Welcome to from the pulpit and classic sermons.
Each week we bring you a different message
from some of history's greatest speakers in the
Christian faith and powerful sermons for modern preachers
too.
This week we have Billy Graham with his
message the second coming of Christ.
Now tonight I want you to turn with
me to the 24th chapter of Matthew's gospel.
The 24th chapter of Matthew's gospel beginning at
verse 1.
How many have your Bibles?
Lift them up.
Thousands of Bibles.
The 24th chapter of Matthew's gospel.
These words.
And Jesus went out and departed from the
temple and his disciples came to him for
to show him the buildings of the temple.
And Jesus said unto them, see ye not
all these things?
Verily I say unto you, there shall not
be left here one stone upon another that
shall not be thrown down.
And as he sat on the Mount of
Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying.
Now notice Jesus is sitting down.
His disciples are coming to him privately and
asking him this question.
When shall these things be?
And what shall be the sign of thy
coming and the end of the age?
Now these disciples had been led to believe
that the world was coming to an end.
They had been led to believe by the
teachings of Jesus and by the Old Testament
prophets that there was going to be an
end to the age and that Christ was
coming back to set up his kingdom.
And so they're asking him about it.
Here's his answer.
Just a part of his answer.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, take
heed that no man deceive you.
For many shall come in my name saying
I'm Christ and shall deceive many.
And ye shall hear of wars and rumors
of wars.
See that ye be not troubled.
For all these must come to pass but
the end is not yet.
For nations shall rise against nation and kingdom
against kingdom and there shall be famines and
pestilences and earthquakes and diverse places.
All these are just the beginning of sorrow.
Then shall they deliver you up to be
afflicted and shall kill you.
And ye shall be hated of all nations
for my name's sake.
And then shall many be offended and shall
betray one another and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall rise and deceive
many.
And because iniquity shall abound the love of
many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure unto the end
the same shall be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations.
And then shall the end come.
Every Bible expositor and every commentary that I've
ever read in expounding this passage says that
Jesus taught, that Jesus believed and he led
the disciples to believe that someday at a
point in history there would be an end
of an age, an end of an era
in which he would return to earth again.
And this has been the hope of the
church down through the century.
When you say the Apostles' Creed in your
church on Sunday as many churches did say
it, we repeat that he's coming to judge
the quick and the dead.
Every time you take communion you're remembering the
Lord's death till he comes.
That's what communion is all about in the
church.
We remember the day he died and shed
his blood but we're also remembering the day
that he's to come again.
That's what he said.
And if the Bible teaches anything it teaches
that Jesus Christ is coming back.
Now all the way through the Old Testament
I could stand here for at least two
or three hours and just quote nothing but
scripture or read scriptures referring to the coming
again of Christ.
When he's going to come in mighty power
and he's going to set up his kingdom.
In the New Testament it's taught in every
book.
Matthew for example likens Christ to a bridegroom
coming to receive his bride.
Mark as a householder going on a long
journey and committing certain tasks to his servants
until he returned.
Luke he is a nobleman going into a
far country to transact certain business and leaving
his possessions with his servants in order that
they might trade with them until he comes.
John quotes Christ is saying I go to
prepare a place for you and if I
go to prepare a place for you I
will come again.
In Romans we see him coming putting all
things beneath his feet.
In 1st Corinthians Paul tells of the Lord's
coming to awaken and raise the dead.
In 2nd Corinthians he tells about our new
house when we will have a new tabernacle,
a new body.
Philippians says that our conversation is in heaven
from whence we look for the coming of
the Savior.
Colossians says when Christ who is our life
shall appear then shall we also appear with
him in glory.
1st Thessalonians tells us to wait for the
Son from heaven.
2nd Thessalonians gives us the glorious picture of
Christ coming for his saints.
Titus talks about the blessed hope.
James tells his readers to be patient unto
the coming of the Lord and all the
way through the scriptures the whole book of
Revelation.
