September 11 and the Love of God | Billy Graham Classic Sermon

from our archives the Billy Graham

classics

[Applause]

[Music]

beyond the highest star and reaches to

the lowest

[Music]

of God how rich and pure how measureless

and strong it shall

forever more and do

Saints the

Angels song

oh we can only see a little of the ocean

as we stand on the Sandy Shore

but up there Beyond the Horizon there’s

more

there’s more

we can only see a little of God’s loving

a few Rich Treasures from his mighty

store

but out there Beyond the Horizon

there’s more

there’s more

[Music]

how rich

[Music]

and strong

it shuffle

forever

more and do

it is the Saints and angels

song

[Music]

George Beverly Shea

then the other person that was with me

standing here was my son Franklin

and Franklin will be

he just finished a mission in Recife

Brazil and the last night that had 81

000 people

and then then he flew to New York

and he was at Ground Zero this week

praying with those people

the fireman the police

he set up a office there

where people can phone in to counselors

and pray

and

those switchboards have

filled with people

that are calling in

wanting spiritual help

and I’m thankful for that little bit of

ministry that we can have in New York

thank you Frank

my heart is heavy

just like yours because of what our

nation is going through

the September 11th attack

has been called the bloodiest day

in the United States since the Civil War

I had two grandfathers

both of them fought at Gettysburg

one of them had his legs shut off

and the same man lying there to be

helped had his eye shot out also that

was my mother’s fault

my father’s father was named crook

Graham

and he got a shrapnel or bullet lodged

next to his spine they couldn’t move the

rest of his life

so I know a little bit about

in historically some of the bloody

battles

but what happened on September the 11th

was the deadliest bloodiest

we have ever known

it was unbelievable and heartbreaking to

see all those lives lost

on the four planes and at the Pentagon

in Twin Towers

proud of this attack

most of this culture’s attention

was on the newest song

or the latest movie

a person was often considered a hero if

they could sink a basketball

or play a chord on a guitar

now we know that what true heroes are

they’re Ordinary People

they are ordinary people just like you

and me that have done extraordinary

things

who can forget the incredibly courageous

action of the firefighters and the

police rushing into the burnings Trade

Center while everyone else was brushing

out

all that wonderful chaplain

Father Michael Judd

who just ministering to a man who had

just been injured was killed himself by

a falling brick

we’ve read about the man on the 27th

floor of the north town

who called his brother in Brooklyn after

the plane hit and said I’m still here in

the office and I’m okay

his brother couldn’t believe it he said

get out of there and get out of there

quick

he said I’m with Ed

and he’s afraid to go down because the

smoke is so strong

Ed was a fellow worker with him

and a close friend he also lived in a

wheelchair

Abe’s brother

pleaded with him to get out but he

didn’t

Abe who was Jewish

stayed to help his friend who was a

Christian

they never made it out but they left a

message of heroism and working together

no matter what our race or our religion

may be

and what a wonderful story

there are so many stories

that we could tell

my wife and I cut a lot of them out of

the papers that we had

both from England and

other places

Heroes laid their lives down for total

strangers

this reminds us of what Jesus did for us

on the cross

when he picked up that wooden cross

and carried it to Mount Calvary

there was no cheering crowds

in Mata as a matter of fact they jeered

him

they had already spit on him and pulled

his beard

that ripped his back open with a cat

onion tails

even after they nailed him to the Cross

they still mocked him

yet he went through it why

because he loved you and me

and he loves us tonight

[Applause]

