“What do I have to do to be saved?” Watch and share Billy Graham’s 1993 message from Columbus, Ohio, explaining the true meaning of salvation and how to achieve it. Watch more #MondayNightClassics weekly at 8 p.m. Eastern.
from our archives the billy graham
classics
tonight i want you to turn with me to
the 16th chapter of acts one of the most
familiar stories
in all the bible and the 16th chapter of
acts
is a wonderful little story in the life
of saint paul
he and timothy
are traveling about he picked timothy up
at another town and now they come to
to philippi and they are arrested
for preaching but philippi was very
interesting because that was the first
european city that paul went to
he felt that he should be going south
but it seems that god blocked the way
then he felt he should go north up by
the black sea
and the holy spirit said no don’t go
there
he had only one place to go and that was
west
and so he came to europe he had a vision
of a man in macedonia
calling him saying come and help us
so he went to europe with his little
team there were four of them but this
time
there was timothy there was luke
and silas and they were all together
going around preaching proclaiming the
gospel of christ
and they were arrested in philippi that
already had several converts and the
first convert
in all of europe was a woman by the name
of lydia she was a very well to do woman
a cell of purple
and she found the lord she opened her
home for them to stay there
and when they were arrested they were
beaten
with long leather thongs of steel
pellets on the end all they were beaten
with rods it says in one place
and they were black and blue and
bleeding
and they were thrown into the inner
prison which meant
that their neck was tied with an iron
necklace their hands were put in stocks
their feet were put in stocks and there
they were
but you know what they did by midnight
they began to sing praises to god
they began to testify they began to tell
what christ had meant to them
the jailers was listening and all the
people in the jail were listening
and they kept on preaching finally there
came an earthquake
and the walls began to fall down from
the jail
and the stocks that bound them were
loosened
and the jailer knowing that he would be
held accountable
and he would have to die he’d be
executed for allowing these people to
escape
he pulled out his sword and he was going
to plunge it into his heart
when paul said don’t do yourself any
harm we’re still here
and the jailors seeing paul and silas
standing there fell down before them
in humility in the dust of the jail
and he asked this question he said sirs
what must i do to be saved how can i
have the faith
and the spirit that you have you came
into this terrible smelly awful place
having been beaten and now
you begin to sing and you begin to tell
what christ
could do for you how how can i be saved
how can i have this same peace and joy
and happiness
that you have
and paul gave him a very simple answer
he didn’t go into anything profound
he didn’t go into a discussion of
philosophy or psychology or
world conditions he said
believe on the lord jesus christ
and thou shall be saved and thy house
believe on the lord jesus christ and
thou
shall be saved
now that was very simple wasn’t it and
so we’re
crying we hear the cry all over the
world
save us we’re crying save us from war
we read a great deal about armageddon
and many people are asking me today
is the end of the world near they’re so
alarmed at what they see on the
television with all the crime
that we see and all the hunger that we
read about in the sudan and in somalia
then people are saying save our homes
church leaders have told me about the
breakdown of the home here in
ohio nationwide one out of every two
marriages
ends in divorce believe on the lord
jesus christ and thou shalt be saved and
thy
house if you come to christ tonight
it’ll have an impact on your family have
an impact on your marriage on your
neighbors
then we cry save us psychologically the
tensions in
the home problems that work health
problems
making ends meet we want to scream at
life we want to escape from life
a few years ago a popular song said make
the world go away and get it off my
shoulders
job who suffered so much in the bible
wanted to die
thousands of people are suffering from
some sort of mental illness
we’re called the tormented generation
millions are crying what can i do to be
saved from the pressures of life
the pressures are just so great we have
great technology to save time but we
have less time than ever
escapism is a subconscious mechanism to
escape reality
job said my days are spent without hope
isaiah the prophet said even the youths
shall faint and be weary
cain who had killed abel had a terrible
guilt
in his life and he said my burden is
greater than i can bathe
he became a vagabond a wandra
the psalmist said and i said oh but i
had the wings like a dove
for then i would fly away and be at rest
have you said that
i’d like to just fly away from my
problem get away from it
and have rest
the psalmist longing to escape has
become the cry of the world today
but there doesn’t seem to be any way out
for you
to those people jesus said i’m the way
out
jesus said i’m the door by me if any man
enter in he shall be saved
we have in the media today what we call
group thinking
it’s affected our whole way of living
it affects our brand of food the cars we
drive
even patterns of religious belief modern
communication lays
down the law of fashion manna speech
and especially moral behavior
students feel almost like statistics at
the big universities
and personal relationships between
teachers and students that used to
prevail
have disappeared and have broken down
the student now feels that he’s only a
statistic
and students even in high school and
grammar school are now taking computers
to class
in the sight of god man is an individual
and god looks upon you as an individual
that he loves
he has the hairs of your head numbered
he sees the sparrow fall
he loves you he’s interested in you and
he wants you
to talk to him and tell him what your
problems are and he will help you
when you see a play on television or you
