A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: How do you have an unshakeable faith? You need to look to Jesus. Pastor Greg Laurie has good reassurance for those times when it seems we've lost our spiritual moorings and we're adrift, wondering if the Lord has forgotten about us. Jesus has not let you down, and Jesus will not let you down ever. So look to him. Put your eyes on Jesus Christ. That's the key. You need to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith.

Guest (Male): The time to buy a fire extinguisher is before a fire starts. The right time to put on your seatbelt is when you first get in, before the car accident. The time to prepare for a crisis is when things in your life seem just fine. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us strengthen our spiritual foundation for those seasons when our passion has faded and our spiritual tank is running dry. It's in those moments we realize how much we need a good, strong spiritual foundation.

Greg Laurie: Have you ever had your faith shaken? Sometimes, especially when we're young in the faith, we doubt our salvation. We question if we're really saved. But we need to remember that God completes what he starts. He's described in the Bible as the author and the finisher of your faith. God's gift to you, salvation, is from God to you from beginning to end. You didn't earn it. Therefore, you can't lose it. It's not based on how you feel. It's based on what Jesus did.

You might feel weak, but God is strong. Maybe you feel shaken, but you don't have to stay in that state. And that is why we're looking at First, Second, and Third John together. Why was this epistle written, First John in particular? John gives the answer when he says in First John 5:13, "I've written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." I wrote this so you will know that you have eternal life.

Now First John can be divided into three sections, and they are: God is light, God is love, and God is life. First, God is light. First John 1 says, "This is the message we heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all." Secondly, God is love. First John 2: "Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love." And finally, God is life. First John chapter 5: "He that has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life."

All right, so let's dig in. First John chapter 1. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. "We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we heard and we have seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of Life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so you may fully share our joy." We'll stop there.

Here are the apostles now, talking about the fact that they spent time with the Son of God. They saw him, they heard him, they touched him. They spent three years plus walking and talking with the incarnate Son of God walking among us. They saw with their own eyes Jesus smile, laugh, had meals with him. They saw him weep. They saw him teach, they saw him pray. They even heard him sing. Did you know Jesus sang? In the upper room, we read that they sang a hymn together.

But having said that, I think that Jesus was quite ordinary in appearance. Now in some films from the past, he's been depicted in a certain way, but I don't know if that's the way he really appeared. We're actually told in Isaiah 53 that he had nothing beautiful or majestic about him to attract us to him. He didn't stand out in a crowd. When you see biblical art, everyone's in these dusty robes and Jesus is in a pristine white robe with a blue sash. Maybe he has a staff for good measure. That's not what Jesus looked like.

He mixed into the crowd. You wouldn't even notice him. Judas Iscariot had to identify him with a kiss so they would know who to arrest. Jesus didn't glow in the dark. He wasn't ten feet tall. He was ordinary in appearance, yet he was God walking among us. Like when he was transfigured and shined like the sun, when he walked on water or raised someone from the dead or ascended to heaven.

And so they're saying, "We just looked at him." You wonder sometimes, maybe Jesus was sleeping and he would wake up, and all the apostles are just staring at him and saying, "Wow, there he is." They just couldn't get enough. And they're talking about what they saw. And by the way, this phrase that they use here for "saw" is from the root word "theater," which means they were gazing at him like a spectacle. They couldn't get enough.

Sometimes we may meet a famous person, maybe it's an actor or a musician, and we say, "Oh, I really want to meet them." And we're a little underwhelmed. You want to meet your favorite actor and they always seem to be, when I've met some actors, they're often smaller than you expected. Like, "Wow, I didn't know you were that little. You look so much bigger in the movie." Or maybe they disappoint you because they're not as warm as you hoped they would be.

Or maybe they do the very opposite. They're very warm and they're very caring. Well, I can tell you Jesus never disappointed in any way, shape, or form. I've met a few well-known people over the years, powerful people, and I have to say the most impressive person I ever met was Billy Graham. He was obviously famous around the world, but we spent time in his home, and we spent time having meals with him and talking with him and being with him. And he was the most godly man that I ever met.

But he still was just a man. But here is Jesus, and they could look at him, they could grab him by the arm, they could hear his words. So how do you have an unshakeable faith? That's the key: you need to look to Jesus. Look to Jesus, and that's something we all can do. That's not merely a privilege of these first-century believers; it's a privilege for us as well. Let's say you're facing a health crisis. It's knocked the wind out of you. Your recovery is not happening as quickly as you would hope.

