Things That We Need to Know - C

David Jay: Today, on Real Life Radio.
Jack Hibbs: This verse means that if you want to see Jesus universally around the world today, you want to see Jesus, You look at his body. You look at his body, you should see signs of Jesus.
David Jay: This is real life. Welcome to real life radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David Jay thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's word, the Bible.
Jack Hibbs: Hey, I'm very excited to promote this new book by Dr. Tim LaHaye, not only a mentor of mine, but a precious friend. He has written a book, How to Study Bible Prophecy for Yourself. Remember, Dr. Tim LaHaye is the one that brought you the remarkable left behind series. I bet with all of your knowledge of Bible prophecy, there's still a hole somewhere. And this book is going to help you as you walk you through how to study Bible prophecy for yourself.
Guest (Female): How to study Bible prophecy for yourself. Get it for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com.
David Jay: On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series now called The Book of Ephesians and a message titled Things that we need to know. Ephesians is a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus showing every believer who they really are in Christ. And here Paul prays that we would truly grasp the riches that are already ours in him. You see, the moment we're born again, the whole world of spiritual wealth becomes ours, even if we don't know it yet. And like a child who slowly discovers all that comes with their family, we grow into what God has given us. And it all begins to open up through prayer. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that we are God's inheritance, and he is absolutely delighted over us. Very power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work within us so that we can rest in the hope of his calling on our lives. Now with his message called Things that we need to know, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
Jack Hibbs: Do you and I understand God's nature? If you understand God's nature, it will steer you clear of a lot of pain in the future. If you understand God's nature in the Bible, you can read scripture easier cuz you know his nature. You know things that he does and that he doesn't do. You know his nature. Have you ever had this happen in your life or maybe you know somebody where you hear something about someone? Oh yeah, you know what? He just robbed the bank. That's insane. I know him. That's a rumor. That's wrong. That's false. That's a lie. Well, how can you be so sure? I heard it from Trixie down the street. I'm telling you, I know the guy and I know his nature. You see what I'm saying? If you know someone's nature, you can almost predict their stability and their faithfulness to whatever that is. And Paul is saying to have knowledge of the Lord is to know his nature. And that's very important. In 1 Corinthians 2:16, the scripture says for who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. That's amazing. By the way, it's past tense. We do have the mind of Christ if we're born again. Look at verse 18 now. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. The eyes of your understanding, some of your Bibles might say the eyes of your hearts being enlightened. And why does it say that? Because your heart there's he's speaking about the seat of the real man, who you truly are. And some of your old translations will say the heart. And that's not a bad translation. But it's it can be said the eyes of your understanding as it does in the New King James Version Bible. It means what you really know down deep. May the eyes of your heart be open. What do you know for sure? That's what he's talking about. Oh Lord, he's praying may their eyes may the eyes of their heart, their understanding be enlightened and illuminated. You know you know man is born blind spiritually. The heart of the unsaved man is blind. 1 Corinthians 2:10, Paul says there God has revealed them to us through his spirit, for the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. Second or excuse me, 1 Corinthians 2:14 says but the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned or understood. We are all born into the world spiritually dumb, blinded. And even when we come to Christ in faith, we need to grow. That's why you're here tonight, to grow. But enlightenment comes from the Holy Spirit. You might want to jot these verses down. John 14:25 Jesus said, these things I've spoken to you that while being present with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance everything I've said to you. Isn't that amazing? That's enlightenment. Holy Spirit does that. You remember picking up the Bible before you were born again and you read it like this and then like this. And it 's like who reads this thing? Remember those days? It's like man, the words don't even It's like a foreign language. It is. Unless the Holy Spirit touches you and then the light comes on. In John 16:12, Jesus said again, I still have many things that I want to say to you, but you cannot bear them. However, when the Holy Spirit comes, the spirit of truth, he will guide you into all these things, all this truth, for he will not speak of his own authority, but whatever he hears from me, he will speak and tell you of things to come. Isn't that amazing? We will never understand the Bible people without the Holy Spirit. We'll never make it. The example of this about having the enlightenment come to pass, I can't think of anything better than Luke 24. We've just come through it. On Resurrection Morning, two disciples on the road to Emmaus on the morning of the crucifixion, Jesus shows up, comes walking alongside the guys. He says, hey, what are you guys look so bummed out about? Well, man, Jesus, we had hoped that he was the Messiah. He's been crucified, and after all, it's the third day and he's dead and then it says that Jesus began to speak to them. And it says in Luke 24 in verse 44, it says then he said to them, these are the words which spoke to you while I was still with you that all these things must be fulfilled which were written in the law and the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. And it says there that Jesus opened their understanding that they might understand, comprehend the scriptures. God gives the enlightenment. And we need to be praying for people, and we need to be praying for ourselves that God would give us the enlightenment of the word. And there's nothing that God will not unlock out of his Bible for you if we'll pray, nothing. We can run down to the bookstore and