Join Pastor Jack Hibbs in a compelling exploration of the Parable of the Householder and His Heir. This story reveals the hidden motives and superficial righteousness of the religious leaders during Jesus’s time. Pastor Jack sheds light on how true power lies in the Word of God, challenging prevalent traditions and calling for a return to genuine, scriptural teachings. Discover how understanding Jesus’s message can revolutionize your spiritual journey and empower you to live a life firmly rooted in faith.
00:00:00 Introduction and Importance of God’s Word
00:02:35 Parable of the Householder and His Heir, Part 1
The Holy Spirit is looking for the Word of God inside of you. What are we studying the Bible for? Because we want the Holy Spirit to come by, to pass by us and say, you follow me. You follow me.
SPEAKER 02 :
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. Do you ever find yourself longing for a deeper spiritual walk? For many believers, the Holy Spirit is just a mysterious idea we hear about on Sundays but rarely live out on Mondays. What if his presence could transform your daily life, fueling you with hope and power and unstoppable joy? What if his guidance could help you navigate through decisions, strengthen relationships, and bring genuine peace to your soul? This month, Pastor Jack Hibbs is featuring Living Water by Chuck Smith. It’s a down-to-earth look at the Holy Spirit who can revolutionize the way you connect with God. Inside, you’ll uncover practical biblical insights to help you walk and step with the Spirit right where you are. No hype, no cliches, just real answers for everyday challenges.
SPEAKER 01 :
This book changed my life. Authored by my pastor, Chuck Smith, the book Living Water, incredible.
SPEAKER 02 :
Living Water is available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash real radio. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack now continues his series called The Parables of Jesus with a message titled Parable of the Householder and His Heir, Part 1. You know, whenever Jesus spoke to the crowds, he often spoke using commonly known themes the Bible calls parables. But in this parable, Jesus exposes the corrupt religious leaders of the day through the story of a vineyard. Jesus saw straight into the hearts and minds of the religious leaders. He exposed their hidden motives, their superficial righteousness, and their search for power. Jesus stripped away their facade before the watching crowd. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that people are enamored with power. The power of knowledge, of wealth, the power displayed by military strength. But the power of God is the power above all. Now with his message called Parable of the Householder and His Heir, Part 1, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
SPEAKER 01 :
The Parable of the Householder and His Heir. Probably in your study Bible, it’s got that at the heading somewhere. Atop there, Matthew 21, beginning at verse 33. Follow along with me as I read. Jesus said, and by the way, have your highlighter ready because there’s not a word missed. There’s not a word wasted. Jesus said, hear another. Parable, we’ll find out what that means in a moment. There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vine dressers and he went into a far country. Now when vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the vine dressers that they might receive its fruit. Verse 35, and the vine dressers took his servants and beat one. killed one, and stoned another. And again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all, he sent his son to them, saying, they will respect my son. But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. And so they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine dressers? Jesus is speaking this to not only the crowd, but he’s looking right at them. The leadership of Israel. Look at verse 41. They, that is the chief priests and the Pharisees, said to him, Jesus, he will destroy those wicked men miserably. That is absolutely. And lease his vineyard to other vine dressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus said to them, that is the chief priests, the Pharisees, have you never read in the scriptures that The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes, he’s quoting Isaiah. Therefore, I say to you, imagine Jesus pointing at them. The word implies he points at them. God in human flesh, I say to you, imagine. You know why Jesus never said, I’m not teaching yet, we’re still reading, sorry. You know, Jesus never said, thus saith the Lord, because he was the Lord. I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. Now, when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitudes because they took him. That is, the multitudes took him or perceived Jesus to be a prophet. A little bit of background. This is an awesome parable. You can sense already there’s a culmination. They had been listening. They had been hiding in the crowds. They were listening over and over again. And imagine, have you ever been in such a setting where something is so bothering you that you begin to feel the pulse in your neck your blood pressure’s rising, it’s really gotten to you. And Jesus has been speaking parables and the intensity of it is rising in these scribes