Lee Strobel: What Would Jesus say to Billy Graham

for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life the greatest love story ever told there is no love that you can think of in human relationships comparable to the love that God has for you God loves you good to see you all glad you're out here and the soggy wintry rainy day but you know I was watching television a while back and I was watching a sitcom on a national network and the plot of this particular comedy episode involved the main character wanted to exact some revenge on a friend who done something to her so she's thinking what can I do to really annoy her what can I do to really get back at her so she's thinking well maybe I could let the air out of all our tires on her car yeah that'd be that'd be fun no no I gotta do something worse than that what if I ordered a hundred pizzas delivered to her house now that would that would be good no that's not that's not even insidious enough oh wait a minute I got it I know what I'll do so she goes to the telephone and she calls a local church and she identifies herself as her friend and gives her friend's address and she says to the church you know I'm really interested in learning more about Jesus could you send a couple of evangelists over to my house I mean what could be more insidious than sending a couple fire-breathing evangelists to the house of her friend I mean but think about that what does that say what does that represent that tells us something about the attitude that many people have toward evangelist in fact when they did a national survey awhile back and they asked people to rank various professions for honesty and integrity television Evangelos rated third from the bottom right after prostitutes and right before drug dealers and yet there was Billy Graham I mean Billy Graham even though he was in a profession that engendered skepticism Billy Graham's earned incredible respect from the public for who he was and what he did in fact he was named 60 times to gallops list of the most admired people in the entire world that's more than any other individual ever even non-christians looked up to him but why was that what was it about William Franklin Graham that elicited such admiration from the public well Billy Graham was the practical joking baseball-playing son of North Carolina dairy farmers when he was 15 years old he went and heard a traveling evangelist by the name of Mordecai ham is that not one of the classic names of all time especially for evangelist Mordecai ham and Mordecai ham faithfully presented the gospel of Jesus Christ fifteen-year-old Billy Graham heard it and he responded that day he said later I didn't have any tears I didn't have any emotion I didn't hear any thunder there was no lightning but right there I made my decision for Christ and that night when he went to bed he couldn't go to sleep because he kept thinking he kept wondering is this gonna last is this real is it gonna last well of course it did after graduating from Wheaton College he felt God was leading him into the role of an evangelist and at first his speaking style was so loud and so fast that one newspaper called him God's machine gun seriously he was once clocked at 240 words a minute that's incredible isn't it of course over the years he mellowed quite a bit but the results of his ministry have been absolutely staggering Billy Graham spoke to more people about Jesus cry than anybody else in the history of the world he preached to live audiences totaling 215 million people in more than 185 countries when you add his television programs and his other media his lifetime audience exceeded 3.2 billion people so one of the results been one of the results BAM well over the years they have documented at least 3.2 million people who have stepped forward to receive Jesus Christ as her forgiver and their leader but those numbers even though they're incredible even though they're amazing those numbers by themselves don't really explain to us why was he so admired even among his critics well when Billy Graham passed away just a few days ago at the age of 99 commentators wrestled with that question what was it about Billy Graham that so captured the attention of the world well personally I think there were four character traits that endeared him to people and I think these four traits are relative to irrelevant to us to you and to me why because one of the headlines you see in the Wall Street Journal and on television and the radio and so forth ever since Billy Graham passed into eternity the question has been who is the next Billy Graham who's gonna pick up the torch who is the next Billy Graham and you know what I know who the next Billy Graham is it's you and it's me it's all of us there are millions of Billy Graham's not that we're all gonna go on platforms and and do Crusades and so forth but we're all called if we're followers of Jesus to be salt and light in whatever sphere of influence he has placed us in in our families in our neighborhood in our business place at our schools he has called us to be bearers of his good news Proclaimers of his gospel were all the next Billy Graham's and so as I go through these character traits that I believe really fuel the ministry of Billy Graham use those as kind of a mental checklist and say well how true are these traits of me what are the four traits well first Billy Graham practiced integrity he practiced integrity what is integrity well there's a joke about the college professor who was trying to figure out what is integrity how do i define integrity so he he