Join Pastor Jack Hibbs as he continues his compelling series on The Parables of Jesus by examining the Parable of the Householder. This narrative unveils deeper insights into the dynamics of spiritual authority and the expectations that God holds for His believers. Pastor Jack’s exploration is a reminder that despite the passing of centuries, Jesus’ words continue to resonate deeply within our personal spiritual journeys. Through this analysis, we are encouraged to listen intently for God’s voice and how it might manifest in our daily lives.
00:07:16 Understanding the Parable of the Householder
00:13:49 The Vineyard as Israel and God’s Expectations
00:23:25 Book of the Month and The Holy Spirit Focus
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Today on Real Life Radio.
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The fun thing about getting old is the most important thing you can possess in life is that you know the Lord and the Lord knows you. All the stuff that we focused on when we were young evaporates and it all comes down to I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.
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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. Did you know there’s an easy way to stay informed on the latest biblical events shaping our world today? Check out the Happening Now section at jackhibbs.com. Now, these live events feature Pastor Jack Hibbs alongside special guests diving into current events, cultural shifts, and how they align with biblical prophecy. It’s a unique blend of Bible teaching and real-time analysis that helps you make sense of today’s headlines through the lens of Scripture. Happening Now is not just about information. It’s about equipping you with the truth and encouraging you to stand firm in your faith, no matter what’s happening around you. Now, these discussions are eye-opening, they’re thought-provoking, and they’re a great way to stay spiritually grounded in a rapidly changing world. Whether you watch live or catch up on past events, Happening Now will help keep you connected to God’s Word and what’s going on in the world today. Visit jackhibbs.com and click on Happening Now. Don’t just watch the news. Understand it from a biblical perspective. 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 it’s God who owns the vineyard, sending his own son as the supreme authority. But Jesus, too, would be taken and killed by those who had stolen the vineyard. Now, with his message called, Parable of the Householder and His Heir, Part 1, here’s pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.
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1 John chapter 1, verse 1. 1 John 1, 1 says, That which was from the beginning, that was at the moment of physical creation, that’s not eternity, when… 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, 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. I don’t know how, but someday, listen, one second in eternity and you’re going to be able to recognize Jesus’ voice. One second. Before the crowd parts, before you can see him, you’re going to hear a word and you’re You know, somebody asked me a couple weeks ago, how do I know when the Lord is speaking to me? Because when I hear God speak, I think, in my mind, I hear my voice, but it’s not me. Listen, I have really appreciated that honesty. They said, when I think I hear God speak, I hear my voice, but I know it’s not me. And I got a big smile, and I said, I know exactly what you mean. I said, how about this? You hear your voice in your head, yet the sentence, the sentence structure, the information given, the way that it is said is not you. And you know it. And you, it’s so weird. And they asked me, why do you think it’s in my own voice? And I said, I can only tell you what I think, why I hear God in my voice. And yet the syntax, the sentence structure, the word usage, everything is not me. It is clearly God because I think my voice is the voice that I want to listen to in my head. How would I ever recognize? I think if I heard, Jack, this is the Lord, I would just, I’d be walking along, I’d be talking to you, and God would speak, Jack, this is the Lord, I’m speaking to you. And I would probably go. No, but when I’m speaking and when you and I are talking and God speaks to you, maybe you’re talking to your boss, maybe you’re talking to your husband, your wife, your school teacher, maybe whatever, and God drops that string of thought into your mind, it’s so awesome because you know what? It doesn’t shock you, you don’t freak out. You have a normal look on your face and this gem comes out of your mouth. And the person goes, oh my gosh, I never thought about that before. That is so awesome. And you’re going, yeah, well think about it. And then you walk away going. You ever had that happen? That’s God speaking. One second in eternity and you’re gonna recognize his voice. And Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders and they were missing it. Scary, isn’t it, that you can be talking to God in flesh and be missing what God is saying? This is a grave warning, I think, to all of us tonight. It’s a grave warning to me that God could be speaking and I could be missing it. If it happened to them then, what about us now? In John 1, verse 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. God became flesh. Hebrews 1 verse 3. Jesus, who being the brightness of his glory and the expressed image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power. The word of God, Jesus Christ, speaking, and they were missing what he was saying. Point number one tonight, we have five of them. We won’t even probably get through the first point tonight. The parable of the householder and his heir. Look at this, number one, the lordship of God is qualitative. Mark that down if you would, please. The lordship of God is a qualitative thing, meaning this. Look at verse 33. When Jesus is here, he’s saying, listen, another, hear another. And as I said earlier, it’s that sarcasm. It’s holy. It’s coming from the lips of Jesus. And he’s telling them time is running out because that another means how many of these must you hear? Wow. Wow. How many of these must you hear regarding these parables? And they get this one, they cannot deny it, watch