Billy Graham: The Message of Christmas
With Christmas right around the corner, enjoy classic Christmas music from artists like Cliff Barrows and George Beverly Shea, along with a special message from Billy Graham in this 1977 Christmas program. Watch more #MondayNightClassics every Monday at 8 p.m. ET. CONNECT with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association: on Facebook: 
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♪
♪ Here we come a-caroling,
among the leaves so green ♪
♪ And here we come a-wandering,
so fair to be seen! ♪
♪ Love and joy
come to you ♪
♪ And to you
glad Christmas, too ♪
♪ And God bless you
and send you ♪
♪ A Happy New Year ♪
♪ And God send you
a Happy New Year! ♪
♪
♪ God rest ye, merry gentlemen ♪
♪ Let nothing you dismay ♪
♪ Remember Christ the Savior
was born on Christmas day ♪
♪ To save us all from
Satan’s power ♪
♪ When we were gone astray ♪
♪ O tidings of comfort and joy ♪
♪ Comfort and joy ♪
♪ O tidings of comfort and joy ♪
♪
♪ And joy ♪
♪
♪ It came upon
the midnight clear ♪
♪ That glorious song of old ♪
♪ From angels bending
near the earth ♪
♪ To touch their harps
of gold ♪
♪ Peace on the earth,
good will to men ♪
♪ From heaven’s all gracious
King ♪
♪ The world in solemn
stillness lay ♪
♪ To hear the angel’s sing ♪
♪ Sing ♪
Hey, Bev! merry Christmas!
♪ Hark the herald angels sing ♪
♪ Glory to the newborn King ♪
Hi, Cliff!
♪ Peace on earth
and mercy mild ♪
♪ God and sinners reconciled ♪
♪ Joyful all ye nations rise ♪
♪ Join the triumph of
the skies ♪
♪ With angelic hosts proclaim ♪
♪ Christ is born in Bethlehem ♪
♪ Hark the herald angels sing ♪
♪ Glory to the newborn king ♪
♪ O little town of Bethlehem ♪
♪ How still we see thee lie ♪
♪ Above thy deep ♪
♪ And dreamless sleep ♪
♪ The silent stars go by ♪
♪ Yet in thy dark streets ♪
♪ Shineth ♪
♪ The everlasting light ♪
♪ The hopes and fears ♪
♪ Of all the years ♪
♪ Are met in Thee tonight ♪
♪ How silently, how silently ♪
♪ The wond’rous gift is giv’n ♪
♪ So God imparts
to human hearts ♪
♪ The blessing of His Heav’n ♪
♪ No ear may hear His coming ♪
♪ But in this world of sin ♪
♪ Where meek souls will
receive Him still ♪
♪ The dear Lord enters in ♪
♪
♪ O Holy Child of Bethlehem ♪
♪ Descend to us, we pray ♪
♪ Cast out our sin
and enter in ♪
♪ Be born in us today ♪
♪
♪ We hear the Christmas angels ♪
♪ The great glad tidings tell ♪
♪ O come to us, abide with us ♪
♪ Our Lord ♪
♪ Emmanuel ♪
♪
♪ Joyful, joyful we adore Thee ♪
♪ God of glory, Lord of love ♪
♪ Hearts unfold like flowers
before Thee ♪
♪ Hail Thee as the Son above ♪
♪ Melt the clouds of sin
and sadness ♪
♪ Drive the dark of doubt away ♪
♪ Giver of immortal gladness ♪
♪ Fill us with the light ♪
♪ Of day ♪
♪ Now go tell it
on the mountain ♪
♪ Over the hills
and everywhere ♪
♪ Go tell it on the mountain ♪
♪ That Jesus Christ is born ♪
♪
♪ Down in a lowly manger ♪
♪ Our humble Christ was born ♪
♪ And God sent us salvation ♪
♪ That blessed Christmas morn ♪
♪ Go tell it on the mountain ♪
♪ Over the hills
and everywhere ♪
♪ Go tell it on
the highest mountain ♪
♪ That Jesus Christ is born ♪
♪
♪
♪ O holy night ♪
♪ The stars are
brightly shining ♪
♪ It is the night of
the dear Savior’s birth ♪
♪
♪ Long lay the world
in sin and error pining ♪
♪ ‘Til He appeared,
and the soul felt its worth ♪
♪
♪ A thrill of hope ♪
♪ The weary world rejoices ♪
♪ For yonder breaks
a new and glorious morn ♪
♪ Fall on your knees ♪
♪ O hear the angel voices ♪
♪ O night divine ♪
♪ O night when Christ was born ♪
♪ O night ♪
♪ O holy night ♪
♪ O night divine ♪
♪
♪ A thrill of hope ♪
♪ The weary world rejoices ♪
♪ For yonder breaks a new and
glorious morn ♪
♪ Fall on your knees ♪
♪ O hear the angel voices ♪
♪ O night divine ♪
♪ O night when Christ was born ♪
♪ O night ♪
♪ O holy night ♪
♪ O night divine ♪
♪
♪♪
[applause]
All right, that’s beautiful.
