The Hands of Jesus | Billy Graham Classic Sermon

From our archives…

The Billy Graham Classics.

[applause]

Now I want you
to turn with me

to the 20th chapter of
the book of John,

the 20th chapter of
the book of John

beginning with
the 24th verse.

“But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus,

was not with them
when Jesus came.

The other disciples therefore
said unto him,

“We have seen the Lord.”

“But he said unto them,

“Except I shall see in his hands
the print of the nails,

“and put my finger into
the print of the nails,

“and thrust my hand
into his side,

“I will not believe.”

“And after eight days again,
his disciples were within

“and Thomas with them;

“then came Jesus,
the doors being shut,

“and stood in the midst
and said,

“Peace be unto you.”

“Then saith he to Thomas,

“Reach hither thy finger,
and behold my hands;

“and reach hither thy hand,
and thrust it into my side

“and be not faithless,
but believing.

“And Thomas answered
and said unto him,

“My Lord and my God.”

“Jesus said unto him,

“Thomas, because
thou hast seen me,

“you believed;

“but blessed are they…”

Blessed are they in 1977.

“Blessed are they
that have not seen.”

They have not been able
to touch my body.

They have not been able to see
the nail prints in my hands.

They have not been able
to see the place

where I was pierced
by the spear,

but they believe anyway.

There’s a special blessing and
a special reward for them

because they have to come
by sheer faith.

You have seen and felt and
touched, as well as believed.

That has a message for us.

But I don’t want to go
into that whole dialogue

because time is very short

and I don’t want to be
very long tonight.

I want to take one little phrase
out of that and use it tonight.

The hands of Jesus.

The 20th chapter
and the 27th verse,

“Behold, my hands.”

“Behold, my hands.”

Do you know
how many times

the word “hands”
are used in the Bible

or the word “hand”
is used in the Bible?

1,433 times.

Now look at your hands.

Take them out in front of you
and look at them a moment.

It’s the most versatile part
of all your body.

We climb with our hands.

We push with our hands.

We pull with our hands.

We throw with our hands.

We catch with our hands.

We can tear with our hands.

We can thread with our hands.

We can sew with our hands.

We can chisel with our hands.

We can saw with our hands.

We can drive a nail
with our hands.

We can draw a picture
on a canvas with our hands.

We can play an instrument
with our hands,

as we heard these men
from Ireland a moment ago.

We can even walk on our hands,
as I’ve seen some do.

And of all the five senses,
the eagle can see better,

the dog can smell better,

and the horses can sense better
and hear better with their ears.

But none of the animals have
the hands that are capable of

such diversification as
the human hands.

Think of everyday usage
that we make of hands.

If you want assistance,
you say, “Lend me a hand.”

If you want to experience you
say, “I’m an old hand at that.”

If you want to express
a wasted life, you say,

“Well, he’s empty handed.”

If you want somebody who’s
greatly involved, you’ll say,

“Well, he’s got his hands full.
He can’t do it.”

And the wedding ceremony,

at least most of
the ceremonies I’ve gone to

and certainly all
that I’ve conducted;

some point
in the ceremony

I ask them to join
their right hands.

And then when
the church officers are ordained

in many denominations,
what do we do?

We place our hands on them
as they did in the scriptures.

Julie Eisenhower wrote
a wonderful little book,

not a little book,
it’s a big book,

on interesting people.

It’s one of the most interesting
books I’ve ever read.

And one of
the interesting people

she wrote about
was my wife.

And they serialized that chapter
in a number of newspapers

across the country.

Maybe they did here,
I don’t know.

But she has the most remarkable
description of my wife’s hands

that I’ve ever read.

And I thought,
“Well, she’s captured

“not only Ruth’s life and
her spiritual dimension.”

And you know, Julie was in our
home for several days

and she never took a note.

She must have
a tremendous memory

because everything
in that chapter is

almost to perfection
about my wife.

A little bit about me.

She got that straight too.

But in reading
the four gospels,

they constitute a picture book
of Jesus’ hands.

And I want you to see

the hands of
the Lord Jesus Christ tonight.

First, the creating hands.

“All things were made by him

“and without him was not
anything made that was made.”

