What is Truth? | Billy Graham Classic Sermon

What is truth, how do we get truth, and how do we know it when we have it? Listen to how Billy Graham answers these questions in this 1971 sermon preached from Lexington, Kentucky. CONNECT with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association: on Facebook:   / billygrahamevangelisticassociation   on Instagram:   / bgea   on Twitter:   / bgea   on Pinterest:   / bgea   on YouTube:    / billygraham   on TikTok:   / bgeaofficial  

From our archives…

The Billy Graham Classics.

[applause]

Now, I want you to turn with me,
if you will,

to the 18th chapter of
John’s gospel,

verse 37 and 38.

Just a phrase or two.

I want to speak today
on the subject

“The Credibility Gap.”

“The Credibility Gap.”

We hear a great deal today about
the credibility gap.

And here is
a very interesting passage

in an encounter that
Jesus Christ had with Pilate.

Jesus said, “Everyone that is
of the truth heareth My voice.”

And then Pilate said,

and I’m sure he said it
thoughtfully and wistfully.

He asked this question,
“What is truth?”

And that’s what many of

the American debates are
all about right now.

What is truth?

That is what
a university is all about.

Searching truth in the realm of
science, philosophy, psychology,

and many of
the other disciplines.

What is truth?

How do we get truth,

and how do we know it
when we have it?

And the debate that is raging in
this country about the war.

Or the debate that we’ve
recently had over My Lai.

Or the debate that’s raging
in the country

about surveillance.

How far do you go?

All of that is talking
about truth

and it brings up somewhat of
a credibility gap.

And Pilate must have faced
the same thing 2,000 years ago.

He had a credibility gap.

He asked Jesus.

He said,
“What is truth?”

Now why is a Bible called
a Holy Bible

when there is so much lust
and hate and greed and war

and sex in the Bible?

Why do we call it
a Holy Bible?

You can’t pick up any book that
has more hate in it,

any more killing,
any more war,

any more meanness,
any more wickedness,

any more deceit
than the Bible,

but it’s called
a Holy Bible.

Do you know why
it’s called Holy?

Because the Bible tells
the truth.

The Bible tells the truth
about God.

The Bible tells the truth
about man.

The Bible tells the truth
about the devil.

The Bible tells the truth
about its characters.

If this book had been written
by men,

not under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit,

a lot of these fellows that are
heroes in the Bible

you’d have never heard about
their sins and their weaknesses

and their failings.

But the Bible tells the truth
about all of these things.

Now the Bible tells us that
the devil himself created

the first credibility gap.

Now, if you go back to the third
chapter of Genesis,

the second and third chapter of
Genesis, after man was created,

you find that God said,
“I put a tree in the garden.

“In the day that you eat
thereof, you’re going to die.”

Now man was in
a perfect paradise,

No sin had ever been committed.

No murder, no lust,
no hate, no war, no poverty,

no pollution.

Everything was perfect.

And God said,
“It’s all yours.”

You’ll never die.
You’ll enjoy it forever.

“But don’t take of
that one tree.”

Why?

God was testing man,

because God gave to man
the freedom of choice.

He could choose to obey God
and serve God

or he could choose to rebel
against God and go his own way.

God made man in His own image,
gave him freedom of choice.

The Bible says the devil came to
Adam and Eve, tempted them,

and here’s what the devil said.

The devil said, “You know God
says if you eat of that tree,

“you’re going to die.

“Well, I want to tell you
something.

“You’re not going to die.

“God’s jealous of you.

“God knows when you eat of that
tree, you’re going to be a god.

“You’ll be like God.

“Go ahead, eat of that tree.

“You don’t have to obey God.

“Listen to me.”

And they listened to the devil,
they believed a lie,

instead of the truth of God.

Man rebelled against God.

And all the troubles,
and all the sufferings,

and all the wars of
all of history

have come about
as a result of

the fact that man is
in rebellion against God.

The devil created
the first credibility gap.

Now the Bible teaches
there’s coming a time

when Antichrist is
going to arise.

He will be the devil incarnate
as a man.

And that is some future day.

I do not know when it will be,
but the Bible teaches that

Antichrist is going to rule
the whole earth.

And even some professing
believers are going to be

deluded and deceived by
Antichrist.

And there will be peace.

He will be a man of peace

and he’s going to bring peace
to the world;

but it will be a deceptive
peace, and a short peace,

and it won’t be long.

It will be the devil’s peace.

Permanent peace is
only going to come

when God comes in the person of
His Son, Jesus Christ,

and sets up His kingdom
and destroys the devil.

