Jesus Loves You! | Classic Crusade from Anaheim, CA

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. You're listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast and my objective is to deliver, hopefully, compelling practical insights in faith, culture, and current events from a biblical perspective.

To find out more about our ministry, just go to our website, harvest.org. So thanks for joining me for this podcast. But it isn't a cliche at all. It's absolutely true. You say, oh wait, Greg, Jesus doesn't love me.

Not after what I've done. Oh no. Au contraire. That's French for snails with garlic.

No, that's escargot. No, he does love you. Jesus loves you even if you're a sinner. Jesus loves you even if you're an adulterer or a liar. Even if you're a murderer.

Listen to this. Jesus loves you even if you're religious. He loves you no matter what you've done. Jesus loves you so much it hurts.

And listen to this. He not only loves you but he will forgive you of all of your sin tonight. Imagine that for a moment. You could walk out of Angel Stadium with all of your sin in your rearview mirror. You could walk out of here with that heavy weight that you've been carrying around for your whole life lifted off of you. God can do that for you tonight because Jesus loves you.

Now I know. I know some of you are cynical about love and I get that. You know I didn't grow up in an affectionate home. I've told you before my mom was married and divorced seven times and had a bunch of boyfriends in between and she never showed affection toward me.

She never said I love you to me. So it was very hard for me to accept love and it was certainly hard for me to accept love. It was hard for me to give love. I remember the first time I went to a church and some random person walks up to me and throws her arms around me and says I love you brother and I'm thinking get me out of this place.

Yeah I couldn't connect there. It was hard for me. And I think some of you feel that way right now. I don't really want to feel that love or accept that love.

Now listen. God loves you. God loves you and he can transform you tonight. Now when I say God loves you that doesn't mean that he doesn't want you to change.

When I say God loves you just as you are that doesn't mean that he wants to lead you that way. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is a story Jesus told to show us what God is like. And of course we all know the story. It's called the story of the prodigal son where a father had a son that well ran away and he took his portion of the inheritance and he made a mess of his life and was involved with hookers and drinking and partying and lost all of his money and one day the boy came to his senses and said I'm gonna go home. Because you know what that boy knew his father loved him. And the boy said and when I get home I'll just say dad I'm not even worthy to be called your son anymore. Just give me a job as a hired hand whatever.

Anything's better than where I've been in this miserable state. But Jesus who told this story to show us what God is like says while the boy was still a great ways off the father saw him and ran to him and gave him the and kissed him and by the way in the original language it means he kissed him again and again and again. And said this my son who was dead is alive again he was lost is found.

Notice that it doesn't say the father said whoa man son where you been you stink. Take a shower change your clothes and then I'll accept you. No the father accepted him as he was but then the father said get him some clean clothes and boy go get yourself cleaned up. See you don't clean your life up and come to Christ you come to Christ and he'll clean your life up. You come as you are with your problems and your sins.

You come with your addictions whatever your problems are you come to him. Listen to this Jesus loves immoral people. I want to read you a story from the Bible John chapter 8. It tells the story of a woman caught in the act of having sex with some guy.

And here's what it says. Jesus law in the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery and they put her in front of the crowd. Teach her they said to Jesus this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stoner what do you say.

They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer and said to him well what are you going to do and Jesus turns and says alright let the one of you who is without sin throw the first stone. And then Jesus stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

When the accusers heard this they slipped away one by one starting with the oldest. And only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up and said to the woman where are your accusers. Didn't one of them condemn you she said no Lord. And Jesus said neither do I condemn you go and sin no more.

I love that story. Why don't we just pause for a moment and let's pray. Now father as we think about your love your love that is so great you sent your son Jesus to demonstrate it by dying on the cross I pray this message will resonate with everyone here in this stadium with everyone watching everyone listening wherever they are Lord help them see their need for you help them to come to you.

We ask this in Jesus name amen. You know as we look at this story we can see religion in some ways can be worse than almost any sin. In some ways the religious leaders were more sinful than the woman caught in the act of having sex with some guy.

