Who Is Jesus? | Characteristics of Jesus

Today's episode of A New Beginning is brought to you by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Learn more at harvest.org. And while you're there, browse our library of free e-books designed to help you grow in your faith. is a great barometer of where you are at in your walk with God. When we've invited someone over for dinner and they're on their way, our excitement about it says something about our feelings for them, does it not?

Your best friend since childhood? Oh, can't wait! Your boss who invited himself over?

Was that tonight? Well, today on A New Beginning, as Pastor Greg Laurie brings us some foundational insights on the character and attributes of Jesus, we'll give thought to His second coming. It's a revealing look at how much we love the Lord.

So we're in a new series right now that we're calling Timeless, and it's effectively Theology 101. Now, in our first message in this series, we talked about God the Father, because God has presented to us in Scripture as a triune being, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So we explored God the Father. We talked about His attributes, His omniscience, which means He knows everything. His omnipotence, meaning He has unlimited power. His omnipresence, meaning He can be present everywhere at the same time. We looked at His holiness, His righteousness. And as we learn more about God, He can seem so mysterious, so awesome, and so unapproachable. And that is where Jesus comes in.

Jesus was God with a face. Heard a story about a little boy who was scared one night because it was a thunderstorm. He called out from his bedroom, Daddy, Daddy, I'm scared. Come in here and be with me. And the Father said, Son, now it's late. You're fine. Daddy, come in here, Son. You're all right. God is with you.

And then a moment passed, and the little boy shot back, But right now, Daddy, I need someone with skin on. That's who Jesus was. He was God with skin on, if you will.

Jesus was God spelling Himself out in a language we could understand. Now, you want to talk about influence. Well, you know, you'll hear about some celebrity that has millions and millions of followers, and we may rate how influential they are by how many followers they have on social media. Or the guest of honor at a celebration might be called the man or woman of the hour. Every December, Time magazine has their person of the year.

Then every 10th year, they have the person of the decade. Then you have certain eras that are defined. For instance, there's the Victorian period after Queen Victoria. Or the Elizabethan period named after Queen Elizabeth. But there is only one person that divides history in half.

And that's Jesus Christ. We have BC and AD. Before Christ and AD. Anno Domini.

The year of our Lord. Jesus Christ is the most powerful name in the universe. It's the name above all names. If you don't believe me, just say it somewhere. Say it in a room full of people. You know Jesus Christ. People will kind of look your direction. It's the name above all names. And there is power in that name.

Why do people react? Because there's never been nor will there ever be anyone like Jesus. But here's the big question now. Why did Jesus come to this earth?

Why? And people think Jesus was the greatest moral teacher. Or He came to provide the ultimate example for humanity.

Not at all. Jesus came to this earth specifically to die for the sin of the world. That is why He came. The Bible is so clear on this point. In fact in Revelation 13 we read He was slain from the foundation of the world.

What does that mean? That means long before there was a planet called earth or a garden called Eden or a couple named Adam and Eve. A decision was made in heaven that God would send His Son Jesus Christ on a rescue operation to redeem mankind because God knew that Adam and Eve would eat of the forbidden fruit. And sin would spread like a horrible virus across the planet.

And the only solution was Jesus coming to die for the sin of the world. We are told in Romans 5-8 while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. And at some moment while He hung on the cross of Calvary the sin of the world was placed upon Him. It is believed by many including myself that it was at the moment that He said my God my God why have you forsaken me and He was bearing your sin and my sin and all of humanity's sin. In some mysterious way which we can never fully comprehend during those awful hours on the cross the Father was pouring out the full measure of His wrath against sin and the recipient of that wrath was God's beloved Son.

Listen to this. God was punishing Jesus as if He had personally committed every wicked deed committed by every wicked sinner. And in doing so He could forgive and treat those redeemed ones as if they had lived Christ's perfect life of righteousness.

So Jesus came to die for the sin of the world. And also He came to absorb God's wrath. You see if God were not just there would be no demand for a son to suffer and die. But if God were not loving there would be no willingness for a son to suffer and die. But God was both just and willing. And He came and laid His life down for us. He absorbed God's wrath in my place.

The judgment that you should have faced. And this is very important because I think when we sin we feel we have to sort of atone for it and beat ourselves up for it. And I think we need to remember it's already been atoned for.

