Greg Laurie - Jesus Answers Your Questions (12/07/2018)
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Pastor Greg Laurie addresses life's biggest questions—emptiness, purpose, loneliness, what happens after death—through Jesus' words in the Bible, especially His encounter with the woman at the well and conversation with Nicodemus. He explains true satisfaction comes from forgiveness through Christ's death and resurrection, leading to eternal life in heaven, and urges an immediate public decision to receive Jesus as Savior to fill the heart's void and secure eternity.
Pausing for Prayer Before Life's Big Questions
Jesus answers your questions. So I'm going to try to give you some answers from a very reliable source, God's very word to us, called the Bible, in just a moment. But before we do that, I would like us to just all pause for a moment, get in our seat, get comfortable, draw your kids close, kind of quiet down. And then we're going to have a word of prayer.
So let's all pray together right now. Let's all pray. Father, now as we think about the big questions in life, as we think about eternity, as we think about what's going to happen on the other side in the afterlife, I pray for every person here that is listening. And those that are watching on television, and listening on radio, and watching on the Internet all around the world, I pray that You'll speak to their hearts. I pray that they will hear Your voice. I pray You will answer their questions. And we ask this now, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Everyone Has Questions—But Where Do We Turn?
Hey, we all have questions in life. You know, you have questions every day. Maybe you're in a new place, and you want to find a good place to eat, so you go over to Google, go over to Yelp, hey, what's a good place to eat, and read the reviews of a bunch of random people you've never met before, and somehow think that's a reliable source.
Or maybe you're thinking of going to see a film, so you check out Rotten Tomatoes, and want to make sure the film you're going to go see is fresh. Or maybe you wonder what the weather's going to be, so you pull out your weather app. But then a lot of times, people would just go to Google and ask questions about things that are troubling them.
I read an article about actual questions that were sent to Yahoo Answers. These are actual questions. They're not jokes. I'm not making these up. People actually type this in, hoping for an answer. One person asked, what does fall 2000 mean? It means fall 2000.
How about this one? I like it. Is there a spell to become a mermaid that actually works? Someone actually asked this. Strangely, it was signed, El Lusko. Levi asked that question. Levi? No, the answer is no.
Real Questions People Actually Ask Online
Somebody else actually asked this question. How do I take care of my pet potato? Why do you have a pet potato? Is its name Spud? I mean, look. Just cook it and eat it. That's how you take care of it.
How about this one? I'm not making it up. How much Listerine does it take to get drunk? Probably not a lot. You'll smell great and you may die.
Here's another one. Can I lose weight without moving? Sadly, I sent that question in myself and I didn't get a very good answer.
Newsflash, Yahoo Answers and Google and Siri, they can answer some of your questions. But they cannot answer the big questions. But I'll tell you who can. Jesus Christ has the answer to the biggest questions of life for you tonight. He has the answers.
The Deep Questions We All Carry
And we all have questions we would like to ask God. How wonderful it would be to sit down and just have a cup of coffee with Jesus and say, Hey, I had a few things I wanted to ask You about. Because things happen in life that don't make sense. Right?
USA Today did a survey among its readers and they said, If you could ask God or a Supreme Being anything you want and know you would get a direct answer, what would you ask Him? 19% said, I want to know if there is life after death. 6% wanted to know how long will I live. And 34% wanted to know what their purpose of life was.
Well, 2,000 years ago, a guy named Nicodemus managed to snag an appointment with Jesus at night. Nicodemus met Jesus at night. That's right, Nick at night, for sure. And he sat down and asked Jesus the big questions of life. And I'm going to look at those answers Christ gave to him.
Why Am I So Empty Inside?
But here's the big questions I want to address tonight. Why am I so empty inside? Why do I have this big hole in my heart? What is the meaning of life? Why am I here on this planet? What happens after I die? And why am I so lonely? And finally, who let the dogs out? No, that's a stupid song. I don't even care.
Okay, so let's deal with the first one. Why am I so empty inside? Jesus actually answered this question with a woman who came to draw water from a well a long time ago. This woman had been married and divorced five times, and she was shacking up with some guy. So clearly she thought that men and sex was going to fill the void in her life.
And so she's drawn some water, and she sees this stranger at the well. It's 12 noon. That's not normally when you would go to draw water. But because she was sort of an outcast, she went all by herself.
