Jesus calls you by name. Billy Graham explains how you can come to know the Savior in this 1979 message from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Watch more #MondayNightClassics every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern.

from our archives the Billy Graham

classics now tonight I want you to turn

with me to the 19th chapter of Luke’s

Gospel the 19th chapter Jesus is passing

through Jericho at this point in

Scripture and a blind man screamed out

and said Jesus thou son of David have

mercy upon me and Jesus touched him and

he was healed and now he’s passing right

through the middle of Jericho and

another incident happens at the same

time and Jesus entered and passed

through Jericho and the whole there was

a man named Zacchaeus which was the

chief among the publicans and he was

very rich and he sought to see Jesus who

he was and he could not for the press

that means the press of the crowd that

doesn’t mean the media because he was

little of stature and he ran before and

climbed up into a sycamore tree to see

him for he was to pass that way and when

Jesus came to the place he looked up and

saw him and said to him Zacchaeus make

haste come down for today I’m going to

abide at your house and he made haste

and he came down and he received him

joyfully and when they saw it they all

murmured and saying that he was gone to

be the guest with a man who’s a sinner

and Zacchaeus stood and said unto the

Lord the whole Lord half of all my goods

I’m going to give it to the poor and if

I’ve taken anything from any man by

false accusation I restore fourfold and

Jesus said unto him this day this day is

salvation come to this house for as much

as he also is a son of Abraham for the

Son of Man is come to seek and to save

that which was lost the son of man has

come to seek and save that which was

lost

and there are thousands of people here

tonight that are lost you’re not lost

from your parents so much a loss from

your

your loss from God you are separated

from God and Jesus has come to seek you

out and he sought out Zacchaeus and I’ll

tell you the story as Jesus was passing

through Jericho now you see Zacchaeus

was a publicly that meant that he was a

tax gatherer and he worked for Rome

he was rich he was despised he was a

social outcast the people didn’t like

the tax gatherers gathering taxes for a

foreign country that dominated them and

if Jesus had considered public opinion

he would have never once glanced at

Zacchaeus but Jesus never considered

public opinion the scripture says that

on all occasions Jesus made of himself

no reputation and I mentioned had been

many months since anyone had ever

crossed voluntarily into Zacchaeus his

house a man of great riches but he was a

lonely man he was a hated man he was

avoided by almost everybody in town but

his curiosity got the best of him he

wanted to see Jesus he had possibly

heard about Jesus and it heard them call

him many names some people had called

Jesus a devil some said he was a fanatic

some said he was a blasphemer some said

he was a heretic some said he was a

prophet some said he was imposter and

many said that he was actually the son

of God so naturally Zacchaeus had a

tremendous curiosity to see Jesus but

you see to see Jesus he had some

obstacles in the way to get to Jesus

there was the press of the crowd a big

crowd and he was a little fella and to

try to push his way through that crowd

was very difficult and he was also small

of stature he was a very small man and

to get through the crowd was almost an

impossibility because everybody wanted

to get close to Jesus and many of you

would like to know Jesus and you’d like

to get close to Jesus and you’d like to

have Jesus in your heart and you’d like

to have salvation but you face many

giggles what are they let’s just list a

few of them that you face first is pride

the Bible teaches that pride keeps more

people from Christ than any other sin

the sin of pride the Bible says God

resisteth the proud but giveth grace

unto the humble the Bible says if any

man among you seemeth to be wise in this

world let him become a fool that he may

be wise jesus said we had to become as

little children to be converted and if

you’re to get close to Christ and have

Christ in your heart you may be wise but

you must become a fool you must become

as a child you see we’re all proud and

we don’t like to humble ourselves and

then the second thing that keeps us from

Christ is idolatry and idolatry is

another sin all the way through the

scriptures that is mentioned is keeping

more people from God than almost any

other sin and our idolatry is very

unique in our day because we worship

ourselves we worship man whether we

realize it or not we’re worshipping

ourselves the things that we’ve created

the things we’ve made with our hands

whether it’s a television set or a new

automobile materialism all of these

things have become gods and goddesses

sex has become a goddess just as much as

it was in the days of Ephesus on the

days of Rome these are the modern gods

and the scripture says idolatry those

that commit it shall have their part in

the lake which burneth with fire and

brimstone which is the second death in

Revelation 21:8 God hates idolatry and

then the third thing that may keep some

of you from Christ is world in his for

what is a man profited if he shall gain

the whole world and lose his own soul or

