 In 1949, a bold and dynamic
 young preacher
 set out on a journey that
 would have an impact
 on every continent
 for generations to come.
 For more than 50 years and
to more than 210 million people
 Billy Graham has
 passionately spoken
 about the certainty of hope
 found in Jesus Christ.
There are many things 
about God
that I don't understand
or comprehend.
I accept His revelation
of Himself by faith.
 He's brought races and
 denominations together
 toward a common purpose
 as he's preached in 185
 countries around the world.
Christ belongs to
all people.
He belongs to
the whole world.
 He has stood
 alongside presidents,
 met with dignitaries
 and world leaders,
 and today,
 Billy Graham is recognized
 among the most influential
 religious leaders
 in the history
 of the world.
 From our archives...
 The Billy Graham Classics.
[applause]
Now tonight I want you to turn
with me to Galatians,
the book of Galatians,
the fifth chapter and verse 11.
The fifth chapter.
"And, I, brethren."
This is the Apostle Paul writing
to the church at Galatia. 
"And I, brethren, if I yet
preach circumcision or works, 
"why do I yet
suffer persecution?
"Then is the offence 
of the cross ceased."
I want to answer
the question tonight,
"What is the meaning
both of the cross
and the offense of 
the cross?" 
In Isaiah, the 53rd chapter
and the third verse it says,
"He is despised
and rejected of men;
"a man of sorrows,
and acquainted with grief:
"and we hid as it were
our faces from him;
"he was despised and
we esteemed him not."
Now why is that?
The expression,
the offense of the cross,
sounds rather strange
to us today
because on every church
I suppose in Glasgow,
whether it's Protestant
or Catholic,
we see a cross. 
We have crosses embossed
on our Bibles.
We have crosses as
ornaments around our necks.
It's the emblem of art
and poets and it's fine,
but it has become sentimental
with a certain
romantic interest in the cross,
but it's far more than that. 
It really stands for an offense.
It's a stumbling block. 
It's been called
the scandal to men.
Isaiah with prophetic vision
said, 
"There is no beauty that
we should desire him."
What is there in Jesus Christ
that we would desire 
when we see him hanging
on a cross
and bleeding and dying? 
And Roman soldiers putting him
to death. 
Paul lifting after Christ
found that the cross
provoked the scorn
and aroused the antagonism
of people.
Christ is not always attractive
to the human heart, 
but when Paul held up Christ
and him crucified,
many were offended
and turned away
in contempt and rage. 
Why is the cross an offense? 
Why is it a stumbling block? 
Why is it a scandal to men? 
Some translations say scandal
instead of offense. 
Well, the first,
the cross of Christ is
the condemnation of 
the world. 
The cross of Christ says
to every one of us,
you're a sinner and
you need to repent.
We don't like to hear that. 
We like to hear that we're good,
but deep inside we know
that we've sinned against God
because sin means that
we're separated from God
and we have broken his laws. 
We've failed to live up to
his standards,
his moral standards. 
And so back in the time of
the death of Christ,
there was Herod the King
and it was an offense to him
because the cross pointed to him
and said, 
"Herod, you're living
in immorality."
He was living with
his brother's wife
and the cross condemned him
and said, "That's wrong."
And then 
there was Caiaphas. 
Caiaphas was 
a religious leader.
He was 
the high priest 
and he was filled
with pride and coldness.
He was crafty and shrewd,
and the cross condemned him
because he was condemning Jesus.
And then Pilate,
the Roman governor.
The cross condemned him
because he was filled with fear.
He was a coward.
He wouldn't stand up for
what he knew to be right.
He knew Jesus was innocent. 
His wife sent word to him
and said,
"Have nothing to do
with this just man.
"He's an innocent man. 
"He's done nothing worthy
of death."
But Pilate couldn't stand
the crowd
that were pressing for him
that said,
"Crucify him, crucify him,
crucify him." 
And so, the cross condemned
Pilate.
And then the cross condemns
Judas. 
Judas, who had been with Jesus
as one of his disciples 
and very close to Jesus. 
And Jesus knew all the time
what was in Judas' heart,
but he kept him on.
And there are many people
in the church just like that.
"They serve me with their lips, 
"but their heart is far
from me," said Jesus.
And Judas served Jesus
with his lips,
with everything he had. 
He was the treasurer of
the little church
that Jesus had,
but deep inside 
he had never really
committed himself to Christ,
because Judas was covetous. 
He wanted money. 
He wanted prestige. 
He thought Jesus was going
to come into a great kingdom
and he would be
one of the top people
in that kingdom.
And then the cross condemned
the soldiers.
They gambled for his garment. 