Well, first of all, look to Jesus. Remember the story of the woman who had the medical condition, and she reasoned, "If I can touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed," and that's exactly what she did. Call out to the Lord and ask for his healing touch. The Bible says you have not because you ask not. And the Bible even says if there's any sick among you, call for the elders of the church who will pray for you and anoint you with oil, and the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man will accomplish much.

And I can't tell you how many times the pastors here and elders have prayed for people and we've seen amazing things happen. We've seen miracles take place. So do pray. You say, "But Greg, what about when God doesn't heal?" Well, first I would pray for the healing, and if he doesn't heal, you'll know this for sure: he'll be with you in your time of suffering. He'll be with you in your time of sickness.

The great apostle Paul, whom God used to bring healing in the lives of others, had his own physical infirmity that he described as his thorn in the flesh. We don't know what it was, but we know that on three separate occasions he asked the Lord to remove it, and God's response was, "My grace is sufficient for you, and my power shows itself stronger in your times of weakness." So at the very least, the Lord will be with you.

Maybe someone you looked up to spiritually let you down. I'm sorry that happened to you, but remember, Jesus has not let you down, and Jesus will not let you down ever. So look to him. Put your eyes on Jesus Christ, as the author of Hebrews says, look to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith.

I've heard people describe a trip to Israel as seeing the Bible actually come to life. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. And I've been to Israel many times and I've led a lot of tours, and I have to say that's absolutely true. Listen, when you're walking on the same stones that Jesus himself walked on, well, that's something that's enriching to your faith. It's not just a travel experience. It actually energizes and enhances your study of the Bible. Think of it this way: it's a vacation with a purpose. And we're going to be taking a tour of Israel April 6th through 15th, 2027. You can find out more at israel.harvest.org.

Guest (Male): Step right into biblical history. Join Pastor Greg for a tour of the Holy Land April 6th through 15th, 2027. Get details at israel.harvest.org. Well, we're learning how to have an unshakeable faith. Pastor Greg is pointing out how essential it is to keep our eyes on Christ.

Greg Laurie: Corrie ten Boom, a remarkable woman who suffered in a concentration camp during World War II because her family and her hid Jewish people in their home from the Nazis and shared the gospel with them as well, made this statement and I quote: "Look within and be depressed. Look without and be distressed. Look at Jesus and be at rest."

And here's the thing: this is what John is really saying. You can have this relationship with God too. He's not saying, "Hey man, too bad you didn't live 2,000 years ago. We were there, you weren't." Instead, he's saying, "No, this is for you as well." Look at First John 1:3: "We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so you may fully share our joy."

We want you to have the same joy that we have had and that we have experienced. And so this is the thing he's bringing to our attention. But there's something that keeps that joy out of our life and it's unconfessed sin. Go back to First John, look at verse 5: "This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you. God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. So we're lying if we say we have fellowship with God and we go on living in spiritual darkness, and we're not practicing the truth. But if we're living in the light as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin."

God wants us to live in the light. And in the Bible, light is a picture, a metaphor, for walking closely with God. Darkness is a picture or metaphor for walking in sin. It's a lot easier to find things when the lights are on. I always wake up before my wife does and I'll be stumbling around looking for my clothes and I walk out going, "Oh wait, I put my wife's shirt on. I knew it was tight." But you turn the light on, "Oh, there it is," you can find things, right?

So everything's different when you turn the light on. And the Bible uses this picture for our relationship with the Lord. In Ephesians 5 it says, "You were formerly darkness, but now you're light in the Lord, so walk as children of the light." For the Christian who's living in light, he will not be living in sin. Real faith is proven by obedience. You're either in the light or you're not in the light. And so when you're in the light, it means that you will be honest.

God is not looking for perfection; he's looking for transparency. So he shines the light in our life to expose our sin so we will turn from it and find his forgiveness. A great example of this is David, the man after God's own heart. Now how could a man who committed adultery and also be responsible for effectively bringing about the death of another man, that would be Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, be called a man after God's own heart? I'll tell you how. When he was confronted with his sin, he came clean, he admitted it, and God forgave him.

Contrast him to King Saul, the first king of Israel, who was rejected from ruling on the throne. Saul would justify his sin, he would excuse his sin, he would lie about his sin. David, in contrast, admitted it. When David was confronted by Nathan the prophet, and basically said your sin has found you out, David said, "I have sinned against God." That is why he was a man after God's own heart because he admitted it and turned from it when confronted with it.