You're saying wait I'm losing you Greg what are you talking about. Religion is a good thing. In fact aren't you a religious person.

Man I hope not. I do not want to be a religious person. You know why religious people are weird. Come on it's true they're they're weird. They're just strange people.

I don't want to be one of those people. Now I suggest to you these weird religious people were weird before they became religious and now they're just weird religious they're just weird people. Okay so I don't know what I can say to you. How many of you are weird raise your hand. Okay you know who you are that's good. You can be saved weird but you'll probably still be weird. But that's okay. God still loves you.

But you see here's the point I'm trying to make. Their religion kept them from Jesus. Their religion caused them to have hate and anger and condemnation for this woman. And that's the problem with religion. It can harden your heart to God. You say wait Greg isn't Christianity a religion.

Technically yes it is. But it's far more than a religion. It's a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It's Christ living in your heart. And I ask you tonight is Christ living inside of you. You say well I don't know. If you don't know maybe he's not there.

And we can see that change tonight and I'll give you a chance to ask Christ to come into your life. So here's this girl. She's caught by a bunch of religious dudes called the scribes and Pharisees. They catch her in the act. Maybe they even set her up. And by the way where's the guy in this story right.

Well he's missing. Just the girl is caught. You know this so often happens with girls. Guys take advantage of them. You know it's been said that men give love to get sex and girls give sex to get love. By that I mean a guy will say anything he needs to say to get a girl in bed with them okay.

Oh I love you I love you I love you. And then when he gets you where he wants you. He'll kick you to the curb and go on to his next conquest. But girls will give love. They'll give sex rather to get love.

They want affirmation. But nowadays of course everything goes and girls are hitting on guys and wanting a sexual conquest in that way as well. But here's the problem. Then the girl becomes the victim. Maybe she gets pregnant. Well now what do I do the girl wonders. Well just get an abortion.

Let me just say this to you. Don't get an abortion. Don't get an innocent unborn child made in the image of God. If you get pregnant outside of being married you carry that child to term and you put that child up for adoption. There's plenty of people that want to adopt children.

A lot of Christian people want to adopt them. And by the way I was conceived out of wedlock. I was not planned. I'm sure glad my mom carried me to term. There's a plan for every person. Listen there's no illegitimate children. Maybe illegitimate moms and dads but no illegitimate children. God loves everyone.

So you might find yourself in that state. And this girl's caught and she doesn't know what to do. And she's thrown down before Jesus. Now here's what is amazing.

They throw her at the feet of Jesus and Jesus he stoops down and he writes something. He goes down there and you wonder what is he writing. Is he doing tic tac toe.

Hey it's your turn now go you go. No. Is he drawing cartoons.

No. No Jesus is writing something significant. Because as the religious people are reading what he's writing they leave from the oldest to the youngest. What do you think he wrote.

The greatest minds in the Christian church have struggled with this for years and I'm gonna solve it right now. No I don't know. I don't know what he wrote.

I can guess. Maybe he wrote the commandments. Maybe he wrote thou shall not commit adultery and then looked up and said hey Joshua your name fits here. Hey Caleb you've done it too. Hey you over there Mortimer. There probably weren't any Mortimers back in those days.

You did it as well. Because he knew about every one of them. He had their number and they left from the oldest to the youngest probably because the older guys had committed more sins because they had lived longer. Do you think you can hide anything from Jesus. God knows everything. The Bible says he knows the secrets of the heart. You see but Craig gets on a private server.

He'll never get to it. No he knows everything. And we're living in a day right now where everyone's getting hacked. They're getting hacked. All this information is released you know.

And you hear about celebrities with pictures of them naked being released on the internet because they were hacked. I have a suggestion. Don't take pictures of yourself.

Naked. Okay just a thought. Just a thought. And carry them around in your phone. I mean that's the worst place okay.

