Misused And Misunderstood

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
Hey, how many times have you heard a verse quoted or said or maybe somebody just blurts one out there like it's a band-aid onto something and it actually is not even the right verse regarding the issue, or it's something being used from the Word of God that doesn't really apply? You need to know how to use the word, because the word's very specific. So grab your Bibles. We're going to get into a quick time, short time, but I think it's going to be pretty cool as we look at how to use the word of God and apply it appropriately.

00:41 - 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.

01:10 - Speaker 2
Well, everybody, welcome to this edition of the Jack Hibbs podcast show. We're glad that you were with us. We are encouraging you, as always. The best thing that you can do for us is to encourage us by letting other people know, give us a rating, give us a thumbs up, pass it along, let others know that this was a blessing to you. And we do want to hear from you. We're not asking for your money. We're asking you to say hey, I'd like to hear more about this, or I'd like to hear more about the other.

01:38
Or what about this topic? What happens to somebody when they're a Christian and they get bit by a shark and die and their body goes out into the water and the rapture happens? And how does God wring all that out? Whatever we believe, I believe that the answers to everything in life are actually found in Scripture. I've often said before that life, I believe, is rigged to the Scriptures, because of God's eternal word is always the answer. Father, we pray that you'd bless our fun time together right now, lord, we pray that you would just give us your insight and your understanding, by the power of your Holy Spirit. And thank you, father, god, that your word is anything but stale, it's anything but dry. Lord, help us to never make the word of God stale or dry. That would be us, as Tozer said, that would be the word of God dying in the hands of its friends. Lord, may we not be guilty of having the word of God die in our hands, even though we are friends to the word. May we not do it any injustice. Bless our time together. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. So you guys, we're just at a time right now, where it's pretty cool, where, by the time you see this podcast, the staff, the campus, the church where I'm pastoring, everything that's around us is getting into the holy day. I want to say holy day mode because, holy, this is another topic for some other time, but I don't want you to miss this.

03:16
There's a lot of holidays, okay, and then there's a holy day In America, in the United States. We have one holy day in America that's truly American, and that is Thanksgiving Day. It is a truly holy day on the American calendar. It's the one and only. It's solely reserved for us, as Americans, to give thanks for the founding of our nation and we recognize the fact that the Pilgrim Fathers celebrated that they survived their first year, their first winter, and they did that with the Indians, the natives, and it was about a seven-day long Thanksgiving day, thanksgiving week period, and it's a holy day America's only holy day, technically.

04:07
So, listen, here's what we're going to do. We're going to have some fun today, and I want to address some scriptures that are often misunderstood, and we're going to start with this one. This is a biggie Matthew, chapter 18. So, number one, the book of Matthew, is written by Matthew Levi Matthew Levy is how the Hebrews would say it and much of the gospel of Matthew, matthew being the first in biblical order. Matthew's gospel is not the first in chronological order. The first gospel written is actually I want to see if you can catch this it's actually known as Peter's gospel, technically. See, I've never heard of Peter's gospel before, I know.

04:55
Listen, the first gospel in chronological order is Mark's gospel, mark's gospel, and that is Mark in the scripture, the young man, mark, john, mark, mark was a very, very young man. He's the one that, at the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, it tells us that Mark, or a disciple, fled. They grabbed him and he fled naked from the Garden of Gethsemane. Who was that young man that took off running. It was Mark and Mark. It is understood in church history. Mark interviewed Peter in the writing of Mark's gospel. So the Holy Spirit possess, as we know from scripture, mark and Peter. They sat down and Mark interviewed Peter and wrote Mark's gospel, and it's the shortest gospel with the most record of miracles Shortest gospel, mark, but it records the most miracles Fascinating. That's Mark's gospel.

06:02
We're going to talk, though, about a different gospel that came along later than that, later than Mark, and that is Matthew's gospel. This is important. A very, very popular scripture passage quoted but greatly misunderstood. It's Matthew, chapter 18. If you have your Bible, you ought to grab it and we'll look at it together. It says Matthew 18,.

