On a rainy night in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Billy Graham talked about another dark day: the day Jesus died on the cross. Hear him recount that event—and how it’s still relevant to us today.
From our archives…
The Billy Graham Classics.
[applause]
My message is going to be brief,
and my text is going to be
Luke the 23rd chapter
beginning at verse 42.
“Remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom.
“And Jesus said unto him,
“Verily, I say unto thee,
“today thou shall be with me
in paradise.”
The greatest and most historical
event of all of history,
was when Jesus Christ died
on that cross.
And when Christ died
on the cross,
the lightning flashed,
the thunder roared,
the darkness came.
As the nails had gone
into the hands of Christ
and a spear had gone
into his side
and the nails
through his feet.
And Jesus was hanging
between heaven and earth
suffering for us.
The soldiers had taken him
out of his prison
and they put
a crimson robe on him,
they’d beaten him
two or three times.
And then they took
two or three murders with him.
Two of them in particular,
who were going to be
crucified with him.
And then they took him
across Jerusalem
and they made each one of them
bear a placard,
or at least herald went before
them to bear a placard
telling of their crimes.
And then
Jesus stumbled and fell.
He was weak from
the loss of blood
and they compelled an African
to help him carry his cross.
And as long as
the history of man shall go,
we will always remember that
it was an African that helped
Jesus bare his cross.
There are people today
that say that
Christianity is
the white man’s religion.
Don’t you believe it.
For all of those who believe
in Jesus Christ,
He belongs to all people.
He came from
that part of the world
that touches Asia,
Africa, and Europe.
He belongs as much to
the African as he does
to the European;
and as much to the European
as he does to the Asian.
Jesus Christ belongs to
all people,
but an African helped him
carry His cross.
And then when
they got to Golgotha,
these soldiers went about
their work,
nailing the nails in.
These two murderers
and thieves
that were being crucified
with Jesus
were yelling,
screaming, crying,
but Jesus never uttered
a word.
And they took some
medicated wine
that acted as a sedative
and gave it to the two thieves.
And they took it and
they offered it to Jesus,
and He refused it,
because He wanted to drink
the very bitter dregs of death
in our place for us.
He wanted to suffer
all of death,
showing that
God loved the world
and God was willing to forgive
the sins of the world
because of what Christ was doing
on that cross.
The people that were watching
were laughing and sneering.
They said, “He saved others,
why can’t he save himself?”
Come on, you worked
great miracles.
Why don’t you work
one more?
You raised Lazarus
from the dead.
You raised a widow’s son
from the dead.
Why can’t you save yourself?
Those blind people
did not realize that
God had foreordained
and predetermined
that Jesus Christ was to die
the death of the cross.
And it was only
through that death
that the world could find
forgiveness and salvation.
There is no other name
given among men
whereby we must be saved.
The apostle Paul was
an intellectual.
One of the most brilliant men
that ever lived.
And Paul went to Corinth.
Pagan, intellectual,
immoral Corinth.
The university center
of the ancient world.
And Paul said, “I’m determined
to know nothing among you
“save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified.”
Why did Paul say that?
He said that because God has
locked up in the cross
the secret of the universe.
The only way that earth
can ever find
reconciliation with heaven
is by way of the cross.
The only way that you can
ever get to heaven
is by way of the cross.
And if Jesus Christ
had not gone to the cross,
you could have never had
sin forgiven.
You could have never
gone to heaven.
And the problems of earth would
have never had a solution.
Only by the way of the cross can
we find our way back to God.
That’s why it was important
that Jesus stay on the cross.
Because you see, man is
in rebellion against God.
Adam and Eve rebelled
in the garden of Eden.
And every man since Adam and Eve
has broken God’s law
and sinned against God.
And as a result of that,
God and man are separated.
And man’s only way back to God
is through Jesus Christ.
Man had broken the law.
Man deserved death.
He deserved judgment.
He deserved hell,
but God said,
“Wait a minute.
“I’ll give My Son.
I’ll let him die.
I’ll let him take the judgment
and the hell for you.
And if you will put your trust
and your faith in My Son,
I will forgive your sin.
I will change your life.
I will give you an inner peace
and joy and satisfaction
that you would never find
in any other way.
Jesus was dying on that cross
for your sins and your sins.
Some people say,
“Why don’t you try to make
your gospel relevant?”
The most relevant message
in the world tonight
is the fact that
Christ died for you.
