The Blessed Hope | Understanding Our Eternal Hope

A New Beginning presents a book from Pastor Greg Laurie, with help for those suffering loss, called Hope for Hurting Hearts. God has used this book over the years to touch many people. If you've lost a loved one, or if you know someone that's recently lost a loved one, it would be an excellent thing to get this book into their hands, because I really wrote it for them. So we're offering you a copy of this book, Hope for Hurting Hearts, for your gift of any size.

Available at Harvest.org. This Christian seeks to be a holy Christian. The chances of being in some kind of car accident are about 1 in 360, so you'll wear a seatbelt to be prepared. The chances of your house catching fire are 1 in 400, but you prepare yourself with smoke alarms. What are the chances of Jesus returning? One hundred percent. He will come back. You ready? We may not know when that'll happen, but today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out what's waiting for us in eternity, and helps us to be prepared. This is the day. The day when life begins. Today we are going to be looking at two passages of Scripture together. I would like you to turn in your Bible to John 21 and also 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

John 21 and 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And the title of my message today is, The Blessed Hope. Hey.

Quick poll. I know you are busy turning in your Bibles, but I wanted to ask you a couple of quick questions. How many of you here today believe in heaven? Raise your hand up if you believe in heaven. Oh. Good. Good.

How many of you believe you are going to heaven? Raise your hand up. All right. Good.

How many of you are happy about the fact that you are going to heaven? Raise up your hand. All right. Good. Good. How many of you are tired of raising your hand? Raise your hand. Yeah.

Exactly. I heard a story about a pastor that was speaking on the topic of heaven and he asked his congregation, How many of you would like to go to heaven tonight? Everybody raise their hand except one little boy up in the balcony. So the pastor asked the question again. Again I ask you, How many of you would like to go to heaven tonight?

Every hand shut up except that little boy. So the minister actually singles the little guy out and he says, Don't you want to go to heaven? The little boy said, Yeah I want to go to heaven but I thought you were getting a load up right now. I mean we like the idea of going to heaven but we are not necessarily in a rush to get there. Well we are in our series Hope for Hurting Hearts and we have been talking about the hope of heaven.

And we described what the Scripture says about it. And some of you listening to this message might say, Well you know Greg that is a good message for you older people in your 40s and beyond but I am still pretty young. So I am not really thinking too much about this.

Well first of all you need to know that you never know when life will end irregardless of your age. But here is another thing to think about. There is more than one way of getting to heaven.

Death is one way. The other way is an event that is coming. An event that we could all experience together. An event that the Bible calls the blessed hope. And I am speaking of course of the rapture of the church when we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. It is spoken of in Titus 2.13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

Now listen. If we really understand this blessed hope. This biblical teaching about the imminent return of Christ.

It should affect us in the way that we live. 1 John 3 says, We know that when He appears we will be like Him, we will see Him as He is. And He that has this hope fixed on Him purifies Himself even as He is pure. So if you really believe this it should impact you in the way that you live. But most of all it should give you hope. Now the question is sometimes asked when you get to heaven do you get the glorified body.

And I think the answer is no. I think you get the glorified body at the resurrection. And the prototype for this new body if you will is Jesus Christ Himself. Because the Bible says, When Christ who is our life shall appear we shall see Him as He is for we will be like Him. That means that we can take some cues from the resurrected Lord and the body that God has in the future for us. We know this about Jesus after He rose. Jesus rose in a real body in a real world in a real way with a real voice and commissioned His disciples to do real work until the time when they die and are raised again in real bodies to be with Him. And that brings us to one of our passages here and that is John 21.

And before we read it let me just sort of set the scene. Jesus has been crucified. He has risen again from the dead. He has made a number of appearances already to His disciples including Simon Peter. He is told the disciples to wait for Him. Peter being a fisherman gets tired of waiting.

He hangs a sign on his office door. Gone fishing. Goes out to the Sea of Galilee with some of the others. They fish all night and they catch nothing. So as they are coming into the shore early in the morning before the sun has even risen someone is standing there that they don't recognize. He calls out, Boys did you catch anything?

