Do You Know God?

Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Read the word, pray the word, out loud prayer, read the word and then pray it out loud even though you're all alone. Watch what happens. Rehearse the presence of God in your life. Are you doing that? Watch this, don't say anything. Are you doing that in your life? Today as a believer, did you do it yesterday the day before? The true believer is someone who we're going to meet up with in a moment that that's their life's events. It is a struggle to meet with God, but they meet with God. They might hit miss, but they've got to be with God. 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. The just shall live by faith. When your faith is in God, God declares you just and the reality is you're a changed person. Your lifestyle is different. You live for the things of God. Nobody has to tell you. You should be a Christian now. Nobody has to tell you that. You know, you should be a Christian right now. You went forward last week. You should be a Christian right now. No one has to tell you that. The Holy Spirit on the inside is saying, hey, you're my child now. I'm in you. Let's do this. It's amazing. And so in verse nine, we also learned this that the security of his sovereign acts. His action is sovereign. God's actions are sovereign. Verse nine says, for this is the word of promise, you should circle the word promise. At this time, I will come and Sarah shall have a son. It's all about promise. And here's where in my opinion, the study gets fun to me. The promise, a very promise is something that is given by someone and listen, the promise is given to be believed. But you agree with that? You give a promise. It is to be accepted is to believe is to be believed. In fact, your heart gets broken when a promise is broken. And I would say with you right now that if God gives promises, then there's the ability regarding choice. Will you believe him in his promise? Will you trust him in his promise? With what God has said, will you trust him? So listen, here's a little test. Regarding selection, regarding being chosen or elected, remember that all based on the foreknowledge of God? Then listen to this. Matthew 11, verse 28, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. What is the invitation? Come. Can you refuse? He says, come. Listen, do all of you, is every, is every Christian full of rest in peace at all times? No, it's because you didn't go when you should have come. Come to me if you're laborer and heavy laden. That's an invitation. The very word means an invitation. Matthew 19, 14, Jesus said, let the little children, what's the word? Come to me. Watch this. Do not forbid them. Could they have forbidden them? Of course they could have. Let the little children come to me for such as the kingdom of heaven. John 6, 37, Jesus said, all that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. Is that beautiful? You say, Jack, I don't know if I understand that. Yes, you do. God gives the invitation and you respond to it. You are responding to God's overture. You're exercising your choice by giving your life back to God so that when you get to heaven, you're going to thank him. You're not going to pat yourself on the back for getting up there. Boy, did I make the right decision? None of us are going to do that. John 7, 37. On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. Are you thirsty? I had somebody tell me, after first service today, he said, Pastor Jack, I'm thirsty on the inside. I am so dry. What do I do? And I said, press into him, draw yourself, pull yourself into Jesus. And he said, how do I do that? And I said, start reading in John's gospel. John's gospel impacts the beautiful nature of Jesus like no other gospel. And then he asked the question, what's all humans do? Well, what do I do? No, read John's gospel. Yeah, yeah, I got that. But what do I do? I said, there's your problem. I said, you got to get along with him. It's like I'm sentencing someone to prison. Get along with God. People think, what? No, you do that. And you have to work at it because you know you go to, you get up early in the morning to be alone with God and your mind will go a thousand different places than what's supposed to be. Read the word, pray the word out loud, pray, read the word and then pray it out loud, even though you're all alone. Watch what happens. Rehearse the presence of God in your life. Are you doing that? Watch this, don't say anything. Are you doing that in your life today as a believer? Did you do it yesterday, the day before? The true believer is someone who we're going to meet up with in a moment that that's their life's event. It is a struggle to meet with God, but they meet with God. They might hit miss, but