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Do the children in your life know why America is worth celebrating? The faith that founded it, the heroes who fought for it and the God who blessed it. The free Happy Birthday America Kids Guide from Real Life Network brings that story to life in a fun and faith centered way. It is yours for just the cost of shipping. Get yours today at jackkibbs.com kids250 that's jackibbs.com kids250 Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture.
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The Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again from the dead so that all those who would put their faith in him would not perish but have everlasting life. And that reality is this. It is the reality that is available to every person, Jew and Gentile alike. And that is great news because we serve a perfect gospel.
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You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackibbs.com 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.
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You know the word gospel means good news, good news, the perfect good news. What kind of good news can you receive that would be perfect? We all want to hear good news. And maybe throughout the course of any given day we get good news of some type, some form. But to get the perfect good news is to get the gospel, the perfect gospel. And the Bible makes it clear that there's only one gospel. Did you know the Bible says that there are other gospels and the Bible says there are other Jesuses that are out there, but they are false Jesuses and they are false gospels. And just where you have the truth, you will always have that which comes alongside to steal into mimic or to somehow get it cloudy to where others are blinded to the truth. But regarding this good news, the Bible reveals to us this great and glorious Gospel. In Romans chapter 1, verse 16, the apostle Paul says this regarding the gospel and listen to listen to his boldness. By the way, let's take it from a man who was beaten for being a Christian. What you're about to read is taken from a man who was stoned with rocks and left for dead. I would think back in those days when they stoned people, they probably knew when somebody was dead. The Bible Says that they stoned Paul and they left him for dead. I think God raised him up from the dead personally to continue on his ministry. But he says this, for I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation. Listen, for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek or the Gentile, for us. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. And I want to dial down on this in our introduction to the book. I'm going to ask you to take notes regarding this introduction. Paul, right there in Romans, chapter one is quoting Habakkuk, Chapter two, verse four. Now remember, this is a church. You are in a church that I. As long as I'm the pastor here at this church, you will always get the Old and New Testament together at all times. Because the Old and New Testament is God's revelation to man. Listen, the early church did not have a New Testament. They studied the Old Testament. That's how they found out that Jesus was the Messiah from the Old Testament and the New Testament. Oh my goodness. The New Testament is just more firepower behind God's eternal truth. And we're excited about that. So how do we know? We should always ask this. How do we know what Paul was saying in Romans chapter one about the power of the Gospel and that the just should live by faith? What if he was making it up? That's always a good way to approach. I think critical thinking is, how do I know if this is true? Well, nearly 800 years before Paul was ever born, the Old Testament book of Habakkuk wrote in chapter two, verse four, behold the proud. His soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. Galatians, chapter 3, verse 11. No one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident. Wow. Listen. If you think you're going to get heaven by keeping the law, the first five books of Moses, if you think that you can keep that without breaking the law, starting with the Ten Commandments, the Bible has an announcement. And one of the greatest Jews that's ever lived is the one saying it. No one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident. Why? Because the law cannot justify. The law only points out what is right and what is wrong. For the just shall live by what church? Faith. The just shall live by faith. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 38. Hebrews chapter 10, verse38. Now, the just shall live by faith. But if anyone draws Back, that is, your faith begins to shrivel. You do not press on. You're not moving forward. God says, my soul has no pleasure in him. Faith. Faith is an active verb. Faith is what defines the Christian life, actual living faith. And the faith is something that is qualified in all of our lives as Christians. It's easy to say that you're a Christian. Anybody can say it. But what qualifies us as being Christians is our faith in action. Now, it is true that you can give your heart to Christ and put faith in him and the next minute die and go to heaven. That's absolutely legit. Praise God for that. But if God allows you to live a day or two, a month or a year or 50 or 100 years after that, how will we know if you are a true follower of Christ? Is by how you live your life out for him. And it will be evidenced. The just shall live by faith. And so don't draw back. As the Scripture tells us in Romans, chapter 10, verse 17, that by hearing right, we hear. Faith comes by hearing the word of God, our faith is