I want to speak tonight briefly

on the love of God

so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten son

that whosoever believeth in him should

not perish but have everlasting light

that’s the first verse of scripture that

my mother ever taught me

I never forgot it I guess I preached on

it a thousand times

much of the world is feeling the effects

of terrorism and War right now

but there are other things

that are bothering us

disease

poverty racism hate loneliness AIDS

unemployment divorce psychological

problems boredom

murder statistics moral problems

our peoples are filled with all of that

so the world didn’t stop sinning

after September 11th didn’t stop getting

bored

didn’t stop the divorces

for some time

suicide has been

on the increase but suicide is no

solution because you only kill the body

you don’t kill the soul

and the soul is the most important for

what shall it profit a man if he gain

the whole world and lose his own soul

that verse says for God so love for God

I was thinking the other night as I

looked up at the stars

for God

you can’t put God in a test tube

you can’t see him on a computer screen

but that doesn’t mean that he’s not real

he is the creator

he created everything that there is

all the stars

we see spread out on the entire sky

a part of the immense Milky Way that we

live in

but that galaxy of the Milky Way is just

one tiny part of a universe containing

millions of galaxies

and they found now

that their galaxies beyond what they

thought

would be the last one

for Los Angeles Times on the 5th of this

month

had a story about the discovery of a

baby Galaxy

which is over 13 billion light years

from Earth

do you know what a light year is

one light year

is more than five trillion miles

that’s how vast our universe is and

we’re just a little speck floating out

in the middle of it

and we develop all this technology

to try to make us like God

that wasn’t our motive but that’s the

way it sort of turned out

now we’re afraid that technology is

going to destroy us

Genesis 1 1 tells us in the beginning

God created the heavens and the Earth

Psalm 8 talks about thy Heavens the work

of thy fingers the moon and the stars

which thou has created

by the word of the Lord were the heavens

made and all the hosts of them by the

breath of his mouth

the Bible also teaches that God is a

spirit

he doesn’t have a body like you or me

God is a spirit

and then the Bible says he’s unchanging

I’m the Lord I change not

in him is no veribles neither shadow of

turning

the Bible says God is a holy God

he’s righteous in all his ways and holy

in all of his works

then the Bible says God is a god that is

going to judge the world

it is appointed unto man wants to die

and after that the judgment

you are going to be at the judgment

if you don’t know Christ you’re going to

be at the great white Throne judgment

God shall bring every work into judgment

with every secret thing whether it be

good or whether it be evil

everything you’ve ever done is going to

be wide open at the judgment

all your sins will be there

you say well then

I won’t be alone there’ll be many with

me no at the judgment

and in hell

you’ll be alone

you won’t have your friends with you and

you won’t have the parties and you won’t

have the drinks you’ll be all alone

naked before God

but the Bible also says God is love

in first John 4 8 it says God is love

and I hold on to that

yea I have loved thee with an

everlasting love

Jeremiah 31 3. there was a popular song

a few years ago that said I can’t live

in a world without love

you don’t have to

because God loves you

no matter how bad you’ve been

no matter how many sins you’ve committed

God loves you

I could talk all evening just on that

and God is Not only

a god of judgment but he’s and a god of

love

but he’s also a god of mercy and

forgiveness

he wants to forgive you

he offers his hand of Mercy

to every one of you

that are willing to open your heart and

receive him into your heart

in a few minutes I’m going to ask you to

get up out of your seat and come and

stand in front of the platform

and say by coming

I need Jesus

I want to receive him as my Lord and

Savior

it may never be again in Fresno like

this

when you have such a moment before God

you see God gave man a choice

in the Garden of Eden

but of the tree of the knowledge of Good

and Evil

Thou shalt not eat of it for in the day

that thou eatest thereof Thou shalt

surely die

and Satan was there

in the form of a servant

and he tempted Eve

with great promises that he had no power

to offer

and so Eve succumbed

she gave the fruit to

Adam

and Adam was not deceived he just

knew what he was doing and he took it

and God had said you can have of every

fruit in the garden except this one and

God was testing man

and that’s where sin began and that’s

where all the Troubles of the world

began right then

we know that something is wrong with

human nature

terrorism

War greed immorality racial Prejudice

poverty

sin

is what’s wrong with the world

and only Jesus Christ can solve it

no one else

can forgive it

but Jesus

sin is your problem

the Bible says for the mystery of

iniquity does already worked

