1975년 미국 텍사스 주 루복 전도대회
1975년 미국 텍사스 주 루복 전도대회
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두개의 동영상을 합친 빌리그라함 목사님 |
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Lubbock, Texas 1975.
시작할 때 합창으로 울려퍼지는 노래 가사 God shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
조지 비버리 시아씨가 부르는 미국인들의 나라 사랑 애창곡 for amber waves of grain for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain America! America! And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
(사회자 Cliff Barrows)
[Applause] All my life long I had panted for a draught from some cool spring that I hoped would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within hallelujah, I have found him
whom my soul
so long has craved
Jesus satisfies my yearning through his blood I now am saved feeding on the husks around me 'til my strength was almost gone for something better only still to hunger on well of water ever springing bread of life so rich and free untold wealth that never faileth my redeemer is to me hallelujah, I have found him whom my soul so long has craved Jesus satisfies my longing through his blood I now am saved
though his blood
I now am saved
[Applause]
All of us are looking
forward next year
to the bicentennial year
of the united states.
And many Americans, not many,
but millions of Americans,
tens of millions,
are going to participate
this next year in remembering
what happened 200 years ago--
that got us started toward
this great nation
that was built
by men and women,
at least in part,
who believed in God.
The spiritual roots
of this nation are tremendous.
Well, tonight we have a very
distinguished American with us.
He was undersecretary
of the navy,
then he was secretary
of the navy
for the longest time of any
other American in history.
And when the president
of the united states
wanted someone to direct
the whole bicentennial program
of the united states next year,
he chose the man
that is sitting beside me
on the platform,
Mr. John Warner.
John Warner has been
a personal friend,
for several years, of mine
because it's my privilege
to go to the pentagon
from time to time
to speak.
And he always entertained
me there.
And sometimes he would bring
his wonderful mother
to meet me.
And she would tell me how she
would watch us on television.
And some time ago it was
[Applause]
[Applause]
Thank you, Dr. graham,
and all those
who've joined on this lovely
evening in the crusade.
I share the honor
that you have given me
with those tens upon tens
of millions of people
in our country
and, indeed,
from all over the world
who are participating in
our nation's 200th anniversary.
As I travel about
these united states--
and I've now visited
50 of our states
an will soon go on
to the territories,
I've been asked
the question,
"when is the bicentennial?
"Where is the bicentennial?
"And how may I make
my commitment
"to the bicentennial?"
Well, our bicentennial
is right now in cities,
large and small,
towns, Indian tribes.
Preparations are under way
as we sit here
this lovely evening
to commemorate
the bicentennial.
In Washington
we're preparing
the master calendar of events
[Applause] God of our fathers, whose almighty hand leads forth in beauty all the starry band of shining worlds in splendor though the skies our grateful song before thy throne arise from war's alarms, from deadly pestilence be thy strong arm our ever sure defense thy true religion in our hearts increase thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace
refresh thy people
on their toilsome way
lead us from night to never ending day fill all our lives with love and grace divine and glory, laud and praise be ever thane and glory, laud and praise be ever thane and glory, laud and praise be ever thane [Applause] I don't know how you feel; but I feel proud tonight to be an American.
[Applause]
This year most of our crusades
have been abroad
and we have been in various
parts of the world
holding evangelistic crusades
like this.
Next year we are staying
the entire year
in the united states
holding crusades from one end
of the country to the other,
and participating in scores
of bicentennial events.
Because we believe
that the greatest service
we can make to America
in her bicentennial year
will be to strengthen
the spiritual strength
that we do have
in this country,
and pray that God will make
next year, 1976,
a year of spiritual revival
and renewal in this nation.
I believe that if we Americans
will make it a year of prayer,
we can see what could
happen to this nation
in just one year.
And I hope that all of you
will be participating in that.
[Applause]
You know, there have been
four great crises
in American history,
in my judgment.
The first one was
the revolutionary war.
