Peace in Our Time | Billy Graham Classic Sermon

from our archives the Billy Graham

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Shining

Oh

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grain for Perle

mountain

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Amer God Shar his grace

on and

Crown thy good with

Brotherhood from sea to

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sea

I don’t know how you

feel but I feel proud tonight to be an

American this year most of our crusades

have been

abroad and we have been in various parts

of the world holding Evangelistic

Crusades like this next year we are

staying the entire year in the United

States holding Crusades from one end of

the country to the other and

participating in scores of Bicentennial

events because we believe that the

greatest service we can make to America

in her bicentennial year will be to

strengthen the

spiritual strength that we do have in

this country and pray that God will make

next year

1976 a year of spiritual Revival and

renewal in this nation I believe that if

we Americans will make it a year of

prayer we can see what could happen to

this nation in just one

year and I hope that all of you will be

participating in

that

tonight I want to turn again to what

could be called a Christmas

text though I wasn’t thinking of it when

I prepared to this message but it’s the

14th verse of the second chapter of

Luke’s gospel just one

verse glory to God in the highest and on

Earth peace Good Will toward men I want

to speak tonight on the subject of

biblical peace how do we have peace Luke

12:49 our same Lord Jesus Christ is

speaking I am come to send fire on the

earth he

said I have come to send fire on the

earth and then Matthew 10:34 he says

something else very strange he says

think not that I’ve come to send peace

on

Earth I come not to send peace but a

sword it sounds like a contradiction

it sounds like he didn’t know what he

was talking about he was announced as

the Prince of Peace in the Old Testament

he came in fulfillment of the Prophecies

of the Old Testament the Angels

announced him as the one that was going

to bring

peace and now when he reaches the age of

30 years of age and he enters upon his

ministry he said I have come to bring

fire on the

earth and he says I’ve come not to bring

peace but a sword

how do we reconcile it what did he

mean there are those who tried to reduce

Christ to the level of a genial

innocuous AA but Christ said you’re

wrong I’m a fire

Setter I’m a sword

wielder this generation has been called

the tormented generation and the reason

that it’s been called that is because

it’s an age of

Revolution a technological Revolution

that is causing other revolutions

throughout the world political

revolutions old orders are dying and new

orders are coming into being nations are

being overthrown by Revolution almost

weekly as we read in our

newspapers and on that tragic day here

in Texas that November day

1963 President

Kennedy had prepared to say to the

Dallas Citizens Council these

words we in this generation are by

Destiny rather than by choice Watchmen

on the walls of world Freedom we did not

seek this responsibility but we will not

shrink from

it the 20th century will be called the

century of Revolution and the whole

world order is changing and changing

rapidly right now

morally structurally in business labor

government everything is in

a is in change and in

crisis God loves our world he loves you

so much that he gave his son to die on

the cross to bring

peace and the Bible teaches three kinds

of

Peace only

three first there is peace with God

therefore being justified by faith we

have peace with God through our Lord

Jesus Christ said the Apostle Paul in

Romans

51 the greatest need that you have right

now tonight as an individual is peace

with God you say well Billy I’m not at

war with

God yes you are you may not be conscious

of it God calls it War because you are

in Rebellion against it

you don’t do his

will you haven’t yielded your life as to

him as Lord and Master and savior oh

you’re a member of the

church you’re a fairly decent

person but the Bible says we don’t even

know our hearts our hearts are deceitful

and desperately wicked now that’s how

God looks at

it I go to the Mayo Clinic every year

for an examination and they always give

me an x-ray and they usually find a

little something wrong somewhere inside

of

me and on two or three occasions they’ve

operated because of what they saw in the

X-ray I didn’t know it was

there but the X-ray shows it

up you see you don’t know that you’re

rebelling against God you’re not quite

conscious of it you’re not shaking your

fist in God’s

face but you’re not go living according

to the word of God you’re not giving

time to prayer you’re not giving time to

Bible study you’re not giving time to

Soul winning you’re not giving

everything that you possibly could

give and so God looks upon you and God

pronounces the verdict and the diagnosis

is that your heart is

sinful that’s God’s diagnosis that’s the

way he looks at

you he says you’re a sinner you’ve

broken my laws you’re in Rebellion

against me and what you need is

reconciliation and the greatest need

that we have tonight is reconciliation

with

God how do you get reconciled with God

that’s what the cross is all about on

the cross the Lord Jesus Christ reached

one hand and took the hand of God and

the other hand and took your hand and

brought us together and reconciled us to

God at the cross and you can only find

God at the cross

Alexander sanen was over here recently

remember and he Ted around the country

and he told a little story that

everybody ought to hear if you didn’t

hear it he said when he was in that

prison for so long there came one time

and one time only when he thought of

suicide he said he was not allowed ever

to speak to his cellmate for weeks on