see a movie
almost everyone is saying what must i do
to be
saved out of my particular situation or
you read a novel
how is that person going to escape
all of mankind is crying what must we do
to be saved
and this was what the jailer was
asking paul and silas what must i
do to be saved he said and it’s the cry
of our world
in the latter part of the 20th century
and as we begin
the next 2000 years and paul had a
simple answer
believe believe on the lord jesus christ
and you will be saved
but we don’t want to do that
jesus said i am the way the truth and
the life
no man comes to the father but by me
many people today would say that this
jayla was in no
emotional state to make such a decision
i think we need some more emotion in our
faith
we have it at ball games we have it in
the theater
we have it everywhere except when we go
to church
i heard about a baptist from texas again
and he was in one of those big
cathedrals in europe
and he didn’t think he would hear
anything that would sound like texas
baptist to him
and they said the apostles creed
the minister got up and read the 23rd
psalm
and then when the minister got up to
give a short homily a short sermon
he said some things he believed and so
he said
amen out loud
two or three times and everybody stopped
and looked around at him
thought he was crazy
and an usher came to him and said sir
you can’t do that in here
he said i’ve got religion and there she
said but you didn’t get it here
now the apostle paul had been converted
to christ
in a very dramatic way he was
had turned against
the christians he was trying to kill
them
persecute them and he was on the way to
damascus to capture some more and bring
them
he was going to put them in prison and
all of a sudden he was stopped by a
bright light
and he fell down he was blinded
and he said lord what are you
what do you want he knew it was god
and on that damascus road paul
was converted his name was saul and it
was changed to paul
and he was converted and he became the
greatest christian that has ever lived
now that was a dramatic moment there was
a motion
to it the bible teaches that we’re to
fear god
psalm 33 8 says let all the earth fear
the lord
let all the inhabitants of the world
stand in awe of him
we to ought to fear the judgment modern
man doesn’t like to think of god in
terms of wrath
and anger and judgment but god is a god
of
judgment he’s a god of love he loves you
he loves you so much that he died on the
cross for you and shed
his blood for you and if you repent of
your sins and receive him into your
heart
you’ll be saved you’ll go to heaven
when you die you can have that assurance
right now and there are thousands of
people here tonight that have been
baptized
or you’ve been confirmed in the church
and you’re a good person but deep inside
you’re not
certain that you really know christ
you’re not certain that you’re going
to heaven and you want to be sure you’d
like to be sure
you can be sure before you leave this
stadium tonight
if you make your commitment to christ
and we ought to fear the fact that we’re
going to judgment
modern man doesn’t like to think of god
in terms of wrath and anger and judgment
he tries to remake god to conform to his
own wishful thinking
and make himself comfortable in his sins
this modern god has the attributes
of love and mercy and forgiveness but
without
judgment we don’t like that word
judgment we don’t like that word hell
how long has it been since you heard a
sermon on hell
the bible says he’s appointed a day in
which he will judge the world in
righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained
a divinity school student stood up at
harvard
and asked me in a discussion
said can you tell me in plain and clear
language
what must i do to be saved he asked me
that question
right in front of the faculty and the
other students
and i answered him i answered him as
paul
answered believe on the lord jesus
christ and thou shalt be saved
after peter had preached his great
sermon at pentecost
the people were stirred in their hearts
and they said to peter what must we do
what do we have to do
20th century man asked the same question
that man has always asked i remember
when i was in korea during the war
there was a chaplain that came to me
and he said you know i’ve been to
seminary
i have my degrees i’ve been pastor of a
large church
i was called to be professor at a
seminary
and the other day i was called to the
side of a dying boy
out of the field hospital and he was
dying and i didn’t know what to tell him
he asked me he said what must what can i
do to find peace in my heart i know i’m
dying
and he said i didn’t know what to tell
him what would you tell him
the answer that paul gave to this jailer
long ago
is so simple that millions stumble over
it
you don’t have to straighten out your
life first you don’t have to go home and
do something good in order to find
christ
you do that after you’ve come to christ
we don’t have to make ourselves well
before going to a doctor
dr henderson is sitting on the platform
he sees sick people he doesn’t see well
people
jesus was called the great physician he
said it is not the healthy who need a
doctor
but the sick i’ve not come to call the
righteous but sinister repentance
i’m a sinner billy graham is a sinner
i needed to repent of my sin and receive
christ by faith
and we’re all sinners so are you the
blind man came to jesus just as he was
the leper came just as he was mary
magdalene with seven
devils came just as she was you can come
to christ tonight
just as you are you don’t have to go and
clean up anything you don’t have to go
change clothes and put on your sunday
best just come as you are and say lord i
am just a person in need of
christ i need to know
that i know christ
what do i have to do to believe you have
to become as a little child
the bible says all the way through the
new testament
that we enter the kingdom of god by
faith
therefore being justified by faith
we have peace with god through our lord
jesus christ
in ephesians 2 it says for by grace are
you saved through
faith now grace means something you
don’t earn you don’t work for it you
can’t work your way to heaven you can’t