they've got to be with God. Does that drive your heart? Does that ring true to the inside of your very soul? Did you recognize yourself in that statement? It's because you're a child of a living God. Third and final arguments in verses 10 to 13 and that is the choices at yours and that is the faithfulness of God's sovereignty. And the first thing is this is that His sovereign call. God is sovereign with His call upon our life. This is going to sound over simplistic, but it's true nonetheless. So, Jack, God is sovereign. You just said, you read a moment ago that Jesus said all that the Father calls brings them to me. They'll come to me, Jesus said. Yes. Well, what if I don't want to do that? Then God's not calling you to do that. God is not calling you to come to Christ. Well, what if I don't want anything to do with Jesus? Then God's not calling you into the family. You're not in the family. You're not a child of God. Well, what if I want to be? You see, they start having this argument. Well, what if I choose to be? Well, they choose to be. Well, what if I don't want to be? Do you or do you not? When given the opportunity, do you want Christ in your life or not? If you do, it's because God is calling you. He knew that you'd respond before the universe was ever created, before time was ever made. His calling. And by the way, when he calls, he doesn't recall. He's not a Tesla maker. Or for that matter, Ford, either. I have a Ford. And you know, if you, if you, if you least a new vehicle, you, you, you know, drive a COVID vehicle. I wouldn't look. Why's everything fallen off? The bumpers falling off. The things falling off. And then I looked. It was assembled during COVID by who? I know by who people wearing a mask, they couldn't read the instructions, because the space shield was fogged up. And then I'm driving this thing and the wheels are coming up. I digress. I vent. Watch this. Watch verse 10. We'll read it together. The God sovereign call. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceded by one man, even by our father Isaac, parenthetical insert, Holy Spirit drops this in for us. For the children not yet being born. Listen, the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil. Why? What's the deal? Ah, that the purpose of God, according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls. Watch this. As it, it was said to her, the older shall serve the younger. Listen, in Judaism, the older doesn't serve the younger. The younger serves the older. The first born. That's King of the Hill, man. First born. That's top shelf. But did you know that God has made in his sovereignty the option to be exercised that whichever one of them shows faith in him, the first born or the last born. That is the issue, not status. Are you tracking this gets kind of deep, gets kind of technical here. You ever heard of a guy with the name of Judah? Of course you have. Jesus is from, is the lion of the tribe of Judah. Well, guess what? Ruben was the older brother, not Judah. That's odd. Have you ever heard of a guy with the name of David? David wasn't the first born. Can you name me David's brothers? Probably not. But who's the one you know, David? Ishmael was born first. Was he not? Then Isaac, watch, I'm being technical with you, was that a true statement that I just made a moment ago? Ishmael was born first. But Ishmael was the result of Hegar and Abraham. Was that the promise that God had made? Nope. God said it's got to be impossible for me to be in it. And Isaac is the one that's impossible. He's the son of promise. Tracking? He's the baby. He had an older brother. All right, from the same father they share. Now, all of a sudden, we've got Rebecca and we've got two boys, Jacob and Esau, who are from the same mom and the same dad. So there's no question. What's happening here, theologically? If you ever used a microscope and then zoomed in, this is what's happening. Are you guys bored? I feel like you're bored. Okay, well, we're almost done if that's any consolation. So watch what happens here. When God knows what's in a heart, from all time and eternity, He doesn't learn about you as you are born and live your life. He's always known that his purposes would be fulfilled. You read a moment ago, the children in the womb not having done any good or any evil, right? They're babies. And so watch, it's not only calling, it's love, verse 13. As it is written, Jacob, I have loved, but Esau, I have hated. And if I stopped right there, you'd say, I'm done with this God. Haven't you always thought that when you've read that Jacob, if I loved Esau, I hated that God has favorites. Well, look at there. Oh, boy, if he's sovereign, that's pretty painful. Yikes! He picked one and dumped the other. Poor Esau, wait