Where Are You On the Issue of Heaven and Hell?

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 The decree of God means that he knows all things that actually happen and all things that would have happened he knows. Isn't that kind of cool. So if you're going down a road and there's a Y in the road, if you go right and you're thinking about God and you say, whoa, did God know I was going to go right, I'm going to back up and I'm going to go left, you're not teaching him anything. He already knows. In fact, you can go right and stay right for the rest of your life. He knows what would have happened if he would have gone left. 00:41 - Speaker 1 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to https://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. 01:10 - Speaker 2 Where are you on this issue of heaven and hell? Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior are not, because God and his mercy and gifting provides eternal life and forgiveness through his sacrifice. We give him all the thanks. But if you say no to God's offer and refuse it, then by default there's a hell that, quite frankly, you have demanded that you go there. Just know this. The Bible says God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to eternal life. 01:44 The book of Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 4, says just as he chose us this is awesome. Just as he chose us in him that's Christ before the foundation of the world, that's a long time ago, people that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. This two verses here. It's pregnant with theology. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that's foreknowledge. Did you know that God knew you before the universe was ever created? He can't learn anything We'll find out more of this in the sermon today but that he should be holy and without blame before him in love. Listen, you and I came to Christ on such and such a day and time. Remember you marked your Bible or you marked your calendar? Did you know that you arrived at some moment of conversion, that God knew, before the world was ever created, that you would arrive at that moment? Did you know that he was just waiting for you to show up? Of course I'm joking. God doesn't wait. He lives in the eternal now. That's the best way we can describe it. He's eternal. There's no past to him. There's no present, there's no future. There's the best way we can describe it. He's eternal. There's no past to him. There's no present, there's no future. There's the now, and he sees everything at one moment of time. It's impossible for us to fathom. You and I live in a line, a timeline, but notice that he does everything that he does do according to his good pleasure. That's God's nature. 03:30 In this, by the way, is describing the omniscience of God. Omniscience, the all-knowingness of God. In that, by the way, in that doctrine of the omniscience of God, it means that God cannot learn anything. Isn't that amazing? It's funny when we pray sometimes. You know, you pray with people sometimes and they're informing God of their situation and it's like you know what Cut to the chase. Get to it. He already knows. Speak to him about it. But he knows all things and in theology, what is known as decree the decree of God, not degree decree. The decree of God means that he knows all things that actually happen and all things that would have happened he knows. Isn't that kind of cool. So if you're going down a road and there's a Y in the road, if you go right and you're thinking about God and you say, whoa, did God know I was going to go right? I'm going to back up and I'm going to go left, you're not teaching him anything. He already knows. In fact, you can go right and stay right for the rest of your life. He knows what would have happened if you would have gone left. Isn't that awesome. I love how big our God is. He's so big it's going to take eternity for us to get to know him and even then it'd be scratching, I think, the surface. But he's the all-knowing God. That's his attribute All-knowing. 04:56 In Jeremiah 1, verse 5, the Bible says therefore, this is God speaking to Jeremiah. He's only a teenager. Hey, listen, remind your teenager that Jeremiah was a teenager and God spoke to him. He said before I formed you in the womb. I knew you Before you were born. I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Did you know? Isn't that great? Listen, before I was born, god knew Jack in the womb. You say you don't know Jack, god, it's actually true. I don't know me. The Bible says our hearts are desperately wicked. Who can know them? But God knew me in my mother's womb. He didn't learn about me, he didn't get the. There was no reveal of gender. He already knew he's God, and that's true. No reveal of gender. He already knew he's God, and that's true for all of you. By the way, in all of eternity past, if we can put it that way, god knew you. 05:57 The Bible also says in Joshua, chapter 24, verse 15,. We'll talk more on this later. Joshua 24, verse 15. Joshua says and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord 24, verse 15. We'll talk more on this later. Joshua 24, verse 15. Joshua says and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourself this day whom you will serve. Well, wait a minute, joshua. You're acting like people have a choice. Of course they have a choice Whether the gods which are your father's servant which are on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That