Billy Graham - The offence of the cross - San Francisco CA 1958

I want to say word of welcome to all of you that have come to the Cal Palace tonight in this great Saturday night crowd and to the people that have joined us by television and especially the Canadian Network that joins us tonight this is the first time that we have had stations throughout the Dominion of Canada and so we welcome our Canadian friends along with our American friends I believe the number of stations tonight is between a hundred and sixty and a hundred and seventy stations we have just seen a beautiful motion picture entitled the heart is a rebel it has been my privilege to review a number of religious pictures in the last few years I can say without fear of contradiction this is by far the greatest evangelistic picture I have ever seen in beautiful color and they are premiering that picture across the country right now in various cities and I hope that all of you will go to see that picture I don't have to say that I wasn't asked to say it but it's so moved us that to all of us that saw it remove this I have rarely been moved under the impact of the gospel and I hope that you will be praying for that picture as it soon will be released in churches all over America I hope you'll have it in your church the heart is a rebel put out by worldwide pictures in Hollywood now tonight I want you to turn with me to first Corinthians the first chapter all of you with your Bibles turn to first Corinthians the first chapter and first corinthians comes right before 2nd Corinthians if you have any difficulty finding it how many have your Bibles lift them up wonderful wonderful thousands of people with Bibles the first chapter our first Corinthians beginning with the 17th person tonight I want to speak on the subject the offense of the cross the offense of the cross for Christ sent me Paul is speaking for Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made none effect well that in my fridging that if I did with cleverness and the wisdom of words then with the cross lose its effect he said for the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness in other words Paul said that a sermon like I'm going to preach to you tonight is foolish to you that are perishing it is a foolish subject it will be a foolish message the Apostle said that nineteen hundred years ago what is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this world hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world look at the world's wisdom today where is it our best brains are trying to build bigger and better bombs more effective missiles and engines of destruction Frankenstein monsters that can destroy civilization all of our vaunted intellectualism all of our vaunted culture and society and civilization the scripture says God has made it full or after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not god it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe God has chosen this method to save men from destruction and judgment and hell this method of preaching this method of proclaiming the gospel faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God you cannot come to Christ except you hear the gospel for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom but we preach Christ crucified under the Jewish stumbling block and under the gentiles foolishness but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God because the foolishness of God is wiser than men this cross this preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ the scripture says is wiser than all the men of all the ages why is it that all the University Professors wiser than all the intellectuals it's foolish to the world but God says this very foolishness is wiser than this world and the weakness of God the weakness of God the cross seems to be to the world a weakness the weakness of God is stronger than men or ye see your calling brethren but not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and things which are despised think of it base things the cross was a base thing it was a thing to be despised it was called a scandal among men and yet God chose that method to confound the wise and to save the world but no flesh should glory in his presence no man will ever be able to stand in heaven and say I got here by my own ability by my own work we will have to stand and say when we get to heaven we got here by the cross we've got here by the death of Christ on the cross and the fact that he was raised again from the dead and Isaiah had said eight hundred years before he is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him and he was despised and we esteemed him not and in Galatians the Apostle said and I brethren if I yet preach workers unto you then is the offence of the Cross cease the Apostle Paul said in all of his preaching in all of his proclaiming of the gospel there is an offence to the cross Paul said I can preach anything else and there's no offence but when you preach the cross there's an offense I'm this expression the offense of the cross sounds strange to our modern ears because you see we have a beautiful cross on our churches we have crosses in the lapels of our coat we are crosses around our neck we have crosses embossed on our Bible we never think of it as a scandal and as an offense and yet the Bible says it's a stumbling block it's an offense it's a scandal of a men it's a base then despised thing it is an old rugged cross it is a place to execute criminals it was a place where the vilest died and when I see Christ hanging on the cross I say with Isaiah there is no beauty that I should desire him Paul says many his day there was an offence and I found in my own ministry that I can preach anything else and it's called popular it pleases the ear but when I come to the heart of Christianity when I come to the cross and the blood in the resurrection that is the stumbling block that's the thing people do not want to hear that's the thing that is finished that's the thing there's a defense and yet it's that very thing that is not part of the gospel and without the cross there is no salvation there is no forgiveness God said I'll meet the human race only one place that is the cross and if you haven't been to the cross there is no salvation and there is no forgiveness why is the cross and event I got to thinking about this not long ago why the cross is an offense I see Christ hanging on the tree I seem dying for me I see blood bean I see nails in his head I see a spike in speech