First John 3 4 it says sin is the

breaking of the law

you know the Ten Commandments

have you ever broken one of them

if you’ve broken one of them one time

you’ve broken them all

Isaiah said all we like sheep have gone

astray we’ve turned everyone his own way

instead of going God’s way we go our own

way

and we get lost

and we are lost

there’s a film I saw I think advertised

called Lost

we are lost

from God we think we’re

on the right track

but the scripture says

there’s a way that seemeth right unto

man but then there

is death

there are two roads

there’s a broad Road

well lighted a lot of fun

and most of us all on that road but then

there’s a narrower Road

the narrow road

leads to heaven

and Paradise

Jesus is on that narrow road

and you stand at the crossroads

which road are you going to take you

have to make a choice

you say oh I’m not going to make a

choice you have to

God has arranged for the fact

that you cannot ignore that great

decision

because the end of the broad road is

death

natural death but primarily spiritual

debt separated from God forever

our souls

separated from God

and that’s called hell

I’m going to ask you tonight as you

stand at that crossroads to make the

right decision

and come to Christ and open your heart

to him

you might have thought you were a

Christian but you’re not sure

there’s a little voice down inside that

says

you’re not sure

that you need to make this decision

and be sure we’re living in a moment in

history I wouldn’t want to live for the

next five years if I didn’t know I knew

Christ

and many of us are members of the church

we’ve been baptized we’ve been confirmed

or whatever

but deep in our hearts

we have that void

that uncertainty

you need to make sure

you may be out

Catholic

or Protestant

on Jewish

whoever you may be

you can make your commitment

to Christ tonight

I’m going to ask you to come hundreds of

you get up out of your sea and come and

when you get here I’m going to say a

word to you

give you some literature to help you

and we’ll have a prayer of commitment

you get up and come right now and say I

need to be sure

I need Jesus

get up out of your city if you would

remember you can bring a friend with you

[Applause]

[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]

thank you

to myself

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

I spoke a few weeks ago after the

tragedy on the 11th of September

I spoke from Washington

and all the networks were there

thank you Mr President

for calling this day of prayer and

Remembrance

we needed it at this time

no matter how hard we try

words simply cannot express

the horror

the shark and the revulsion we all feel

over what took place in this nation on

Tuesday morning

we’ve always needed God from the very

beginning of this nation

but today we need him especially

we’re facing a new kind of enemy

we’re involved in a new kind of warfare

and we need the help of the spirit of

God

and I’ve gotten letters from all over

the world

from people that listen

and two or three of them couldn’t find a

television station that was carrying it

so they went to a bar

and they said an interesting thing they

said when I got up to give the gospel

everything got quiet in the bar

and people received the Lord in that

so where wherever you are

whether it’s in a hotel or a bar or

where

Christ will come into your heart if you

open it to him

many of you have been watching by

television

and you’ve seen this great number of

people here in the valley of California

San Joaquin Valley

making their way to Assurance of their

faith in Christ

where you are you can make that same

commitment

oh God

I’m a sinner

I’m sorry for my sin

I’m willing to change my way of life

but you will have to help me

now I open my heart to the Lord Jesus

Christ

I want him to be Lord Of My Life

I want him to take men to The Fellowship

of his church

in Jesus name

amen

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 at

1-877-772-4559 that’s 1-877-772-4559

or you can write to us at Billy Graham

One Billy Graham Parkway Department C

Charlotte North Carolina

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

[Music]

Jesus Christ died for the world

[Music]

foreign

whatever

the color of your skin

whatever language you speak

Jesus Christ died for your sins it’s

Jesus

[Music]

[Music]

I hope you don’t think this is like one

of those cop shows you see on television

she’s in trouble if you don’t take it to

the edge every chance you get you’re

dead already baby

we’re in a bad place God where are you

is there any hope yes there’s hope what

should a man give in exchange for his

soul

I was in trouble and I didn’t know what

to do well the juice I knew that I could

take on the world

it’s like you’re in a dream but not

really a dream is a reality

that was forever change and just that I

can’t believe this is real I don’t

really believe in all this but I know

something crazy is happening right now

tonight I’m glad to tell you as we close

that the Lord Jesus Christ can be

received your sins forgiven

the Billy Graham Library is a place for

all walks of life to recharge reflect

renew your faith and return again and

again

[Music]