Paul in Colossians said,

“Who is the image of
the invisible God?

“The firstborn
of every creature

“for by him were all things
created visible and invisible.”

All the mountains,
all the seas,

all the stars,
all the planets,

all the galaxies
were made by him.

Those hands flung
those galaxies into space

from flaming fingertips,

whether they be
thrones or dominions

or principalities
or powers,

all things were created
by him and for him.

And without him was not
anything made that was made.

Jesus says in this chapter,
“Behold, my hands.”

He also said it in Luke 24,
“Behold, my hands.”

The hands that created
the world.

The Lord Jesus Christ’s hands.

And then secondly,
there’s the healing hands.

We’ve been talking about people
in the city of Cincinnati

and this area tonight,
hurting.

People that are in the hospitals
that are sick.

People that are dying
right this minute.

People that have been told today
that they have terminal cancer.

People today.

The Dean of our college,
where we live.

One of the most wonderful men
I’ve ever known,

fell out of a tree today.

He’s dead tonight.

We don’t know whether
he had a heart attack

or what happened yet,

or whether he broke his back
or his neck when he fell.

One of our neighbors
and one of our friends.

Our hands, the healing hands
of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he uses your hands
as you minister.

The hands of a doctor,
the hands of a nurse,

the hands of
a social worker,

the hands of
the clergyman,

the hands of the psychiatrist
or the psychologist

to talk to you, to heal you,
to help you.

But there’s the hands of Jesus
to heal your heart,

to heal your mind,

to heal your soul,

to heal your body.

If he wills.

Think of the leper crying,
“Unclean, unclean, unclean!”

The lepers no one could go
near them.

Social outcasts, little bells
that would ring in those days,

keep away, keep away.
I’m a leper.

Unclean, unclean.

Jesus walked
right up to them

and put his hand
right on the lepper.

Can you imagine what that meant
to that leper?

I imagine years
had gone by

since a human hand
had touched him,

and Jesus touched him,
and he was healed.

The leprosy was gone.

The healing touch of
the hand of Jesus.

Remember when he went
to Peter’s home.

Peter’s mother-in-law was sick,
nigh unto death.

Jesus went in and took her
by the hand.

She got up and began
to wait on the tables.

The healing touch of Jesus.

The man born blind.

Jesus calls him to get
a little dust from the earth,

collects the saliva
and puts it in the dust

and makes a little salve

and puts it on his eyes
with his hands

and he’s healed.

The touch of the hand

of the Lord Jesus Christ
in healing.

Has he come into your heart
to heal your hurt?

The hurt between
you and your wife.

The hurt between
you and your son.

The hurt between
you and your brother.

The hurt between
you and your neighbor.

The hurt of poverty
out of a job.

The hurt of bad health.

Whatever it is,
let Jesus touch you tonight.

He loves you.

He wants to help,

but he can’t help
if you keep the door closed.

You have to open
the door.

You see standing there
knocking with his hand,

as we’ll see in a moment.

And then thirdly,

we’ve been talking about
earlier this evening,

the hand of compassion.

He said, “I have compassion
on the multitude because

“they’ve now been with me
three days

“and have nothing to eat.”

So, he said,
feed them.

The hungry people
of the world.

He has compassion
on them.

He has compassion
on you tonight

in your need,
and your hurt,

in your place
and your suffering.

And as He looked out over
the city of Jerusalem.

He had compassion on
that great and magnificent city.

He knew that judgment was
in store for the city.

And it says that
he had compassion on them.

And he looks over
Cincinnati tonight.

He looks over Kentucky
and Indiana and Ohio,

these three great States
and he has compassion.

And then fourthly, there’s
the hand of blessing.

“Verily. I say unto you,
whosoever shall not receive

“the kingdom of God
as a little child,

“He shall not enter therein.”

And he took up
the little children

and the scripture says
he blessed them.

I see little children
here tonight.

You may have gray hair and
you may have a bald head,

but in God’s sight,
you’re a little child.

And Jesus wants to
take you in his arms

and love you
and bless you,

and change you and
make you a new person

and make your home
a new place.

And give you hope and purpose
and meaning for life.

If you’ll let him,

but you have to open
the door.

But you have to become
as a little child.