And at valley forge
it seemed that Washington
would never win the war
because that winter
thousands of men deserted,
thousands of men died
of malnutrition,
and only a few thousand
were left
when the winter was over.
And we have a picture of
George Washington on his knees
in prayer, praying.
And out of those prayers
came the victory at Yorktown
and the end of
the revolutionary war
and the winning of it.
The second great crisis
in American history came
in the civil war when brother
fought against brother
and cousin against cousin.
And this nation was torn
from one end to the other.
And we have pictures
in our history books
of Robert E. Lee
and Abraham Lincoln,
both praying that
God's will be done.
And God's will was done in
the preservation of this union,
and the proclamation
that set free slaves,
and started black men
on the road to freedom
in this country.
And then the third great crisis
of this country, I believe,
was the crisis in
the constitutional convention.
And I got it a little
out of sequence.
[Applause]
We want you to write us
because we need
your financial support.
These telecasts cost
about a million dollars
and we need your help
and hope that you will send
a gift and make it as generous
as you possibly can.
And that is in keeping
with our text tonight,
by the angels;
"glory to God in the highest,
and on earth
"peace, good will toward men."
But then there's a couple
of strange verses
that I want to read.
Luke 12:49;
our same lord Jesus Christ
is speaking;
"I am come to send fire
on the earth," he said.
"I have come to send fire
on the earth."
And then Matthew 10:34, he says
something else very strange.
He says, "think not that I've
come to send peace on earth.
"I come not to send peace,
but a sword."
It sounds like
a contradiction.
It sounds like he didn't know
what he was talking about.
He was announced
as the prince of peace
in the old testament.
He came in fulfillment
of the prophecies
of the old testament.
The angels announced him
as the one
that was going to bring peace.
And now when he reaches
the age of 30 years of age
and he enters upon
his ministry,
he said, "I have come to
bring fire on the earth."
And he says, "I come not to
bring peace, but a sword."
How do we reconcile it?
What did he mean?
There are those who try
to reduce Christ
to the level of a genial,
innocuous appeaser.
But Christ said,
"you're wrong."
I'm a fire setter.
I'm a sword wielder.
This generation
has been called
the tormented generation.
And the reason that
it's been called that
is because it's
an age of revolution;
Isaiah 53;
the whole chapter devoted;
the most graphic description
of the death on the cross
written 800 years
before Christ.
Before utopia
can come to earth,
the messiah had to go
to the cross and die.
And men have always been
over-optimistic about peace.
Remember Mr.. Chamberlain,
the prime minister
of great Britain?
Just before Germany began
the war, in 1939,
how Mr.. Chamberlain flew back
in one of those early
plane flights
with his umbrella and he said,
"peace in our time."
And the people cheered.
And war was just about
to break out.
They were certain
in Jesus' day
with his wonderful personality
and his gentle nature,
that he'd come to bring peace.
And the same mistake
is being made
by well-meaning people today
with a superficial knowledge
of the bible.
And Jesus had to correct
this easy optimism
and warn them that his coming
this time did not mean
a quick utopia.
Far from being a drug
to soothe society to sleep,
with man's evil nature
still smoldering
and liable to explode
at any moment,
his message was fire
that was going to set
society ablaze.
He taught that his fire
would eventually destroy
Just as I am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee oh, lamb of God, I come, I come oh, lamb of God, I come, I come just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot oh, lamb of God, I come, I come oh, lamb of God, I come, I come you that are watching by television can see here at Texas Tech University stadium, hundreds of people coming across this field to make this commitment to Jesus Christ and to find peace with God and the peace that passeth all understanding. That peace, that purpose, that joy can be yours. Wherever you are, in a hotel room, in your living room, your bedroom at home, you can say "yes" to Christ. If you will, write to me, Billy graham, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and I will send you the same literature that we're going to give to the people that are coming here, to help you in your Christian life. God bless you, and be sure and go to church next Sunday. < |
[설교
방송][기독교
영화][음악
동영상][오디오
성경][글방][자료
검색실][사이트맵][BBC
세계 뉴스]
are the daughters of
reverend Howard Jones,
who is one of the associate
evangelists
of the Billy graham
evangelistic association.