buy a commentary on this very book. Or we can wait upon the Lord and get it ourselves. One takes about 12 bucks, the other one takes about an hour and a half. So here in America, we'll pay the 12 bucks. We need to wait. We need to be careful too though that the rejection of this offer from the Lord can lead to blindness. Romans 1 talks to us about that. The third thing that I want you to see is in the middle part of verse 18. Did you get the second thing yet? I'm really bad about that. I got my numbers wrong. The first thing is that we might know God personally. That's the first thing. Second thing is that we might know God 's calling in our life. Look at verse 18. He says that you may know what is the hope of his calling. What is the hope of his calling? That we might know God's calling in our life, that we'd have hope. And this is a great This word doesn't mean oh, I hope, I hope, I hope, oh, I hope. That's hope. Oh, hope, hope, hope. That's not what it means. Means exact opposite of that. It's the absolute assurance. And so you hope in the insurance your assurance. You're stable. You're secure. You're resting in the hope of his calling, the unwavering fact that God is with us. Colossians 1:27 Colossians 1:27 says to them, God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. Paul really speaks with incredible words. And here's what he's talking about. He says in Colossians 1:27, it is this, the mystery. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Glory is there. It's in heaven. And we are here. Jesus died on the cross. And we know that we're going to be going there to meet him. It's not some kind of a dream. It is a fact. It just hasn't arrived yet. And the calling, the Book of Romans tells us that God's gifts and God's callings are given without repentance in your old King James, are given without irrevocability. It means he doesn't save you one day and then decide, oh, he's not doing too good. Or he doesn't give you a gift of the spirit and then say, I don't know, and call it back. When he calls, by the way, the word is insinuating an invitation. That invitation when God gives it is so secure that you can I mean, listen, you can go buy your dress and your tuxedo pal because God gave it to you and it's going to happen. Gee, what if it rains? Uh-uh, not on God's parade. Never. That 's why we can hope and rest in his calling. This word hope means confident expectation. I like the way that sounds. And the word calling is invitation to have a confident expectation in his invitation that we're going to be with him. The next purpose of Paul's prayer is found in the still the latter part of verse 18. And it's that is we might know God's riches, that we might know his riches. He says, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance? Everybody watch this in the Saints. This is going to freak you out, I hope. You see where it says in the Saints, you should underline in the Saints. You want to know why? Do you know what God's inheritance is? You know who cares? What can I give him? He owns it all. The riches that God gives us are riches that are now. And you and I are not living it. We fail people. This we fail to look into God's bank book and stand on his promises.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And now let's get back to today's message. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.
Jack Hibbs: He wants us so blessed and we are so content to live in the spirit realm with so little. It says right here, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints? God is totally turned on, marked down. His inheritance is in the Saints. It doesn't mean that his inheritance is among the Saints. It doesn't mean in this scripture that God is blessed and he's so happy because all of his Christians are doing well and they're saved and going to heaven. That's very nice, but it 's not what it means. It means that God the Father will receive an inheritance that he can only receive in the Saints. The words in the Greek is that we are the blessing to God. Can you believe that? God Listen, what can an angel give God? Couple more holy holy holies? It's true. What can nature give God? The trees, Isaiah says, will clap their hands. Good job, God. What can the universe give to God? It gives him glory. It's beautiful. It gives him praise. You are the only thing in his creation that he died for on the cross, that he wants your love, that he lavishes upon you his salvation and his grace and his gifts and his goodness. He is the one reaching out to you saying, I love you. I want to totally give you the greatest life you can ever imagine. And not only that, forgive me for saying this, but maybe you won't have to. I think it's accurate. God is saying it's just not going to be heaven without you up here. Can you imagine being loved so much? He loves you that much. I want you here. He's saying so much that the word says he has an inheritance. What is it God? Oh, what are you going to get? What are you going to get? These people that I died for, I'm nuts over them. For all eternity, by the way, they will be bringing me praise and glory and honor, but I will be content, God says, to give them my love for all eternity. That's incredible to me. We are so rich. And the fact is that it's already happened. God has done all these things. And we have this incredible inheritance of his salvation. Yes, but he's going to receive us and he's excited about it. I can't You know, so so and so's coming over. Oh boy. You know, can you imagine God go You know, you know, Jack or Billy is about ready to come up here, God. He's going to get, you know, going to choke on that hamburger. He's about ready to come up. He's about ready to arrive. Oh, oh no. Gabriel, can you like, you know, put the toys away and cut You know, oh no. He's a real trouble kid, you know. Are you kidding? He's like, all right. Okay, here he comes. He's nuts about us. He's in love with us. He wrote this book so we'd believe him. It's amazing to me. So final consideration verses 19 to 23 that we might know God's power. That's the fourth thing. That we might know God's power, that we might know God's riches, that we might know God's calling, and that we might know God personally in our lives. Now that we might know God's power, this is amazing. Verse 19 to 23 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power? Great. Look what he says toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places. That's power. The power that raised Jesus from the dead is going to be granted to us and has been granted to us. By the way, this is kind of interesting. You can listen or mark it down if you can keep up with it. It's