Life, According To Who? – 1A | Jack Hibbs Today
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Life, According To Who? – 1A
Luke 12:13-21
Today, Pastor Jack tells us that we need to ask ourselves why stuff is so important to us? And, why is someone else’s stuff important to us? If we’re honest, our eyes lust after what others have.
Dear Lord,
Today…….I am asking all my prayer warriors to say a prayer that may help others. So many people are hurting right now. Many are struggling with finances and need jobs. Some are facing foreclosure and don’t even know how they are going to make it from week to week.. Many are lonely. . Many are heartbroken. . Many are facing sickness and health is fading. . Some are dealing with difficult family members. Many have lost HOPE.. Tonight, let us put our prayers and faith together decree and declare breakthrough over our families. Financial miracles WILL take place. Jobs WILL be found. Our Bodies WILL be made whole & sickness WILL flee. Marriages and relationships WILL be restored. Family members WILL find Jesus. Heartbreaks WILL be healed. JOY WILL be restored and HOPE WILL be found. In Jesus Name. Amen!!!!!! Keep God First…….
Today…….I am asking all my prayer warriors to say a prayer that may help others. So many people are hurting right now. Many are struggling with finances and need jobs. Some are facing foreclosure and don’t even know how they are going to make it from week to week.. Many are lonely. . Many are heartbroken. . Many are facing sickness and health is fading. . Some are dealing with difficult family members. Many have lost HOPE.. Tonight, let us put our prayers and faith together decree and declare breakthrough over our families. Financial miracles WILL take place. Jobs WILL be found. Our Bodies WILL be made whole & sickness WILL flee. Marriages and relationships WILL be restored. Family members WILL find Jesus. Heartbreaks WILL be healed. JOY WILL be restored and HOPE WILL be found. In Jesus Name. Amen!!!!!! Keep God First…….
Today on Real Life radio. Here’s the danger about covetousness. You guys, it is so subtle.
We scarcely even can identify it if we have to have things but he has, oh look, she’s got that.
I’m gonna go get that. Why? It’s not bad that you have it. Why do you have to have it?
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 on today’s edition of Real Life Radio.
Pastor Jack now continues his series called The Gospel of Luke with a Message titled Life.
According to who part one. Now, this series on the Gospel of Luke is a series that gives us both the humanity and the Divinity of Jesus Christ as really only Luke the physician could do here.
Now, as we continue in chapter 12, we’ll consider the definition of life.
The human answer is based on desires and feelings, but the Bible defines life from a broader perspective.
You see the truth is we are unable to determine the definition of life.
We don’t have the, the knowledge or the authority life has been granted to us and only God can define what it is.
Still, we’ve been sold that line that what we own and how much of what we own defines our lives.
You know, that’s a dangerous belief when in reality, the world is the lords and everything in it.
So today on this part of the message, Pastor Jack tells us that we need to ask ourselves why stuff is so important to us and why is someone else’s stuff important to us as well?
And if we’re honest, well, our eyes lust after what others have.
But the Lord reminds us that stuff has only been loaned to us.
It’s gonna return to God in the end.
But before we get into today, his message, did you know that Pastor Jack has a weekly devotional and it’s sure to help you in your walk with God.
Join the thousands of real life radio listeners who’ve been blessed by pastor Jack’s devotional.
Get it at Jack Hibbs dot com. That’s Jack Hibbs dot com.
Now, in his message called life according to who part one, here’s pastor and bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
But the definition of life according to who Luke chapter 12 verse three verse 13, excuse me.
Then one from the crowd said this is to Jesus teacher, tell my brother to divide his inheritance with me.
But Jesus said to him, man who made me a judge or an arbiter over you.
Take heed and beware. Jesus said to the crowd of covetousness for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses.
Then he spoke a parable to them saying the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
And he thought within himself saying, what should I do since I have no room to store my crops.
So he said, I will do this.
I will pull down my barns and build greater ones and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
And I will say to my soul soul, you have many goods laid up for many years, take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.
But God said to him full this night, your soul will be required of you.
Then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is He who lays up treasures for himself?
And it is not rich toward God. Wow, what is going on? Number one?
You know this from the opening verses of Luke chapter 12, Jesus was preaching and teaching to the crowd.
This he’s announcing to them about the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
Remember that He was saying to them what you want to make sure you don’t do is live a life without God and then wind up dying without God.
Why? Because there’s a life to be lived after death.
You don’t you and I don’t cease to exist after death. We continue on after death, not in reincarnation.
No, the Bible says there is a life after death to be lived or there’s a life after death to suffer heaven or hell says the scriptures very, very important.
We saw last time that Jesus is not bending anyone’s arm to make a decision. God will not do that.
By the way, let me say this.
If anyone has ever tried to make you a Christian by any other means other than loving you and telling you the truth, that is the word of God.
