Transcript of Billy Graham’s sermon which was preached at Yankee Stadium on July 20, 1957.
Listen to the MP3 Audio here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Billy Graham – Evangelist
And I’m going to ask you to give absolute attention. There are thousands of people here tonight that have burdens that need to be lifted, problems that need to be solved, sin that needs to be forgiven.
Many of you are searching for a new way of life. You’re searching for joy, peace, happiness, security, assurance. Assurance that if you died, you’d go to heaven.
But I want to tell you before you leave this stadium tonight, you can find an answer to the dilemmas and the problems and the perplexities of life.
Your life can be changed. It can be transformed. You can become a new person from this moment on, by surrendering your life to Jesus Christ.
I’m going to ask you tonight to listen not only with your physical ears, but I’m going to ask you to listen with the ears of your soul. The Bible teaches that your heart, your soul has ears. Listen as you’ve never listened. Tune in those ears to the God. He has a message for you tonight.
Our Father and our God, we pray that Thy Holy Spirit shall bring upon this vast congregation a holy hush. And we pray that Thy Spirit shall draw and convince and convict and bring men to the Savior, for we ask it in His name. Amen.
I do not feel that I can read my text until I say my word of appreciation to all of you that have sacrificed and worked and prayed for this great and historic day, and all of those gracious and thoughtful words that the Vice President has said. I want to hand over to the one to whom it belongs all the credit to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tonight, I want you to turn with me to Exodus, the 32nd chapter. The 32nd chapter of the book of Exodus. And the 26th verse. Night after night, I’ve asked people to bring their Bible. I hope that many of you have brought your Bibles tonight.
Exodus, the [32nd] chapter and the [26th] verse for our first Scripture. Here it is. Here we have a picture of Moses standing before a great crowd of people, something like this.
Exodus 32:26:“And Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, ‘Who is on the Lord’s side? Let him come unto me’. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.”
Then I want you to turn with me to the book of Joshua and the 24th chapter in the 15th verse and we read these words.
Joshua 24:15-16:“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell: But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ And the people answered and said, “God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods”.‘
In these two passages of Scripture, we find two of the greatest leaders of the Old Testament, Moses and Joshua. On both occasions, the people had wandered into idolatry.
On both occasions, Moses and Joshua preached to the people. On both occasions, Moses and Joshua said, ‘choose you whom you shall serve, whether the gods of the other nations or whether you will serve the true and the living God.’
Tonight I want to tell you before you leave Yankee Stadium, you too shall have to choose, because there is no neutral ground concerning Jesus Christ. You will have to choose whether you’re going to serve gods, or whether you’re going to serve the gods of materialism and secularism and the other gods of America.
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Julius Caesar once ordered by Pompey to disband his legions in Gaul. He passed at the river that divided Gaul in Italy instead. If I pass not this river immediately, it will be the beginning of all misfortunes, that dice is cast. And then he drove his chariot into the river and stood on the Italian side, ready for battle and ready for destiny.
I tell you, tonight you will have to make a choice. Alexander the Great was once asked how he conquered the world. He said, by not wavering.
Tonight I’m going to ask that you not waver, that you not be indecisive, but that you make a clear cut choice and choose Jesus Christ as your Lord and Master and Savior.
Joshua was one of the greatest military heroes of all time, if you remember. He led the spies into the promised land. And with Caleb he made the minority report. He led Israel across Jordan’s River. He led Israel into the battle of Jericho and defeated the hostile tribes of Canaan.
He was a man of loyalty and obedience. He was courageous and faithful, and above all, he was a man of decision and action. But now the war was over, and Joshua found that the people were declining toward idolatry.
And many times the problems of peace are greater than the problems of war. And the great sin of America tonight is idolatry.
The first commandment says, ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.’(Exodus 20:3)
And God says, if you break that commandment, if you break any of the Ten Commandments, ye shall die. And that’s what sin is. The word sin means transgressor, a breaker of God’s law, a breaker of the Ten Commandments, or are coming short of God’s standards and God’s requirements.
And God said, we’ve all come short. We’ve all broken His laws. And one of the laws that every person in this stadium tonight has broken is the first commandment ‘thou shalt have no other gods before Me.‘
You say, ‘Well, Billy, I don’t have any gods that I make with my hands, that I go out in the backyard of my home or in my apartment and worship.’
Yes, but we have American gods, the gods of lust, the gods of secularism, the gods of indifference, the gods of amusement, the gods of all types of materialism that are rampant throughout America tonight.
And God says you’ll have to make a choice.
He said if you want to continue in your lust, continue in your sins, continue in your materialism without giving regards to God, He said go ahead.