And one of the girls, Cheryl,
is married to Norman sanders,
who is also a member
of our team.
We're delighted to have them.
Let's welcome them tonight,
shall we,
as they come to sing for us.
my privilege to invite him
to come and be with us
in Lubbock
and he said, "I'll do it."
And he's flown down here
from Washington
after a very hectic schedule.
He'll be going back
to Washington in the morning.
Let's give Mr. Warner
a big welcome to Texas.
and our computer has crossed
now over 20,000 events,
growing at the rate
of over 1,000 per week--
showing how this sweeping
enthusiasm of this nation,
this love of country,
is going to properly honor
the dignity and
the greatness of our nation.
Tonight I would
like to share with you
a few of the thoughts
about our bicentennial.
Yes, there will be
parades and rhetoric
and picnics and fireworks
and all those things
that have been traditional
these many years.
But deeper than that goes
the commitment of our people
of
to lay a cornerstone
for our third century,
to look into the blueprint
of this nation,
each for himself;
the declaration of independence,
the constitution,
and the bill of rights--
and search that blueprint
to determine if, in fact,
the hopes and the aspirations
as laid down and promised
by the founding fathers;
are they being fulfilled?
If not, why not?
What must we do as we enter
our third century?
Right here today
in west Texas
I visited some
of the permanent bicentennial
sites, construction,
new construction,
providing jobs,
educational programs,
that will be here
many years after
as a lasting remembrance
to the people of west
Texas;
cared enough about their
country, about their city,
to participate
in the bicentennial.
Let me share with you
tonight a bit of history
that's not remembered
by many.
When we think of the
declaration of independence,
we think of Thomas Jefferson.
And when he died he asked to be
remembered for two things:
His leadership role in the
drafting of that declaration
and his leadership role
in drafting
the first declaration
for freedom of religion
for the great state
of Virginia.
How many can remember
when Jefferson died?
He died exactly 50 years
from the date
that he signed the declaration
of independence.
Thomas Jefferson died
on the hot, sultry afternoon
of July 4, 1826.
Little did he know
that on that same day
another president
of the united states,
the second president,
john Adams,
would also die
50 years from the date
that he signed the declaration.
Our nation, and indeed,
the world was astonished
by these facts
that two presidents,
the second and
third presidents,
two signers of
the declaration of independence
died together exactly 50 years
from the date of
the birth of our nation.
What would you have said to
the people of the united states
had you been the president?
I brought with me tonight
the brief announcement
that the president
of the united states
read to the nation
on July 4, 1826.
"This has been a coincidence
of circumstances so wonderful
"it gives confidence
to the belief
"that the patriotic efforts
of these illustrious men,
"Jefferson and Adams,
were heaven-directed.
"And this furnishes a new
seal to the hope
"that the prosperity these
united states will soon go on,
"is under the special
protection
"of a kind providence."
Tonight I ask you in the names
of millions and millions
of Americans
who are working
for the bicentennial,
to make your commitment
to participate in the manner
that you deem best for your
own belief in this country;
what's best for your
individual community
and what's best
for your nation.
And your contribution,
and your community, along with
the thousands upon thousands
of other contributions
will make a magnificent mosaic
as a gift to this country.
But in doing so, you will have
to ask and answer a question
as did the 1826 president
of our united states.
For the fourth of July, 1976,
does not fall upon
just any day of the week.
Our 200th birthday falls
upon the lord's day, a
Sunday.
And it will be your
responsibility
to answer the question,
was that by coincidence,
or was it heaven-directed?
Good night and
thank you.
But the constitutional
convention almost broke up,
they almost went back and
formed 13 separate nations,
when Benjamin Franklin
stood up
and called the convention
to prayer.
And out of the prayer
came our constitution.
And the fourth great crisis,
I believe,
is the crisis that
we've been going through
in the past 10 or 15 years.
And it's basically a moral
and a spiritual crisis.
