Billy Graham's Greatest Sermon - "Who is Jesus?"

Kizer that's the question Jesus Christ who are you who is Jesus we can't escape him we try to run from him but there he is he keeps popping up everywhere our greatest philosophers write about him our greatest historians write about him our greatest poems and plays are about him our greatest architectures about him even in the Soviet Union you go to the Kremlin I've been in the Kremlin and it's all filled with paintings and pictures about Jesus you go anywhere in the Soviet Union and you'll see images in art and much of the music has to do with Jesus they can't escape him well we know some things about him we know he was a man Jesus was completely human he was representative of man because the Bible says he was identified he was numbered with the transgressors we know that he was hungry we know he got thirsty we know he got tired we know that he had the joys of friendship we know that he wept at the tomb of a dead loved one we know that he had all the characteristics of a man and yet very interestingly the Bible says that he never committed a sin in fact he stood in front of the people of his generation and he said I've never committed a sin he said if any of you my neighbors ever seen me commit a sin they couldn't say a thing wouldn't that be something for a man to come along 33 years of age and say who of you have ever seen me commit a sin well I'll tell you if I said that all my team had jumped straight up say I have my wife's here all of us are sinners but Jesus was tempted in every point like as we are he went through every temptation you've ever been through there isn't a trial or our testing or a temptation that Jesus has not been through before you and he resisted them and overcame them all everyone he was a man just like you but he was more than that he claimed to be the unique only begotten incarnate son of God in fact he claimed pre-existence the scripture says in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God before time began he existed he said before Abraham was I am I am in eternal existence no wonder they got angry no wonder they threw stones at him no wonder they tried to kill him and no wonder they eventually did crucify him he stood and said I am God was he was he who that he claimed to be the son of the Living God one day he asked his disciples who do men say that I am and Peter answered and said well some of them say you're John the Baptist come back are you a Jeremiah you're Elijah he said I'm really not interested in what the people say I'm interested Peter in what you say what do you say Peter said thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God and Jesus said Peter you've done well you've passed your examination but Peter those are not your thoughts thoughts came from God it has been revealed to you by God Jesus Christ claimed to be the son of the Living God and you know it at his incarnation or his birth that was not his birth or that wasn't the beginning that wasn't the origin of Jesus that was the beginning that was the beginning of his incarnation because he has always existed from everlasting to everlasting he is God the Bible says and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us in other words the logos the Word of God the eternal God became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and lived like a man among us that's what the Bible teaches and when you come to Jesus Christ you have to accept that he wasn't just another revolutionary he wasn't just another hippy he was not just another great man he was God in the flesh and old the ethics that he taught never a man speak like that man when you get hit on one side he says turn the other cheek he never said what to do after that but he did say forgive seventy times seven count data how about the little irritations from your wife or your husband seventy times seven you forgive my wife once said that the secret of a happy marriage is two good forgivers and that's what it is two good forgivers people that can forgive each other Jesus taught that we're to forgive he taught a revolution in the way we're to live he taught us that it wasn't just our outward actions that God judges but it's the inward and intense he said Moses said that in the Ten Commandments thou shall not commit adultery but I tell you that if you even look on a woman to lust after you've already committed it he said Moses said thou shalt not murder but I tell you if you have hate in your heart against your brother without cause you're already guilty he lifted man's ethics to the highest plane and demanded that we lived that kind of a life he himself lived that kind of a life and the scripture says that he judges the inside the Attorney General of the United States said the other day that America is imperiled more from within than without and so are you here today in your personal life David said in sin did my mother conceive me Jesus said out of a heart proceed evil thoughts and murders and adulterers and thefts and blasphemies all the evil in the world comes from the human heart that's got to be changed and that's why Jesus said you must be born again you must be converted you must have a new beginning and he can do it how do you explain Jesus Jesus Christ are you what you say you are you know they only brought three charges against him to crucify one they said this man loves sinners that was one charge the second he healed on the Sabbath day on the third he