strengthened. Faith comes by hearing hearing the word of God. Today you're going to get a lot of verses. Don't let them fly by you. Write them down, invest in them. Because God's word does not return void. And if you grab it, so to speak, out of the air. And as it flies by, as you hear it, write it down, keep it, meditate on it, memorize it, watch what happens to your life, but don't draw back. Don't backslide, don't fade away from it. Look at this. Galatians, chapter 1. This is very powerful. Galatians 1. Beginning at verse 6, Paul is writing to them. He says, I marvel that you are turning away, drawing back so soon from him who. Who called you into the grace of Christ to a different gospel. Wow. So listen, don't answer, but just verse six alone. Chapter one, verse six, Galatians. Has anyone ever pedaled up to your door or knocked on your door or approached you at the mall or at the airport with a different gospel? You're going to want to keep Galatians 1:6 in your response to them. Verse 7, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ. Verse 11. But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Yeah, you can say Amen to that. Do we believe in the gospel? And is the gospel that we believe in worthy of our lives? All of us in some. Listen, every single one of us, even if we just simply die of old age? You're going to meet. You're going to. You're going to come to that moment. You're going to meet that moment of your last breath. And what is the gospel? Would. Would it be able. Would you be able to say in that moment, I. I have known and I have. I have followed that perfect gospel? I hope so. Second Corinthians, chapter four, verse three tells us. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. Whose minds? The God. Notice little case G. Who is that? Satan. Very good. It's Satan. You say what? Satan's a God. Well, Little G. Yeah, Little G. God. He thinks he is. He's a little. He thinks he's a little deity. Actually, he thinks he's the big deity, but that's his problem. He believes his own lies. Whose mind. Minds. The God of this age has blinded Satan. Who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. Wonderful, Wonderful. Absolutely. So now you can stand up. You've been sitting long enough. Let's read this together. Here's our study today. Romans, chapter 15. I'll start in verse 7 and if you'll pick it up in verse 8. Therefore receive one another just as Christ also received us to the glory of God,
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that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made
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to the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written. For this reason I will confess to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.
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And again he says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.
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Wow. Verse 11. And again. Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles. Laud him, all you peoples.
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And again Isaiah says, there shall be a root of Jesse, and he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope.
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Verse 13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And all God's people said, amen. You may be seated. Church. Wow, what a strong push. Chapter 15 from verse 7 on is the big, big doctrinal push. And it's almost as though he's taken all of these 15 chapters to come to this incredible crescendo of announcement that it is the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again from the dead so that all those who would put their faith in him would not perish but have everlasting life. And that reality is this. It is the reality that is available to every person, Jew and Gentile alike. And that is great news, because we serve as a perfect gospel that God, who loves us and created us, and you and I have life even in this fallen world. God knew all along. His timing is perfect. He knows exactly what he's doing. And he knew that today, for some of you, would be the first time that you would ever hear the message of the Gospel this way and that you might respond to it. And so as we look to this verse seven, we're going to get it out of the way with respect. Let me show you the reason why. It's a preamble, verse seven. You can circle it in your Bible. Just circle all of verse seven and you can write off onto the side Paul's preamble into his statement. And this is it. In verse seven, he says, therefore, in light of everything I've just said, receive one another just as Christ also received us to the glory of God. What a verse. You know what this does? Watch, everybody. You have to watch my hands because I'm not smart enough to say it. On this hand, Remember, he's been talking about the weak brother and the strong brother. Those who could eat meat and those who couldn't eat meat, those that could drink and those who could not drink, those who were not offended versus those who are offended that were to love them equally and be honorable to them because love and triumphs overall. And that he pulls to the middle where Christ is. Verse 7. Okay, now, on this hand, he reaches out and this is Paul grabbing his entire Jewish lineage, his brotherhood, those of his DNA, speaking naturally. And he announces to them, and you'll see it more and more in this study. And. And he grabs them and pulls them to the center, where Christ is at. He pulls the Gentile, he pulls the Jew, and he brings them together. Now remember, when I say Gentile, that's all, people. A Gentile is anyone who's not a Jew. So you say, well, I don't know