Then if they’ve done that in any other way, like threatening you and pressuring you, that’s not from God, that’s not from the Lord.
Jesus demands of us to choose, just choose we even, in fact, we even demand that of other people.
Will you just choose, don’t we demand that of our kids?
Or maybe our kids demand that of, of the parents just choose, pick one daddy, pick one.
It’s part of our making, it’s who we are.
And so Jesus had been teaching, choose God and live and he put it this way.
He said to the crowd last time that if you can confess me before men, then my father will confess.
And in fact, in another place, he says, I will confess you before the angels or my father also, which is in heaven.
If you deny me before men and remember what that meant, kept on denying until you reach the point of the end of your life.
If you kept on denying Christ, then at the end, there is no other opportunity than for Christ to stay silent on that day.
Rather where he would step up and defend you before the father and say, I’m Jack’s savior, I’m Jack’s Messiah, I’m Jack’s Lord.
He could do that. But to the person that says, no, no, no to God.
Jesus will not rise on that day of judgment. He will not stand up to defend you.
And you say, well, I don’t know if I like that.
And I’m that kind of terrifies me, then choose Christ and live.
But ultimately, the decision is yours right in the middle of that teaching that Jesus is giving a voice comes from the crowd.
Talk about bad timing and selfish ambition right out of this amazing moment. We see verse 13 and what happens?
The man says, interrupting Jesus. He announces his concern from the crowd.
The man said to Jesus teacher tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.
Jesus is speaking about eternal life. This man not listening, not grabbing it, not taking it to heart.
He’s thinking about material things. Why listen, church be careful how is life lived?
Who decides what’s successful about life?
And if you and I let people or companies or advertisements dictate to us about what success is in living you and I will be in a spiral down buying everything they say that you and I need to have a meaningful life.
Madison Ave is built upon that foundation that you need this to be successful, that you need this to be somebody who’s worth anything.
And the world around us, from billboards to magazines, to radio and TV, you’ve got to have this, you should be doing the other and then your life is worth something.
Not according to God, don’t get me wrong.
I’m not saying that you should be some sort of a fool with your money or with your life by no means.
But there’s a priority to be kept.
This is very, very important because Jesus is going to define for us life, life according to who, what defines your life?
I know that’s a hard question. But will you please answer it? Yes.
This message will probe and touch our souls this morning. What defines your life and my life? What defines that?
It all depends, you know, this morning you might say, well, I’m a doctor, I’m a medical doctor.
What defines my life is health? Hey, that’s great.
Maybe you’re a financial advisor and you might say what defines my life is the fact that I can live without fear of older age.
I save up. I’m disciplined and I’m teaching other people how to do it to put that money away for some other day.
Hey, that’s, that’s great. Maybe you’re a businessman or maybe you’re a famous person and you would say, oh, no life.
Life is, is fame and fortune. And well, listen, you can ask 1000 people what is life according to them?
And you’ll get 1000 different answers. Here’s the truth of the matter. God gives life.
And because that is a fact, you and I really are not qualified to give the definition of what life is.
We can try, we can take a shot at it.
We can grow up and live our lives and, and grab that golden ring as it were and say now I’m living life.
It’s like the guy that was buried in forest lawn years ago, the guy was buried in a Ferrari.
He love Ferraris. The guy was buried in the Ferrari and the crane operator was overheard.
In fact, Billy Graham was the one doing the service.
I don’t know how that even came about, but he’s doing the service.
And the crane operator said as the Ferrari was being lowered into the grave site with a dead guy in it.
The crane operator said, man, that’s living, that is not living, that’s insane.
We have all these various opinions, but the truth is only God can define what life is and we need to agree with him.
And if we agree with him, then listen, that’s where we truly begin to live.
Our lives is when we begin to trust and believe in what he is to say to us.
This man though, he heard the teaching of Jesus, he’s got a completely different agenda.
What defines his life is something altogether different.
And so he says to Jesus note this verse 13, he says to Jesus, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.
The word here in Greek is to tell is to command.
He interrupts the sermon to issue a command to Jesus Christ himself.
And what is it completely clueless of eternity? Jesus had just kept in speaking about eternity.
And the man says, I want what’s rightfully mine and it ain’t happening, Jesus be my judge on this matter.
Church. Listen. The Bible says in John chapter three verse 17, that Jesus Christ did not come to judge or to condemn the world, but God sent him that the world through Him might be saved.
You see, Jack does that does this mean that Jesus is not involved in my day to day concerns and no, he’s very listen.
He’s very, very concerned about our day to day activities and the things that are in our lives.
But keep this in mind. Jesus did not come, oh, hang on ushers, guard the doors, sit down.
Listen, Jesus didn’t come to make you rich. Jesus didn’t come for you to have a rolls. Royce.
Jesus didn’t come for you to exploit the incomes of others so that you might drive around in your or fly around in your whatever it is.