claimed to be the son of God was he the son of God Boogie's authority jesus came unto them and spake unto them saying all Authority has been given to me I know one thing he forgave sin and no prophet ever did that Jesus himself for games he said thy sins are forgiven thee I know that he had authority over nature one day he one night he was in a storm the Lightning was flashing the Thunder was roaring the sea was raging the wind was blowing the disciples were afraid and Jesus was asleep in the boot and he stood up in the boat and said peace be still the Lightning quit its flashing and the Thunder quit its roaring and the rain ceased to fall and the wind quieted down in the sea quieted down and nature obeyed him and our young people believe that today because one of their top tunes at the moment is put your hand in the hand of the one who calmed the sea he combed the scene he had power over nature I was flying cliff barrows and some of us were flying some time ago I think we were leaving we win a typhoon leaving the Philippines and just before we got out of the typhoon I was the captain of the plane it invited me to sit up front with him and it was fairly smooth we had a lot of rain and all it wasn't too rough but all of a sudden the plane hits something it seemed to me as though it hit a wall it jolted and jerked and quivered and went up and down for about two minutes and then all of a sudden we plunged out into brilliant sunshine into smoothin and the captain turned to me with the perspiration coming down his face he said you know he said that was God telling us there's something up here more powerful than this airplane but Jesus could take a storm like that and turn it around he could take the lightning and throw it back in the cloud he has power over nature why because he's the god of nature those his laws there are baying him he had authority over disease I read the other day where Mao Zedong in China claims to have cured 80% of all the deaf people in China and one of those men that came back on the ping pong team said that Mao Zedong is the Jesus Christ of China today they talk about personality cult looks like to me they've got quite a personality over there but Jesus did make the blind to see he made the Deaf to hear he made the dumb to talk he raised the dead according to the record he had authority over demons you say Billy do you believe in demons I surely do and Jesus confronted demons time after time and he could cast them out and people that were insane under the powers of demons would regain their sanity and then look at the death he died did ever a man die like Jesus the lightning flashed and the thunder roared and the earth began to shake and even the soldiers confessed that this must be the Son of God anyone that can see Jesus on that cross and not be touched has a heart of stone they first took off his clothes then they took long leather thongs with steel pellets or lead pellets on the end and beat him across the back until he could hardly stand up then they put a crown of thorns on his brow and his face was bleeding and they laughed at him and they spit on him and they mocked him and with one snap of his finger 72,000 angels had already drawn their swords ready to come to his rescue and wipe this planet out of existence in the universe and Jesus said no to this end was I born and he dragged and lifted and hauled that cross and don't you black people ever forget one thing the man that helped Jesus carry that cross was a black man and don't ever forget another thing Jesus belongs to Africa as much as he does to Europe and Asia he was born in that part of the world that touches Africa and Asia and Europe and Jesus was not a white man like me nor was he as black as some of you we don't know what the color of his skin but it must have been a dark color like the people of his day because he was a man like them don't ever say it's a white man's religion or a black man's religion it's a world religion he belongs to the world when he died on that cross and they nailed him they put the nails in his hands and you know what he said forgive them they know not what they do forgive them could you forgive somebody that's putting nails in your hands and you know you didn't deserve it he didn't squirm he didn't yell he didn't scream he just took him and said Lord forgive him they don't know what they're doing that's how he confronted the violence of his day and then on the cross he said my God why Stauf forsaken me and then he dropped his head and said it's finished what did he mean he meant your plan of salvation was finished God can now forgive you of all your sins because Jesus had finished God's plan for your salvation because you see God knows every one of you by name he has the hairs of your head numbered God looks upon you as though you were the only person in the whole universe he sees you and you alone and on that cross Jesus had the capacity to think of you and he loved you enough to stay on the cross was there ever such love is that when he could have been rescued and taken back to heaven and to sit on his throne but he didn't he said no I'm doing it for the joy that is set before me because he saw that he would be raised from the dead he saw that they would be a gathering in the generations to come of a people for his name that would make up his body he saw the day when we will reign with him in his kingdom yes they laid him away in a tomb and that's where Jesus Christ Superstar