06:31
Let's start in about verse 15. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. Wouldn't it be great if this was actually obeyed by believers instead of talking about it on Facebook first, christian, if somebody, if a brother, offends you or you offend a brother, you guys are supposed to take care of that by yourself, not tell Susie about it. You guys are supposed to take care of that by yourself, not tell Susie about it. It's terrible sin that we commit in this area, all because we fail to obey the word. So, moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. In other words, you guys have been reconciled.

07:23
You don't tell other people about it, keep it private. It's between you and him. Why? Because you sinned against him or he sinned against you. You guys have settled it and you move on. You leave it. You leave it at the cross.

07:33
But verse 16, if he will not hear, you take with you one or two more, that's brothers or sisters. That quote now Old Testament verse. By the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. Okay, so you minimize the exposure of the sin. Why?

07:56
The more people know about the sin, the harder it is to make reconciliation. We've got to get a hold of ourselves, people. We need to get a grip on our mouth. When somebody upsets us, we need to shut our mouth and go to that person and obey the word of God and tell them. You know what. You broke my heart when you said that man. Did I understand you right? Were you slandering me? Because I need to know the truth on this. You don't talk about that to anybody else. In fact, your sin, if you do, is worse than the sin that the brother committed against you. You now become what God hates as a tail bearer. God says I hate gossips. So this is very, very important. But look, we're building up to an often misunderstood portion of scripture.

08:43
And if he refuses you portion of scripture and if he refuses you, but if he refuses to hear them, that's you and the two. Tell it to the church. That doesn't mean you stand up on Sunday morning and say hey, did you know that Wilbur over here is a dork? This guy's an idiot. Let me tell you what he did work. This guy's an idiot. Let me tell you what he did. That's not what it means. It implies church leadership. It implies, after you've gone to him with two or three witnesses now at least three of you have talked to him If he won't hear, you go to trusted church leadership. That's what you do. Tell it to the church. But if he refuses even for the church to hear, let him be to you like one who is a heathen and a tax collector. In other words, cut off fellowship from this believer who's continuing to live in sin in this matter.

09:38
Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Oh my goodness, have you ever heard somebody say we bind this in Jesus' name, we claim it, we bind it, we loose it. In Jesus, I loose that word, wrong, error, stop. You are misusing the word of God. That's not what it's for, it's not what it means. He's going to tell us what it means Again.

10:16
I say to you that if two of you on earth, concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. Then Peter came and said to him Lord, how often shall I, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him? Up to seven times. And Jesus said do not say, I do not say to you up to seven times, but 70 times seven.

10:58
When someone says loosing or binding, it's in the context of dealing with church discipline, or binding, it's in the context of dealing with church discipline. When someone says to you that two of you come together in agreeing on any matter, jesus said there, I am in the midst of you. It's regarding church discipline. It's regarding dealing with an error in the fellowship of believers. And Peter, god bless. Thank you, peter. Peter even helps us out by saying wait a minute. Are you saying, jesus, that if somebody sins against me seven times, I'm to forgive them? Jesus said no, 70 times seven. What does that mean? 490. What does that mean? If you're Jewish, you know exactly what that means 490. It's not the number. It means God was faithful to pardon Israel's sin for 490 years. How about this? 490 sins or infractions? Jesus is saying it's not the number.

12:02
Whenever someone repents, if it's a thousand, million, zillion times, you are required to forgive them. But what's the prerequisite? Listen up, everybody. Do you just go around issuing forgiveness to everybody? The answer is no. No, you don't, pastor. I can't believe you said that. Nope, we're not supposed to do that. We're supposed to issue forgiveness based upon them repenting.

12:27
If a brother or a sister sins against you and others and refuses to repent of their sin and make amends, if it's a sin against you personally, or now you had to bring in one or two more witnesses. Now it's three. He still won't listen. She still won't listen. Now you tell it to the church, he still won't listen. She still won't listen. Now you tell it to the church leadership, they won't listen. They still won't listen. Then treat them as a non believer, cut them out of the fellowship. Why? Because they need to learn a lesson at church discipline. So when Jesus comes along and says I'm telling you right now that if you guys do that, I will be right in the midst of you, I will be your authority, your eyewitness to this church discipline and I will execute that. You don't have to do it, you just bring it to my attention. And as it escalates and the church leadership is even brought in, I'm telling you this I'm there and I am going to deal with my church. I will take care of this.

