Light It Up

Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. God is not writing off our ability to go sin. God is saying, listen, here's the gravity of the matter, I know you. And I have saved you. But the last final step of your total redemption is your body. And that's going to come at your death, Christian. We got to get this around our heads once and for all. Death for the Christian is graduation. 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. I'm going to encourage you as a believer, just the believers I'm speaking to at this moment, judge yourself right now and ask yourself, am I living with God on a daily basis on an earn, merit, works, level? Am I okay with God because I'm doing good? I hope not. Maybe you're here today and you don't know God at all. You know, you have a clue what's going on in here. You just got here before the game starts. You're wondering, wait, so what's up? You mean God knows my thoughts? Yeah, the Bible says he knows your thoughts before you think of them. But God is light, the Bible says. So I'm going to ask, I'm going to show you what's going on right here right now. So guys, let's turn down the lights. That's pretty good. Okay, so watch this. You're in the dark. The Bible says without Christ, we walk in this world without the light. We're in the dark. The Bible says before we come and know His salvation. We are in darkness. And then God will begin to speak to you. And it might be at some point at a distance. There's some light, but it's a little bit vague. And then like it's a little bit closer, you're learning more, you're hearing more, you're wondering about life and about the meaning of life and about who Christ is and should I read the Bible? And when you open up the Bible, watch this. Now, I don't want to hurt anybody, but this stuff begins to happen. And you begin to be exposed more and more to the truth until something happens to where God dials down right on you. And when that happens, guys, you can turn the lights on. When that happens in life, that is God speaking to you. And watch what happened. In that moment, you are going to respond in a legalistic way, such as, tell me what to do. Show me what steps I need to do to be approved by God. When that spotlight of God's conviction comes upon you, that is not the right response. The right response is to say, I am in the light. You got me. And watch this. When we are in the light, we notice things like lint, hair. The closer we get to him, the more is revealed. If ever you know in a Christian experience, somebody who's proud and arrogant in their Christian, I can tell you one thing. They're far from God. The closer a believer is to the Lord Jesus Christ, the less they are of themselves, the greater he is, and the more real in reality that life will be. Psalm 119, verse 104, Psalm 119, 104, listen to this. Through your precepts, I get understanding. In other words, read the Bible. I get to know more about myself. And who God is. Therefore, I hate every false way. Now you want to be careful how you read that. He's not talking about you hate every false way of somebody else. He's talking about you hate every false way about yourself. How does that happen by studying his precepts, you see? And of course, the famous verse, verse 105, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Is that also? God's word. Beautiful. Number two, church is this when it comes to the reality of salvation. Am I mean when it comes to the reality of salvation? The first thing is this, verse 14, is to know that deception of sin. Know it. Sin is very deceptive. It's very dangerous. You can't have salvation without recognizing that sin has already, in fact, deceived you. You must have the great need of experiencing forgiveness. Watch this regarding the deception of sin. He says in verse 14, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold, under sin. There's some powerful words right here, spiritual meaning this, for we know that the law is spiritual, holy, pure, God's will. But it goes on to say, but I am carnal. The word in Greek is sarcanos, or rooted from the word sark, or sarks, and not shark, sark, pertaining to the flesh, the material things of man, the animalistic desires of the base human existence passed on by Adam's fall. And I wrote this down. I added this next part, STD. STD. Yep, spiritually transmitted disease. Every one of us is S.I.N. positive because of Adam and Eve. None of us had to learn sin, right? You didn't go to junior college and learn how to lie. You already knew all that stuff before you entered first grade. It's in us, but the light of the law magnifies that reality, and the mirror of the law shows me. So you think about Adam. This is an amazing thing, because Adam and Eve cover everything regarding whatever situation we could be in life. Number one, God told them both, don't touch that tree and don't eat of that fruit, because God gave them free moral agency. If they didn't have choice, you didn't