Live Life For His Glory

Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast, with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. I don't understand, Jesus, how I could do greater works than you have done, and I even don't even understand how I can do the works that you've done. I mean, I've never raised anybody from the dead. Well, maybe you haven't, but have you prayed for people and they were healed? No. Have you shown love to someone? Have you been gracious? Have you been forgiving to others? But then Jesus blows it all up and says, you're going to do greater works than I've done. How is that possibly true? 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. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31 says, Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or Gentiles. Or the church of God. So there's three categories mentioned. Don't be offensive. Just as I also please all men in all things, says the apostle, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. Notice that his drive is I want to make sure that in discipleship, the church is saved. Those that I teach and speak to, Paul is saying, I want to make sure that they've made their calling and election sure. And to the Gentile, I want to make sure the Gentile has the opportunity to be saved. The Gentile is the non-Jew. And to the Jew, Paul said he spoke of these things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And that word means things that belong to the kingdom. The politic, technically, is the word of God. to identify with God, to do the things that God desires to have accomplished. Romans chapter 15. Are you guys okay? Romans chapter 15, verse 17. This is in the English standard version. It's a nice read right here. In Christ Jesus, then I have reason to be proud of my work for God. Notice this verse we're studying right now. Notice how the ESV puts it. This is very good. We have a tendency to take this the wrong way. We overreact. In Christ Jesus. The qualifier church is the word in. I-N. Write it down. The qualifier, if you're in a seminary course, you'd have to do this. Explain this verse. Number one, qualifier is the word in. That's the qualifier. In who? In what? In Christ Jesus. All right, what then? I have reason to be proud of my work for God. None of us, let's be honest, not a single one of us would say right now, hey, everybody in Christ Jesus, I'm proud of the work that I've done for God. Nobody would say that, but Paul would say it. You want to know why he would say it? Because he would be able, don't miss this, he would be able to communicate those truths in a way that is so humble and so God-glorifying that you, when you hear Paul say it, would never think, he's talking about his own strength, this is where we miss it, his own powers, his own abilities. Folks, listen, we got to get away from ourselves. You know, I just need some me time. No, you don't. You need to get away from you. you need to leave you at the next stop. Because here's the deal. The evidence that we spend too much time with us is, well, I did do a pretty good job on that one. Oh, I led another person to Christ. Ooh. Make me want to vomit, right? But when the Holy Spirit has a hold of you, You know, people talk about tone. I could tell you, I love you. Or I could tell you, I love you. It's all in the tone. When Paul says, I am proud. You understand that he is saying, I've already written in other books to all you guys. Then I'm the chief of sinners. That out of me, no good thing can come. I am so proud in the qualifier, Christ Jesus. that I have done work for God. He's not saved by those works. He's giving God the honor that God has worked through, Paul would say today, a clown. Somebody who's the chief of the worst. That's what Paul would say. Well, that's the ESV. Look at the NIV. The NIV puts Romans 15, verse 17, chapter 15, verse 17, this way. Therefore, I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. That's true too. Different word. You say, Pastor, why do these great versions of the Bible have different words? It's nothing to be alarmed about. You know how I will show you the Greek words and the meaning of the Greek words very often? And have you noticed that those Greek words will always have many, many multiple words to describe that one Greek word? The translators simply pick a word that they believe is the stronger word. That's all it is. It's not interpretation. It's not contradiction. It's not error. This is English. We're talking about the Bible coming out of Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic into English. And so notice that the translators equate work to service. I like that. You want to know why? The word service can also be translated worship. Now all of a sudden I see what Paul... In fact, let's back up. Let's go back to the ESV. Everybody watch. I'm going to read it different. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my worship for God. Makes a difference, right? And of course, he's not talking about that human pride. That would be sin. Colossians 1, verse 10 tells us that you may walk worthy of the Lord... fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. I always submit to you that that is literally impossible to do apart from the person of the Holy Spirit. Those of you who are not born again, but you're very religious, you have a hard time with that verse. You'd rather just go on to the next verse. Because the moment you think this way, that you walk worthy of the Lord, I'm worthy, I'm worthy. I just checked, I'm worthy. And the Holy Spirit's saying, yeah. No, you're not. He'll remind you of things to humble you. Fully pleasing him. Church, the only way that you and I can actually fully please him is even though we are dust and we are prone to sin, even though we hate sin, we still sin, not by plan, but by weakness. That, listen, even in that life that we fail at, did you know that you are pleasing to God? Can you handle that? Hear me out. Don't answer. Do you love Jesus? You say, I love Jesus with all my heart. Yes, me too. Do you serve him? Yes, I serve him. But now you start thinking like this. Yes, I serve him, but I need to serve him more. Do you worship the Lord? I worship the Lord, but not enough. Do you pray? I pray, but not very often. Not as long as I should. You see, the moment you start and then you think about you, the sunshine comes out and then the cloud blocks it out. And that cloud is your pride. You may be a believer and you're on your way to heaven, but you're not happy about it because you think you never pray enough. You think you never give enough. You think you never serve enough. You know what Paul the apostle said? He said, look, who can figure this stuff out? I don't even judge myself in these areas. I leave that to God. You can never bring your merit to God. Jesus is the merit. Plus nothing. And that's vitally important that you understand that. John chapter 14 verse 12. Jesus says, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. Did you hear that? Yes. What? And greater works than these he will do because I go to my father. Church family, if you ever wanna pick on a verse, do that one. Jesus said, most assuredly, that means absolutely, absolutely. Truly, truly, I say to you, he, she, who believes in me, the works that I do, he or she will do also. He said, now I'm having a hard time with this Bible. Oh, Jesus doubles down. And greater works than these, he or she will do because I go to my father. What on earth is he talking about? Listen, this is very fun. Jesus said, my children, as they go and minister to others, they're gonna do the works that I do. They're gonna do greater works. How can we possibly do greater works? There's a great answer to this. I'm just gonna draw this out for a moment. Do you see the qualifier in this verse? I don't understand, Jesus, how I could do greater works than you have done, and I even don't even understand how I can do the works that you've done. I mean, I've never raised anybody from the dead. Well, maybe you haven't, but have you prayed for people and they were healed? Have you shown love to someone? Have you been gracious? Have you been forgiving to others? But then Jesus blows it all up and says, you're going to do greater works than I've done. How is that possibly true? Before I answer that, note the qualifier. This qualifier is not at the beginning. It's at the end. Do you see it? Because what? Because I go to my father. Translation. Hey, you guys, because I'm going to go to my father, you know, all the stuff that I've done, you're going to do it also. And because I'm going to the father, the Holy Spirit's going to come and you're going to do greater things. What's the greater thing? You can raise somebody from the dead. You and I could raise somebody from the dead. The problem is, in fact, Jesus raised people from the dead, but they had to die again. Right? Think about that. You ever think about that? He raised Lazarus. He raised Lazarus from the dead, but Lazarus had to live his life and die again. You can raise somebody from the dead, but they're going to have to die again. Unless the rapture happens. That'd be cool. Get raised from the dead and then the rapture happens in your lifetime. That's a super duper. But check this out. Because Jesus went to the Father on the day of Pentecost, what happened? The Holy Spirit came down. What happened when the Holy Spirit came down? People began to believe in the gospel because the church was empowered by the Holy Spirit. And they preached the gospel from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth until it wound up in Chino Hills. And when Jesus said, you'll do greater works than me, listen, Jesus, you can honestly never accuse Jesus of being an evangelist. Did he evangelize? Yes, of course, but not the way that you'd expect at the stadium or in church. Jesus said this way, well, I'm obviously making this up right now. This is a disclosure. Hey, thank you for coming, everybody. Great that you're here. Hope you enjoyed the worship. If you do not pick up your cross and follow me, you'll have no part with me. Unless you're willing to consider yourself dead, you'll never live. Unless you were born a second time, you're going to wind up experiencing hell. Have a great day. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus, he said to Jesus, good master, what must I do to be saved? What did Jesus say? It was amazing. Jesus said, by the way, the guy was rich, young, and a ruler. Rich. Jesus could have said, you know, we could really use his money. He was young. We could use his energy. And maybe he'll influence younger people and we'll have young people come. And he has authority. He's a ruler. This guy, he's like the forerunner of every yuppie that they'll ever be. No, Jesus says, I tell you what, you want to inherit the kingdom of heaven? Go sell everything that you have and come and follow me. Is that how you get to heaven? By selling everything you have? No. What was Jesus doing? He was hitting that man right in the idols. All of his idols. All of the things that that man equated to meaning, success, and power, they were anything and everything but God. And Jesus hid him right in the idols and says, go sell all that you have and come and follow me. Jesus knew that that man would not give up his other gods. Friends, When Jesus says greater works, you will do. When you share the Lord Jesus Christ with someone in evangelism, if you tell just another person about the love of Jesus Christ and the gospel of God, when you do that, Jesus says, you're doing greater works than me. When somebody comes to Christ... We have no evidence in the Bible that when someone's raised from the dead or their blind sight is open, do the angels applaud? Correct me if I'm wrong, church. Is there any person that says when one person regains their sight, the angels of heaven rejoice? No. What does the Bible say? When one person repents and comes to Christ, the angels in heaven rejoice. Wow. Jesus said you'll do greater works. And that's called upon us. Paul is not gonna be some pie-in-the-sky orator who, not to offend anybody, but would never take a course of philosophy without inserting the gospel. Paul would never host a rally to talk about something and never bring up the gospel. Are you hearing me? The gospel's the answer. The word of God is the answer. And Paul is saying, I have learned from God to not speak about anything that he first has not worked out in my life. I love that. That's a reality. It's kind of, you know, the opposite is this. Somebody who's a family psychologist and you go to his office and he's like 13 years old. And he's got all the degrees on the wall and you're there to talk about marriage. We need you to help us with our marriage. And then 30 minutes into it, you find out that the guy's never been married. I don't care if you have a degree from all of the universities put together. Unless you've been married, you're not qualified. Well, how do you know? Been there. I've done been married, still married. It's been 47. Yeah, I think 46, maybe 47 this year. Maybe I'll have to check. A long time, decades, decades. Listen, and it's like somebody, you go to get counseling to somebody, we need help with our children. We have a teenager. Do you have a teenager? No, I've read about them, but I don't have one. I can't hear anything. No, no, Paul the Apostle said things like this. I want you to follow Christ. And somebody from the crowd goes, yeah. Well, what do you know? Paul would say, this is what I know. I was at the top of the food chain in Judaism. I made all the money and had all the power. And I met Jesus on my way to Damascus. I was out to hunt down Christians. He knocked me off my horse. He spoke to me. And when he revealed himself to me, I found out that I was absolutely hell-bent on the course of destruction. And then he began to go to work in my life. Let's be honest, everybody. I know you might have brought your non-Christian friend, but let's tell him straight up. You want to get your teeth knocked out? Of course not. Well, then don't become a Christian. Because you become a Christian, you just get your spiritual teeth knocked out. I heard a woman give a testimony last night who from LA spent her young life from the ages she was sexually abused at the age of five. She was then sold into slavery in Los Angeles at the age of 14. Long story short, she's been rescued by Jesus Christ and she has a ministry now. Yeah, that's awesome. But you know what she said? She said, I accepted Jesus Christ and he went to work in my life. And she said, I'm gonna tell you right now, Jesus Christ makes you deal with your past. Jesus Christ causes you to have the victory over your past, but you gotta face it with him. He'll walk you down the hallway of your past. And she said, if you think being a Christian is an easy thing to do, then you need to stay home. But if you want to really live, she said, Jesus will get ahold of you in reality. And he'll start cleaning house. And she said, it's painful. And she said, I wouldn't have it any other way. She goes, I'm free now. She's free. Listen, you need to know that. We need to stop this warm and fuzzy stuff. and come to Jesus Christ and say, Lord, if you need to gut me, I'm inviting you to gut me. And I say that in faith, Jesus, I'm trusting you to be gentle enough, but take me to the limit enough, because you know me, I don't even know me. And you know what you wanna do in my life. So you come inside and you do what you need to do. And if I scream, if I tell you to stop, don't listen to me. No matter what you hear come out of my mouth. Don't stop. And Jesus, he's rolling up his sleeve and getting out his tools. And he'll say, oh, no, thank you. I appreciate that. But once I begin a good work, I don't stop until it's completed. That's Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6. 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