Tune in as Pastor Jack Hibbs continues his enlightening series on the Book of James. This week, we uncover the birthmarks that identify us as believers and explore the unique responsibilities Christians shoulder. Through personal anecdotes and scripture, Pastor Jack presents a compelling narrative on humility, forgiveness, and finding one’s true identity in Christ. Prepare yourself for a thought-provoking journey into the heart of spiritual renewal.
The Christian usurps no authority over another. The Christian is humble. When he says, who are you to judge another? The fact is we are no one but sinners saved by the grace of God.
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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. What does it take to be a great leader? Whether you’re managing a business or running a household or navigating relationships, leadership is about so much more than titles and tasks. In The Way of the Shepherd by Dr. Kevin Lehman, you’ll discover some timeless principles of biblical leadership that really apply to every area of your life. Through some compelling storytelling, Dr. Lehman shares seven powerful secrets that’ll help you lead like the Good Shepherd does. Those secrets include understanding the people you lead, assessing their strengths, building trust, ensuring safety, providing direction, implementing correction, leading with compassion, Personally recommended by Pastor Jack Hibbs. The Way of the Shepherd is available today for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash real radio. Get your copy of The Way of the Shepherd by Dr. Kevin Lehman at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. on today’s edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues with his series called The Book of James and a message titled Things That Christians Do. Now, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, the Book of James was a letter sent to the Jews who chose to follow Christ. And as new believers, James shares with them that we are to look within us to see if we are truly Christians. You see, just like we have birthmarks and traits identifying who we are, there are birthmarks that identify us as believers in Christ. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that one of our greatest birthmarks, proving that we’re Christians, is our love for one another. When God’s grace surrounds us, we have no need to condemn, despise, or judge one another. Now, with his message called, Things That Christians Do, here’s pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.
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Verse 8 tells us the fourth birthmark the Christian needs to leave behind. The Christian needs to leave behind the old world. When he says, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Isn’t this amazing? James is talking to the congregation. He wasn’t afraid of them turning on him, I guess. He looked right at him and said, clean up your hands, you sinners. You might say, well, that’s pretty condescending. He’s like putting himself above everybody. No, the construction of the word is, we need to cleanse our hands, we, us, who are sinners. That’s us. Does that bother you, huh? To come to the realization that we’re sinners, that you’re a sinner, I’m a sinner. Not for the Christian. The Christian knows this. When he says cleanse, it means exactly what it says, wash. When he says purify your hearts, it means exactly that. Purify, clean it up, get the junk out of it, give it to God. The word double-minded means to have two souls or a divided interest. To be two-souled. Remember James earlier in his book said a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. He has two souls. He’s twin-souled. Watch this. He’s got one foot in the world and one foot in church. He’s got one hand up to God. He’s got the other hand reaching into the world for all that they can grab. A divided heart. James is telling us that the human, that the Christian, and the non-Christian for that matter, has a soul that is easily led astray and divided. We need to be leaving the old world behind. The Bible says that Christ has bought us out of the world. Paul tells us to no longer be entangled in the former things of this past life. One of the things that the Christian does is leave the old world behind. Have you noticed that the old world tries to come back? And you’ve got to push them back. You’ve got to push them away. You’ve got to leave those things behind. How do we do that? By being in the Word of God. Fellowship with God’s people. And prayer. Walking with the Lord. The fifth… The fifth birthmark, things that Christians do, the fifth birthmark of the believer is having an accurate estimation of ourselves. Look what he says in verse nine. Lament, mourn, and weep. That’s the fifth birthmark. Lamenting, mourning, and weeping. Why? Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Why? Because the Christian recognizes that he cannot save himself. He says, lament, mourn, and weep. Those of you who know the Lord are going to understand this. Those of you who don’t, you’re not going to get this. As a Christian, when you come to the Lord, you experience a cleansing, a washing, a renewal, and you, I hate to, I don’t mean to stress this, because it’s by faith, not by feelings, but for many people, they actually feel cleaner by coming to the Lord. That’s wonderful. My life has changed, you’ll hear people say. My life’s so different from what it once was. I can’t believe, and you know this is true, have you ever had someone that you fellowship with, have you ever had someone say to you, well, you know, I came to the Lord seven years ago and I used to be a gang leader. And isn’t it great, you’ll go, you? Isn’t that neat when people do that? They can’t see you like that. Somebody might say in your home fellowship group or whoever you might meet here today, yeah, you know what? I used to be a bank robber, but you’re so nice. You seem that you’re so honest. Well, hey, I am who I am by the grace of God because now I’m a Christian. But before I came to Christ, in fact, the Christian will say, let’s not even talk about it. The Bible encourages the Christian not to bring up the things of the past because we hate them so much. And God knows about our past. He himself has allowed himself to forget our past. So why should we bring it up? A lot of Christians who are walking in a defeated state, oh Lord, you know, three years ago I did this thing, and God’s going, what thing? What thing? What thing was that? He says, as far as the east is from the west, so far have I removed your sins from you. He says, of your sin and of your iniquity, I will remember them, what does it say? No more. So what are you thinking about it for? Have you come to Christ? Yes. Was this part of your past life? You’re no longer doing it now? Yes. Then dry your eyes, get up and get moving. Having an accurate estimation of yourself is to be sick over sin, is what that means. The Christian, when they sin, they can’t stand it. They immediately confess it to God. Get this. And you are constantly walking in a state of revival in the true meaning of the word. Revival man does not create. Revival is an effect of man’s relationship with God. When you realize as a Christian, as David put it, the Lord’s face was ever before me. That’s how you are to walk in Christ now. Christians have a clear estimate of themselves that we are sinners saved by the grace of God. That great truth causes us to want to love him back in countless ways. The closer I draw to God, the greater His light becomes in my life, and the more hideous my sin becomes to me. I can say this now because he’s long gone and he’s in a wonderful place. But remember Ken used to sit right here where Alice is at right now, right off this side aisle. Remember him? He had the white, long, beautiful white hair. Alice, how old was he? 96 when he died recently. He was at this home fellowship and he was the 14th person to show up at this home fellowship called Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. And just about a year before he died, him and I got together and he said, I’m so sick and tired of seeing my horrible sinfulness. When is this gonna pass? And we chuckled about it because we both knew the word of God. The moment you die, brother, And remember he used to say, you would hear him, Yippee! Or there would be times when something touched his soul and he would say, Amen. You would hear it coming right over here by this part of the sanctuary. Amen. Hey. The Christian will contend with sin, listen, more and more as they grow. Even though the Christian practices sin less and less. It’s a strange, almost contradiction. The more you draw closer to Christ, and the more hideous you see your thought life. It’s amazing. It’s amazing. The Christian truly sees themselves as it is. A sinner saves by God’s grace. Billy Graham, I would imagine, doesn’t have many years left. And you would look at Billy Graham and say, oh, now there’s a man who is going to just have a great spot in the kingdom of heaven. Oh, he probably will be having a great spot in the kingdom of heaven. But what about some guy that just gets saved, you know, last night or tonight at the coffee house? What if somebody gets saved tonight at the coffee house as we go through the book of Revelation there? And that person dies tomorrow. Who’s saved the most? Who goes to heaven the most? Well, you can’t even state such a thing. That brand new Christian goes in just like Billy Graham goes in. Well, which one’s more holy? Neither one of them. They’re exactly the same. Exactly like Christ. Isn’t that amazing?
