Live and Let Die

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 Every believer in the house right now. When things come to an end, for us it's always the beginning. There is no end. For the Christian, it's not even possible. 00:23 - Speaker 1 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbscom 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. 00:52 - Speaker 2 The end for the Christ follower is always a very good thing in scripture, always, for example, I wrote some things down. It's at the end, my dear brother and sister, after a long and grueling trial, a period of testing, that the victory comes. Have you noticed that? We've all gone through trials, but it comes to an end and for the believer, there's a great victory on the end of difficulties, be it death in the family, hardship, financially, illness, sickness, whatever God brings us through and there's a great victory. There's an end to the believer's life. That's always good. And then also I thought about this there's the end of years of schooling and preparation and then, finally, graduation day comes and all of a sudden it comes together. It ends only to open up a door into a new life. And then what about the end? That was when Jesus Christ, after 33 years of living in this world, his life listen, his life ended at the cross. But church did it stay? Ended, of course not. Three later he rose again from the grave, and the end was just the beginning. I submit this to you, that to every one of us who follow Christ every single end in our lives leads to a beginning, and so now that leads us to our study today. 02:18 Verses 17 and 18, repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. That's believer and unbeliever. Verse 18. If it is possible, as much as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all men. Great words of wisdom here. And, by the way, before we go all the way into this, I love the practicality of the Bible. Friends, listen up when it says down there in verse 18, if it is possible, whoa, stop, whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought all things are possible for us. They are. 02:56 This is a challenge and we'll get to it later. This is a challenge regarding our willingness. Are we willing to love our enemies? Are we willing to even ask God, will you make me willing? I mean, you might be here today and you're thinking I want to choke my enemy. You need to say Lord, I'm sorry for that attitude. That's not like you, you're not like that. And, God, I need you to forgive me and change my heart. But, Lord, I tell you what. I don't have enough spiritual maturity to press any further beyond that. But I will ask you this will tell you what. I don't have enough spiritual maturity to press any further beyond that, but I will ask you this Will you cause me, will you make me to be willing, will you make this impossible situation be possible in my life? Because God can do that. And, by the way, hopefully, if I'm faithful to what God has put in my heart to teach on today, you will want to embrace that, because it will be liberty for you. 03:51 And then he goes on to say how practical is the Bible? So awesome as much as it depends on you. Live peaceably with all men. That is so cool, because what that means is either learn to be more gracious to those that are around you, especially those that you don't like, to the point where at times, you can overcome all that and your enemy can become your best friend over time, because love conquers a multitude of sin. But there are times when it's just abrasive. You've done your best, they've done their best and you just don't get along. 04:27 And so between now and heaven, when, thank God, heaven, we're going to be perfect, nobody's going to be walking up there saying, oh gosh, here comes Jack, let me, let me. That's not going to happen. You'll love, you will love me and I'll love you. And there won't be. Do you remember when you took my parking spot. There'll be none of that. There'll be none of that. It will be gone from us. And so we learn this this is going to hurt. It's going to say this to us Coming to the end of me means I got to come to the end of me being the judge, I got to stop being the judge. 05:01 When it says, repay no one evil for evil, now let's be honest. Well, this is ridiculous. What kind of power do you and I have to repay evil upon someone who's done evil to us? You say, well, Jack, you've not seen me in action. No, no, no, I'm not saying that you can't render evil upon someone who's done you evil. 05:21 The Bible is saying what gives you the right to do that? So what? They did it to you. Who are you to do it back to them? Who do you think you are the judge? And did you know, technically, in the purest sense of the word, did you know that biblically, there's only one judge and you're not the one? Who's the one judge? God, technically, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that God, the Father, has committed to Christ all judgment and Jesus is exercising currently no judgment. Did you guys know that, theologically, if you were in a theological course, you would have to answer this question when will Christ execute the judgment of God? If somebody says he's doing it now? No, he's not. That's coming Right now. 06:08 This is an age of grace. God is patiently, quietly putting up with all of your evil and shenanigans. If you're not a Christian right now and, for that matter, if you're a backslidden Christian, he's still putting up with that in your life. But if you're not a Christian and you think, well, man, I've been sleeping around doing drugs, robbing banks and I haven't gotten in trouble yet. God must be okay with me. Oh, you have no idea that he's not only gracious, he's sharpening the sickle. In fact, look at it this way God is gracious, but with every day that you wake up in your rebellion, I hope this ruins your life with what I'm about to say. Just hear this. Because he is sharpening his sickle of wrath and judgment against the wicked and ungodly. 