He was already beaten up for you. That doesn't mean that I sin with abandon. It doesn't mean that I should not feel guilt or remorse when I have sinned. But it does mean that once I have sinned and if I've confessed it to God I should believe He has forgiven me and I should not walk in guilt but I should walk in forgiveness.

This is very important. Because Christ already absorbed the wrath of God. Jesus also died on the cross to show His love for us. Ephesians 5 25 says Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Jesus Himself said for God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son. Paul said He loved me and He gave Himself for me. Sometimes you may wonder does God really love me? Take a long look at the cross. Imagine for a moment Christ hanging there for you. And remember it was not nails that held Him to that cross 2,000 years ago.

It was love. But Jesus also suffered and died to provide our forgiveness and justification. He suffered and died to provide our forgiveness and justification. Romans 5 9 says we've been justified by His blood.

So let me explain. To be forgiven it means my sin is removed and as far as the east is from the west is as far as sin is put away from me. You can't find it.

It's gone. As a as a lady named Corriton Boom once said God threw our sin into the sea of forgetfulness and He posted a sign that says no fishing allowed. I like that. So it's forgiven but it's more than forgiveness.

It's like they say in those commercials on television but wait there's more. You're justified. So when the Bible says you're justified what does that mean?

It's a word that can be translated to say just as if it never had happened. So He's expunged the record for you. Not only is your sin forgiven not only is your sin forgotten but your sin is removed.

You're justified like you had never done it even in the first place. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody Greg Laurie here and I want to personally invite you to the harvest ministries Israel tour April 9 to 19 2024. Listen this is your chance to walk in the steps of Jesus literally in what we call the Holy Land. Learn more at Israel.harvest.org.

Shalom. Well we're gleaning some fundamental scriptural truth in Pastor Greg's new series called Timeless. Today we're answering the question who is Jesus?

Let's continue. Jesus was God. Jesus became a man.

Jesus did not void His deity. He simply veiled it and Jesus will come back again. Jesus will come back again. The angels told the disciples when Christ was ascending or flying if you will.

Men of Galilee why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven. Jesus Christ is coming.

The incarnation without the coronation would be like the east without the west. The second coming of Jesus is described so many times in scripture. It's mentioned over 1800 times in the Old Testament. 300 times in the New Testament. In fact statistically one in every 25 verses in the Bible mentions the Lord's return. For every prophecy speaking about the first coming of Christ there are eight prophecies relating to a second coming. So this is a clear strong biblical message. Jesus said I am coming soon.

Hold on to what you have. I'm coming soon. Jesus said in John 14 if I go I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am you may be also. Then He adds so let not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid.

It was Spurgeon who said quote the sound of his approach should be as music to our ears end quote. So when you hear Christ is coming it should make your heart jump a little bit but if it brings a little dread to your heart that would make me wonder where you are at spiritually. Really the teaching of the imminent return of Jesus is a great barometer of where you are at in your walk with God. I think when you are right with God you look forward to His return. In fact it even has a purifying effect on you spiritually. For it says in 1 John He that has this hope that is the hope of the Lord's return. He purifies Himself even as He is pure.

So it affects us. And I love what John says in Revelation 22 20. He says He that testifies to these things says yes I am coming quickly. That's the Lord speaking. And then John says Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

I love that. I'm coming quickly. Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

Let's say that together. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. That's how we should live every day. Lord if you want to come today I'm ready.

And I'm looking forward to it. So let's wrap this up. Who is Jesus? Jesus is everything. He's everything. He's everything you need.

He's what you're looking for from the earliest days of your life. And let's review how Jesus can meet every need of your life. He was and is God.

Going back to Isaiah 9 6 you call His name Wonderful the Mighty God the Everlasting Father. Listen whatever you're going through the almighty all-knowing all-powerful God is with you. And He will give you the wisdom you need. He'll give you the resources you need. He'll give you the strength you need. You just need to call out to Him because He is able to do abundantly above and beyond.

That what you could ask or think. But Jesus who is God became a man. He knows what it's like to walk in your shoes. He knows what it's like to be tempted and to be rejected.

He knows what it's like to be abandoned and betrayed. And He's here with you in your testing and temptation. Maybe I'm talking to somebody right now who's going through a time of great testing. And you don't know why God has allowed this in your life. Or you're going through a time of great temptation.

And you're wondering how am I going to get through this time. Jesus has been there. He knows all about it. Been there done that.

Bought the t-shirt. Hebrews 4 15 says this high priest of ours speaking of Christ understands our weaknesses for he faced all the same temptations that we do yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we will receive as mercy and find grace to help when we need it most.

