Billy Graham - Is there life after death?

[Applause] now tonight I want you to turn with me to job the 14th chapter and the 14th verse jube the 14th chapter and the 14th verse now job is in the Old Testament and it's the oldest book in the world there is no known book in the world as old as the book of Job and yet jube asked a question that I'm sure disturbs many of you tonight he asked a question that every great philosopher has wrestled with he asked a question that every great thinker in intellectual at some time wrestles with he asks the same question that one of the greatest scientists in this country asked me about three weeks ago he said science knows nothing about it but he said I'm disturbed about it and worried about it here is the question if a man die shall he live again if a man die shall he live again the problem of death and life or life and death haven't you ever thought about that you've been to a funeral for a few moments your solemn your thoughtful that night you go back you go to bed you think about it one of these days they're going to be taking me out to the cemetery they'll be saying some words over me is that the end is it all over you know what the Bible says the Bible says there's a time to be born and a time to die birth is a happy event death is a tragic event and we have tears you take the fifth chapter of Genesis and you'll see the list of all those men that live to be old men Adam lived 930 years but he died my boo's love lived 969 years but he died I read about a man the other day in Brazil that they claimed lived a hundred and thirty-four years but he died at the end of every life is death life is very brief the Bible says it's a tale that is told it's a weaver shuttle it's a flower that fades it's like the grass that Withers Henry woods with Longfellow expressed it once when he said art is long and time is fleeting and our hearts though stout and brave still like muffled drums of beating funeral marches to the grave and that's exactly where we're all headed it is appointed unto man once to die thou shalt die and not live now the great question is are you ready to meet God because the Bible says it's appointed unto man once to die but after that the judgment there is something after death according to this book now again I say I can't take you to a scientific laboratory and prove it to you but this book teaches from Genesis to Revelation that this life is only a preparation room for eternity there is another life the Old Testament teaches if the New Testament teaches it Jesus taught it the Apostles taught it if a man die shall he live again that's the question Joe vast that's the question that millions are asking tonight and the answer from the Bible is a resounding yes yes there is a life after death if a man die shall he live again Cicero the great Romans said upon this subject I entertained no more than conjecture I've spent a great deal of my life searching for the answer mrs. Roosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt in one of her columns a few years ago said it's instinctive for man to believe in life after death and it is you never find a tribe anywhere in the world you never find a culture you never find a civilization anywhere in history that didn't believe in some form of life after death and when the early forefathers and pilgrims came to this country they thought they had found some tribes in New England that didn't believe tribes of Indians that didn't believe in life after death but they soon found when they communicated with them that they believed in the happy hunting ground yes man instinctively something down inside says there must be our future life there must be something beyond this life but after all there's only one authoritative person that can speak on this subject because he came from the grave he rose and his name was Jesus Christ about two or three years ago I had the privilege of having an interview with Conn with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in his last year in office as Chancellor of Germany he had invited me I was preaching in Germany and he had invited me to come and see him and I didn't know what about I was quite surprised and of course flattered to get the invitation and I went he greeted me big tall giant of a man the man that had almost single-handedly brought democracy back to Germany after the war and I wondered what is this great man want of me the first question he asked me was this he said do you believe in life after death I said yes sir I do I said I believe the Bible teaches it he said I do too he said I am studying the resurrection of Jesus Christ and he said when I leave office as Chancellor I intend to spend the rest of my life studying the resurrection of Christ because he said if Christ is alive there is hope in the world he said if Christ is not alive there is no hope that I can see that civilization can be saved wasn't that something yes Jesus Christ is alive he rose from the dead in that day that Easter Sunday morning that first Easter when Mary and Mary Magdalene and Salome went to the grave expecting to anoint a dead body they saw the angel sitting there and they said where is Jesus the angel said he is not here he is risen I submit to you tonight that that's the greatest news the world has ever heard he is not here he is conquered the grave he's alive and ladies and gentlemen I believe that there's more proof that Jesus Christ rose from the dead than almost any other fact in Roman history I don't believe this effect in ancient history today so well proven as the resurrection of Jesus Christ but even if there was no proof no historical proof no scientific proof and there is I would still believe it because I believe this book is God's inspired Word and the whole early church went up and down the country preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ that was the thing that shook the Roman Empire that a man had risen from the dead that he was alive that death could not hold him Christ is alive he's a living Savior and yet many of his followers and Christians live and act as though he's dead he's not dead he's alive and the Bible says that at a given moment a given signal he's coming back to this earth to set up his King and what kingdom it's going to be it'll be a world in which there will be no tears and no sorrow and no death there will be no suffering there will be no war there'll be no police forces there'll be no armies it's going to be a glorious world ruled by one person the Lord Jesus Christ he's alive I've given my life not to a dead Christ but to a Living Christ and I'm following a living Savior and he's given me a song to sing he's given me a flag to follow he's given me something to believe I have a reason for existence I know where I've come from I know why I'm here I know where I'm going do you God said Hezekiah get your house in order you're going to die now you and I are going to die because you see the Bible teaches that you and I have a body but living inside of our body is the real you you're a real person and that's the part of you that lives forever your body is going to go to the grave but you the real you your intelligence your memory your personality is going to live forever and ever according to the Bible you will never die and you're going to spend a million years a billion years in one of two places according to Jesus not according to Billy Graham but according to Jesus Jesus talked a great deal about heaven but he talked three times more about Hell than he did heaven the other writers of the Bible don't have too much to say about Hell but Jesus talked about it all the time in the Sermon on the Mount I've had fellows say I don't believe in Hell I live but the Sermon on the Mount well you've never read the Sermon on the Mount Jesus talked about it now what did he mean by it he said the Son of man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend in them which do iniquity and shall cast them into the furnace of fire and there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth what do you mean Matthew 25:41 then shall he say unto them on the left hand depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels what did he mean he is saying that hell was never made for man he is saying that God will never send anybody to help if man goes to hell he goes by his own free choice hell was created for the devil and his angels not for man God never meant that a man should go there and God has done everything within his power to keep you out he even gave His Son to die on that cross to keep you out because you see when God made you he made you a free moral agent you can live any kind of life you want to you can live a good life you can live a bad life you can break God's laws you can obey them you can shake your fist in God's face and there's nothing God can do because when he created you he gave you a gift of free choice you're not a robot that he pushes you push a button and you jump in a bag you've got a right to resist God to reject God but the Bible says in spite of our rebellion and rejection God loves you he loves you so much that He gave His Son to die for your sins and when Christ died on that cross we don't understand all that happened on that cross but we know one thing that he took the hell and the judgment that you deserved and I deserved because of our sins he took it on that cross and that's why that terrible expression comes from his lips my God my God why hast thou forsaken me because you see the very meaning of Hell is separation from God and in that terrible moment a shudder passed between God the Father and God the Son for the first time since eternity began Christ dying for you and he suffered the pangs of Hell he became guilty of lying he became guilty of slander he became guilty of jealousy he became guilty of the most filthy dirty sins and when those sins came into his soul your sins and my sins came into his soul God could not look because God cannot look upon iniquity God is so holy Christ took the hell that you and I deserve on that cross now God says receive him believe in him put your trust and your confidence in him and I will forgive your sins and I will guarantee you eternity in a place called heaven it's all yours and it's all free all you have to do is receive it that anetha he offers you tonight eternal life now eternal life doesn't begin the moment you die now when you die as a Christian eternal life doesn't begin that eternal life begins the moment you receive Christ now many of you here in South Carolina and in North Carolina and all over the country have been reared in Christian homes or you go to a church you live a fairly decent life and you're sort of living on the reflective afterglow of your parents religion but you've never really received Christ for yourself you've never really trusted him for yourself you don't know him really you're not really sure that you're ready to meet God in the Bible says prepare to meet thy God are you prepared are you sure you're prepared you know the Bible says these things I write under you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life I can stand here tonight without being egotistical without being conceited I can stand here tonight and say to you on the authority of this book I know my sins are forgiven I know I'm going to heaven I know that I'm going to live as long as God lives because the moment I receive Christ I became a partaker of God's own life now I'm going to live a billion years and I'll only have begun I know that not because of any goodness of my own I'm not going to heaven because I've lived a good life I'm not going to heaven because I've preached the great crowds of people I'm going to heaven because of what Christ did on that cross for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves not of works lest any man should boast we're not going to heaven because we're good we're not going to heaven because we work we're not going to heaven because we pay we're going to heaven because of what he did on the cross and all I have to do is receive it and it's so simple to receive Christ that millions stumble over its very simplicity you say God made it so simple that children can believe he made it so simple and so easy that a blind man a deaf man a dumb man can believe a man of any race can believe a man of any nationality of any language can believe and that's all God says you have to do to get to heaven just believe now that word believe is a little more than maybe you think it is it means commitment it means surrender it means that I give everything I have to Jesus Christ and trust him alone for my forgiveness and my salvation it means that the moment you receive him your name is written in the book of life is your name in the book of life are you sure you're going to heaven are you prepared to meet God if there's the slightest doubt in your heart tonight that you're prepared to meet God don't you dare leave here without settling it why because you may never have another hour or another moment like this you can't come to Christ any time you want to the Bible says he that hardened at this heart being often reproved shall suddenly be cut off and that without remedy thousands of people have prayed for this crusade the Spirit of God has brought you here hundreds of people have come to Christ already in this crusade the way is prepared your heart is prepared the Spirit of God is speaking tonight this is the hour this is the moment and you may never have this moment quite like this again I'm going to ask you to commit your life to Christ to make sure that your name is written in the book of life to make sure that you're going to heaven and to receive tonight eternal life and here's the way we're going to do it I'm going to ask you to get up out of your seat right now hundreds of you get up out of your seat and come and stand in front of this platform right now quietly and reverently I'm going to ask that nobody leave the service please get up out of your seat men women young people you may be members of the church you may be a no-show you may be a choir member get up out of your seat and come and stand here and after you've stood here I'm going to say a word to you have a prayer give you some literature you can go back and join your friends that's all there is to it but it's very important that you come and make this public declaration jesus said if you're not willing to acknowledge me before men I'll not acknowledge you before my father which is in heaven you get up and come right now there's something about coming forward that settles it and seals it in your heart you get up and come quickly now I'm going to ask that everyone be in prayer bow your heads and pray pray for the person to the right of you in left of you in back of you in front of you perhaps no one ever prayed that they would come to Christ before many people are already on the way you get up and join them and come what an hour and what a moment for you to come to Christ we're going to wait as you come you're watching the Billy Graham classics please call the phone number on the screen right now for a spiritual help and guidance [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 all 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] to you that have been watching by television and you'll be leaving the service now in just a moment you can make the same commitment and the same decision that these are making and the same Christ that will come into their hearts and give them assurance we'll do the same for you you may be sitting at a bar somewhere maybe you're in your living room at home or maybe you're in a friend so maybe you're in some unusual place that I couldn't even think of at the moment and you need Christ and you need God in your life you can receive him right now and he can bring about a tremendous change and then go to church on Sunday have a talk with a minister tell him the decision that you've made and get to work for Christ and live in this brand-new dimension of living the spiritual dimension good night and God bless you you [Music]

Channel: Our Only Hope

Views: 105,856

Keywords: Joel Osteen, Afterlife, suicide, death, Allah, Catholic, Resurrection, Bible, pandemic

Id: mEWL5aT3KBw

Length: 23min 47sec (1427 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 09 2020