a minute. This is fun. Don't miss this. Paul is quoting Malachi. Put that up on the screen if you would. Paul is quoting Malachi, or if you're Italian, Malachi, chapter 1 verse 2. It's the only Italian prophet in the Bible. I'm kidding. Watch this. Don't miss it. God is speaking to Israel. And Israel speaks back. I have loved you, says the Lord, yet you say in what way have you loved us? God says to Israel, I love you. And Israel says, yeah, wow, really? You know, like a spoiled kid. Was not Esau, Jacob's brother, says the Lord? Yet Jacob, I have loved, but Esau, I have hated. What the world's going on here? Two nations. Number one, what nation? In fact, his name was changed. Jacob was, his name was changed to Israel. From Jacob came Israel. By the way, Jacob, now look, be honest, when you read the Old Testament, you read about Jacob's life, you read about Esau's life, I guarantee you, you would not hang out with Jacob. If you're going to hang out with anybody, you'd hang out with Esau. You want to know why? Jacob was a creep. A bonafide creep, in fact, his name means that he is a crook. His name means crooked, he'll catcher, supplanter, manipulator. That's what his name means. Jacob means manipulator. And when you read about his life and when you see his life in the Bible, what's he doing to people? Manipulate in them. This is, this gets, this goes, looks really bad at, in the moment. And then switcher, it's like a movie, you can't figure it out. Watch how this goes. Esau? Esau is Esau. You don't hear Esau having any spiritual struggles in the Bible? He's not wrestling with God. You don't see any spiritual events with Esau. Esau is just Esau. He's a man's man, barely dude, it seems, rugged. He was a hunter. And he came from the field, the Bible says, and he was starving. And he was exaggerating, I think. He comes into the house and he says, Jacob, make me some of your stew, your special soup. I'm going to die. Jacob being the manipulator says, well, what are you going to give me for it? I don't know. I want your birthright, Esau. Are you hearing me people? I want your birthright. You're the first boring. Watch this. He says, what good is a birthright when I'm hungry? I'll give you my birthright. Just give me the soup, will you? Jacob connives and manipulates the birthright away from Esau. But what do we know about Esau? Esau has no passion for God. He has no inclination toward God. In fact, Esau winds up becoming the very father of the Edomite kingdom. Enemies of Israel. Their brothers, one had a heart to worship God eventually. Did you know that Jacob, the one that, if you saw Jacob coming today, wait, hey, everybody, here comes Jacob. Put your wallet in the front of your pocket. That dude, here comes Jacob. Hey, Jacob, how you doing? You're like, don't watch out. So now that guy will wind up on top every time. But he's the one struggling with God, battling with God. He had a heart for God. When did God know that? Before he was ever born, before the children never did good or evil. The man that gives away his birthright for some porridge. What is he saying? What I pray none of you are saying. Man, this is nuts. What good is this? I want to live it up. Give me another pot of porridge, another drink. Give me another million. Give me another fill on the blank. What good is this stuff? I want it all now. That's Esau. Do you see why now watch? Malachi, we read it a moment ago? Guess what? That was written after Jacob and Esau were born. They lived their lives. They were dead. And hundreds and hundreds of years later, Malachi makes that pronouncement. God speaks through Malachi and says, Jacob, have I left? Esau, have I hated? What does this mean? Jacob chose the right way in the end. In the end, Esau chose the wrong way. So God says, I'm with Jacob. Based on what God? My foreign knowledge. I have always known this. I didn't learn it. You see, we're the ones learning it now. Oh, I just think it's so unfair of God. That prophecy was given long after the boys had died of old age. God says, I knew both their hearts. And one had a heart for me, and the other one didn't. It's not amazing. See, I don't know if I like that because Jacob, he is quite a conniver, you know. I know, isn't it something? Some people have said, I can't believe that God, you know, didn't love Esau. Well, first of all, God's nature. He did love Esau. He's responding to Esau's decision. For God so loved the, yeah. God is not willing that any should perish. God weeps over the death of the wicked. God wants you to come and live with him. But here's the thing. What's amazing to me is how much love and grace and mercy God expressed and gave to Jacob. The guy that didn't deserve it. 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.