Dead Men Tell No Tales

real life presents the Jack Kibs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. It's the beginning of you when you come to the end of yourself, your friends can't handle that. Why? Because listen, they're dead. They're dead because they're spiritually dead. You are alive because you're physically dead. Look at it. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackibs.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 Kibs. June 20th, 1977, Monday night, around 9 p.m. at night, Caverchapal, Costa Mesa. In that moment, when I responded to the gospel reality, the truth hit me in the face. My old man died. I was 19 years old, but in that moment, old Jack died. And here's the number one reason how I know that because from that moment on, there was nothing but struggle in my life. No, I mean that in a good way. Struggle. I never had a conflict with myself. Whatever myself wanted, I got it. I didn't withhold, like Solomon said, I didn't withhold anything from me. Neither did I. Neither did you. Don't look at me like that. You didn't, whatever you wanted, you manipulated around to get it. That's what unbelievers do. I don't blame them. It's all they're living for. And then Jesus walks into the picture. And can I say happily ruins everything? He shakes it all up. Oh, we don't do this anymore. What? And we're not doing that. Not just in maybe a little bit. Nope, not at all. How about this? Gotta go. And Jesus moves into your life. And listen, he doesn't take out everything at once. He goes from room to room. He's like a chippin' Joanna Gaines, you know. They work on the house and they get each room done at a time. But they all work off a blueprint. Do they not? And that blueprint is Jesus Christ in you. That's what God's doing to the life of the believer. That's why you're alive right now in the 21st century. That's why you're here. There's a blueprint that God is working. In best you die to you and accept that reality so that he can get the job done. It's a beautiful thing to die to yourself. It's a beautiful thing to come to the end of you. No longer having to control it all. This means that our new lives are now being animated. I love that word. Animated by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 36 verse 27 says, Ezekiel 36 27 says, I will put my spirit within you. This is God speaking. This is awesome. I will put my spirit within you and cause. See the word cause. This is a big word. If you look it up later, the word cause here is Ezekiel 36 27. The definition and application of this word cause is huge. It's so broad, but it means this accomplish. I will put my spirit within you and accomplish, administer, carve into you. I like that. To carve into you. That's powerful. To bestow upon you. Here's another word I love to celebrate. That's what it means. Let's read it again. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to celebrate as you walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. Put an awesome statement. See, I told you earlier in the beginning, God doesn't call us to do anything that we are to do in our own effort. Notice what God said there in Ezekiel. You're going to do my judgments. You're going to keep them. It's impossible. Yes, it is. Aren't you glad? It's impossible. Let's frustrate in this horrible. Yes, it is. You need to come to the end of you. But it's killing me. Amen. What do I do? Hallelujah. You mean I can't save myself? Celebrate. How does this make sense? I've been trying to, I've been a good boy, a good girl on my life. I've been trying to just cross all the tees and dot all the ice. Give it up. Look, be a good citizen. Don't get me wrong. Keep the speed limit. Keep your trash in your own car, will you? But when it comes to salvation, you can't do any of that stuff. Now, the good news is God says, I will put my spirit in you. I will cause you to walk in my statutes and keep my judgments. God will do it. The implications of this are profound in liberating. It's great when you come to the end of yourself. Look, we're talking about dying to self. This is true story. Well, I say it's a true story. I read it in a book written by J. Vernon McGee, so it better be true. I trust that guy, especially now that he's dead, I really trust him. You can't trust living people that could change their mind tomorrow, but dead people. They don't change their mind. In fact, it's done in on me that almost every book I read written about a bunch of dead old people. I feel safe in that. But McGee talks about this guy whose dad died in Texas, West Texas, but his dad was born in Southern California, and the old man died in cowboy. And so his son rented a Cadillac. His dad always wanted to ride in a Cadillac convertible. His son rented a Cadillac convertible, put his cowboy hat down, put his dead dad in the passenger seat of the car, put a cowboy hat on him, and drove him from Texas. To Southern California to be buried here somewhere. And the guy was pulled over by a patrolman, and he thought it'd be good to just slip the cowboy hat a little lower on his dad's head. And the guy was talking to the, you're going a little too fast. I know you're in a