rather amazing though in verses beginning at verse 19. All of the words used here um are words of power. And it's Paul is actually kind of doing a I don't know what you would call it. Um he's stacking superlatives, I think, is is one of the ways you could put it. Watch what he does here. Beginning at verse 19, he says, what is the exceeding greatness of his power? The word exceeding is is to throw Funny word. It's to throw something beyond the mark or the point of everybody else. It paints a picture of a discus thrower in the Olympic Games. That's what that's the word he uses. Everybody else scores their 110 ft, 120, whatever it is, however far they do it. And then God's power, somebody representing God's power walks up there and goes and it goes like a mile. Exceeding way beyond anything that's ever been marked. Whatever the mark is, God's exceeding power It goes beyond that, further. And the word greatness You're going to like this word. It's megathos. It's where we get the word magnitude or mega. Way beyond super magnitude greatness. And the word here power is the familiar word to us dunamis, where we get the word dynamite, miraculous power, great ability, great abundance of strength. Then you keep falling along, you come to the next word and it's working. Working of his mighty power. The word working here is energeia. And you know what the word is there? Energy. And then we come to another dropping down, we come to this word mighty. Mighty power. The word mighty here means forcefulness of might or power or strength. And then the word power is a different word than it was earlier in the verse. This is the word kratos in the Greek and it means great vigor, great dynamic. It's God's power, not our blood, not our sweat, not our tears that works in us. Isn't that amazing, people? I love that. God's power. And then finally this, verse 21 or verse 22, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand of the heavenly places. How powerful is that? Well, verse 21 says far above principality and power and might and dominion. Those are all ranks of demonic or excuse me, those are all ranks of angelic forces. These are angelic forces listed here. The Paul is saying that Jesus Christ, his throne is above private angels, lieutenant angels, colonel angels, general angels. Jesus 's throne is above them all. They're all under him. And then he says and above every name that is named, not only in the age to come, but not only in this age, but in the age to come, verse 22, and he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things. Watch this. Be alert. Listen. Gave him to be head over all things to the church which is his body. The fullness of him who fills all and all. And we're going to end right here. This is absolutely amazing. You may have an opinion about the church of Jesus in the earth. God 's opinion of us is incredible, so much so. Are you ready for Are you ready to get really convicted, I think? I was. This verse means that if you want to see Jesus universally around the world today, you want to see Jesus? You look at his body. If you look at his body, you should see signs of Jesus. And what's implied in this is the local church, a local body of believers, you, from the local church, you, to the great church at large. And the fact is if it's this church or the church down the street, that is the representation of that body of Jesus Christ. It's glorifying to him and it says all in all. That means he's taking this little church and the giant world church that are his and putting them together. They're all in him. We're all in him. We're all one by the baptism power of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians. And the fact is when Jesus Christ lives in a church, the church that you're in assuming that it's that church should show you signs of life that point to Jesus Christ if it doesn't get out of it. And that goes for here too. And let me know where you're going so I can go with you. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your awesome word that you've asked us to know you personally, that you've asked us to know our calling, that we've asked us to know, Lord, your riches, that you've asked us to know your power. And Father, I pray right now tonight for all of us in this body. I thank you, God, that when you looked at Gideon, when you looked at him, he was hiding from the war, threshing wheat, trying to hide out, it says in the Bible. And it says that you spoke to him and said, hello, Gideon, you mighty man of valor, you. And he had never even raised a sword. He was a coward. But you called him a mighty man of valor. And I thank you, Lord, that when you called Peter, you told him that he was first called Simon, but now you'll be called Peter. And in time, he became a stone. He became a strong stone for your truth. Jesus, I thank you tonight that you look at us in faith, with hope. And the way we see ourselves is not the way you see us. You see us completed. And I thank you, Father, for what we have in Jesus. Lord, I pray that you'd bless it to this body. I pray this prayer for this church and for all those, Lord, that we know in love. That you'd cause this prayer of Paul's to be a reality in this church. We ask it Lord in Jesus name. Amen.
David Jay: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio with his message called Things that we need to know. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack series called The Book of Ephesians, a series through Paul 's letter to the Ephesians discovering the riches, the walk, and the triumph of every believer. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
Guest (Male): So as you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you'd like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com/knowgod. That's k n o w God. And there you'll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God. Don't miss out. That's the know God tab at jackhibbs.com.
Guest (Female): Do you need encouragement, clarity, and solid teaching for everyday life? At jackhibbs.com, you'll find sermons, podcasts, devotionals, and streaming content designed to help you grow in your faith. Visit jackhibbs.com today and stay connected to what matters most.
Jack Hibbs: Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you'd like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what's going on with this ministry. And please, if you're ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We'd love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. See you on the next episode.
David Jay: This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in his word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.