You can’t come to Jesus with
your shoulders reared back

and with a lot of pride.

You have to get rid of
all that pride and say,

“Lord, I’m a sinner.

“You died for me
on the cross,

“and I’m coming
to that cross.

“And I want
your blessing.

“I want forgiveness
of my sins.”

Has that happened to you?

And then fourthly, there’s
the suffering hands of Jesus.

And this is the thing
we will be

most impressed with when
we see him in heaven,

because you see
when we get to heaven,

we’re going to find that
his hands suffered

when they drove
those nails in.

And then when
they picked him up

and hung him between
heaven and earth

and the terrible jolt
that tore his hands

and the wound was so great

that Thomas could put
his own hands in those holes

and Jesus will wear those scars
for eternity.

And when I look
at the cross,

I see at least three things.

I see sin.

The most sinful place
in the history of the world

is the cross.

Jesus became
the most sinful man

that ever lived.

You know why?

The scripture says
he became sin for us.

He had never known sin.

All of a sudden,

he not only had the sins of
the people of that generation,

but he had the sins
of all mankind,

every person that will
ever live.

He had the sins on him.

He became guilty
of every single sin.

Think of a person
that had never sinned.

And all of a sudden,
every sin he’s guilty of.

His suffering was
10,000 times worse

than that of the average man
who would be crucified.

He was suffering spiritually.

When he cried “My God, My God,
why hast thou forsaken Me?”

The suffering hands of Jesus.

I see sin, but I also see
something else on the cross.

I see the love of God.

I can’t describe it.

There’s no way to describe
God’s love.

It’s too deep.

It’s too high.

It’s too broad.

It’s too great.

The New Testament writers
had to invent a new word

to describe the love of God.

There was no word for love in
the whole Greek language

that could describe
the supernatural love of God.

So, they invented agape.

And if he bore our sins
on the cross,

then God can still be just
and still be the justifier.

Because if God had just
come along and forgiven you

without somebody paying
the price,

He would have been a liar

and his moral universe
would have blown up

and exploded
like an atomic bomb.

Somebody had to pay
the price.

Either you or
some sinless person

that would be acceptable
to God.

And that person was
the Lord Jesus Christ.

The third thing I see
in the suffering hands is

that it’s the only way
of salvation.

Neither is there salvation
in any other,

except through
the name of Jesus.

You can’t be saved
by your works.

You can’t buy your way.

It’s not for sale,

but Christ offers it to you
from the cross.

It was the blood
that was shed.

Without the shedding of blood,
there’s no forgiveness

the scripture says.

And he shed his blood
on that cross for you.

It’s the only way.

The blood has to be there.

Remember the night in Egypt,
in the Old Testament,

when the death angel
passed over

and those Jewish people had to
have the blood sprinkled

on the doorpost
in order to be saved.

The blood had to be there.

And so, the blood has to be
there for God to see.

And He sees the blood of Christ
that was shed for you.

And He passes over
when judgment comes.

And then there’s another thing
about the hands of Jesus.

What kind of hands?

The healing hands,
the suffering hands,

the nail scarred hands,

but then his knocking hand.

In Revelation 3:20,
the scripture says

“Behold, I stand at the door
and knock.

“If any man hear my voice
and open the door,

“I will come into him and will
sup with him and he with me.”

Knocking at the door
of the church,

knocking at the door
of your family,

knocking at your door.

Why doesn’t he just
push the door open

and come in
and save me?

He never interferes
with your will.

You have a will
of your own.

That’s the way
he made you.

He made you
in his image.

You can reject him.

You can go to your grave
rejecting Christ

and there’s nothing
God can do about it.

He will do everything
in His power to warn you.

He’ll do everything
in His power

to bring incidents
across your path to stop you.

But He won’t trespass
on your will.

That’s something
you have to decide.

You have to say,
I will receive him

as my Savior
and my Lord.

And so your will
is involved.

You have to invite him.

If you don’t invite him in,
he won’t come in.

He’ll not push the door open.

What motivates a person
to open the door?

Well, I was talking
to a person,

just before I came
to Cincinnati,

about Jesus Christ.

We met on the plane.

He told me that he’d been
converted a few months earlier.

And I said,
“How were you converted?”

