While on vacation last week, I started reading Billy Graham’s book, “The Reason for My Hope.” It is a book about the truth and hope we have in salvation. Billy Graham talks about his hope because he knows Christ Jesus as his personal savior. He talks about the reality of sin in our world and in our lives. Without hope that comes through salvation and the forgiveness our sins, we are lost in our sin and without hope in the world. We have hope because Jesus died to cleanse us from sin through His shed blood on the cross.
He talks about the hope we have through the cross. Jesus died in our place. He gave His life to redeem us and restore us, “The Bible says that we are doomed to eternal banishment from the presence of God because sin separates man from God. Remember, sin brings about a penalty, ‘The soul that sins shall die’ (Ezekiel 18:20). But Jesus Christ said, ‘I will die in their place. I’ll take their judgment. I’ll take their death. I’ll go to the cross.’ This is what Christ did for you and for me. Two thousand years ago, God invited a morally corrupt world to the foot of the cross. There He held your sins and mine to the flames until every last vestige of our guilt was consumed.”
Like the hymn writer wrote,
He talks about the hope we have through the cross. Jesus died in our place. He gave His life to redeem us and restore us, “The Bible says that we are doomed to eternal banishment from the presence of God because sin separates man from God. Remember, sin brings about a penalty, ‘The soul that sins shall die’ (Ezekiel 18:20). But Jesus Christ said, ‘I will die in their place. I’ll take their judgment. I’ll take their death. I’ll go to the cross.’ This is what Christ did for you and for me. Two thousand years ago, God invited a morally corrupt world to the foot of the cross. There He held your sins and mine to the flames until every last vestige of our guilt was consumed.”
Like the hymn writer wrote,
The cross upon which Jesus died,
Is a shelter in which we can hide;
And its grace so free is sufficient for me,
And deep is its fountain and wide as the sea.
There’s room at the cross for you,
There’s room at the cross for you;
Though millions have come, there’s still room for one,
There’s room at the cross for you.
There is another great point that Dr. Graham makes in his book about the truth and validity of Jesus. The Bible is true. It is not a book of fables and wishful thinking. Its truth has been verified by multitudes of witnesses of centuries of time. The Bible has not lessened in its importance, but increased in its impact upon history. This book quotes world figures, scholars, public leaders and historians about the truth and reliability of Jesus. Here are just of couple of examples:
Vincent Van Gogh: “Christ…is more of an artist than the artists; he works in the living spirit and the living flesh, he makes men instead of statues.”
Lord Byron: “If ever man was God or God man, Jesus Christ was both.”
H.G. Wells: “It is interesting and significant that a historian, without any theological bias whatever, should find that he cannot portray the progress of humanity honestly without giving a foremost place to the penniless teacher from Nazareth… One like myself, who does not even call himself a Christian, finds the picture centering irresistibly around the life and character of this most significant man… the world began to be a different world from the day that His doctrine was preached.”
Billy Graham’s hope is firmly grounded in every word the Bible uses to tell us about Jesus. The Bible is true and Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life (John 4:6). Amen, Brother Billy Graham! My hope is built on nothing less that Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. Jesus is my solid rock of hope too.
Vincent Van Gogh: “Christ…is more of an artist than the artists; he works in the living spirit and the living flesh, he makes men instead of statues.”
Lord Byron: “If ever man was God or God man, Jesus Christ was both.”
H.G. Wells: “It is interesting and significant that a historian, without any theological bias whatever, should find that he cannot portray the progress of humanity honestly without giving a foremost place to the penniless teacher from Nazareth… One like myself, who does not even call himself a Christian, finds the picture centering irresistibly around the life and character of this most significant man… the world began to be a different world from the day that His doctrine was preached.”
Billy Graham’s hope is firmly grounded in every word the Bible uses to tell us about Jesus. The Bible is true and Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life (John 4:6). Amen, Brother Billy Graham! My hope is built on nothing less that Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. Jesus is my solid rock of hope too.
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