They say no. He says, Why don't you catch your net on the other side of the boat? They do it and pull in so many fish they can't contain them in the nets. So now they drag in the nets full of fish to the shore.

And here is the scene that awaits them in John 21 verse 9. As soon as they came to land they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid on it and bred. Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish which you have just caught. And Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land full of large fish 153.

And although there were so many the net was not broken. Jesus said, Come and eat breakfast. Or if you have a King James version come and dine. Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, Who are You? Knowing it was the Lord Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them.

And likewise the fish. This is the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead. Now this relates again to our new body.

Let's look at a few things. Verse 4 tells us Jesus stood on the shore. He wasn't a phantom floating around. He stood on the shore. He spoke to them with a human voice.

Do you have any fish? He then made them fish. He didn't hover above the ground. He was a real person. Later we read, He breathed on them the Holy Spirit. You say, Well what does that have to do with me? Well everything. Because your glorified body resembles His. Three things that stand out about the glorified body of Christ.

The resurrected body. Number one. He was recognizable. Including the fact that He bore the scars of the crucifixion. Number two. He did not have normal limitations. He was able to appear and disappear at will. And thirdly He ate food.

So number one. We will be recognizable in heaven. In our new body as I said you will be you. Also you won't have the natural limitations that your body has now. The blueprints for our glorified bodies are on the bodies we now possess. I mean the fact that Christ could appear in a room and disappear without using a door is interesting.

But at the same time you could reach out and touch it. So that is a different kind of body altogether. Our bodies will no longer age or get sickness or break down. We are told over in 1 Corinthians 15, Our earthly bodies which die in decay will be different when they are resurrected for they will never die. Our bodies disappoint us now. But when they are raised they will be full of glory.

They are weak now but when they are raised they will be full of power. Another thing we will eat in our new resurrection body. How many of you are excited by that? You are going to eat. How many of you like to eat?

Raise your hand. You like to eat food. Good. Good. How many of you don't like to eat? Raise your hand.

I have actually met people. I don't really like to eat. Ok. I don't get you at all. Alright.

But whatever. But we will be able to eat in this new body. When the Lord rose again from the dead He wanted to prove it. And He said, Well do you have anything to eat? And He ate a piece of fish. It is not like Jesus was like translucent or something and you could see the fish going down you know.

I mean we get weird ideas. He was the guy you could reach out and touch. Hey it is really me. Give me something to eat. And He starts chowing down on some fish. And they are saying, That is our Jesus. Because Jesus liked to eat.

Right. He was eating all the time with His disciples. In fact He used eating as a metaphor of how He longs to have a relationship with us.

In Revelation 3.20. If any man will hear My voice and open the door I will come in and what? Have a meal with him. Sup with him.

Spend time with him. And so we will eat as well. And it seems like we won't gain weight. Or maybe the glorified state is we are all fat. And that is perfect.

And skinny people are imperfect. I don't know. Probably not on that. But the Bible tells us in Revelation 19.9. Blessed are those that are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. I like that word supper. That is what they call dinner in the south. Not dinner. Supper. You all coming to supper.

Wash up for supper. I remember hearing this when I was a kid growing up with my grandparents. Because they were from Arkansas. And so my grandmother made everything from scratch. We used to have a little cabin out in the desert.

Yucca Valley. There was no electricity. We had kerosene lamps in the old days and an outhouse etc. Which is a terrifying thing for a small child to use an outhouse at night. But pretty much any time.

But especially at night. But my grandfather would literally kill the chicken. I remember it. He would take a chicken. Put it on the block. Chop its head off.

Blood spurting out. I am still traumatized from it. But my grandmother she knew how to make fried chicken. It was so good. And healthy I don't know. But good.

You know. And then you know all the southern fixings and black eyed peas and collard greens and the best mashed potatoes you have ever had. But her crowning achievement was this biscuit.

It was unbelievable. Well I think that at the great supper the Lord might put Mama Stella to work up there. I can just see her making those biscuits. Can you imagine a feast like this.