what shall a man give in exchange for

his soul said Jesus in Matthew 16 there

are many of you that are selling your

soul your eternal spirit for a little

bit of this world but jesus said suppose

you

all the oil of the middle-east all the

gold in South Africa all the diamonds in

Holland all the wealth of the whole

world and you had it all all the music

all the culture all the philosophy all

the psychology of the world you had it

all and lost your soul it wouldn’t be

worth it and yet you are losing your

soul for just a little bit of it now

that doesn’t mean that you’re not to

have money nowhere in the bible does God

condemn a wealthy man unless he misuses

it or unless he got it the wrong way

then he’s condemned but the Bible says

know ye not that friendship with the

world is enmity with God whosoever

therefore will be a friend of the world

is the enemy of God now what does that

word world mean it’s cosmos it means a

world system dominated by evil that evil

part of the world system in which we

live

friendship with that means enmity with

God and God says come out from among

them and be ye separate saith the Lord

and touch not the unclean thing world

and it’s in the New Testament meant the

relationship that people had with their

social environment we’re to be separated

from the evils of the world now perhaps

you saw those huge pictures on

television a few months ago of some

forty quails who for some unknown

biological reason beats themselves and

died they left their living environment

for one of death and died and many of

you have left the environment of living

in the Scriptures and living for God and

gone out into the world and your soul is

dead toward God it’s like the lemming in

Scandinavia they band together and for

some unknown reason walk down into the

ocean and die you deliberately bring on

your own spiritual death you promote

your own eternal death by going with the

evils of the world round about you and

the world round about you squeezes you

into its mold and it becomes a hindrance

to you coming

to Jesus Christ because the Bible says

you’re going to have to give up the

wrong things that are in the world the

lust and the greed and the hate and the

prejudice and the materialism part of

the world that’s wrong you have to turn

from when you come to Christ and that’s

the reason it’s so hard to follow Christ

in the modern day it’s not easy to be a

Christian I’m not going to fool you I

would think it’s more difficult to be a

Christian right now in modern America or

what modern Western world than any other

part of the world you see to be a

Christian in some parts of the Orient or

some parts of the world you have to

really stand for Christ and you have to

suffer but in a country where there’s no

suffering and no physical persecution

it’s rather easy just to slide along

really not knowing Christ calling

yourself a Christian but not really

being a Christian not a New Testament

Christian and there thousands of people

like that that had gone to church all

their lives and been baptized and

confirmed but still not knowing Christ

and then another obstacle of secret sins

the Bible says the psalmist prayed

cleanse thou me from secret Falls and

Paul wrote to the Romans the day when

God shall judge the secrets of men by

Jesus Christ

you can keep no secrets from God your

friends don’t know anything about them

your family may not even know but you

know and God has been speaking to you

about them it’s like the Incredible Hulk

on television I think I’ve seen it once

maybe twice but I read about it

and if I understand it correctly it’s

trying to get rid of the person inside

of him always and perhaps you’ve been

battling with the hidden man in your

heart with your secret sins confess them

to Christ tonight come to the cross and

bring those secrets of your heart and

lay them before him in

say Lord here they are I surrender and

then self-righteousness is another thing

that keeps people from Christ there is a

generation the Bible says that a pure in

their own eyes and yet they have not

been washed from their filthiness pure

in our own eyes patting each other on

the back saying we’re good when actually

we’re bad saying we’re good

when actually we’re sinning and breaking

God’s laws that cheats us from Christ

self-righteousness now we’ve seen the

obstacles let’s look at Jesus it’s a

personal call

Jesus turns to Zacchaeus and calls him

by name he sees Zacchaeus up the tree

you see Zacchaeus had climbed a sycamore

tree and was out on the limb sitting

there watching Jesus and all of a sudden

the most unpopular man in town the most

hated man in town the most sinful man in

town here’s his name call by the great

prophet Jesus and Jesus says Zacchaeus

can you imagine how startled he was that

out of all that crowd and those

religious leaders he the worst sinner in

town called by his name the Bible says

Jesus is the Good Shepherd he called it

his own sheep by name and leadeth them

in Genesis we read that God came in the

Garden of Eden personally to call Adam

he said Adam Adam / earth thou and later

he called Abraham he said Abraham Jacob

Moses Joshua get in Samuel David Solomon

he called them all by name Isaiah

Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel he called him by

name and then when the Lord Jesus Christ

came he called his disciples by name he