this. There was a certain landowner, right at this moment they’re going, yeah, yeah, okay, what, what? Who planted a vineyard, boom, that got him right there. These were Jews, these were the leaders of Israel, and the moment Jesus mentioned a vineyard, their minds went immediately patriotic. So to speak, their hands went over their hearts. They stood up straight. Oh, yes. Gotcha. We understand what you’re saying, Jesus. There was a certain owner who planted a vineyard. This is Israel. And set a hedge about it. And dug a wine press in it and built a tower and leased it to vine dressers. The qualitative… Lordship of God, that listen church, God provides, God has initiated, God has given everything that you and I need to understand his Lordship and its place over our lives. Now granted, it’s limitless, but what he’s given us is qualitative. We understand that. His Lordship, I am the Lord of heaven and earth. There is a landowner who has a vineyard. Immediately, the audience, the listeners got it. This one, Jesus is speaking about the sovereignty of God, and he has established Israel throughout all the New Testament. It’s referenced as the vineyard. He speaks about it. We don’t have the time to go into all of it, but some of the verses we will look at to build upon this because it’s necessary. But the status concept of a vineyard in the ancient world We need to understand this if we’re going to get this parable. It was not hip, it was not vogue to have a vineyard. It’s not like going up to Napa Valley where all these billionaires have their little pet projects and their vineyards. No, no, no, no, no. People had their vineyards, no matter how small, no matter how large 2,000 years ago, And it was not only representative of an influence or God’s blessing in your life, the vineyard was a place of productivity. Your vineyard needed to flourish. Vineyards were supposed to be productive. Vineyards were supposed to be a source of employment for other people. There was a certain landowner who had a vineyard and it speaks about productivity, it speaks about employment, people are working, it’s hustling and bustling. And the product, the grapes, the raisins, the wine, everything that comes from it speaks about health in the ancient world. They don’t think about it like you and I think about it today as some alcoholic binge issue. This was life to them. It was beautiful. You don’t have to drive far from here to see beautiful vineyards. There’s something beautiful about it. And it spoke of God’s blessing. The environment God provided and posterity, it was left to your children and to your children’s children. There was a certain land owner who planted a vineyard and the Jews understood this and the leadership, they understood that. You might wanna write this down if you care to look at this deeper, Psalm 80. You can find out how Israel is spoken about as God’s vineyard in Psalm 80. Ezekiel chapter 15, God speaks of Israel as being his vineyard. In Isaiah chapter five, why don’t you all turn to Isaiah chapter five? If you don’t know how to get there, I know there’s a lot of new believers. Close your Bible all the way. Close your Bible. Part your Bible right in the middle. I turned to Isaiah 27 right here. If you close your Bible, it’s kind of cool. If you don’t know where to go, close your Bible and then right down the middle, you’ll either be in Isaiah or Psalms. I just turned to Psalm 27, so I’ll move a little bit to the left, go to Psalm, excuse me, Isaiah, and go to Isaiah 5. Isaiah 5, right in the middle of your Bible. By the way, how many books are there in the Bible? 66 books in the Bible. How many chapters are in the book of Isaiah? 66. Isaiah, the book of Isaiah, has historical, has a gospel, has future events. The book of Isaiah is a mini version of the entire Bible. An outline. It’s absolutely amazing. Anyway, that has nothing to do with tonight.
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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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Isaiah chapter 5, verse 1. Now, let me sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard. My well beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in the midst of it. Sound familiar? These Pharisees and scribes knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. Isaiah 5 would have popped into their head. If Jesus would have stopped talking, they could have finished what he was saying. and also made it a wine press in it. So he expected, you ought to circle that word expected, because it’s true of you and me. So he expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. And now, oh inhabitants of Jerusalem, and oh men of Judah, judge please between me and my vineyard. Verse four, what more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? And now, please, let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away, now remember as I read this, what the Pharisees’ response was to Jesus. Do you remember what they said? They said, because in your parable, Jesus, those who blew it, he will take that vineyard away and give it to another. Remember that? How do they know that? Right here. It says in the middle of verse five, I will take away its hedges and it shall be burned and break down its walls and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of what? Israel and they got it listen church these religious people who knew the word of God could have finished the verse they knew Jesus was quoting Isaiah 5 he’s issuing them a warning and they miss it they should have known and here’s what’s happening this is why they didn’t get it And I need you to listen tonight. Honestly, I don’t care if we go any further than just this right here right now. You know why they missed it? Listen, for the same reason there are people going to hell right now tonight somewhere in the world. They could have all their religious knowledge, they could write theological treaties, they could quote the Bible. It’s all because they would not accept the person of God come to earth in human flesh. The Savior. You cannot have a Savior without Jesus Christ coming in human flesh. You cannot have a Redeemer. You cannot have salvation, heaven, forgiveness, Joy, peace, love, you can’t have it unless you understand who Jesus