But just don't even do it. But hey everything comes out and Jesus knew all about these guys so they leave. You see these guys felt guilt but it drove them away from Jesus. This is the problem with religion. You say oh I'm a religious person. I don't need Jesus. You know I was baptized or I was confirmed or I gave my confession or whatever it is you did. But listen going to a church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to an in-and-out burger makes you a double-double okay. Being religious doesn't get you closer to God.

Sometimes religion can drive you away from God because you say hey I've done all this stuff. I'm good. I'm cool. I'm covered. No you aren't. You're a sinner just like I am.

And you need Jesus. Their religion drove them away. Meanwhile here's this girl and the Bible says Jesus looked at her. He looked at her like no man had ever looked at her before. You know normally when guys looked at her they probably looked at her with lust. I'm sure she was a very attractive girl. But Jesus didn't look at her that way. The phrase they choose for Jesus looking at her can be translated Jesus looked right through her. Have you ever had anyone look right through you?

Let me restate the question. Do you have a mother? You know maybe you're out a little too late past your curfew. He came home and your mother says where have you been?

Nowhere mom. Look at me. Look at me.

Right. He looked right through her. Not with a look of anger. Certainly not with a look of lust. He looked at her with love. And then he says this. I love it. He says woman where are your accusers?

See we can miss that. He called her woman. The phrase that Jesus used in calling her woman can be translated a lady.

It was the same term he used when he addressed his own mother. Now I'm sure this girl had been called a lot of things. She'd probably been called a whore. She'd probably been called a hooker.

And far worse. And he calls her a woman. It's almost like he said lady or ma'am.

Where are your accusers? You see but Greg this woman's caught in the act of sexual sin. He calls her a lady. That wasn't very ladylike.

Hold on. God doesn't just see you for what you are. He sees you for what you can become.

He sees you for what he can make you into. He saw the potential. No she wasn't living like a lady at this point. But she would in time.

Because she would change. You know maybe you look at your own life. You say man all I see is failure.

But God sees potential. You see the past. He sees the future. You see a mess.

He sees a message. So I don't know what state your life is in. But I'm telling you this on the authority of the Bible. God can change your life tonight. He can change your history. And he can certainly change your future. If you will come to Jesus. Because the Bible says if any man is in Christ or an altogether different kind of person.

The old things that passed away behold everything becomes fresh and new. He did that for this lady. He can do it for you. You see but when did she believe? Where are your accusers?

I have none Lord. He says neither do I accuse you. I'll tell you when she believed. When he drove her accusers away.

She looked at him and said I believe. You know how long it takes to become a Christian. Sometimes you'll meet people and they'll say you know I'm in the process of converting. Really?

News flash you're either converted or you're not converted. It does not take years. It does not take months. It does not take weeks. It doesn't take days.

It doesn't take hours. You can be changed and forgiven of your sin in a second. In a flash.

In a moment. It can happen for you. Just like it happened for this woman. Jesus loves a moral people. But then Jesus said go and sin no more.

In other words don't live this way any longer. Number two. Jesus loves atheists. Oh yeah he loves atheists even if they don't believe he exists.

He still loves them. There are very few people who are actually atheists today. Around three percent of the population. And honestly I have to say I think it takes more faith to be an atheist than it takes to be a Christian.

I really do. You have to ignore all the evidence of God's creation around you. And you know there are some militant atheists that get really angry. They hate Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter. They don't want nativity scenes on public property.

And they don't want crosses displayed anywhere. I think that atheists are just mad that they don't have their own holiday. Like I said we have Christmas. We have Easter. But there is a holiday for atheists. National Atheist Day.

You know April 1st right? Because the Bible says only the fool is said in his heart there is no God. Yeah well show me the evidence the atheist says. You want to see evidence?

Okay here it is. Get ready. If you have had your life changed by Jesus Christ stand to your feet right now. Wherever you are stand up.

Stand up. There's your evidence. There's your evidence. It's all around you. It's true.

Alright you can be seated. I know sometimes people become atheists because something tragic happened to them. It's not always because they've done a careful search or done a lot of research on all the religions of the world and they've studied the Bible and have come to the conclusion there is no God.