began to bring in some experts to consult with him and and help him understand what is integrity so he brings into the room a philosopher and he says oh great philosopher what is integrity and the philosopher looks at him and says well integrity is how you behave when there's no one around to see you and the professor says wow that's really good thank you and the philosopher leaves and next he brings in a business executive is this all great business executive what is integrity and the business executive says well you know integrity is when you give your word and you keep it the professor talks really good too thanks and the executive leaves so then next he brings in a lawyer and he says oh great lawyer what is integrity and the lawyer looks around he goes over to the window and he pulls down the shades he goes over the door he opens the door he looks around make sure nobody's listening closes the door walks over to the professor and says what do you want it to me well we can get close to the meaning of the word integrity when we look at the root of that word with it which is integer and you may remember from high school math that an integer is a whole number like one or five or seven as opposed to a fraction and so integrity in one sense means wholeness it means completeness a related word is integrated in other words integrity is when all aspects of your life are integrated are working together as a whole you see some people live fragmented lives a person who says one thing but does another is living a fragmented life that's called hypocrisy a person who does one thing today and a contrary thing the next day that's living a fragmented life that is duplicity but a person with integrity has consistency what he believes is how he acts what he says is what he does and this is what Jesus wants from all of his followers at one point the Apostle Paul said to his sidekick Timothy in first Timothy 4 verse 16 keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching both are important you see Billy Graham was admired because his behavior was consistent with his beliefs his character was consistent with his Creed one theologian listened to some sermons by Billy Graham and this is what he said he said one thing stood out the man was genuine he believed what he said one investigative reporter was gonna expose Billy Graham and so he wanted to find dirt he wanted to find something negative some subs great sin that Billy Graham had committed and so he began to investigate Billy Graham it to dig and to dig in to dig and he couldn't find anything and at the end he said this Billy Graham is a man without shadows wouldn't it be great if people said that about us that you are a woman or you are a man without shadows what-you-see-is-what-you-get I remember once I interviewed Charles Templeton who was Billy Graham's pulpit partner in the early days of his ministry Charles Templeton lost his faith became a famous atheist and I believe he did come back to faith before he died but for many years he was a vociferous atheist living in Canada and so I asked him because his views on Billy's theology would were totally negative I asked him what do you think of Billy himself and this is what he told me said Billy Graham is pure gold he said there's no feigning or fakery in him he is a first-rate human being the genuine goods as they say he is as wholesome and faithful as anyone can be that's pretty remarkable coming from someone I'm the complete opposite end of theological beliefs well in the infancy of his ministry Billy Graham got together with his other people are gonna be part of this ministry and they asked themselves what has led to the disrepute among so many evangelist and they came up with a list and the list included things like aggressive fundraising loose financial accountability sexual temptations / emotionalism anti intellectualism and so they set out specifically to ensure that they didn't become trapped by those snares and so they adopted a stringent and open financial accountability Billy Graham was put on a modest salary they made it a strict rule never to be alone with a woman who is not their spouse they said in effect we can't just go out and proclaim the message of Jesus our lives have to reflect everyday the teachings of Jesus and so that's what Billy Graham did so the question for us is are we doing that what people say we have integrity there's a consistency between our beliefs and our behavior between our character and our Cree next the second character trait that Billy had is that he exhibited humility he exhibited humility you know I was listening to a radio host and he was talking about another National Christian figure was not Billy Graham he was talking about but this is what he said was interesting he said you know whenever I see this guy on TV he seems totally arrogant to me very holier-than-thou and that to me is a big turn-off that's what alien that's what arrogance does it turns people off but humility was Billy Graham's Homer I don't mean by humility that he had some crushed or sagging self-esteem I'm talking about real humility which is which is merely seeing ourselves in the context of who we are in relationship with God see Billy always saw himself as a servant of God as a tool in the hands of God and he always realized it was the Holy Spirit not Billy Graham who was responsible for the results of his efforts and he always gave the glory and the credit to God for example during some very gloomy times in England Billy Graham sat down with Sir Winston Churchill and Churchill said to him young