Thank you, Norma.
I think that’s
the most beautiful
I’ve ever heard
that Christmas carol sung
and it’s my favorite
Christmas carol.
Well, I am a part of
this family.
Yes, you are.
I sure am.
♪ I heard the bells
on Christmas day ♪
♪ Their old familiar
carols play ♪
♪ And wild and sweet
the words repeat ♪
♪ Of peace on earth ♪
♪ Goodwill to men ♪
♪
♪ I thought how as ♪
♪ The day had come ♪
♪ The belfries ♪
♪ Of all Christendom ♪
♪ Had roll’d along ♪
♪ Unbroken song ♪
♪ Of peace on earth ♪
♪ Goodwill to men ♪
♪
[speaking] Then in despair
I hung my head
There is no peace on earth
I said
For hate is strong
and it mocks the song
♪ Of peace on earth ♪
♪ Goodwill to men ♪
♪ Then pealed the bells
more loud and deep ♪
♪ God is not dead
nor does he sleep ♪
♪ The wrong shall fail,
the right prevail ♪
♪ Of peace on earth ♪
♪ Goodwill to men ♪
♪
♪ ‘Til ringing, singing
on its way ♪
♪ The world revolved
from night to day ♪
♪ A voice, a chime ♪
♪ A chant sublime ♪
♪ Of peace on earth ♪
♪ Goodwill to men ♪
♪
♪ Then pealed the bells
more loud and deep ♪
♪ God is not dead
nor does He sleep ♪
♪ The wrong shall fail,
the right prevail ♪
♪ Of peace on earth ♪
♪ Goodwill to men ♪
♪
♪♪
[applause]
The most thrilling season
of the year is Christmas.
And in some ways,
this should be one of
the best Christmas seasons
that Americans have spent
in many years.
It’s certainly been one of
the best we’ve ever had.
To have members of
our own family here
and our team family,
And Johnny and June Cash.
What a Christmas season
this has been for us.
But this past year,
we visited a number of countries
throughout the world
preaching the gospel.
And in many of the places
that we visited,
we sensed that some sort of
crisis threatens
the very foundations
of their societies.
Thus, as we celebrate Christmas,
ominous clouds are gathering
on the horizon
in many parts of the world
that could affect
the whole world,
including your world and mine.
In addition, I’m speaking to
many of you tonight
who have your own
personal crisis.
It could be in your home,
your health, your work,
or just the pressures of life
itself.
But in the midst of
all these problems,
there comes the message of
Christmas
with all of its hope, its
goodwill, and its cheer.
I think the message of Christmas
has been generally misunderstood
and misapplied.
Some think only of
business profits,
shopping, gifts, tinsel,
toys and celebrations.
Others think only of Bethlehem;
of the star in the sky,
shepherds in the field,
and angels singing.
And still others cynically ask,
“Where is the Prince of peace?”
But the real Christmas message
goes much deeper.
it answers all the great
questions that plague
the human race at this,
or any other, hour.
The Christmas message is
relevant,
revolutionary, and reassuring
in a world of confusion
and crisis.
It can be summed up
in three tremendous events:
a birth, a death,
and the climax of human history.
First, the birth.
On that first Christmas night
the Bible tells of the angel
who said to
the fearful shepherds,
as we read a few minutes ago,
“Fear not, for behold
I bring you
“good tidings of great joy
“which shall be to all people.”
What is the real meaning of
these good tidings?
During various wars,
many a mother
tries to keep in memory
of her young son’s father
fresh on the boy’s mind.
I heard of one
during World War II,
who took her young son
into the bedroom every day,
and they would stand
and gaze at a large portrait
of the father,
who was away at war.
And one day the young boy looked
long and wistfully
at his father’s picture
and said to his mother,
“Mom, wouldn’t it be great
“if Dad would just step down
from the frame?”
For centuries, men had looked
into the heavens
longing for God to step out of
the frame.
At Bethlehem, 2,000 years ago,
God did exactly that–
He stepped out of the frame.
That virgin born baby was
God in human form.
He humbled himself.
He took the form of a servant.
He was made
in your likeness and mine.
He identified himself
with our problems,
and the problems of
the whole human race.