06:59 That's what the Bible says. He's coming back. The second coming is all about him executing his judgment upon the earth. You don't have to go through that. You can come to Christ today. But know this we are not to judge, and it is human nature for every single one of us to usurp some form of judgment upon other people in our lives. Every one of us. We do this, and to do so is to sit in the place of being a judge. Repay no one, evil for evil. The word repay let's mark this down. Jesus spoke these words. Paul spoke these words. It means to give back, to return to account or to tabulate, to pay back, to make a repayment, to hand back what was handed to you. 07:54 We would maybe hear it this way in our head Well, they had it coming. You ever heard that term? They had it coming. What's coming? What came to them? Repayment for what they did to me. Let's all be honest. Emotions. We can all agree with that statement. They had it coming. Now we feel it. Think it on the inside. God sees it. We would never say it out loud, but it's wrong, it's sin. As a believer, we can't do that. Look so well, they had it coming. 08:27 In our modern day expression, we also would say things like this maybe good for them. Well, I'm not surprised. You ever heard that one? Or I just knew it was a matter of time. If we knew so much about their terrible situation, why didn't we do anything about it when we were pondering all this prophetic news in our minds. They had it coming. What was it that they had coming? You should have gone to them as a Christian and said listen, you need by the way, you might hate me for this, but you need to repent of what you're doing, because God loves you and you're going to destroy your life and if you cared, you would have said something about it. Listen, christians should never be snoopy people. 09:11 The Bible condemns us being gossips. Did you know that? By the way, God says in the book of Proverbs I hate gossips, God, you want to know why? Because the gossip assumes that the person that's being talked about is not there. They can't defend themselves. So what you do? How many of us have had this happen to us? When somebody says you know what happened to Bill, don't you? Do I? And here's my look, I'm an old man. I get to say stuff like this. Now, do I need to know Right? Do I need to know Right? Because if somebody comes to you and says well, you know what Karen said, do I need to know that? Number two, if you're going to tell me what Karen said, can I quote you? Write that down. Write that down. Write that down. You want to know why. By the way, try it as a test the moment you say well, before you tell me. I mean, listen, here's what's really happening. Excuse me Before you pollute my heart and my mind about what Karen said who is not here, by the way, to defend herself but whatever you do say, it's going to be in my head forever, even if she didn't do it. Are you hearing me? 10:33 People, when somebody says something, we are repaying them. We're putting something upon them by gossiping about them, saying something about them, we're labeling them, and then you say things like this I was just kidding, it's too late. Every time you see that person, you will remember the bad thing first, and then you'll have to try to yeah, well, he said he was kidding and you have defamed that person and God says I hate it. And you're repaying people by how you speak about them. But as a church family, we just all need to get into this holy practice of saying do I need to know? And secondly, if you're going to tell me, I'm going to quote you. Watch your friend say you know, I think I left a pot roast in the freezer. Watch it. Try it, I've done it. It works every time. It's awesome, but this is what's done, by a spirit of retaliation. I'm going to pay them back. I know God died on the cross for my sins and I'm a child of God going to heaven, but this person upset me and I'm going to get them back. I understand, we all understand the emotion. We just need to understand something. It's come from a bad, bad poison that is still in our heart and God is actually using the situation to speak to us, to say to us you need to get that crucified, Jack. You need to get that crucified. That's why this whole thing has come to your attention. It's not about them. It's about you, Jack, and me that's need to get that crucified. That's why this whole thing has come to your attention. It's not about them. It's about you, Jack and me. That's got to get dealt with. 12:09 Thou shalt not judge. We hear that all the time. But why not? Let's be honest. The Bible says that we shall not judge, and then the Bible turns around and says judge one another and judge yourself. This is one of the bummers about us in the English language. Mark it down, please. When the Bible says do not judge another, the word judge in English is very weak. It should be this way and it is this way in the original scripture in the Greek language Thou shalt not condemn, because we are all called, even by Jesus himself, to be what we say fruit inspectors. 