and I see Christ dying for sin an offence why is it an offence first the cross is an offense because it is the condemnation of the world the cross says to the world you're a sinner the cross said to the thief that was dying on the other cross you're a sinner you better repent I'm the thief did repent he confessed his sins and he said remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom and Jesus turned to him and said today thou shalt be with me in paradise Christ forgave him right there but first the cross condemned his sins and made him confess and acknowledge that he was a sinner to the Centurion who helped nail him there the cross said to the Centurion you're a sinner and the Centurion had to exclaims surely this must have been the son of God the cross said to Herod you're an immoral man you're living in adultery and cross speaks to you about your sins tonight your sins of immorality there is no sin in the Bible that the Bible condemns more than the sin of immorality it is America's great sin tonight it is the same sin that caused the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah it is the same sin because fire and brimstone to be rained down on the two cities of the plain here's a sin that God hates and god said whosoever looketh upon a person of the opposite sex to lust has committed it already and the cross said to Herod you're living in immorality and you're going to go to hell for that unless you repent of sin and Herod didn't like it and Herod rebelled he cringed under the impact of the crowd which became a conscience to Herod and spoke to Herod and tonight some of you are cringing because you know that that is your scene look at another man Caiaphas proud cold crafty wise old man it is pride I'm the cross said to Caiaphas you're a sinner - you're a religious leader but you're a sinner Jesus had said to Nicodemus except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of heaven and I tell you I don't care if you are a sunday-school teacher if you are beacon horn elder Oh church leader unless there has come a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ it means nothing we have a lot of religiosity in this country we have a great deal of religion in America we have a great deal of worship in America that is not true worship the Pharisees best in twice a week they take tithes they will Orthodox they will fundamentals they believe the Scriptures from cover to cover and yet Jesus in the most scathing language denounced them and indicated they will not say and indicated they would come to him in the last day and he would say depart from me you cursed I never knew you Caiaphas was a religious leader and yet he helped crucify Jesus fries and there is no pride in all the world as terrible as religious pride hold of our religion proud of the things we do the externals of religion way down inside we are filled with pride and jealousy and envy and backbiting and gossiping and we do not laugh we do not have love by this shall all men know that you my disciples in the middle of do we love by their fruits you shall know them and the fruit of the Spirit is love joy and peace and if I see a person who isn't loving his brother in Christ I have a right to doubt whether that man has ever been to the cross no matter who he is how much he may say he believes because the Bible says the devil's believe oh good Devils or crocodiles they believe in Temple they're not say wicked Pilate the cross said to Pilate you're a coward Pilate filled with your fear I'm colonist Pilate you're a sinner and Pilate didn't like it he cringed and tried to run from the Savior look at Judas the cross says to Judas Judas your covetous and covetousness is idolatry Judas was with Jesus for three years he had heard all the sermons that Jesus had preached in fact Judas had baptized Judas had been on Jesus team had traveled for three years with Christ had been one of his intimate companion and yet Judas was lost Judas was covetous all the time Jimmie's was lost in the end because he had never realized the personal intimate peasants of Christ and he had never understood nor Bingle across in by faith and had an encounter with Christ that counts and it's possible to be in the organization that Christ founded it's possible to be in all the religious organizations and if Jews who spent three years traveling with Jesus was lost that should cause all of us to search out of highness see how we stand the soldiers the gambled for His garment the cross to all of these people says you're a sinner and when Paul preached the cross before governor Felix Felix trembled and said when I have a more convenient season I will call for you Felix tried to get away why Festus said to Paul when he preached the cross to him he said you're mad Paul I profess it almost I persuaded me to become a Christian and the cross has come down through the centuries passing its unfaltering judgment upon the vanities pride eight Creed's and self-indulgent pleasures and lusts of men the crowd festival you're a sinner it becomes the conscience of the world the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and when I come to the foot of the cross the first thing I have to say is I am a sinner but the scripture says men love darkness because their deeds are evil you don't want the light of the Cross and so the cross becomes a stumbling block it becomes foolish - when you realize that you must give up your sin when you realize that you must acknowledge that you're a sinner you say no no and you cringe and you go back into your darkness and the light of the Cross begins to penetrate into your extortion into your pride into your idolatry into your bigotry in here intolerance into all the sins of your life the cross sends a beam of light and you cringe back and say no no no don't expose me and the cross goes down into the darker recesses of your heart where even your wife of husband's you're not good even your family cannot go giving your best friends you not go down deep inside of you and seize the sins and exposes them to the light and God says someday that every secret thing shall be brought out and the cross says you're a sinner in need of repentance and so the cross becomes a stumbling block and it's an offense to all of us that are sinners tonight because we don't like to be told we're sinners and we don't like to acknowledge that we've broken God's law you see we're all proud we don't like to come to an old cross where blood is being shed and saying oh God I'm a sinner forgive me we don't like