Death Died When Jesus Rose | The Power of the Resurrection

Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries recommend the bestselling book Cold Case Christianity from former detective J. Warner Wallace. That's a book we're offering this month to our listeners Cold Case Christianity written by detective J. Warner Wallace. A homicide detective investigates the claims of the gospel. So, get your own copy of Cold Case Christianity. It's our offer for this month for your gift of any size.

Request yours for a limited time at Harvest.org. God has dropped one lifeline from heaven for us to come into a relationship with him, and it's Jesus. Pastor Greg Laurie reminds us of the message of Easter, how Jesus paid a dear price to wash our sins, a price we should have paid. With one hand he took hold of sinful humanity, and with the other hand he took hold of a holy God.

And spikes were driven through those hands and into his feet, and he died in our place. He came to pay a debt he did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay. Easter is the most important holiday on the Christian calendar. It's the remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ and the celebration of a risen Savior. It commemorates the day our eternal life became possible. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie highlights practical truths about the Lord's resurrection and the difference it makes for us today. How important is the resurrection? Paul said, if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith. This is the day, the day when life begins. John 21 is our text today, and the title of my message is Death Died When Christ Rose. Death died when Christ rose. John 21, and I'm going to read verses 3 to 14 from the New Living Translation. Simon Peter said, I'm going fishing.

We'll come too, they all said. And they went out of the boat, and they caught nothing all night. At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn't see who he was. He called out, boys, have you caught any fish?

No, they replied. Then he said, throw your net on the right side of the boat and you'll get some. So they did. And they couldn't haul in the net because there were so many fish in it. Then the disciple, Jesus loved, that would be John the Apostle, by the way. He said, it's the Lord. When Peter heard it was the Lord, he put on his tunic and jumped into the water and headed to shore.

The other stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for there were only 100 yards from the shore. And when they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them. So here they are seeing this beautiful breakfast prepared by the Lord. So what does this mean to us? Answer, a lot. And I want to share five takeaway truths about the resurrection of Jesus that directly apply to you.

If you're taking notes, here's point number one. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, I will one day receive a new body. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, I one day will receive a new body. Christ does not have the final say, even over our body.

Easter has the final say. Jesus coming out of that tomb is a preview of things to come for us because we too will one day be resurrected. Point number two, because of Jesus' resurrection, our new glorified bodies will be much like His. But what do we know about the resurrection body of Jesus? Number one, He was recognizable. Number two, it did not have the normal limitations of a human body.

He could appear and disappear at will. And thirdly, He ate food. Here He's making them breakfast. And that is a reminder that we in our new bodies will eat. And I love the fact that we're going to still eat in the afterlife, don't you? Thirdly, because of Jesus' resurrection, our bodies will no longer age or get sickness or break down. If you're disabled on earth, you won't be in heaven. If you have cancer on earth, you won't have it in heaven.

It's such a wonderful thing. And here's number four, because of Jesus' resurrection, we will have resurrected relationships. And you might be reunited with loved ones that have preceded you sooner than you expected. I believe we're living in the last days. I believe Jesus could come back at any moment. And the next event on the prophetic calendar is what we sometimes call the rapture of the church. Now, people get hung up on that word rapture.

But actually, the Greek word is harpazo. First Thessalonians 4.17 says we should not all sleep, but rather it says that we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the twinkling of an eye. And that word caught up is from the word harpazo, which is translated to the Latin word rapturis, which is translated to the English word rapture, whatever you want to call it.

It's a moment where we're caught up. But notice what it says, that dead in Christ rise first. That means when you're a Christian and you die, you go to heaven. So they've risen first. We will be caught up together with them, reunited. So there's a bodily resurrection of those that have died. Their souls are in heaven, but their bodies are resurrected. We're caught up together with them in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

And then it says, so comfort one another with these words. Imagine for a moment, going about your normal day-to-day business, when suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, you're reunited with loved ones and hurtled into the presence of God. That's what this event is about.