and Pharisees. They were commissioned to be the leaders of Israel’s religious or spiritual understanding of God. They were the teachers of the people. They represented God to the people. And they would speak and they would teach and they would do. But they were not speaking and teaching according to the word of God. They were teaching the traditions of men as the big rule. They were saying, well, you know what? This is what we’ve always done. This is the way that it is. And so this is what you do too. And they began to speak and teach in such a way. And this had been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years. And as this setting… is before us now, it’s really all summed up in the 33rd verse of what’s taking place and it’s really three words in verse 33. Hear another parable. Circle the word another. This is an amazing word. Jesus uses it here and he’s saying to them, watch this, the word implies hear again what you are not listening to. Can you imagine God speaking to you like this? Here comes another parable. I need you to be listening. You’ve been watching my mouth move, Jesus is saying. Your ears have been recording some form of sounds, but you’re not listening. You leaders of Israel, you teachers of the people, you’re not hearing. And so he says to them, this is the parable that turns the table on them. That’s why he says, hear another. The word means, this is a parable that I am inserting the knife and turning the blade. The sword, the word of God will go out. You will hear this one. And how you respond to it will be your decision. But Jesus is saying, this… Another parable, I’m turning it. In other words, time is running out for you. You’ve been hearing and you’ve not been responding and Jesus is really putting them in the seat of judgment. That is, he is judging them. The word of God is judging them. And it’s an awesome, awesome moment. It’s a sobering moment. You know, listen, people like in every generation, right? are enamored with power. These brokers of religious activity were enamored with power. And it’s human nature to be caught up with displays of power. As I mentioned, I was in Washington, D.C. this last week, week and a half, and because I follow the news and I’m watching the trends and seeing things going on with the direction of our country and things, I have to tell you that This was not my first visit to Washington. I’ve been there many times over many years and yet there’s always been a time when you see the White House or when you see the Capitol or you walk through the halls of Congress or There’s a sense of awe and respect because you know that this is the most powerful place on earth. And when you stand at the steps of the Supreme Court, there’s a sense of reverence and awe. And my heart broke this time like never before. As I walked and saw these places like I have always seen before with reverence, this time it was altogether different. I could not explain it. I’m not saying this to be mean. I’m not saying this to be rude. But I’ve got to tell you, Ichabod, do you know what that means? Ichabod, the glory has departed. Because there’s so much talk and there’s so much noise, but the word of God is not being heard. God is not being listened to. And it’s all show. And there’s motorcades and there’s entourage and there’s flags and there’s black tinted window vehicles with guns and big people and emblems on cars and it doesn’t even turn your head anymore. It’s over. And for Israel, at the time of Jesus and his teaching, the ministry of the scribes and Pharisees, it was over. There was no more power. Ichabod had been written across the ministry of these who gave up on the word of God and they loved the things of people. They loved the things what men were making up. They loved the traditions being taught at the expense and at the sacrifice of the word of God. And Jesus had had it. And he uses verbiage and language in this parable that is unlike any other. And so we don’t wanna hurry through it. I was reminded that there’s displays of knowledge. There are great powerful displays of knowledge. There’s powerful displays of wealth. There’s powerful displays of military strength. And yet, church, listen carefully, throughout all of human history, powers and knowledge, it comes and it goes. And isn’t it interesting as we get into this study that Jesus is speaking to them and you think about power and I’m sure Egypt never thought that they would someday be not only vanished from the face of the earth as an empire, as a world-dominated empire, but that it would be really such a worthless place on earth today that basically wields no strength at all. The Babylonian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar, did he ever think for a moment that his kingdom would turn to dust and blow away? What about Hitler? And those who followed him, mind you, were shocked that things weren’t gonna take over the world, it wasn’t gonna come to pass. All these displays of power. And yet tonight, 2,000 years later, we are not only here right now celebrating the name of Jesus and the word of God, but check this out. From Genesis chapter one, verse one, we are here right now standing on the word of God and it is the power that no power on earth can threaten. You can set off a nuclear bomb and it does not affect the word of God. Amen. You can burn every Bible in the world and it doesn’t change the power of God’s word. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus came, listen, Jesus came and he could have said that I, Jesus, I am the plan of God. He could have said that but he didn’t. Jesus could have come on the world scene and have announced I am the power of God. He certainly was but he didn’t say that. He could have said that through me, you can inherit all the wealth of time and eternity in heaven. He could have said that. He didn’t. Jesus came and said, I am the word of God. I am the word of God. The Bible says that it is Jesus Christ who became, listen, the word of God by becoming flesh into this world. We saw, mankind did that is, the word of God walking and talking. God didn’t make in a personification his power, though that was certainly an attribute of Christ. And for that matter, we could even say that God is love, and certainly Jesus displayed love. But listen, he didn’t reveal himself as the love. He revealed himself as the word, the Bible. And how you and I approach the Bible determines everything in our lives, both now and forever.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
SPEAKER 01 :
The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12 and 13, this is the New Living Translation. For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword cut in between the soul and spirit. That’s our motives. Between the joint and the marrow. Wow, the Bible dissects between our motives. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Verse 13, nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes and he is the one to whom we will all give an account someday. The word of God will someday judge us, God’s word. And Jesus is standing there in front of these guys. Think about that for a moment. The very word of God. And as we get into this study tonight, I want you to be thinking about how incredibly powerful the word of God is. You guys listen, the word of God. As I mentioned earlier, I spoke with pastors this week who caught the fire and they were renewed. It was as though these men were coming out of a coma. They had remembered how they got saved. They had remembered how they’d been schooled. They remembered witnessing and just the love of Jesus sharing with people everywhere they found somebody. When they were young and in love and going after God, just because of his goodness, they would just tell people about Jesus. And then they got professionalized. And they got polished, some of them. And maybe they even had some success. I don’t know, which is a very dangerous thing, by the way. Success in ministry is a dangerous thing. But somewhere, somehow along the line, they had forgotten, it’s easy, Dr. Warren Wiersbe warns us as Christians that we can become so familiar with our Christianity like these Pharisees and their religion that we can begin to make common the holy things of God. There was a day when every one of us, beginning with me in this room, or maybe you’re watching right now, you were on your way to hell, and I was leading the way. And God saved us. He rescued us. The danger about walking long with Jesus is that we often forget where we’ve come from. We need to be reminded that without the grace of God, we would be either religious And like these Pharisees, or even as a Christian, on our way to heaven, but we’re not so thankful anymore because we have forgotten what we’ve been rescued from. A great peril, a great destruction God has saved us from. And I think this truth, I would hope anyway this truth is in action every day when you and I stand and meditate and read and live and ask God, Lord, live out the Bible through our lives in reality. To be a real Christian in our culture, the only hope I have is that God’s people will be touched by God’s spirit. And he’ll use the word of God, by the way. Those of you who are investing in the Bible in your own life, listen, you ought to be expecting God to do great things. God is investing in you the word of God. The power of God. The Holy Spirit is under orders by Jesus Christ to use the word of God. The Holy Spirit is looking for the word of God inside of you. What are we studying the Bible for? Because we want the Holy Spirit to come by, to pass by us and say, you follow me. You follow me. We want God to use us and his criteria is this. I will use anyone who is open to my word. Thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. That’s the negative. The positive is thy word have I hidden in my heart that out of the abundance of my heart my mouth might speak. My life might move. My feet might be employed in what God wants to do. And this is true for every Christian. There’s no substitute for the power and for the word of God. And Jesus is that very word. And these religious leaders, who all the people naturally, put yourself in their sandals, they’re looking at their leaders. These are their leaders. And I don’t know, I mean, I honestly don’t know, but think of a name in your mind, a spiritual leader, maybe nationally known or whatever, I don’t know, but they’re like famous leaders. They’re famous people in the world, famous religious leaders. And imagine them standing in opposition to Jesus Christ. You’d be shocked, wouldn’t you? Your jaw would be dropping. You’d say, wait a minute, what’s going on here? And the… The demarcation, the line of division had been drawn in the sand. Jesus is saying, it’s either the word of God or it’s not. And he’s speaking to them. Why did that carry so much power? What was going on? In 1 John 1, verse 1, 1 John 1 says, That which was from the beginning, that was at the moment of physical creation. That’s not eternity. When? Now. Physics began, which we have heard, which we have seen, John says, with our eyes. He’s talking about, watch, John is talking about looking at Jesus. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard. Imagine your ears hearing the voice of Jesus speak. Was it high pitched? Was it low pitched? Was it, how was it? which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled. Can you imagine? John, what do you mean? Well, I held Jesus’ hand a few times. I shook his hand a few times. I hugged him. John could say, I hugged Jesus. In fact, John could say, you know what? One time we were having dinner, and we were listening to Jesus teach. It was so amazing. It was so awesome. And I remember getting so close to him, listening to him teach, that my head was on his chest. You know the Bible records that. Can you imagine what was going on there when Jesus was speaking and John is there listening? Could he hear the voice of God in the room and the heartbeat of Almighty God? What was he listening to? John says, I’ve touched him. The word of God, Jesus. Listen, young people, we are not following some stupid, made-up fable, some Ouija board, horoscope. Uh… video game here God Almighty came in human skin and John said oh yeah that’s awesome but I got to touch him I heard him speak I recognize that voice
SPEAKER 02 :
pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Parable of the Householder and His Heir, Part One. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s new series called The Parables of Jesus. It’s a series that highlights the teachings of Jesus while he was here on this earth. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hey, everybody. You know, everybody here on the team thought it’d be kind of fun if you actually kind of saw or heard what goes on behind the scenes. After all, it’s called real life, and this is what we do. Take a listen.
SPEAKER 02 :
If your kid or your grandkid is in a season of doubt about God, what would you do? Let’s say he’s a young, let’s say he’s eight years old, and he’s kind of thinking about God and doubting God.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. Well, first of all, Lisa and I have raised our kids, and now it’s the grandkids. So I know that question. What we do, believe it or not, what we’ve done, what we do is take them outside. And if this is appropriate, dependent upon the weather, have them lick their finger, right? Put their finger in their mouth. Yeah. Get it wet. Stick their finger up in the air. And ask your kid, what side is your finger cooler on? Or what do you feel? I feel the wind blowing. How do you know that? I can feel it. Look at the trees. What’s happening? The leaves are moving. Well, how do you know the leaves are moving? Look at them. The leaves are moving. So, hey, buddy, but what’s moving the trees? Wind? No, you got to do better than that. What’s wind? Wind. Get them to think. You can’t give them the answer. That doesn’t build faith. Show them how to think critically to come to a conclusion. They see a tree moving. They feel the finger cool on one side that the wind is blowing on, and yet they cannot see the wind because their eyes are not capable of seeing molecules and millibars in the atmosphere. But they see the effect of it. So the same is true about God. Right now, we’re not in heaven yet. In heaven, we get our heaven eyeballs. We’ll be able to see him. Right now, we can’t, but we see his evidence everywhere. So when you see the ocean moving, he said in the Bible, by the way, I’m going to move the ocean. I’m going to move the seas with the swells. And by the way, he says in the book of Job, I’m going to draw a line at the shore where these mighty waves cannot go past. Right? Take your kid down to the lake or down to the beach and show them this is evidence of God. So that’s going to start to dispel doubt. But we must never, ever allow doubt to go unanswered. That’s a recipe for disaster. Well, friends, listen up. This is a very, very important plea. And it’s not a plea for us here at The Real Life Network. It’s a plea actually for you. We are living in remarkable moments, remarkable times, and you literally need The Real Life Network to be able to be available to you in an instant. In fact, we have just been meeting on how we can reach you live 24-7, 365 in the event of an emergency, in the event of a crisis. How can you connect with us and get biblically-based, honest news in light of what’s going on in the world around you? RealLifeNetwork.com. We cannot be canceled. And for this reason, now we see the clarity of why God brought us to do this channel in the first place. reallifenetwork.com, sign up, subscribe, get ready. We will literally be broadcasting the truth to you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Sign up for free at reallifenetwork.com. That’s reallifenetwork.com. 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.
