Our lives can be trusted in the hands of Jesus. In this classic 1977 sermon from Cincinnati, Ohio, Billy Graham explains all that’s gained from putting your faith in Christ.
from our archives the billy graham
classics
[Applause]
now i want you to turn with me to the
20th chapter of the book of john
the 20th chapter of the book of john
beginning with the 24th verse
but thomas one of the twelve called
didymus
was not with them when jesus came
the other disciples therefore said unto
him
we have seen the lord but he said unto
them
except i shall see in his hands the
print of the nails
and put my finger into the print of the
nails
and thrust my hand into his side i will
not believe
and after eight days again his disciples
were within and thomas with them
then came jesus the doors being shut
and stood in the midst and said peace be
unto you
then saith he to thomas reach hither thy
finger and behold
my hands and reach hither
thy hand and thrust it into my side and
be not
faithless but believing and thomas
answered and said unto him
my lord and my god
jesus said unto him thomas because
thou has seen me you’ve believed but
blessed are they blessed are they in
1977.
blessed are they that have not seen
they’ve not been able to touch my body
they’ve not been able to see the
nail prints in my hand they have not
been able to see the place where i was
pierced by the spear
but they believe anyway there’s a
special blessing
and a special reward for them
because they have to come by sheer faith
you have seen and felt and touched
as well as believed that has a message
for us
but i don’t want to go into that whole
dialogue because time is very short
and i don’t want to be very long tonight
i want to take one little phrase out of
that and use it tonight the hands
of jesus the 20th chapter and the 27th
verse behold
my hands behold my hands
do you know how many times the word
hands are used in the bible or the word
hand is used in the bible
1433 times
now look at your hands take them out in
front of you look at them a moment
it’s the most versatile part
of all your body we climb with our hands
we push with our hands we pull with our
hands
we throw with our hands we catch with
our hands
we can tear with our hands we can thread
with our hands
we can sow with our hands we can chisel
with our hands
we can saw with our hands we can drive a
nail with our hands
we can draw a picture on a canvas with
our hands
we can play an instrument with our hands
as we heard these men from ireland a
moment ago
we can even walk on our hands
as i’ve seen some do and of all the five
senses
the eagle can see better the dog can
smell better
and the horses can sense better and hear
better with their ears
but none of the animals have the hands
that are capable of such diversification
as the human hands think of everyday
usage that we make of hands
if you want assistance you say lend me a
hand
if you want experience you say i’m an
old hand at that
if you want to express a wasted life you
say well he’s empty-handed
if you want somebody who’s greatly
involved you say well he’s got his hands
full he can’t do it
and the wedding ceremony at least most
of the ceremonies i’ve gone to and
certainly all that i’ve conducted
some point in the ceremony i asked them
to join their right hands
and then when the church offices are
ordained in many
denominations what do we do we place our
hands on them
as they did in the scriptures
julie eisenhower wrote a wonderful
little book not a little book it’s a big
book on
interesting people it’s one of the most
interesting books i’ve ever read
and one of the interesting people she
wrote about was my
wife and they serialized
that chapter and a number of newspapers
across the country
maybe they did here i don’t know but she
has the most remarkable description
of my wife’s hands that i’ve ever read
and i thought well she’s captured
not only ruth’s life in her
spiritual dimension and you know julie
was in our home for several days and she
never took a note
she must have a tremendous memory
because everything in that chapter
is almost to perfection about
my wife a little bit about me
she she got that straight too
but in reading the four gospels they
constitute a picture book
of jesus hands and i want you to see the
hands of the lord jesus christ tonight
first the creating hands
all things were made by him and without
him was not anything made that was made
paul in colossians said who is the image
of the invisible god the firstborn of
every creature
for by him were all things created
visible and invisible all the mountains
all the seas all the stars all the
planets all the galaxies
were made by him those hands
flung those galaxies into space from
flaming fingertips
whether they be thrones or dominions or
principalities of powers
all things were created by him and for
him
and without him was not anything made
that was made
jesus says in this chapter behold my
hands he also said it in luke 24
behold my hands
the hands that created the world
the lord jesus christ hands and then
secondly there’s the healing hands we’ve
been talking about
people in the city of cincinnati in this
area tonight hurting
people that are in the hospitals that
are sick people that are dying right
this minute
people that have been told today that
they have terminal cancer
people today
the dean of our college where we live
one of the most wonderful men i’ve ever
known
fell out of a tree today he’s dead
tonight
we don’t know whether he had a heart
attack or what happened yet or whether
he
he broke his back or his neck when he
fell
one of our neighbors and one of our
friends
our hands the healing hands
of the lord jesus christ and he uses
your hands
as you minister the hands of a doctor
the hands of a nurse
the hands of a social worker the hands
of the clergyman the hands of the
psychiatrist of the psychologist
to talk to you to heal you to help you