man do you have any hope for the world and Billy took out his pocket New Testament and he said would you like me to review some passages I mean mr. prime minister this book is full of hope and so for the next half hour Billy Graham read to him passage after passage about the hope that comes from Jesus Christ and at the end Churchill said I thank you you've given an old man a renewal of faith for the future but as Billy explained later I hadn't done that it wasn't me the Bible had done that in other words he was humble enough to give credit where credit was due I mean Billy Graham was a man of simple tastes and of a humble lifestyle in fact I got to know his grandson a bit I will Graham because I teach sometimes at the Billy Graham training center in North Carolina and will Graham his grandson is in charge of that ministry and so I remember one day we were having lunch together and I said to will I said tell me something about Billy Graham that nobody else knows you know like what's his favorite food and he looked at me he said his favorite food I said yeah he says favorite food is a corn dog from sonics and he lived to be 99 I mean that's really the miracle here but it's a simple man of simple tastes the son of dairy farmers in North Carolina and when people asked Billy well why are you so successful why have you accomplished so much he would tell him a little parable he would say just imagine you're walking down a country road and you come upon a big post and on that narrow post on the top of that posts it's a turtle now if you came upon that you would not assume that that turtle somehow climbed onto the top of that post you would assume that someone far larger than that turtle had picked him up and placed him on top of that post for some mysterious reason and he would just leave it there because the lesson from the parable was clear that Billy was saying I didn't get you know to the top so to speak through my own merits but because God for some mysterious reason in his sovereignty chose to lift me up into this role and when Billy Graham made mistakes as certainly he did he was humble enough to admit them and to take responsibility well Jesus said in Luke 14 verse 11 for those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted so what about you and me if I were to ask a friend of yours use three words to describe you with one of those words be humble do we have humility third character trait that caused so many people to admire Billy Graham is that he showed compassion he showed compassion he didn't just tell people about Jesus Christ cuz he craved the spotlight and craved a large stadiums and crowds of people to speak to know he did it because he loved God and he loved people and he'd love to share with them the hope of Jesus Christ one writer put it this way in a society that has been nurtured on the antics of the anti-hero it just may be time to hear from a person who offers genuine care and affection it seems he said that the staying power of this southern preacher is to be written in his acts of love and concern counterbalancing the influence of a treacherous world I mean those acts of love that Billy Graham extended to the war were often done behind the scenes outside the spotlight people don't know about it people don't know about the time she visited the sick in the hospitals the times he would go into prisons and tell inmates about Jesus Christ the times he would minister to the elderly and and to the poor and so and most of all when he lovingly offered the hope of Jesus Christ who were being sucked down by the quicksand of hopelessness in their lives I think it's appropriate that he's gonna be buried this coming week in a simple pine casket that was made by the inmates of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola because that's where Billy Graham went that's where he ventured to tell them about the hope of Jesus Christ and out of their gratitude for him sharing that message with them and seeing their own lives changed they've made the simple pine casket in which he'll be buried this Friday most people don't know this but you know at the height of his ministry when he's preaching these huge crowds and stadiums he's at Global Television and so you know what he would do on his weekends off he would travel the back roads of North Carolina and he would drop in on these little churches of 10 or 20 families and he would tell them about Jesus Christ why did he do that because he loved God and he loved people and he knew the only message that could change their lives and rewrite their eternities is this gospel this message of Hope through Jesus Christ Colossians 3 verse 13 says this therefore as God's chosen people holy and clearly loved and dearly loved rather clothe yourselves with compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience and that's what Billy Graham did so he had integrity he had humility and compassion and I think the fourth reason he was so universally admired is because he stood firm on the Bible he stood firm on the Bible now let's face it we're living in wishy-washy times when standing firm for anything is a big deal I mean these are times when people are drifting on a sea of moral relativism with situational ethics ruling the land it's a time when right and wrong have been replaced by my opinion in your opinion but despite this moral drift of society Billy Graham remained anchored to God and to his work do you often point it to the Bible and said all of the world's answers are right there in this book now wasn't always that way there was a time very early