if I'm a Gentile or not. I'm Peruvian. You're a Gentile. Now you could be a Jew who's Peruvian. That would make you a Jew. But the Gentiles Are you with me? In other words, there's nobody that's exempt from the gospel. The gospel is available to anyone and everyone. But there's a reason why the Bible mentions that the Gospel must first be preached to the Jew and then the Gentile. That's what the Bible says. Why? God's got a purpose and God's got a reason. And so as we look at this, mark it down, church. It's our only point for today. The perfect gospel communicates to us certain things. And the first thing that we look at today is this, that it communicates to us the incarnation of God to man, that is to us the incarnation of God that God has announced in the Bible. If you don't know, know it now. It is the God of the Bible who announced that he would become flesh and come into this world for us, for mankind. So we're talking about the doctrine of the incarnation. If you do not believe in the doctrine of incarnation, you are not a Christian. It is a fundamental Christian requirement. It is a requirement that God demands of all those who come to faith in him that Jesus Christ came as the son of God and he came in the flesh. The Bible says in First John, if you deny that you are not only not a Christian, he says that you are the spirit of Antichrist. That's how big of a deal this is. Can you have an opinion on Christ coming into this world in flesh or not? The answer is you can have an opinion, but you've got to have the right answer to experience salvation. And this is a big one. Mark it down please, if you would. It's this. That the incarnation of God to man was made flesh to come to us. That God determined to come and speak to us by becoming a man. When I say man, I mean not only a man, but mankind, of course. And so church, mark this down in verse eight. It now says, I say that Jesus Christ has become, you should mark it that way, a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God. This is an incredibly technical passage and it's, it's announcing this regarding God becoming flesh into this world. If you're Jewish today, you're saying, I don't believe that. And you're, you're saying that because you have not studied the Scriptures in the Old Testament to tell you that he would, you have been told not to study them. Just remember this, the Apostle Paul who's speaking to the believers in Rome and he is announcing this in verse 8. Look at it in your Bibles. Now. I say that Jesus Christ what's another word for Christ? Messiah. Jesus. His name. Yeshua, his name. Hamashiach. Messiah. So listen, he is announcing, Jesus is the Messiah. He has come. This is shocking. As a servant, notice this to the circumcision. Who's the circumcision? The Jewish people. The Bible over and over again tells us that the Jewish people are of the circumcision. It was the sign given to Abraham and it was stressed again through Moses that every Jewish male would be circumcised. And read the fine print, folks, that the circumcising of the skin did not save any Jew. It marked them out to be different from the Gentiles. Because in the book of Isaiah and the book of Deuteronomy, God says, I want your hearts to be circumcised. So, for example, you may be a gentile who gave your heart to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And you were baptized into water. The water did not save you. The blood of Christ saves you. But because the blood of Christ saves you and you have accepted Christ, you went into the waters of baptism to announce to the world that you are a follower of Jesus. In the same way, a Jew must come to believe in God. But the circumcision is only real and effective if they have a personal relationship with God. But listen, to do that, you have to have a circumcised heart. In a way, the gentile going. The gentile going down into the water and getting wet is just equal to a Jewish boy being circumcised and getting sore. Without true faith, both have no effect. That shocks a lot of people. It slaps us in the face because we're thinking, I've never heard this before. I got baptized when I was an infant. Aren't I going to heaven? Nope. Who told you you were going to heaven? Who told you that? Show me in the Bible. Show me in the Bible. Read the Bible and say, when you're baptized, you go to heaven. So it's in there somewhere. Good luck. And this is always this guy. This guy's amazing. We love this guy. This guy gets more mileage out of doing nothing. And that was the thief on the cross. The thief on the cross. Jesus said, today you'll be with me in paradise. Was he baptized, that guy? Look at. He wasn't baptized. He wasn't even dressed for church. The. The guy was hanging on the cross with nothing on the guy. The guy started his. His church day out, cussing Jesus out. Then he has a change of mind. He repents. He winds up trusting in Christ. He doesn't even do children's ministry. He didn't have to do any detail. He. He was never given parking lot detail. He didn't have to go through that. He. He didn't tithe. He didn't do anything but believe. And Jesus himself said, today you'll be with me in paradise. Wow. No. Listen, all of the outward display of circumcision or water baptism is to announce I have a true living faith with God. And notice how in verse 8, Paul makes this profound announcement that Christ came into the world to save the circumcision the Jewish people. Yes. He came to Israel. He came to Jerusalem. He came to the tribes. And the Bible tells us that the gospel would first be presented to the Jewish people and then to the ends of the earth in order. Very important that you understand that.
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