convertible, then it's hot, so I'm going to give you a warning this time. I hope you guys are comfortable, talk to you later, see a good bye, and the guy drives away. The whole point was, whenever that guy stopped for gas, whenever the guy stopped for ice cream, whenever he stopped for a coffee, his dad didn't have anything. And in fact, his dad never said, I could sure go for a lemonade right about now. Do you want to know why? Dead people don't demand anything. Dead people listen, they're only along for the ride. Jesus is driving. We're the ones who are dead to our demands now. And the truth of the matter is that dead people listen, when someone's dead, you do not, you can pass in and out, double, double animal style in front of them. They don't do anything. You can pass in front of them a number two fish tacos, black beans, white rice. They don't do anything, they don't even move. Banana split, not a budge. You can't tempt a dead man. And the Bible says, I've been crucified with Christ. But it's no longer me who lives, somebody's living put on this truth, it's time I live. It's time that you and I live, Galatians 2.20 goes on and says, but Christ lives in me. I didn't know how to say this. On my notes, the word but is in red and it's underlined and in my notes and I'm preaching this in my head, I need to say, but it doesn't sound right, but this but here is very significant. This is a very big here. This is a very powerful. This but is all important. It is a qualifying declaration. But Christ, it's a firework show at the end of the day. But Christ, it's the answer to everything. Your life's issue, but Christ, the doctor said, but Christ, my husband said, but Christ, my wife, my kids, my work, but Christ. Christ lives in the believer. This is the fact of Almighty God. And don't think for a moment, if that's true, you're going to have goose bumps, you're going to feel really full all the time. That's somehow there's no room in you because Christ lives in you. No, listen, it's spirit. It's a spiritual truth, which I'm grateful about because spiritual truths outlast physical. I believe, though, I think it's the old King James version that puts it this way. Some of you can check, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live yet not I. I like that. Yet not I. That's a great t-shirt. Yet not I. Yet not I. Wow. Paul had such a clear cut understanding that in his life, when he was living, that when he sinned, he would declare, wait a minute. That's not me. Read Romans 7 and 8 later. That's your homework. Wait a minute, Paul would say. Can you imagine Paul's walking along, he was walking, and he was a bad thought. That's not me. I've been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet it's not I, but Christ lives in me. I am reckoning now that thought that I would never have normally ever in my past life grabbed ahold of and hated like I do now. I hate it now. And because I hate it now, it's proof that the Spirit of God lives in me. And so what I'm doing right now is I'm grabbing that thought and I'm throwing it to the back and I'm saying right now that thoughts under the captivity of Christ because Paul died years ago, the new Paul lives and thank you, Jesus, for taking care of that. I'll talk to you. So. And he'd walk. And that's what you do. That's what a believer does. Because it's no longer you. It's Christ living in you. But a glorious truth. And so yet not I, in Romans 8, verse 11, the Bible says, if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Again, Philippians 310, this is awesome, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. Stop right there at the comma. Raise your hand if you want to know the power of His resurrection. Yeah. Let's keep reading. And the fellowship of His sufferings. Raise your hand again. No, if we really knew, if we really knew the benefits of suffering in Christ with Christ, we'd all say, you know what, yes to that, yes because let me die. Let me diminish that he might increase. Why? Because you'll be conformed to his death, conformed to his death, meaning this that again, the dead man is not tempted by this world. He said, free, put on this truth, it's the beginning of me. It's not only time to live, it's the beginning of me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. What a statement. Hey, what are you doing over there, Paul? I'm living by faith in the Son of God. It's the new life that I'm living. People who are dead, they don't understand that. Christians walk around. Praise the Lord. God is awesome. Issues happen in life, the Christian goes, God's got this. I don't understand it, he's got it, I get it, he's got it. Well, come on, and all your unbelieving friends and family say, come on, freak out with us. Worry about it, will you choose some mail? Get some gut pain, get sick, you should worry like the rest of us. Nope, not gonna go there. God's got this, I can't explain it, but the Lord's in control. Listen, friends, I can't go anywhere, I'm a believer, I can't go anywhere without him being with me. I don't understand what's happening, that accident, that incident, I don't get it, but I know this, I'm here, that means he's here. And somehow in a way, it's gonna take some time, maybe? The answer's gonna come. Your friends can't handle that. Why? Because listen, they're dead. They're dead because they're spiritually dead. You are alive because you're physically dead. Think of it. When your hand says, I want some of that, in Jesus' name, that has been crucified with Christ. Your friends, you're unbelieving friends, they can't do that. They're just walking around like this, you're just going to lose. I'm not gonna mean to insult your friends that are here right now, but this is the kind of how it is. They just go like this, and the hand goes like this, and they just go. And then go like this. Whatever the body's demanding, they're slave to it. They're not free. Now it's the beginning of you when you come to the end of yourself. Colossians 1.26 says that the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints, to them God willed, to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is this, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Good news. I love that. One more verse before we get to the closing argument is in Romans 13, 14. Romans 13, 14 says, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. See, you're gonna be surrounded by the lust of this world. How do you combat it? Please listen, put on Jesus, put on the Lord Jesus. Put him on. So if you've got to do this, do this. If you've got to get your mind conditioned by acting it out tomorrow morning, do it. I know many of us, many, huge majority of us have been to Israel. And one of the things I encourage people to do is get a beautiful authentic, they're not cheap. Hebrew, prayer shawl, they're fantastic, but units cool about it in the morning. No one's looking. Who cares? Only God's with you. In the morning it's dark, it's early. Wrap yourself up in that thing. Get on your knees if you want to or go stand out in the backyard with that thing all over you. And say, Lord, I'm here to be with you. Do it. What's what happens? Listen, another thing, I don't want to be, you know, sound like some legalistic monk or something, but, and I'm not, but I've got to tell you, if you ever pray, right? If you ever pray in your focus wanders away, you know, there's a cure for that. Get on your knees and pray. And when I'm talking, I'm talking like this, it is very uncomfortable to this. This is very uncomfortable. It's okay right now. But 10 minutes from now, 30 minutes from now, your prayer life will become much more efficient because I don't know what it is about this, but you will not wander. When is Disneyland going to open up? That won't happen. The pain that starts to happen in your thighs and your hamstrings and your, your rear end, it's intense, your lower back sometimes will begin to spasm. He says, are you insane? No, what I'm doing is I'm telling my flesh, you're dead. I don't listen to you. In fact, I'm going to use you to connect with God. You are going to obey this moment. We're going to talk to God and you are going to comply. And if you don't, I'll make you stay here another 30 minutes. Begin to think and exercise the separation. This is just a tool you and I have. We dress it all up. I put extra cologne on this morning because I'm older. You stink as you get older. You just start to stink. I'm discovering this. More cologne. Why? I'm dying. You've got to cover up the stench. They should have formaldehyde that you start, it's very important. But that word to put on Jesus, the word means to be enveloped or to actually sink into. The word means sink, listen to this. The Greek word means to sink into Jesus. And then finally put on this truth, it's about time. It's He who loved me and gave Himself for me. It's the very essence in the spirit of sacrifice. Did you know that love? There's no such thing as a sacrifice of that love. If you're, listen, if you're making a sacrifice without love, it's called religion. God's not in it. If your sacrifice is because of love, God's in it, He's blessed. We can learn a lot if we sanctify things that we see in this world. When you love someone, remember, it starts out in phases and it develops into a deep, powerful river. Starts out like a splash. Love starts. Maybe it's attraction emotionally or physically, you're all giddy, crazy, do all these stupid things. Why love? The person doesn't matter what they smell like, doesn't matter their hair, doesn't matter, doesn't matter that they snort when they laugh, it doesn't matter. Everybody around, everybody is annoyed in the entire room, but because you love that person, they're just perfect. These slopping when they eat their food and people are cringy and you're going, isn't she amazing? Then it grows on, gets deeper, and it gets deeper, and it gets deeper. Some things change, and the maturing of the love never stops sacrificing. Starts out with sacrifice in a maturist and a sacrifice that maturist is a sacrifice that is well pleasing to the Lord. It's about time that we put on this truth. Why do we make this so hard? Is that he loves you, and he gave himself to you? This Jack Kibb's podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener supported. 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