No often people who become atheists end up that way because something happened to them that was awful. Something that was tragic. Maybe it happened in their childhood. Maybe a parent died. Maybe a tragedy happened to them. They got cancer. Someone they know did.

And they think how could a loving God allow such a thing to happen. But I want you to know something. I can't explain those things to you. But I did not have an easy life growing up myself. I told you my mom was married into war seven times. I basically was a kid without a mom without a dad. Looking for meaning a purpose in my life. But one day when I heard about Jesus Christ I took a little step of faith to believe in him and he started to change my life. And that was the greatest evidence of all.

Because I know how hard and how cynical and how bitter and how empty I was and that can happen for you. But I bring this up because there's a man in the Bible. You've heard of him Pontius Pilate. He was a Roman governor. He probably was an atheist. Maybe an agnostic. He believed in the multiple gods of Rome.

They believed in all kinds of gods. And one day this hardened man that had ice water flowing through his veins. This man who was in charge of what was going on in Judea and was responsible for the execution of many many people. Maybe thousands had Jesus Christ brought before him. Pilate looked at Jesus and thought oh just another religious nut. But all soon he discovered he had never met anyone like Jesus before.

He was used to people groveling and begging. And Jesus stood serenely calmly before him. And at one point Pilate said hey listen to me Jesus.

Don't you know that I have power to execute you. Jesus looked back at him and said hey you have no power but what my heavenly father has given to you. Pilate says to Jesus so are you a king. Jesus said you said correctly. I am a king for I've been born and this is why I've come into the world to tell the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.

Pilate shoots back. What is truth? And that question is reverberated through human history. He didn't really know what he believed in. And he just wanted to get Jesus out of his court. So he sent him to be scourged. Listen scourging in Roman times was so barbaric it would rip into the skin.

It would rip even into the skeletal tissue exposing the organs. Jesus was whipped 39 times. Pilate brings him out before the crowds. He says aka homo which is translated behold the man.

Are you happy now. And the people said no crucify him. So Pilate gives the order and off Jesus is sent to be put to death.

Imagine that. Pilate had God in human form standing in front of him. Jesus would have answered all of his questions. Jesus would have lifted all of his burdens. Jesus would have forgiven all of his sins and they were many. But listen Pilate let other people do his thinking for him.

He was more worried about what the people thought than what he thought. And that might be you. You know you march lockstep in culture and take your cultural cues from whatever you think is cool.

Or in style. Or the right thing to believe or say. It's time to start thinking for yourself. Because one day you're gonna stand all by yourself before God. And he's gonna ask you what you did with his son Jesus Christ.

Think for yourself. I think deep down inside you know what I'm saying to you is true. That Jesus is the truth. That Jesus is the answer. And Jesus can come into your life tonight.

And I'll tell you how that can happen in just a moment. One last thing I want to say. Jesus loves murderers after Jesus was sent to the cross. He carried that cross himself after losing all that blood.

After being whipped he carried his own cross. And as he made his way to the place where they crucified him they nailed him between two thieves. Now thieves is probably not the best translation because the word that is used to describe the men that were on the right and left of Jesus is a word that could be translated hardened criminal. Even implying that they were murderers. The Romans did not generally crucify thieves. They saved that kind of punishment for the worst of the lot. And specifically for insurrectionists. We might call them terrorists today.

People that were dedicated to the violent overthrow of Rome. So here Jesus hung between two murderers. Two terrorists if you will. And they both joined the crowd in mockery saying he saved others let him save himself if he's really the son of God. But then Jesus gave the first of seven statements from the cross. And the first one was father forgive them for they know not what they do. And you know what one of those criminals believed right there on the spot. And he turned to Jesus and said Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said today I say to you you will be with me in paradise. Jesus would even forgive a murderer. You might say oh Greg come on. Well I'm not a murderer.

I think I'm okay. Yeah but Jesus said you've heard that it has been said you shall not murder but I say to you if you're angry with your brother it's the same thing. Have you ever been angry with your brother? Let me restate the question.