went down by the seashore and he called

out Simon Peter

Andrew James John and from the receipt

of custom another man like Zacchaeus a

tax gatherer Matthew come and follow me

and he arose and followed Jesus

immediately and on the Damascus Road

he said soul soul soul why do you

persecute me and on the Isle of Patmos

he said John he called you by name what

is your name Jim Mary Susie Peter he

called you by name

tonight he knows your name he knows all

about you and he called you

and he says Mary get up out of your seat

and come and receive me tonight I want

to come into your house and into your

heart Jim you need me you know you need

me to help you to forgive you to take

you to heaven get up out of your seat

and come he called you by name he looked

up in the tree and said Zacchaeus and it

was an urgent call

he said Zacchaeus make haste hurry we

don’t have long and that’s what he says

to you hurry

make haste if you’re going to come to

Christ come now you may never have

another moment like this nowhere does

the Bible promise tomorrow you can be

saved it’s today today is the day of

salvation

now is the accepted time there may not

be a tomorrow for you there’s a little

verse in your national anthem that

sometimes it I miss when I hear it sung

and it’s a beautiful thing o Lord our

God arise on thee our hopes we fix god

save us all tonight that would be my

prayer for you god save us all and

that’s what the Lord Jesus came to seek

and to save that which is lost

today he’s urgently calling you by name

and it was a successful call because

Zacchaeus did make haste you

what he did he didn’t wait to climb down

the tree he jumped and deal moody the

Evangelist of the last century said that

Zacchaeus was converted from the limb to

the ground and I expect that’s about

truth the rich young ruler came to Jesus

he fell down before Jesus he was running

to Jesus making haste to get to Jesus

and he got to Jesus but he couldn’t pay

the price and he was lost even though

Jesus loved him in Jesus tried and Jesus

talked with him and gave him precious

time yet that young man never came to

Jesus but Zacchaeus the great sinner did

come to Jesus and Jesus went to

Zacchaeus home and you know what I think

I think that Jesus probably took Matthew

with him and I expect that Matthew and

Zacchaeus got into a conversation late

into the night and Matthew told him

about his own experience how he’d been

also a tax gatherer now he had been a

sinner and how Jesus had called him by

name and he said follow me and Matthew

said I got up right then and followed

him and I’ve never regretted one minute

of it he changed my life he’s given me

assurance he’s blessed my family he’s

brought our family together

oh I’d die for him I’ve given him my

life and Zacchaeus heard that and I

imagine that Matthew told him that night

you know Zacchaeus if you come to Christ

if you come to Jesus you’re going to

have to make some restitution you’re

going to have to change your whole way

of living and you’re going to have to

declare openly your allegiance for Jesus

Christ we’re to be in the world but not

of it we live in two worlds we live in

this world but we’re also citizens of

another world the kingdom of heaven and

our first allegiance is always to the

kingdom of heaven yes I imagine

you told him all of those things what

was the result

the result was that Zacchaeus received

Christ now receiving Christ involves an

act of faith beyond mere human reason

the Bible says the natural man receiveth

not the things of the Spirit of God for

their foolishness under him neither can

he know them because they are

spiritually discerned in other words a

natural person like you just cannot come

and reason his way to the kingdom of God

you cannot reason your way to Christ I

don’t imagine Zacchaeus sat down and

went through all the philosophy and all

the theological debates about Jesus he

just joyfully received him by faith

simply like a little child and Jesus

received him and forgave him you see

Christ is knocking on our hearts door

tonight he’s asking people like you to

receive him and they accused him of

saying they accused him by saying this

man receiveth sinners are you a sinner

have you broken God’s law I’m a sinner

are you sure you are he receiveth

sinners it not a wonderful thing that he

receiveth sinners and when I stand and

if they should ask me at the gates of

heaven when I die what is the password

I’m going to say I’m here by the grace

and the mercy of God because of what

Jesus Christ did on the cross I’m not

here by any good works Billy Graham ever

did I’m not going to heaven because I’ve

preached in a big stadium full of people

like this tonight

I’m not going to heaven because I’ve

read the Bible I’m not going to heaven

because I prayed I’m not going to heaven

because of a wonderful Christian wife

and five Christian children I’m going to

heaven because of the Grace and the

mercy of God I’m a sinner I deserve

judgment I deserve hell I’m going

because of Christ and I have received

Christ I’ve let him come into my heart

and I’ve come to the cross he’s forgiven

my sin I have eternal life I know I’m

tonight I know where I’ve come from I

know why I’m here I know where I’m going

and if he should come tonight I’m ready

do you know that are you sure about that

this man receiveth sinners 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 you receive him and