It could happen in our lifetime. But there's one last point. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, there will be a final judgment. Acts 17, 31 says he is appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man he has ordained, and he's given assurance of this by raising him from the dead. So because Jesus rose from the dead, there will be a final judgment. Now, you might have said, I like it when you're talking about being in heaven and eating and being fat and all that. I like this part about judgment. Well, it's in the Bible. The Bible says it's appointed unto a man once to die, and then comes the judgment. And when you stand before God Almighty, he's not gonna judge you on the basis of how good or bad of a life you lived. It's not even gonna be the sin question as much as it's gonna be the son question.

S-O-N. In other words, the big question God will have for you and for me is, what did you do with my son, Jesus Christ? God has dropped one lifeline from heaven for us to come into a relationship with him, and it's Jesus. Because Jesus and Jesus alone was uniquely qualified to connect us to God. Because he was fully God and he was fully man. And with one hand, he took hold of sinful humanity. And with the other hand, he took hold of a holy God that we have offended through our sin. And spikes were driven through those hands and into his feet, and he died in our place. He came to pay a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. So God will say, what did you do with Jesus?

That's the issue. Some say, no, it's gonna be based on if I lived a good life. Do you really hope that will happen? First of all, it won't, but just for the sake of a point. Do you really think your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds?

I don't think so. I heard a story about a man who died and went to heaven. He was at the pearly gates and Peter met him. Peter said, okay buddy, this is how it works. You need a thousand points to get into heaven.

Tell me all the good things you've done and I'll give you points for each. I said, okay. Well, I was married to the same woman for 50 years. I was never unfaithful to her. I never even had a bad thought.

I was faithful to this woman. 50 years. Peter said, good. That's worth two points. Wait, two.

How many do I need? A thousand. Whoa. The guy says, okay, I went to church every week. I never missed church.

I was in a small group. I read my Bible every day. I prayed every day. I gave tithes. I gave offerings on top of it. Ah, that's good for two more points. What else?

Well, I opened a soup kitchen in the city and worked in a shelter for homeless people. Peter said, I'll get you two more points. The guy says, this is crazy. The only way I'm going to get into heaven is by the grace of God. Peter said, that's it. A thousand points.

You're in. Some of you are saying, I've read that in the Bible, Greg. And that's, it's a silly story.

Okay. It's not true. It's just there to make a point.

It's not a point system. It's all about the grace of God. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Again, join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org or on Harvest Plus. Pastor Greg's study today is based in John 21. The title, Death Died When Christ Rose. No matter how badly you've sinned, God will forgive you. But no matter how good you are, you still need forgiveness. I think sometimes they think, well, I'm a good person.

I don't really need this. Everybody needs Jesus. I've told you before, my mother was married and divorced seven times and she married one man named Oscar Laurie, who adopted me. He's the only man who ever treated me as a father should treat a son. So when I came out of school on a cold morning in New Jersey and our car was loaded up with our luggage and my mom said, get in the car. I said, where are we going? She said, to Hawaii.

We're going to the airport. I was very excited. I said, where's dad?

She said, he's not coming. And I didn't see him for the rest of my childhood. But I reconnected with him later as a young adult. I had accepted Christ, had been married.

And our first son, Christopher, was born at that point. And I was speaking in New York and I wanted to make contact with him. So I had to track him down. But there was no Google. I lived before there was Google. And you know what? I think things were better back then.

Before Google and smartphones, honestly. So I tracked him down to the bar association, located him, called his office, told him I was coming to New York, said maybe we could grab lunch together. He said, oh no, Greg, come and spend the weekend at our house.

He had remarried a lovely lady named Barbara. Come spend the weekend with us. So I went and we arrived there in Red Bank, New Jersey. Kathy was with me.

Christopher, we got off the train. There was my dad. I remembered him immediately.

Before I knew it, I was calling him dad again. So we caught up on what had happened. And then that night, Barbara made us a wonderful Italian meal with all the fixings and she said, Greg, tell me how you became a Christian and how you became a minister.

My dad was sitting at the other end of the table and he just had his hands folded in front of his face like this. He was just looking at me. So I'm telling my story.