One book after another it's almost given entirely
to the discussion of the events surrounding the
coming again of Jesus Christ.
Now we're living at a very pessimistic period
of history.
I've had the privilege of talking to many
of our world leaders and I find them
in private are very pessimistic about the world
situation at this moment.
The world situation in my opinion from what
I know in my travels is getting darker
and blacker and worse.
Whether you look at home or whether you
look abroad.
Now the hope of the church down through
the centuries has always been that Christ's prayer
in which he prayed, thy kingdom come, thy
will be done on earth as it is
in heaven is someday going to be answered.
And we believe that it is far nearer
being answered at this moment in spite of
the pessimism than at any time in history.
Because we are much nearer that climactic and
glorious event when Jesus Christ is going to
come back and set up his kingdom.
Now the great question comes that the disciples
asked, when is he going to come?
They were wanting a specific date.
What is going to be the sign of
your coming?
And Jesus told them in no uncertain terms
that there were no dates.
That he did not know the day nor
the hour.
And he made it quite clear when he
said, but of the day and the hour
knoweth no man.
No, not the angels of heaven, but my
father only.
But he said I'll give you some signs
to look for.
And when you see all of these signs
taking place at the same time, you can
know that my redemption is drawing nigh.
One of those signs was given in the
passage I just read.
Many shall come in my name in those
last days saying I'm the Christ and shall
deceive many.
Now we have that today.
This indicates a resurgence of religion.
Here we have the greatest divorce statistics and
crime statistics in history.
Problems sweeping the country.
Almost anarchy in some places because of crime.
And yet we have the greatest resurgence of
religious interest in American history.
What a paradox!
What is happening?
Our religious revival hasn't gone deep enough.
And we have many people that profess Christ.
Outwardly they say they believe in Christ, but
they're not living for it.
Many shall come in my name and many
people will be deceived.
And then secondly, he said ye shall hear
of wars and rumors of wars.
Kingdoms rising against kingdoms.
Now this carries with it the idea that
allies joined together by treaty will fight other
allies joined together by treaty.
Kingdoms fighting against kingdoms.
Now this prophecy was fulfilled in the First
World War.
It was even more than fulfilled in the
Second World War because for the first time
we had war on an international scale that
engulfed the whole world.
Now Jesus said as we move toward the
end of history, wars will increase.
That's the reason the United Nations with all
of its good intentions will not bring permanent
peace.
I'm for the United Nations.
I believe we should work for peace.
The Bible tells us we should pray for
peace.
We should work for it.
But the Bible says as long as the
heart of man is sinful, as long as
there's wickedness in hate and lust and greed
in the human heart, there's going to be
war.
You are not going to eliminate war by
scheme and planning as much as we would
like to think it'll be eliminated.
As long as man has hate and greed
in his heart, there will be war in
the world.
And as long as there's one man in
the world that has hate in his heart,
there's the terrifying possibility that hydrogen bombs may
fall.
Now Jesus said when war becomes that intense
and that worldwide scale, this is a sign
that his coming is relatively near.
And then another one, the third one, and
then shall many be offended and shall betray
one another and shall hate one another.
And this indicates psychiatric problems.
This indicates mental problems.
This indicates instability.
Psychiatry today is having a field day.
Almost everyone to be fashionable today has to
have his own psychiatry.
And did you know, I did not know
this until we had a dog.
And our dog, this particular dog, he was
a Great Dane, had a nervous breakdown.
Now I never knew dogs had a nervous
breakdown.
Stuart Hamlin is an authority on dogs.
And they suggested that we send that dog
to New York where they had a dog
psychiatrist.
Now that's a fact.
I didn't know that before.
Even the dogs are feeling the tenseness of
the times in which we live.
We have millions of Americans today that are
mentally ill.
And Jesus said when this tension begins to
break you down and you betray one another,
many shall be offended.
He said this is also a sign that
my coming is drawing nigh.
The fourth thing that he said, he said,
is in the days of Noah so shall
it be also in the day of the
coming of the Son of Man.
In this passage, Jesus said they were eating
and drinking and making merry and marrying and
giving in marriage.
Now in other words, he said they were
exchanging wives.
This indicates divorce on a massive scale.
There has never been a breakdown of a
home such as we have today, nor has
there been a greater emphasis on sex than
we have today.
And Jesus said when it is on a
worldwide scale and it's intensifying and increasing, an
unnatural obsession with sex, Jesus said that brings
pressure upon the home, the moral problem.
And it's not only in the United States,
it's in Europe.
It's all over the world.
Jesus said this would be an indication that
the end is not far away.
And then fifthly, Jesus said and this gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in the
world for a witness unto all nations and
then shall the end come.
Think of that for a moment.
Jesus said just before the end the gospel
will be preached for the first time in
the whole world up until 1500 AD.
Now that was only 400 years ago, 450
years ago.
The Bible had been printed in only 14
languages of the world.
Today, a portion of the Bible is in
over 1,300 languages and there's nowhere in
the world that you can't get the gospel
by radio.
Radio and modern communications have now made it
possible to preach the gospel to the whole
world.
Right tonight, I'm giving this message to more
people than all the Apostles and all the
Christians of the first century put together.
Think of it, in one night, by television,
by radio, I am able to preach to
more people than all the Christians in the
first century put together.
Fantastic!
Jesus said there would come a time in
history and if you had said that 500
years ago, they would have laughed.
And yet it's happening today, for the first
time.
Now there's another sign that is given us
in the New Testament because Paul talked a
great deal and the other Apostles about the
end and about the coming again of Christ.
It says, now the Spirit speaketh expressly that
in the latter times some shall depart from
the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and
doctrines of devils.
In other words, there's going to be a
falling away from the faith.
Christians who had professed Christ falling away, either
intellectually, theologically, or morally.
And every day we hear stories of people
who are falling by the wayside under the
impact of satanic power.
Moral failures!
Falling away from the faith they once held.
And even men who preach the gospel who
deny the Bible.
I read about a preacher the other day
in England who said that the Bible is
the greatest stumbling block to world brotherhood.
Let's do away with the Bible, he said.
It was in the New York Times this
past week.
I could hardly believe it when I read
it.
Falling away!
Jesus said when that takes place it's a
sign that the end is near.
And then the scripture talks about a worldwide
lawlessness.
Listen to this, this know also that in
the last days perilous times shall come for
men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, without natural affection, truth-breakers, false accusers,
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God, having a form of godliness
but denying the power thereof from such turn
away.
He said in the last days all of
that would be characteristic of that generation.
And it sounds like you're reading a newspaper
or a sociologist of the 20th century describing
the problems we face today.
And then the scripture says in 2nd Peter
that in the last days there would be
scoffers.
There shall come in the last days scoffers
saying where is the promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep all things
continue as they were from the beginning of
creation.
And we have those scoffers today coming along.
They say why Christ is not coming.
That's a fantastic thing to be telling the
people.
Why 2,000 years have passed, Christ hasn't
come.
That's what Peter said they'd be saying.
He said as you approach the end and
all the signs are evident that Christ's coming
is near, there would be scoffers who would
say why everything's continued since he left here.
He hasn't come so we assume that he's
not coming.
We've misinterpreted the scriptures.
We've misinterpreted the Bible.
Now he's coming.
The scripture says he's coming.
Every time we take communion we say he's
coming.
Every time we repeat the Apostles Creed we
say he's coming.
He's coming!
And the signs point to the fact that
it may be near, though we do not
know the day nor the hour.
And the Bible says that when he comes
we Christians will not be expecting him.
Therefore be ye also ready for in such
an hour as ye think not the Son
of Man coming.
Do you think he's coming tonight?
All right he said in such an hour
as you think not he's coming.
And then the scripture says that in the
latter days travel and knowledge would increase.
I could go on and on and on.
I have listed about 32 things but I
can only get to a few of them
tonight.
But thou O Daniel shut up the words
and see the book even in the time
of the end many shall run to and
fro and knowledge shall be increased.
As we approach the end the prophet Daniel
said hundreds of years before Christ that knowledge
would increase and travel would increase.
A hundred years ago my grandfather was living.
He fought.
Both of my grandfathers fought in the Civil
War.
If I had told my, if I could
rise and tell my grandfather at that time,
grandfather someday men will be flying through the
air at 2,000 miles an hour they
would have put me in a mental institution.
That's right.
Because men in those days were still traveling
almost with very little acceleration the same as
they've traveled for hundreds of years.
Travel increasing.
How did Daniel know about that?
How did he know that someday there would
be an acceleration of travel?
Why if you had told me when I
was a boy that I could sit at
home and look at a screen in my
home and that somewhere in the airways they'd
pull pictures out that talked I would have
thought you were crazy.
Just the change in my lifetime.
I played golf today with Freeman Gosden who
played Amos and Andy.
You remember?
I remember when my father got us the
first crystal set at home way back in
the early 1920s and I remember that we
fixed it and then we got earphones and
listened to KDKA in Pittsburgh and there was
Amos and Andy.
Why it was the greatest thing in the
world to be able to listen all the
way to Pittsburgh from North Carolina.
When I tell my children that they they
want me to drop dead.
They think I'm ancient.
Why my children have never known a day
when they didn't have television and they can't
imagine the ancient world where there was no
TV.
There are so many things.
I could spend all evening just talking about
Israel and the Jews.
God's timepiece.
This wonderful magnificent people chosen of God.
Their country destroyed in 586 BC by Nebuchadnezzar
and the Bible all the way through from
one end to the other in scores of
scriptures predicted there would come a day when
they would be gathered from all over the
world back to their own land and in
1948 when President Truman recognized Israel as a
state and the United Nations declared it as
a state for the first time in 2
,500 years and the Bible had predicted that
these people only 13 million in the whole
world scattered in the whole world would be
drawn back to their own land.
How amazing, how wonderful and everything we study
in the scriptures the same way.
Then Jesus said they'll come a day toward
the end.
In Luke he said this.
Upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity,
men's hearts failing them for fear and looking
after those things coming on the earth.
He said there will come a day when
men's hearts are literally going to fail them
because of fear.
Now what could make a man that afraid?
Hydrogen bomb?
On a world scale?
Or we could take 2 Peter the third
chapter where it talks about the elements being
melted with a fervent heat and everybody laughed
at that passage until the first atomic bomb
fell.
And then the Bible says that as we
approach the end there will be the development
of the spirit of Antichrist and toward the
end and at the end this satanic power
will be centered in a person.
Let no man deceive you by any means
for that day shall not come except their
coming or falling away first and that man
of sin revealed the son of perdition.
The Bible says there's coming a day when
the Holy Spirit who is now in the
world will be withdrawn and the forces of
evil will take over the entire world and
Antichrist will appear and there will be persecution
and suffering such as the world has never
known.
But then the Bible says that will set
the stage in a short time for Christ's
coming.
But before that day happens we believe that
every person in Jesus Christ is going to
be caught in the air to meet him.
What a glorious day that's going to be.
I'm looking for him anytime.
You see he says that the dead in
Christ are going to rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together in the clouds.
What a glorious hope that is.
This is the hope of the church and
this is what we ought to be preaching.
That God has a plan for the future.
That history is not wandering around purposelessly.
There's a plan, there's a program.
And that plan and program is that Christ
shall reign as king of kings and Lord
of lords.
And of his kingdom there shall be no
end.
And that you and I, if we are
believers in Christ, if we've received him, we're
going to be a part of that kingdom.
Yes the world is going to know peace.
The dream that Martin Luther King talked about
in the March on Washington is going to
come true someday, but not by the efforts
of man alone, but by the coming of
Christ.
When Christ shall set up his kingdom, then
we will have world brotherhood.
Then there will be no more war or
suffering.
What a world it's going to be.
And you and I in Christ are going
to be in that world.
And the Christian is silent on the very
point that he ought to be preaching on.
And it's the fact that Jesus Christ is
going to set up a kingdom.
And that kingdom will be the time when
there will be permanent peace.
And Christ will be the king of kings
and Lord of lords.
Now for those people who reject Christ and
turn away from Christ, it's going to be
a terrible time of judgment.
But to those that have received him, those
that have been born again, those that have
Christ in their hearts, it's going to be
a glorious time.
Now Christ, the Scriptures indicate that when you
receive Christ you may have suffering for the
rest of your time down here.
Now let's say you have another five years
to live, or ten years to live, or
twenty years to live.
Now the Bible says you may have suffering,
there may be persecution, misunderstanding, troubles and difficulties,
but his peace and his joy and his
power will be yours.
But he says, I have not seen nor
heard, neither has it entered into the heart
what God has prepared for them that know
him.
Are you ready to meet him?
The Scripture says there are three things.
First we should watch.
He said watch therefore for ye know not
what hour your Lord cometh.
Are you watching for his coming?
Secondly, we are to purify ourselves.
This means that we have to live clean
lives.
And if there's sin in your life, come
to Christ tonight, let him cleanse it and
wash it away and be purified by his
blood.
And thirdly, the Scripture says prepare, therefore be
ye ready.
Are you ready?
Prepare to meet thy God.
If you are not prepared to meet God,
prepare tonight.
You say, what do I have to do
to prepare?
First, repent of your sin.
Secondly, by faith receive him.
You say, how long does that take?
You can do it that quick by making
a decision in your heart right now to
receive him.
It means that you are willing to turn
from your sins and receive him as your
own Lord, Master and Savior.
And you can do it right tonight, right
here and be ready.
And you say, Lord I want you to
lead and direct in my life.
I want you to have all of me.
And if you say that, and if you
make that commitment and you want to be
prepared and you're not sure that you're ready,
you're not certain that you know Christ for
yourself.
Now you may be a member of the
church, but you're not sure that you know
Christ for yourself.
You haven't had a real encounter with him.
I'm going to ask you to come and
receive him tonight and say, Lord I'm stepping
out on Jesus side.
I want to be in his kingdom and
I'm willing, if necessary, to suffer here in
order to share the glory there.
I'm willing to be his witness and his
servant here in order to share the glory
there.
Now you have to come by faith.
You can't reason all this out.
Some of it sounds rather fantastic to the
modern mind, but not so fantastic as it
used to see.
Because modern science has shown us that all
of these things can take place now.
I'm going to ask you to come by
faith, a step of faith.
You may be a professor, you may be
a student.
I don't know who you are, what you
are, but I want you to get up
out of your seat right now and come
out on this field and say yes to
Christ.
If you're with friends or relatives, they'll wait.
Now why do I ask you to come?
Because Jesus Christ hung on the cross for
your sins openly.
He said, if you're not willing to confess
me openly before men, I'll not confess you
before my Father, which is in heaven.
If you're with friends or relatives, they'll wait.
Or you can bring your friend with you.
And after you've come here, we're going to
say a word to you, give you a
verse of Scripture, and then you can go
back and join your friend.
But there's something about coming forward that settles
it in your life.
It's saying I will to Christ to have
all the sin forgiven and to know that
if you died you'd go to heaven or
that you're ready to meet Christ should he
come back today.
We're going to wait on you, hundreds of
you right now, men, women, young people.
Some of you have been here on other
nights.
You've made a decision in your heart, but
you haven't said it openly yet.
You come.
We're going to wait right now.
Just come and stand here quietly with bowed
head and say tonight, I want Christ to
be my Lord and my Savior and my
Master.
We're going to wait.
You've been listening to From the Pulpit and
Classic Sermons Series.
This week you heard Billy Graham with his
message, The Second Coming of Christ.
Tune in next week to hear Leonard Ravenhill's
interview with David Means on From the Pulpit
and Classic Sermons.