to do that because we have to come in humility one of the reasons I ask people to come forward in these Crusades is not only an expression of their will but it is also an expression of humility Jesus could have healed the man with the withered arm by saying be healed but he didn't do it jesus said stretch it forth he wanted the man to do something and the man stretched it forth an act of his will and the man was he when I asked people to come forward in a crusade I'm asking them to do something to express their will to say I will receive Christ I will follow him I will serve him I will come to the cross and acknowledge that I'm a sinner and turn from my sins and then secondly the cross of Jesus Christ is an offense because blood was shed there we hear a great deal about the slaughterhouse religion religion of blood and some people don't like it and it becomes an offense but the Bible says the life of the flesh is in the blood and the Bible says eight things about the blood of Jesus Christ first the Bible says it is the blood of propitiation Romans 3:25 Quinn whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the forgiveness of sins that are past the word propitiation means mercy see it is the meeting place it is where God covers our sins and I tell you your sins will never be covered except by the shed blood of Jesus Christ secondly it is the blood of redemption revelation 5:9 and they sang a new song saying guard worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation we are bought back by the blood of Christ we were not bought with silver and gold and precious stones God paid the price of the blood of His only Son who died on the cross for our Redemption he could have given one of his planets scientists tell us that he's got billions of them he could have given a planet he could have given all the oil all gold and all the silver in all the world because it's all his but he didn't do it he'd cave and shed the blood of his oldest son on the cross it becomes an offence because of the blood but it's the only place that you can meet God it's the only way you'll ever have forgiveness if you want forgiveness of your sins and you want to go to heaven you have to come for the way of the blood and then thirdly it is the blood of remission Hebrews 9:22 and almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness the scripture says without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness how can you get around that you have to tear out half the Bible if you tear the blood out of the body it's bad and it teaches that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness it is the blood of reconciliation Ephesians 2:13 but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ in other words our sins have separated between us and God and the scripture says be ye reconciled to God how can I get back to God there's an empty place in your life down deep inside of you there's a sense of not belonging of incomplete and you've been searching for joy and peace and cattles you'll never find that fulfillment you'll never find that completeness apart from the person of Jesus Christ and apart from God's fellowship because you see you are made in the image of God made for fellowship with God and without God there is no joy and peace deep down in your soul and the only way that you can be reconciled to God the scripture says is by the blood it was on that cross it is also the blood of justification Romans 5:9 justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him justified justification means a lot more than forgiveness forgiveness is not enough I must be justified just as if I had never seen just as though I had never committed one sin God wipes out the past he forgets my sins he puts my sins in the depths of the sea how and why justified the scripture says in rose by his blood then it is the blood of peace Colossians 1:20 we have peace through the blood of his cross peace you've been searching for peace haven't you you want joy and peace in your heart you want peace with God peace with your neighbors and peace down inside everywhere you've searched you've gone to the psychiatrist you read all the books that you could find that had the title peace all right I'm going to tell you how you can get peace I don't believe there's any permanent peace outside this you can get peace eyes across and only there and then seventhly it is the blood of entrance Hebrews 10:19 having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ we come into the presence of God and when I come into God's presence I don't come up as the Pharisee and say god I thank thee that I'm not his other men our Lord I preached to crowds of people Lord I'm a fairly good man I try to be decent I try to tell the truth I try to treat my neighbor as myself I try to do all of these things and Lord I deserve to be in heaven no he would reject me when I stand at the judgment in that day I shall quit only one thing the fact that one day by faith I went to the cross and gave my life to Jesus and had my sins cleansed by his blood that is my only claim to heaven I don't claim to be going to heaven today because I have preached or because I'm a good man I claim to be going to heaven only on the merit and the ground of Jesus and his death at the cross and then it is the blood that cleanses first john 1:6 the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin Martin Luther was once reminded by the devil of his many sins and he tabulated them is that all asked Elizabeth no there are many many was sneered safe and added many more is that all yes and now what did the devil now said Martin Luther right beneath the law the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all see JPMorgan's will contain ten thousand words he made many transactions and some of them affected the entire financial equilibrium of the world here is what JP Morgan put in his will to his children this I commit my soul into the hands of my Savior full of confidence that having ready me and washed me with his most precious blood he will present me faultless before the throne of my heavenly father I entreat my children to maintain and defend it all hazard and it all costs of personal sacrifice the blessed doctrine of complete atonement of sins through the blood of Jesus Christ once offered and through that alone JP Morgan was right and JP Morgan is in heaven tonight not because he was a great friend in seer not because he was a great philanthropist but because he was trusting in the atonement of Jesus Christ you say well what does the blood mean the Bible says the life of the flesh is in the blood the word blood means the life the life of Christ the life of Jesus Christ given on the cross the word blood is symbolic in the Bible of life he gave his life he emptied himself up on the cross he took our sins by emptying himself by taking our suffering and our sin in our hell there is much mystery to the cross there are many things about the cross that I don't understand but this one thing I know it is the way of salvation and I'm to come by faith even though it may seem foolish and irrational and it may not seem the right thing to do and people may laugh at it yet God says he is chosen the preaching of the Cross to bring men to himself and then thirdly the cross of Christ is an offence because it sets forth an imperative ideal of life jesus said if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me Christ demands that when you come to the cross that you take up a cross we don't like that that is an offense that is a stumbling block it is not a matter of just coming to the cross one time or two times or 10 times it is a matter of leaving the cross but sharing Christ's rejection taking up your own cross that we must do Christ's demands that we live a life of self crucifixion and many chief it the restraint of a life like Christ we refuse to give up what we know the cross condemns and in a city like San Francisco or New York or Philadelphia or Washington many of you watching that to take up your cross would mean that you would become burdened about the poverty-stricken people in the slum areas of your community that would become your cross it might not be popular to take a stand on a moral issue they means that you take your stand against intolerance biggest it means that you take your stand on social issues in your community they may not be popular that's not easy to do that's cross bearing believes that you go back to the campus you're a student you go back to the campus not many real people people living for Christ on the campus it means that you go and take your stand for Jesus Christ even if they sneer and laugh and mock and ridicule it means that you share the rejection of Jesus cross it means that you as a businessman go back to your business and put into your business Christian principles no matter what it may cost you financially that's what it means and Jesus said unless you're willing to take off the cross and follow me you cannot be my dessert are you willing to take up the club it means that you're going to have to forgive your husband or your wife when you've been quarreling with it means you're going to have to forgive that man that did something against it means that you're going to start out in a whole new realm of life that is the crucifixion Christ is palpable that is the cross are you willing to bear it I don't mean opposition in fact Jesus listed several types of opposition he said first they will be Civic opposition they will deliver you up before the councils he said there may be national opposition you shall be possible governors and Kings for my sake there may even be ecclesiastical opposition because he said they will scourge you in their churches and when Lord Shaftesbury tried to get through a bill to ease the working conditions of the laboring people in England and to end the child labor law or to end child labor in England that was crushing the youth of England almost every bishop in the church opposing race he stood his ground and won the battle and every bishop in 1958 would agree that chefs Barry was right it cost him something and in 1861 when they were talking about ending slavery one of the major denominations of this country said it is the church's duty to preserve slavery and those that were against slavery what crucified even within the church it also may mean domestic opposition jesus said a man's foes shall be they of his own household there may be people in your own house that will not understand they'll think you've won cause they'll be ready to take you to the sakai if you really give you a life to drive because you see Christ will be so far under them when you start reading your Bible and praying and going to church it may mean opposition within your own household but you must take your stand it is cross there do it Curtis Lee and graciously in kind and lovingly but take your staff and then it may mean opposition in general all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution the scripture says and I want to tell you persecution is painful not an easy death it's not an easy suffering and the Christian life is not easy don't let anybody tell you that it's easy and a bit of resist it is not the scripture does teach Jesus said my yoke is life thanks be unto God there is joy and peace in the midst of persecution there is joy and peace in the midst of crucifixion there is joy and peace when the nails are going in the hands but there may be suffering in living for Jesus and you must be willing to face it that's the cost of discipleship are you ready to take up your cross and then lastly the cross of Christ is an offense because it claims to be the power of God and the salvation and it makes this claim without an altar you see the world would like to say that there are many roads to heaven and somehow we'll all get there eventually but Jesus and the Scriptures is no there's only one just one and that is by the role of the crown and God said I will not meet you any other place that's the cross we seen a Lord I'd like to meet you some other place on some other ground God says no suppose I had an appointment or asked for an appointment with the president or he asked for a partner with me and gave me the time and I wrote back and said no that's not very convenient mr. president I don't think I can make it out I'll do no I would write back and say why certainly it'll be can be God says I want an appointment with you I want to forgive your sins I want to change your life I want to make you a new person but God sets the conditions and Jesus said the way to heaven is very narrow Jesus was broad-minded in many ways but in other ways he was narrow and he said it is a narrow gate that leads to heaven and at the entrance to that date is a cross and to the world it is an offence we don't like to cross but I tell you there is no alternative it demands from every man is his first unit to get right with God and we can talk about ritualism and works and all the rest and the offense of the cross will cease I found in my