In this enriching episode, Pastor Jack Hibbs unfolds the layers of God’s redemptive plan, illustrated in the Christmas story and propelled towards His promised return. Reflect on the important theological differences between the first and second coming of Christ, and understand what it means to live expectantly in light of His promises. Perfect for the holiday season, this discussion aims to deepen your faith and inspire you to share this powerful message with others.
I’m going to ask you to accept Christ because the Bible says when given the opportunity, you should accept Christ. And if you reject Him, then you’re fully responsible for your eternal destination, not Him.
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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.
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Hey, this is Jack Hibbs here, and I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. My challenge to you this year is to share the news that Jesus is the Savior of the world. After all, that’s why we celebrate him. So may the joy and hope of this message fill your heart. So share the good news. It’s all about Jesus. And share it loudly. Let it be known.
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Merry Christmas. From Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life, Merry Christmas. on today’s edition of Real Life Radio. We’re going to take a break from 1 Samuel to bring you a very special Christmas series called His Return. You know, the return of Jesus is a promise from God and goes deeper than we thought. Genesis 3.15 from the Old Testament is the very first Christmas verse. God’s redemption plan actually begins right here. You see, Christmas isn’t only about the celebration of the birth of the Savior. It’s about the colossal battle between Satan and the seed of the woman Eve and the victory that is now secured in Christ. So today in this special Christmas message, Pastor Jack teaches us that the return of Christ will be without warning. But it is to be expected. The first coming of Jesus to Bethlehem brought us salvation. His second coming will bring us our deliverance. Now with his special Christmas series called His Return Part 3, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hughes.
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When Jesus said, I’m going to go away and prepare a place for you, where did he go? Oh yeah. And he said, I’m coming back. to take you to myself. Why would you do that, Jesus? Because where I’ve been, I’m gonna take you there. Yeah, that sounds good to me. Yeah, could you hear that? That faint, let’s go. What will it be like? When it happens, we do not have to guess. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13. You know, I figured I’d throw the kitchen sink and everything else that comes with it into this message today. If you’re visiting us for the first time, you’re going to get four years of theology and 55 minutes, just like a college class. I got 10 minutes left. First Thessalonians 4.13, Paul the apostle speaking to those in Thessalonica, which by the way, if you’re ever on a cruise, go visit Thessalonica. It’s one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. It’s awesome. But I do not want you to be ignorant. The word is, I do not want you to be uninformed. Don’t be dull about what I’m going to talk to you about. And isn’t it amazing today that most churches, you walk into a church, and you ask to speak to the ministry staff and say, tell me, what can you tell me about the difference between the first coming of Christ, the rapture of the church, and the second coming of Christ? And you know what? Sad to say, many pastors will go, what? That’s your first hint to turn around and walk out of that church. The Bible says don’t be dumb about this. Concerning those who have fallen asleep or died in Jesus, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep or died in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep or their bodies are in the grave. Their bodies are in the grave. Think of this. We go to Forest Lawn. We bury your uncle who was a believer. His body is in the ground, but he is with Jesus alive. in the instant. To be absent from the body, the Bible says, is to be present with the Lord. So we’re just burying his body like a turtle shell. It’s a shell. And now we’re lowering Uncle John into the ground until the day of resurrection. And, you know, and yes, and listen, can you imagine, keep that picture in your head right now and watch what happens. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and Uncle John’s body will rise first. You just put him in there. It’s like a Pop-Tart. You put him in, the trumpet blows, and oh man, what? What’s going on? And then seconds behind Uncle John popping up, the believer’s gonna follow him. Look what it says. Remember, Jesus said in John 14, meet you in the air. That’s where I’m going to meet you. Watch this. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be, and there’s the Latin word, caught up, raptured together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Amen. Wow. Please make sure that you’re going to join us on that one. Listen, if we die of old age, then that’s going to be pretty soon anyway, even if you’re young. Think about it. You know, see how fast time’s going. Listen, so what if Jesus doesn’t come back? Well, listen, we’re supposed to be ready to meet him any moment now, but it doesn’t matter because even if we all live a long, long life, it ain’t that long. The Bible says man’s life compared to eternity is but a vapor of of smoke, a vapor of steam. What’s gonna happen to us? 1 Corinthians 15, verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. So we have a problem. There’s gotta be some sort of a change. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep or die, but we shall be changed. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible. Notice what Paul says. The dead will be raised incorruptible, he says, and we shall be changed. Isn’t that an amazing statement? Hey, the dead’s gonna pop out of the ground like Pastor Jack’s Pop-Tart analogy, but we who are alive and remain at that moment, we’ll meet them in the air. Amen. And it’s going to happen in the twinkling of an eye. Why? Because this body, listen, this body has to be resurrected or raptured to enter the kingdom of heaven. Listen, you go in the ocean and you can swim around for a little bit, but you’re not going to go underwater and swim to Catalina. You’re going to need a whole different environment. And for that, you’re going to need tanks and wetsuit and everything, right? Why? Because you’re not fit for the water. But God is going to make you fit for eternity. Amen. He’s going to give you a new body that can frankly enjoy and experience the presence of God. Right now we can’t. If God showed up in this room right now, we’d all be dead like a nuclear blast. The Bible says that nobody can be in his presence and live. Why? Because I’m stuck in this carcass. This body is limited. It’s not going to work. So that means it’s to be expected. His return is to be expected, church. Jesus said in Revelation 22, verse seven, behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. And the whole thing is, I’m coming quickly. The third and final thing under point eight is this. His return is our deliverance. Jesus’ first coming to Bethlehem brought salvation. His next coming will bring deliverance for the believers. In Luke chapter two, verse 11, the Bible says, today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. And that is an awesome, awesome summation of the person and mission of Christ. He’s the savior. That means he’s the deliverer. He rescues us. He’s the Messiah, meaning that he’s the anointed one. Nobody else. Unique. He’s the only one. And he’s the Lord, which means, is Jesus your master? Yes. If he’s not your master, then he’s not your Messiah. If he’s not your master, he’s not your savior. And then number nine, his return is this, and that is the applause. This is the applause for his return. I’ll go through this quickly. We applaud him for his goodness. This is deliberate, friends. I deliberately put this in there because of the time in which we’re in. Listen, we’re at the end of the year. A lot of news, there’s a lot of stuff out there. There’s a lot of things saying, you know, really unstable times ahead. Unstable to you and I, because we’ve never been here before. But they’re not unstable to God. He knows what’s up. He knows what’s down. He knows what’s right. He knows what’s wrong. And all he asks of us is to ask of him. And in Luke chapter two, verse 12, the Bible says, and this will be the sign, the miracle, the distinguishing mark, you can say. Number one, you will find a babe. Isn’t this amazing? Okay, here’s the miracle. What is it? Well, first of all, you’re gonna find a babe, a little baby. Okay, is there more to this? Yes, number two, wrapped in swaddling cloths. The clothing that prepares a little lamb for sacrifice. Lying in a manger is the third thing. These are clues. Verse 13 says, and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. The clues were laid out to find the babe And these certain things would be accompanying the discovery of the babe. In Psalm 145, verse 9, the Bible says the Lord is good to all. And his tender mercies are over all his works. You know God is good to you. You can be here today and say, I hate God. He’s still good to you. He’s still good to you.
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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.
