Pastor Jack Hibbs returns with another impactful sermon on Real Life Radio, diving into the teachings of the Bible regarding the rapture and the second coming of Christ. In a world fraught with anxiety and uncertainty, this episode offers listeners solace and clarity through scriptural wisdom. By exploring key passages and parables, the episode sheds light on how Christians can find comfort in their faith while awaiting the glorious resurrection predicted to occur in the twinkling of an eye.
The scripture teaches Jesus is going to come for his people without warning. Unlike the first coming where there were hundreds of scriptures, and unlike the second coming where there’s hundreds of scriptures that must be fulfilled first, there are no preceding fulfillments for the rapture to take place. Could happen tonight. It’s awesome.
SPEAKER 01 :
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.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, friends, listen, it’s been two years here at the Real Life Network, and God has been so good to us. God put it on our hearts to create a network that would be cancel-free, censorship-free, uncompromising, so that we could bring the truth to anyone, anywhere. God has been so good to us these last two years, everybody, and we want to thank all of you. So today, we are amazed that over 70 million people minutes of biblical worldview truth has been on our programming and viewed by you, the audience, on The Real Life Network. Every piece of our content on The Real Life Network is rooted in God’s Word so that it’s safe, it’s secure. So listen, spread the word with us, will you? Encourage friends and family to join The Real Life Network and that we might grow together this community of believers all around the world.
SPEAKER 01 :
So if you haven’t checked it out already, that’s The Real Life Network, streaming the best in Christian and conservative content. Sign up and start streaming today for free at reallifenetwork.com. That’s reallifenetwork.com. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues with his series called The Parables of Jesus and a message titled Parable of the Ten Virgins Part 1. Whenever Jesus spoke to crowds, he often spoke on relatable stories using common everyday themes that the Bible calls parables. And in this parable, Jesus is giving us a glimpse into the future. You see, we must not miss what the Bible predicted when it comes to the next prophetic event. But like the ten virgins, there will be those who are prepared and those who will miss their chance of eternal life in heaven. So we need to know what we believe when it comes to Jesus. Today, Pastor Jack teaches us that the Apostle Paul confirms, in his letters to the churches, his expectation for Christ’s return. That as Christ followers, Jesus is our hope, he’s our joy, and he will deliver us from the destruction that’s coming to this earth. Now with his message called Parable of the Ten Virgins Part 1, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
SPEAKER 02 :
The trumpet of God, there’s two of them. I’m giving you more information than what you need to have. One trumpet of God calls the nation of Israel together. The last trumpet of God, the second one, calls the church together. Don’t confuse this trumpet of the Lord here with the trumpets of the book of Revelation. A lot of people do and they get all goofy. Those trumpets are blown by angels. This is the trumpet of who? The Lord, the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. That is their physical bodies will come out of the ground. Who? The Christians. My uncle got bit by a shark. He was a believer. What’s gonna happen to him? He’s coming out of the ocean. He’s gonna come out. By the way, just because you can’t see Uncle Fred, because he got bit in Australia somewhere and there’s pieces of him fragmented all over the oceans. Just because you can’t see that doesn’t mean that his body parts haven’t ceased to exist. They’re dust. They’re wet, but they’re dust. God’s going to speak, and I love this, because God is the great, perfect biologist, engineer, designer. I mean, look around you. He’s going to shout. The trumpet’s going to go. And those who died believing in Jesus, listen, their bodies have to… Come back together. The Bible says they’ll be glorified in resurrection at the same moment that the Lord, when he comes for the church, I’ll read it in a moment, he brings those who have died in Jesus. So look, if your Uncle Fred, or whatever his name was a moment ago, got eaten by a shark in Australia, his body’s floating around somewhere, but the moment he died, the real him, the part that makes you move, this part, Went to be with the Lord instantly. The Bible says to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord. That fast. We may hold your funeral here, but you’re not here. People come up, oh man, dude, I’m gonna miss you. I understand the emotion, but he’s not here. It’s just a turtle shell, so to speak. The turtle’s gone. It’s just the shell. He’s with the Lord. Okay, this body was built for this world. The part that animates you and drives