Thus it was that
the Apostle John wrote:
“The Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us,
“and we beheld His glory,
“the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father.”
In the early days of
the 19th century,
the world was following
with fear and trembling
the march of Napoleon.
Day after day,
they waited with impatience
for the latest news of
the battlefields
and of the wars.
And all the while,
in their homes,
babies were being born.
in just one year,
lying midway between the battles
of Trafalgar and Waterloo,
there came into the world
a host of heroes.
During that year of 1809,
Gladstone was bor
in Liverpool,
Alfred Tennyson was born
in Lincolnshire.
Oliver Wendell Holmes was born
in Massachusetts.
Frederick Chopin was born
in Warsaw.
Felix Mendelssohn was born
in Hamburg.
and Abraham Lincoln was born
in Kentucky.
But nobody thought of babies.
Everybody was thinking of
battles.
Yet 168 years later,
with a truer perspective,
which the years enable us
to command,
we can ask ourselves:
which of the battles of 1809
mattered more than
the babies of 1809?
What a difference the baby born
in Bethlehem’s manger
2,000 years ago
has made in our world.
The educational systems
He has inspired.
The social reforms that
His teachings have instituted.
and the transformation of
families, and lives and nations.
Secondly, there’s a death.
Christmas, to have meaning,
cannot be separated from
the cross.
The angel said at
the birth of Jesus,
He shall save his people
from their sins.
Jesus himself said,
speaking of His death,
“To this end was I born.”
The Apostle Paul years later
said to young Timothy,
“Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners.”
The central message of Christmas
to me is
that Jesus Christ, by His death
and resurrection,
can transform both individuals
and society.
Almost everyone
at some time or another,
senses that
he’s a moral failure
and suffers
some form of guilt.
Almost every newspaper or
magazine that we pick up,
and almost every newscast
we watch
show hate, lust, greed,
prejudice and corruption,
manifesting themselves in
a thousand ways every day.
The fact that we have policemen,
jails, and military forces
indicates that
something is radically wrong
with human nature.
Every time I board an airplane,
they search my luggage,
my briefcase,
and sometimes even my clothes.
Then I’m made aware again of
the disease of human nature.
You see, man is actually
a paradox.
On the one hand,
there is futility and sin.
On the other hand,
there’s goodness, kindness,
gentleness and love.
On the one hand,
he’s a moral failure.
but on the other hand,
he has capacities that
would relate him to God.
No wonder Paul spoke of
man’s disease
as the mystery of iniquity.
The Bible teaches that
the human race
is morally sick.
The disease has affected every
phase of man’s life in society.
The Bible calls this disease
sin.
The Bible teaches
that we are sinners,
and that the only cure for sin
is the blood of Christ
that was shed on that cross.
At this Christmas season,
many churches will be
celebrating communion.
And when we put the wine
and the grape juice to our lips,
it is a symbol of that blood
that was shed.
One of the most important
aspects of the worship
of ancient Judaism
was the shedding of blood
to make atonement for sin.
The word blood symbolized in
the Old and the New Testament
a life that has been given.
Christ became the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world
for the sins of mankind.
The cross and the resurrection
stand as man’s only hope.
It was on Good Friday and Easter
that God did for man what man
could not do for himself.
From these two momentous events
God is saying to sinful man,
I love you.
But he’s also saying,
I can forgive you.
This is the good news
of Christmas.
But you must also do something.
You must humble yourself
and admit your sin
and your moral failure.
And then by faith,
turn to Him as Lord and Savior.
You must say
as the publican did,
God be merciful to me a sinner.
The Scripture says,
“A broken and a contrite heart
God will not despise.”
This is the good news–
that the world is morally,
psychologically and spiritually
looking for right now.
Some of you may dismiss it
as ridiculous and idiotic.
The Apostle Paul himself said,
the preaching of the cross is
I know, nonsense to those
who are involved
in this dying world,
but to us who are being
saved from that death,
it is nothing less
than the power of God.
We all admit that we need some
sweeping social reforms,
and in true repentance
we must determine to do
something about it.
But our greatest need is
a change in the heart.
That is why Jesus said,
“You must be born again.”
That is why He said unless
you repent, you will perish.
The Apostle Paul in his famous
sermon in Athens said,
“God now commanded all men
everywhere to repent,
“because He hath appointed
a day in which
“He will judge the world.”
Who should repent?
Everybody.
This is what
the cross calls for.
The heart of the message
of the cross is simple:
repent or perish.
It’s as simple as that,
and it’s also the message of
Christmas.
Thirdly, there’s
that glorious hope.
There is the wonderful climax to
human history.
We’re not wandering
aimlessly about.