let him come into your life and you’ll

find what it means to be joyful without

Christ to fill that empty void in your

life nothing else satisfies sex doesn’t

do it drugs doesn’t do it

power popularity all of that is nothing

Christ is everything and then when you

have Christ you’re ready to live here

and now life with a capital L when you

really know Christ as your Savior yes

Zacchaeus received Christ joyfully and

notice another thing

Zacchaeus openly confessed Christ

publicly he stood in front of all of his

friends in the whole town and he said

I’ve been wrong I’ve been a sinner I’m

ready to restore everything I ever did

if necessary

whatever it takes from now on I’m

following Jesus Christ he is my Lord and

he is my Savior he came to seek and to

save me in this town of Jericho he came

to Halifax in the form of this crusade

to seek and to save you and he called

you by name and he says make haste come

while there’s time because you see the

scripture says who suffer denied the son

the same hath not the father

he that confesseth the son openly hath

the father also also the scripture says

who service shall confess that Jesus is

the Son of God dwelleth in him and he in

God and Jesus said if you deny me before

men if you deny me publicly

I’ll not confess you before my father

which is in heaven you say Jesus Christ

hung on the cross publicly in front of

hundreds of people dying bleeding

you and he asks you to publicly receive

him and I’m going to ask you to do that

in a moment there are three things you

have to do first listen to this so you

can never stand at the judgment say I

never knew first you must repent of your

sin how do you repent the word repent

means to change your mind it means to

turn your going in this direction in

your life you turn around and start in a

new direction now you may not be able to

turn by yourself in fact you can you

have to say lord help me to turn help me

to repent it means that you’re willing

to let Christ come into your life and

help you change your whole pattern of

living your lifestyle everything if

necessary and then the second thing by

faith you receive it

now that word faith may cause you to

stumble it means that you commit that

you surrender your total life to Jesus

Christ you’re not trusting any other God

you’re not trusting any other religion

you’re not trusting anything but Jesus

Christ and him alone to save you that’s

faith total commitment to Christ and

then thirdly you’re willing to follow

him you’re willing to be his disciple

now the word disciple means learner or

discipline it means discipline learning

you’re following him growing in the

Grace and knowledge of Christ by

studying the Bible by prayer by

witnessing by attendance at church you

say well Billy you know most of those

things huh I’m already doing but do you

really know Christ are you sure of it if

you’re not sure if you’re not certain

that Christ is in your heart tonight and

that your sin is forgiven he’s calling

you by name he sees you and he says make

haste and come I’m going to ask you to

get up out of your seat right now

hundreds of you from everywhere as we’ve

seen every night get up out of your seat

and come and stand in front and say by

coming I want to come to the cross by

faith tonight and I want my sins

forgiven I want to know that I have

eternal life I want to know I’m going to

you get up and come right now quickly

and stand here if you’re with friends or

relatives they’ll wait and after you’ve

come I’m going to say a word to you and

have a prayer with you and we’ll give

you some literature to help you in your

Christian life and then you can go and

join your friends but I’m going to ask

no one to leave the stadium now at this

holy moment everyone in an attitude of

prayer as people are already coming you

get up and come right now – God is

calling you by name Jesus is looking in

your direction and he knows your heart

and he says come you get up and come

quickly we’re going to wait

[Music]

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

[Music]

you that are watching at home or in a

bar or in a hotel room wherever you are

by television you have been able to see

that there are hundreds of people here

in Halifax Nova Scotia coming to commit

their lives to Jesus Christ you two are

like Zacchaeus and Jesus is calling you

by name

and he’s saying come make haste make

your commitment where you are now and be

sure and go to church next Sunday

god bless you 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 yet one eight seven seven

seven seven two four five five nine

that’s one eight seven seven seven seven

two 45:59 or you can write to us at

billy graham one Billy Graham Parkway

Department C Charlotte North Carolina

two eight two zero one or you can

contact us on the web 24/7 at peace with

God TV will 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

[Music]