The amazing thing to me about this when this man says to Jesus, will you be a judge or an arbitrator between our, our situation, Jesus of our inheritance between my brother and I, I’ve actually been asked that same question before.
As a pastor, pastor, I go to Calvary Chapel here. My dad died, left us a ton of money.
My brother’s being all weird about it and I’m asking you to preside over the mediation of it.
You know my answer. I’m so glad Jesus covered this in the Bible.
My answer was can’t do it, not going to do it.
Can’t go there, not my place.
My place though is to tell you that money can’t buy happiness. Money cannot buy your health.
Money cannot buy salvation. What if you inherit all the world and lose your own soul?
That’s not the area that I’m supposed to be walking around in and talking to people.
Go get an attorney or do whatever you do, go call your grandpa.
But don’t call me about these things because I’ve already got this written out in my, my employment manual, the Bible and Jesus said, stay out of it, lead them to Christ, show them eternity, show them heaven.
And so Jesus is not being rude, he’s not being cold. He’s being very, very direct about the truth.
Jesus says in verse 14, he says, man who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?
First thing I want you to realize about what defines your life.
Jot it down is it, the things of life is it the things that you own?
Is it in the things that you and I own? Is that what defends our life?
Jesus said, basically, I’m not interested in that. Well, wait a minute, I am. Every one of us.
Are you say I’m not interested in things. Yes, you are. When you got up this morning.
If you’re not interested in things, why don’t you just grab cold turkey? Black lights.
I mean, not black lights but the the bedrooms black. There’s no, there’s no lights.
You reach in, you grab something out of your closet and you put it on and you just go to church.
You don’t even look in the mirror to comb your hair. I don’t care about things.
You were the first one you looked at this morning.
I, I was the first one I looked at this morning and I ironed my shirt, although that was a long time ago.
It’s looking pretty ragged right now. But see how carnal I am. I’m noticing how ragged my shirt is.
Oh, look. Well, Jeff, we can’t walk around naked. I understand that we cannot walk around naked.
But the truth is we spend too much time on this stuff and it translates all the way through us.
Why? Because it’s in our hearts just because I’m wearing something doesn’t mean I’m covetous.
But listen, there’s a fine line that we cross when we need something versus we gotta have that thing and when we got to have that thing, that’s when we are coveting and this man is coveting.
So, how do you know? Are you kind of judging the guy too soon? No, I’ve read this chapter.
I know it’s coming up. The guy is a covetous man. Watch out for the things of our lives.
Church in our personal lives in our public lives.
Watch out for them because here Jesus says, notice this man who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you.
Will you circle the word you? We don’t have an equivalent in English.
The word in Greek that is here in the original language is use, use, use like you’s gonna come and eat with me today.
You it’s a plural, you plural. We would say both of you. But Greek has one word.
Jesus is saying you and your brother. I will not decide these family issues. Why?
Because it has nothing to do with eternal life. It has nothing to do with your salvation.
It has nothing to do with bettering your life. Why? Because covetousness is the root to what’s going on here.
And you might say, well, that’s kind of a hard thing to say.
I know, but it’s biblical Proverbs 21 26 says about the human hearts that our human hearts covet greedily all day long.
No, no one’s gonna stand up and say that’s right. Amen. Pastor, my heart covets all day long.
But we do. You see, I don’t know if I do Jack. I really don’t know if I do.
Here’s the danger about covetousness. You guys? It is so subtle.
We scarcely even can identify it if we have to have things what he has.
Oh, look, she’s got that. I’m gonna go get that. Why? It’s not bad that you have it.
Why do you have to have it? Listen, money is not evil. I hear that misquoted all the time.
Money is not evil. But what is beautiful? The love of money is evil.
Sex is not evil in marriage. But when you gotta have it, then you’ll go outside of marriage.
Think about it. There are so many things that are either ethical or Amoral and that they have no, they don’t do anything one way or the other.
They’re just there. I can have money in my hand right now.
It is my heart that will dictate how it’s spent my heart.
Either good or evil will invest that money in a certain direction. Are you with me?
It’s not the, it’s not the love that is directed in a Godly thing.
Oh, I love God and God. You take all of my life. That’s awesome.
But in the negative it is the love of that powerful position or that money or that thing that makes anything in association with it, an evil thing, covetousness drives that.
What’s interesting to me here, Jesus says verse 15 take heed, beware.
The word, take heed here is a, is a word that is very graphic.
It means to be watching out like a century to be guarding, looking like this, watching, watching, watching.
And then the word he says to beware and to take heed or to take heed and to beware, that word beware means to be not only watching but as that we’re building a moat or a fence around you.
Now, imagine this. Can you imagine? Take heed and beware. Watch out for covetousness. Ok. Don’t, don’t answer this.
But where’s the greatest point or place of the temptation to covet? It all depends. It’s very broad, isn’t it?