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I would suggest to you that you should stop and consider what good things you have in your life so you can applaud him for his goodness. You can also applaud him for his grace. Look at you here right now. I’m here right now. It’s God’s grace that you’re sitting here by God’s grace. Isn’t it amazing? You take a bite of something and you eat it. By God’s grace. You’re going to make it through the end of this day by God’s grace. Even if you don’t even believe in him, he still gets you through. The Bible says it’s the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance. In the midst of all of the ugly, can’t you see the good? I know you can. You just choose to focus on the ugly. Don’t do that. In fact, it’s the ugly that proves there’s the existence of God. Because ugly, listen, ugly, mean, and death cannot create itself. Ugly, mean, and death has to pervert that which is beautiful, gorgeous, and alive. Death can’t bring anything in. Only life can. But listen, death happens when life is disconnected from God. And then finally it’s this, we applaud him for his gift. You gonna open gifts today, are you? Tonight? Tomorrow? You gonna open up something? What’d you get me? Gifts are kind of weird. It’s a weird thing, gifts are fun. Interesting things. You know, we do this based on God giving us his son. You ever think about where that came from? Again, if you read Wikipedia, it’s got a whole different definition as to why we give each other gifts. God gave us his son and we applaud him. And I don’t mean like a golfer’s clap. You know, oh. I’m talking about an exuberant praise. Yeah, okay. Yep. Yep. And why not leave you with this? We have a hard time. I think we do. Or maybe it’s just me with gifts. And I wrote some things. This is not you. I’m describing me. My pride gets in the way when somebody gives me a gift because I feel in my head, I think in my head, now I got to pay them back. Now I owe them something. Now I’m indebted to them. And then I calm down and it entertain something foreign to me and it might be that they just happen to love me that doesn’t come normal to me am I confessing this for anybody else here right now it’s like wait a minute okay my flesh gets in the way you know come on guys I’m just talking to the men here right now because the next thing is legalism my pride my legalism third thing is reputation my legalism gets in the way and it stands up and it says I gotta get them something bigger now I know I can make it down to the store in time to get something bigger and brighter for them. I got to get something bigger, better. That’s legalism. That’s sick, man. And the final thing is reputation. Well, next time we go out, I pay. I’m so carnal. I’m so arrogant about this stuff. Pray for me. It’s a plague. Because… When we go somewhere, I get ahead. Even by phone, we’re gonna be coming to this restaurant. We’re coming with this group. This is my name. This is my credit card number. I’ll slip it to the server first. Here, take it. I’ll lie. I will lie. I’ll say, hey, you guys, I know we’re standing around. We’re waiting for a seat. I ain’t got no bathroom. I’ll be right back. And I go, hey, who’s the manager around here? Here you go. See that? Whatever table, we get the bill. You know what that is? That’s pride. Reputation. So what am I saying? I guess if you invite me out to dinner, you’re going to be paying. No, I’m kidding. Just kidding. No, I’m just joking. Church, it’s this. Jesus Christ. paid it all and for that we are offended because there’s nothing we can do to save ourselves. That’s why the baby came. That’s why he was born. That’s why the Bible is written about him. There’s nothing you can do to earn his gift or else it’s not a gift. It’s a gift. Well, let me get you something brighter. Yeah, good luck on that. I even use stars and angels and all that stuff. You see, whatever you come up with, you’re empty. That’s by design, friend. Well, my morality is better than most people. Well, good for you. And we appreciate that. We like good citizens. But we’re talking about heaven here. The difference between heaven and hell is about 18 inches. Because your head is dealing with it. But is it in your heart? Listen. God is not satisfied with living in your head. When he moves in, I’m just warning you right now. I’m going to ask you to accept Christ in a moment. I’m just going to spill the beans now. No trick-a-roonie here. I’m going to ask you to accept Christ because the Bible says when given the opportunity, you should accept Christ. And if you reject him… then you’re fully responsible for your eternal destination, not him. No tricks. I’m not going to gimmick you. I’m not going to plead with you. If the Spirit of God has been speaking to you, you respond to him. Maybe today you’re thinking, you know what? Some of this stuff’s got me thinking. And what you need to do, Jesus said, behold, I stand at the door of your heart and I knock. Knock. If any man will open up and let me in. It’s a beautiful word. He said, I will sup with you. S-U-P. It means to take your hand and to dip the bread or the meat in the same sauce or whatever it is and eat it and