“Well,” he said, “we had
a child, our only child.

“She was killed
in an automobile wreck.”

And he said, “I knew that
I’d been resisting God

“for a long time.”

And he said,
“As I stood there

“and watched that little casket
go down into the grave,

“I said,
“Lord Jesus, come in.”

“And you know,
I began to realize that

“God had to take
my little child

“to get me into
the kingdom of heaven.

And he said, “I often wondered
at the love of God.

He said, “Even in my tears,
I knew.”

What motivates you?

A railroad engineer fell
out of the train

and it went across his leg
and he lost his leg.

And he said, “I was there
cut the darkness.

“Nobody knew I’d fallen.

“I lay there bleeding.

“And I felt Jesus knocking
in my heart’s door.”

And he said,
“I let him in.”

He’s knocking at
your heart’s door.

Can you hear Him?

(knocking sounds)

And as you get older,
you can barely hear it,

because your heart gets harder
and harder and harder.

He that hardens his heart
being often reproved.

That means being often
with knocking on your door

and you don’t do
anything about it.

God will still speak,
but you can’t,

you can’t hear anymore.

The Bible teaches that there’s
a place beyond which

you cross over a line.

I’m not quite sure where it is
and when it is, but it’s there.

That’s the reason he says,
“Harden not your heart.”

Listen to the knock.

And then sixthly,

there’s the outstretched hands
of the Lord Jesus,

stretching his hands for you

and saying, Jim, Bill,
Susie, Mary, I love you.

I died for you.

Come let me put my arm
around you.

Let me be your brother.

Let me be your husband,
your wife.

Let me be all that you need
in your soul

and your heart
and your mind

because you see,

it’s not just to save you from
sin and save you for eternity.

But it’s to save you
right now.

To walk with you.

He’ll free you tonight.

If you’ll let him.

Those outstretched hands
like the master violinist,

He will touch you and bring
beautiful music out of your life

because he’s the master.

And he’s knocking on
your heart’s door tonight

with those wonderful hands
of his,

that created the universe.

Will you open the door
and let him in?

You have to open.

You may be
a member of the church.

You may be Catholic,
Protestant, Jewish,

or you may not have
any church affiliation.

You may not have
any religion.

I don’t know all.

You may be a deacon
in the church.

You may be
singing in the choir,

but you know Jesus is knocking
at your heart’s door.

You want
to make sure of

your relationship
to him tonight.

You come.

I’m going to ask you to get up
out of your seat right now,

hundreds of you

and come and stand
here in front

and say, by coming,

I want Christ into my heart.

I want to open the door
and let him in.

If you’re with friends
or relatives, they’ll wait.

If you’ve come in a bus,
they’ll wait.

And after you’ve all come,

I’m going to say a word
to all of you,

and have a prayer
with you,

and give you
some literature.

And you can go back
and join your friends.

If you come from
that top balcony

it takes nearly two minutes,
so start right now quickly.

Many of you,
hundreds of you,

you come and let
Christ come into your heart

and make you
a new person right now,

many people are
already on the way

you get up and come
with them.

♪ Just as I am
without one plea ♪

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.

♪ Come to Thee
O Lamb of God, I come ♪

♪ I come ♪

You’re watching
the Billy Graham Classics.

Please call the phone number
on the screen right now

for spiritual help and guidance.

♪ Just as I am
and waiting not ♪

♪ To rid my soul
of one dark blot ♪

♪ To Thee whose blood
can cleanse each spot ♪

♪ O Lamb of God,
I come, I come. ♪♪

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.

♪ To Thee whose blood
can cleanse each spot ♪

♪ O Lamb of God,
I come, I come. ♪♪

You that are watching by
television can already see

that hundreds of people are
coming here

in this beautiful Coliseum
in Cincinnati.

They’re coming
to receive Christ.

They’re opening
their hearts’ door

to let him in.

You can do the same
wherever you are.

Receive Christ as
your Lord and Savior

right now.

Open the door
and let him in.

Let his hand touch you.

He’ll forgive you, change you
and make you a new person.

God help you
to make that decision,

and be sure and go to church
on the Lord’s day.

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:

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On behalf of
Franklin Graham and

The Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association

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