preaching I can touch on any other subject is popular but not the cross it's an offense it's a standing way stumbles over it and that is the very reason why thousands are not in the kingdom of God tonight and thousands are not truly Christians tonight because they've never been to the cross and once you've been to the cross and had the experience of his forgiveness and had an encounter with the Christ of the cross you're never the same but I would not like to pose this message tonight leaving you to think that Christ stayed on the cross he didn't they took him down from the cross they put him in a tomb he stayed there three days and three nights and on the third morning Mary and Mary Magdalene and Salome went out to another dead body he wasn't bad and the angel was then the angel gave the greatest news the world has ever heard he is not here he is risen and tonight I do not offer you people in the Cow Palace a dead place I offer a risen Savior I triumphant Savior I Savior that is living at the right hand of God the Father a savior whose presence is here tonight but he says before you can come to me in victory before you can be raised before you can have the triumphant the joy and the crown there must first be the cross I ask you tonight have you been to the cross are you sure you say well Billy how do you go to the cross there are two ways one way but there are two implications first you must be willing to repent of your sin jesus said except you repent you likewise perish that means that you acknowledge you're a sinner and when you come to the cross incoming you're acknowledging that and you must be willing to renounce your sins it means that you change your view about God you change your view about Christ yourself and your neighbor it means a change is ready to take place in your life that change is called repentance then you must be willing by faith to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior and take your stand with him at the cross but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the children of God even to them that believe on his name and you know why many people today do not have the power to live a good life they want to be good they want to do the right thing but they don't find any power within them I'll tell you why they've never been to the cross because when you come to the cross and share the rejection of Christ and share Christ at the cross then you become crucified with Christ never again to live yet not you but twice liveth in you and for you to give you a new power a new dynamic and a new dimension to life the joy and the peace that he brings to the soul he gives you that sense of fulfillment and completely and he can be yours tonight right till you say well how long would that take Billy that quick just like that you can receive Christ now that's only the beginning that doesn't mean you become pregnant but it does mean that you've changed your way of living you've changed the direction of your life you're coming to the cross you're giving your life to him and the cross becomes the beginning of a new and thrilling and glorious life even though it's an offense this Cilicians this offense this scandal of God that is called a cross becomes glorious land in the mind of the Trinity becomes the entrance to a new and glorious and thrilling existence that will last for eternity and you become the partake of eternal life then you have the power to live the Christian lived with the Sermon on the map he gives you a new path it's all yours tonight and it's free because Christ paid bite on the cloth I'm going to ask all of you to receive him tonight and I want to tell you this a danger in putting it off because you can only come to Christ when God speaks to you and tonight he's speaking to many of you and this is your moment in your night to give your life to him and if you don't tonight you may never the Bible says he departed his heart being often reproved shall suddenly be cut off and that without remedy don't you presume on the mercy of God he died for you on the cross He shed his blood he loved you so much and he loved me so much that he was willing to die but don't presume I'm going to ask you to come right now just get up out of your seat everywhere and stand right here you may be a member of the church you may not be a member of any Church and if you remember the church you want to come and receive him and renew that vow that first you took if you're not a member of any church you're coming to receive him for the first time you come right now quickly get up out of your seat all over the building and say tonight I want to give my life to Christ now I'm going to ask every head is bowed every eye is closed nobody looking the choir is going to sing softly just as I am hundreds of you come men women young fee boys and girls you may be in a delegation they'll wait on you after you've all come we're going to have a moment of cran a verse of scripture if you're with friends or relatives they'll wait you just come right now and stand quietly here saying by standing here I'll give my life to Christ that's it quickly from everywhere this is cop that's it is come on there are many people streaming down every aisle here hundreds of people here in the car palace and there are many of you sitting in your living room at both you'd like to be here and come down this aisle and stand here and give you a life price you can write write you off right now you can say quietly inside Lord Jesus come in I am a sinner and I need you may be in some nightclub and the television set is on you may be in a bar you may be in the home of a friend about you ahead and give your life to Christ now then go to church tomorrow tell you minister what you've done tell him you wanted the church you want to take your stand with Christ no matter what it cost get a Bible and start reading spend a little violent prayer each day witness for Christ by living boy then you do make a decision the price right and tell us about it write me here at San Francisco I'll send you the same literature that we're going to give to these many people that have come tonight when you do that got fresh

Channel: Our Only Hope

Views: 734,469

Keywords: the cross, the offence of the cross, salvation, hypocrisy, sin, heaven, joel osteen, catholics, islam, muhammad, jehova's witness

Id: L2cw76aV5pk

Length: 43min 19sec (2599 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 26 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/NCR_Ranger2412]

He knows all about those.