Those sitting around with the great men and women of the Bible. Turning over to Moses. Moses could you hand over the manna please. Maybe we should have that for dessert. Hey Elijah my meat is a little undercooked.

A little too rare. Could you get a little fire on that for me. Hey Lot could you pass the salt. Oh Lot you are so sensitive.

Get over it. Hey that is a good question. Let's ask C.S. Lewis. Spurgeon why don't you chime in on this.

Cory Tin Boom I love what you always had to say on this topic. Well let's ask President Lincoln. President Lincoln what would you think about this. We will have the most amazing conversations. But it is not only gathering together with the great men and women of the Bible. Heaven is going to be a place of resurrected relationships.

You are going to be reunited together with your loved ones and have gone before you who believed in Jesus. You know there are different kinds of relationships in life. There is what you might describe as a high maintenance relationship. These are the people that if you don't call them every week they get all stressed out about it. Then there are relationships that you have had with people that you have known for 35 years and you literally don't see them for a year to two years and when you see them you pick up where you last left off. You know what I am talking about. I have friendships like this. And it is great. You know you haven't seen each other for so long but that relationship goes back so far.

That is what heaven is going to be like. Because if you have lost a loved one unexpectedly and communication was cut off quickly you long to reconnect. You long to finish the conversation. You long to have new ones. There were new adventures you planned on having.

In heaven that is all going to be sorted out. Have you ever been on a phone talking with someone. I am talking to a cell phone now. And suddenly your call is cut off. Let me restate the question.

Do you have AT&T as your carrier? You laugh because it is true. It is true. Or maybe I have had times where I am talking to someone and I say, well really the most important thing I want to ask you is this. Silence. Silence.

Wow. Why are they not responding? Because I haven't been talking to them for four minutes. The call dropped and I am talking to no one you see. But all those conversations are going to be reconnected again.

And when is this going to happen? This is going to happen at the resurrection that I alluded to. That brings us to our second passage. 1 Thessalonians 4.

Turn there now. Start on verse 14. We believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again and we believe that when Jesus comes He will bring with Him all the Christians who have died. For the Lord Himself will come from heaven with a commanding shout, with the call of the archangel, with the trumpet call of God. First all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. And together with them we who are still alive and remaining on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and will remain with Him forever.

So comfort and encourage one another with these words. You are going to be going about your business and suddenly find yourself in heaven reunited with loved ones face to face with Jesus and your new glorified body. And this could happen in a nanosecond. The Bible says in Corinthians it will happen in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. That phrase twinkling comes from the original word animos that we get our word Adam from. And it is speaking of a word that cannot really be measured. In other words the time is so quick you can't measure it. I mean the twinkling.

Not even the blinking of an eye. Death is the great separator. Jesus Christ is the great reconciler. Will be reunited with loved ones. Husbands will be reunited with wives and wives with husbands. Children with parents. Parents with children.

Friends with friends. It is like a big family reunion. How many of you like family reunions? You didn't all raise your hand.

Boy when I ask you how many of you like to eat you all raise your hand. Well that is because we all have weird family members. I totally understand your response. We all come from dysfunctional families. But in heaven all the dysfunction is gone. All the weirdness is gone. All the problems are gone.

All the drama is gone. It is just a perfect reunion as we are joined together around the throne of God. So how should this affect us? Well if I really believe Jesus is coming it should certainly impact me in the way that I live and in the choices that I make and what I think about and what I spend my time doing. What I spend my money on.

It should affect every aspect of my life. Going back to a verse I quoted earlier but now let me quote a couple of verses that preceded to give it context. Listen. 1 John 3. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God. Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved now we are the children of God. It has not yet been revealed what we will be. But we know that when He appears we will be like Him and we will see Him as He is.

Listen now. Everyone that has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself just as He is pure. We are talking about hope. If I have the hope of the Lord's return, the blessed hope, it should affect me in the way that I live. It should cause me to want to live a godly life in recognition of the fact that God loves me and God has chosen me and God has so much waiting for me on the other side in heaven and ultimately when heaven comes back to earth how should I respond?

I should purify myself. In other words gratitude leads to godliness. A hopeful Christian seeks to be a holy Christian. He or she purifies himself from all known sin.