you, that’s the spirit of who you are. That’s the soul of who you are. When Jesus comes back in the rapture, he brings those. He’s gonna bring my mom, my sister, my dad, and your loved one who trusted Christ. He’s gonna bring them, and their body is gonna be resurrected in glory. And it’s all gonna happen in the twinkling of an eye. We’re gonna be walking around, and this, and there goes Uncle Fred. And the Bible, look, we’re gonna be right behind them. Watch this. Watch this. It says, verse 16, for the Lord himself to send Archangel, verse 17, then we, that’s the fourth we statement of Paul, then we, notice, not them, Paul is speaking of himself. Then we who are alive and remain shall be, there’s that famous word, raptured, caught up. In Latin, it’s the word rapture. Rapture together with them in the clouds, and it’s not a cloudy day. People are like, oh, it’s a cloudy day, the Lord could come back. This is his own, this is God’s glory. He’s gonna bring it with him. To meet the Lord in the air. Notice, we don’t meet Jesus on terra firma. That’s not the second coming. Church, listen. The rapture is not the second coming. The first coming, he comes to the temple. The second coming, he comes to the temple in Jerusalem. The rapture is in between the first and the second coming. The rapture and the second coming is at least seven years apart, probably longer, I’m guessing, I don’t know, but at least seven. Two physical appearances to planet Earth, one an atmospheric arrival to receive us and then back. Where did I leave off? Verse 17, keep going, verse 17, and thus, number five, we shall always be with the Lord. Verse 18, are you with me? Therefore, when you think about Jesus returning, freak out, foam at the mouth, and cry like a baby. No, it says, therefore, comfort one another with these words. What does that mean? Expect him to return. And it’s gonna happen, we’re not gonna know the day or the hour. We’re not gonna know. As Christians, we’re not gonna know the day or the hour. That’s why you need to be ready. Jesus said this. He’s the one who introduced the rapture. John 14, 1. Sounds like 1 Thessalonians 4. Jesus in John 14, 1 says, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. For in my Father’s house are many mansions, dwelling places. And if it were not so, I would have told you. I love this watch. I go to prepare a place for you. Thank God he didn’t go down the street. He didn’t go to some island someplace. He didn’t go to, you know, I don’t know. As much as I love Maui, he didn’t go to Maui. It’s not some secret place out in the ocean hidden away that no one’s ever discovered. No, he went back to his father and he’s been preparing a place there. to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. It’s all about him picking us up and taking us to heaven. Look at Luke 21, 34. You okay? We’re almost done. I mean, we’re not… We’re almost out of time. We’re not almost done. Luke 21, 34, Jesus said, be careful because your hearts could be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and anxieties of life. Anxieties of life. Wow. Man, isn’t that a plague of our generation right now? Tension, stress, anxiety attacks, nervous breakdowns because of everything happening. Man. Don’t you love the Bible? It’s awesome. And that day will close in on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Watch this. You say, well, there you go. There’s no hope for us. Read verse 36 and be quiet about it. Be always on the watch and pray that you may escape all that is about to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. Look at verse 36. That is awesome. Yeah, all this stuff’s coming. But Jesus said, don’t panic. Go to verse 36. Pray that you are ready to escape all that stuff that’s coming. I’m going to give you… Very quickly, the famous five passages of deliverance in 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians, it’s amazing. He’s only there for four weeks in Thessalonica, one of the oldest cities in the world. It’s still going today. He’s there for four weeks and he teaches them about the security of their salvation and the return of Jesus Christ. That’s awesome. Are you ready? There’s five of them. You guys okay? Okay, number one, 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 10. Wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. The word wrath is tribulation or indignation, God’s judgment on earth. Has nothing to do with hell, has nothing to do with anything else, but God’s indignation on earth. What does it say? Number one, he’s gonna deliver us from the wrath to come. Christian, you will not go through the tribulation period. The Bible says so. You cannot experience the wrath of God. It won’t happen. Can’t happen. Number two, 1 Thessalonians 2, 19. For what is our hope or joy or crown rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? Number three, chapter three, verse 13, 1 Thessalonians, so that he may establish your hearts blameless and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Remember Uncle Fred that got bit down there in Australia? Yeah. He’s coming back. His body will be resurrected. In that moment, you and I will be meeting them in heaven, or meeting them in the atmosphere. We just read it, number four, we just read it a moment ago in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 through 18. Number five, 1 Thessalonians 5, one through nine. Listen to this. Oh, this is awesome. This is awesome. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. You won’t need me to tell you a thing. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. Listen. For when they say, not we, when they say, peace and safety, gosh, things are going great. Isn’t it fantastic? Things have never been better. When they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. Have you ever seen a pregnant woman when that first one hits? It’s like, get the car. Yeah, but honey, we’re right in the middle of a movie. Get the car! Get the car! And they shall not escape, but notice they, but you, brethren, are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not in the night nor darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober, be vigilant. For those who sleep, sleep at night. For those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, put it on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. Why? For God did not appoint us to wrath, indignation, judgment, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn’t that awesome or what? Don’t let anyone tell you, Christian, oh, you know, nobody knows, like a thief in the night. Dude, talk about yourself. Don’t lay that on me. Paul said, concerning the times and the seasons, you won’t need me to tell you anything. Church, this is awesome. Are you with me? No man knows the day or the hour. But the Bible says right here, concerning the times and the seasons, every Christian’s gonna know it. What does that mean? We’re gonna feel it. Something’s going on. I’ve looked at the Bible. This is what’s happening in the world. Something’s cooking. Won’t be long. Well, what day? I don’t know. What hour? Who knows? But the times and the seasons… It’s like, think about it, four times a year the seasons change and you can feel it. I know we’re having a heat wave and all that stuff, but man, were you up early this morning? It was cold this morning. And it kind of felt like fall in the middle of summer. Made me think about that. Jesus said in Revelation 3.10, because you’ve kept my commandment to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of trial which will come upon the whole world to test those who dwell in the face of the earth. Isn’t that awesome? It’s amazing. We have so much more to go and so little time to do this. What we’ll do, we’ll bring some of these other verses over to next week’s study, but let’s end where we started. In 2 Peter 3, verse 3, do you remember that? It says, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days. Remember the guy that you’re gonna go give a kiss and a hug to? You stupid Christians. You’ve been talking about Jesus going back forever. Just get it. You’re fantastic. Keep talking like that. You’re fulfilling Bible prophecy. It makes me just get all excited.
SPEAKER 01 :
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 02 :
Well, you guys, there’s a movie either out or coming out that I do not want you to go see because I don’t want you to give them their money, give them your money. And frankly, I don’t think you should see it anyway, but that’s not my business. But there’s a movie coming out called Rapturepalooza. Have you heard it? Anybody heard about it? Raise your hand because I need to kind of take a little poll here. Like about maybe 10 of you have heard about it. That’s a good thing. It stars Hollywood star people. I don’t know who it is, but… They’re people that people know. And the movie supposedly begins with some girl saying, man, everything’s been messed up since the rapture happened. I mean, look at all this stuff happening. And Satan’s walking around, tempting people, and drinking, and all this kind of stuff. And there’s big fireballs falling from the sky, killing people, and they’re laughing about this and that. And then at the end of this tribulation period, Jesus Christ is returning and some star in the show accidentally shoots off his gun and kills Jesus in midair and falls to the ground. Man, I killed Jesus. And everybody’s laughing and carrying on and it’s called, the movie, it’s big stars and it’s coming out of Hollywood, of course, and it’s called Rapturepalooza. Now, listen to this for a second. When I heard about this, the first thought that came to my mind was, what a bunch of cowards. Because if they really wanted to be cool, if they really wanted to be hip and fun and cool and crazy, then they should have done something about Muhammad or Allah. Of course, they’ll never do that. Because they’ll all be dead by morning. Right? Right? But they can pick on Christians because we don’t riot and we don’t cut people’s ears off and stuff like that. We just don’t do that. Why? Our God doesn’t need to be defended. He can take care of himself. But my point is, isn’t it amazing, with all that’s going on in the world right