God is still on the throne. Focus on His unshakable character in Billy Graham’s 1978 message from Toronto, Canada. Watch more #MondayNightClassics every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern.God is still on the throne. Focus on His unshakable character in Billy Graham’s 1978 message from Toronto, Canada. Watch more #MondayNightClassics every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern.
From our archives…
The Billy Graham Classics.
Now I want you to turn with me
to the 12th chapter of Hebrews,
the 12th chapter of Hebrews.
It’s very windy up here
where I’m standing,
and I have to hold my Bible down
or it will blow away.
“And this word,
yet once more signified
“the removing of those things
that are shaken,
“as of those things
that are made,
“that those things which
cannot be shaken may remain.
“Wherefore we receiving
a kingdom which cannot be moved,
“let us have grace, whereby
we may serve God acceptably
“with reverence
and godly fear.”
You know, I read an article
some time ago
and I think it was
Harper’s Magazine
entitled
“Goodbye San Francisco”,
and the title of this article
indicated that
the San Andreas fault that
runs up and down California
may explode at any time
into the greatest earthquake
perhaps the world has
ever known.
And some British scientists came
over here and the BBC,
the British Broadcasting
Corporation accompanied them
and they soon felt that
this thing is going to happen
at any time.
They said not if,
but when two plates of
hot, slowly moving inner mass
are beginning to rub together,
the edges are rough.
They’re beginning to bend,
and they say that it could
strike right under
San Francisco Bay
and kill thousands of people
and wound other thousands.
And as I read that article,
it seemed to say to me
that it could be a picture of
our world today.
New economic, social,
scientific, and religious ideas
are rubbing and bending
against the traditional values
that we’ve always held in
the United States and Canada.
And there’s mounting internal
pressure against all restraint
as more and more persons want
only personal gratification.
And the world is moving toward
a great international, cultural,
and political earthquake
unless something happens
and that something
will have to be
a supernatural moving of
the Spirit of God
throughout the world.
They’re international tensions.
Look at the Horn of Africa
or the Mideast or
the Soviet Union and China
with all of their statements
against each other.
Mr. Zhou Enlai said
before he died,
“We are not preparing for peace
in China.
“We are preparing for war.”
The technological fault line.
Science could almost now build
paradise on earth.
But even when man was
in paradise,
he rebelled against God
and that’s where
the first sin was committed.
Total social justice
in those days,
no wars, no police forces,
no armies, no Vietnam’s,
no death, no suffering,
no hospitals.
In the middle of that
man rebelled against God.
Science could bring us almost to
the point of paradise again,
were it not for the fact that
man is a sinner.
He has lust and greed
and hate
and because of that man is under
the sentence of death.
The technological fault line
makes it impossible
for history to repeat itself.
We say that
history repeats itself,
but there’s one element
in modern times
that’s different than anything
in the history of the world
and that is technology.
Why up until about 1835
man could only go as fast as
a horse could run.
Look how fast we can go today.
18,000 miles an hour
through space.
In just a little over 150,
less than 150 years
that’s all happened.
And then we have
the question today
of genetic engineering and
environmental manipulation
and they’re causing scientists
to frantically look for
ethical guidelines.
What is going to guide us?
If we reject the 10 Commandments
and we reject
the Sermon on the Mount
and we reject Biblical ethics,
what’s going to guide us
from crashing?
Then there are
the personal fault lines
that you have in your own life
and your family
and your business
and your relationships
with your neighbor.
The tensions are there.
Jesus said there would come
a time when
men’s hearts would fail
because of fear.
Fail because of fear,
boredom, anxieties,
guilt, fear of death,
loss of health.
How many people are watching me
right now
that you’ve already been told
that you have
a terminal illness?
Many of you that are sitting
here will be told this year
by the doctor that you only have
a few months to live
and you may be a young person.
The Bible says, “It’s appointed
unto man once to die
“and after that,
the judgment.”
Yes, we’re living
at a crisis period
and Jesus said there shall be
signs in the sun and in the moon
and in the stars
and upon the earth,
distress of nations
with perplexity,
the sea and the waves roaring,
men’s hearts failing them
for fear.
