Christ Died For You

real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Hell says justice on you, hell says justice on Jack, I cry out in mercy and and based upon the expense of Jesus Christ at the cross, his death in my place, he purchased my salvation. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now, open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. We begin this with an awakening that we have sinned and the Bible says that sin pays dividends at the end of the quarter. You'll either have a prophet, you'll either break even or you'll go broke. And the Bible says the sin that wages pay is death. You get a statement in the mail and it's death. We all know this is true. But thank God, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Wow, see, this is beginning to build the road. It was pretty foggy there at the beginning, but now I'm starting to see a little bit of clarity. Step four, Romans, chapter five, verse eight says, but God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Can we have a, can we thank God for that? Wow. If you are arguing, if this is an argumentation or a debate class, this is a toughy because I love the fact that I believe that this verse proves the existence of God regarding our salvation. When it says that God demonstrated His own love toward us, that while some of your Bibles say, while we were yet or still, yes, sinners Christ died for us. Let's be honest, why in the world would you and I pay anything for somebody who is the antithesis of who we are or what we like or want? Think of it. Think about somebody in this world that you can encounter in life that is the opposite of everything you believe in and God says die for them. So imagine Charlie Manson condemned to death and you step in and take Charlie Manson's place. That's what God did for us. Who does this? God did this. This is the good news. That God would step in and say, listen, Jack, are you guilty? And see, here's the thing. Can you understand this? Can you imagine if you say, man, I love that person so much. Oh, do you know them? I don't know them. But I've watched them on the TV show and then the court TV thing. And I just love that person. My heart goes out to them. Oh, that's cool, I guess, yeah, right on. Well, do you know where this courtroom is? Where's the store studio? Where's this going on? And you go there and you do whatever you need to do to get there. And then you come into the room and the judges, who are you? I'm so-and-so. Well, who cares? Well, I'm here to pay for his judgment. His judgment's death, dude. Okay, that's fine. Where do you want to kill me? Can you imagine if the guy that's condemned says, what are you nuts? Get out of here. What drove you to the courthouse, what caused you to intervene was what you said earlier, love. People think you're crazy. How could that possibly be? The love is offered. Judgment can be relieved. The guilty can go free. But the guilty turns to the innocent and says, are you nuts? Get out of here. Every day in life that you say to God, I don't need you, I don't need your salvation. You are a guilty, lost, condemned sinner. And he barged into your life with an announcement and it's happening right now. It's been happening since you walked into this building. Jesus died in the cross fear of sins. Jesus rose again from the dead. You can't go to heaven by being good. Don't judge other people. We can't do it because we're judging other people from a tainted position. You say, well, I don't do what you do. And God goes over here and says, I don't do what you're doing. And who's the real judge? He is. So we all throw our hands up and say, oh, God have mercy. And God will have mercy on any soul that will turn and ask Him. You know the story, right? I'm sure I'll flood it up, but it goes something to this effect. There was one particular battle. I forget the village. I forget the scenario. But once Napoleon's troops had captured that area, you know, they would parade the soldiers right back into prison or off to death. They often put them in shackles. The Babylonians would put fish hooks made out of fishbone in the jaws. And they would link the hook to the back of this guy's neck that's in front of you. And so you're hooked together. And that's how you display the triumphant entry, by the way. Remember Jesus and the triumphant entry? The triumphant entry in the Roman Empire was the conquering general. For example, Russell Crowe comes into Rome with all those that he captured. And he's on a white horse. And behind him are all is all the gold and all the booty and all the stuff that they captured. And the people and their chained or their hooked, okay? And so you just keep that in mind. They're bound, they're hooked together. They are tied together condemned. It's an absolutely horrific scene. But for one to step in, so this was going on with Napoleon. And a woman comes from the crowd. Your majesty, your majesty. And she falls on her face before Napoleon. And she says, have mercy on my son, Napoleon, have mercy. And he said, man, your son was found, worrying against me. He deserves justice. Napoleon said, stop right there. Wasn't Napoleon correct? 