He died in your place.
He shed his blood for you.
And without that experience,
no one can get to heaven.
Yes, Jesus Christ died.
And the people laughed
and sneered.
And two people that sneered
and laughed the most,
were these two
thieves and murderers
that were dying with Him.
They were both mocking him.
But one of them became
strangely silent.
And finally, this one
that was silent turned
and rebuked the other thief
or the murderer and said,
“We’re dying justly.”
“We deserve to be crucified,
but not this man in the middle.
“He’s a good man.
“He is the Son of God.”
Then he turned to him and
asked him what seemed to be
an improbable,
an impossible question.
He said, “Remember me when
Thou comest into Thy kingdom.”
Will you remember me, Lord?
And then Jesus gave one of
the most astounding answers
in the history of the world.
The angels in heaven
must’ve been
shaken and startled
and amazed
when they heard
what Jesus answered.
Jesus said, “Today,
today, thou shalt be with me
in paradise.”
Think of it.
Here was a thief,
a murderer,
a man that had committed
every crime in the books,
dying, turns to Jesus
in his dying moment and says,
“Lord, remember me.”
He didn’t even say forgive me.
He didn’t even say, Lord,
take me to heaven with you.
He didn’t say,
“Lord prefer me.”
He just said,
“Lord, remember me.”
And Jesus answered
quick as a flash and said,
“Today, thou shalt be with me
in paradise.”
And to all of you people that
think you can’t be converted
in a moment
and that you cannot be saved
at this hour, at this moment,
in this rain,
in Baton Rouge
and have your whole life
transformed.
You read the stories
of the New Testament
and the encounters that
people had with Jesus.
There are many of you that
came here tonight in this rain
that never dreamed that you were
going to meet Jesus.
You came out of curiosity
or you came because your bus was
already on the way,
or you had already promised
some friends to come,
or you’re a student here
at the university
and you came
out of curiosity.
Many of the people of
the New Testament
that came to Jesus
never planned it.
They never thought that
they would have
their lives changed.
This thief on the cross
that had been in prison,
knew that he was going to die
on a cross.
He knew he deserved it.
He never dreamed that
before the night came,
that day he would be
in heaven.
He deserved judgment.
He deserved hell.
I’m going to see that man
in heaven someday,
by the grace of God.
He wasn’t saved
by his good works.
He didn’t even have time
to be baptized.
He didn’t have time
for anything,
but he’s in heaven.
That’s the grace
and the mercy of God.
I want to tell you that
the greatest word
in all the language of men
is forgiveness.
That Jesus forgave him of
every sin he’d ever committed.
Wiped the slate clean
and he was in heaven.
There are three things
about this passage.
The whole gospel is in it.
There’s repentance.
It’s the only death bed
repentance in the whole Bible.
I don’t know what led this
fellow to ask that question
or to make that statement.
It might’ve been the prayer
that Jesus had just prayed,
“Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do.”
It might’ve been what
Jesus had said to John
concerning his mother.
I don’t know what it is
or what it was,
but the Holy Spirit used it.
The Holy Spirit used it
to convict him
and to convince him that
he needed Jesus
and he repented of his sins
at that moment,
and he was saved.
I can imagine
the other thief saying,
“Why, what have you done?”
Have you turned preacher
or something?
You remember, we strangled
that old merchant for his gold.
Remember, you kidnapped
that little child.
Remember that girl you raped.
Remember that person you slew.
You think God’s going
to forgive you?
Are you turn a preacher?
He can’t forgive you.
I don’t care
what your sin is.
I don’t care how deep
in sin you’ve gone.
I don’t care
what you’ve done.
God can forgive you.
God can cleanse you.
God can make you
a new person tonight,
if you put your faith
and your trust in Him.
Yes, he repented.
And the second thing
he did was to believe
The Bible says,
“If we believe in our heart
that God raised Him
from the dead,
“we shall be saved.”
The Scripture says,
“Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ
“and thou shall be saved.”
“But as many as received Him
“to them gave He power to become
the sons of God,
“even to them that believe
on His name.”
Just repent and believe
and then you’ll be saved.
He said, “When thou comest
into Thy kingdom,”
as though he were thinking of
some far off kingdom age,
somewhere,
and Jesus answered
and said today, right now,
you’ll be saved
Right now,
you can have eternal life.
You can put your trust and
your confidence in Christ now.
And he did.