Have you ever driven on the freeways of Southern California? Maybe you haven't committed murder. Maybe you haven't committed adultery. But you've committed sins and one sin is enough to keep you out of heaven. The Bible says if you offend in one point of the law you're guilty of all of it.

And we've all crossed the line. We've all broken the commandments. You say what commandments? Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not lie.

Thou shall not take the Lord's name in vain. Come on you've done that. I've done that.

We've all done that. And that's where Jesus comes in. Because he died on the cross for all of your sin. You say but Greg I've got my religion. Listen your religion won't save you.

The problem with a lot of us is we're too proud to admit we need God's help. Some years ago I was out on the ocean teaching my son Jonathan how to body surf. He was just a little guy. And so I'm helping him catch waves and all of a sudden I got caught in a little riptide. Now the irony of this is is this water I was in this shore was about as close as that yellow line there on the edge of the platform. So I'm like out this far in a riptide and I'm getting pulled the wrong direction and I can't get my feet on the ground.

This is a little embarrassing for a guy that's been in the water his whole life and then I see a lifeguard. She's coming to save me. She's coming with her life deal and she's running toward me and I'm like oh no I can't have someone save me this close to shore. This is humiliating and she's swimming toward me and by the way if I'm going to be saved and have mouth to mouth I'd rather be a girl than a guy. I just say that but better yet my wife.

That's what I meant to say. I want my wife to be the lifeguard. Okay just how did I get myself into that. Okay so and I'm just trying to get my feet on the ground. Finally I got my feet on the ground. I said it's okay I got it.

She turned around sends back and you know but that's like a lot of us we're too proud to admit we need help. Hey I was in a riptide. I was getting pulled out to sea.

You're in something worse than a riptide. You're caught in sin and the only one who can save you is Jesus and that's why you need to call out to him tonight and ask for his forgiveness tonight because he loves you. See but Greg come on you know words are cheap. He loves me. How do you know he loves me?

How do I know he loves you? Because 2,000 years ago he went to the cross and died for your sin. Jesus said greater love has no man than this that he laid down his life for his friends and then the bible says when we were still enemies Christ died for us. Jesus said it best for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son and whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Listen no matter who you are no matter what you've done Jesus loves you. He proved that love for you by dying in your place and paying the price for your sin.

Maybe you weren't loved by your parents. Maybe your father walked out on you when you were just a little child or your mother even and maybe you've messed your life up and I'm telling you God can transform you. God can change you and God can forgive you if you're an immoral person. If you're a non-believing person whoever you are whatever you've done you can be forgiven and you can know God's love.

You say well how? If you haven't heard anything else I've said hear me now. If you want your sin forgiven if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life if you want to know for sure that you'll go to heaven when you die here's what you need to do. Number one you need to admit you're a sinner. Hey some of us choke on that word I'm not a sinner.

Yeah you are. Well you know I'm not as bad as some people. That's true. There are worse sinners than me.

That's true too. But listen God doesn't grade on the curve. He grades on the cross and as I said one sin is enough to keep you out of heaven. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Just admit you're a sinner.

But here's the good news. Number two recognize that two thousand years ago Jesus died on the cross for you. Yes it's true he died for the whole world but it's also true he died for you.

I love the way the apostle Paul put it when he said he loved me and he gave himself for me. Listen Jesus loved you. What kept Christ going? Carrying that cross on that shredded back. What kept Christ going?

All the jeering and the mockery and the hatred of the crowds. What kept Christ going? Listen friend it was you because he loves you and he saw you sitting here tonight at Angel Stadium or wherever you are saying I love that person and I want to forgive them of all of their sin.

He did it for you. This is personal. It's personal. You know I talked about that woman caught in the act of adultery. The Bible says she was all alone with Jesus. Oh there were other people around but in another sense she was all alone with him. And even though we're in a big crowd tonight you're all alone with Jesus. This is between you and him.