And once again America
needs to go to prayer.
And America needs
to get on its knees.
And America needs to repent
of her sins and turn to God;
and we will see an answer
to some of the great dilemmas
and problems
that we're facing
as a nation.
But in spite of our problems
I'm proud to be an American.
I'm a citizen
of two worlds--
a citizen of
the kingdom of God, first,
and a citizen of the united
states of America, second.
And I would die
for that flag.
And I would give my life
for this country.
And I'm proud that
wherever I go
I don't go as an ambassador
of this country,
I go as an ambassador
of the king of kings
and lord of lords.
But, secondly,
I'm also proud to be
a representative
of this country.
We have so much.
And I want to tell you,
we could lose it so fast,
as we have been seeing
this past year in Portugal--
an illustration of how fast
you can lose your liberties.
Let's guard our liberties.
And the greatest way we can
guard our liberties
is to go to church,
have prayer in the home,
and turn to God.
Because a God-fearing people
are the greatest
and the strongest
and the freest people
in all the world.
Now tonight--
a technological revolution
that is causing
other revolutions
throughout the world.
Political revolutions;
old orders are dying
and new orders are coming
into being.
Nation are being overthrown
by revolution
almost weekly as we read
in our newspapers.
And on that tragic day
here in Texas,
that November day, 1963,
president Kennedy
had prepared to say to
the Dallas citizens' council
these words:
"We in this generation
are by destiny
"rather than by choice,
"watchman on the walls
of world freedom.
"We did not seek
this responsibility,
"but we will not shrink
from it."
The 20th century will be called
the century of revolution.
And the whole world order
is changing
and changing rapidly
right now;
morally, structurally in
business, labor, government.
Everything is in a--
is in change and in crisis,
because the word "change" and
"crisis" mean the same thing.
And many people
are very idealistic.
Now we have a peace pact
in the middle east.
And I suppose that
secretary Henry Kissinger
is the most remarkable
secretary of state
in American history.
I've never read about
a secretary of state
that goes back and forth,
and back and forth,
and back and forth,
and back and forth,
and back and forth,
until he has something.
And he's coming home
with something.
And the president meets him
at the airport.
And it's a pact--
hoping for peace.
Now, will it be
permanent peace?
The people of the middle east
have been fighting
ever since Cain slew able.
And they patch it up
for a while.
And sometimes a whole
generation goes by
and there's peace;
and then war breaks out again
somewhere in the middle east
and it's interesting to me
that the nations of the bible
are back on the front pages
of the newspapers again:
Syria, Egypt, Israel.
All of those are nations
in the bible.
They're biblical nations.
And the bible teaches that
there's going to come a day;
some day in the future
when they will have peace;
permanent peace.
But 'til that time,
because of the evil
in man's heart
and because of the disease and
the flaw in man's nature--
there's going to be wars
and rumors of wars
'til that glorious day when
permanent peace will come.
But many idealists
of every generation
have thought that
they could bring
permanent peace without God
and without the prince of peace
and it can't be done.
The world tonight is arming as
it's never been arming before.
We're told in magazine article
after magazine article
about the nations of the world
that are arming.
Small nations that cannot
afford arms
are arming to the teeth.
For what?
You see, there's a flaw
in human nature.
And as long as man has
this disease called sin
there's going to be
the possibility of war.
And as long as there's lust and
greed and hate in the world,
there's going to be
the possibility of war.
You say, "what the world
needs is education."
Joseph Gobbels got
his Ph.D. Degree
at Heidelberg university,
and he became Hitler's
propaganda chief
and his right-hand man.
Adolf Eichmann had
a brilliant education.
And when he lived
in Buenos airs
people said that he was
a model citizen.
And yet,
he was responsible
for the murder of millions
of Jewish people.
Like the people of whom
john Kennedy described
in while England slept.
They could not believe the
crisis was as deep as it was.
I am not a name-dropper
and I certainly don't want
to be one tonight;
but since he's dead,
I think I can tell this story.