And that day
he went to paradise.
Now it’s the word
“remember”
that I want you
to think about a moment.
He said,
“Lord, remember me.”
Did you know
that God forgets?
Did you know that
there’s a scripture in
Jeremiah 31:34 that says,
“I will forgive
their iniquity
and I will remember
their sins no more.“
God can forget.
God, forget your sin.
What does God forget?
God never forgets
the universe.
He sends the rain.
Yes, sir.
God sends the rain,
but the rain falls on
the just and the unjust.
The sun comes up on
the just and the unjust.
God blesses all of us
with all of his blessings.
He never forgets.
Supposed He forgot
to send rain?
Suppose the sun
ceased to shine.
The earth would
turn into a glacier.
Suppose God would forget because
the scripture says that
God holds the whole universe
together.
If God ever took his hand off,
it would blow to pieces.
And then the scripture says
that God remembers you.
Tonight, I had
in my little office here
where I see people,
a lady and her children
and a mother,
and their son and their husband
is a prisoner in North Vietnam.
I don’t think any of us
will ever know
what these families
have suffered.
I don’t think any of us
will ever know
what those boys out there
have probably gone through
psychologically and physically,
never knowing.
And then we had another one
come and see us tonight.
And her husband,
she’s just found out,
is alive and a prisoner,
but for a long time,
she didn’t know.
He was only
missing an action.
But let me tell you this,
God remembers them.
And when we bowed our heads
in the little office
and prayed that
God would remember them
and that His grace
and His love
would reach out
to North Vietnam,
to the prison camp
and touch them.
God remembers them
and God answers prayer.
How many times has
God been with you?
You don’t even know,
because you see,
you almost had a wreck
the other day,
but you were saved from it.
Why?
When you get to heaven,
you may find out why.
It might’ve been divine
intervention.
And that happens to
all of us.
God remembers you.
And then God never forgets
our sins either.
The Bible says, “Be sure
your sin will find you out.”
The Bible says,
“God is not mocked,
“for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap.”
The Bible says, “For God shall
bring every work into judgment.”
God is going to judge every sin
that’s ever been committed.
What is your sin that
so easily besets you?
It’s going to be brought to
light, all the secret things.
God is going to judge it.
God never forgets sin.
No sin has ever been
forgotten by God.
God has recorded
everything you’ve ever done
and all the things
you’ve ever thought,
from the time you were born,
until the time you die.
It’s all there.
It’s all in the record books.
And God will never forget.
Nothing is going to be
forgotten.
How do you stand
before God?
But there’s one thing
God can forget.
He can forget sin
because of Christ.
The Bible says in
II Corinthians 5:21,
“He has made Him to be
sin for us.”
It says in
Isaiah 53,
“The Lord hath laid on Him
the iniquity of us all.”
It says in
1 Peter, 2:24,
“Who His own self bore our sins
in His own body on the tree.”
The Scripture teaches that
God can forget our sins
because of Christ.
The sin that would damn us.
The sin that would send us
to judgment.
The sin that would send us
to hell.
God can forget.
In Hebrews 1:3 it says
your sins are purged.
In Isaiah 43 it says
your sins are blotted out.
In Psalm 103 it says
your sins are put away.
Isaiah 38 says your sins are
put behind His back.
And in Hebrews it says God can
remember your sin no more.
Ladies and gentlemen,
because Christ died,
because He rose again,
because of what He did,
God cannot remember my sins.
I’ve committed plenty of sins
in my life.
And even if I’d only committed
one sin in my whole life,
it’s enough to cause me to go to
the judgment and be lost,
because I could keep
the whole law
and yet offend
in one point
and I’d be guilty of all.
But God has forgotten my sin.
He forgot every sin
that I have ever committed.
Every one He has forgotten.
He’s the only person
in the whole universe
that can forget.
He has the ability
to forget.
Has He forgotten
your sin?
Have you brought your sin and
laid it at the feet of Jesus?
What a night to give your life
to Christ?
You may never have
another moment like this.
The Bible says,
“He that hardened his heart,
“being often reproved,
“shall suddenly be cut off
and that without remedy.”
You’ve sat here for over
two hours in the rain.
Many of you are soaked
all the way through
and you’ve done it because you
want your sins forgiven,
many of you.
And others of you have sat there
because you’re praying for
somebody that needs Christ.
And this is your hour
and your moment
and may never come again
like this.