13:30
People will often say oh, praise the Lord. We know we're together and, lord, we're praying. And your Bible says that wherever two or more are gathered together I know that you've heard that used that way, but technically, theologically, it's a discipline verse it's a verse that is to be used in church discipline, that whenever two or three are gathered together on this matter, god promises to be there to execute his judgment, his discipline, on this wayward brother. I know I can just hear minds blowing up right now. I know that we've often passionately used that, but we've used it the wrong way. I'm picking on these things.

14:20
Here's another one, and I have it marked here somewhere that I can find it quickly and I'm not being too quick about it. Here it comes. Here it comes. It's Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Listen to this. I'll just start to the top. Start at the top of the verse.

14:43
Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as a green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness. Delight here it is. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Verse five commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.

15:18
I want to point out two things before we dive into this. Verse 3, proverbs 37, verse 3 says trust in the Lord. And Proverbs, chapter 37, verse 5 says commit your way to the Lord. Okay, trust also in him. Trust, trust the Lord.

15:38
Here's the deal we often hear. Delight yourself in the Lord and he'll give you the desires of your heart. Like it's a Santa Claus verse in the Bible, like but God, you didn't give me what I wanted. I prayed that verse, I delighted myself in the Lord and he gave me the desires of my heart. Lord, that was my prayer and you didn't do it. You failed me.

15:57
Nope, the truth is that we actually failed ourselves. We actually failed ourselves. Why? What did we do? We approached the word of God with a prerequisite. We came to him to see what we can get out of him, and we use that verse to almost hold him hostage to his word. Our motive was wrong, our approach was wrong. The intent was wrong. Rather, the verse means this trust God, he's going to deal with the evildoers. Trust him, he'll mow them down like grass in his good time. That's up to him.

16:41
What we're supposed to do instead is to trust God, and in trusting God we are to do this. We are to delight ourselves in the Lord. In the Lord is the qualifier To delight in what? To delight in money. You can delight in money. Go ahead, it's fine. Go ahead and delight in money. Just prepare yourself for a big letdown, because it's going to eventually run out or it's going to fail you.

17:10
You can delight yourself in being healthy. We should all be healthy. We should eat better because our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We should take care of these temples because God wants to use us. In other words, every one of us have an expiration date. We're all going to die on a certain day. I think this is the key that we should be as healthy as we possibly can until we drop dead so God can use us. And if we're sitting around eating cupcakes for breakfast and potato chips for lunch and Twinkies for dinner, you're going to have a miserable sick life and you're going to die on that date. That's already been set, but you're going to be so messed up that God will scarcely be able to use you because you've abused the temple. Okay, so you want to be wise about that. That's still trusting God.

17:59
And to delight yourself in the Lord is to do this. Lord, it's you that I delight in. It's not my health, it's not my wealth, it's not my time, it's not my location, it's not anything else. It's not my name or heritage, or blue blood, access to you know, royalty that's not it. None of those things are it. The prerequisite is in the Lord, I'm going to delight myself.

18:30
I like to reverse the verse Delight yourself in the Lord. How about this? In the Lord, delight. He's your answer, he's your purpose, he's your meaning, he's the reason. And of course, that would require you and I to know him. So delight yourself in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart. And he goes on to say commit your ways to him and trust in him.

19:00
Here's the key. When I find out who God is through the pages of his word, then the more this word gets inside of me, the more I'm delighting myself in him. That when I now pray or talk with God, that when I now pray or talk with God, this word is going to bring up bad images. But I can't think of a better word. If his Bible is in me, when I regurgitate his word, it comes out. Listen, I don't mean to gross you out, but if somebody throws up, if your little kid throws up, you could tell they just had a pepperoni pizza. Why, that's what came out. Gosh, mom and dad would say I guess, listen, I guess pepperoni pizza and cheese doesn't suit him. We won't be doing that again. Why, what came in came out.