then you got robots. And nobody wants to have a love relationship with a robot. They had a choice. Adam was somewhere, we do not know where. The snake comes along, Satan's possessing the snake and he talks to Eve. He talks her into thinking that there's a better life than what God's given you. All you need to do is eat this fruit because God's been holding out on you and you'll see that this tastes way better and you'll know so much more. And here's the killer, Eve. You'll become a God. The Bible says she was deceived and she ate the fruit. And then Adam shows up. Adam doesn't sin. The Bible tells us that Eve is the one who sinned. Adam did something worse. She said, what could possibly be worse than sinning against God? Adam did it. He transgressed. So Adam shows up, yet unfalling in nature, he could have, and I wish he would have, I'm sorry to say this, but don't you, he could have said, Eve, where's your light? You're like, I mean, you're like naked. Yeah, I just, talking to the snake over here, I'm told me to eat this and I'd be, I'd be like a God if I ate it. Adam could have, listen, A, Adam could have said, well, I don't know, but I predict in about 900 years you're going to die because you are clearly spiritually dead right now because your lightbulb is going out, girl. And tough for you, I tell you what, see this pile of dirt over here? I'm just going to hang around over here until he pulls another rib at me and makes a new one. I get a brand new one. See, Eve, the Bible tells us that Adam didn't do that. Adam transgress. You know what that means? It means that Adam thought about God in his relationship with God and then Adam looked at Eve, she must have been a cutie because the Bible says that Adam chose to be with Eve. That's why Jesus Christ is called the last Adam. He came into this world to associate with us, took upon himself the form of a man and he got into our sinful situation to rescue us from what Adam plunged us into. And Jesus died on that cross and he rose again from the dead to bring us salvation. It's pretty amazing, but Paul makes this incredible admission which is true and everybody knows it. I'm carnal and I'm sold under sin. What does that mean? That means we struggle with the sin nature. But Christian, here's the beautiful thing about it. Only the believer in the house are watching right now understands, yes, my Christian life is a battle. I just contend every day with the things of this world. Good for you. So do we. Keep going. Don't stop. The world has been duped. The world is in the grip and whatever lust and passions lead them, they have no power to resist. Not true for us. Galatians 5, verse 24 says, and those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in this spirit, let us also walk in this spirit. That's an amazing statement. So, Jack, which one is it? Am I a Christian or not? Well, let me ask you, are you having to struggle and deal with the crucifixion of your desires every day? Do you understand the difference? Am I me? Or is it in your life? It's just you, only you. Or for the rest of us, can we say, I've got the Jack that I want to be, the Jack that I'm giving to Jesus, the Jack that is now wanting to go to heaven. And then there's the Jack that visits me from the past and says, hey, what about this? And the new Jack has got to say to the old Jack, sit down. Get the behind me, Satan, right? There's the rebuking of yourself. How does that happen? The Holy Spirit is at work in you, by the way. The more you take intake of the Bible, the more active that dynamic becomes. It's awesome. First John, chapter 1, if we say that we have fellowship with God, so don't respond, but do you fellowship with God? And walk in darkness, oh, do you fellowship with God? Is that what you say? But you hate your brother or your sister? Do you say that you have fellowship with God, but you can't live without a line of cocaine or or the drink or the drug? Do you say you have fellowship with God, but you're sleeping around? We lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, isn't that amazing? Before Adam and he fell, the Bible says that they walked with God in the garden, and the Bible says God is light. And the ancient Hebrew rabbis told us that Adam and Eve were clothed with light. They weren't naked. Remember, they, since they realized they were naked after they sinned, they were clothed in light. Can you imagine what kind of, what did that look like? It's awesome to even think. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin. You see verse 7, that's called revival. If we say that we have no sin, it's like those Pharisees, the weirdos, the self-righteous, justifiers of their selves, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, this is an amazing statement. If we confess our sins, so the term is ek homo legato, it means to say the same word. If you say the same thing about sin, that God says about it, that's called confession. God, I know that this is going on in my life, that little sweetie at the water fountain at the office who's not your wife. God is saying stop it. And in that moment when he's speaking to you, and he's speaking to you all the time, he's saying to you stop it. And you will either repent, that's exhibited by confession and listen to this, nobody needs to know. The thought is in your mind and you've been flirtatious and God says you need to cut this off right here right now. That's the Holy Spirit preserving you, loving you, listen, it's God judging you so you can live. If you say it's okay, it's okay really. You should read the, what happened to David? Okay, the Bible says can you take fire and bring it to your bosom and hold it without being burned? Maybe it's some fantasy thinking about possessions or about romance or about something and nobody sees. So it's okay. And God says you belong to me. What are you doing? Your mind is fixated, your passions are going somewhere else and it's not sanctified, it's not sanctioned, it's wrong. But if we confess our sin, Ek homolageo, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him God a liar and his word is not in us. Church, did you hear that? Listen to the reality of God's word. We're not perfect, but if you could, wouldn't you be? But this life, this old life dogs may day and night. The beautiful thing is, 46 years ago when I met Jesus, a war began. Not with me in Jesus, we were warring before that. Jesus and I got together and went to war against me. And I'm happy about that. My little children, he says in chapter 2, verse 1, my little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Wow, I'm so grateful for that right now. Every single one of us should thank God for this wonderful, wonderful truth that God knows exactly what we're made of. And he knows where our passions lie. And is your heart after God? Does his word excite you and you want to live for him? And the second thing under this point is this and that is know the believers frustration in verse 15. It's a beautiful thing. For what I am doing, says the Apostle, I do not understand. This is so weird. I thought when I became a Christian, I could walk on water. Why am I battling these thoughts? Why do I have old things, try to rare its ugly head to reinsert itself in my life? I don't understand this. Well, how come, Paul? Well, here's the reason why, for what I will to do, my will, what I decide to do to yield my will to do, that I do not practice. Have you ever gotten up in the morning and you told God, this is going to be a great day, God? Not going to blow it. It's going to go great. Here we go. Paul says, I know this, I've done this. That what I will to do by the five o'clock, I wind up figure now that I don't practice it. And what I hate, that I do. Can you believe the honesty of the Bible? Look, with all due respect, friends, you're going to find this in any other religious writings. But it's so awesome because it is so real. God is not riding off our ability to go sin. God is saying, listen, here's the reality of the matter, I know you. And I have saved you. But the last final step of your total redemption is your body. And that's going to come at your death, Christian. We got to get this around our heads once and for all. Death for the Christian is graduation. It's not the grave. Read your Bible to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord. The frustration, though, is in the here and now. I know what to do. Now I have to be honest with you. You guys, you know where I live. People see me everywhere. So they see Lisa and I everywhere. And I look normal, right? I would think I look normal. I mean, I got a pants on. I got this juice on. I'm wearing a shirt or something. I'm not, you know, running around. You're not, I'm not pushing a shopping cart around Albertsons with vodka in it. And whiskey, you don't see that do you? You see hummus and almond milk and butter peanut butter. When you see a set of restaurant, am I hiding the bottle? Oh, hi, how are you? No. Well, listen, I'm going somewhere with this. I'm not, you know, I'm not an LA in some back alley massage place. No. I don't have to be. You wouldn't know why, according to God. He knows every thought in my head. And I can look to you, stellar. You can look to me, stellar. But without Christ living in you, there's a whirlwind of filth in my mind. That's why God says, I don't judge, according to the external. I look into a man's heart. Isn't that amazing? See, if you want religion, go somewhere else. If you want to meet Jesus, you're in the right place because he's not, he's not content to hang on across around your neck. Now, he's close. He's near your heart. But he's got to get inside. And he'll never barge in. You got to invite him in. This Jack Kibb's podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibs.com to learn more and stay connected. Either way, sling lets you watch the playoffs your way. With no long-term contracts, learn more at sling.com.