Getting Ready For The Big Day

real life presents the Jack Kibs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Know this. It means today while you and I are alive, we understand something right now that it's time for you and I to die. What do we mean by that? Oh it's good news. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibs.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 Hibs. Put on this truth. We're going to preface everything today with this. Put on this truth, market, it's time I die. Welcome to church. It's time that you die. See, what do you mean by that? Death, dying. That word, those words generate all kinds of emotion in us. And so it should. A sweet family just coming in here that service this morning out in front as I was greeting the people coming in. This couple said that they've come from a church. They're here today, but their pastor died earlier this week. Well listen, I didn't know the gentleman, but let's make this statement. The man may have died in the flesh. His body may have stopped beating heart. Okay, but he entered into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and it's so awesome that if he had a chance to come back today, he wouldn't do it. Do you understand that? This is an absolute fact. We get so comfortable in this world and you got to thank God for what's going on in our world around us. It's getting more and more uncomfortable for us to be comfortable in this world. Have you noticed that? And I'm a great fan of this. Listen, do we want to have a recliner? Do we want to have a footstool? Do we want to have an umbrella? Yes, but can you really live like that? Come on, you can't live like that and none of us that are touched by the Holy Spirit would be content to be on a perpetual vacation while people are dying and going to hell or the world is suffering or the people in our community are hurting? No, so what's the answer to all of this? Paul the Apostle instructs this right here right now that put on this truth, Christian. It's time I, it's time we die and this is what it means. When he says in verse 20 at the front end of it, I have been crucified with Christ. I want you to consider this right now. Get out your highlighter because you're going to need it today. When it says here, I have been three words that shock. I often say this people I think don't like it. I'm going to keep saying it until I go to heaven that you can pursue all other faith movements or religions in the world and none of them offer again. I say this every week. None of them offer what I'm about to tell you right now. When Paul the Apostle says, I have been. It's all past tense. It's done. You cannot get it any more done than what he's about to say. He is saying to us today, what I'm going to teach you right now, Paul would say, it's already happened. It's history. Know this. It means today, while you and I are alive, we understand something right now that it's time for you and I to die. But what do we mean by that? Oh, it's good news. I have been those three words. The declaration means and there's no greater declaration in faith is the Christian proclamation. I have been. That's our declaration. That's the proclamation of the believer. I have been feeling the blank. Change. I have been transformed. I have been forgiven. I have been set free. I have been liberated. I have been made alive. The Bible says over and over again. I have been Christian. Get ready for the big day. Understand something. No matter how you feel or what you think, if you're following Christ, if you can confess today that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father, you can say, I have been. And I love that. Not a has been. Oh, he's nothing but a has been. No, you have been. Number one, note this that the statement means positionally. You need to know this. Please, that this is a positional declaration of the believer. Whatever's going on in life, know this right now. Church be reminded. You have been declaration of position. I have been crucified. Paul willingly declares here that the life of the believer is a crucified life. He said, Jack, how the world can this be good news? Because listen to the world, crucifixion was a brutal barbaric death. Yes, absolutely. And you got to remember, Paul spoke this truth in the first century when it was a living reality. We don't have crucifixions today. If Paul lived today in the 21st century, he would say, I have been electrocuted. Paul would say, I have been to the electric chair. It had that stigma. I have been crucified. That would have raised the hair and the eyes of a first century believer. But Paul says it clearly. By the way, remember this, that nobody walked away from a crucifixion, just like nobody walks away from the electric chair. It's final. It's complete. It's all effective. There's a reason why I'm saying this. The word crucified right here in the Greek language, Galatians 2.20 is amazing. It means to nail. Listen, not only to nail. Here's the punch. Not only to nail, but the word means to nail together. Listen, being crucified doesn't mean you have a hole in you. It means that you are nailed to something. You say, oh yes, yes, I see where you're going. Jesus was nailed to the cross. Not so. I mean, yes, he was. But that's not the point. It wasn't that Jesus was nailed to a cross which qualifies him being crucified for us. Oh no. Jesus Christ was nailed to our sins. Our sins were represented at that cruel cross of Christ. And Jesus was nailed to that cross. Was it an implement of execution? Yes. But only in