Because when God created you, He gave to you an ability that He did not give to any of His other creatures. He gave you the ability to choose. You can live any kind of life you want to. And I say this reverently, there is nothing God can do about it, because you have a will of your own.
You can choose to serve God or reject God. You can choose to serve God if you like, or you can choose to serve other gods if you like. You have the right to choose.
And thousands of people listening to my voice tonight have chosen other gods. You have chosen the other gods of America. And I tell you tonight the message of the Lord God to the American people tonight is this: choose you this day whom you’ll serve. Choose whom sides you’re going to be on.
Moses said before the people of his day and said choose. Joshua stood before the people of his day and said choose. Christ stood before the people of his day and said choose.
The people of Israel had gone into idolatry. Outwardly, they were followers of God. They believed in God. I think most Americans believe in God. The Catholic Digest recently said that 99% of the American people now believe in a Supreme Being. We believe in God, but that’s not enough.
We believe in God. We are not against God. We are not antagonistic to God. We just don’t have time for God. We are too busy, too busy with our money making, too busy with our pleasures, too busy with our amusements, too busy with all the other things of life.
We don’t have time for God. We don’t have time for Bible readings. We don’t have time for prayer. We don’t have time for church attendance. We don’t have time for the things of God and for the things of the soul.
The Bible teaches that you have a body with eyes and ears and nose and hands and feet, and that body of yours is soon going to the grave. Every heartbeat is a heartbeat near a death. And every one of us are headed toward death. And your body goes to the grave, but you live on.
Your soul that part of you that thinks and that part of you that is called personality lives forever. And the Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death. The result of your idolatry, the result of your sins means spiritual death. It means separation from God. It means destruction. It means hell.
And thousands of us tonight are on the broad road that leads to destruction. And tonight, I would say with Moses, I would say with Joshua, turn repent. Choose God. Serve Him, live for Him. That is the message of God tonight to this great audience of people at Yankee Stadium.
They must decide, and you must decide whether you want to serve other gods or whether you will serve the true and the living God.
And Joshua said, you must decide now, not tomorrow. He said, now, immediately.
I believe that this meeting tonight is not by accident. There is no organization that we could have had that would have brought this great crowd. There is no man that could have brought this crowd. This crowd has been brought together, I believe, by the Spirit of God using all of us working together.
And I don’t believe anybody is here by accident. I believe you are here by divine appointment. I believe this is your night with Almighty God, and it may never come again like this.
You stand face to face with a decision, with a choice to choose either the broad roads that leads to destruction or the narrow roads that leads to eternal life. And when you walk out of Yankee Stadium tonight, you will be walking one of those two roads.
Joshua said, regardless of your decision, if I’m the only one in Israel, if I’m the only one left, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
And I say tonight if I know my own heart, if I’m the only one in New York. But thank God I’m not. There are thousands and multiplied thousands in this city have said, I am not going to serve other gods. I’m going to serve the true and the living God. And during the past few weeks, we’ve seen thousands of all walks of life as they’ve moved out of those great stands at Madison Square Garden and come to stand on the Lord’s side by receiving Jesus Christ into their hearts and their lives.
The Bible teaches that we must make a choice. Adam had to make a choice when he stood before the forbidden tree. God had created Adam and Eve in His own image because God is a God of love. And together they had walked in the Garden of Eden in friendship.
But that friendship was broken. A wall was built between man and God when man deliberately rebelled against God, deliberately disobeyed God. And every son of Adam since that day has disobeyed God. And we’re all sinners. We’re sinners by birth. We are sinners by choice. We are sinners by practice.
And now the Bible says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. (John 3:16)
And when you look on the churches of this city, you will see a cross. That cross signifies that Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10), that God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
And on that cross, Christ died and shed His blood, that our sins might be forgiven and that we might bring God and man back together again.
But you must choose. You must choose whether you’re going to serve Christ, whether you’re going to give your life to Christ, or whether you’re going to serve your own gods and the gods of your own making and the gods of your own devices.
The rich young ruler had to serve. Moses had to serve. And when Moses choose… when Moses made his choice, the Scripture says these words: “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.” (Hebrews 11:24-27)
Yes, we must choose between two ways of life, as Moses did, as Joshua did.
In Proverbs 14:12, the Bible says, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
There are many people that come to me and say, “Well, Mr. Graham, I’m following my conscience. Won’t that get me to heaven? Won’t that save my soul? Isn’t that enough?”
The Bible says no. The Bible talks about a dead conscience. The Bible talks about a seared conscience. The Bible talks about a hard conscience.