And you go to some place or, or maybe it’s, you know, the big funny car races are this weekend down the road over here and from my house, I can hear those things going, uh, you know, those big funny cars.
It’s like, wow. And so I’m thinking, you know, I know I got stuff to do, but I’m thinking I’m just gonna drive over there just to get what I didn’t, but I’m thinking about it.
I’m being tempted to go put down something important to go, go find out and, and see and just kind of snoop around begins to pull, well, temptation and covetousness, of course, covetousness is a temptation, but there are so very, very closely knit together that coverage, justness could very much be driving so many of all the sins that we battle with.
In fact, did you realize when Jesus announces here, beware and take heat against covetousness? Why is that so important?
Because it is number 10 on the list of the 10 commandments, thou shalt not covet.
Look at this, look at the 10 commandments, by the way, man, we can have all kinds of things taught in public school today, but we can’t have that.
You know why somebody could get offended?
Somebody could get offended if thou shalt have no other gods before me. People get offended.
That can’t have that. That’s so sad.
When you look at the first commandment and note the brilliance of God, that’s the first commandment.
And it’s as it were a book end and then there’s another book end go all the way down to the 10th commandment.
Thou shalt not covet. Did you know those two commandments?
You cannot divide the two of them in a sense.
I could argue that they are nearly the same thing.
You shall have no other God before me says the Lord.
Now number one, in a class of logic, you would know that wait.
Then that means that for God to say that it is possible for me to have a God before Him, right?
It could be a car, could be money, could be power, could be whatever God says, don’t have an altar, a deity, a God, a pursuit that consumes your life other than me.
Number 10 it’s like the first, you shall not covet. How can that be connected?
Because you cannot be worshiping other things without coveting.
And the moment that you worship other things other than the Lord, you are not only coveting but to covet is to be an idolater.
An idolater is someone who worships foreign gods. They’re, they’re completely connected together.
Those two commandments, bookend the 10 commandments. They’re, they’re vitally important.
And you say, well, I don’t know if we can teach those in school that might offend somebody.
Really. I’m reminded of Exodus chapter 20 verse 17.
Tell me if you have a problem with this, you shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You can’t look out the window of your house and go, how come we don’t have that house?
Look at their house. I want their house, go get five more jobs because I want a house like that house.
That’s coveting. It’s a sin. God calls it idolatry.
All of a sudden we can all say, I think I’ve done that. Hey, let’s go.
Look at the model homes. Do you know what that means? Lisa loves that. Bring a camera.
We’re gonna look at model homes. Number two, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
Look at her, look at her, how come you can’t be like her?
You say, Jack, nobody would say that probably not. But Jesus said, we think it.
He said if you’ve lusted after a woman in your heart, you’ve committed adultery. Who knows?
God knows who else believe me after God knows, ain’t no matter, it doesn’t matter who else knows. God knows.
And that’s what matters. He said, you can’t look at your neighbor’s wife and listen, I’m sure that means husband too.
Look at him. How come you can’t look like him. Watch out. That’s a sin concerning covetousness.
You are not to be coveting your neighbor’s male servants or employees today maybe or his maid servants or female employees today, you can’t covet his ox.
Now my neighbor doesn’t have an ox, but it could mean like their truck, an ox is could be a truck, a beast of burden.
I gotta, I gotta put in some overtime because I want a truck just like that truck and this is you shall not cover your neighbor’s donkey.
That could be the car, a little family thing. Put the family. I want a beamer.
What are you covering? Nor anything else that your neighbor has. You shall not covet that.
Now the world around us. America does not allow us to post those things in public places anymore.
And that’s a shame, isn’t it? Because I don’t know about you?
But if somebody starts hitting on your wife or hitting on your husband or hitting on your donkey or your ox, wouldn’t it be awesome for it to be down inside their hearts and minds?
You know, I, I should not be doing that, but we’ve removed that stuff from our culture.
The 10 commandments are holy rules that you and I might have a better life.
So number 10 of the 10 commandments is you shall not covet, covetousness is wanting something, watch wanting something that someone else has that God has withheld.
If you trust God, then you will relax and you’ll no longer covet your neighbor’s junk because you understand what God has withheld from you is for your own good.
See, what does that mean?
That means if you had what you, what your neighbor had, it would destroy your life.
Maybe your neighbor can handle it. Maybe he can’t, I don’t know.
But God declares Jack, you don’t have a Ferrari because I’ve seen how you drive your Ford.
So what defines our life? Is it the things that we have?
No, it’s not the things that we have and you and I live in a culture that’s very dangerous because our culture looks at others and says, and they make a, they make a judgment.
I can tell that he is or she is by what, by what she drives by what she looks like by the clothes, by the yard, by the house.
And God doesn’t care because you can have the best of the best and be lost on the inside pastor and bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on real life radio with his message called life.