the physical realm. The greatest implement of execution is sin. The Bible tells us in the day that the soul sins, it shall surely die. The Bible says we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. The word means to be nailed together. It means to be nailed with another. It means to be nailed to something or listen to someone. That's a hideous thought to be nailed to another person. I don't have the time to get into one of the Roman sentencing that they had, but it was actually sewing a dead person. Some areas of the Roman Empire, if you committed murder, they would take the body of the man you murdered and sew that person's skin to your back. Do you know what happens? I told you I wasn't going to get into it. Here I am getting into it. His rotting decaying flesh began to go inside of you and his death, his death killed you. Think of it. The death of Jesus Christ at the cross, as we shall see today, killed you. I told you this message is for Christians. The old life, the old Jack that he used to be before I met Jesus. Listen, Christ killed him at the cross. Jesus was sinless, pure and perfect. Jesus was nailed to the cross. He was nailed to something else and to another. And that person was me and he died for me. He died for me. It's a place of position. I've been crucified with Christ. This means crucifixion was never a solo event. In any case, how so? Number one, in the Roman sense, a man that was crucified was crucified for his crimes. Think of it. He was crucified for his crimes. Did you know over the top of the head of every Roman crucifixion was the man's offenses? Did you know that over the top? They nailed that. The guy was sentenced. A guy wrote somebody else. Maybe it was a bailiff, so to speak. Wrote down what he was accused of. And then you were led out to Golgotha. You were thrown down on that cross. And as they nailed you to the cross, one of the magistrates of the law would hammer a plaque to the top of the cross. And it said what you were guilty of. Do you know it, by the way, there was a sign over Jesus' head too. Wasn't there? Do you know what he was guilty of? It says that he was king of the Jews. They didn't want a king. They didn't want King Jesus. They wanted a politician that never goes well. Politician Jesus. Politician, always go with Jesus. Always go with Jesus. Yeah, we know that more than ever now. But there's another way that you were crucified in the Roman Empire. And over the top of your cross, it didn't have murder, thievery, or whatever it was. Tens of thousands of people were crucified in the Roman world. And over the top of their head was the word Nazarene. Nazarene, did you know that? Nazarene is what the world called believers who followed Jesus. Oh, that's a Nazarene. He said, no, no, I'm born in Judea. You're a Nazarene. No, no, no, I was born in Bethlehem. No, you're a Nazarene. What made you a Nazarene to follow Christ? Jesus was from Nazareth, they said. And so even today in the Middle East, when they're beheading and crucifying Christians, do you know they put that you? I should have gotten it for you on the screen. Have you seen that you? Noon. Noon. What is this? They go to, listen, Muslims go down the streets. Jihadists go down the streets and they mark a Christian home in Syria or in some parts of the Muslim world and they get some paint and they put a you on the front door. And that means a Nazarene lives here, a follower of Jesus lives here. They are to be punished. They are to be cursed. They are to be killed. And so when a, when a martyr was put on the cross for following Christ, his guilt was for following Jesus. Those days, by the way, seemed to be advancing in the world more than ever. But no one is crucified for crucifixion's sake. There's always a reason. There's always a reason why people are going to attempt to crucify you so to speak at work. There's always going to be a reason why someone wants to crucify you and your family or in the community. Dear friends, listen, let them crucify you for the right reasons. Put on this truth, it's time I die. That means I'm dying to the old Jack, to the old me. Galatians chapter 5, verse 24, 524 says, and those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. You know what that means? This is awesome. This is what I'm talking about us dying. It means this, that here I am, I'm a believer. Listen, everybody, please don't assume. I'm a believer. I'm a follower of Jesus. And I'm going to walk with Jesus. I hope that's one of your prayers. I hope that's one of your profound prayers. Oh, Jesus, draw me closer. I don't want to get closer to this world. Have you not listened any non-Christians in here? Come on. Join the team that wins. Here's the team that wins. Read the book of Revelation at the end of the book. We win. Will it get tough for us? Yes. Is it going to be difficult? Yes. Are we going to be hated in this world? Yes. Here's the truth of the matter. Man, listen, go for the long pass. Go for the long haul. Go, go for the finish line because short term pleasure, short term rewards. Do nothing but rip you off. It's not going to be worth. It's like a sugar rush when you're hungry. Give me a tootsie roll. You're going to get sick. You're going to get all charged up for three minutes and then you're going to come down and you're going to listen. You're going to be just as hungry with a headache. That's what the world does. Never satisfy. Listen, Jesus walks you through the difficulties of this world and it's satisfying. And he gets us to the end and it's victorious. Why? I