Living On The Edge Of Eternity

Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. Let me tell you what it doesn't say. Rejoice, O Gentiles, because you've replaced his people. Rejoice, O Gentiles, because the church has become Israel. No. It says rejoice, Gentiles, with his people. You got that? 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. Are you ready? He's sitting down. Zechariah chapter 8, verse 3. I'm losing. Okay, put on your critical thinking caps. Thus says the Lord, I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth. Okay, wait, wait. Wait, analyze it. Put your professor's cap on. Put your cardigan on. You can have a pipe if you'd like. Thus says salvation, Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh, I will... What? What's the word? I will... I'm sorry, what? I will... When was he ever in Zion whereby he says, I'm going to return? Might I remind you we're reading the prophet Zechariah? This is a prophecy of the future. Now this takes some brain power. I know it's early. But this verse, he's prophesying about the future. And he's announcing that the Lord who is Yah, Yahweh, salvation. He goes by another name, by the way, Yeshua. Yeshua, you can say even Yahoshua, Joshua, or Jesus, same meaning, will return. It demands that he had been there before. Right now, my Jewish friends, the yarmulke is going like this. What? Yeah, yeah. That's in your Hebrew prophets. The Messiah is going to return to Zion. So you must ask, when was he there in the first place? That's what we're trying to tell you. He was there 2,000 years ago. In 1 Peter 2, verse 6, 1 Peter 2, verse 6 says, Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. A stone that is referred to as him. And listen, where is it? Where's the stone? Where? I lay in where? Zion. Zion. Few more, just because I'm feeling very ornery today, I'm gonna lay down a few more of these things. Romans 11, verse 26. And so all Israel will be saved, for as it is written, the deliverer will come out of Zion. And then Revelation chapter 14, verse one. Then I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion. The future of Jesus Christ and his second coming. Number two in our study, verses 9 to 13, and by God's grace, we'll finish this up. It's right here. The perfect gospel communicates to us the all-encompassing redemption of man. And in this redemption, there's the praise. It results in praise. Well, look at verse 9. For this reason, I will confess to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. Gosh, this is beautiful. Jew and Gentile believing in Yeshua, Jesus Christ. go to heaven the same way. Mark it down in your notes. This is Psalm 1849 and 2 Samuel 2250. This is remarkable. Paul the apostle, the Jewish Pharisee, the Jewish scholar, the remarkable Saul of Tarsus, now a follower of Yahshua. In Romans 15, he quotes 2 Samuel 22 50 and Psalm 18 49. Therefore, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name. Get this, everybody. This is a Jew announcing that I'm going to give thanks among the Gentiles. Why? How? What's going on here? Keep asking that question. Psalm 1849 says the same quotation. Twice. What about this? What about Galatians 3, verse 26? Are you guys okay? Galatians 3, beginning at verse 26. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Wow! But what does real praise and... and the result of the redemption that God has done. What does that look like? In Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14 and 15, Hebrews 2, 14 says, "...inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood," that means us living like we do in our... we've got skin, we've got blood and bone, "...he himself likewise shared in the same." He became a human. "...that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil." When Jesus died on the cross, he disabled the devil. And when he rose again from the dead, he defeated the devil. Yeah, yeah. Yes, I agree. He can only lie to you now, by the way. He can only lie to you. He can't take you. He can't steal you. He's just a very good devil. He's a great devil. He's the best devil there'll ever be. He's just a liar and he's defeated. But he doesn't want you to know that. So when he says something to you or when he tries to talk you into something, you say, wait a minute, last time I checked, you're defeated. Last time I checked, Jesus broke the grave and disabled you. I am now a child of the living God. I'm covered by the blood of Christ. I'm in the family of God. You have no business even talking to me. In fact, if you don't leave in Jesus' name, I'm going to call my dad. Verse 15 says, And release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Did you know that? Satan, listen, Satan can no longer cause the Christian to fear death. Look at that verse. Memorize it, verse 15. Satan's defeated, and when you and I get our death notice from the doctor, I'm sorry to tell you, you're going to die. I hope when that day happens to me, if it happens to me, I'm going to be able to say, well, I'm sorry to tell you. I'm about ready to live like I've never lived before. Galatians chapter 4 verses 4 and 5. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, that is of Mary, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. That's not only a reference to the Jewish people who are under the law, but all of us are under the law apart from Christ. The Ten Commandments, as holy and beautiful as they are, condemn us because we cannot keep them. They point us, though, to Christ. Basically, the Ten Commandments say, boy, are you in trouble. You need someone perfect who's met all of these demands, and you, in them, or him, Christ, you get an A. You make it. Titus chapter 2 verses 13 to 14 says, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Is that not clear? That's crystal clear. Watch this. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people. Notice he does the purifying. You don't. Oh, now that I accepted Christ, I've got to really clean up my life and I got to really, you know. No, you don't. Don't do that. He does it. The moment you start trying to clean up your own life, you know what the great thing about God being in your life for realsies? Is that he takes away the desires of those things that are offensive to him. If you give your life to Christ, if you say, Lord, I'm the sinner, you're the Savior, I repent. I give you my life. I'm sorry for all my sins that put you on the cross. Forgive me of my sins. I believe you died on the cross and you rose again from the grave. If you believe that, listen, the scriptures make it very, very clear that the spirit of God comes inside of you and you're not going to go like, I accept Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. Whoa. Whoa. What's happening to me? It's the spirit of God entering you. Oh my gosh. That's not going to happen. I prayed to accept Christ, but I didn't feel anything. Most people don't feel anything. It's him, listen, who will work in you. And look what he does. He'll make you zealous for good works. If he's in you, you're going to want to do the right thing. beautiful. Also, verse 10 tells us that it results in joy. And again, he says, rejoice, O Gentiles. I love this. Please mark it down. With. With. I have that capitalized, by the way, the word with. Let me tell you what it doesn't say. Rejoice, O Gentiles, because you've replaced his people. Rejoice, O Gentiles, because the church has become Israel. No. It says rejoice Gentiles with his people. You got that? God says it right here. And by the way, the word rejoice is probably what you think it means. It means to cheer. It means to make merry. It means to stir the heart up into worship. Beautiful. And then look, thirdly, under this point is the expression. It results in the expression of, A man, a woman who's redeemed. That results in expression, verses 11 to 13. And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles. Loud him, all you peoples or nations. The word loud, we don't use this word in our English, but it's an oldie. It means the full expression of praise and glory. It means to shout or to proclaim in the Greek language. It means to Herald forth with a strong voice to loud the heavenly host of all those before the face of God. Both man and angel alike in unison. Loud or laud God. Expression. I'm a big fan about this. You've heard me say this before. It's a wonderful word to research. It's the word enthusiasm. The word enthusiasm is... If there was ever a word pregnant with meaning, it is the word enthusiasm. It's the effect upon one's life in the worship of the divine. Enthusiasm. Watch. The animation that comes forth from the worship of God... or a god or gods, resulting in the active expression worthy of the object or the person or the deity being adored. That's a huge definition. Did y'all get that? Enthusiasm. Think of that word, I should have had it on the screen and broken it up. Enthusiasm. In, to dwell inside. Theus, God. Asim, action. Like if somebody is having a spasm. Asim, did you get it? They're moving. Theus, any God. God or gods? You say, what do you mean, gods? I said, there's only one God. Well, there's only one God who's the living God. But there's a lot of, there's an infinite amount of gods that exist because humans make up gods. And the word EN is to dwell inside. Enthusiasm is the animation that you experience from the God that dwells within you. Think of it. So does the Lord God of heaven and earth dwell within you? Or is it NFL? Is it Nordstrom's? I bow down to Nordstrom. What is it? Is it, I don't know. I don't know things because I don't shop. But, you know, fill in the blank. It really gets you going. It's something like this. You're kind of like living your life. Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, you know what? Yeah, yeah, okay. And somebody says, hey, you know what we're going to do? We're going to go buy. We're going to go drive. We're going to go fly. We're going to go eat. We're going to go. And they say the word. It's like magic. Oh, what? We're going when? Tonight? Oh, ho, ho. What is going on with you? Enthusiasm. Because your heartstring was plucked, and that heartstring was money or power. Are you with me? Do you get that? Sport. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. Sex. Drugs. It plucks your heart. Causes you to respond. Woo! Woo! enthusiasm, the response regarding the worship that you have decided is worthy of the God who dwells within you. Now, if it's the Lord Jesus Christ, hallelujah, right? It's wonderful. The Bible tells us in Acts chapter 13, verse 47 and 8. It's awesome. Watch this. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles. Now, this is in Acts 13. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be the salvation to the ends of the earth. Amen. Now, when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord for as many as had been approved or appointed, excuse me, to eternal life believed. They heard this truth and they went, that is worthy of my enthusiasm. And that, my friends, is a beautiful way of ending this portion of Romans by announcing it was the Jewish believers who preached to the Gentile non-believers and the Gentile non-believers became believers and glorified the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What a beautiful thing. And so when it says in... These closing verses here, verses 12 to 13. And again, Isaiah says, There shall be a root of Jesse. Wow. And he shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him. The Gentiles shall hope. The root of Jesse is a Jewish term. Jewish friends, the root of Jesse. Jesse will have a descendant who will reign forever. Go figure that one out. Isaiah 11, verses 1 and 10 says, And there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Verse 10, And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people, for the Gentiles shall seek him. And his resting place or land shall be glorious. Remember what that resting place is? Remember that place? Zion. Look at you. You're amazing. Let's all stand for the last verse. In fact, let's raise our hands for the last verse. Hey, how about if we do this? You want to repeat this? This is unrehearsed, so be nice. Now, may the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And all God's people said, amen. This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener supported. 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