According to who part one, you know, this series, the gospel of Luke is a series on the book of Luke and the unveiling of Jesus Christ to this world.
And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
Hey, have you heard about the great reset? That’s coming? Well, listen, it’s coming.
If you know about it or not.
And my good friend Charlie Kirk, we sat down and we had what is called a happening now session for 90 minutes.
We discussed what is coming with the new world order, the new world currency and the great reset.
So that sit down wound up producing a book by Charlie Kirk. It is fantastic. It’s small.
It’s basically pocket size for you to carry around.
In fact, it’d be great for you to get a copy for your friends and family.
But the great reset, it’s a Christian’s response to the great reset.
So you’re gonna want to get a copy of this and you’re gonna want to do it by going to Jack Hibbs dot com and making sure that you secure your own copy.
The Christian response to the great reset, get your copy right now.
The Christian response to the great reset by Charlie Kirk.
It’s our current featured resource and you can get it at Jack Hibbs dot com. That’s Jack Hibbs dot com.
This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you.
Our listeners visit us at Jack Hibbs dot com. That’s Jack Hibbs dot 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.
We scarcely even can identify it if we have to have things but he has, oh look, she’s got that.
I’m gonna go get that. Why? It’s not bad that you have it. Why do you have to have it?
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 on today’s edition of Real Life Radio.
Pastor Jack now continues his series called The Gospel of Luke with a Message titled Life.
According to who part one. Now, this series on the Gospel of Luke is a series that gives us both the humanity and the Divinity of Jesus Christ as really only Luke the physician could do here.
Now, as we continue in chapter 12, we’ll consider the definition of life.
The human answer is based on desires and feelings, but the Bible defines life from a broader perspective.
You see the truth is we are unable to determine the definition of life.
We don’t have the, the knowledge or the authority life has been granted to us and only God can define what it is.
Still, we’ve been sold that line that what we own and how much of what we own defines our lives.
You know, that’s a dangerous belief when in reality, the world is the lords and everything in it.
So today on this part of the message, Pastor Jack tells us that we need to ask ourselves why stuff is so important to us and why is someone else’s stuff important to us as well?
And if we’re honest, well, our eyes lust after what others have.
But the Lord reminds us that stuff has only been loaned to us.
It’s gonna return to God in the end.
But before we get into today, his message, did you know that Pastor Jack has a weekly devotional and it’s sure to help you in your walk with God.
Join the thousands of real life radio listeners who’ve been blessed by pastor Jack’s devotional.
Get it at Jack Hibbs dot com. That’s Jack Hibbs dot com.
Now, in his message called life according to who part one, here’s pastor and bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
But the definition of life according to who Luke chapter 12 verse three verse 13, excuse me.
Then one from the crowd said this is to Jesus teacher, tell my brother to divide his inheritance with me.
But Jesus said to him, man who made me a judge or an arbiter over you.
Take heed and beware. Jesus said to the crowd of covetousness for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses.
Then he spoke a parable to them saying the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
And he thought within himself saying, what should I do since I have no room to store my crops.
So he said, I will do this.
I will pull down my barns and build greater ones and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
And I will say to my soul soul, you have many goods laid up for many years, take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.
But God said to him full this night, your soul will be required of you.
Then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is He who lays up treasures for himself?
And it is not rich toward God. Wow, what is going on? Number one?
You know this from the opening verses of Luke chapter 12, Jesus was preaching and teaching to the crowd.
This he’s announcing to them about the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
Remember that He was saying to them what you want to make sure you don’t do is live a life without God and then wind up dying without God.
Why? Because there’s a life to be lived after death.
You don’t you and I don’t cease to exist after death. We continue on after death, not in reincarnation.
No, the Bible says there is a life after death to be lived or there’s a life after death to suffer heaven or hell says the scriptures very, very important.
We saw last time that Jesus is not bending anyone’s arm to make a decision. God will not do that.
By the way, let me say this.
If anyone has ever tried to make you a Christian by any other means other than loving you and telling you the truth, that is the word of God.
Then if they’ve done that in any other way, like threatening you and pressuring you, that’s not from God, that’s not from the Lord.
Jesus demands of us to choose, just choose we even, in fact, we even demand that of other people.
Will you just choose, don’t we demand that of our kids?
Or maybe our kids demand that of, of the parents just choose, pick one daddy, pick one.
It’s part of our making, it’s who we are.
And so Jesus had been teaching, choose God and live and he put it this way.
He said to the crowd last time that if you can confess me before men, then my father will confess.
And in fact, in another place, he says, I will confess you before the angels or my father also, which is in heaven.
If you deny me before men and remember what that meant, kept on denying until you reach the point of the end of your life.
If you kept on denying Christ, then at the end, there is no other opportunity than for Christ to stay silent on that day.
Rather where he would step up and defend you before the father and say, I’m Jack’s savior, I’m Jack’s Messiah, I’m Jack’s Lord.