As I said it's personal. And Jesus says I stand at the door of your life and I knock and if you will hear my voice and open the door I will come in. Only you can open that door. I can't open it for you.

The person who brought you here tonight can't open it for you. Your parents can't do it. Your husband or wife can't do it.

Your boyfriend or girlfriend can't do it. Only you can say Lord come into my life and forgive me of my sin. You must receive Christ into your life.

The Bible says for as many as received him he gave them the power to become children of God. Then you must repent of your sin. The Bible says God has commanded people everywhere to repent.

What does repent mean? It means to change your direction. So you're going one way now you're going the other way. You've been going north now go south. You've been going east now you go west.

You've been going backwards now you go forward. You've been running away from God now you run to God. Just like that prodigal son who went to his father and was forgiven. God will forgive you but you must turn from your sin.

Jesus said to that woman caught in the act of sexual sin go and sin no more. Didn't say go be perfect. None of us can do that but don't go live in this lifestyle anymore. You've got to let it go.

You've got to put it behind you. Come and follow me. Then you must do it publicly and in a moment I'm going to ask you to do what well almost 500,000 people have done over the years here. I'm going to ask you to make a public stand to follow Jesus Christ. I'm going to ask you to get up out of your seat in a few moments and make your way down to the field behind this stage and and when you all get here I'm going to lead you in a prayer. A prayer where you will ask Christ to come into your life to forgive of your sin you see but I don't want to walk down there.

That's a long ways man. I know and that's a line I don't want to get in a line. Listen this is one line worth getting into okay.

This is worth your inconvenience. Because if you choose to commit your life to Jesus tonight you'll mark this as the greatest night of your life. I guarantee that and Jesus said if you will acknowledge me before people I will acknowledge you before my father and the angels in heaven but then he added if you deny me before people I'll deny you before my father and the angels. So by coming forward you're acknowledging him openly and publicly and you're saying I mean this I want to do it now.

You need to do it publicly and then lastly you need to do it now. Tonight's your night. I think God's speaking to some of your hearts you're saying this is it. This is what I've been looking for.

This is what I want. I'm not going to let other people do my thinking for me anymore. I want Jesus and you can come to him wherever you are whatever you've done. The Bible says today is a day of salvation. Listen tonight is your night. So don't put it off don't say I'll come tomorrow night and do it I'll come Sunday night. Yeah hey come out Saturday and Sunday we'd love to have you here but don't wait till then to commit your life to Christ because listen you don't know when life will end.

You don't know whose name is going to end up in the obituary call them tomorrow. It could be yours it could be mine but if you know Christ you don't have to be afraid of it anymore. You don't have to fear death anymore because you know your life is right with God.

So do it tonight don't put this off. We're going to pray in a moment and we're going to pray and I'm going to ask you to make a decision because right now the ball's in your court. We've talked about the love of God.

We've talked about what God offers you the forgiveness of your sin and the hope of heaven. Now it's up to you to respond. Jesus said you're either for me or you're against me. You're with me or you're opposed to me. This is a yes or no proposition.

You can't be neutral about Jesus. You either say yes to him or you in effect say no to him. Is that what you want to do? Because if you say no to him now he'll say no to you then. If you say I don't have time for you now he'll say to you that final day depart from me.

I never knew you. You don't want that to happen. You can believe you can be forgiven. You can know God's love and experience a love like you've never known in your life before by saying yes to Jesus Christ. We're going to pray and then I'm going to invite you to respond and say yes to him.

Let's pray. Father now we thank you for loving us so much you sent your son Jesus. Lord Jesus thank you for coming. Now we pray that your Holy Spirit will convict and convince every person in this stadium and every person or person listening or watching wherever they may be convince them of their need for you and help them to come to you and help them believe in you and we ask this now in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Hey everybody. Greg Laurie here. Thanks for listening to our podcast and to learn more about Harvest Ministries please subscribe and consider supporting this show. Just go to harvest.org and by the way if you want to find out how to come into a personal relationship with God go to knowgod.org. That's k-n-o-w-g-o-d dot org.