in his ministry when he was unsettled by Scripture he said if I was not exactly doubtful I was certainly disturbed so he searched the Scriptures and he sought out godly wisdom and he prayed for answers and finally in a heavy hearted walk in the moonlit San Bernardino Mountains in California everything reached a climax gripping his Bible Billy Graham dropped to his knees and he confessed I can't answer a lot of these nettlesome questions that some of my skeptical friends are asking he said later I was trying to be on the level with God but something remained unspoken he said at last the Holy Spirit freed me to say it father I am gonna accept this as thy word by faith I'm gonna allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts and I will believe this to be your inspired word and rising from his knees with tears in his eyes Billy Graham said I sense the power of God in my life like I hadn't sensed it for a long time he said not all of my questions were answered but a major bridge had been crossed in my heart and in my mind I knew a spiritual battle for my soul had been fought and it had been won now Billy Graham was not committing intellectual suicide when he did this I found personally as an atheist spending two years of my life investigating the credibility of this book and determining that it can be trusted for what it tells us about Jesus his life is teaching his miracles his resurrection from the dead I believe it is a trustworthy source for us and he was merely affirming once and for all this is a trustworthy message of what we no need to know about God and we need to know about life and Hebrew says the Bible goes beyond that it's not just reliable historically there is something supernatural about this book if you spent any time reading studying absorbing the teachings of this book you know that it goes beyond just historical accuracy there is something supernatural Hebrews 4 verse 12 says for the word of God is alive and it's active sharper than any double-edged sword it penetrates even to dividing the soul and spirit joints and marrow it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart Billy Graham's true stood firmly and strongly and proudly on Scripture as being the unwavering word of God and if you want to know why God accomplished so much through him we probably don't have to go much further than that so in light of all these qualities here's Billy Graham Billy Graham his integrity his humility his compassion his commitment to God in his commitment to Scripture what do you think Jesus would say to him upon his entry into eternity well I just let my imagination go and I thought I thought this is what Jesus might say he might say Billy you certainly accomplished some amazing feats with the life that I gave you you know in my public ministry I didn't stray very far from Jerusalem but you and brought my message farther and wider than any other person who's ever lived you watched your life in your teachings closely you didn't embarrass my name you were humble you were compassionate you poured my love into the lives of millions and millions of people you never wavered from declaring the full truth about Who I am and the hope that I bring you sure millions of people into the kingdom of God you counsel presence you counsel prime ministers you were admired all around the planet and Billy Graham I want you to know this all of your spectacular deeds and accomplishments and efforts are not enough to open the door of heaven for you they're not enough they all fall short that stuns a lot of people I mean one radio host said last week he said well at least Billy Graham you know we know he's gonna be in heaven because of all that he did but I mean the rest of us golly we got to kind of fight it out and hope we make it that's popular opinion that's what people think it means to be right with God to be assured of heaven they think it means how well do we follow the Ten Commandments they think it means how many church services do we attend how much money do we give to the church they think it means how many scripture passages can we memorize to these people the equation of salvation is spelled this way it spelled this way to them this is popular opinion Jesus plus good works equally ternal life yeah you have to kind of have some faith in Jesus you got it he was the son of God got that yeah yeah okay but it's really the good works I'm trusting it's it's it's the it's the good deeds I accomplished that ultimately is what I'm counting for to get eternal life that's popular opinion that's what people think the problem with that of course is you know you can never know how many good works does it take to equal eternal life right this is sort of like if you're working for a company and you're in the sales division and the sales manager says to you I'm gonna fire you if you don't meet your sales quota but I'm not going to tell you what your quota is and so how do you live with anxiety with fear with trepidation with you know your your your try you're hoping am i doing enough am i selling enough am i accomplishing enough this is what this equation says you just don't know I mean this is what Islam says we have five pillars of Islam how well do you follow those five pillars better do it pretty well maybe you'll make it in maybe you won't that's that this kind of equation suggests it's some general belief in Jesus but it's really the good works that get us into heaven I just wrote a new book it's called the case for miracles and as part of that research I sat down with one of the most famous atheists in America