I was asked in 1955
to come and see
prime minister
Winston Churchill.
We had just closed
at Wembley stadium--
and the largest crowd in the
history of Wembley stadium--
it still holds the record
to this day.
The largest stadium in Britain
jammed to capacity.
And they let us use
their sacred turf
which they've never allowed
since then.
And Mr.. Churchill invited me
to come and see him.
And his secretary in recounting
the incident
said in his memoirs
that the prime minister
was a little nervous.
He asked his secretary,
he said, "what do you talk
to an evangelist about?"
Well, when we got in there,
and the door had been closed,
and he sat down.
It was a dimly lit room
and the three afternoon London
newspapers were sitting there.
He said, "young man,"
he said,
"I've been following
what's been happening
"since you've been in England."
And he said "it's quite
remarkable,"
and he said, "it's needed".
He said, "I personally
don't have any hope
"that the world is going
to find peace."
He said, "look at these
afternoon newspapers.
"They're filled with murder
and violence
"and talk of war."
He said, "do you have any hope
to give to an old man?"
And I said, "yes, sir!"
And I had my new testament
and I took it out
and I read to him several
passages of scripture.
And I told him what
the biblical hope was.
That the biblical hope
for peace lies in a person
that has been called
"the prince of peace,"
the lord Jesus Christ,
who is coming back to
this earth again some day
to set up his kingdom.
That is our hope.
The first Christmas night
when the announcement
to the shepherds was made,
it seemed that
the optimists were right.
"Glory to God in the highest,"
the angel said,
"and on earth peace,
good will toward men."
But they ignored other
prophecies in the bible.
They ignored those
old testament passages
that predicted the suffering,
the death of the messiah.
the bonds of ignorance,
the social injustices,
the racial prejudices.
When we had
the constitutional convention
no black was there,
no teenager was there,
no woman was there.
We've made tremendous
progress in this country
in the past few years.
Women had to wait a long time
to get the vote.
The black man had to wait
a long time
to get the vote.
But today our world
in America has changed
in many ways for the better
an in many ways,
morally and spiritually,
it's changing for the worse.
And so we see two things
happening at the same time.
It seems that evil
is getting worse
and good is getting better.
And Jesus said, "the wheat and
the tares will grow together."
But he taught that eventually
his fire,
the fire of the gospel,
would destroy ignorance and
slavery and prejudice
and hate and lust and greed.
But he warned
that before that time
there would be division
and strife.
You see, those two are
dominated by lust and greed.
Don't want Christ
in their lives.
They don't want Christ to
be the lord and master
of their families.
They don't want Christ
to direct their lives.
They don't want to live
the high moral standards
that he demands.
And these statements about
fire and the sword of Christ
probably came as
a shock to them.
Now john Wesley interpreted
this quote of Christ as meaning
"I've come to spread the fire
of heavenly love
"upon the earth."
And there's a sense in which
true love is a fire.
It's spoken of as
a refiner's fire.
You know, here in this stadium
when you have a football game,
if you're really for Texas tech
you're going to shout loud
when they make a touchdown.
And the man who loves his
neighbor the most will fight
all that hurts and deprives
and oppresses his neighbor.
Paul said, "who is offended
and I burn not."
Christ drove the moneychangers
from the temple.
He rebuked the Pharisees.
He rebuked those men
who wanted to stone
that poor woman
taken in adultery.
Abraham Lincoln became
filled with righteous anger
when down in new Orleans--
he was only 22 years of age--
and he saw a slave girl being
trotted back and forth
like a horse to be sold.
And he said to his friends,
"let's get out of here.
"If I ever have a chance,
I'm going to hit this thing
"and hit it hard."
And he did.
His love for
the freedom of men
did not bring peace and unity.
Lincoln's love for freedom
helped bring war.
And it took a war,
a devastating war,
to unite this country
greater than ever.
Now God loves the world
ten thousand times more
than Abraham Lincoln was
capable of loving America.
God loves our world.
He loves you
so much that he gave his son
to die on the cross
to bring peace.