I'm giving my testimony. And I felt like I was in a court of law and he was the judge. And I wasn't doing well. He didn't react. He just looked at me, just stared. And after we were done, he said, hey, Greg, would you walk with me in the morning?

One part I left out was he had some heart problems and he blacked out behind the wheel of his car and drove into a telephone pole. So now he's on medication. He has to walk every morning. So he says, will you walk with me in the morning? I said, sure, dad. So I'm sitting in one of the rooms in this house.

I get a knock on the door at 6 o'clock a.m. East Coast time, 3 o'clock a.m. California time. I stumble out of bed, wiping the sleep out of my eye and we're walking along. He said, I listened very carefully to what you said last night. I said, okay, good. And he said, and I want to accept Jesus Christ into my life right now. I thought, did he just say what I thought he said? I said, dad, let me go over that one more time. And I went over the whole presentation of the gospel again. He says, I understand that. I want to accept Christ right now.

So at this point, we're walking through a park. He says, what do I need to do? I said, well, we should pray. And he drops to his knees. I wasn't going to get on my knees, but since he was down there, I cut down on my knees too. I put my hand on his shoulder and I led him in a prayer to accept Christ. As soon as we were done praying, he said, Craig, pray for my heart. Pray God heals my heart. So I prayed for his heart. He stood up, said, I'm so excited.

My doctor's office is not far from here. Let's go over there. I want to tell him I've accepted Jesus and my heart is healed. I'm like, wait, dad, I don't know if you're, you've accepted Jesus, but I don't know if your heart is healed.

No, I believe it is. Let's go tell him. Okay. So we walk into his doctor's office, a nice Jewish gentleman. And my dad says, hey, doc, this is my son, Craig. He's a preacher from California. Which already makes me sound weird. Okay.

People don't have a high view of Californians. I've got to tell you. This is my son. He's a preacher from California. I just accepted Jesus into my life, doc. And he healed my heart.

I'm thinking, oy vey. And his doctor says, now, Oscar, we need to run some tests on you. We don't know if your heart is healed. They ran tests on him. His heart was healed.

Amazing. He lived 15 more years. And this is a man that would read a book every week. He was an intellectual, a moral man, but he needed Jesus and he knew it. And it reminds me of a guy in the New Testament named Nicodemus who was a religious leader, a moral man, a powerful man, a famous man, but a lost man. And he came to Jesus at night and Jesus said, Nicodemus, you must be born again. You need a supernatural birth. Reminds me of a little boy who was in school and the teacher gave him the assignment to tell everyone how he was born. Like, where were you born?

What were the circumstances of your birth? So he went to his mother. He said, Mom, how was I born? She said, the stork brought you. So he goes to his grandmother and says, Grandma, how was my mother born? She said, the stork brought her. And he said, well, how were you born?

She said, the stork brought me. So the little boy goes back to school on Monday morning and says to the teacher, we haven't had a natural birth in our family for three generations. I'm not talking about a natural birth.

I'm talking about a supernatural birth. To be born again or literally born from above. That's what it means to come into a relationship with God. Look, I'm just glad you're in church. But I want you to know you can come into this relationship with the Lord today.

Say, well, what do I need to do? Number one, you have to admit you're a sinner. And that's hard.

It's hard for some people. But the Bible says we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every one of us have broken His commandments. You say, well, I haven't sinned as bad as some people.

That may be true. But one sin is enough to keep you out of heaven. So realize you're a sinner. Number two, recognize Christ died on the cross for you.

Remember, as I say, the death of Jesus, the crucifixion of Christ was all part of God's plan. Because there was no other way for my sin to be removed. As the apostle Paul said, He loved me and He gave Himself for me. Listen, God loves you.

And He gave Himself for you. Then thirdly, I need to repent of my sin. The word repent means to hang a U-turn, if you will.

It's actually a military term. An about-face. The Bible says God has commanded people everywhere to repent. The Bible says godly sorrow produces repentance. Which means it's not enough to be sorry for your sin. You need to turn from your sin so you repent of it.