implies choice. But the question is when you and I make a decision in the moment that you and I are living in and in our lifetime but God knows those before you and I ever arrive on the world scene, are you guys okay with this? So far, it's kind of like really, what, yes, think bigger regarding your God. 06:53 Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 11, tells us in him also, we have obtained an inheritance. Here it comes, being predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the. Here it comes. The counsel of his will speaks about his foreknowledge Watch. He knows everything in advance and so, based on that, he executes his sovereign will. Vitally important, okay. And then finally, always this by talking about this issue of God's foreknowledge, the sovereignty of God and predestination, romans, chapter 8, verse 29. For whom he foreknew, this would be a good tattoo. He also predestined excuse me everybody, verse 29, what comes first? Foreknowledge? Number two predestination To be conformed to the image of his son. That's number three, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren, moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called these he also justified, and we justified these he also glorified. Notice you can't have three of these, or one or four. It's a package deal. 08:14 If, based on God's foreknowledge, you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, everything else is true about your life, or none of it's true. Are you getting this? This is amazing stuff. This should cause you to get excited and rather be insecure about Romans, chapters 9, 10, and 11, to make you be settled insecure. This is not God being limited. This is God being expansive. That's why you've heard God say come unto me. Jesus said whoever believes in me, god is inviting. 08:48 The question is, how are you responding when God says I do not want to see the wicked perish? What do you think that means? It means he doesn't want to see the wicked perish. When the Bible says that God weeps over the death of the wicked, what do you think that means? It means he weeps over the death of the wicked of the wicked. What do you think that means? It means he weeps over the death of the wicked. Nowhere in the scriptures does God say eeny, meeny, miny moe, you get to go to heaven and you blow. Very good, thank you. That's not how it is. 09:25 And then this is where we left off last time. It's this the security of God's sovereignty. The sovereignty of God, we see it this way the security of his sovereign word. God's word is not of this world. The creator, god, has given us his word, the word of God, church, family. God's word is intact and God's word is true and it will never change. The promises that God gives to us. You can bank on them, literally, you can hang on to them. You can trust him. You and I may not be able to figure things out, but God's word is sovereign. God's word will not bend or change or sway. 10:06 The Bible there tells us in Romans 9, verse 6 and 7, but it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. God's word is not weak, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel. What does that mean? Not all those who are Israel or Israeli are actually Israeli, according to God's math. Well, I'll make it simple. Not everybody who says they're Christians are Christians. That makes sense. Now, right, that brings it closer to home. 10:37 When somebody says and as Paul's argument is, my brothers and sisters were saying to me, paul would say I'm going to go to heaven, paul, no matter what you say and no matter what you say about this. Jesus, here's the issue. I'm an Israeli, I'm a Jew and I'm going to heaven, period. And Paul is saying that's not how it works. He's been making his argument that the first Jew that ever was became a Jew because he worshipped the God of heaven, and that first Jew to become a Jew was a Gentile by the name of Abraham. What made Abraham a Jew? What made him a Hebrew? The fact that he was a worshiper of God. 11:19 Listen, but if you focus on the DNA, the bloodline of it in this world, you're missing it completely. Nobody gets to heaven by bloodline. Nobody gets to heaven by being some sort of a noble Thank God, somebody say amen to that, unless you're the king of England. I'm not. You're not Who'd want to be. Thank God. He didn't establish his salvation for blue bloods only, but for all who would trust him, jew and Gentile alike. 11:51 And the Bible here tells us about the security of his sovereignty. That in this, also in verse 8, we learn that it says in verse 8, that this, those who are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed, you and I. If you today believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, savior of the world, that he died on the cross for your sins and rose again from the dead, that he is the one who the Bible speaks of, if you put your trust in him as Lord and Savior, meaning that you know that you're a sinner, you repent, you say Lord, I've sinned against you. Forgive me of my sins. I come to you and I make you the Lord of my life. I bow, I submit, I give you my life. In that very instant you become a child of Abraham, like that, a child of God. You're in the spiritual DNA. Think of it. And this is true for all people, jew or Gentile, that is, jew or non-Jew. 12:57 The entrance, the way is still the same, but not of works, not of your own effort. With the best intentions, has God made you a promise? Listen when you read this book, when you read the Bible and listen. I encourage you to always read it. I always do that, but when you read it, you should expect God to speak to you out of this. If you're not listen. If you're not reading the Bible on a regular basis, then you're not expecting any promises to be fulfilled in your life. I'm telling you that right now your walk is pretty boring. Your Christianity is kind of haphazard, you're kind of hit and miss. But let me tell you, if you are opening up this book because you're going to seek him for this day, to see what he has to say to you, he will speak out of the pages of this book and you're going to know it. His word will, it will lift up and it will pop out and you'll say that's what I need. I need that. And then the next thing is, if you're anything like me, is how'd you know that? And then, of course, I know that you knew that. Thank you, god. 14:05 The book of Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verse 35, says For their foot shall slip in due time, for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things to come hasten upon them. You have to apply that to verse 8. The children of the flesh, this relationship of promise, and who's born first and who's preeminent, and who is promise and who is of the works. The Bible tells us that the work of the flesh, these children of this world of the flesh are not the children of God. But look, you and I used to be children of the flesh, didn't we used to do our own thing? Weren't we proud about it? Weren't we arrogant about it? In fact, I wrote down a few things. 14:51 If you're a child of the flesh, you're earthly minded. Everything about this world, you're in hot pursuit of it. You think you've got the world by the tail. You got to get more of the world. You want to live it up. Oh, I like this. It's thrilling. Oh, the world. You're a child of the flesh. 15:09 Also, what they are recognizable over time. A child living for this world is recognizable because they become exactly like the world it is that they live in. Just know this. Next, they're proud of themselves, very proud, self-reliant, proud, self-made woman, self-made man. I don't need God. That's sad. If they're religious, they're proud of it. Have you ever seen this before? A child of this world, a child of the flesh, can have religion, but be so proud of their religion. Right, they're proud, listen of their lifestyle, whatever it is, whatever it is If they're living for. 15:58 Fill in the blank, the Bible says that you and I were just like that when we were children, or sons and daughters of disobedience to God. The Bible is building its case. It's like a legal case right here before us. In fact, I'm going to show you something. You know this well, but watch this John 3, verse 1. You know this very well, john 3, verse 1. It's our friend Nicodemus. You know him encountering Jesus. So for those of you who don't know, let me elaborate. 16:27 There was a man of the Pharisees. That means this guy has got his name with alphabets behind it. Descriptions this dude is the guy. If anybody's going to heaven, based on human terms, it's this guy. If anybody keeps the law, it's this guy. If there's anybody who's an authority, it's this guy. Anybody talks to God, it's this guy. He's it. 16:52 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher. Come from God, for no one can do the signs or the miracles that you do unless God is with him. Verse 3. And Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly, I say to you Jesus just cuts. I mean right for the throat, not like thank you, I'm glad you noticed. Which miracle do you like specifically no, I mean wham. 17:20 Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most important statement in all of information Unless you're born a second time, you will not enter heaven. Who said that? Jesus said that. He says most assuredly. I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered most assuredly. I say to you, unless one is born of water, that is, of earthly birth, and the spirit, that is heavenly birth, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That answers to the water. Flesh. Life, your life, my life, this life, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit, the born again life, the new life. Do not marvel that. I said to you, you must be born again. 18:21 Listen, I think, as Dr Don Gray Barnhouse said, that regarding being born again, if you read the Bible carefully, here's what you want to do in life you want to be born twice, so you only have to die once. Listen, if you're born once, you'll have to die twice. What does he mean? If you have this life, if you can hear me right now, you've been born once, and when you die, the Bible says you die physical death and then you die spiritual death. It's a weird statement. Spiritual death, it's a forever living spiritual death Creepy. But if you're born twice, you only die once. The deal is this be born twice, be born into this world. If you have, you can hear me being born again. If you're born a second time, you can hear from heaven and when that time comes, you go straight to heaven. But listen, don't be the person that lives for all the glamour and the gusto of this world and you wind up dying twice, physically and spiritually. Don't do that. 19:43 - Speaker 1 This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to https://jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.