have been crucified. The Bible says with Christ. And when Jesus died on the cross, the Bible tells me this is heavy stuff. Listen, this is heavy because it sounds so basic, but it's so heavy because few of us supply this. When the Bible says I have been crucified with Christ, it means that when Jesus Christ died there, he died for you personally, Greg. He died for you, Mike. He died for you, Karen. He personally died for you and that's something he did 2,000 years ago. Listen, it's done. You see, yeah, but that was 2,000 years ago. Listen, yes, he did the job then. So that when you hear this gospel preached, you wake up to the reality of what has been and walk into it, receive it so that it is now true with you and your life. It's absolutely awesome. You can say today I have been crucified with Christ, Mike, because when those desires of the flesh, here's the thing. Just because Jesus died on the cross for Jack 2,000 years ago, doesn't mean that Jack walks around every day all day long with sinless thoughts and perfect thoughts and perfect motives. No, listen, the fact that Jesus died on the cross from my sins secured my inheritance. It's done. Ain't nobody tampering with that reality. I am forgiven in Christ, but because the Holy Spirit takes his truth, check it out. This is what makes us believers and disciples in this day is when it says I've been crucified with Christ, Paul is telling us this because you've got to tell yourself that every day. When those old desires pop up, that's why he's wrote Galatians 5 or 24. When a mean thought comes up or I'm going to do this, ah, forget about that. I'm going to go for it. I want it. I'm going for it. And you stop thinking about the ramification or the sinfulness of your desire. You're in trouble. But the person that sins or the back, the backslider or the unbeliever or the obedient believer, the same temptations come to all men, everyone of us. What tempts me? Tempts you. Listen, let me pick on someone. I'm going to have you stand up and tell the church what you're tempted. Why do you laugh? Nobody would do that and for good reason. But I got to tell you, but the moment you said, well, my big temptation is this. As soon as you say it, people are going to go, oh, that's ridiculous. They can relate in an instant. Oh, that's terrible. Oh, golly. People can relate to an instant to that reality. Why? Because it's us, it's our human nature. But here's the difference. The believer says, nope, nope, nope. No, I know where this goes. Listen, I know he died in the cross for me. This is an antithesis to what God wants to do in my life. Listen, my flesh is going, let's do it. But I know in my will, it's not the right thing to do and it's not God honoring. I refuse to do this. In fact, I'm going to walk away. I'm going to close my eyes. I'm going to shut the blinds. I'm going to speed away. That's the difference between a believer and a non-believer or a believer in a backslidden believer. That's the big difference. You've got to see this. And you would say to yourself, I'm crucified with Christ. It's so vitally important, Colossians. Chapter 2 verse 14 says, listen to this, regarding the cross, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us. Remember that plaque over the head? That's it. That's the log. That's the synlog in heaven. It's roved, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Do you see that? Do you see? Do you hear? God nailed it to the cross. So according to God in one hour of one moment of one day, one second, all of Jack Hips' sins were dealt with at the cross two thousand years ago. That doesn't mean I'm automatically saved nor you. What it means is God paid the price. What kind of a fool would reject what he's done? You see, that's what sends a person to hell. It's not that you reached, maybe in what is it? 88 sins. If you hit number 89, you fall into hell. The scale tips. And you just slide into the abyss. That's not how it works. Jesus died for all the sins of the world. Every sin. He said, well, why don't we all just get to go to heaven then by default? Because there's one sin he didn't die for. One sin is called blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. What is it? It means to reject the gospel, to reject what he did freely, to reject what he's given to you freely. You reject it. You push it away. You don't want it. In other words, you're telling Christ that he died on the cross for nothing, that he wasted his time. No, listen, for the believer, it's always the right time for us to die. Because when we're in charge, when we're living, when we're calling the shots, Christ is not in control. Number two, getting ready for the big day, put on this truth, and that is it's the end of me. Coming to the end of me is good news. Look at Galatians 2.20 says, it is no longer I who live. Would you love that? Look, I'm pumped up. Honestly, that verse should just cost someone to have a brain freeze. What a statement it is no longer I who live. I'm sure if you went to a psychologist or a therapy session and they asked you questions and you were to say to them, you know I'm a Christian. And it's no longer I who live. They're going to make a phone call. They're going to call for backup or get you a pill. What do you mean there's what do you mean you no longer it's no longer you who live. That's Christ living in me. Okay, I'm going to get a few more doctors in this room. The world cannot understand this. This Jack Kibz podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibz.com to learn more and stay connected.