Your conscience is no longer a safe guide when you have committed one sin after another and gone against your conscience; don’t follow your conscience. Your conscience can lead you to hell, because your conscience is no longer a safe guide.
And then there are other people that say, “Well, if I’m sincere, isn’t that enough?”
No, sincerity alone will not take you to heaven. I think I told you one night about a man who picked up a football at the Rose Bowl. He ran 65 yards and 90,000 people cheered, and we had our glasses right on him. And he was the most determined, sincere man I’ve ever seen. But he ran the wrong way and lost the game.
And it’s possible to be sincere and be wrong.
There are others that say, “Well, Billy, I’ve done great work. I’m a great moral person. I’ve lived a good life. Isn’t that enough? I’ve treated my neighbor as myself. Isn’t that enough?”
That’s not enough. The Bible says, “For that grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”(Ephesians 2:8-9)
You cannot reform your way to heaven. You cannot rationalize your way to heaven. You cannot moralize your way to heaven. You cannot work your way to heaven. There is nothing for the saving of your soul except one thing, and that is the fact that Christ died and rose again and you must come and repent of your sins and receive Him as your Lord and Savior.
The Bible says you have to choose between two masters. Christ made that quite clear when He said, “No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and man.” (Matthew 6:24)
Jesus demands that you make a choice either between serving yourself or Christ. It’s a definite clear cut choice that you must make if you are to get to heaven. If your sins are to be forgiven and if you are to have a full orbed life here. If you are to have peace and joy here in the midst of all your troubles and all of your difficulties. If you’re to have peace and joy and stability. If life is to be all that it was meant to be for you. And if your soul is to go to heaven.
Then you must make a clear cut choice by receiving Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.
And self-denial:
Jesus said, you cannot come after Me unless you’re willing to deny self.
Pick up the cross and follow Me. What did He mean? He means that you crucify ego, that selfishness, that pride inside of you that is to be crucified. And then we are to take up the cross.
What does that mean? That doesn’t mean that you take up a beautiful cross that you see around a person’s neck. That means that you take up a place of execution, that you take your place at Christ’s side, wherever you are, no matter how unpopular it may be. It means to go back to the office, back to the shop, back to the community and witness for Jesus Christ. Even though it’s unpopular.
It means to go back into your community, go back to your job, go back wherever you are and live for Christ. We have thousands of people in America that go to church on Sunday. They have a little halo on their heads, and they sit down in the pew and they have a saintly smile.
And as soon as the service is over, they go home and pick up the pitchfork and the horns begin to grow again. And they get angry and they have prejudice and they have pride and they have jealousy, and they have all of these evil things.
Jesus talked about those people that ‘serve Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me’. And we have thousands of people that serve God with lips, but they don’t live it. And the way they live it gives a lie to what they believe.
And I tell you, you not only have to believe it, but you must live it. And when you live it, the Holy Spirit gives you the power to live it.
Oh, I can hear a lot of you saying, “but I don’t have the strength. I don’t have the power to live the Christian life. I can’t live the Christian life. I’ve tried.”
Oh, of course you can’t live. There’s not a man or a woman or a young person in this crowd that can live the Christian life tonight in your own strength.
But the moment you give your life to Christ, the Holy Spirit comes in to live. He gives you the power, the resources, the dynamic to live the Christian life.
The Bible says you become a new creation, a new moral nature. You become a new person when you give your life to Jesus Christ; He puts a spring in your step and a joy in your soul and a peace in your heart. He gives you that stability and strength. He gives you a new dynamic. You have a new moral nature. You have an assurance that if you died, you’d go to heaven.
The Bible says these things that believe… these things I write unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Yes, the Bible teaches that you have to choose between two destinies: heaven or hell.
Many people ask me, do you believe in heaven? I certainly do. The Bible teaches it.
Do you believe in hell? I certainly do. The Bible teaches it. The Bible teaches that hell is separation from God. And the Bible teaches that any person that dies outside of Christ is lost, is separated from God. And I warn you that it is for eternity.
That is the reason that you must choose God. You must choose Christ. You must give your life to Christ so that you can live it here and so you can go to heaven yonder.
And then Joshua made it quite clear. He said, the choice is a choice you have to make yourself. He said, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
He knew that he could not choose for the tribes of Israel. They must choose for themselves. Your father cannot choose for you. Your parents cannot choose for you. Your wife cannot choose for you. Your husband cannot choose. Your children cannot choose. You have to choose for yourself. It’s a decision that every individual has to make.
Man is a social being. However, there is an inner sanctuary within ourselves where we retire from all other fellowship, comradeship, or influence. There’s a lonely arena where the greatest battle of life must be fought alone. In that arena you’re fighting a battle alone tonight.