He's been there. And by the way Jesus modeled for us how to face temptation. Going back to the wilderness. Remember He went into the wilderness for 48 and 40 nights and He was tempted by the devil. He faced three basic temptations. Satan showed him all the kingdoms of the world and he said all of this is mine and I can give it to whoever I want.

Fall down and worship me and it will be yours. Christ said it is written men shall worship God and God alone. Satan said I know you're hungry Jesus and why don't you take this rock right now and turn it into a piece of bread. Jesus replies it is written men shall not live by bread alone but by every word that God speaks. And there Jesus is giving us a model to follow. He could have pulled executive privilege.

He could have said get out of here. But He faced it as a man to show us how we should face temptation. What was this defense against the temptation? The Word of God.

He quoted it again and again. The Psalmist asks in Psalm 119 how shall a young man cleanse his way answer by taking heed to your word. Again in Psalm 119 he says your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. It's great to carry a Bible in your briefcase or in your purse but the best place to carry the Word of God is in your heart. Memorize it.

Learn it. I remember as a brand new Christian I started memorizing verses from the Bible and they're still with me today and how precious they are and how great it is when you can remember the Word of God when you're going through a time of testing and temptation. And number three Jesus is coming again. It's our blessed hope.

Our blessed hope. You know we live in a world that's filled with so much bad news. Listen if you spend most of your time watching a news channel you're going to be one stressed out person.

Okay. Now I'm not saying you should be ignorant as to what's going on in our world. I try to keep up with what's happening.

But if all you do is read news feeds and read people ranting on Twitter and watch a news program you're going to be probably a pretty upset person. Because you look at things going on in our world. War may break out. Our nation is unraveling.

AI is going to destroy us. Right. What did Jesus say. He says when these things begin to happen look up for your redemption is drawing near. Look up.

He did not say when these things begin to happen freak out. Look up. Cheer up. Chin up. See we spend too much time looking down. We're holding our phones. You see people today you're in a line in a restaurant everyone's standing like this the whole time.

Right. You have to stop light people looking down. We're always looking down. Stop looking down.

Look up. All these things happening as scary as they can be at times are reminders that God keeps his promises and Jesus is coming back again. Listen I've read the last page in the Bible. We win in the end.

We do. So let me ask this in closing. If Jesus Christ were to come back today tonight would you be ready. He's coming for those who will be watching and waiting. The Bible says he will come again for those that are looking for him. Are you looking for him.

I'm not suggesting that you just stand outside and stare at the sun. No that's that's not what it means to look for him. It means live in anticipation. It means live your life. Enjoy your life. But honor God. Trust God.

Put him first. Live as a faithful Christian. Share the gospel when you can. Live the life that he's called you to live.

Someone once asked D.L. Moody the great evangelist if he knew this was the last day of his life how would he live it differently. He said I would not live it any differently than I live every day of my life. We never know when the last day will come. So live every day as though it were the last day. Because one day it will be.

But that's okay. Because we're not afraid. Because we know we go into God's presence. Be it through rapture when the Lord comes for his church. Be it through death. We may have many years.

We may have a few years. We don't know that's in God's hands. We're not going to worry about it.

But we're going to make every day count for the glory of God. But I wonder. But I wonder if there's someone listening to me right now that this is kind of scary stuff I'm talking about. You're terrified of death. You're afraid of all these things we've been talking about.

You're living in agitation and worry and anxiety. And you need to know God. Remember why did Jesus come. He was born to die that we might live. He died on that cross for you.

He shed his blood for you. So you could be forgiven of your sin and have a relationship with him. And that same Jesus who was born in the manger and died on that cross and rose again from the dead and ascended to heaven and is returning again is standing at the door of your life and he is knocking and he is saying if you'll hear his voice and open the door he will come in. Only you can open the door of your heart to Jesus. And there might be someone here that wants to do that. So in a moment I'm going to pray and give you an opportunity to ask Christ to come into your life. And I hope you do it. So you're ready to meet the Lord and you're ready for the afterlife.

And you can start living this life the way it was meant to be lived. Let's pray. Father I pray for every person here. I pray you will speak to their heart and help them to see their need for Jesus.

Help them to come to you and believe if they don't know you yet. I pray that your Holy Spirit will convict them and convince them of their sin and their need for you and draw them to yourself. Now we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. An important prayer from Pastor Greg Laurie today here on A New Beginning. And if you'd like to make a change in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg will help you make that change in just a moment.