And the bible teaches three
kinds of peace--only three.
First, there is peace with God.
"Therefore being justified
by faith,
"we have peace with God
through our lord Jesus Christ,"
said the apostle Paul
in Romans 5:1 .
The greatest need that you
have right now tonight
as an individual,
is peace with God.
You say, "well, Billy,
I'm not at war with God."
Yes, you are.
You may not be conscious
of it.
God calls it war because you
are in rebellion against him.
You don't do his will.
You haven't yielded
your life to him
as lord and master and savior.
Oh, you're a member
of the church.
You're a fairly decent person.
But the bible says we don't
even know our hearts.
"Our hearts are deceitful
and desperately wicked."
Now that's how God looks at it.
I go to the mayo clinic
every year for an examination
and they always give me
an x-ray.
And they usually find
a little something wrong
somewhere inside of me.
And on two or three occasions
they've operated,
because of what they saw
in the x-ray.
Now I didn't know it was there,
but the x-ray shows it up.
You see, you don't know that
you're rebelling against God.
You're not quite
conscious of it.
You're not shaking your
fist in God's face;
but you're not living
according to the word of God.
You're not giving time
to prayer.
You're not giving time
to bible study.
You're not giving time
to soul-winning.
You're not giving everything
that you possibly could give.
And so God looks upon you and
God pronounces the verdict,
and the diagnosis is
that your heart is sinful.
That's God's diagnosis.
That's the way
he looks at you.
He says, "you're a sinner,
you've broken my laws.
"You're in rebellion
against me.
"And what you need
is reconciliation."
And the greatest need
that we have tonight
is reconciliation with God.
How do you get reconciled
with God?
That's what the cross
is all about.
On the cross
the lord Jesus Christ
reached one hand and
took the hand of God,
and the other hand
and took your hand,
and brought us together
and reconciled us to God at the cross. And you can only find God
at the cross.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn was over
here recently, remember.
And he toured around
the country.
And he told a little story
that everybody ought to hear,
if you didn't hear it.
He said when he was in
that prison for so long
there came one time,
and one time only,
when he thought of suicide.
He said he was not allowed
ever to speak to his cell mate.
For weeks on end, they could
not speak to each other.
And he said that
his cell mate saw him
growing weaker and weaker
and more depressed
and more discouraged
all the time.
And he said his cell mate
took a little stick
and in the sand,
or the dirt, in the cell
he drew a picture
of the cross.
And Solzhenitsyn said,
"at that moment,
"the whole purpose
of my existence
"dawned upon me.
"Because," he said,
"I realized that Jesus Christ
"shed his blood for me
on that cross."
And he said,
"that gave me the courage
"to live through
my imprisonment."
Have you come to that cross?
Not with all your
religious trappings,
not with all your pretenses
and pride;
but have you come
in great humility and said,
"0, lord, I've sinned
against you and I'm sorry,
"and I'm willing for you
to come into my life
"and change my life and
change my way of living?"
I talked to a man
this afternoon
in a distant city,
goes to church,
sits on the front row.
He said "I'm going to commit
suicide in just a few minutes.
"I've become so depressed."
I prayed with him.
He promised to wait at least
another 48 hours
before he commits suicide.
Are the pressures of life
pressing in on you like that?
The suicide rate in this
country is rising every hour,
as people are coming to
the end of themselves.
And some of it is
right in the church--
people who have religion,
but do not have
Jesus Christ.
A pastor in this town
told me yesterday, he said,
"Billy, the greatest problem
we face in west Texas
"is that we have religion,
"but we don't really know
Jesus Christ."
That's what Jesus said
to Nicodemus.
"You must be born again."
And he was a religious man.
Peace with God--
that's why Christ died.
That's why he rose again.
That's what the cross
is all about.
Christ did his part on
the cross in dying for you.
Now you must receive him.
You see, God is willing
to offer you a pardon.
He'll pardon you
and forgive you;
but, more than that,
he will change you
here and now.
And you begin eternal life,
not when you die.