You say, I don't want to live that way anymore. And then you must receive Christ into your life. Being a Christian is not just believing in a creed or going to church occasionally.

It's Christ living inside of you. The Bible says, for as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God. Have you asked Christ to come into your life? You can't live off the faith of your husband or wife. You can't live off the faith of your parents or your children. Or your friends that maybe brought you here to church.

You need your own relationship with the Lord. Jesus says, behold I stand at the door and I knock. And if you will hear my voice and open the door, I will come in. Only you can open the door of your heart, so to speak.

And invite Christ to come inside. And lastly, you need to do it now. You need to do it now.

The Bible says today is the day of salvation. So I'll do an Easter of next year. Maybe I'll do Christmas.

How about now? Why would you put it off? Listen. Someone hearing my voice today is at their last Easter of their life. Somewhere, someone.

Could be me even. We don't know. That's why we need to be prepared to meet God. The Bible says, prepare and meet your God. Because heaven is a prepared place for prepared people.

And if you have Christ living in your life, hey, whenever that moment comes, you're ready to meet the Lord. But don't put this off. You may never have another opportunity like this one right now. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to close in prayer. And I'm going to extend an invitation to anybody here, anybody listening or wherever you are.

This is for you. Jesus is there right now, standing at the door of your life. And He's waiting for you to respond. So we're going to pray and I'm going to extend an invitation for you to ask Christ to come into your life.

And this will be the greatest Easter of your life. Or maybe there's somebody I'm talking to who has walked with the Lord at one time. Maybe when you were younger.

Maybe even more recently. But you've fallen away. You've drifted away.

You've walked away. Whatever you've done, you can come back again. You can return to the Lord. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you will speak to the heart of every person listening and watching wherever they are. I pray that you will convict them of their sin and convince them of their need for Jesus.

And help them to come to you right here, right now. Maybe you would like Jesus to come into your life. You would like Him to forgive you of your sin.

You would like to know that you will go to heaven when you die. Or you would like to come back to Him again. If you want Jesus to come into your life. If you want Him to forgive you of your sin.

If you want to be ready for His return or you want to return to Him again. I'm going to ask you to pray a prayer out loud after me. Mean this prayer from your heart and God will hear you. Again as I pray, pray this out loud after me.

Okay, pray these words now. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. But I also know you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin.

And rose again from the dead. Jesus, I turn from my sin. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. As my Savior and my Lord. As my God and as my friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer. I ask this all in Jesus' name.

Amen. An important prayer today here on A New Beginning. Pastor Greg Laurie praying with those making a decision for the Lord today. And if you've just made that change, we want to welcome you into the family of God. And we want to help you get started off right in your new walk with the Lord. Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible.

It's a free resource that will answer many of the questions you might have. And outline the steps to strengthening your faith. Let us send you the New Believer's Bible. Just ask for it when you call 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. You know Pastor Greg, we hear from people all the time who tell us how these daily studies have impacted their lives. So many have found the Lord and been encouraged through this teaching.

That's right. And we hope our listeners might pray about making an investment so these studies can continue. Yeah, it's really true Dave. You know, and even a little bit helps. You know, people need to hear the Gospel so badly. They need to hear the teaching of the Word of God. It changes everything because it changes us. And I'm so passionate about it and I'm called to do it and I'm thankful for it.

But I can't do it alone. So I'm going to ask folks that are listening, if you think more people need to hear the Gospel, if you believe more people need to hear the teaching of the Word of God, then perfectly consider investing in Harvest Ministries and maybe even become a Harvest Partner. Which means you're someone who stands with us every month in your faithful giving. And that opens up a lot of new opportunities for us. So thanks for that.

Yeah, that's right. And we really are thankful for your partnership. You can reach us anytime day or night at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.

Or just go online to harvest.org. Well next time, Pastor Greg offers strong encouragement for anyone who's ever stumbled in their walk with the Lord. Good insight for new believers and veteran Christians alike. Join us here on A New Beginning with Master and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie.