Christ’s love for you was on full display at the cross—but it hasn’t lessened since that day. Billy Graham talks about God’s unchanging love in this 1999 message from St. Louis, Missouri. Watch more #MondayNightClassics​​ weekly at 8 p.m. Eastern.

from our archives the billy graham

classic

in time magazine earlier this year

there was an interview with george lucas

he said i think there is a god

i’m not sure i don’t know what he is

what he looks like i’m not sure

about him that’s maybe how you feel

tonight

i want to tell you about him tonight i

want to tell you about god

the first book the first verse in the

bible tells us

in the beginning god now where did god

come from

how could he just suddenly appear

and in the beginning there was god i

don’t know

neither do you

the bible says that he’s from

everlasting

to everlasting how can that be

i don’t know there’s a mystery to

it all and yet by faith we believe

that god had no beginning and he has no

end

i cannot even prove to you the existence

of god no scientist can

how do we know there’s a god

you can’t put him in a test tube you

can’t

make a mathematical formula of him as

einstein did in relativity

you accept by faith that he is the

creator of the whole

universe when charles

lindbergh took his plane the spirit of

saint louis

all the stars that he could see spread

over the entire sky

were just part of our milky way

just our little galaxy

but that galaxy is just one tiny part of

a universe

containing billions of galaxies

and they found now that there are

galaxies beyond what they thought was

the last one

with billions and billions and billions

of planets and

stars and suns

and last january astronomers saw a

gamma-ray burst

that came from way beyond the galaxy it

originated

9 billion light years away

how how long would that be count it up

you mathematicians one light year

is five well almost

six trillion miles

do you know what a trillion is i don’t

but the bible says in the beginning

god created the heavens and the earth

and the psalmist

said when i consider the heavens the

work of thy fingers the moon and the

stars

which thou hast ordained

the bible says in psalm 33

by the word of the lord were the heavens

made in all the hosts of them by the

breadth of his mouth

think of it and then the bible teaches

in this same passage

the third chapter of john

or the next chapter i guess it’s in the

fourth chapter

that god is a spirit

god is a spirit he doesn’t have a body

like you and me

he’s not located in just one place

he’s all over the world all over the

universe

at the same time he’s not limited by a

body

he is spirit

how do you explain that i don’t but the

bible says something else about him

the bible says i am the lord i change

not he’s unchanging in all these

centuries and trillions of years

he’s never changed one iota

in him there is no verbalness neither

shadow of turning the bible says

god does not change

the bible also teaches that god is a

holy god

the lord is righteous in all his ways

and holy

in all his works

the bible says thou art of pure eyes

than to behold evil

and canst not look on iniquity

god is absolute purity

i remember when i was a boy in north

carolina

we would all look forward to the day

when maybe we’d have a little bit of

snow

we didn’t get much snow in the place i

lived but boy when it came we were

excited

and i remember my mother pointed out

something to us one day when the snow

came

she put out some washing some sheets and

towels and shirts and things

to hang out

when the sun came out it would dry

and then she said look at the snow don’t

you think it’s

clean and white and look at the clothes

the clothes that she had washed

that we thought were perfectly white

were now dirty

in comparison to that snow and that’s

the way we are

in the in comparison to god we’re dirty

he is absolute holy

but the bible also teaches that god is a

god of judgment

the bible says it is appointed unto men

once to die but after that

is the judgment there is going to be a

time of judgment

and the bible says that god will bring

every work into judgment

with every secret thing whether it be

good or whether it be evil

the wages of sin the bible says is death

you may confess your sin but you must

pay the consequences

when we abuse the environment we pay a

price

when we break god’s moral and spiritual

law we pay a price

the bible says that god has appointed a

day

in which he will judge the world

there’s a day already set aside in god’s

calendar

in which he’s going to judge the whole

world

but the bible also says that god is a

god of love

the bible says god is love

in first john 4 8.

in jeremiah it says yea i have loved you

with an everlasting love

a popular song a few years ago was

i can’t live in a world without love

you don’t have to because god loves you

whatever your background

however many your sins might have been

how many mistakes you’ve made

whatever your ethnic background whatever

your educational background god

loves you and it’s an everlasting love

and it’s a supernatural love it’s

something that we don’t understand

it’s not eras love

sexual love it’s not

fellow love which is friendship love

it’s something beyond it’s a

supernatural agape

love that only god has but he can give

it to you

if you come to his son jesus christ and

that’s what jesus christ was doing on

that cross

he was loving you and taking

all of your sins and all your failures

on him

at the cross

now have you ever thought why god

created man

many people are asking who am i

what am i here for where did i come from

why am i here

where am i going god gave man a choice

he created him put him on this little

planet

and he said he put them in what is

called the garden of eden

in iraq

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 god said there’s one tree

you can have all the fruit in the garden

you can eat anything you want to

but don’t eat of that one tree god was

testing man

because god gave to man a free will he

can make his own choice

he doesn’t make you a robot he pushes a

button and you

do what he says he gives you the freedom

of choice

and in the garden of eden god told man

from the very beginning

but what did man do man and woman

the man and the woman

ate of the tree they deliberately did it

they were deceived by the devil because

there’s another mystery at that point

that goes all the way through the bible

and it comes into our world today

the mystery of iniquity the mystery of

sin the mystery of the devil and demons

and the devil is very real

he works hard

and he can deceive he can come as an

angel of light the bible says

he’s very deceptive he slips upon you

he comes in your thoughts he comes in

your mind

we know that something’s wrong we read

our newspapers and watch the television

and we know that something’s wrong in

our world

and this is what is back of the race

problem

it’s sin

back of all that is sin

and sin is the breaking of the moral law

of god

breaking up the ten commandments

breaking of the sermon on the mount

also poverty and today we have a

desperate situation in my opinion

much of the world is getting poorer and

some of the world’s getting rich at the

same time and

one of these days there’s going to be a

clash

as there always is

man has a terminal illness

for the mystery of iniquity that already

worked the bible says in 2 thessalonians

2

7. how many of the 10 commandments

have you not kept the bible says

all we like sheep have gone astray

we’ve turned everyone to his own way we

want to have

our way not god’s way

but our way and that sin

and so our basic problems are not social

they’re not educational

it’s sin the breaking of god’s law the

wages of sin is death the bible says

but the gift of god is eternal life

through jesus christ our lord

you see sin alienates you from god

you’re separated from god you’re a

spirit you see you’re a body

but inside your body is a spirit a soul

and when you die what happens

have you been at the death bed of

someone and seen them slip out into

eternity

you wonder what happened well the real

person

left this body this body is

going to crumble and decay and go back

to dust

but the real you is going to live on

because the real you

leaves the body and if you know christ

as your lord and savior you go straight

into his presence

and you spend eternity with him

[Applause]

now death death has three dimensions

this natural debt

we’re all going to die

when john kennedy jr and his wife

carolyn boarded that plane a few weeks

ago

that he was going to fly they never

dreamed

that they would never see home again

like other young men and women their age

they had great dreams in their lives

their careers their marriage

to the most wonderful young people i

have ever met

i doubt that they entertained a thought

that they wouldn’t live

to see those dreams fulfilled

and then there’s another death not only

natural death but spiritual death

your spirit that lives forever

dies in the sense that it’s alienated

from god

and then the bible talks about eternal

death some of the words in the new

testament used by

christ to describe the penalty for sin

is lost

perish condemned

punishment torment

hell you say do you believe that

yes i do i believe the bible teaches it

i believe whatever the bible says is

true

if jesus said there was a hell there’s a

hell

i don’t like to think about it i don’t

like to talk about it i don’t like to

preach about it but jesus did

he talked more about hell than he did

heaven

the bible says that jesus christ took

your sins on the cross

for he hath made him to be sin for us

think of being sin that’s all jesus was

on the cross

was just sin

your sins mine

all the bad things that we’ve ever done

the lies we’ve ever told the lust we’ve

ever

had all on him on that cross

and his real suffering wasn’t the

physical suffering as terrible as that

was

it was the spiritual suffering

it was our sins he had never known a sin

and all of a sudden

all of the sins of the world are on him

[Music]

the bible says the lord laid on him the

iniquity of us all

the bible says who his own self bear our

sins in his own body on the tree

the bible says christ also hath once

suffered for sins

the just for the unjust

he died for you because he loves you

and from the cross god is saying i love

you i love you i

love you i’m giving my son for you

he’s taking your place

[Applause]

and then three days later something

glorious happened

he rose from the dead

jesus said i am the resurrection and the

life

he that believeth in me though he be

dead yet shall he live

and whosoever liveth and believeth in me

shall never die

you’re never going to die spiritually

because jesus rose from the dead and

died on the cross

if thou shall confess with thy mouth the

lord jesus

and believe in thine heart that god hath

raised him from the dead

thou shalt be saved the bible says in

romans 10

9 and that can happen to you right here

tonight what are you supposed to do in

response

in order to know that your sins are

forgiven to know that you’re going to

heaven

to be absolutely sure that your heart is

right with god

first you must repent of your sins

well what do you mean by repent the

first sermon that jesus ever preached

was on repentance in acts

in matthew 4.

someone said that repentance means sorry

enough to quit

repent ye therefore and be converted

that your sins may be blotted out

said the apostle peter

god commands all men everywhere to

repent he commands it in acts 17

to repent means to turn around and go in

the opposite direction

you say but billy i’ve tried to quit

some of the things i’m doing that i know

are wrong and i just can’t

i’m hooked

but you can become unhooked by the power

of the spirit of god

the second thing the second one thing is

repentance

the second thing repentance means to

change your mind to change your way and

to change your habits

and the second thing is to come by faith

now faith is not some blind irrational

leap in the lark

faith is commitment when my wife and i

got married

we didn’t have our fingers crossed

the minister didn’t say

as long as love shall last

he said till death do you part

the bible says that faith cometh by

hearing and hearing by the word of god

we must commit i thought a cartoon in

the paper put it very well

someone wrote to the pastor and said

dear preacher

what does god forgive you mean

the pastor wrote back and said

all your files are deleted

and that’s true all of our files are

deleted

and that’s exactly what god does

you don’t have to leave here tonight

worrying about some things you’ve done

that are wrong

it’s all been taken care of at the cross

[Music]

and you have received it by faith

faith means commitment when i stood up

on this stage tonight it’s the first

time i’ve ever been on this stage

i committed myself to it i’d never been

on here before

i did it by faith that the people that

built it

built it to hold a man or several people

that’s commitment have you committed

your life to christ that way

are you sure if you died tonight

that you’re ready to meet god if you

have a doubt about it

you make sure tonight i’m going to ask

you to do something that

maybe you’re puzzled about

confused about

uncertain about maybe you’ve heard about

the way we ask people to receive christ

i’m going to ask you to receive him into

your heart tonight by

faith

and commit your life to him

and ask him to come in and change your

life

and give you a peace and a joy you’ve

never known

i’m going to ask you to get up out of

your seat and come and stand here in

front and after you’ve all stood here

i’m going to say a word to you and we’ll

have a prayer together

there’ll be a counselor here to speak to

you if you want to speak to someone

we’ll give you some literature to help

you

in your christian life you may be

protestant catholic you may be a leader

in your church you may

be the pastor of a church

i don’t know

you might have been a good person all

your life but somehow

down inside you’re not sure about your

relationship with christ

and you want to settle it you get up

right now and come and stand here

if you’re with friends or relatives

they’ll wait on you

they’ll only take a few moments but it’s

a moment

in eternity for you you say tonight lord

i say to you i’m sorry i’ve sinned

i turn to you by faith and receive jesus

who died for me

i want to make sure of my relationship

with god

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]

i want to say to you that i’ve been

watching by television

that you can make this commitment to

christ right now

where you are no matter where you are

you may be watching at a hotel lobby

you may be in a hotel room or you may be

in a bar you may be at home

but you can make this commitment

and let jesus in your heart if you just

prayed that prayer

with my father or if you have any

questions about a relationship with

jesus christ

i would just call that number that is on

the screen

there will 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

1-877-772-4559

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 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

i know many people that have tried

everything in life

and they have not found satisfaction

in with peace joy assurance

and security and they’re still searching

[Music]

you’ll never find peace and joy and

happiness until you yield your life to

christ

you never will

you have a moment right now

the bible says now is the accepted time

today is the day of salvation

[Music]

people are searching for the answers you

must make the choice

it’s urgent

there’s only one only one

the story that comes and give your life

[Music]