100%. He's the, this man's the enemy. He was warring against us. He deserves judgment. On what grounds? I'm the victor. Taliban now rules Afghanistan. We call the shots now. On what grounds? We won. So, the woman says, oh, your emperor, I didn't ask for you to show judgment and justice. I asked for you to show mercy. And I don't know if this next part's true. It's debated that Napoleon was so touched by that, that mercy was passed along. I don't know if that's true or false. But do you get the point? Hell says, justice on you. Hell says, justice on Jack. I cry out in mercy. And based upon the expense of Jesus Christ at the cross, his death in my place, he purchased my salvation. According to God, the righteousness of Jesus Christ has been imparted to you. When God looks at you, he sees the righteousness of his son. This is hard for me to say, but it's theologically accurate, but it's tough to identify that's much faith. When God looks at his son, Jesus, he goes, I'm well pleased. When God looks at you who are in Christ, a Christian God says, I'm well pleased. Oh, how did that happen? Jesus. It's not like, I'm so well pleased in my son. And so you know my son, do you? You're so ashamed of him. All right, you can come in. Oh no, the Bible says a grand full entrance will be provided to you on that day that you see his glory. Is that going to happen to you? Will that be you? I hope that will be you. And the fifth and final step to the Romans' road is chapter 10 verse 13, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord, shall be saved. And no, there's no end. How much? Know how much? But what's the hook? No hook. It's just tough. This is hard. And I can tell you why it's hard. God's salvation is free and you're supposed to accept it or else it's hell for you. That's pretty clear, right? Is that clear? Did I did I fudge it up anywhere along there? So I don't like that. Well, there's one more thing you're not going to like. God says accept my salvation. Just receive it. People, listen, I'm one of them. And it's pure pride. It's absolute arrogance. I'm telling you right now, I am confessing to you. It's pride and arrogance. And here's what it, here's the deal. It happened to, in fact, it happened in two different ways this last week for me. Number one, we went out to dinner with some friends. Normally, I have a system. Because I have to pay. I want to be a blessing. But then I found out, you know, I like it. And then it becomes something like, oh, no, you can't pay for me. So I usually, if I have to call ahead or if I speak to the person first, or I just go like this, I just, hey, before the bills, before the foods even ordered, it's covered. Are you with me? Because I want to be a blessing to the person or people. I was distracted something happened and I didn't get a chance to do it. So the bill comes and it comes right to our friend. And it's amazing because I went, what are you doing? And he goes, I just want to be a blessing. And no, don't do it. Come on, excuse me, ma'am, can you bring that back over here? And the whole time, God's going, knock it off. Not just stuff it. So I'm hearing God, it's me and God now. Right jab, left hook. I'm not landing any, he's landing everyone. I'm like, so I'm like, and so he paid and God spoke to my heart. In your good deed, Jack, is corruption. There's so much pride wrapped up in what you just did. It's like, oh, man. So just the other day, there were a couple of gentlemen that I wanted a bless. And so I went to give them a blessing. Oh, no, no, it's okay. No, no, I want, and you should have seen this. These were three grown men in a parking lot. It looked like, I don't know if it looked like a drug, it probably looked like a drug heal. Because they're envelopes and here take it. I'm not taking it. No, I'm serious. You have to take it. No, I don't have to take it. Take it. And drop it, floor pick it up. And people probably watching from, that's a major deal going down there. Hey, listen, a major deal went down in the cross. Jesus died for you. Listen, we're going to do this. We're going to give you an opportunity to choose Christ today. Let me tell you how this is going to play out. You have to ask yourself, by the way, this is going to cool now. At all, it's over now. It's just for you and God. I'm going to ask no one to leave. Your car is not going to be able to leave before anybody else. I'm going to ask you to listen. It's a holy moment. Raise your hand if you're a Christian already, raise your hand. I need all of you to be praying because Satan would not want this next thing to happen. Number one, if you have never publicly acknowledged Jesus Christ as Lord, the Bible says that we have to do this. And that makes sense in a relationship. If you don't want to announce your husband or your wife, something's wrong, Jesus said, if you acknowledge me before people, I will acknowledge you before my father, which is in heaven. That means right now, some of you are already starting to get in a knot in your stomach. I remember that knot 44 years ago. I remember that knot. That's the Holy Spirit has now begun to speak to you right now. That's why you feel what you feel right now. You're the only one, oh, I can't believe he's doing this today. I should do this, but I'm not going to do it. You're thinking right now. You've never acknowledged him. You raised your hand a moment ago, but nobody knows you're a believer. And then listen, there are some of you who you need to become a follower of Jesus today. You need to have your sins washed away. You might even be impressed with your morality. But your morality is broken just like mine. And you need the transformative power of God, the Holy Spirit in your life, but he can't come in because he has to have a place to stand. And the Holy Spirit stands upon the blood of Christ. And the blood of Christ can only be applied to you if you invite Jesus Christ to take your life. I want you to bow your head and prepare your hearts. And for those of you who are going to have the biggest tornado going on inside of you, I mean, I'm serious. The greater the intensity, the louder the call of God upon your life. If you're tempted to think, what will my neighbor think? I wonder if my wife's thinking the same thing. Maybe if she moves first, if she moves her foot, what if she, if she gets up, Lord show me a sign, show me a sign. No, he's not going to talk to anybody else, but you. You need to obey him. Right? You thought you're going to come here and get out of life, huh? Not a chance. You need his life. This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.