and I asked him at one point in the interview I said what if you're wrong what if you die and you find yourself standing in front of God what would you say to him and he said oh well I say I know I tried to live a good life I I tried my best to follow the golden rule yeah I didn't always do it right and I fell short and I made mistake he had granted but I tried my best to follow the golden rule and I've been better than most people I mean certainly if I said that God would let me into heaven and I said well let me ask you this what if the minimum standard of good works what if the minimum standard was living like Mother Teresa what if the minimum standard was you had to live a complete total life of selfless devotion to the poor what's that what if that were the minimum I said how would you fare if that were the minimum you know good works that you had to do and he looks done and finally said to me well I I just don't think that could possibly be the standard and he's right it's not the standard you know what the standard is perfection it is perfection if you want to get to heaven on your own merits you have to live a perfect life a perfect life and none of us has done that all of us have fallen short all of us have sinned as a result of that sin we're not to be allowed in heaven the sin has to be forgiven has to be paid for listen to what the Bible says in Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9 for it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves it is a gift of God not by works so that no one can boast what is grace grace is unmerited favor it is deserved mercy from God it is Jesus dying on the cross to pay the penalty we deserve for all the wrong we've done paying for it all offering that forgiveness as a free gift so that all of our sin will be wiped away we'll be clothed in the righteousness of God and we'll be there for in the eyes of God admitted minister immiscible to heaven friends if Billy Graham were counting on this equation for heaven he'd be in trouble and I want to tell you something too if you're counting on this equation to go to heaven you got the wrong formula I'm just saying based on the authority of Scripture you've got the wrong formula but I know how Billy Graham would respond to Jesus if Jesus said that I think I think he would say you know Jesus that's not the basis on which I'm counting for eternal life I'm not counting on what I've done I am counting Jesus on what you have done for me when you died in the cross you paid for all of my sins you wiped them clean you clothed me in your righteousness I'm counting Jesus only on what you have done nothing on what I have done and I think Jesus would say of course Billy I know that I know that full well and because that is true because your sins are gone they're wiped away your clothing my righteousness I fling open the door of heaven and an eternity of bliss in your relationship with me so this is what the equation becomes according to Scripture Jesus faith in Jesus plus nothing faith in Jesus plus nothing else it is all about Jesus and it's all about him it's all about his love it is all about His grace Jesus plus nothing equals eternal life Jesus plus nothing equals eternal and what is eternal life what does this really represent eternal life is not just living forever eternal life begins the moment you receive this free gift of God's grace in a prayer of repentance and faith when you receive that free gift of His grace your sins are forgiven your clothing the righteousness of Christ you become a child of God and that's when eternal life begins because now for the rest of your life you can have a deep and a rich and a vibrant and a personal relationship with the God of the universe and then when you pass into eternity that relationship takes on a whole new dimension you can leave perfect you can live perfectly in harmony with God forever that's what eternal life is about now many Christians will look at that equation say yep that's it Jesus plus nothing it's his gift of grace we must receive that is the road to eternal life but that's not the whole story there is a role in the Christian life for good works according to the Bible the real formula is Jesus plus nothing equals eternal life plus good works the good works is on the other end of the equation so in other words Christianity is not a anxiety-ridden faith trying to hope we can somehow reach that threshold of being good enough to be entered into heaven it is about a life of gratitude of saying thank you hard for this gift of grace that you have given to me I've gratefully received it and you changed my heart you changed my life you changed my eternity and out of gratitude for that it overflows into good works the reason Billy Graham spent his life telling people about Jesus Christ is because he was so grateful what Jesus done in his life that it naturally overflowed into the lives of others you see the difference that makes all the difference in the world now how do we know this how do we know this because a moment ago I quoted to you Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9 which is maybe the clearest passage in scripture that says it's all about grace but then the next verse Ephesians 2 verse 10 which says this for we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do we do the good works out of the overflow of gratitude of love in our lives that's why Billy Graham did what he did his whole life and there's one other element to all of this and that's this even though this is the equation for eternal life that Jesus plus nothing equals