So please stay tuned. Well Pastor Greg, we're talking about the movie Fame. So many people want to be famous, especially young people. You know, social media influencers. They want to be social media influencers. They want fame. And yet so many famous people would love to have a day of anonymity. That's true.

You know, they'd love to have a day they just, you know, go walk around the mall or go to the beach or go grocery shopping. But once you're famous, you can't take a day off. And you just can't quit. I mean, Taylor Swift, if she wants to just say, yeah, I'm done, I'm not going to be famous anymore. No, she's famous for life.

Yeah, she is. Well, the most famous man I ever met, and I've met some famous people, met a few presidents. I've met some movie stars, rock stars. But you know, the most famous man I ever met was Billy Graham. He's a historical figure on the Time magazine's most influential people list for more times than any other person who ever lived. You know, but the thing with Billy and fame is he just wore it so well. He knew it came from God. He knew he should give glory to God. And he was a humble man.

And he was accessible. So you know, fame can be a good thing if you use it for God's glory and use it to build a bridge, to bring people to Christ. And it can be a very destructive thing. I've likened it to fire. You know, you can have a meal cooked on fire.

You can have a campfire. You can do great things with fire and fire can destroy homes and forests and much more. So it's sort of the same with fame. It can be a good thing if used right. It can be a bad thing if used wrongly. So we just need to understand it's not good or bad in and of itself.

It is what it is. But if you look to fame in and of itself to fill the void in your life, you'll be unhappy. The same could be said of money. You know, money's not evil. Sometimes you hear people say, you know, the Bible says money is the root of all evil.

Actually, the Bible does not say that, does it? The Bible says, Paul speaking, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, which while some have coveted after, they've erred from the faith and pierced their souls through. So the idea is the love of money, not money. Money is neutral. So you can take your money and use it for God's glory.

You know, here's a little suggestion. Invest some in our ministry because then you lay up for yourself treasure in heaven. So we're offering a book right now called Fame where I talk about this and more and we'll send it to you for your gift of any size and whatever you send financially will be used to reach more people with the gospel and the teaching of the word of God. So you can use your money for good or you can use it for bad.

It's really up to you. The same is true of fame. Yeah, that's right. Well, we'd like to send a copy of this new book your way to thank you for partnering with us, to thank you for laying up treasure in heaven. Your investment helps us bring the gospel to many more people through radio, film, books, and so many other avenues.

It's such an important time for that. You can make your donation and request the book by calling 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number. 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514.

Or go online to harvest.org. And don't forget the new movie, also called Fame. Pastor Greg speaks with Daryl Strawberry and Alice Cooper and others.

People who know how destructive the lure of fame can be. It's a feature-length film, and we hope you'll watch along with your whole family. It's especially relevant for young people. The movie premieres this weekend, today through Sunday, at our new Harvest media platform at harvest.org. And also other streaming platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, Amazon Fire, and Google Play.

It's free to watch. Well, Pastor Greg, you mentioned before that someone can become a Christian with just a simple prayer. Maybe somebody would like to do that right now. Could you help them with that?

Sure, I'd love to. A simple prayer is right. In fact, I would like to just pray a prayer, and I would ask you to pray it after me right now. Pray these words, Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, but I also know that you are the savior because you died on the cross for my sin, and you rose again from the dead. Jesus, come into my life and forgive me of every sin I've ever committed.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer, Lord, and I pray all of this in Jesus' in Jesus' name.

Amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know that Christ himself has come to live inside of you. And I have a resource I want to send you. It's called the New Believers Bible. So the New Believers Bible is the New Testament in the New Living Translation with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you are making to follow Christ. There's some other materials included as well in what we call the New Believers Growth Pact, but let me get this New Believers Bible into your hands as quickly as possible.

Here's Dave to tell you more. Yeah, you can get it by calling us anytime around the clock at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. I don't know if you know about this, but we have a weekend service called Harvest at Home exclusively for people that are tuning in literally from around the world.

Listen to this. We even have harvest groups where you can get into a small group with folks from all around this planet of ours and study the Word of God. So join us this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Well, next time, Pastor Greg continues his new series called Timeless, and we consider the third person of the Trinity. It's a study called The Holy Spirit and You. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. A New Beginning is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. If this show has impacted your life, share your story, leave a review on your favorite podcast app, and help others find hope.