end they could not speak to each other

and he said that his cellmates saw him

growing weaker and weaker and more

depressed and more discouraged all the

time and he said his cmate took a little

stick and in the sand of the dirt in the

cell he drew a picture of the

Cross and sanon said at that

moment the whole purpose of my

existence dawned upon

me because he said I realize that Jesus

Christ shed his blood for me on that

cross and he said that gave me the

courage to live through my

imprisonment have you come to that

cross not with all your religious

trappings not with all your pretenses

and pride but have you come in great

humility and said oh Lord I’ve sinned

against you and I’m sorry and I’m

willing for you to come into my life and

change my life and change my way of

living I talked to a man this afternoon

in a distant

City goes to

church sits on the front

row he said I’m going to commit suicide

in just a few

minutes I’ve become so

depressed I prayed with him he promised

to wait at least another 48 hours before

he commits

suicide are the pressures of Life

pressing in on you like

that the suicide rate in this country is

rising every hour as people are coming

to the end of themselves and some of it

is right in the church

people who have religion but do not have

Jesus Christ a pastor in this town told

me yesterday he said Billy the greatest

problem we face in West

Texas is that we have religion but we

don’t really know Jesus

Christ that’s why Jesus said to

Nicodemus you must be born again and he

was a religious

man peace with God that’s why Christ

died that’s why he rose again that’s

what the cross is all about Christ did

his part on the cross in dying for you

now you must receive him you see God is

willing to offer you a

pardon he’ll pardon you and forgive you

but more than that he will change you

here and now and You Begin eternal life

not when you die you begin eternal life

tonight right

now and you can have heaven on

Earth joy and peace and Security in the

midst of a world that’s crumbling in

fact that’s what peace

means peace means

Tranquility no matter what the

circumstances let the bombs fall let the

wars come let the world tear

apart let your husband leave you of your

wife leave

you let death come to the family all

these things will cause tears

yes but in the midst of

it is peace because you have peace with

God and that brings us to our second

Point there’s the peace of God peace

with God now now peace of God Jesus said

Peace I leave with you my peace I give

unto you not as the world giveth give I

unto you now the world can give you a

peace

you can go out here and get drunk and

get a little peace you can go out and

take some drugs and have some little

peace and Tranquility for a short

time you can go out here and have a sex

experience have an

affair and you’ll have a little peace

and a little fun and a little marment a

little joy for a little while the Bible

says this pleasure in sin for a short

season but then comes the terrible

Moment of Truth when you must face

reality when you must face God you must

face the Judgment you must face

eternity and you don’t have the peace of

God and the greatest Legacy that Christ

left us was his peace he said my peace I

give unto you think of the serenity with

which Jesus Christ moved in his

life he wasn’t hurrying about here in

there like we

do he seemed to take time with

everybody he only had three

years he could have fed all the hungry

people in the

world with one wave of his of his arm he

could have stopped all the wars but he

didn’t do

it that wasn’t God’s plan God’s plan was

that he would go to the

cross and take your sins you see God

couldn’t be just and just just forgive

you God couldn’t come along and Pat you

on the back and say Jim Bill Susie Mary

I forgive you I know you’ve broken my

law and you’ve sinned you see to us sin

seems trivial it doesn’t seem serious

but in God’s sight it’s deadly serious

it means Eternal

death it means judgment God is a just

God absolutely

just somebody had to Bear the punishment

somebody had to spend the time in the

prison someone had to suffer the pangs

of hell and judgment and Jesus Christ

stepped out and said I

will and he took your

judgment and your

hell and when he was on that cross he

said to the people that were

driving the nails in his hands he prayed

to the father he said father forgive

them

too they don’t even know what what

they’re

doing I expect to see the men that drove

the nails in his hands I expect to see

them in

heaven because I believe that God

answered the prayer of his son that

day there’s never been a person that

called upon the Lord even with a sigh or

a

breath and said Lord remember the thief

on the cross he deserved death he

deserved to die he was a murderer he was

a robber and all he did was turn to

Jesus Christ and say remember me when

thou comest into thy kingdom and Jesus

said today Thou shalt be with me in

Paradise remember

me that’s

all that

quick people say well you can’t come to

Christ that quick and have your life

change like that you certainly can Paul

and Silas were in prison they were was

singing and they were witnessing and the

Jailer was

listening and the Prison Walls fell down

in an earthquake and it looked like the

prisoners were escaping and the Jailer

drew his sword he was going to kill

himself because he knew the Roman

authorities would kill him the next day

for letting the prisoners

escape and Paul said wait a minute we

haven’t fled we’re still here and the

man fell down in

Terror and he said what must I do to be

saved and you know what the average

person would say to him

while you’re in no emotional state to be

saved wait till you calm

down think about

it let’s let’s let’s meet and talk this

out tomorrow and explain it to

you Paul didn’t do that Paul said

believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and