He could do that. But to the person that says, no, no, no to God.
Jesus will not rise on that day of judgment. He will not stand up to defend you.
And you say, well, I don’t know if I like that.
And I’m that kind of terrifies me, then choose Christ and live.
But ultimately, the decision is yours right in the middle of that teaching that Jesus is giving a voice comes from the crowd.
Talk about bad timing and selfish ambition right out of this amazing moment. We see verse 13 and what happens?
The man says, interrupting Jesus. He announces his concern from the crowd.
The man said to Jesus teacher tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.
Jesus is speaking about eternal life. This man not listening, not grabbing it, not taking it to heart.
He’s thinking about material things. Why listen, church be careful how is life lived?
Who decides what’s successful about life?
And if you and I let people or companies or advertisements dictate to us about what success is in living you and I will be in a spiral down buying everything they say that you and I need to have a meaningful life.
Madison Ave is built upon that foundation that you need this to be successful, that you need this to be somebody who’s worth anything.
And the world around us, from billboards to magazines, to radio and TV, you’ve got to have this, you should be doing the other and then your life is worth something.
Not according to God, don’t get me wrong.
I’m not saying that you should be some sort of a fool with your money or with your life by no means.
But there’s a priority to be kept.
This is very, very important because Jesus is going to define for us life, life according to who, what defines your life?
I know that’s a hard question. But will you please answer it? Yes.
This message will probe and touch our souls this morning. What defines your life and my life? What defines that?
It all depends, you know, this morning you might say, well, I’m a doctor, I’m a medical doctor.
What defines my life is health? Hey, that’s great.
Maybe you’re a financial advisor and you might say what defines my life is the fact that I can live without fear of older age.
I save up. I’m disciplined and I’m teaching other people how to do it to put that money away for some other day.
Hey, that’s, that’s great. Maybe you’re a businessman or maybe you’re a famous person and you would say, oh, no life.
Life is, is fame and fortune. And well, listen, you can ask 1000 people what is life according to them?
And you’ll get 1000 different answers. Here’s the truth of the matter. God gives life.
And because that is a fact, you and I really are not qualified to give the definition of what life is.
We can try, we can take a shot at it.
We can grow up and live our lives and, and grab that golden ring as it were and say now I’m living life.
It’s like the guy that was buried in forest lawn years ago, the guy was buried in a Ferrari.
He love Ferraris. The guy was buried in the Ferrari and the crane operator was overheard.
In fact, Billy Graham was the one doing the service.
I don’t know how that even came about, but he’s doing the service.
And the crane operator said as the Ferrari was being lowered into the grave site with a dead guy in it.
The crane operator said, man, that’s living, that is not living, that’s insane.
We have all these various opinions, but the truth is only God can define what life is and we need to agree with him.
And if we agree with him, then listen, that’s where we truly begin to live.
Our lives is when we begin to trust and believe in what he is to say to us.
This man though, he heard the teaching of Jesus, he’s got a completely different agenda.
What defines his life is something altogether different.
And so he says to Jesus note this verse 13, he says to Jesus, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.
The word here in Greek is to tell is to command.
He interrupts the sermon to issue a command to Jesus Christ himself.
And what is it completely clueless of eternity? Jesus had just kept in speaking about eternity.
And the man says, I want what’s rightfully mine and it ain’t happening, Jesus be my judge on this matter.
Church. Listen. The Bible says in John chapter three verse 17, that Jesus Christ did not come to judge or to condemn the world, but God sent him that the world through Him might be saved.
You see, Jack does that does this mean that Jesus is not involved in my day to day concerns and no, he’s very listen.
He’s very, very concerned about our day to day activities and the things that are in our lives.
But keep this in mind. Jesus did not come, oh, hang on ushers, guard the doors, sit down.
Listen, Jesus didn’t come to make you rich. Jesus didn’t come for you to have a rolls. Royce.
Jesus didn’t come for you to exploit the incomes of others so that you might drive around in your or fly around in your whatever it is.
The amazing thing to me about this when this man says to Jesus, will you be a judge or an arbitrator between our, our situation, Jesus of our inheritance between my brother and I, I’ve actually been asked that same question before.
As a pastor, pastor, I go to Calvary Chapel here. My dad died, left us a ton of money.
My brother’s being all weird about it and I’m asking you to preside over the mediation of it.
You know my answer. I’m so glad Jesus covered this in the Bible.
My answer was can’t do it, not going to do it.
Can’t go there, not my place.
My place though is to tell you that money can’t buy happiness. Money cannot buy your health.
Money cannot buy salvation. What if you inherit all the world and lose your own soul?
That’s not the area that I’m supposed to be walking around in and talking to people.
Go get an attorney or do whatever you do, go call your grandpa.