You’re deciding whether you’re going to live for selfishness and yourself or whether you’re going to give your life to Christ and live for Him.
But you must make the choice. You must make it. You must make it. No one can make it for you. Alone as you sit or stand in your place tonight, it is a choice that you have to make.
What will be your answer? What will be your choice? The people of Israel in Moses’ day came over to Moses side. The people in Joshua’s day said, we will choose the Lord.
I ask you, people of America, will you choose the Lord tonight? Will you choose Christ?
Now, I want to warn you something. The choice involves a price. It involves a price. It’ll cost you something. It’ll cost you your sins. It may cost you other things.
To some people it may cost their jobs. To some people it may cost money. Because if you’re making a dishonest dollar, you’ll have to credits.
I know a man that told me last week that he was converted at Madison Square Garden the second week. And he said, Billy, he said, last week I lost $22,000 on a deal because it was a little bit shady. But he said, before my conversion, I would have made it.
It may cost you something, yes, it’ll cost you your sins. But, oh, everything God takes away, He brings peace and joy.
Now, it’s not easy to be a Christian. I want to make that clear. It’s not easy to be a Christian.
Oh, I know it’s easy in America to call ourselves Christians, but I tell you, it’s not easy to be a Christian.
It’s not easy to read your Bible every day. Many times, it’s not easy to spend time in prayer every day that the Christian life requires. Many times, it’s not easy to go faithfully to church, but the Christian life requires it.
It’s not easy to say no to temptations. It’s not easy to stand up for moral right in a community. It’s not easy.
Many times the Christian life is the most difficult of all because you’re going against the whole trend of what may be popular, many times; to stand for what is right and truth and honesty and integrity.
It cost Paul his head. It cost all the Apostles their lives. To stand for Christ, Paul suffered a thousand times. I ask you tonight if you suffered for Christ.
I want to tell you, don’t you come to Jesus Christ unless you are willing to deny yourself and take up the cross. Don’t come to Christ unless you’re willing to suffer, if necessary, to follow Him.
Jesus demands the cross… demands that you carry a cross.
Are you willing tonight, are you willing to choose God? Are you willing to pay the price of repenting of sin?
You say “Well, Billy, what is repentance?”
Repentance means that you acknowledge that you’ve failed God, that you’ve sinned against God, and you’re willing to renounce your sins. You’re willing to give up your sins.
And it means something else. It means that by faith you must receive Christ as your Lord and Savior. You must come to the foot of the cross and by an act of your will choose Christ.
Say I will receive Him. I will give my life to Him. I will surrender to Him. I will receive Him as my Lord and Savior and Master.
Then, last of all, Joshua indicated that there could be no delay. That choice is urgent. The delay makes the decision harder.
And some of you will say, well, I’m not going to choose tonight. I’m not going to give my life to Christ tonight. I’m going to wait.
Indecision is in itself a choice. Time decides for the man who will not decide for himself.
If you have a ticket for the Queen Mary and it sails tomorrow, you may be indecisive as to whether you’re going to Great Britain or not. But if you wait past the sailing time, the choice will have already been made for you.
And some of you may wait beyond the time when the Spirit of God speaks to you. Because, you see, you cannot come to Christ anytime you want to. You can only come when the Spirit of God is drawing you and pulling you and speaking to you.
And the Spirit of God is speaking to you tonight. The Spirit of God is speaking to thousands of you. And that’s the only time you can come to Christ.
When the Spirit of God draws you to the cross, don’t you hesitate; don’t you wait.
You may never be this close to the kingdom of God again. You may never be this close to Christ again. You may never have such an opportunity as this again.
Millions of people have prayed in hundreds of languages around the world for this meeting tonight. God is speaking. He’s speaking to you. You need God in your home. You need Christ in your community. You need Christ in your soul, in your own life. I tell you tonight, give your life to Him. Yield to Him.
Choose Christ and say with Joshua, as for me and my house, we will choose the Lord.
The Bible says, now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation, not tomorrow. Today. Give your life to Christ now.
Blind Bartimaeus would have never had his eyes healed had he not called upon Jesus, when Jesus was passing by.
The thief on the cross took the one moment he had and said, ‘Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.’ (Luke 23:42)
And Jesus said, “Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise.”(Luke 23:43)
You say, “Well, Billy, what do I have to do?”
All you have to do is today decide for Christ. A choice of your intellect? Yes. Of your emotions. Yes. Of your will. Yes. Your total personality yielded to Christ, determined that from this day on, you’re going to live for Him.