You begin eternal life
tonight--right now
and you can have
heaven on earth,
joy and peace and security
in the midst of a world
that's crumbling.
In fact, that's what
peace means.
Peace means tranquility
no matter what
the circumstances.
Let the bombs fall;
let the wars come;
let the world tear apart;
let your husband leave you,
or your wife leave you;
let death come to the family.
All these things
will cause tears, yes.
But in the midst of it,
is peace because
you have peace with God.
And that brings us
to our second point:
There's the peace of God.
Peace with God now,
now peace of God.
Jesus said,
"peace I leave with you;
"my peace I give unto you,
"not as the world giveth
give I unto you."
Now the world can give you
a peace.
You can go out here
and get drunk
and get a little peace;
and go out and take some drugs
and some little peace
and tranquility
for a short time.
You can go out here and
have a sex experience,
have an affair.
And you'll have a little peace
and a little fun,
a little merriment,
a little joy
for a little while.
The bible says,
"there's pleasure in sin
"for a short season."
But then comes the terrible
moment of truth
when you must face reality,
when you must face God,
you must face the judgment,
you must face eternity.
And you don't have
the peace of God.
And the greatest legacy that Christ left us was his peace.
He said, "my peace
I give unto you."
Think of the serenity
with which Jesus Christ
moved in his life.
He wasn't hurrying about
here and there like we do.
He seemed to take time
with everybody.
He only had three years.
He could have fed all
the hungry people in the world.
With one wave of his arm
he could have stopped
all the wars;
but he didn't do it.
That wasn't God's plan.
God's plan was that
he would go to the cross
and take your sins.
You see, God couldn't be just
and just forgive you.
God couldn't come along
and pat you on the back
and say, "Jim, bill, Susie,
marry, I forgive you.
"I know you've broken my law
and you've sinned."
You see, to us
sin seems trivial.
It doesn't seem serious.
But in God's sight
it's deadly serious.
It means eternal death.
It means judgment.
God is a just God,
absolutely just.
Somebody had to bear
the punishment.
Someone had to spend
the time in the prison.
Someone had to suffer the pangs
of hell and judgment.
And Jesus Christ stepped out
and said, "I will."
And he took your judgment
and your hell.
And when he was on that cross,
he said to the people
that were driving
the nails in his hands--
he prayed to the father,
he said, "father,
"forgive them too.
"They don't even know
what they're doing."
I expect to see the men
that drove the nails
in his hands,
I expect to see them
in heaven.
Because I believe
that God answered
the prayer of his son that day.
There's never been a person
that called upon the lord,
even with a sigh or a breath
and said, "lord..."
remember the thief
on the cross?
He deserved death.
He deserved to die.
He was a murder,
he was a robber.
And all he did was turn
to Jesus Christ and say,
"remember me when thou
comest into thy kingdom."
And Jesus said, "today thou
shalt be with me in paradise."
"Remember me."
That's all.
That quick.
People say, "well, you can't
come to Christ that quick
"and have your life
changed like that."
You certainly can.
Paul and Silas were in prison.
They were singing and
they were witnessing;
and the jailer was listening.
And the prison walls fell down
in an earthquake.
And it looked like
the prisoners were escaping.
And the jailer drew his sword,
he was going to kill himself,
because he knew the roman
authorities would kill him
the next day for letting
the prisoners escape.
And Paul said,
"wait a minute.
"We haven't fled,
we're still here."
And the man fell down
in terror.
And he said,
"what must I do to be saved?
And you know what the average
person would say to him?
"Why, you're in no emotional
state to be saved,
"wait 'til you calm down.
"Think about it.
"Let's meet and talk
this out tomorrow,
"and explain it to you."
Paul didn't do that.
Paul said, "believe on
the lord Jesus Christ
"and thou shalt be saved,
and thy house."
Just believe right now,
here.
And at that moment
that Philippians jailer
received Christ,
was saved and was forgiven.
And before the night was over,
he was doing social work.