is. They could fill in the blanks, they could answer all the questions on the questionnaire, they could get an A in a seminary, but they would not receive from the one who was speaking to them. It got very personal because our God is a personal God. And this is the issue. Do you know people who can talk up the Bible? Do you know people who can quote all kinds of verses? Do you know people who know this and know that and they’re this way and that way? I don’t care. The fun thing about getting old is the most important thing you can possess in life is that you know the Lord and the Lord knows you. Outside of that, you know what? All the stuff that we focused on when we were young about separating the theological Tweedledees from the Tweedledums evaporates and it all comes down to I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. It gets sweeter as the time goes by and the reality of eternity gets nearer and closer and things get real simple real quick. And it all comes down to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Is Jesus the Lord of your life? Does Jesus, listen, does Jesus make your decisions for you? Does Jesus lead you in the way that you should move your foot next? Is Jesus consulted by you? Is Jesus the target for your life? the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They knew all the answers, but they refused that Jesus could be Lord. It’s not gonna happen in their life. And so this is what’s happening. They understand that Jesus in this parable is meaning this. Jesus is talking about God, who is his father. The moment Jesus, we’ll study it in the next week or two, when Jesus mentions in the parable that there was a landowner who planted a vineyard and he sent his servants to go receive what benefits should have come from his ownership of his servants’ work in the field, right? And they said, let’s kill these guys. Let’s beat them up, skin them. By the way, one of the words, we’ll get to it later, one of the words means to fillet them. Let’s kill them. Let’s kill these prophets. We don’t want to hear it. Get out of here. Then he says in his mercy, I’ll send them my son. They’ll receive my son. And they had a huddle from hell. They got together and they conspired among themselves and said, let’s kill him. Listen, if we kill the heir… will take his inheritance. I’m telling you, man, in the next few weeks, you gotta hang on your seats. These guys, I’m getting ahead of myself because I’m so doggone excited about it. These guys are saying, you know what? Let’s have our tradition trump not only the word of God, but God himself. We can do this. We can pull this off. Read the subtitles. We are completely doped up on our power and on our pride and on our arrogance and our self-righteousness. We are it. We are the hierarchy of all hierarchy. We can do no wrong. So let’s deal with him. Watch, if we can kill him, then his inheritance that he’s talking about, Didn’t Satan say to Jesus, if you will only bow down and worship me, I’ll give you the kingdoms of the world. No wonder why later Jesus will say, you are of your father, the devil. Can you imagine so? Can you imagine? Can you imagine a guy, I come walking out on Sunday morning. Next Sunday, I come walking out. Hi, good morning, welcome. Oh, by the way, you over here, you are of your father, the devil. Can you imagine? Jesus drops the bomb. They talk like their father. They act like their father. They conspire like their father. They want Jesus dead. And look, we’re in church right now. It’s like, that’s hard to believe. Let me tell you something. If Jesus came back today, like he came in his first coming, he’d get killed again. The most loving, gracious, forgiving, gentle man the world has ever seen and will ever see.
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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. Pastor Jack, we’ve got a great book of the month this month. It’s called Living Water and written by Chuck Smith. And from what I understand, and the listeners might not know this, but you and Chuck Smith, you go back quite a bit. Is that right?
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Yeah. Amazing, first of all. Just the Jesus revolution, the Jesus movement. A lot of people kind of think of Greg Laurie in that, but the truth of the matter is Greg Laurie was a byproduct, as I, as so many thousands of others, all because one man decided to obey God and really go against, so to speak, church rules in those days. Yeah. What he decided to do is let’s do the Bible verse by verse. Let’s do the Bible and nothing else.
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So, you know, the concept of the Holy Spirit can be difficult to understand for a lot of Christians. What I specifically like about this book is the focus on the Holy Spirit. So how do you think Living Water, this book, stands out from other books about the Holy Spirit?
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Well, obviously, there’s libraries that are filled with books on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit. And I’m not knocking any of those books, but it’s impossible to read them all. Chuck Smith had what might be one of the most unique ways of teaching the Bible because even from his pulpit and the thousands and thousands of people that attended his sermons, he just spoke to you as though you were sitting at a coffee table with him. That’s simple. He taught in such a way that you remembered. You remembered what you heard. You remembered what was taught. And in this case, you’ll remember what is written because frankly, it’s just plump with Bible. And it’s just a tremendously powerful book regarding the power, frankly, of the Holy Spirit active in your life. And so it’s a highly recommended book. It changed my life. It made things that are normally complicated by people. Pastor Chuck just brought it down so simply and powerfully. So it’s such a great resource. I hope everybody gets it and will be blessed by it as much as I have been and as I am, to be honest with you. Yeah.
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Living Water by Pastor Chuck Smith. It’s available right now for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash real radio. 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.
