Did God Pick You?

00:00 - Speaker 1
Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture.

00:09 - Speaker 2
Are you gonna go to heaven? Are you sure? Can you be for sure? Are there those who are on their way to heaven? And they may not make Are there those who don't even think about God at all and they're going to go? What's the truth on this? Does Jesus really know who really belongs to him? Let's hang on. Let's dive in. Let's get into the bible and see.

00:32 - Speaker 1
You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to https://jackhibbs.com/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.

01:01 - Speaker 2
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the podcast and really important. This is coming out of something to be very honest with you. As we are currently at this time frame moment going through on Sundays at the church the book of Romans, I couldn't wait. I love Romans chapter one to eight love it. Who couldn't love it? But the way that I was brought up spiritually at Carole Chapel Coste Mesa, under Chuck Smith, And I'm only telling you that because I went to Calvert Chapel Costemesa under Chuck Smith. I couldn't wait to get to Romans nine, ten, eleven. Right now, we're we're halfway through Romans nine on Sundays. And The way that I was brought up, Romans nine, ten, and eleven are thrilling. They're awesome. And I'm having a great time. I think we're something like, don't quote me on this because I'm I'm kind of off the calendar in my head, but I'm gonna guess that this is at least our third or fourth Sunday in Romans nine, and we've only gotten to the thirteenth verse in a month. Because we're just unpacking it systematically and listen, number one, letting in the Bible interpret the Bible. So I I happen to have gotten saved at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Greg Lorry was giving the gospel on a Monday night. I thought he was the pastor of Calvert Chapel Costemesa until I went to church the following Sunday. I get saved on a Monday. I went to church on Sunday and this this bald older man came out and I thought, who's this guy? Oh, Carrie Costemesa was Chuck Smith's ministry. And he cracked open the bible and guess what? Book of Romans. Brand new believer. Book of Romans my jaw dropped. I don't know how long it took us to go through it, but it was just incredible. And guess what? I don't remember if ever if ever Chuck In the in the nearly two decades that I was there, I don't remember Chuck Smith ever bringing up much ever men's names. He was never a name dropper ever. But when I went through the book of Romans with him, it was just it made such so much sense. It's so awesome. And I'm so glad I did. And the reason why that's important is because there are people sadly and I know I'm gonna upset some of you guys. Can you just hear me out right now? We get you guys, we get all kinds of input people and some people are just bizarre, fanatically weird. And when I say fanatically weird, it's it's like this stuff. I think these are fanatically weird people who when I say, man, I love AW tozer. Oh my gosh, tozer's a freak. He believed that you could actually experience God. Tozer talked a lot about experiencing God, and it's like, Wow. I'm so surprised that people have a problem with AW Tozer because I read everything that I do read to the filter of my bible. This is the bible. Whatever tozer's written is not the bible. Can you handle that? Whatever Charles Spergin wrote is not the Bible. Charles Spergin wrote, but Charles Spergin wrote about. But if I quote spurgeon some people because, frankly, they're so shallow and, frankly, immature, they start foaming at the mouth and their eyes rolled in the back of their head, because I quoted spurgeon. What a pathetic response to an incredible man of god? Who? He had his own corkiness? So Charles Stanley had his quirkiness, Chuck Smith had his, doctor David Jeremiah, Jay Vernon McGee. Excuse me. If you me, I have mine. If you don't think you have your corkiness, Not all of us come to the exact same landing on any particular verse of the bible at all times. That's where there's commentaries written by men. They're not inspired by God necessarily. Now the bible versus their quoting, they are. And some of the teaching where it is in line with scripture a hundred percent, you can tell, the believer can tell. When somebody says, look, I'm gonna say something, get rid of a phone, get your napkin ready. You're gonna have you're gonna have a seizure in a moment. You will never hear me publicly endorse William Barkley? William Barkley's got some very bizarre views in his commentaries. William Barclay, the commentator. But I read Barclay because he's pro foundly insightful and accurate regarding background content. Background content William Barclay is great. But William Barclay didn't believe in the miracles of Christ. That's bizarre. That's nuts. Guess what? If I'm gonna teach on the miracles of Christ, guess whose book I'm not gonna use. Barclay. You know why? I boast in Christ and him alone. I've read enough of this book to know that all books must bow to this book And so I've got an anchor that when I read anyone's book publication, if I listened to anyone's podcast or sermon, I judge it all against the bible just like you should do me. And by the way, that's what acts seventeen eleven is all about. Everything Paul said he was teaching and preaching should be judged against the word of God. Is that awesome? So I mentioned William Barkley. I gleaned from him just like Ruth Glean from Boaz's field. Right? I pick what I want. I pick what I need. If I read spurgeon, I pick what I want. I pick what I need. When I read from oh, here's a note, watch. If if I read from art J JC Ryal. Great insight, especially the Gospel. Wow. But do I hold to the the views of soteriology, for example, that JC Riled Hillto, not all of them, You say, how can you say that? You're just you're just Jack. How can you judge J. C. Ryle? It's easy for me to judge J. C. Ryle. I just go to the bible. So for example, You're not gonna hear me mention often. The men of God Who are known for? What people listen? Please listen. What people have made them into be in the realm of controversy? So for example, big fan, big fan of d Martin Lloyd Jones, big fan. Now some of you now now your left eyes rolling in the back of your head because Martin Lloyd Jones said that he was a columnist. The funny thing about Martin Lloyd Jones is that he has found evangelistic sermons. We see, what what's the point? Well, here's the beautiful point. You've got John Calvin's teachings and not all of those conclusions on Tulip. If you know what I mean, you know what I mean, if you don't, you don't need to know. But I don't agree with the definitions of Tulip, of the today modern calvinist person. In fact, if John Calvin came back, he'd probably slap some people up around the face. Because I don't even know if spurgeon or or or Calvin or Luther would agree with all that stuff. But Listen, there's stuff, for example, Martin Luther. Oh, Martin Luther, the great reformer. Of course, he was the great reformer. But did you know that Aidolph Hitler used Martin Luther's view of the Jewish people to justify he used Martin Luther as a cover. To do his demonic antics, Mark Hippler did. Did you know that? Did you know that? Aidan Hitler thought there's parts of Luther that were right on that he could use to make himself look good against the Jews. Martin Luther was an antisemitic individual, the great reformer. People who wanna talk about that, I don't care. I don't care because he's dead and gone. Okay? What I care now is about what does the Bible say? It's my it's It's the only care I've ever had. People will say to me, a good banner, ugly. Whatever your view is is irrelevant to me. Is, boy, you're so bold about what you believe. You know why? Notice. I have a look. I have a little thing that I've practiced in my life. I don't get excited about things unless I know what I'm talking about. So for example, I don't know why just Turn the pages on this. I was in John chapter ten. That's where I wanted to bring this up. I was in John ten. And how do you hear this? How do you respond to this? Are you ready? Listen up. And this this this is dovetail. It dovetails or coalesces perfectly with Romans nine, ten, and eleven. John ten twenty seven. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them. Question, when did god know those who are his sheep? Answer: Romans eight and Romans nine. Just to pick one area of scripture. That from about Romans eight, twenty eight to thirty, And then into Romans nine verse one, all of God's doctrines, Ephesians one, versus four and five, I think. And Ephesians one eleven, I think. Deal with predestination? Because it's a biblical doctrine. What does that mean? Well, read the bible. The bible says that based on God's foreknowledge, he predestined those, and it says right there in scripture, he works in them his sanctification work, it says all the way out to glorification. Whom he fore knew, these he also predestined, these he pre distancing and he goes all the way to glorification. When I was taught the Bible as a brand new believer. See, I didn't have any denominational influence. I had no church background at all. I just think, god. I went to a church where a guy sat down on Thursdays on a stool with the Bible open, or he stood by the pulpit on Sunday with the Bible open, and all you heard was Bible. In a little bit of expository, Bible. A lot of bible. A little bit of expository. A lot of bible. And so I didn't have any trash. I didn't have any baggage. Of influence from other great believers before us. Okay? And so denominations often are very passionate about their founders to the point where they will ignore other parts of scripture to stay true to their denomination. And that's very sad. I would believe I do believe that that's an that's an a can to teaching the traditions of men over the doctrines of God. That's a boo boo man. That is bad news, and that's where Paul was messed up. A soul of tarsis was messed up before he became Paul. The apostle. So my question to you is this Jesus is my sheep. Oh, Jesus knows who his sheep are. My sheep hear my voice and I know them. When did Jesus know them? What does the bible say? He knew them in foreknowledge. When was that? Exactly. The bible says in infusions one before the universe before the foundations of the world materialism was ever created. I'll ask you I'll ask you this way. When was Jesus created? You say he's never been created exactly. You know why? Because he's God. So what can he know? He knows everything. Yes, he does. Four knowledge is that he knows everything in advance before anything ever was. Before a billion years ago ever existed, Jesus knew who his sheep would be. Does that freak you out? Go ahead. Not me. I love it. Awesome. God, thank you. Wow. I feel so safe, insecure. My sheep or my voice, they follow me. They follow me. Do you wanna follow Jesus or do you wanna follow Luther? Do you wanna follow Jesus or do you wanna follow Chuck Smith? Do you wanna follow Jesus or do you wanna follow John Calvin? Do you want to follow Jesus? Or do you want to follow Toser? Or I don't know. Whoever, Billy Graham, David Jeremiah, Stanley, spurgeon, fill in the blank, it doesn't matter any name you want. The answer should be no. You do not want to follow them. You wanna glean from their ministries, like I hope you can glean from this one. But beware, Judge everything against the Bible. The Bible's the final word. See, people get into two name battles. Word battles. When they are not letting in the word of God, have it authority. If you come up to me and say, pastor Jack, I believe that people should be baptized forward. There's people who actually say this. Great. Knock yourself out. Go for it. Really are you agreeing with people then do you believe that you should only be baptized forward? I didn't say that. I only have one stipulation about baptism. Sorry. Two, number one, you better have repented of your sins to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. First, If you get baptized before that, you're not baptized. You just got wet. Nobody gets baptized unless they're born again. Period says the bible. Repent and believe when the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. I just had a word battle yesterday with Catholic doctrine, penance. It act this person actually said, show your penance and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. And I said, you change that word and meaning to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Now we got something to work with. But if you're telling me that go do your good works and the and the good deeds that you need to do and believe in Jesus Christ's Lord and Savior, the book of Galatians says you have fallen from grace. You're not saved. You're believing in works and Christ's blood. Can't do that. You cannot mix works and with blood. If the blood is covering your life and you're born again by the grace of God almighty. Right? Ephesians two verses eight and nine, not by works, but by faith in Christ in him, then you're born again. But if you try to mix your morality and add it to his blood, you've just contaminated his blood. Can't do that? It's impossible, unacceptable to god. It's by grace. And it's having faith in what Christ has done for you. Grace. How Lindsay, I think it was? Oh, hell Lindsay, the guy that made the movie, the Lake Grey Planet Earth. How could you? Yeah. Hal Lindsey, high Helane, said a great way to remember the doctrine of grace is the acronym, God's riches at Christ expense. Look, he may have been a movie maker, but that's pretty awesome stuff. That's good doctrine. Grace is God's riches at Christ expense. It's not God's riches at Christ expense and yours or mine. That that blows up the whole word. You can't even spell grace if you add me or I to it. Doesn't work. And so Jesus is my sheep here, my voice. They they and I know them, they follow me, and I give them eternal life. And they shall never perish. Pretty bold. Yeah? I love it. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. You believe that? I believe that with all my heart. I don't need Listen, I believe that so much. I don't believe I can step myself snatch myself out of his hands. What does that make you? Are you a are you a Kelvinist? Are you arminian? Are you what are you? I don't even know what I am. If you're gonna use those human terms, I'm not following any man. I know this, before the universe ever was and before I was ever created in my mother's womb, Jesus knew based on his foreknowledge forever ago that there would come a time in my life when I would hear the gospel by his grace. And even though I didn't quite understand it, I was so convicted. I felt Look, I don't care what you say about this. I remember where I was sitting on June twentieth nineteen seventy seven. Go look and see. Look it up. It's a Monday. It's just before nine o'clock PM, and I remember where I was sitting and how I began to sweat as I was brought under the conviction of the holy spirit who I didn't even know existed. And I found out that I was going to hell by default Because of my sinful life, I was so convicted, I was mortified You didn't have to convince me I was going to hell when gray glory enumerated on that night a sermon titled How to inherit hell. You didn't have to convince me by eight fifty PM that night. I had no idea what was coming. I'd never been to church before my life. And when he said, if you want to have your sins forgiven, I perked up. This this is what you need to believe and confess. And he gave the gospel. I said it. So what were you feeling? What was I feeling? I was feeling like if I didn't pray immediately, that the earth was gonna open up and swallow me. I was gonna go straight to hell. I am not kidding you. I was freaked out convicted because I was guilty. He went down this list of ten things, and I was guilty about seven of them. All I needed to do was to be guilty of one of them. And the Holy Spirit just dialed down on me, man. He pressed end and I was so busted, I had no place to hide. I went forward that day, that night by myself. In fact, I asked somebody to go with me. They said, dude, you're on your own. I was so glad they said that. Sounds pretty cruel. Right? I'm glad I had nobody hold my hand to the altar. It turns out I didn't need anybody to hold my hand to the altar. Because Jesus, before the foundations of the world knew that when the gospel would go forth, he knew that I would respond to his offer of eternal life. And in this case, In your case, if you believe this or not, I believe that God is the creator. And he didn't make us angels even though they do have free will. Annuals were not created in the image of God. We were. I believe this. And this is one reporter's opinion. I'm not even asking you to believe this. But I believe that god built into us, little bit of sovereignty whereby we can actually make choices. And if if I choose to accept the gospel and be born again, I give I have to give God all the glory for inviting me, for allowing me to heaven, for sending Jesus. When I walk into heaven, I know it's gonna be by his grace. I'm not gonna pat myself on my back and say, well, boy, did I make the right decision on June twentieth nineteen seventy seven? You kidding? I'm gonna be on my face. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. God. In the same token because God gave us a little bit of sovereignty to make a choice when the Gus is presented and there are those people who say, I don't want this. I'm religious. I've got I was baptized as an infant. I don't need Jesus or I am an atheist. I don't believe this. And or I don't like the way God's running the universe like Christopher Hitchens didn't like the way God was running things. And denied God. If you die and wind up in hell, guess who you have to blame? Only one person, you. God provided the way of eternal life and you refused. I imagine I if I send you a letter, and it's addressed to you and you don't open it up. Who's bad is that? It's not mine. It's yours. Who are you gonna blame? You know everybody in hell. Read Luke chapter fifteen and sixteen. Who are you gonna blame? Those that are in hell today? They only have one person to blame. It's themselves. Roman chapter one makes it very clear nobody goes to hell or heaven Even if you're in the remote jungles of South America, God reveals himself to you. Romans chapter one, read it. All of mankind are without excuse. Even if you live in the in the the you've never heard the gospel and you live in the in the desk regions of the siberian wilderness in Russia. According to Romans one, God is speaking to you in creation and speaking to your heart. So the bottom line is this. I revel in the joy, the freedom, the comfort, I don't I don't worry or fret if I'm the elect or not. I know this. I never would have wanted Jesus into my life unless Jesus knew me from the foundation of the world. I became his sheep on June twentieth nineteen seventy seven. But according to Jesus, Based on his foreknowledge, I had always been one of his sheep. I just hadn't been born yet. He knew that. I didn't know that. And so he says, those that are mine not only will they not be able to be plucked out of my hand, you can't take them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. I love that. Almost out of time. In fact, allow me to to draw this. So this and forgive me in advance for this. I'm not an artist, but So It kinda to me, it looks this way. Okay. So here's the Okay. So sorry, that doesn't look like much to you right now. But let's say, let's put s for son and f for father. Okay. Here we'll do this. One's got a hole yeah. One's got a hole through the hands. The other one doesn't. And then There's me. Here's my feet sticking out. You see that? That's me in the middle. Right? That's me in the middle of the God's sandwich. I'm in Jesus' hands. I'm in the father's hands. Nobody can take me out of there. Nobody. Death in our life, principal date is her powers? Nothing. I love this. Listen, if you don't agree, yeah, you don't need to you don't need to email me or text me. That you disagree. I'm enjoying this thing called Christianity. I'm enjoying the salvation that he has given. I try to give the gospel to as many people as possible, and I let him use that gospel to every creature that goes out. I let I let I'm supposed to give it. Whatever they do with it is between him and them. And The reality of being saved is that now I don't live for those things that I used to live for. I lived for him. And now I wanna do what he wants me to do. And now, I don't need the ten commandments posted on the wall of my home or my office. Don't need them. He posted them in my heart. And you know what you know what's greater than the ten commandments? Is the commandment that says love God with all of your heart? And I'm working on that every day when I say work. I yield myself every day to him. I don't work on anything. Except to stay close to him. And I'm commanded to love my neighbors, including my enemies. There is no ten commandments if that should pursue. That's the first commandment if you think about it. And if your Christianity terrorizes you and those who are around you. How sad is that? Nobody wants to join your team. Maybe nobody even wants to go to your church because you're teaching a miserable gospel. There's no joy in it. It's all what are you gonna do for God? What are you gonna do for God? You gotta get up and do this for God. How about this? How about you come to God? And fall on your face in front of him, and let him wash of your sins. And then the Holy Spirit takes control of your life and he does with you what he wants to do. Don't get up in the morning and say, god, this is what I'm gonna do today. You need to get up in the morning and say, Lord, what are we going to do today? What do you want me to do today? It's not what I want to do. It's what he wants to do. And there's such liberty in that that no matter what happens today, If today there's a ten point ten earthquake that hit Southern California and I perish or I don't have a house anymore, That's God's business. That's not my business. He knew in advance. It's a pretty worry free life. You wanna get bogged down in the words of man, knock yourself out. I would rather listen to what he has said and rejoice in him. Listen as always, it's time for us to live out what we believe in. It's time for real life. That's our jingle. It's time for us to live out. What we believe in. It's time to live real life. It's time to do life. It's time to experience God's real life. So listen as always, please, if this blesses you, subscribe and give us a like, give us a thumbs up, give us a rating that always helps in the weird analytical world of that world I don't know about. But I'm always told, make sure you tell them to hit the thing and to give us a thumbs up. I guess it matters. So listen. God bless you guys. We'll see you back here next

30:23 - Speaker 1
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