you do the same thing and by that we become one. And Jesus says, take of me and eat. Father in heaven, we praise you We thank you, Lord God, 364 days ago, we were wondering if we were gonna have another chance to have a Christmas service. And here we are. Which means we are now 365 days closer to meeting you. But Lord, are we ready? And I pray today that you’d speak to men and women and boys and girls. And friend, right where you’re at right now, heads are bowed, eyes are closed, but right where you’re at, There’s too big of a crowd everywhere on campus. I’m not gonna ask you to get up. I’m not gonna ask you to come forward. That would be the normal thing we’d do. God is God. He’s sovereign. He can see and he listens and he hears. But as your heads are bowed, Christians be praying, please, right now. While heads are bowed and eyes are closed, you might be saying today, I’m going to accept Christ at this Christmas right now. I’m going to do what you said earlier. I’m going to exchange my sin and guilt for his righteousness and freedom, his new life. I want him to live through me from this moment on. I’m deciding that now. If that’s you, raise your hand. I’m the only one looking around. Raise your hand. And I’ll see your hand. God bless you. Anybody else? God bless you. God bless you and you and you. And you and you and you and you. There’s a lot of yous. That’s awesome. That’s beautiful. You can put your hands down. Father, for these who have raised their hands, that’s a divine work. Their arm went up, but it was only obeying the command of their brain and the muscle and the sinew and the machine of the human body. But that was even under the influence of the soul. The soul was saying, let’s do this. And that’s only true because the spirit of these men and women and boys and girls are waking up right now to the truth of God’s word. So those of you who raised your hands, will you let God hear this from your lips? Dear Lord Jesus, Forgive me of my sins. I receive Jesus Christ today as my Lord and Savior. I commit my life to you. Thank you for dying for me. And thank you for being resurrected from the dead. I receive your forgiveness. I give my life to you now In Jesus name and all God’s people said, amen. Amen. Let’s all stand everybody. Now you guys, um, wherever you’re from, wherever you’re going, whatever you’re doing, make sure that this year ahead for you is the year of the Bible, because I tell you what things in the Bible. will be coming this year to come. And you’re gonna wanna be able to recognize the things that God has given us. The Lord bless you and keep you. May God’s countenance and favor envelop your life. May God’s grace and his healing be upon you from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. 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 special Christmas series called His Return. Thanks for being with us today and Merry Christmas from Pastor Jack and all of us here at Real Life Radio. Our prayer for you this Christmas is that your 2026 is filled with contentment and joy that can only come from knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Thanks for welcoming us into your home and into your life. 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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We’ll be right back. First, Pastor Jack’s annual favorite, the one-year Bible. Every year, lives are changed as people discover how simple and doable it is to read through the entire Word of God within just a few minutes a day. Also, Pastor Jack’s going to include his brand new devotional, Watching Waiting. It’s a 40-day journey designed to help you slow down, look up, and recognize what God is doing in your life. So this December, why would you choose one when you can get both and grow deeper? Visit jackhibbs.com to get your December Book of the Month double feature, the One Year Bible, and Pastor Jack’s brand new devotional, Watching Waiting. They’re available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. Again, that’s jackhibbs.com.
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Hey, Pastor Jack Hibbs here, and I want to wish you a Merry Christmas, and I also want to challenge you. Join me, will you? to share the love of God with everybody we meet at this time of the year. Now listen, the whole world is decorated in colors and in lights and people are saying Merry Christmas. Let’s take advantage of the reality. Let’s take advantage of the truth. It’s the recognition of the birth that God has sent his son into the world. So we should tell people, hey friends, hey family, this is about Jesus, the Lord’s Savior. mankind’s redemption. Remind them that the baby that was born in Bethlehem is the man who died on the cross for our sins. So please, Merry Christmas to you, but let’s not keep it to ourselves. Let’s tell the world.
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From Pastor Jack and all of us here at Real Life, we want to wish you and your family a Christmas season filled with the peace, love, and joy of Jesus Christ. God bless you and yours today and in this new year to come. Merry Christmas. 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.