eternal life plus good deeds there's one other element and that is that we will receive in eternity rewards for how it is that we lived out these good works as followers of Jesus he will reward us based on how we have expressed the love of Christ lived out the love of Christ serve others in the name of Christ it's not the way we get to heaven that's through free grace but then out of our gratitude we serve we love we give we participate other people are influenced and God says I'm gonna reward you for that how do we know because the Apostle Paul says this in 2nd timothy verse chapter 4 verses 7 and 8 he said I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing Frane sets us followers of Jesus so what do I believe Jesus would say to Billy Graham I think he might say Billy you two have fought the good fight you two have kept the faith and you didn't hoard the love and grace that I poured into your life but you floated into the lives of others and so you will not only enjoy the glories of heaven which you didn't earn but I offered you as a free gift of grace which you gratefully received you'll not only enjoy those glories forever but in addition to that I'm gonna reward you for all of the service that you did in my name all of the good works you did to pass on my love to others I believe Jesus would say to Billy Graham those words of Matthew 25 verse 23 says well done well done good and faithful servant come and share your masters happiness no Leslie and I are so honored to have been invited to Billy Graham's private funeral service this coming week in Charlotte North Carolina and I know when we go to that it's not going to be about a celebration of the end of a life it's gonna be about a celebration of the next era of the life of Billy Graham a life in eternity with the God he's so loved and served you know a while ago Billy Graham said this someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead don't you believe a word of it I shall be more alive than I am now I will just have changed my address I will have gone into the presence of God French can you say that can you say that with confidence are you uncertain about what's gonna happen that day that you pass from this world do you have anxiety about it do you wonder about it that you've done enough that you've earned enough friends it's not about that have you ever received this free gift of God's grace forgiveness and eternal life that he purchased on the cross when he died as your substitute to pay for all of your sin have you done it do you know you have friends me I think if Billy Graham were here he would say let's settle it letsa maybe today it crystallized really for the first time and you're realizing no I I don't have confidence I can't say that I know for a fact I'm gonna be with God for eternity when I die you know the Bible says these things are written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order to may know that you have eternal life God want you to have confidence he wants you to have the confidence of Billy Graham that based not on what you do but what I'm Jesus did that you will spend eternity in his presence let me give you an opportunity if you if maybe today it crystallized for the first time we've had 22 people so far just this last hour online watching who've received Jesus Christ as our forgiver and leader I don't know how many people here I don't know how many of you might say today is a day for me to know for sure but let's just close our eyes and bow our heads and if you want to know for sure then just in your heart God will hear you in your heart say these words to Jesus or Jesus as best I can I do believe that you are the son of God you proved it by returning from the dead and I admit the obvious which is that I am a sinner and I want to turn from that and in repentance and faith I want to reach out and receive this free gift of forgiveness and eternal life that you purchase for me on the cross when you died as my substitute to pay for my sin Thank You Lord Jesus for suffering the torture of crucifixion so that you could extend this gift of grace and we could be reconciled forever help me to live the kind of life that you want me to live because from this moment on I am yours and now father we are so grateful for those who have taken that step today both here and on the satellite campuses and and around the world on the Internet we thank you for that we thank you we can be part of a church that stands firm on your word and proclaims your love and grace all over the world and we thank you for Billy Graham we thank you for a life well-lived we thank you for someone we can emulate as he followed you that we can learn from the ministry that you gave him and the fidelity with which he lived it out pray for his family is you would comfort them at this time and we celebrate his arrival in eternity and look forward to someday being with him under that huge oak tree in heaven where we'll all kind of sit around and tell stories and laugh and be full of joy about how you and your sovereignty chose to use each of us in our own way to be salt and light in the world we thank you for all of this we pray this in Jesus name and all God's people said amen

Channel: Woodlands Church with Kerry Shook

Views: 31,507

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Keywords: woodlands, church, kerry, shook, chris, christian, god, faith, bible, tbn, daystar, joel, osteen, rick, warren, jesus, hope, ministries, pastor

Id: LgvNvFhQ2hA

Length: 42min 17sec (2537 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 26 2018