I’m going to ask you
to do something
that I saw people
in London do.
I saw people
in San Diego do.
I saw people
in Pittsburgh do.
I’m going to ask scores of you
to get up out of your seat
right now, come across
this field in the rain
and stand here.
And by coming say,
“I want Christ in my life.
“I want my sin forgiven.
“I want to know
I’m going to heaven.
“I want to know that
I will not be at the judgment
“in that final day.
“I want my life transformed
by the power of Christ.
I’m going to ask you to come
right now,
men, women, young people,
God has spoken to you.
You need Christ.
And in a moment like this,
you’ll never forget.
I met a missionary
out in the Far East,
a few months ago,
said I received Christ one of
those nights at Wembley Stadium,
in the pouring rain in England,
I stood ankle deep in mud
to find Christ
and said,
I thank God,
because if it hadn’t been
for the rain,
I don’t know whether I would
have come that night or not.
But he said there was something
about the challenge
of coming forward in the rain
that challenged me
and it changed my life.
Yes, it’s not easy to come,
but Christ went to the cross
for you.
Many people are on the way now.
You get up and come and make
your commitment to Christ.
♪ Just as I am
and waiting not ♪
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.
♪ O Lamb of God,
I come, I come. ♪
Now I want to say a word to
all of you that have come.
You’ve come tonight to make
your commitment to Christ
because you want
your sins forgiven.
You want to know
you’re going to heaven.
You want a new direction
in your life,
and you’ve come to make
a commitment to Christ
because you want him to forget
your sin and save your soul.
Well, I want to tell you,
He remembers you
and He loves you
and He wants
to forgive you.
He loves you.
Keep that in mind now,
that God loves you
and is willing to forgive
and forget all the past.
And from tonight on,
there are four things
that are very important.
First, read your Bible
every day.
We’re going to give you
a Gospel of John.
We want you to read it
several times
before you read
any other part of the Bible.
We’re going to give you
a Bible study.
We’re going to give you some
verses of Scripture to learn,
memorize.
This helps you to grow.
“Desire the sincere milk
of the word
“that you may grow thereby,”
the scripture says.
You cannot grow
in the Christian life
without reading and studying
the scriptures every day.
Secondly, pray.
God will hear and
answer your prayer.
You’re His child now.
He loves you.
Take every detail to God
in prayer.
He will answer
your prayers.
Don’t let a day go by
but that you spend a few minutes
every morning,
every evening and
all during the day in prayer.
And pray about everything,
whatever the details are.
Nothing is too small to bring to
God’s attention.
And then thirdly,
witness for Christ.
How do you witness?
You’re witness by
the smile on your face.
You witness by
the new attitude you have
in the dormitory,
the new attitude you have
toward work,
the new attitude you have
in the home.
And then you witnesse by going
to somebody of another race
and going out of your way to be
kind and courteous and gracious.
And people will soon say, “Well,
what’s happened to you, Mary?”
And you can say,
“Well, I’ve found Christ.
“He’s changed my life.”
That’s witnessing.
And then fourthly,
get into a church
where Christ is preached
and get to work for Christ.
Get into the church
and work in the church.
You say, “But I don’t like to go
to church.”
Jesus went to
the churches of his day
and they weren’t all they were
supposed to be,
but He did it to set us
an example
that we should go to church.
Four things, read the Bible,
pray, witness, and go to church.
Now I’m going to ask
that we bow our heads
and I want you to pray
this prayer out loud after me.
Oh God, I’m a sinner.
I’m sorry for my sin.
I’m willing to turn from my sin.
I receive Christ as Savior.
I confess Him as Lord
from this moment on.
I want to follow Him
and serve Him
in the fellowship of His church,
in Christ’s name. Amen.
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 call
the number on the screen.
There will 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, NC 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.
It’s Anne,
she’s in trouble.
If you don’t take it to the edge
every chance you get,
you’re dead already, baby.
(woman)
I was in trouble
and I didn’t know what to do.
(slap)
“Ow!”
(Nazi)
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 something crazy
is happening right now.
(Billy Graham)
“Tonight,
“I’m glad to tell you
as we close
“that the Lord Jesus Christ
can be received,
“your sins forgiven.”
(woman)
The Billy Graham Library is
a place for
all walks of life,
(man)
to recharge,
(woman)
reflect,
(young man)
renew your faith,
(young girl)
and return again and again.