Jesus Offers Living Water to Quench the Soul
And here is this stranger she doesn't recognize, who in fact is Jesus Christ, God in human form. And as she's drawing the water, He says, "Hey, if you drink of that water, you'll thirst again." And He started talking to her about living water.
In other words, He talked to her about that deep spiritual thirst she had. He was using the well as a metaphor for life itself. If you drink of this water, you'll thirst again. You could write that over the well of success. If you drink of this water, you'll thirst again. You could write it over the well of experiences. If you drink of this water, you'll thirst again.
And she said, "Well, tell me, where can I get this living water You're talking about?" He says, "If you drink of this water, you'll be thirsty"—speaking of the water in the well. "But if you drink of My water, it will bubble within you, giving you eternal life."
That's it, she was asking. How can I satisfy the thirst in my soul? See, here's the thing. You need to have your sin forgiven. And God has sent a solution.
The Meaning of Life: Knowing and Glorifying God
2,000 years ago, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, on a rescue operation for you and for me. And He died on the cross for our sin. Amen.
Now you might ask, well, who cares if He died on a cross? What is that? That was His problem. What does that have to do with me? Answer. Everything. The Bible says Christ died for me. Why did Christ die for me? And you. He died for us to pay for the sin we've committed over and over against God.
And then He rose again from the dead. And right now He'll come into our lives and forgive us. And I'll tell you how to do that in just a moment.
So what is the meaning of life? Well, you come into this relationship with God. And you discover, I'm on this earth to know God. I'm on this earth to walk with God. I'm on this earth to have a relationship with God. And I'm here on this earth to bring Him glory.
Oh man, that sounds lame and boring. No, it isn't. It's the best life there is. The Christian life of following Christ. There's nothing better. I've been on both sides of this tree. I've tried what this world has to offer. Some of you have as well. I've seen the emptiness of it.
What Happens After We Die? Heaven or Hell
I've been walking with the Lord now for, well, over 40 years. And every day, it's an adventure walking with Jesus Christ. And I finally found the road map I was looking for. God gave me the user's manual of life. It's called the Bible. And I can open up and hear from God and give me the values and the beliefs I need. The Bible. B-I-B-L-E. Basic instructions before leaving earth. Get your own copy and start reading it.
Yeah, but, Greg, what happens when we die? You know the answer to that? I actually do. Because it's in the Bible.
Before he died, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, said, quote, "No one wants to die. And people who want to go to heaven don't even want to die to get there. Yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it." End quote. That's true. If anyone could have figured out a way around it, it would have been Steve Jobs. But there's no app to get out of death.
The statistics on death are quite impressive. One out of every one person will die. But then what happens? It all depends.
If you're a Christian, I'll tell you what happens. When a Christian dies, they go to heaven. That's what the Bible says. They go to heaven. Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. If I go, I'll come again and receive you unto Myself. Where I am, you'll be also. So let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid."
You go to heaven. The Bible says, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
The Reality of Heaven and the Warning of Hell
Yeah, but heaven... Isn't heaven kind of boring? You know, you're sitting around in clouds, playing harps, looking at fat little baby angels with little wings. No, no. Now, that's cartoon heaven, okay? The heaven of the Bible, the real heaven, is a real place for real people to do real things. It will surpass your wildest dreams.
And you don't have to fear death if you put your faith in Christ because you know you'll be there one day. And if you have loved ones that have gone before you who have died in faith, you'll be reunited with them again. This is the hope of the Christian.
Yeah, well, what about the non-Christian? What happens to them when they die? You may not like my answer. They go to hell.
Some of you are saying, oh, man, I was digging your sermon until you said that, man. Sorry. I'm just a delivery boy. I don't write this script, but I have to deliver it faithfully.
You know, when I was a kid, I had a paper route. And I'd throw those papers. I learned how to clear hedges. I learned how to get them right on the front porch. I had a super cool Schwinn Stingray, ape hanger handlebars, stick shift on, it was sort of my pre-Harley vehicle. You know, I loved it.
But my job was not to write the news. It was not to make the news. It was to deliver the news. And my job has not changed. I'm here to deliver the news.
Yes, there is a hell. Listen to this. Jesus Christ spoke more about hell than all the other preachers of the Bible put together. He knows of its reality.
And know this, the last thing God wants is for anyone to go to hell.
Jesus Knocks—Will You Open the Door?