thou shall be saved and thy house just

believe right now here and at that

moment that Philippian Jailer

received Christ was saved and was

forgiven and before the night was over

he was doing social

work because it says that he washed the

backs of the prisoners whom he had

beaten just a few hours

earlier just like that your life can be

changed You Can Be Touched by Christ

tonight and never be the same

again and then thirdly and lastly there

is peace with our fellow men

Jesus said have peace with one another

in other words we had to work for peace

we had to do all that Mr Kissinger has

been

doing but man himself without God will

never bring permanent

peace thousands of Peace treaties have

been signed in the history of the world

and we still have

wars is there going to be a day and a

time when we will have no more

war yes there’s coming a day

listen to what the scripture says and he

shall rule the Nations and they shall

beat their swords into plow shares and

their Spears and de pruning hooks Nation

shall not lift up sword against Nation

neither shall they learn War anymore

Isaiah

2:4 that’s going to

happen war will be eliminated peace will

come and then the scripture says in

another place and in that day I will

make a covenant

for them with the Beast of the field and

the fowls of the heaven and with the

creeping things of the ground and I will

break the bow and The Sword and the

battle of the earth and all will lie

down safely together did you see the

picture the other night on television

how the insects are about to take the

world and there’s a battle right now as

to whether man is going to survive by

2000 ad or whether the insects are going

to survive and we’re at war with the

insect world because they are moving so

fast here Spirit it says those little

creeping things these insects we’re

going to be at peace with the animal

world will be at peace

with you can have a tiger in your living

room just like you have a cat now it’s

going to be a wonderful time there’ll be

no

tears no suffering no hospitals no

armies no

navies no Wars and no

death no graveyards of wonderful Glory

world to

come what will be the government the

United Nations

no

theocracy God

reigning God will be in charge and he

will rule the world the scripture says

with a rod of iron that means with

perfect Justice and perfect love and

perfect

Mercy that’s the

future and I want to tell you tonight

I’ve Stak everything I’ve God ever will

have on the promise of that

word I’m trusting in Jesus Christ and

him alone as my Lord and my savior and

when my moment comes to die if I should

die before he comes I know that there

will be an angel that will come and take

me by the hand and Usher me into the

presence of my Lord and I will be with

him

forever I I know where I’ve come from I

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

and I don’t have any doubts about

it you can have that same peace that

same assurance that same Joy by putting

your confidence and your faith in Jesus

Christ and I’m going to ask you to do it

tonight

how I’m going to ask hundreds of you to

get up out of your seat right now and

come and stand in front of the platform

and make this commitment to Christ

openly

you say well Billy why do we have to

come forward because Jesus

said if you don’t confess me before men

openly I’ll not confess you before my

Father which is in heaven and every

person that he called in the New

Testament he called publicly there was a

reason for it if you’re ashamed of

following Christ then you’re no follower

of his he wants you to come out and be

open

about and I’m going to give you an

opportunity to come out tonight and be

open about it you may be a member of the

best Church in town or you may not be a

member of any church you may be Catholic

Protestant or Jewish or you may not have

any religion but you want to come and

give your heart and your life to him

tonight and you want to make sure about

this thing you want his peace you want

his forgiveness you want to know you’re

going to heaven you want to choose his

side tonight you get up and

come if you’re with friends that have

come in a bus they’ll wait on you

bring your friend with you it’ll only

take two or 3 minutes and after you’ve

come here’s what we’re going to do I’m

going to say a word to you have a prayer

with you give you some literature and

you can go back and join your friends

you get up and come right now if you

come from that top balcony it takes

about a minute longer so get up and come

right now quickly from everywhere and

all of you back here that God has spoken

to and all around you get up and come

we’re going to

wait

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

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decision

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God

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PR

to my

soul

of to

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the

you that are watching by television can

see here at Texas Tech University

Stadium hundreds of people coming across

this field to make this commitment to

Jesus Christ and to find peace with God

and the peace that passeth all

understanding that peace that purpose

that Joy can be yours wherever you are

in a hotel room in your living room your

bedroom at home you can say yes to

Christ God bless you and be sure and go

to church next

Sunday if you just prayed that prayer

with my father or if you have any

questions about a relationship with

Jesus Christ I 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 at

877772

4559 that’s

877772

4559 or you can write to us at Billy

Graham 1 Billy Graham Parkway Department

C Charlotte North Carolina

28201 or you can contact us on the web

247 at peacei god.com 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

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