But the Centurion,
the captain of those soldiers
that put Jesus to death
exclaimed, 
"Truly this man was
the son of God."
And then the thief was condemned
also, 
but the thief repented
at the last minute.
There were two thieves,
two crosses.
One of them rejected Christ
and the other accepted Christ.
And they began to talk
back to each other,
and they began to
condemn each other
and one of them 
condemned Jesus
and this one man said, 
who was dying with him
on the cross,
they were both guilty. 
They deserved to die. 
And this one thief said, 
"We deserve to die,
but this man in the middle,
this Jesus does not deserve it."
And then he turned to Jesus
and he said,
"Lord, when you come
to your kingdom,
"will you remember me?" 
And Jesus said, 
"Today you will be with me
in paradise."
That's all he said,
"Remember me."
He didn't have time
to join a church.
He didn't have time
to be baptized.
He didn't have time
to give money.
He didn't have time to go out
and do good works. 
But on that cross,
Jesus said, 
"Today you will be with me
in paradise."
How quickly it happened
because he believed.
He received Christ into
his heart right there
at the last minute
on that cross.
When Paul came before
Governor Felix
the burning message of the cross
condemned Felix. 
So much so that he trembled,
and he said,
"When I have a more convenient
season, I'll call for you." 
How many of us, when we hear
the gospel proclaimed
and hear about the death of
Christ on the cross 
and hear about our own sins
we tremble.
When we hear about hell and
the possibility of the fact that
we may go to judgment and hell,
we tremble inside.
But he never had
a more convenient season.
That was his moment with Christ,
but he didn't take it.
And so as far as we know,
he was lost.
And then Festus, who was
a governor, he said,
"Paul, you're mad
when you talk about
"this Jesus dying on the cross
and rising from the dead." 
And King Agrippa said, 
"Almost, Paul, you persuade me
to become a Christian." 
Paul talked about 
the cross. 
He talked about
the resurrection.
He talked about
Christ fulfilling the prophecies
in the Old Testament.
He talked about
the need for repentance
and faith and following Christ 
and Agrippa the great King said,
"Almost you persuade me." 
And many of you tonight
are almost persuaded
that you need to make
a new commitment
of your life to Christ.
You need to commit yourself. 
Maybe you did as a child, 
maybe you've said 
the catechism 
and, in some churches,
maybe you've been confirmed,
but you're not sure
how you stand before God
and you'd like to make sure. 
You'd like to know
that your sins are forgiven.
You'd like to know
you're going to heaven.
You'd like to have
the peace of God in
your heart.
And so, the cross has come down
through all the centuries
passing its unfailing judgment
upon the vanities, the prides,
the hates, the greeds, and
the self-indulgent pleasures
and lust of men.
It condemns them. 
The cross says to the world,
you're a sinner 
and the world doesn't like
to hear that.
It becomes a conscience
to the world.
The scripture says men love
darkness rather than light 
because their deeds are evil. 
So much of the evil that's done
in the world is done 
when the sun goes down
and the later at night.
In our country, 
it seems that so much of
our crime is committed
at night.
Our deeds are evil. 
So much of the immorality is
committed at night. 
Our deeds are evil. 
We don't want the light to shine
on them, 
and the cross throws
a great search light
on the evil of the world
and we don't like that.
We don't want
the search light of the cross
coming into our hearts
and saying,
"You're guilty.  
You're guilty. 
"You're guilty 
before God." 
And then secondly, 
the cross is an offense
because blood was shed there.
The Bible says, 
"Without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness of sin." 
Blood has to be shed. 
First, it is
the blood of covering.
Romans 3:25 says, 
"Whom God has set forth 
"to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, 
"to declare his righteousness 
"for the forgiveness of sins
that are past." 
That word propitiation,
that big word, means covering.
God can take the blood of Christ
and cover your sins. 
As he shed the blood, 
as they shed the blood in Egypt.
And they had to take
and put it on the lintel
or put it on the mantel piece
or on the front door.
So when the death angel
in judgment
came across Egypt
that great night centuries ago,
that all Jews celebrate
in their great feast,
God saw the blood,
the angel saw the blood,
and he'd pass over that home 
and no one would be killed
in that home
by the death angel. 
Does God see the blood that
you have sprinkled on the heart,
on your heart by faith? 
And then secondly,
it's the blood of redemption.
Revelation 5:9, "And they sang
a new song saying,
"Thou art worthy
to take the book
"and to open 
the seals thereof: 
"for thou was slain, 
"and hast redeemed us to God
by thy blood
"out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation." 
Think of it out of every nation,
every kindred,
all the peoples of the world, 
those that have come to Christ
have come 
by the way of the blood.
Then it's
the blood of forgiveness.