But don’t call me about these things because I’ve already got this written out in my, my employment manual, the Bible and Jesus said, stay out of it, lead them to Christ, show them eternity, show them heaven.
And so Jesus is not being rude, he’s not being cold. He’s being very, very direct about the truth.
Jesus says in verse 14, he says, man who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?
First thing I want you to realize about what defines your life.
Jot it down is it, the things of life is it the things that you own?
Is it in the things that you and I own? Is that what defends our life?
Jesus said, basically, I’m not interested in that. Well, wait a minute, I am. Every one of us.
Are you say I’m not interested in things. Yes, you are. When you got up this morning.
If you’re not interested in things, why don’t you just grab cold turkey? Black lights.
I mean, not black lights but the the bedrooms black. There’s no, there’s no lights.
You reach in, you grab something out of your closet and you put it on and you just go to church.
You don’t even look in the mirror to comb your hair. I don’t care about things.
You were the first one you looked at this morning.
I, I was the first one I looked at this morning and I ironed my shirt, although that was a long time ago.
It’s looking pretty ragged right now. But see how carnal I am. I’m noticing how ragged my shirt is.
Oh, look. Well, Jeff, we can’t walk around naked. I understand that we cannot walk around naked.
But the truth is we spend too much time on this stuff and it translates all the way through us.
Why? Because it’s in our hearts just because I’m wearing something doesn’t mean I’m covetous.
But listen, there’s a fine line that we cross when we need something versus we gotta have that thing and when we got to have that thing, that’s when we are coveting and this man is coveting.
So, how do you know? Are you kind of judging the guy too soon? No, I’ve read this chapter.
I know it’s coming up. The guy is a covetous man. Watch out for the things of our lives.
Church in our personal lives in our public lives.
Watch out for them because here Jesus says, notice this man who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you.
Will you circle the word you? We don’t have an equivalent in English.
The word in Greek that is here in the original language is use, use, use like you’s gonna come and eat with me today.
You it’s a plural, you plural. We would say both of you. But Greek has one word.
Jesus is saying you and your brother. I will not decide these family issues. Why?
Because it has nothing to do with eternal life. It has nothing to do with your salvation.
It has nothing to do with bettering your life. Why? Because covetousness is the root to what’s going on here.
And you might say, well, that’s kind of a hard thing to say.
I know, but it’s biblical Proverbs 21 26 says about the human hearts that our human hearts covet greedily all day long.
No, no one’s gonna stand up and say that’s right. Amen. Pastor, my heart covets all day long.
But we do. You see, I don’t know if I do Jack. I really don’t know if I do.
Here’s the danger about covetousness. You guys? It is so subtle.
We scarcely even can identify it if we have to have things what he has.
Oh, look, she’s got that. I’m gonna go get that. Why? It’s not bad that you have it.
Why do you have to have it? Listen, money is not evil. I hear that misquoted all the time.
Money is not evil. But what is beautiful? The love of money is evil.
Sex is not evil in marriage. But when you gotta have it, then you’ll go outside of marriage.
Think about it. There are so many things that are either ethical or Amoral and that they have no, they don’t do anything one way or the other.
They’re just there. I can have money in my hand right now.
It is my heart that will dictate how it’s spent my heart.
Either good or evil will invest that money in a certain direction. Are you with me?
It’s not the, it’s not the love that is directed in a Godly thing.
Oh, I love God and God. You take all of my life. That’s awesome.
But in the negative it is the love of that powerful position or that money or that thing that makes anything in association with it, an evil thing, covetousness drives that.
What’s interesting to me here, Jesus says verse 15 take heed, beware.
The word, take heed here is a, is a word that is very graphic.
It means to be watching out like a century to be guarding, looking like this, watching, watching, watching.
And then the word he says to beware and to take heed or to take heed and to beware, that word beware means to be not only watching but as that we’re building a moat or a fence around you.
Now, imagine this. Can you imagine? Take heed and beware. Watch out for covetousness. Ok. Don’t, don’t answer this.
But where’s the greatest point or place of the temptation to covet? It all depends. It’s very broad, isn’t it?
And you go to some place or, or maybe it’s, you know, the big funny car races are this weekend down the road over here and from my house, I can hear those things going, uh, you know, those big funny cars.
It’s like, wow. And so I’m thinking, you know, I know I got stuff to do, but I’m thinking I’m just gonna drive over there just to get what I didn’t, but I’m thinking about it.
I’m being tempted to go put down something important to go, go find out and, and see and just kind of snoop around begins to pull, well, temptation and covetousness, of course, covetousness is a temptation, but there are so very, very closely knit together that coverage, justness could very much be driving so many of all the sins that we battle with.
In fact, did you realize when Jesus announces here, beware and take heat against covetousness? Why is that so important?
Because it is number 10 on the list of the 10 commandments, thou shalt not covet.