Listen, when you fall into sin, you have no one to blame but yourself. James 1:14 says, "Each person is tempted when they're dragged away by their own evil desires and they sin, and then sin when it's full-grown gives birth to death." Years ago when Jonathan was just a little boy, he had a video game and I told him, "Turn it off and go to bed." So I was walking by his room and I noticed light coming out from beneath the door. So I opened the door and under the covers here's little Jonathan still playing with his video game.

I said, "Jonathan, I told you to turn that off." And he looked up at me and said, "Dad, I couldn't resist myself." It was so cute, I just said, "Whatever, turn it off." But that was actually theologically correct. "I couldn't resist myself." We like to say the devil made me do it. The devil didn't make you do anything. A man sins when he's drawn away by his own desires, the Bible says. So we are responsible.

You say, "Well, the temptation was too strong. It was irresistible." That's not true. Nothing is irresistible. You can resist it. The Bible says resist the devil and he will flee from you. But first it says submit to God. So first I submit to God, then I resist the devil. First Corinthians 10:13 says there's no temptation that you're going to face that is not common to everybody else. But God, who is faithful, will not allow you to be tempted above your capacity to resist, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

Bottom line, there's always an exit sign. You just need to look for it. But see, we excuse it. We don't take responsibility. Say, "Well, I'm only human." Yeah, that's true, you're only human. But you're also, if you're a Christian, a spirit-filled child of God. And the Bible says you can walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Listen to this: sin takes you further than you want to go. It keeps you longer than you want to stay and costs you more than you want to pay. That's why we need to avoid it.

So God shines his light in your life, not to shame you, but to heal you. Verse 7: "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin." By the way, the Greek tense for cleanse here means continuous cleansing. He's still cleansing because we're still sinning. You don't need to say, "Well, I got saved 10 years ago at a Harvest Crusade and he forgave my sin." Yeah, that's 10 years ago, but then there's today and there'll be tomorrow. "Well, I don't really sin that much." Oh yes, you do.

The Bible says if you say you have no sin, you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you. We sin all the time. We need constant cleansing. But the promise is the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all sin. And the way to be forgiven of your sin is to confess it, to confess it. Look at First John 1:8: "If we claim we have no sin, we're only fooling ourselves and we're not living in the truth. But if we," underline this in your Bible please, get your pen out if you have a pen, underline it: "If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." What a promise that is. It's time to stop making excuses and start making confession.

Guest (Male): Such important truth today from Pastor Greg Laurie, from his message called "Unshakeable: When Faith Feels Fragile." And there's more to come from this study here on A New Beginning. But it's a good time to consider whether you've ever followed through on what Pastor Greg just suggested: if we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive our sins. Pastor Greg, maybe somebody would like to do that right now. What would you say to them?

Greg Laurie: I would say that God is just a prayer away. It doesn't take years to become a Christian. It doesn't take months. Frankly, it doesn't even take hours. It can happen so quickly. It just starts with you saying to God, "I know I'm a sinner. I know that you love me. I know that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sin and pay for those sins and then to rise again from the dead, and I want him to come into my life."

So here's my question to you: have you done that yet? Because Jesus, who did die on that cross and rose again from the dead three days later, is alive and standing at the door of your life right now and he's knocking. And he's saying if you'll hear my voice and open the door, I will come in. Would you like your sin forgiven? Would you like to know that when you die you will go to heaven? Do you want Christ to come into your life right now? Well, why don't you just stop whatever it is you're doing and pray this prayer with me. You could pray it out loud, you can pray it in the quietness of your own heart, but pray this prayer to God.

Say, "Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, but I know that you are the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it now, and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. I ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen."

Listen, if you just prayed that prayer, the Bible promises that God has heard your prayer and has answered your prayer. The Bible says if we will confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So God bless you. You've made the right decision, the decision to follow Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Yeah, that's right. And listen, Pastor Greg would like to help you start off right living for the Lord. He'd like to send you his New Believers Bible. It features hundreds of helps for new believers and it's written in an easy-to-understand translation. It'll answer so many of the questions you may have. So contact us for your free copy of the New Believers Bible. Call us at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org and click "Know God."

And then thank you for partnering with us to help these daily studies continue. Your investments have eternal benefits. Why not make this a part of your personal ministry, to partner in an effort that's making a real difference with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Thank you for your prayers and for prayerfully considering how God might lead you to help tangibly. Online, you'll find us at harvest.org and there you'll see the way we'd like to thank you for your donation right now. That's harvest.org or call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here around the clock to take your call again at 1-800-821-3300. Well, next time, great counsel to help us leave the past behind and welcome the future God has for us. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.