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You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
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They’re exactly the same. Exactly like Christ. Isn’t that amazing? I know that rubs people the wrong way because in our thinking, in our economy, we want people to suffer. We want them to pay for it. I remember when, I think his name is Reginald Denny, when Reginald Denny got his jaw knocked off by the LA riots. Did you see Reginald Denny on TV after he got out of surgery and hospitals and all that stuff? Reginald Denny said, you know what? I’m not condemning the guys who did this to me. I’ve prayed for them and I forgive them. You know, did you know that he was slammed for being in denial? Because the world wasn’t gonna be happy until Reginald Denny executed vengeance upon those guys that took his face apart. The world couldn’t, the media couldn’t handle it. Well, don’t you wanna get them? No, I forgive them. Then he wound up meeting them face to face and said, I forgive you guys. They broke down in tears. But the world, the media wasn’t satisfied with that. Get those enemies of ours, let’s break them in half. Yeah, you know what? The Christian responds in such a way, you know what, we’re all sinners. It’s incredible. You may find that offensive, but that’s just kind of too bad, really. So what would it be as Christians? Forgiving one another even as Christ Jesus has forgiven us. Paul the apostle, I think, lived this perfectly. Paul the great apostle in 1 Timothy 1.15, this is incredible. In fact, you’re gonna be tempted to think Paul had to be lying about this. Paul said, this is a faithful saying and it’s worthy of all acceptance. Great Paul, what is it? That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and everybody would say, amen. Then he says, of whom I’m chief. This is an amazing word. The word chief here means to be the most prominent sinner ever. Paul the Apostle believed it when he said, Jesus came into the world to die for sinners and I was the biggest sinner of all. You wanna know why? Because that’s how Paul saw himself, as the biggest sinner of all. Are you a sinner? Have you done wrong? Then you’re in a beautiful place. Jesus tells us the one who sins much is forgiven much. The Bible says in Psalm 34, 18, the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart. And he will save those who have a contrite spirit. In Luke 7, 47, a beautiful example of Mary. She came to Jesus there in that passage to anoint him, remember, for his burial. She didn’t know that at the time. She was just anointing him out of love. And in Luke 7, 47, the scripture says, Therefore Jesus said, I say to her, your sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she has loved much, but to whom little is forgiven of, the same loves little. So don’t think this morning that your sins are too great for God to forgive you. The sixth thing that Christians do, we have to hurry very quickly because we have two more left. Things that Christians do regarding the eight birthmarks of the believer, number six, is is to determine to live in the presence of God. He says, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, not men. Don’t humble yourself in the sight of men. It’s meaningless. And what does it say? He will lift you up. The word humble is shocking. This word here means to be depressed or humiliated. Isn’t it funny, you would never hear the world say that, humble yourself in the presence of your boss and he will exalt you. Oh no, there’s classes that teach us to assert ourself in the presence of the boss, so he will promote us. Not God’s way, not before the Lord. We’re to humble ourselves. And then the second point we come to is in verses 11 and 12, which are two remaining characteristics of the Christian, and that’s our relationship toward each other. Number seven, the Christian’s existence is to show grace toward one another. The Christian’s existence is to show grace one toward another. He says, verse 11 and 12, do not speak evil of one another, brethren Christians. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, You’re not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? Very quickly, the word judge here does not mean to evaluate or to estimate. The word judge means to condemn. Don’t think for a moment that if you’re sleeping with somebody and your Christian friend comes up and says, listen, you’ve got to stop this. You have to repent and get out of this situation. Don’t you dare say to them, you’re judging me, brother. Oh, no, the word of God is judging you. In fact, we as Christians are commanded by God to go to you who are in sin and say, stop this, we plead with you in the name of God, don’t do this. We’re not judging. You see, the word is to condemn. We’re not to draw up a line and say, State the name and issue the edict or the verdict as condemned. We’re not to do that. If you do that, you’re not obeying the law. You’re not obeying the heart of the Lord either. In verse 11, he says here, he who speaks evil of the law. By the way, this is not the Mosaic law. This is the perfect law that James is talking about. The perfect law or the law of liberty. It’s found in James 1.25. And in James 2.12, the law is the law of Christians, the law of love, one toward another. How can I say I love you if I’m tearing you up? How can you say that you love me if you’re tearing me up? James says the person that does such things, they’re judging the law. And they’re really in opposition toward God. Number eight, we’re skipping. We’re going to have to end here. Number eight. The eighth and final birthmark of the believer regarding things