Hope for a Changing World | Billy Graham

The world might be changing rapidly—but God never changes. Hear how this truth can bring you hope in this 1994 Billy Graham sermon from Atlanta, Georgia.
“Joy cannot be pursued. It comes from within. It is a state of being. It does not depend on circumstances, but triumphs over circumstances. It produces a gentleness of spirit and a magnetic personality.”
― Billy Graham

From our archives, the Billy Graham classics, our world is changing so rapidly.
And I want to speak tonight on things that never change.
And I want you to turn with me to the 12th chapter of Hebrews Beginning with verse 26, talking about Mount Sinai when Moses was receiving the law, it says the whole earth shook.
But now God has promised saying yet once more, I will shake not the earth only but also the heavens.
And this word yet once more signified, the removing of those things that are shaken as of those things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken shall remain where we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved.
Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear for our God is a consuming fire.
God shook the earth next time, he’s going to shake both the heaven and the earth.
And I believe that we can feel the tremors already in the world in which we live.
It’s beginning to shake as it’s never been shaken before.
And the year 2000 has long been a mystical point in time.
A year by which we would have solved racism, poverty, disease, crime, war.
All of these things would have been solved by the year 2000.
So we were told at the beginning of this century and this century was called the 20th century, the Christian century.
In fact, a magazine came out that is still published today and I read it called the Christian Century.
But this has been anything but the Christian century with the two world wars and all the upheavals going on throughout the world, we solve one problem and it seems another one breaks out somewhere else and diseases that we thought antibiotics had cured and no longer kill them.
Tuberculosis. And then there’s the dreadful disease of AIDS. Nobody knows the answer to it yet.
Sometimes we hear about a new medicine or a new thing that has been done.
But then they tell us that it hasn’t been proven yet.
And during the time of Jeremiah, the prophet, the people were too busy to listen to the word of God and people in America today are not listening to the word of God.
At least they’re not doing it.
We say that 50% of the people or 70% of the people in some polls go to church.
But what about the other 50%? What about the other 40%? What are they doing?
People who pretend nothing was wrong have finally had to change their minds in Jeremiah.
He said, we hope for peace but no good has come for a time of healing.
But there was only terror, the harvest has passed the summer has ended and we are not saved.
This is a period of political change.
Look at the changes going on in the political world today.
Then it’s a time of social change.
125 cities of the world have a population of one million or more in five years.
That will be 300 cities. And then look at the fragmented families.
Half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. The structure of American society is changing.
More Americans are living alone today than ever before.
20 to 30 million adults live alone in Dade County, Florida.
There are 123 nationalities in the school system and the religious changes.
one Observer says that this massive spiritual search in America is the most significant development in our country today.
Many of you here tonight are here tonight because you’re seeking, you’re seeking for something that you don’t have money, doesn’t supply it, sex doesn’t supply it, drink doesn’t supply, you’re looking for something else and you’re not quite sure what it is and you’ll never find that total satisfaction till you find God until Christ lives in your heart.
Many of you are searching for forgiveness of your sins.
You know that you’ve sinned against God. I know it.
The Bible says all its sinned and broken God’s law. The 10 commandments are God’s moral laws.
And if we break one of them, the Bible says, we’ve broken all of them and Billy Graham has broken all of them and Billy Graham is a sinner and Billy Graham deserves judgment and deserves hell.
Albert T Lewis many years ago said, man cannot live without meaning.
The Bible says, Jesus said, and there shall be signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth.
The stress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring men’s hearts failing them for fear.
And for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
And that passage that said that word that says the stress of nations means press from all sides.
Perplexity means there’s no way out.
There’s coming a time when we’re going to be pressed from all sides.
You as an individual or a family or a state or a nation pressed from all sides and there will be no way out but there is a way out.
But there’s only one. President Kennedy said a quarter of a century ago.
No man entering upon this office could fail to be staggered upon learning the harsh enormities of the trials through which he must pass in the next few years each day.
He said the crisis multiplies each day, their solution grows more difficult each day.
We draw nearer the hour of maximum danger and time. He is not our friend.
What would he say today?
The world is changing so rapidly And they say the next five years, it’s going to change more than the last 30 years.
Put together technology is changing us. Our world is changing rapidly.
But there are some things that never change.
Some things that will always remain, no matter how much the world changes.
First, the nature of God does not change. I am the Lord, I change not.
It says in Malachi 36, God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should change.
The scripture says In James 1 17, it says there’s no variable, there no shadow of turning with God.
And that means he doesn’t change as much as an eyelash.
God is the same a million years ago as He is today and he’ll be the same a million years from now.
He doesn’t change in the slightest we change, but God doesn’t change.
God is unchanging in his holiness. He’s absolutely pure and he’s so pure. He cannot look upon sin.
Holy, holy Holy is the Lord Almighty, which was and is and is to come.
The scripture says God is unchanging in judgment. Yes, he’s going to judge the world.
You and I are going to stand before the great judgment of God.
If you don’t know Christ and you’ll be judged not only by the things you do, but the things that you think your intents, your thoughts, the secrets will all be there, think of how he can record everything, all of your thoughts, all the things you’ve tried to sweep under the rug.
He has it all on tape and he has it on a big screen.
He’ll have big screens like you see up here and on this side and it’ll all be there won’t be anything missing and he’s going to judge you accordingly because he’s unchanging in judgment.
The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth. The scripture says God, but God is unchanging in love.
I’m so glad that’s true because if there’s one thing, I hope when this crusade is over, that you will understand that God loves you and God loves you and God loves you and God loves you.
He loves you. And that word love is not the word that we use.
It’s not eros love, it’s not sensual, sexual love, it’s not for oh love, friendship, love.
It’s a love that’s found only regarding deity. God himself. It’s a new word.
It’s a new dimension of love and He loves you with such a love that you cannot imagine.
He loved you so much that when He saw that you were a sinner and under the condemnation of sin and on your way to judgment and hell, he gave his son on the cross for you and he shed his blood for you.
And because of that, God can say to every one of us, I forgive you.
Your sins are buried in the depths of the sea. I’ll remember them against you no more.
I’m counting on that. That’s the grace and the love and the mercy of God.
And then the second thing is the nature of God has not changed, but also the word of God has not changed.
The word that’s in this book, the grass wither and the flower faded, but the word of our God shall stand forever.
Think of it. What’s in this book?
And we carry it or we have it in our homes and we let the dust collect and we have all kinds of little papers in it.
Things we want to remember, but we never read it.
And yet God is expressing in this book, all the suggestions and rules and regulations for a happy and successful life.
And then thirdly, the moral law has not changed.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. What is another God?
Anything that you think more of than you do?
God, maybe that television set is your God.
Remember that book that you’re reading that girl that you’re going with or maybe that boy that you were going with or maybe your business or maybe something else has become your God.
It takes more of your time and love and energy than worshiping the true God.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And then another one is honor thy father and thy mother.
And today we have a lack of authority, a rebellion against authority on the part of young people.
And we read it every day in our newspapers. Suppose parents had the authority.
They had a few generations ago, we’d have a different world.
But unfortunately, as somebody said, everything is run by a switch in the home except for Children and parents are afraid of their Children.
Today, they are afraid their Children will sue them because you can sue your parents today.
I’m not going to get into all of that, but I want you to know that there’s something mixed up somewhere and I think I know what it is.
Ted Koppel was right when he said, When Moses came down from Mount Sania and he had those 10 things, they were not just resolutions, they were 10 commandments, they were commandments and where to keep them, but we can’t keep them.
You cannot keep any of the 10 commandments except by the help of the spirit of God.
He will give you the supernatural power to keep those commandments.
He can help you turn your eye the other way.
When you look at that beautiful woman to lust after him, he can help you to pull your hand back.
If you’re ready to steal something, they’re gonna help you.
If you’re ready to tell a lie, he’ll bring it to your mind and you pull back from it and tell the truth.
And then fifthly, the way of salvation has not changed.
Neither is there salvation in any other?
For there is no other name under heaven among men whereby we must be saved.
Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life. No man cometh to the father.
But by me think of it, he said I am the truth.
I’m the embodiment of all truth.
Now, either he was a liar or he was a maniac and needed to go see a psychiatrist or he was who he claimed to be.
One day I had, that was the intellectual problem I had to face.
Who was Jesus Christ was he who he claims to be the son of the living God, the way, the truth and the life that nobody can get to heaven, nobody can be saved.
Nobody can know God except through him or not. I wrestled with it.
And I finally said, Lord, I believe and just that little decision in my heart to say that I believe that you are who you claim to be.
And I accept you as my Lord and my master and my savior. And I repent of my sins.
And I come to the cross and I’m looking forward to that day of the resurrection in the last generation.
That was the only way of salvation. It’s the only way of salvation today is through Christ.
It will be the only salvation 100 years from now.
But you know, you can go to church.
You can claim to be a Christian but still not really no Christ.
There are thousands of people that are church members.
You’ve been baptized or you’ve been confirmed, but deep down in your heart, you’re not sure that Christ has forgiven you.
You’re not sure if you died tonight that you’d go to heaven.
No, God does not change.
But you must change if you were to get to heaven and if you were to have salvation first, you must repent.
What does repentance mean? That means change, change your mind, change your way of living, repent.
Ye therefore, and be converted. That your sins be blotted out.
The scripture says, God now command all men everywhere to repent.
The scripture says and acts He commands you to repent. Have you ever repented?
Have you ever really changed your way of living?
And then the second thing you must believe now this is not just believing with your head to him.
Give all the prophets witness that through his name who serve, believe it in Him shall receive remission of sins.
Are you sure that your sins are forgiven?
I was a member of the church. I’ve been baptized.
I went to church every Sunday because my parents made me and yet deep down inside, I knew something was wrong.
I didn’t have the peace and the happiness and the joy that the Bible talks about.
I didn’t have the absolute assurance that I was right with God.
I wanted it but I, I didn’t know exactly what to do.
So there came a time when I did get on my knees and I repented of my sins.
I said, oh God, I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sin.
I turn for my sin and I turned to Christ and I believe, but as many as received him to them, gave him power to become the sons of God.
Even to them that believe on his name, that means believe means you put your whole weight on Christ.
You’re putting everything on him. And then you must confess Christ openly.
That’s why I ask people to come forward in our meetings by the thousands on every continent all over the world.
I remember we held a crusade about five or six years ago in the Great Olympic Stadium in Moscow.
And it was packed to capacity and it looked a little bit like this.
And I ask the people to come forward to receive Christ.
And a third to half of the audience started coming.
I told them to go back to their seats.
I thought they had misunderstood me and then I explained it carefully again and even more came and outside there were thousands outside watching on a big screen and they came to that screen.
We must confess Christ open.
Jesus died on the cross openly for you and me out in the open people could see him naked bleeding, dying.
He said, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus and believe in thy heart that God is raising the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Have you openly confessed to Dr Harrington told a story in one of his sermons about us Air flight 427 that crashed near Pittsburgh.
They were trying to find some of the things that came out of that plane to see if they could find what caused the plane to crash.
And they had to set about the gruesome task of salvaging and identifying whatever parts of bodies they could find.
One rescuer Turning through the carnage discovered a seven pair of hands.
one was female, one was male, the class in a last and lasting human bond.
That’s all that was left of them.
We don’t know if they were husband and wife or lovers taking a trip together or perhaps even just strangers cast by feet to be sitting next to each other.
We will never know. But that doesn’t matter the lesson to see from it is that whoever they were, they grew strength and courage and love and support from a human touch, holding hands.
They went out into eternity. You’re going to go out and eat to eternity and Jesus has his hand outstretched to take yours.
He wants to lead you into heaven to the very presence of God himself.
The question for us tonight is this who’s holding your hand are you trying to scramble in on your own or are you going to take the hand of Jesus that’s outstretched to you tonight?
I’m asking you to make that commitment tonight.
Say yes to Christ.
I’m asking you tonight to receive Christ in a new way in your life and say, Lord from this moment on, I want you to be my Lord and savior and master.
And I’m gonna put you first.
We’re going to ask you to get up out of your seats and come right now.
He has his arms outstretched saying whosoever will let him come, you come.
You’re watching the Billy Graham classics.
Please call the phone number on the screen right now for spiritual help and guidance.
As hundreds are responding to Mister Graham’s invitation to make a public commitment to Jesus Christ.
You can make that same commitment, right?
Where you are just pick up the phone and call the number you see on your screen.
Special friends are waiting to talk with you and pray with you about this most important decision you’ve seen here in Atlanta, Georgia.
These hundreds of people come to make a commitment to Christ, whatever commitment they are making.
God knows because he reads their hearts and their minds and they’re saying yes to Christ as best they know how and you can make that same decision where you are.
You may be in a hotel room, you may be at home, you may be off in a foreign city somewhere.
But you can say yes to Christ and He will receive you and forgive you and change you and go with you from this moment on to help you face the problems that you’re facing in your life.
May God help you to do that?
If you just prayed that prayer with my father, or if you have any questions about a relationship with Jesus Christ, I would just call that number that is on the screen.
There’ll be someone there to talk with you, pray with you and answer those questions and remember God loves you.
If you would like to commit your life to Jesus Christ, please call us right now.
Toll free at 18777724559. That’s 1877772 45 59.
Or you can write to us at Billy Graham one, Billy Graham Parkway Department C Charlotte, North Carolina 28201.
Or you can contact us on the web 24 7 at peace with God dot TV.
We’ll get the same helps to you that we give to everyone who responds at the invitation on behalf of Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
Thank you for watching and thank you for your prayers tonight.
I am glad to tell you as we close that the Lord Jesus Christ can be received.
Your sins were given the Billy Graham library is a place for all walks of life to recharge, reflect, renew your faith.
And, yeah, I hope you don’t think this is like one of those cop shows you see on television, it’s Anne, she’s in trouble.
If you don’t take it to the edge, every chance you get, you’re dead already. Baby.
I came, I saw a conquered, we’re in a bad place. God. Where are you? Is there any hope?
Yes, there’s hope. What should a man give in exchange for his soul?
I was in trouble and I didn’t know what to do.
Well, the juice I knew that I could take on the world.
It’s like you’re in a dream but not really a dream is a reality.
I was forever changed and just said, I can’t believe this is real.
I don’t really believe in all this, but I know something crazy is happening right now.