Looking after those things
which are coming on the earth
for the powers of heaven shall
be shaken.
Yes, Jesus said
the powers of heaven.
The whole earth and heaven
itself will be shaken
by what is going to come
and that’s what we just read
in Hebrews.
The Bible says God is going to
shake the earth once more
and the heavens, the stars,
the planets will be shaken,
but there will be some things
that will remain
that will always be the same,
that you can always count on.
First, the nature of God
never changes.
God said, “I’m the Lord God,
I change not.”
The scripture says,
“Every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above
“and cometh down from
the Father of lights
“with whom there is
no variableness,
“neither shadow of turning.”
That means that God doesn’t
change so much as an eyelash
in all the centuries.
God is unchanging
in His holiness.
God is a holy
and a righteous God.
Holy, Holy, Holy
Lord, God Almighty,
which was, which is
and which is to come.
God is a holy God
and a righteous God,
and God will not put up
with sin.
He still hates it
because He’s a holy God.
And God is
a God of judgment.
The Bible says,
“The Lord shall judge
“the ends of the earth.
“Every secret thing will be
brought to light.”
There is a day of judgment
coming that has not changed.
The day has been set.
It’s been appointed.
God is unchanging in his love.
“But God commended his love
toward us
“in that while we were
yet sinners,
“Christ died for us.”
God still loves and He loves
with such an everlasting love
that He gave His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
to die for you.
And if it were not for that,
there is no hope in the world.
He died on the cross
and He rose again
and He’s alive
and He’s coming back.
And that’s the hope
that we have.
And that’s the good news of
the gospel.
The word gospel means
good news.
I have good news for you.
The good news is God loves you.
He has a plan for your life.
There’s a purpose for living.
There’s a reason for existence.
Don’t give up.
Don’t let
the headlines frighten you.
God is still sovereign.
He’s still on the throne
and those of us that follow him
and serve him have a future
that’s brighter than tomorrow.
“Because He lives, I can face
tomorrow,” wrote the Gaithers.
Yes, God is love
and God’s so loved.
Another thing hasn’t changed is
the word of God,
“The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth,
“but the word of our God shall
stand forever.”
“Forever, O Lord, Thy word is
settled in heaven.”
The first question the devil
ever asked man and Eve
in the garden of Eden was,
“Yea, hath God said?”
He tried to make them doubt
the word of God,
but this word doesn’t change.
It’s unchanging.
That’s why it’s important
to read it every day
and to study it.
Let it be your guide.
And then human nature doesn’t
change.
Jeremiah said,
“The heart is deceitful
above all things
“and desperately wicked.”
Has that changed?
Look at the world today.
Read the headlines about
the murders and the robberies
and the muggings and the rapes
throughout the world,
not just in Canada
or the United States.
It’s worldwide.
A worldwide convulsion of
violence and terrorism.
That’s what Jeremiah said,
“The heart is deceitful
above all things
“and desperately wicked.”
Your heart, my heart.
You don’t know what you would do
under certain circumstances.
We’re all sinners.
Sinners by birth,
sinners by choice,
sinners by practice.
We need sin forgiven.
You cannot be reconciled to God.
You cannot go to heaven unless
those sins are forgiven
and God says, I can forgive you
if you repent of your sin
and receive my Son, Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior.
Another thing that
hasn’t changed,
the moral law hasn’t changed.
It’s easier for heaven
and earth to pass
than one tittle of the law
to fail, said Jesus.
“Thou shall have no other gods
before me.”
Idolatry is still a sin.
“Honor thy father
and thy mother.”
Rebellion against the authority
of your parents is still a sin.
“Thou shall not commit
immorality.”
If you have committed
immorality, you’re a sinner.
“Thou shall not steal.”
Cheating in school,
pilfering in a store.
“Thou shall not bear false
witness against thy neighbor.”
Lying.
Have you ever told a lie?
You say, “Well Billy,
unfortunately,
almost all of those I’ve,
I’ve committed.”
Well, suppose you had
only broken one of those laws,
just one, one time?
That made you a sinner.
Because the Bible says that
if we keep the whole law
and yet offend
in one point,
we’re guilty of
the whole law.
So in that sense,
we’ve all broken
all the commandments.
We have sinned
against God,
whatever
the color of our skin,
whatever
our religious affiliation,
we are sinners and
we need reconciliation.
We need justification.
We need to be redeemed.
And that’s why Christ came.
And that’s why
he went to the cross.
And then fifthly,
and lastly,
the promise of His coming again
has not changed.
He is coming again.
General MacArthur said,
when he left the Philippines,
“I shall return.”
Christ said before He left,
“I shall return.”
I believe He’s going to return.
When the Son of Man shall come
in all His glory
and all the holy angels
with Him,
then shall He sit upon
the throne of His glory
and before Him shall be gathered
all nations.
That’ll be the greatest
disarmament peace conference
the world has ever known.
and it’s the one conference
that’s going to work.
All nations will be gathered.
Maybe they’ll come
to New York and sit in
the United Nations building,
I don’t know, but all the
nations of the world, I think,
are go into gather at Jerusalem
and the peace will be dictated.
We will come under a theocracy,
God ruling.
And I would rather trust
the Lord Jesus Christ to rule
this earth
than any living man that
has ever lived except Him.
He would rule it
with justice and love
and mercy and tenderness
and perfection,
which we don’t have today
from any man
because any man
that we elect
or that climbs to the top
is still a man.
His heart has not been changed.
Jesus said, “I go to prepare
a place for you
“and if I go and prepare
a place for you,
“I will come again and
receive you unto myself
“that where I am
there ye may be also.”
As he was ascending
into heaven,
two men in white apparel stood
beside the disciples
with tears in their eyes.
These disciples were watching
the Ascension of their Lord
and these two men said,
“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye
gazing into heaven?
“This same Jesus which is
taken up from you into heaven
“shall so come in like manner
“as ye have seen Him go
into heaven.”
Do you know what
Winston Churchill’s
favorite song was?
Mine Eyes Have Seen
The Glory of
The Coming of the Lord.
The Nicene Creed, which
all of our denominations,
most all about denominations,
accept says
“He shall come again with glory
“to judge both the living
and the dead.”
Charles Wesley, the great
English hymn writer,
wrote 7,000 hymns.
We have on the platform
Dr. Oswald J. Smith,
who has been one of the greatest
hymn writers of our century
and now the Gaither’s whose
songs are being sung
all over the world.
But Charles Wesley wrote 7,000
hymns, can you believe it?
And 5,000 of them dealt with
the second coming of
Jesus Christ.
When Queen Elizabeth II,
your queen, was crowned,
you remember
the Archbishop of Canterbury
laid the crown on her head
and here is what he said
as he laid it there.
“I give thee, O gracious lady,
this crown to wear
“until He who deserves the right
to wear it shall return.”
That’s a part of
the history of Britain.
When a sovereign is crowned,
it’s recognized that
it’s only temporary
and that crown will someday
be worn by
the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords.
The great question
facing the world today is
who’s going to restore
the order?
Who can counter the dangers?
Who can govern the world?
I proposed to you,
the Lord Jesus Christ can
and he’s going to do it,
the Bible tells us that.
The last two verses
of the Bible say,
“He which testified these things
saith, ‘Surely I come quickly.’
“Amen, even so
come Lord Jesus.”
The last thought in the Bible is
the coming again of
Jesus Christ.
Now before His coming,
He made certain predictions.
He said there’ll be some signs
that you can watch for.
He said there’ll be convulsions,
there’ll be earthquakes,
social and political earthquakes
as well as physical.
Wars, worldwide violence,
moral permissiveness,
tribulations, both Jews and
Christians alike suffering.
Antichrist.
People betraying one another
leading up toward Armageddon.
Is that where we are now?
I do not know because He warned
us against trying to set a date,
but all the signs would seem
to point that
something has to happen
pretty soon
or there may not be
a human race left.
And you know it’s
interesting to me that
we’re not hearing
very much about that
from the pulpit today,
but we’re hearing it from
the scientists and
the government leaders from
many nations of the world.
And it seems that the prophets
of our time have become
the scientists and
the sociologists
and the philosophers
and the political leaders
who are warning us
as President Carter did
the other day when he said,
“We’re on
a dangerous course.”
Now, what will happen
when Christ comes?
I have some good news for you.
Sin, suffering, and death are
the three greatest problems
that man has ever faced.
They’d been with us
since the beginning.
Science has not solved
any of them.
It has not solved the problem
of sin in the human heart.
It’s not solved
the problem of suffering.
You can put a person in
the finest hospital
in the world
and he’ll still suffer.
Put him in the finest under
the finest psychiatric care
and he’ll still suffer because
man is a suffering being.
Science cannot solve
this terrible problem
of human suffering.
We’ve not been able to solve
the problem of death.
Men still die by the thousands
every day
from all kinds of causes,
but Jesus is going
to eliminate all that.
Sin will be eliminated.
Suffering will be eliminated.
Death will be eliminated.
Peace will be established
on the earth.
His name shall be called
the Prince of Peace,
of the increase of
His government and peace,
there shall be no end,
the scripture says.
Our social institutions will be
reconstructed.
Poverty will be eliminated.
Social justice will prevail
throughout the world.
The kingdom of God will triumph.
I’m glad to be
on His side.
I’m glad that He chose me
a number of years ago
and I was born again
and I received Christ
into my heart.
And now I know that I’m ready
to enter His kingdom
by His grace
and by His mercy.
I’ve already entered the kingdom
and have eternal life now.
I don’t have to wait to die
to get it.
I have it now.
So, the future does not hold
any fears for me,
but the future holds fears
for me when I think of you
who may not know Christ.
Now, what should our attitude be
until that moment when He comes?
We’re to wait
with patience.
“For ye have need of patience
for yet a little while
“and He that shall come will
come and will not tarry,”
in Hebrews 10.
It’s been 2000 years since
He made those promises.
Peter said people are going to
begin to ask,
where’s the promise of
His coming?
In all these 2000 years
people look for Him.
He hasn’t come.
What’s wrong?
Did something happen?
No, everything’s going
right along to God’s timetable.
God planned it
this way.
That’s the way
He meant it to be
so that we will come to Him
by simple faith
and accept Him into our hearts
as Lord and Savior.
Yes, we’re to wait with patience
because He’s going to come.
And then we’re to watch.
Do you get up some morning
and say,
“Lord, maybe today
you’re going to come.”
Do you go to bed at night
and say,
“Lord, maybe while I’m sleeping,
you’re going to come.”
We’re waiting with
longing expectation for
the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ,
said Paul in Philippians 3.
Are you waiting
and watching?
And then
we are to work.
Because he’s coming
doesn’t mean that
we’re to go home
and sit down
and wait
and do nothing
and say there’s nothing I can do
to help the world.
It ought to cause you to work
harder than ever before.
Harder in your church,
harder in your community.
Do more good works
than ever before.
Pray for peace,
work for peace,
help in all good works.
The scripture says,
“Blessed is that servant whom
his Lord when he commeth
“shall find so doing,”
Jesus said that.
When He comes back,
He ought to find you working
harder than ever before.
I’ve met some people that said
there’s no use evangelizing.
There’s no use
giving to missions.
Then there’s no use giving to
the hungry of the world
because Jesus is going to
come back
and we can’t solve
all the problems anyway.
That is an unscriptural
and an unbiblical attitude
and it’s a sin.
We ought to be working
and giving
and praying and living
with the expectation that
He is going to come, but it
ought to increase our zeal.
It ought to intensify
our efforts.
As far as I’m personally
concerned.
I read in the paper
once in a while
where some people hopefully say
that I’m going to retire soon.
Well, I want to tell you,
I don’t ever intend to retire
until the Lord retires me.
I know that I’m getting a bit
older, but I want to tell you,
I feel the best
I’ve ever felt in my life
and the Lord has given me
extra strength
and given our team
extra strength.
(applause)
We are going to carry on.
We’re going to carry on
by the grace of God
and with your help,
by your prayers
and your support
carrying this gospel
throughout the world.
And then the last thing
that we’re to do,
we’re to prepare
with urgency.
Jesus said, “Therefore,
be ye also ready
“for in such an hour
as ye think not
“the Son of man cometh.”
“In such an hour
as you think not
“the Son of man cometh.”
Are you ready?
What do you have to do
to be ready?
First, repent of your sins,
but you say,
how do you do that?
You say,
“Lord, I’m sorry.
“I’m willing to change
my lifestyle.
“I’m willing to change
my way of thinking
“and living and I’m ready
to bring my whole life
“under the Lordship of
Jesus Christ.
“I’m changing my priorities.”
That’s repentance.
You can do that today,
right now, today.
Secondly, by faith
you receive Christ
as your Lord
and your Savior.
Maybe you’ve already done that
when you joined a church,
but you want to reconfirm
that commitment
because you’re really not sure.
You see, you can be
a member of the church
and not have a personal
daily relationship with Christ
and you’re not sure that
you have that relationship,
His peace and His joy
and His love is not yours
and the assurance is not there.
And on this wonderful
glorious afternoon,
you’d like to make sure.
I’m going to ask you
to do something
that we’ve seen
thousands of people do
during the past few days.
I’m going to ask hundreds of you
to get up out of your seat
and come and stand
in front of this platform
and after you’ve come
and stood here,
I’m going to say a word to you
and have a prayer with you
and give you some literature
to help you
in your Christian life
before you go.
If you’re with friends
or relatives,
they’ll wait on you
where you are.
If you’ve come in a bus,
they’ll wait
and I’m going to ask that
no one leave the stadium.
The temptation is to run and
get ahead of everybody else,
but please stay where you are.
This is a holy moment.
This is a moment of eternity
with thousands of people here.
Why do I ask you to come?
Every person Jesus called
in the New Testament,
He called publicly.
He said, if you’re not willing
to openly acknowledge me
before men,
I’ll not acknowledge you
before my Father,
which is in heaven.
There’s something about
coming forward
and standing here publicly
that settles it and seals it
in your life
and many people have
already started.
You come from this great stand
back here,
get up and come quickly.
It’ll take you about two minutes
to come, so start now.
Quickly, you come.
(Voice over)
As hundreds are responding to
Mr. Graham’s invitation
to make a public commitment
to Jesus Christ,
you can make
that same commitment
right where you are.
Just pick up the phone
and call the number
you see on your screen.
Special friends are waiting to
talk with you and pray with you
about this most
important decision.
♪ And that Thou bidst me
come to Thee, ♪
♪ O Lamb of God,
I come, I come. ♪
You’re that are watching
by television can see
that hundreds of people are
coming down every aisle
in this great stadium
to make their commitment
to Jesus Christ.
You make that commitment
where you are now.
Let Him come in as
your Lord and Master
and be prepared for
that great day
because you see,
He may not come
in your lifetime,
but if he doesn’t,
when you die,
that’s the end of the world
for you.
Are you ready
for that event?
You can make ready
right now.
Just receive Christ
into your heart.
If you just prayed that prayer
with my father
or if you have any questions
about a relationship with
Jesus Christ,
why don’t you 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
1-877-772-4559.
That’s
1-877-772-4559.
or you can write
to us at
Billy Graham,
1 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.
(Franklin Graham)
We still have
a window of oppportunity
to reach a lost
and dying world
with the truth
of God’s love.
It’s not too late.
We’ve got
an opportunity
to tell others about
Jesus Christ.
What are you going to do
with it?
It’s Ann,
she’s in trouble.
If you don’t take it to the edge
every chance you get
you’re dead already, baby.
I was in trouble
and I didn’t know what to do.
Ow!
Where are the Jews?
I knew that I could
take on the world.
It’s like you’re in a dream
but not really a dream,
this is reality.
I don’t really believe
in all this
but I know someting crazy
is happening right now.