Hebrews 9:22 that we quoted
a moment ago.
"Without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness." 
If Christ had not shed his blood
upon the cross, 
there would be no forgiveness
of our sins.
We would die and go to judgment
and hell, 
but because he died,
God can forgive us.
Because he shed his blood,
God can say tonight,
"I forgive you
and I justify you.
"I place you in my sight 
"as though you had never
committed a sin." 
You're just as innocent before
God, under the blood, 
as you were when you were born.
And then fourthly, it's
the blood of reconciliation.
Ephesians 2:13, 
"But now in Christ Jesus, 
"ye who sometimes were far off
are made nigh 
"by the blood of Christ." 
You see, sin separated
you and God.
You're separated from God 
and that's what hell is like in
this life or the life to come.
It's separation from God.
Think of being separated
forever from God,
for all that's good
and all that's right
and all that's clean
and all that's wholesome
and all that God is,
you're separated.
And that's what it means
when it talks about hell.
But when the blood was shed, 
God found that possible
to be reconciled to us
so that those of us
that were far off
and those of us that were
separated from God 
are brought close to God. 
You can be close to him 
because the blood was shed
for you by Jesus Christ.
And then it's the blood of
justification.
Romans 5:9,
"Justified by his blood,
"we shall be saved from
the wrath through him."
We'll be saved from what? 
Wrath, the wrath of God. 
Yes, God is angry with
the wicked every day,
the Bible says. 
You know, we don't hear
much about that anymore.
We don't hear much about
judgment and hell. 
So people live as though
there is no judgment.
They live as though
there is no hell.
But the Bible said, 
"It's appointed unto man
once to die,
"and after that the judgment." 
We're all going to stand before
God at the judgment 
and give an account
of our lives here
and the thing you're going
to be judged for
is what did you do
with Jesus Christ.
We're already under
condemnation. 
What we find out at the judgment
is just our sentence. 
What is God going
to sentence us to?
We're already guilty. 
That's been established and
we're under the condemnation.
But when you're justified,
as I said a moment ago,
you are placed in
the sight of God
as though you had never sinned. 
You're just as clean. 
Everything is gone that
you ever committed before God.
And then it's
the blood of peace.
Colossians 1:20, 
"We have peace through
the blood of his cross."
You can find peace and that's
the only place in the world
that we're going to find peace
in our hearts. 
The only one that's going
to bring peace
to this planet of ours
is Jesus Christ,
the Prince of peace.
He'll bring peace,
but in the meantime,
there are wars
in your heart,
there are wars 
in your family, 
there are wars
in your community.
There are all kinds of wars. 
He can bring peace. 
He'll bring peace to your heart
that's troubled tonight. 
Some of you have trouble
in your marriage.
Some of you have trouble
with some of your children.
Some of you have trouble
with some of your parents.
Some of you have trouble at work
and you're troubled about it. 
Your heart and mind are
stirred up about it.
He can bring you peace
and quiet that troubled heart,
if you let him. 
You surrender to him tonight 
and you will go home
a new person.
And then it's the blood of
entrance to God's ear in prayer.
When you pray,
you want to God's ear.
You want him to hear you. 
Hebrews 10:19 says, 
"Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into 
"the holiest by
the blood of Jesus."
We can come boldly
to God in prayer
because the blood was shed
on the cross.
We can come boldly
into the holiest place
where only
the high priest could go
once a year.
You can go any time,
night or day,
because the blood was shed.
Eighthly,
it's the blood of cleansing.
I John 1:7
"If we walk in the light
"as he is in the light,
"we have fellowship
with God,"
with one another, 
"and the blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son cleanseth us
"from all sin."
That means that from now on,
if you sin,
the blood will continue
to cleanse
and without that blood, 
that sin would be held
accountable to you. 
But thank God that Jesus died
on the cross for us.
Someone came to Martin Luther
one time 
and once was reminded
by the devil of his many sins.
And the devil listed all of
Martin Luther sins. 
And Luther said, "Is that all
you can think of?" 
"No," answered the devil,
"there are many more."
And then he listed some more. 
He said, "Is that all?" 
"Yes, and now what?"
asks the devil.
Now Luther said,
"Write beneath them all,
"The blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses from all sin."
Yes. 
No matter how many sins
you may commit,
how terrible 
they may have been,
the hypocrisy 
in your life, 
the idol worship 
in your heart, 
all the sex sin that
you've committed
or the unfaithfulness to
your wife or to your husband
or whatever it may be. 
God forgives. 
You may be guilty 
of murder. 
You may be guilty of
the worst thing
you can think of.
God forgives.
God loves you, 
and he loves you 
so much that
he gave his son Christ to die
on the cross.