And people will say, I don't even believe in hell. But they'll say hell all the time. You know, that person bugs me. They can just go to hell. Or they'll say, man, that person, they're hell on wheels. Or they have fun. We had a hell of a good time.
I had a person actually come up to me and say, that was a hell of a sermon, Pastor. I'm like, okay. Thank you, I think.
But it's funny. We'll say, I don't believe in hell, but we talk about hell all the time. Well, it's just not as effective to say, you can just go to a place that doesn't even exist. It's not as effective.
I think it's the same reason that people use the name Jesus Christ to punctuate their sentences. I talked to a guy the other day. He was delivering water at my house and he saw some, we have two rabbits and they had bunnies and he said, "Jesus Christ." Look at that.
Then he saw something else and he said, "Jesus Christ." A third time he said, "Jesus Christ." Why did he say that? As he was leaving, I said, man, you talk a lot about Jesus, don't you? And I invited him to the Harvest Crusade. I said, we're going to be talking a lot about Jesus.
But why do people say that? Even if they don't believe in Jesus Christ, in a backhanded way, they're acknowledging the power of the name of Jesus that's above every name. They're effectively acknowledging belief.
Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock and if you'll hear My voice and open the door, I'll come in."
But check this out. Let's say you went home tonight and you're getting ready for bed and you get a knock on the door, you know. It's kind of late. Who is it? You look down there and there standing at your front door is Jesus Christ.
See, it's kind of hard to miss because you have a glass front door. So you see Him and He sees you. It's kind of hard to act like you're not home when He sees you and you see Him.
"Oh, hey Jesus, how's it going? All right. Love, love all Your movies. You're really knocking at my door at this hour. I kind of don't want to answer it. So, maybe I'll see You tomorrow."
You get up in the morning and you come downstairs, He's still there knocking at the door. "Wow, You are persistent." You kind of wave, you go on your way with your business and you kind of keep ignoring Him.
Now understand, here's what's happening. He's knocking. By you not opening the door, that's rejection.
Make Your Decision Tonight—Heaven or Hell
Well, God will just keep knocking. He doesn't have anything else to do. Really? You're going to blow off God like that? You're going to reject God like that? You're going to insult Jesus like that? I hope not.
Like I said, I heard those words years ago as a kid. Jesus said, "You're for Me or against Me." This is an either or proposition. This is yes or no. This is open the door or leave the door shut in His face. What do you want to do?
Oh man, don't leave that door shut. Open it. Receive Christ into your life.
And then you must do it publicly. And that's why I'm going to ask you to do what 3,000 people did last night. In a few moments, I'm going to ask you if you want to know the meaning of life, if you want to fill the emptiness inside of you, if you don't want to be lonely anymore, I'm going to ask you to get up out of your seat and walk down on this field and stand behind this stage.
And when you all get here, I'm going to lead you in a prayer. A prayer of asking Christ to come into your life. So you get ready. Because it's coming.
You say, well, Greg, I... That's kind of a long ways. I'm up here in the nosebleed section. That'll take me a while. I don't know if I want to walk that far. Why do I need to go down there?
Here's why. Jesus said, "If you will acknowledge Me before people, I'll 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 the Father and the angels."
This is a way to acknowledge Him publicly. To say, I don't care who sees. I am going to follow Jesus. And it's going to start tonight. And I mean business. That's why I ask you to come. And you will mark this night as the greatest night of your life. You'll mark it in time. That was the night I believed in Jesus.
And lastly, you must do it now. The Bible says, today is the day of salvation. Tonight's your night. Don't put it off. Don't say, well, you know what, I'll do it tomorrow night. I'll come Sunday night. Yeah, come on Sunday night. But don't wait until then.
If you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want Him to forgive you of your sin, if you want that big hole in your heart filled, if you want to find life's meaning, I'm going to ask you right now wherever you are to get up out of your seat and make your way into the nearest aisle and start coming down to this field.
Wherever you're sitting, get up and start coming down to this field to make your public stand for Christ. Now is your moment. This is your time to come to Jesus.
Yes! To find the meaning of life. Yes! To fill that hole in your heart. You'll never be alone again.
But now the ball's in your court, friend. Now you have to decide. Remember, this is yes or no. This is accept or reject. This is open the door or leave it closed.
And listen to me. Yes, this is heaven or hell. You decide where you'll spend eternity by what you do with Jesus. Make the right decision. Come to Christ tonight and you can know you'll go to heaven when you die.