommend today, 194 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:55.720 you look down deep inside and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you today. And God 195 00:18:55.800 --> 00:19:00.440 might be saying, I want you to take the fact that I know nobody in this room knows, but I know 196 00:19:02.360 --> 00:19:07.640 and I want you to come to the place of brokenness. And to be broken is to say, God, you caught me. 197 00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:15.480 And I'm busted. But instead of doubling down on it, God, I'm forsaking it. I want to be saved. 198 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:19.720 I want to live. I want to have forgiveness. I want to live life. I want to go to heaven. God, 199 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:24.520 that's what I want to do. And that would be broken. That would be brokenness. And that's what you 200 00:19:24.520 --> 00:19:34.040 want to experience. This Jack Hibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities 201 00:19:34.040 --> 00:19:38.600 are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? 202 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:45.080 Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.