leaves him but out in Kansas City some people got hold of the rock opera and they carried it right on to the next step the resurrection and if you don't have the resurrection you don't have any gospel Jesus Christ is alive and when they went out to the tomb that morning they heard the greatest news the world has ever known he is not here He is risen he is alive today and the thing that inspired the disciples to turn the world upside down in their day which the resurrection they went everywhere declaring that Jesus is alive you know some of us Christians live as though Jesus is dead he's not dead he's alive oh you're going through your troubles and your trials and your temptations and your testings and your pressures and you're under satanic attack all the time constantly you know I think in many ways in some ways it's easier not to be a Christian in this world because the devil may leave you alone the moment you receive Christ as Savior you're in for it unless you live on your knees and live in the scriptures and keep your guard up and have your spiritual armor on at all times because if you let down even one day as a Christian you're in trouble the moment you receive Christ you see all the world is going this way you turn around and start against the tide as a Christian and that's hard but you know it's hard to be a sinner too the older you get because the Bible says the way of the transgressor is hard i watch sometimes the programs on television where they have crime I have never in my life seen criminals work so hard for the money they get it looks like to me they could get a legitimate business and have a much easier time forget their money they work at it that is according to the script and I'm sure they do in real life Jesus Christ is alive and if he's not risen from the dead if he's not alive then there is no such thing as Christianity we're yet in our sins Paul said in the whole thing's a farce forget it and then the people very very seed Christ what has happened to them we had a fella here the other night that was a Black Panther leader he said that he thought he could change the world through the Black Panther movement until he said he met Jesus and he said Jesus changed his life and took all the hate out and now he said I believe the world can be changed but he said I believe it can be done with Jesus power that's it Jesus coming into our heart you know if I had if I had no proof whatsoever no scientific proof that Jesus ever lived I still would trust him because of what he's done for me the joy and the peace and the security and the love that he's given to me his grace that is mine today and then the satisfaction that he gives to those who have trusted him who art thou Lord Jesus Christ are you who you say you are this is the question that every one of you today are going to have to answer who is Jesus if Jesus claimed to be God knowing he wasn't God then he's a liar and we will have to say Jesus you're a liar you're a fraud and a hoax and you're the biggest fraud in the history of the human race or if Jesus thought he was God and did not know the difference then he desperately needed mental health he needed several psychiatrists the third alternative is that he was who he claims to be God in the flesh I believe that the evidence is overwhelming that he is who he claims to be the son of the Living God but I cannot prove it scientifically but I can prove it by the lives that he transforms every day I can prove it because in my heart I don't say I think I hope I say I know and you know there's another element in our lives that we don't think much about and that's the element of faith you think of the faith that you have to have every day you have to have faith that your wife didn't put poison in your coffee this morning you have to have faith in her she might have felt like it but she didn't you have to have faith in the bank when you write a check and sign it you have money in the bank you have to have faith that the bank's gonna pay it you have to have faith in the government when you pull out a dollar bill now I know it's shrinking but you have faith that back of it is a dollar that people will accept it is money everything we do is by faith now for example when I come upon a hill and I live in the mountains of North Carolina we have a lot of hills I don't stop my car before I get to the crest of the hill and get out and walk over and see if somebody's coming up the other side on the wrong side I have faith to believe that the drivers are gonna stay on their side faith faith faith everything when you sat in that chair had you ever sat in that chair before I bet you didn't pick it up and examine it and put your hands on it to see if it had hold you by faith you just sat down in it you had faith that people wouldn't build a chair that wouldn't hold you everything we do is by faith all right take the same faith put it in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you will know who Jesus is you accept him by faith and he comes into your life and into your heart and you know that he's who he claims to be [Applause]

Channel: God First, Life Second

Views: 2,118,636

Keywords: Billy Graham, Who is Jesus, billy graham evangelistic association, Jesus, God, Salvation, Sermon, Franklin Graham, Greatest Sermon, Gospel Message, Bible Answers, Black Panther, White man's religion

Id: zjZLQY3TBd4

Length: 23min 45sec (1425 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 05 2018