but there’s the hands of jesus to heal
your heart
to heal your mind to heal your soul
to heal your body if he wills
think of the leper crying unclean
unclean unclean
the lepers no one could go near them
social outcasts
little bells they would ring in those
days keep away keep away i’m a leper
unclean unclean jesus walked right up to
them and put his hand
right on the left can you imagine what
that meant to that leper i imagine years
had gone by
since a human hand had touched him and
jesus touched him
and he was healed the leprosy was gone
the healing touch of the hand of jesus
remember when he went to peter’s home
peter’s mother-in-law was sick nine to
death jesus went in and took her by the
hand
she got up and began to wait on the
tables
healing touch of jesus the man born
blind
jesus calls him to get a little dust
from the earth
collects the saliva and puts it in the
dust and makes
a little salve and puts it on his eyes
with his hands
and he’s healed the touch of the hand
of the lord jesus christ in healing has
he come into your heart to heal your
hurt
the hurt between you and your wife the
hurt between you and your son
the hurt between you and your brother
the hurt between you and your neighbor
the hurt of poverty out of a job
the hurt of bad health
whatever it is let jesus touch you
tonight
he loves you he wants to help
but he can’t help if you keep the door
closed you have to open the door you see
he’s standing there knocking with his
hand
as we’ll see in a moment and then
thirdly we’ve been talking about earlier
this evening
the hand of compassion he said i have
compassion on the multitude because
they’ve
now been with me three days and have
nothing to eat
so he said feed them
the hungry people of the world he has
compassion on them
he has compassion on you tonight in your
need and your hurt
in your place and your suffering
and as he looked out over the city of
jerusalem he had compassion
on that great and magnificent city
he knew that judgment was in store for
the city and it says that he had
compassion on them
and he looks over cincinnati tonight he
looks over kentucky and indiana
and ohio these three great states
and he has compassion
and then fourthly there’s the hand of
blessing
verily i say unto you whosoever shall
not receive the kingdom of god as a
little child
he shall not enter therein and he took
up
the little children and the scripture
says he blessed them
i see little children here tonight
you may have gray hair and you may have
a bald head but in god’s sight you’re a
little child
and jesus wants to take you in his arms
and love you
and bless you
and change you and make you a new person
and make your home a new place
and give you hope and purpose and
meaning for life
if you let him but you have to open the
door
but you have to become as a little child
you can’t come to jesus with your
shoulders read back and
with a lot of pride you have to get rid
of all that pride and say lord i’m a
sinner
you died for me on the cross and i’m
coming to that cross
and i want your blessing i want
forgiveness of my sins
has that happened to you and then
fourthly there’s the suffering hands
of jesus and this is the thing we will
be most impressed with when we see him
in heaven
because you see when we get to heaven
we’re going to find that his hands
suffered
when they drove those nails in and then
when they picked him up
and hung him between heaven and earth
and the terrible jolt
that tore his hands and the wound was so
great that thomas could put his
own hands in those holes
and jesus will wear those scars
for eternity
and when i look at the cross i see at
least three things
i see sin the most sinful place in the
history of the world
is the cross
jesus became the most sinful man that
ever lived
you know why the scripture says
he became sin for us
he had never known sin all of a sudden
he not only had
the sins of the people of that
generation but he had the sins of
all mankind every person that will ever
live
he had the sins on him he became guilty
of every single sin
think of a person that had never sinned
then all of a sudden every sin he’s
guilty of
his suffering was ten thousand times
worse
than that of the average man who would
be crucified
he was suffering spiritually when he
cried my god my god
why hast thou forsaken me the suffering
hands of jesus i see
sin but i also see something else on the
cross
i see the love of god i can’t ex
i can’t describe it there’s no way to
describe god’s love
it’s too deep it’s too high it’s too
broad it’s too great
the new testament writers had to invent
a new word to describe the love of god
there was no word for love in the whole
greek language that could describe
the supernatural love of god so they
invented agape
and if he bore our sins on the cross
then god can still be just
and still be the justifier
because if god had just come along and
forgiven you without somebody paying the
price he would have been a liar
and his moral universe would have blown
up and exploded like an atomic bomb
somebody had to pay the price either you
or some sinless person that would be
acceptable to god
and that person was the lord jesus
christ the third thing i see in the
suffering hands
is that it’s the only way of salvation
neither is there salvation in any other
except through the name of jesus
you can’t be saved by your works you
can’t buy your way
it’s not for sale but christ
offers it to you from the cross it was
the blood that was shed
without the shedding of blood there’s no
forgiveness the scripture says
and he shed his blood on that cross for
you and it’s the only way the blood has
to be there
remember the night in egypt in the old
testament when the death angel
passed over and those jewish people had
to have the blood
sprinkled on the doorpost in order to be
saved
the blood had to be there and so the
blood
has to be there for god to see and he