that Christians do. He says there is one lawgiver and who is able to save? It is he. He is able to save and to destroy. He’s got the ultimate power. Who are you to judge another? We are not to judge. The Christian must yield to the rule of God is number eight. The Christian must yield to the rule of God. In closing, I want to say this. You are either humbled over the fact that you’re a sinner and that you have wonderfully received Jesus’ grace and forgiveness, or you need to today. You’ll not go to heaven on your own righteousness or on your own doing good. A Christian is not to judge another, nor is the unbelieving. And maybe in your life for some reason, This is a very touchy area about judging. There are many Christians who are bound by the past because they have become bitter towards other people. Stop judging them. Stop it. Or they become jealous of another. Stop that. You’re judging. You become proud thinking, you know what, I’m like this and you’re not. You’re judging. You’re judging. The Christian usurps no authority over another. The Christian is humble. When he says, who are you to judge another? The fact is we are no one but sinners saved by the grace of God. Let’s pray. Lord, as we come before you this morning, We ask you to put these birthmarks upon our lives if they’re not there already. Lord, teaching us to submit to your authority. Teaching us, Lord, to resist the attacks of the enemy, not giving in to them. Teaching us, Lord, to seek you above all things. Lord, teaching us to leave the old world behind. Teaching us, Lord, to have an accurate estimation of ourselves. Teaching us, Lord, to be determined to live in your presence. Lord, teaching us to exercise grace toward others. And Lord, teaching us to yield to your rule in our lives. While your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed this morning, I’m gonna ask you now, no one looking around, please. You can admit this morning that you’re a sinner to God. You have never come to faith in Jesus. You’ve never approached him and said, Jesus, I want you to be the Lord and Savior of my life. I give you my life today. If you agree with that and you want to receive Christ this morning because you’ve been humbled by the word of God today, would you raise your hand right now and I’ll pray for you? Wherever you’re at, God bless you. Anyone else, you can put your hand down. Anyone else this morning, God is seeing your hand go up. You are saying, Lord, I have sinned and I want to accept you as the Lord and Savior of my life. I want to go to heaven when I die and I want to know you now. Anyone else in this last moment, you wanna determine now to live your life for Christ, to decide for him. Father, we pray right now for this hand, this one hand, how awesome that has gone up to you. Father, may you just now, as this man agrees, that Jesus died on the cross for his sin, that Jesus rose again from the dead, that Jesus is enthroned in heaven. He is God come in human flesh, says the Bible, who lived a perfect life to die as a perfect sacrifice for us. Father, I pray now in your son’s name that you would so overwhelm this man who has chosen Jesus today. Lord, fill him with your spirit. Lord, show him this new life that is in you, the great Redeemer. We ask it in Jesus’ name and all God’s people said, Amen.
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Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Things That Christians Do. Thanks for spending some time with us today. We appreciate it. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Book of James. It’s a series on true Christianity and how it creates a new way of living. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
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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 slash know God. 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.
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Hey, Pastor Jack here. I want to give you guys a quick update on what’s going on in Southern California in wake of the devastating and forever life-altering fires that have ravaged the Southland. Things have never been like this before. And I mean that where a fire has never been seen like this before, where the sky was aflame and the winds were blowing 80, 90 miles an hour, flames and fire horizontally. has devastated homes by the tens of thousands, and there’s over 150,000 people without a home. And I say all that, my friends, to encourage you to consider this. Please, please consider giving to the Samaritan’s Purse organization. Franklin Graham, we’re working with them. We’re on the grounds here in our own neighborhood, so to speak, of Los Angeles, Malibu, the Palisades, Eaton Canyon, Altadena, areas of Pasadena, And it is overwhelmingly epic. I promise you this. Give what you can to SamaritansPurse.org. SamaritansPurse.org. Go there and send support to them regarding the Southern California fires. Please do not send us any of your money. Do not send it to Real Life. Do not send it to Real Radio. Please send it direct. Your contribution is a 501c3 tax-deductible contribution to the right people. Samaritan’s Purse, and you can go to SamaritansPurse.org. Thank you very much.
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Did you know that along with the radio program, Pastor Jack also has a TV show with more of the Pastor Jack Hibbs content that you like. It’s called Real Life TV. If you enjoy Pastor Jack on the radio, you’re going to love him on TV. So check out your local listings or visit jackhibbs.com and catch the latest episodes. That’s jackhibbs.com. 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.