12:53 Right, when somebody says that they're a Christian, we who are Christians, and vice versa, we're supposed to evaluate each other's fruitful life. Do we really live like a believer? And we make determinations. We are constantly making judgments on all kinds of things. We're supposed to discern. You ever heard the word discernment? It's a conclusion based upon judgment. But the Christian is not allowed. We don't have it. We don't have the insight, we don't have the authority. We don't have it. We don't have the insight, we don't have the authority, we don't have the place. It's reserved only for God. We cannot condemn. We need to be careful about that. So, repaying somebody evil because they've done evil to us? It is human, but it's our fallen nature. 13:43 In Matthew, chapter seven, verse one you already knew I was going to go here. Matthew 7, verse 1, Jesus says Judge not that you be not judged. For whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. In other words, are you being harsh on people? If you don't repent of that, Jesus is saying I'm going to exercise the level, the exact same level of harshness upon you, because that's what you dealt out. Now you might say, well, isn't he repaying evil for evil? No, he's God. He is repaying evil with righteousness in his judgment. 14:28 Verse 3, and why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye? Think about how funny this is. Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and do not consider the plank in your own eye? Excuse me, this is hilarious. You've got a two by four by eight foot beam sticking out of your eyeball and you're all concerned about your brother that's got a speck of dust in his eye. Hey, you guys, you know you have a speck of dust in your eye right there. Well, you have a log sticking out of your face. I mean this is funny, but Jesus is magnifying the optics on this hypocrisy. Verse 4, or how can you say to your brother let me remove the speck from your eye? This is getting funnier Hypocrite. First remove the plank from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the sweat from your brother's eye. Is that graphic? That is awesome. Why are we not laughing? I thought are there any planks around here? I guess I should be. Wow. 15:38 James 5, verse 9, says do not grumble. This is a tremendously powerful word. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. Wow 9,. The word is translated do not hold a grudge against another. 16:08 The word grumble means hold a grudge against another or to hold an ongoing complaint against another Christian. Okay, this is going to listen. This is a big deal. Are you guys still with me? Say I know this hurts, I know this stings, but this is why you're in a Bible teaching church. This is the big deal. For those of us who are getting hit by the Holy Spirit right now with that definition of the meaning of the word from the Scripture here in the book of James. This is getting us Boom, wait a minute, what? Because sometimes, listen, a grudge is something that we keep like a pet and we kind of nurture it along and we feed it by saying the person's name, or you hear the person's name and you go. You know what I'm talking about. It's us as humans. This is one of the reasons why we need Jesus so bad To hold a grudge against another, to have a complaint, an ongoing complaint against another brother or sister in Christ. 17:14 What does the Bible tell us? But in Matthew, chapter 18, you have something against somebody. What does the Bible say? Post it. What does the Bible say? Post it. Is that what the Bible says? Tweet it. Did somebody do something to you? Did you blab it on the social media? Did you tell somebody? 17:35 Instead of going to them, you just sinned. In fact, it can be argued, you sinned a greater sin than what they did to you. You have something against somebody. Is there a Christian that you don't like? Because of this, that or the other thing? You better go to them. You better go to the MESAP. 17:53 Listen, you're not hearing this message today by coincidence. God is speaking to us. Get it right. Why? Because he's getting his church right. I hope Jesus comes back today. But man, listen, some of you need to get right with God so we can get out of here. And if you think like that, I am not going to do that. Maybe your husband is nudging your elbow, saying you need to go to her. I told you you should go talk to her, or maybe you're getting nudged and your wife is saying you need to take care of this with the kids, or whatever it is. You know that stuff, I can see it from here. That's how I just knew to say that. You inspired me to say that Obey God and take care of that, because if you don't, it's going to be pride that keeps you from getting healed and from others being healed around you. 18:43 The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 31,. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. Now there's a good judgment, and that's exactly what I just said to you a moment ago Judge yourself. Here's what you want. To be Christian, you want to take the Bible every day of your life, and you want to apply the Bible to yourself a little bit more harder than you want to be Christian, you want to take the Bible every day of your life and you want to apply the Bible to yourself a little bit more harder than you do to anyone else on the planet. Make it harder on yourself. You want to know why. 19:11 Because, listen, if you apply the word of God to yourself now, now when it says, if you judge yourself, you will not be judged, it means this when you show up before God, God going to say, glad you're here, awesome, Come on in. You mean, yeah, but after, after you get in trouble, right? No, come on in, but don't you want to? No, listen, here's what you did. You took my word. All the years of your life you applied my word to your situation. You judged yourself against my word. You already took care of it. Do you remember? If you sin, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Yes, that's in 1 John 1.9. You did that to you. 20:19 - Speaker 1 Come on in.