There is hope for us
that there’s going to be
a culmination to history
as we know it.
There’s more to Christmas
than the birth and the death of
Christ.
There’s also the ultimate
triumph of God’s kingdom.
You know, chiseled into
the cornerstone of
the United Nations building
is a quotation from the Bible
that has never yet
been fulfilled.
It reads like this:
“They shall beat their swords
into plowshares,
“and their spears
into pruning hooks.
“nation shall not lift up sword
against nation,
“neither shall they learn war
anymore.”
That’s a thrilling hope at
this moment of history.
It has often been repeated by
men who long for peace.
However, this quotation must not
be taken out of context.
The passage speaks of
the time when
the Messiah will reign
over the whole earth.
This is the era of which
Jesus taught us to pray
in the Lord’s prayer:
“Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
“in earth, as it is in heaven.”
This is the time when
He who came as a baby
at Bethlehem shall come as
King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Bible teaches
that there will be
a close to history
as we know it.
Man will have his last
Armageddon.
but when it seems that man is
about to destroy himself,
God will intervene.
Christ will return.
At His birth, He was in the
stall of an animal.
At His death,
He wore a crown of thorns.
but when He comes again,
it will be as Commander and
Chief of the armies of heaven.
He will take control of
this war-weary world,
and bring the permanent peace
that we strive for and long for.
A new world will be formed,
A new social order will emerge.
In the midst of so much gloom
and pessimism,
in many parts of the world
that we’ve seen this year,
or perhaps even in
your own heart.
We’re not to wring
our hands.
The angel said to
the frightened shepherds
2,000 years ago,
“Fear not.”
Jesus says,
“Let not your heart be troubled.
“if I go and prepare
a place for you,
“I will come again.”
There’s a fairly new Gospel song
entitled, The King Is Coming.
I love it.
The King Is Coming.
and when He comes,
sin will be eliminated.
Tears will be wiped from
every eye.
Disease shall be no more.
And even death,
man’s greatest enemy,
will be eliminated from
the human race.
Nation shall not lift up sword
against nation.
and war shall be no more.
This is the promise of
Christmas.
This is our hope.
This is the Christmas star that
lights our evening darkness.
This is the assurance that
a new day is coming,
through the Messiah whose name
is called by Isaiah the prophet
“Wonderful, Counselor,
Mighty God,
“Everlasting Father,
and Prince of Peace.”
This is God’s gift of Christmas.
This is the message that
I’ve had the privilege of
preaching around the world
on every continent
and these my team members
have joined me.
As we have proclaimed it
together in song and word
to many different cultures,
and no matter
where we’ve gone,
it’s the message of
this good news
that meets the need of
the human heart.
Perhaps until now,
you’ve been celebrating
this Christmas and every
Christmas of your life
for the wrong reasons.
How many Christmases
have come and gone
without your ever really
knowing Jesus Christ
and the gift of new life
He brings?
I’m going to ask you to do
something on this Christmas
that we’ve just seen
hundreds of thousands do
around the world.
Whoever you are,
wherever you are,
whether you’re alone
or in a room somewhere,
or surrounded by
your loved ones,
I’m asking you,
all of you together,
even whole families,
right now,
to bow your heads
and pray this prayer with me.
O God,
I have sinned against thee.
I’m sorry for my sin.
I’m willing to turn
from my sins,
and by faith I receive
Jesus Christ
as my Lord and Savior.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
And now on behalf of all of us,
may this Christmas mark
the beginning of
a mew life for you
and your family,
as you make Jesus Christ
the Lord and Savior of
your life.
Good night
and a blessed Christmas
from our house
to your house.
♪ O come all ye faithful ♪
♪ Joyful and triumphant ♪
♪ O come ye, o come ye
to Bethlehem ♪
♪
♪ Come and behold Him ♪
♪ Born the King of angels ♪
♪ O come let us adore Him ♪
♪ O come let us adore Him ♪
♪ O come let us adore Him ♪
♪ Christ the Lord ♪
♪
♪ Yea, Lord, we greet Thee ♪
♪ Born this happy morning ♪
♪ Jesus to Thee be
all glory given ♪
♪ Word of the Father ♪
♪ Now in flesh appearing ♪
♪ O come let us adore Him ♪
♪ O come let us adore Him ♪
♪ O come let us adore Him ♪
♪ Christ the Lord ♪
♪ ah… ♪
♪ ah… ♪
♪ ah… ♪
♪ ah… ♪
♪ ah… ♪
♪ ah… ♪
♪ ah… ♪
♪ ah… ♪
♪ ah… ♪
♪ ah… ♪
♪♪