Question. Are there any things that you are doing presently that you would be ashamed to be doing if Christ were to return? Is there a relationship you are engaged in right now that is dragging you down spiritually? This is where the purifying yourself comes in. It means that I make decisions. Things I don't do.

Things I do in their place. So I am living in a sense of anticipation and readiness. In so many parables that Jesus gave He told us to be watching and to be waiting and to be alert as we look for the return of Christ again.

You will purify yourself even as He is pure. And really in many ways this is a way to show where you are at spiritually. If you long for the return of Jesus and look forward to it that would say to me, your life is right with God.

How many of you would be happy if Jesus came back before the day was over? Raise your hand. Now I am not going to ask you to raise your hand if you would be unhappy. But if I did and if you were honest there might be a few who would.

And why would you raise your hand? Because you would say, well I am doing things I am not so sure I should be doing. Well here is the thing. He that has this hope purifies himself even as He is pure. So you need to be making some changes because listen Christ could come back at any moment.

This is a whole other topic for a whole other time. But all around us I am telling you every day it seems like you see things happening in our world that say Jesus is coming. You have got to be ready. And I want you to be ready.

So we are going to close now in prayer. And I am going to give you an opportunity to get right with God. If you are not sure if you are ready for the Lord's return respond to this invitation I will extend.

And if you are maybe living a compromised life then you respond as well. Let's pray. Father thank You for Your Word to us. Lord Jesus thank You that You are coming again. And we want to be ready for Your return. And I pray now for every person here hearing this message help us all to be ready for Your return we would ask amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with important insights today about heaven and how we can be prepared to meet the Lord.

And if you would like to make a change today in your relationship with God Pastor Greg will help you with that in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. And then let us say a word of thanks to those who support us financially. Those who make it possible for us to bring you these studies each day. We are definitely a listener supported ministry. It is the generosity of listeners that help us be here with these programs. So if you have partnered with us thank you. And if you have yet to partner with us I hope you will get in touch today and let us know that you are standing with us. Even a small investment would help. It is actually an investment in changing lives. Thank you for partnering with us. You can donate securely online at harvest.org or write A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside California 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300.

And that is 1-800-821-3300. Well Pastor Greg getting back to the way you closed your message. You spoke of how someone can get right with God and be ready for the Lord's return. Could you help the person who wants to do that right now?

Yes I would be delighted to. Listen as you have listened to this program today maybe something has been happening inside of your heart where you are sensing I need to do this personally. But how do I do it and what do I do?

Let me help you. It is very simple. In fact it is so simple you may be shocked. God this relationship with him is just a prayer away. The Bible says if you will call upon the name of the Lord you will be saved. So I would like to lead you in a prayer where you do just that. You call on the name of the Lord. This can be the moment where you change your eternal address literally from hell to heaven. Just pray these words. Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner but I know that you are the savior who died on the cross for me and rose again from the dead. Jesus I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In your name I pray. Amen.

I know. It is such a simple short prayer. But you just called on the name of the Lord and you know what?

He heard that prayer and if you meant that prayer in your heart he answered that prayer. Now let me help you to get started on the right foot in your new life in Jesus Christ. The greatest adventure awaits you. The life of walking with God. I want to send you what we call a New Believers Bible and it is a new living translation with a lot of notes on how to grow spiritually woven through this unique edition of scripture. And let me be the first to say to you congratulations and welcome to the family of God. And to get that free New Believers Bible along with the other items in our growth pack just let us know you prayed along with Pastor Greg to receive Christ today. We'll be glad to send these free resources your way.

Call us at 1-800-821-3300. Call any time 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Hey everybody I want to encourage you to join us for something we call Harvest at Home. It happens every Sunday at harvest.org and on our brand new app Harvest Plus which is available on your mobile TV devices. Download it now and you can watch Harvest at Home with Christians from around the world as we worship together and study God's Word. So again join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org or on Harvest Plus. Well next time Pastor Greg brings one final message in his series on hope a study called The Hope of the Church. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible Teacher Greg Laurie.