Look at this, look at the 10 commandments, by the way, man, we can have all kinds of things taught in public school today, but we can’t have that.
You know why somebody could get offended?
Somebody could get offended if thou shalt have no other gods before me. People get offended.
That can’t have that. That’s so sad.
When you look at the first commandment and note the brilliance of God, that’s the first commandment.
And it’s as it were a book end and then there’s another book end go all the way down to the 10th commandment.
Thou shalt not covet. Did you know those two commandments?
You cannot divide the two of them in a sense.
I could argue that they are nearly the same thing.
You shall have no other God before me says the Lord.
Now number one, in a class of logic, you would know that wait.
Then that means that for God to say that it is possible for me to have a God before Him, right?
It could be a car, could be money, could be power, could be whatever God says, don’t have an altar, a deity, a God, a pursuit that consumes your life other than me.
Number 10 it’s like the first, you shall not covet. How can that be connected?
Because you cannot be worshiping other things without coveting.
And the moment that you worship other things other than the Lord, you are not only coveting but to covet is to be an idolater.
An idolater is someone who worships foreign gods. They’re, they’re completely connected together.
Those two commandments, bookend the 10 commandments. They’re, they’re vitally important.
And you say, well, I don’t know if we can teach those in school that might offend somebody.
Really. I’m reminded of Exodus chapter 20 verse 17.
Tell me if you have a problem with this, you shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You can’t look out the window of your house and go, how come we don’t have that house?
Look at their house. I want their house, go get five more jobs because I want a house like that house.
That’s coveting. It’s a sin. God calls it idolatry.
All of a sudden we can all say, I think I’ve done that. Hey, let’s go.
Look at the model homes. Do you know what that means? Lisa loves that. Bring a camera.
We’re gonna look at model homes. Number two, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
Look at her, look at her, how come you can’t be like her?
You say, Jack, nobody would say that probably not. But Jesus said, we think it.
He said if you’ve lusted after a woman in your heart, you’ve committed adultery. Who knows?
God knows who else believe me after God knows, ain’t no matter, it doesn’t matter who else knows. God knows.
And that’s what matters. He said, you can’t look at your neighbor’s wife and listen, I’m sure that means husband too.
Look at him. How come you can’t look like him. Watch out. That’s a sin concerning covetousness.
You are not to be coveting your neighbor’s male servants or employees today maybe or his maid servants or female employees today, you can’t covet his ox.
Now my neighbor doesn’t have an ox, but it could mean like their truck, an ox is could be a truck, a beast of burden.
I gotta, I gotta put in some overtime because I want a truck just like that truck and this is you shall not cover your neighbor’s donkey.
That could be the car, a little family thing. Put the family. I want a beamer.
What are you covering? Nor anything else that your neighbor has. You shall not covet that.
Now the world around us. America does not allow us to post those things in public places anymore.
And that’s a shame, isn’t it? Because I don’t know about you?
But if somebody starts hitting on your wife or hitting on your husband or hitting on your donkey or your ox, wouldn’t it be awesome for it to be down inside their hearts and minds?
You know, I, I should not be doing that, but we’ve removed that stuff from our culture.
The 10 commandments are holy rules that you and I might have a better life.
So number 10 of the 10 commandments is you shall not covet, covetousness is wanting something, watch wanting something that someone else has that God has withheld.
If you trust God, then you will relax and you’ll no longer covet your neighbor’s junk because you understand what God has withheld from you is for your own good.
See, what does that mean?
That means if you had what you, what your neighbor had, it would destroy your life.
Maybe your neighbor can handle it. Maybe he can’t, I don’t know.
But God declares Jack, you don’t have a Ferrari because I’ve seen how you drive your Ford.
So what defines our life? Is it the things that we have?
No, it’s not the things that we have and you and I live in a culture that’s very dangerous because our culture looks at others and says, and they make a, they make a judgment.
I can tell that he is or she is by what, by what she drives by what she looks like by the clothes, by the yard, by the house.
And God doesn’t care because you can have the best of the best and be lost on the inside pastor and bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on real life radio with his message called life.
According to who part one, you know, this series, the gospel of Luke is a series on the book of Luke and the unveiling of Jesus Christ to this world.
And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
Hey, have you heard about the great reset? That’s coming? Well, listen, it’s coming.
If you know about it or not.
And my good friend Charlie Kirk, we sat down and we had what is called a happening now session for 90 minutes.
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So that sit down wound up producing a book by Charlie Kirk. It is fantastic. It’s small.
It’s basically pocket size for you to carry around.
In fact, it’d be great for you to get a copy for your friends and family.
But the great reset, it’s a Christian’s response to the great reset.
So you’re gonna want to get a copy of this and you’re gonna want to do it by going to Jack Hibbs dot com and making sure that you secure your own copy.
The Christian response to the great reset, get your copy right now.
The Christian response to the great reset by Charlie Kirk.
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