20:01
Same is true for the believer. What comes out of the heart, the mouth speaks. So when someone speaks in a certain way, certain tone, certain spirit, as it were, it reveals what's in their heart. And so when the word has filled up the heart of the person, then you will supernaturally, naturally, be delighting yourself in the Lord. The Lord has become your delight, so that when you pray, when you ask him, guess what you are regurgitating in the request? That which was already put in place. In other words, lord, I want to do what you want to do. I want to do whatever you want. Thy will be done is the greatest commentary on this. Psalm 37 verse Lord thy will be done. Psalm 37 verse Lord thy will be done is so liberating and so freeing. So keep that in mind. Think about that. How about? This one Is Romans.

21:07
Some of you are going to cringe. No, no, don't say it. Yep, I'm going to say it. Romans, chapter 28,. Romans, chapter 8, verse 28. Don't say it. It's my favorite verse. It's my favorite verse too, as well as some others.

21:20
But listen, we have to understand it. How many times have you heard this? Oh, you know what, my friend, don't worry about it. All things work together for good. You ever heard that All things work together for good? Together for good? That's when we use the Bible wrongly where we could actually hurt somebody. We can mislead somebody with the word of God. The truth is, if that's how you use it, all things work together for good. Brother, just cheer up, it's going to turn out okay. You just misled that brother and you used the word of God. I know you didn't mean to, but you need to be careful.

22:07
When the scripture says that and we know that all things work together for good the qualifier is to those who love God, number two, to those who are called according to his purposes. So when we quote that verse, we need to say you know, my friend, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purposes. Reverse it those who are called according to God's purposes are the ones who are called. Those are the ones who love the Lord. And those who love the Lord, you can be rest assured confidently that everything that's going on in your life, good, bad or ugly, it's going to work together for good. In your life, good, bad or ugly, it's going to work together for good.

22:59
You don't throw the verse out there like it's some Band-Aid, some triage moment to slap it on a crisis. Oh, just say this, pray this, remember this. There's some qualifiers here and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called and according to his purposes. In fact, he even strengthens that in verse 29. For whom he foreknew? I love that he foreknew. What does that mean? It means God knows everything before it ever happens. He can't learn anything. In fact, those he foreknew, these he also predestined. And of course, he goes into that beautiful doxology about us being really glorified in Christ and brought forth in Christ. The beauty is this that all things work together for good to those who are loving God, called by God and are living their lives for the purposes of God.

24:10
So, friends, listen, if you're going to quote a verse, quote it in its fullness, and then I think we have space and time for a couple more. What about this one? It's Philippians. Sorry, my fingers are all dried up here. Philippians 4, verse 13. Listen to this Philippians 4, 13. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. You heard that verse before. So what does that mean? I'm going to get hate mail for this, but it's okay. I'd rather have the truth prevail.

25:04
If you're going to go miniature golfing with your friends and you really want to win, or if you want to get ready to go out there and make your NFL debut on the field and you say to yourself, I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me, so we're going to win today, we're going to win Again, that's not what that verse means and it's not what it's for. When the scripture tells us that we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me, the context of chapter four is all that glorifies God. In the situation of the life that you're living out, you shouldn't trust God to protect you and lead you and guide you on, you know, on the field or at the meet or at the track and field event. I'm not saying that you can't call out to God for that, but what I am saying is that's not a verse that guarantees that we're going to win the lotto. Hello, that's ridiculous. It's really a verse that announces to us, lord, the situation that's in front of me. How about this?

26:26
Just before doing this podcast, I had a pastor come up to me and say hey, can I ask you something personally, privately. Something's going on in my life, man, every time I get alone with God, it's just a lot of static, it's a lot of noise. And he said I feel like I'm just losing, I feel like I'm sinking. This seems like there's tons of fuzz, static and my alone time with God has been totally unprofitable. It's been a war. Do you know what I'm talking about, pastor Jack? I said, brother, do I know what you're talking about? I said look, you're a young man, I'm an old man. That ain't going to go away. You got to fight through that. How do?

27:10
I do that, he said. I said well, I'll tell you something personally. The only relief I've been able to find when those times hit me is watch. This this is actually the fulfillment of I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me is do this. I told him, and this is what I did. You want me to do it? I'll do it right now. This is for real. This just happened an hour ago. We were outside. I got on my knees. I don't know if you can tell or not, but I'm on my knees. I said get on your knees in your alone time. And this is what I want you to do.

27:56
Lord, I'm coming before you right now and I've been having a horrendous time struggling. You know I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know, but I'm saying it, lord, for the benefit of my own ears. I'm on my knees right now, with your word open, because every time I tried to get alone with you, there's just this static, and I know that Satan is the author of confusion. You're not, and I know that you want to connect with me. This is a difficult time. So, lord, I offer this prayer, prayer, but I rejoice to the Lord greatly that now, at last, your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. Lord, that is Paul's prayer to the Philippians and I'm making it my prayer right now. Jesus, I'm praying the word of God, I'm asking you to make my heart content in whatever condition I'm in, including this, and, father, I pray that you would open up my heart and my mind to see the generosity that you share toward me through your people. Lord, I know that the Philippians were willing to even give of their own life to bless the apostle Paul. Lord, may I return that love upon the flock that you've put in my trust. May they know that I love them. And, lord, god, I ask you right now to help me to flourish in every situation, including this one that I'm struggling in. And, lord, I just pray that you'd bring my heart to a place of great contentment, even in this difficult hour. That's what I told the guy and he said well, how long do you do that? And I said until you break through.

29:51
There's a sense, there's a moment that you're going to know you're going to break through. What's the point? I know that all things, all things barring from Romans, will work together. We touched on that a moment ago. If I do this, I know this, that if I'm praying, seeking his glory, he's going to answer. I know this, that what I'm discussing here before you right now, in Philippians that I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. This is how he strengthens me. When we are weak, we are sayeth strong. Scripture tells us we're not sufficient for these things. That's right, we're not, but he is. This is so important. So, when we talk about I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, all things through Christ who strengthens me, what's so important is to realize that I can do all things that he wants to do in my life that glorify him, but I don't often know what to do, how to do it. Answer pray the Bible, pray scripture, try that, do that, watch what happens. And it's funny because he did, did ask me you know how? How long? How long should you do that? How long? And I and the answer is true what I said earlier until you get breakthrough.

31:24
Um, you say, well, do you really have to get on your knees? Yeah, I'm gonna tell you why? Yeah, it has nothing to do with policy or procedure. It has nothing to do with policy or procedure. It has nothing to do with tradition or religion. You want to know why.

31:40
It's very important when you're going through a tough time spiritually, a dry season, and it seems like the heavens are brass and you're not getting through to get on your knees because it hurts. Why does that matter? Because guess what happens. And as soon as I said this to him he went oh man, yeah, that's right. When you are on your knees, you start to feel pain up the back of your legs, hamstring up toward your bum B-U-M. Then the next thing you start feeling is that your kneecaps start hurting. Steve Jack, why are you telling me this? Because listen, those things that distracted you before they're gone, they disappear. Those things that distracted you before they're gone, they disappear. And the longer you're in that position, the more pain, physical pain there is and the more focused you are on the Lord in that topic or that issue, and his face and his ears. It's amazing. It's amazing, but we just can't go around getting on our knees everywhere. No, no, no, of course not, but that's how. Maybe you should try starting your day. Watch what happens. Watch what happens.

33:07
So listen, I just wanted to hit on these often misunderstood verses. These are just a few, obviously, but think about these things. Read the chapter in which the verse appears. It will give you better understanding, because context is everything when reading a text. You'll get its biblical meaning when you read it through, rather than pulling it out of its place. So I hope that helps.

33:36
And so, god, listen, we'd love to hear from you guys If you have any comments, if you have anything in this area where you'd like to hear more about this kind of stuff. I know this is super practical at least it is for me and it's very down to earth, but if it could help you in your walk and focusing and also understand scripture a little bit better, then we're all together stronger for it. So, god bless you guys. I hope you have an awesome, awesome Holy Day season and an awesome new year that is upon us very shortly, and that you stand firm in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. As always, always, it's time for us to live out what we believe in. It's time for real life, and that's what we're all about, god bless.

34:25 - Speaker 1
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