Because it says that
he washed the backs
of the prisoners
whom he had beaten
just a few hours earlier.
Just like that
your life can be changed.
You can be touched
by Christ tonight
and never be the same again.
And then thirdly,
and lastly,
there is peace
with our fellow men.
Jesus said,
"have peace with one another."
In other words,
we are to work for peace.
We are to do all that
Mr.. Kissinger has been doing.
But man himself without God
will never bring
permanent peace.
Thousands of peace treaties
have been signed
in the history of the world.
And we still have wars.
Is there going to be
a day and a time
when we will have no more war?
Yes, there's coming a day.
Listen to what
the scripture says,
"and he shall rule
the nations;
"and they shall beat their
swords into plowshares,
"and their spears
into pruning hooks,
"nation shall not lift up
sword against nation.
Neither shall they learn
war any more," Isaiah 2:4.
That's going to happen.
War will be eliminated.
Peace will come.
And then the scripture
says in another place,
"and in that day
I will make a covenant
"for them with the beasts
of the field,
"and the fowls of the heaven,
"and with the creeping
things of the ground;
"and I will break
the bow and the sword
"in the battle of the earth.
"And all will lie down
safely together."
Did you see the picture
the other night on television
how the insects
are about to take the world?
And there's a battle right
now as to whether man
is going to survive
by 2,000 A.D.
Or whether the insects
are going to survive .
And we're at war
with the insect world
because they're
moving so fast.
Here it says those little
creeping things, these insects,
we're going to be
at peace with.
E you can have a tiger
in your living room,
just like you have a cat now.
It's going to be
a wonderful time.
There'll be no tears,
no suffering,
no hospitals, no armies,
no navies, no wars;
and no death,
no graveyards--
a wonderful, glorious
world to come.
What will be the government?
The united nations?
No.
Theocracy--God reigning.
God will be in charge
and he will rule the world,
the scripture says,
"with a rod of iron."
That means with
perfect justice
and perfect love
and perfect mercy.
That's the future.
And I want to tell you tonight
I've staked everything I've got,
ever will have,
on the promise of that word.
I'm trusting in
Jesus Christ,
and him alone,
as my lord
and my savior.
And when my moment comes
to die,
if I should die
before he comes,
I know that there
will be an angel
that will come and
take me by the hand
and usher me into
the presence of my lord.
And I will be
with him forever.
I know where I've come from.
I know why I'm here.
I know where I'm going
and I don't have
any doubts about it.
You can have that same peace,
that same assurance,
that same joy
by putting your confidence
and your faith
in Jesus Christ.
And I'm going to ask you
to do it tonight.
How?
I'm going to ask
hundreds of you
to get up out of your seat
right now
and come and stand in front
of the platform
and make this commitment
to Christ, openly.
You say, "Well, Billy, why do
we have to come forward?"
Because Jesus said,
"if you don't confess me
before men openly,
"I'll not confess you before
my father which is in heaven."
And every person that he
called in the new testament,
he called publicly.
There was a reason for it.
If you're ashamed
of following Christ
then you're no follower of his.
He wants you to come out
and be open about it.
And I'm going to give you
an opportunity
to come out tonight
and be open about it.
You may be a member of
the best church in town
or you may not be
a member of any church.
You may be catholic,
protestant or Jewish;
or you may not have
any religion.
But you want to come and give
your heart and your life
to him tonight and you want to
make sure about this thing.
You want his peace.
You want his forgiveness.
You want to know
you're going to heaven.
You want to choose
his side tonight.
You get up and come.
If you're with friends
that have come in a bus,
they'll wait on you.
Bring your friend with you.
It'll only take two
or three minutes.
After you've come,
here's what we're going to do;
I'm going to say
a word to you,
have a prayer with you,
give you some literature.
And you can go back
and join your friends.
You get up and
come right now.
If you come from
that top balcony,
it takes about a minute longer.
So get up and come right now,
quickly from everywhere.
And all of you back here
that God has spoken to
and all around,
you get up and come.
We're going to wait.