now, that Hollywood’s coming out right now with a movie called Rapturepalooza making fun of the return of Jesus Christ. And my next thought was, that’s awesome. Because Jesus said there’ll be days like this. There’ll be days like this, my Jesus said. You can close your Bible. In fact, you can stand right now. Why don’t you stand? I want to read to you a hymn. Kind of. It’s a little bit of a parody. One of my Bible expositor heroes is a tremendous man of God by the name of Donald Gray Barnhouse. If you ever find a Donald Gray Barnhouse book, buy it. Donald Gray Barnhouse. And Donald Gray Barnhouse loved the understanding of what is called the doctrine of imminency, meaning the scripture teaches Jesus is gonna come for his people without warning. Unlike the first coming where there were hundreds of scriptures, and unlike the second coming where there’s hundreds of scriptures that must be fulfilled first, there are no preceding fulfillments for the rapture to take place. Could happen tonight. It’s awesome. By the way, first coming deals with the nation of Israel. Second coming deals with the nation of Israel. The rapture deals with the Gentile church. So Donald Gray Barnhouse, there’s an old hymn, it’s called Is It the Crowning Day?, And it goes like this. Jesus may come today, glad day, glad day, and I would see my friend. Dangers and troubles would end if Jesus should come today. Glad day, glad day, is it the crowning day? I’ll live for today, nor anxious be. Jesus my Lord, I soon shall see. That’s only if you believe what the Bible says about Jesus’ soon return. If tonight you’re saying, well, I think I’m gonna get raptured at the end of the tribulation and I’m gonna look for the Antichrist first. Listen to this, that hymn won’t work for you then. So Donald Gray Barnhouse rewrote the hymn for those who don’t believe that Jesus could come at any moment. This ain’t the crowning day. Jesus cannot come today. Sad day, sad day. And I won’t see my friend. Dangers and troubles won’t end today because Jesus can’t come today. Sad day, sad day. Today is not the crowning day. I won’t live for today and anxious I’ll be. The beast and the false prophet I soon shall see. Sad day, sad day, today is not the crowning day. Where’s the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of your great God and Savior if you don’t think he can come back any moment? Father, we thank you for your word. It is awesome. It’s so illuminating and at the same time for some, shocking. I love the fact that it’s more current than tomorrow’s newspaper. And I pray, Father, in this place right here right now, or those that are watching right now, that maybe your Holy Spirit is speaking to them and letting them know that there’s a deep sense of anxiety in their own heart, that they may not be ready to meet you if you came tonight. And if that’s true, you don’t even have to come tonight for them. They could die right now, and them not being ready, still true nonetheless. Lord, I pray that you would speak and convict and lead and guide right now. Friends, tonight, if you are doubtful or wondering or a little bit scared about Jesus’ soon coming, that’s the Holy Spirit, that anxiety, that tension. I want you to know you feel that right now because that’s the Holy Spirit speaking to you internally that you need to get ready and you’re not ready. So right now, right where you’re at, You can say, Jesus, this terrifies me, and I don’t want it to terrify me. I can’t say it’s my blessed hope, but I want to be able to say it. I’m asking you, Jesus, to receive me, my sins, my life, my lustful thoughts, my anger, my temper, my whatever. And I ask you, Jesus, to take my sins from me now. You died for them on the cross, but I need your forgiveness appropriated to me. I give you my sins. I confess them to you. And I want you to change my life. I want you to take control of my life, Jesus. Reveal yourself to me. Be so real to me. I open my heart to you now. I’ve had other relationships. I have relationships now. But I don’t have one with the living God. And now, Lord, I ask you to come into my life. We ask it in Jesus’ name and all God’s people said, amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Parable of the Ten Virgins, Part One. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Parables of Jesus. It’s a series that highlights the teachings of Jesus while he was ministering here on this earth. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
SPEAKER 03 :
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.
SPEAKER 01 :
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?
SPEAKER 02 :
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 were. all because one man decided to obey God and really go against, so to speak, church rules in those days. What he decided to do is let’s do the Bible verse by verse. Let’s do the Bible and nothing else.
SPEAKER 01 :
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?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, 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.
SPEAKER 01 :
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.