And the Bible teaches that
the devil is going to be thrown

into the lake of fire
and brimstone.

And you won’t be plagued with
the devil anymore.

I’d say,
“Lord, hurry up!”

because the devil is causing
a lot of trouble.

Now the Bible teaches that

man believes a lie
rather than the truth.

And the Bible says that
we exchange the truth of God

for the devils’ lie.

About sex,
for example.

Young people think that

they can go ahead and live in
a permissive society,

and get away with it.

It creates its own horror,
and it creates its own troubles,

and its own problems,

both in your conscience
with guilt, in your mind,

but also in your body.

Venereal disease now
in one city in this country

infects one out of every four
young people.

Right now.

And it causes insanity,
and blindness,

and all the other things, but
you can’t tell them anything.

You think that you can get by.

But I do know that young people
are hearing on every side that

the only way to have happiness
is to have sex

outside of marriage.

I want to tell you
the Bible says,

“The wages of sin is death.”

And you can never commit
one sex sin

and get away with it.

God will see to it.

And you’ll be caught,
and you’ll pay for it.

Or the drugs.

Did you know that
I read the other day

in Florida that drugs
have increased–

The use of drugs
and the hard drugs in Florida

had increased in fifteen years
by six thousand percent.

Until now, millions of young and
old alike are involved in drugs

and we could soon become
a nation that would be drugged.

And suppose an enemy would come
to a drugged nation and say,

“Surrender, or else.”

We wouldn’t have the strength
to lift a finger

because we would be drugged.

Or alcohol.

Now, alcoholism is
a disease, we know that.

But it doesn’t start out
as a disease.

It starts out by
a deliberate act.

Some can take it,
and some can make it,

but you never know who.

There’s no test available.

So, you’re taking
a chance.

So, young people try drugs,
they try alcohol,

they try permissive sex;
they try all the rest of it

to find peace and joy
and happiness

and purpose and meaning
in their lives and they don’t.

Why don’t they?

You see
it’s the devil’s lie.

The devil is telling you
a lie.

He says,
“You’ll be like gods.”

This is the way
to pleasure.

This is the way
to happiness.

This is the way
to have a good time.

The Bible says there is a lot of
fun in it for a short time.

“There’s pleasure in sin,”
the Bible says, “for a season.”

Sure, you can go out and take
a shot of heroin, and get high,

and have a good time
for a little while.

Sure, you can go out and have
a sex experience

and have a moment of extasy.

Sure, you can go out
and get drunk.

and feel good.

Feel like you can take on
the world.

For a little while.

But then comes
the kick back.

“The wages of sin is death.”

It’s the devil’s lie
to try to get us off base.

Or religious hypocrisy.

There are people that have been
told over and over again that–

Well, they haven’t
really been told,

but we’ve given the implication
in the church

that if you go to church,
you’re all right.

You may hate the church.

You may sit there
thinking about the golf game

you’re going to play afterward,

instead of
what the preacher is saying,

but if you’ll just go to church
and put that one hour in a week

that that will cover up for

all the rest of the activities
of the week.

That is one of
the devil’s biggest lies,

because it’s a daily business.

Did you read about that dog
over here in West Virginia?

A collie.

No one knows how or why,
but he knows when Sunday comes.

And he walks a mile to the
Methodist church every Sunday.

That’s right.

It was in the paper
the other day.

He walks a mile
to church

and then when the minister
stands at the door,

and shakes hands
with the people,

he holds up a paw
to shake hands, too.

Then when the thing is all over
and the last person has left,

he walks home
a mile.

I don’t know whether anybody
taught him or not

but that’s what is taking place.

But that doesn’t make
the dog a Christian,

And going to church is not

the total answer.

The answer is Jesus Christ,

who said He is the Truth.

Do you know Christ as
your Savior and your Lord?

Now Jesus said,

“Ye shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free.”

Now what is truth?

Jesus said,
“I am the truth.”

He said
He’s the truth.

Remember, we said
Holy Bible a moment ago?

Jesus is the truth.

Now, if you don’t accept
Jesus Christ as Savior,

you’re going to get
another messiah,

because, you see,
you have to have a god.

I don’t care who you are.

You’ve got to have
a god.

And one of the interesting
things about

that table tennis team that went
over to China some time ago,

was that one of the men made
this interesting statement.

He said the single thing that
struck me most in China is

that Mao Zedong is Jesus and

that the people who are living
there are under his aegis.

He said everywhere we went
there was Mao Zedong’s picture.

You see,
you have to have a god,

and if you don’t take
Jesus as your God,

you’re going to have to have
another one.

That’s the reason many young
people are turning toward Satan

and turning toward all kinds of
witches and all the rest of it.

Or turning towards Zen Buddhism,
all the rest of it.

We have to have something
to worship, to believe in,

to give ourselves to.

Why not make it Jesus?

Jesus Christ.

Here’s what the Bible says
about Jesus, listen to this.

Have you ever heard anything,
any description,

anything greater than this
in all of literature?

“Who is the image of
the invisible God.

“The firstborn of
every creature.

“For by Him were all things
created that are in heaven

“and that are in earth,
visible and invisible,

“be they thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers.

“All things were created by
Him and for Him

“and He is before all things and
He holds all things together,

“that in all things he might
have the preeminence.

“For it pleased the Father

“that in Him should all
fullness dwell.”

Jesus Christ said,
“I am the Truth.”

When science finds out the
ultimate secret of the universe,

they’re going to find Jesus.

Time Magazine carried
its cover story a few weeks ago

on the genes,

the genetic problem and what is
happening in science

and how close we are to creating
human life.

You know, we may be able to
create human life,

but it won’t be a man.

He won’t have a conscience
and he won’t have a soul.

He won’t have that part of him
made in the image of God.

He could be a monstrosity;
he could be a monster.

He might even be
the Antichrist.

We don’t know
what science is going to do.

Jesus said,” I am
the sum total of all truth.”

Scientific truth,
psychological truth,

philosophical truth,
religious truth,

everything you’re searching for
to bring peace and joy

and happiness and purpose to
your life,

Jesus said,
“I am it.”

Now that’s the intellectual
struggle that you students

will have to struggle with.

That was my intellectual
hang up.

I couldn’t prove it, but the
Bible goes on to indicate that

if I accepted Jesus Christ
as Savior and Lord

and made Him
Lord of my life,

that he would forgive
all of my sins,

and become
the secret of

the purpose and the meaning
of my life,

and give me a reason
for my existence,

and bring a joy and a peace
in my heart.

Now, He didn’t say He’d take
your problems away.

Here’s where
a lot of

young people are going to get
all fouled up.

He doesn’t promise to remove
problems.

He doesn’t promise to remove
all hang-ups.

Jesus promises peace and grace
and joy in the midst of it.

He promises to give you
a purpose for your life.

I saw a motion picture
last week,

out in Hollywood
in a private studio.

It’s going to be released soon.
called The Lost Generation.

And it showed all of
these young people,

by the thousands,

demonstrating all over
the world for various causes.

Searching for some answer to
the dilemmas and problems

that they’re worried about.

War and pollution
and all the rest of it.

And then it showed
black men,

black women,

all young,

all students,

white men,

white girls,

one after another, just clipped
from one to the other saying

what Jesus Christ had done
in their lives.

How Christ had changed
their lives.

Christ can change your life,

if you put your faith
and your trust in Him.

He is the ultimate truth,

And, you know,
Jesus told the truth.

He told the truth about love.

He said, “For God so loved
the world that

“He gave His only Son.”

God loves you.

Erich Segal wrote
Love Story.

Yale professor.

But there’s a greater story than
any love story ever written,

is the love God has for
the human race.

The greatest love story
in the universe is

God’s love for man.

When we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us,

and the greatest picture of
love is on the cross

where Christ died
in your place.

That’s how much
God loves you.

He laid down
the life of His Son.

And when Jesus cried,

“My God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?”

In that terrible moment,

Jesus suffered the agonies of
hell and judgement for you.

And Jesus took your sins and
your failures and your mistakes

on that cross and died
in your place.

That’s the world’s
greatest love story.

That’s the love story
of the universe.

And that’s the love story
the angels are watching.

That’s the love story
the other planets are watching,

how that God could take us on
this little planet called Earth,

and say, “I love you so much,
I give my life for you.”

Now, Jesus told the truth
about something else.

He told the truth
about conversion.

Don’t let that word throw you.

Don’t let it frighten you.

The Bible teaches that if
you’re going to get to heaven

and have your sins forgiven,
you’ve got to be converted.

That word converted means
to be changed.

Now we’ve been reading about
conversion in the paper

constantly.

In the Charles Manson case out
in California, those young women

that followed Charles Manson
were converted to him,

so the newspapers said.

Or the conversion of
an entire generation in China

to the sayings of
Mao Zedong.

Or the conversion
right here in Kentucky

of Cassius Clay to
Muhammad Ali.

Conversion.

In the same way,
you are converted to Christ.

You must be converted,
not to a system,

not to a philosophy,
not just to a church,

you’re converted to
the person of Christ,

until Jesus Christ is
your Savior, and your Lord,

and your Master.

Has that taken place
in your life?

Jesus Himself said,

“Except ye be converted
and become as a little child,

you cannot enter
the Kingdom of Heaven.

Have you been converted?

Are you sure of it?

Do you know that
there was a time in your life

when you repented of
your sins

He said,
“And ye shall know the truth,”

and He said
He was the truth,

“and the truth will
make you free.”

Free from what?

Young people all over the world
are shouting,

“Freedom, freedom, freedom.”

Tonight, whether you’re black
or whether you’re white,

if you are in Christ,
you’re free.

Your spirit is free.

Free from what?

Free from the penalty of sin.

You’re never going to have to go
to hell.

You’re never going to have to
face the judgment of God

if you’re in Christ.

You’re free from that.

You’re free from
the power of sin.

Jesus said we can become
servants of sin.

How many of you here tonight,
or today, serve sin?

Some little sin in your life is
your master.

You can be free today.

Jesus can set you free
from that.

And then someday, you’ll be free
from the very presence of sin

because when you die
and go to heaven,

there won’t be any sin there.

The Bible says there will be
no dirt and no filth and no sin

in heaven.

It will be a free world

and that’s the world toward
which we’re headed.

That’s the world Ethel Waters
was talking about

when the earthquake took place
in California,

and she said, “Jesus, you’ve got
my address and I’ve got Yours.

“I’m not worried.”

She was free.

Free to live,
free to die.

Free to face life
with all of its problems,

and its difficulties,
and its mysteries,

and its unanswered problems.

Free!

Are you free?

Have you been set free?

Jesus said,

“Ye shall know the truth and
the truth will set you free.”

Jesus is the truth;
the devil is the lie.

You’ve got to choose.

And you have
the power of choice.

I’m going to ask you today
to choose Jesus.

Choose Christ.

That is a deliberate choice
of your will.

And if you’ll make that choice
and say,

“I will receive Jesus Christ as
my Lord, and my Master,

“and my Savior.

“I want to follow Him
and serve Him.”

You may be a member of
the First Baptist Church,

or the First Methodist,
or the First Christian,

or some other church.

You may not be a member of
any church.

You may be Roman Catholic,
or Jewish.

I don’t know who you are
or what you are.

but you want Jesus to be
your Lord, and your Master,

and you want His truth to live
in your heart.

I’m going to ask you
to do something

that I’ve seen thousands do
on every continent.

I’ve seen the Orientals,
I’ve seen the blacks,

I’ve seen the whites,

I’ve seen every color
and every group of people

all over the world do
what I’m going to ask you to do.

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

Right this minute,

and come and stand
in front of this platform,

and after you’ve all come,
I’m going to say a word to you,

have a moment of prayer
with you,

and give you some literature
that you can take home

before you go.

That’s all we’re going to do
when you come forward.

Just say a word to you–

but coming forward, there’s
something important about it.

Jesus said if you’re not willing

to take your stand
publicly for me

I’ll not take my stand for you
at the judgment.

I’m going to ask you
to get up and come.

Young people,
fathers and mothers,

whoever you are.

And out in the stadium,
out there,

you get up and come out there,
straight down in front,

and stand out there
as these people come here.

You get up and come quickly.

I’m going to ask that
our heads are bowed.

You may be in the choir,
you may be an usher,

but whoever you are
you need Christ today.

You want your sins forgiven.

You want to know
you’re going to heaven.

You want Christ’s truth
to be yours.

You get up and come
right now, quickly.

♪ 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 ♪

To you that are watching by
television,

as you can see, hundreds of
people are coming forward here

on the campus of
the University of Kentucky.

And as they make their
commitment to Christ here,

you can make your commitment
in your home

or wherever you may be watching
this telecast.

And then be sure and go
to church next Sunday.

God help you to make
that commitment right now.

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.

(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.

(man)
renew your faith,

(young girl)
and return again and again!

(woman)
I hope
you don’t think

this is like one of
those cop shows

you see
on television.

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.

(man)
I came, I saw, I conquered!

(man)
We’re in a bad place.

God, where are you?

(Billy Graham)
Is there any hope?

Yes, there’s hope!

(Franklin Graham)
What should a man give
in exchange for his soul?

(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 was forever changed,

and just said,
“I can’t believe this is real.”

I don’t really believe
in all this but

I know something crazy

is happening right now.