get good enough to get to heaven
the word believe implies commitment
surrender
it doesn’t mean that you believe
everything or just anything
you believe in the person of christ and
that word believe means
that you commit your life to him
you’re not trusting anything for your
future the little boy
that i heard about he said you know
this life is short but from what i’ve
heard
eternity is awfully long and said we
better spend our time getting ready for
eternity
so when you come to commit your life to
christ you commit your mind
you commit your emotion you commit your
will
you commit your body the whole person is
involved in this act of commitment
neither is there salvation in any other
for there is none other name unto heaven
given among men whereby we may be saved
the bible says
for whosoever shall call upon the name
of the lord shall be saved
i’m asking you tonight by faith to call
on him
we received a letter from a woman
recently who said that
she was brought up in a non-christian
home
and i’ll read you part of what she said
she said although i was aware there must
be a god
somewhere i never gave him any thought
and just carried on believing that i led
a very happy
good church life my nephew aged 31 was
killed in a car accident
i wanted to know why he had died so
young where had he gone
where will i go when i die i really need
to find out
my husband bought me a bible the first
one i’d really have
owned i started to read seeking answers
for myself and searching for myself
and one day i noticed in the paper about
your crusade that was going to be on
television
i watched and that night
in front of the television set i
committed myself to christ
god opened my eyes everything has
changed
what about you
is there a doubt in your heart if you
died at this moment you’d go to heaven
some of you may not be back to cooper
stadium this week
some of you are planning to come back
but you may not make it
because we never know what the next hour
is going to bring forth what the next
day is going to bring forth
now is the accepted time today is the
day of salvation
come while you can and i’m going to ask
you to do something that we’ve seen
thousands hundreds of thousands even
millions do
i’m going to ask you to get up out of
your seat and come and stand
out here on this in front of me
you can come all the way up here to this
rope here and stand there that’s all you
do just stand there
and after you’ve all come i’m going to
say a word to you and have a prayer with
you
and give you some literature and you can
take it home and study it
and help you in your christian life you
say well billy what does that mean now
for me to come and just stand there what
that’s going to do to me
it’s not going to do anything to you
it means that you’re saying to christ
i commit myself to you the best i know
how
i don’t know all about it i don’t
understand the bible i don’t understand
salvation i don’t understand any of
these things you’ve been talking about
but i know i need something in my life
so i’m going to ask you to come now
hundreds of you just get up out of your
seats around here you may be in the
choir
you may be an officer in the church you
may be a minister in a church
most crusades we have we even have
clergy come
to make a commitment they want to be
sure
about their relationship to christ not
the relationship to the church not the
relationship to your family but
relationship to christ
person and you need christ in your heart
you come we’re going to wait on you as
these many people come
[Music]
uh
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oh
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[Music]
ah
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god
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oh
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just as hundreds here have responded to
the invitation to make a public
commitment to jesus christ
you can too wherever you are
just call the number on your screen
right now
special friends want to help you with
the most important decision you can ever
make
so don’t wait make that call now
[Music]
i want to say a word to you that may
watch on television
you see these television cameras around
they’re not
filming tonight to show it this week and
next week or in the next
month or two this may be shown
sometime before christmas
and there are people that participated
in this service just like you have
by watching on a screen at home
or in a hotel room or a bar or wherever
they might be
they can make the same commitment that
you’re making
by surrendering their life to christ and
committing themselves to him
make that commitment now if you just
prayed that prayer
with my father or if you have any
questions about a relationship with
jesus christ
i’ll just call that number that is on
the screen
there’ll be someone there to talk with
you pray with you and answer those
questions
and remember god loves you
if you would like to commit your life to
jesus christ please call us right now
toll free at 1 1-877-772-4559
that’s 1-877-772-4559
or you can write to us at billy graham
one billy graham parkway
department c charlotte north carolina
28201
or you can contact us on the web 24 7 at
peacewithgod.tv
we’ll get the same helps to you that we
give to everyone who responds at the
invitation
on behalf of franklin graham and the
billy graham evangelistic association
thank you for watching and thank you for
your prayers
jesus christ promised that he is going
to return to the earth
and ladies and gentlemen jesus christ is
going to
keep that from god are you ready
the hope of the coming of christ ought
to make us walk as disciples of the lord
jesus christ we are to be false
and we are to be light in the world and
we are to work as though christ may not
come for a thousand years
but we’re to live as though he may come
tonight
towards the battle into the darkness
anytime anywhere
this is our mission sharing hope
jesus
[Applause]
the billy graham evangelistic
association always
bringing good news
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a brand new day witness the story that
comes and give your
[Music]
to the life graham library