sees the blood of christ
that was shed for you and he passes over
when judgment comes and then there’s
another thing about the hands of jesus
what kind of hands the healing hands the
suffering hands the nail scarred hands
but then his knocking hand in revelation
3
20 the scripture says behold i stand at
the door and knock
if any man hear my voice and open the
door i will come into him and will sup
with him and he with me
knocking at the door of the church
knocking at the door of your family
knocking at your door why doesn’t he
just push the door open and come in and
save me
he never interferes with your will you
have a will of your own that’s the way
he made you
he made you in his image
you can reject him you can go to your
grave rejecting christ and there’s
nothing god can do about it
he’ll do everything in his power to warn
you
he’ll do everything in his power to
bring incidents across your path to stop
you
but he won’t trespass on your will
that’s something you have to decide you
have to say i
will receive him as my savior and my
lord
and so your will is involved you have to
invite him if you don’t invite him in
he won’t come in he’ll not push the door
open
what motivates a person to open the door
well i was talking to a person
just before i came to cincinnati about
jesus christ
we met on the plane he told me that he’d
been converted a few months earlier
and i said how were you converted
well he said we had a a child our only
child
she was killed in an automobile wreck
and he said i knew that i’d been
resisting god for a long time and he
said as i stood there
and watched that little casket go down
into the grave
i said lord jesus come in
and you know i began to realize that god
had to take my little child to get me
into the kingdom of heaven
and he said i often wondered at the love
of god
he said even in my tears i knew
what motivates you a railroad engineer
fell out of the train
and it went across his leg and he lost
his leg and he said i was there cut in
the darkness
nobody knew i’d fallen i lay there
bleeding
and i felt jesus knocking at my heart’s
door
and he said i let him in he’s knocking
at your heart’s door can you hear him
and as you get older
you can barely hear it because your
heart gets harder
and harder and harder he that hardens
his heart
being often reproved that means being
often with knocking on your door
and you don’t do anything about it
god will still speak but
you can’t you can’t hear anymore
the bible teaches that there’s a place
beyond which
you cross over a line i’m not quite sure
where it is and when it is
but it’s there
that’s the reason he says harden not
your heart
listen to the knock and then sixthly
there’s the outstretched hands
of the lord jesus stretching his hands
for you
and saying jim bill susie mary
i love you i died for you come
let me put my arm around you let me be
your brother
let me be your husband your wife let me
be all that you need in your soul and
your heart and your mind
because you see it’s not just to save
you from sin and save you for eternity
but it’s to save you right now to walk
with you
he’ll free you tonight if you’ll let him
those outstretched hands
like the master violinist
he will touch you and bring beautiful
music out of your life
because he’s the master and he’s
knocking on your heart’s door tonight
with those wonderful hands of his that
created the universe
will you open the door and let him in
you have to open
you may be a member of the church you
may be catholic
protestant jewish or you may not have
any church affiliation you may not have
any religion i don’t know
or you may be a deacon in the church you
may be singing in the choir
but you know jesus is knocking at your
heart’s door
you want to make sure of your
relationship to him tonight
you come i’m going to ask you to get up
out of your seat right now hundreds of
you
and come and stand here in front and say
by coming
i want christ into my heart i want to
open the door and let him in
if you’re with friends or relatives
they’ll wait if you’ve come in a bus
they’ll wait
and after you’ve all come i’m going to
say a word to all of you and have a
prayer with you and give you some
literature
and you can go back and join your
friends if you come from that top
balcony it takes nearly two minutes so
start right now
quickly many of you hundreds of you you
come and let christ come into your heart
and make you a new person right now many
people are already on the way you get up
and come with them
[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’re watching the billy graham
classics please call the phone number on
the screen right now for spiritual help
and guidance
[Music]
uh
[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]
so
[Music]
you that are watching by television can
already see that hundreds of people are
coming here
in this beautiful coliseum in cincinnati
they’re coming to receive christ they’re
opening their hearts door to let him in
you can do the same wherever you are
receive christ as your lord and savior
right now open the door and let him in
let his hand touch you
he’ll forgive you and change you and
make you a new person
god help you to make that decision and
be sure and go to church
on the lord’s day
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
[Music]
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
you’re invited on a journey of discovery
at the billy graham library
retrace billy graham’s path from humble
farm boy to
international ambassador of god’s love
through multimedia
photos and memorabilia but the fruit of
the spirit is
love tour the restored grand
family home place browse ruth’s attic
bookstore
and have a meal at the grand brothers
dairy bar
enjoy special exhibits events and
seasonal activities
for the whole family admission is free
so come walk this journey of discovery
at the billy graham library
[Music]