They took him out outside
the walls of Jerusalem
and put nails in his hands, 
and a spike through his feet, 
hung him between
heaven and earth.
They had already pulled
his beard
and his face was bleeding.
They'd beat him with lashes,
with long leather whips, 
with steel pellets, and
his back was bleeding.
He was a bloody hanging
on that cross
and he didn't have to die. 
He voluntarily did it
because of you
and because of me.
He could look down
through the centuries of time
and see you and
he knew all about you.
And in spite of
all that you are,
he loved you.
And then thirdly,
the cross of Christ is
an offense
because it sets forth
an ideal of life.
The life that you can live here
with joy 
and peace and satisfaction
and meaning is brought about
because Christ died
on the cross.
Jesus said, "If any man will
come after me, 
"let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me."
Christ demands that we live
a life of self-crucifixion.
We crucify the selfish desires
that are wrong. 
We crucify the lust
and the greed
and the hate 
and the jealousy 
and all these things that are
in all of our lives we crucify
and God forgives us.
Many chafe at the restraint of
the life like Christ. 
We refuse to give up what
we know his cross condemns.
Jesus told us we must bear
the cross
and when you go back to school,
when you go back home,
when you go back 
to your work, 
you're to take a stand
for Christ,
even though they may laugh
at you and persecute you.
That's your cross. 
Your cross is not some disease
that may come. 
Your cross is not some
automobile wreck that
you may have.
Your cross is not some
bad thing that may happen
in your life or
your family's life.
Your cross is identifying
yourself with Christ,
taking a stand for him,
loving people that you normally
wouldn't love.
Many of us want
the blessings of Christianity
without sharing the toil and
the sacrifice that is involved.
The offense of the cross often
reaches a point of opposition. 
The Scripture says
they will offer you up
in their churches
and councils even.
Think of it. 
They will scourge you
in their synagogues,
the Scripture says in verse 17. 
You shall be brought before
governors and kings for my sake.
All that live godly
in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.
Notice all,
if you come to Christ,
you better count on
some persecution.
If you don't have persecution, 
you better check and see
if there's something wrong
in the way you're living.
Crucifixion has
the feature of loneliness.
It means many times to go
outside the city wall, 
outside the camp with Christ, 
go alone and often die alone. 
Are you ready for that?
Oh, I'm not going to kid you. 
It's not easy to follow Christ; 
to follow him
the way he demands.
Fourthly,
the cross is an offense
because it claims to be
the power of God
unto salvation.
It makes this claim
without an alternative.
Jesus said, "I am the way,
the truth and the life.
"No man cometh to the Father,
but by me." 
It demands from
every man or woman
as his first duty
to get right with God.
I can preach on any subject
in the world
and it will not be
an offense to anybody.
I can preach on ritualism. 
I can preach on
doing good works,
on social improvement. 
I can preach 
all of those things
and people will applaud me, 
but the moment I come to the
cross and talk about the blood, 
there's an offense
and that's what Paul said.
The offense of the cross arises
chiefly from the fact
that the cross condemns
every other way of salvation.
There's only one way said Jesus,
one road, one gate
to the kingdom,
and that's by
the way of the cross.
I'm asking you tonight
to come to that Christ,
to let him into your heart
and change your life.
You say, Billy,
what do I have to do?
First, you must repent
of your sins
and that word repent means
to change,
to change the direction
of your life,
to change your attitude,
to change your mind,
to let Christ dominate
your life.
Will you do that tonight? 
If you haven't done that
and you're not sure of it,
don't leave here
till you do that
because you may never be back. 
Do you see how many
new people are here tonight?
You may never be back. 
I'm going to ask you to get up
out of your seat 
and come and stand
in front of this platform
and say, by coming, 
"I give myself without
reservation to Christ. 
"I want his blood
 to cleanse me.
"I want to know
I'm going to heaven.
"I want my sins forgiven. 
"I want a new life. 
"I want his love and his joy
and his peace in my heart.
"I want the absolute certainty 
"that if I died,
I'd go to heaven"
Why do I ask you
to come forward?
Every person Jesus called
in the New Testament,
he called publicly. 
There was a reason for that. 
He called them publicly. 
He said, "If you're not willing
to acknowledge me publicly 
"before my Father,
which is in heaven,
"I'll not acknowledge you." 
It's very important
that you come
and make this public witness, 
even if it means
people will misunderstand
and even persecute you. 
You get up and come. 
Whole families need to come. 
Young couples need to come. 
They need to come together 
and start their life
with Christ.
You get up and come. 
We're going to wait on you
right now.
Quickly. 
Hundreds of you.
♪ O, Lamb of God, 
I come ♪
♪ I come. ♪
♪ Just as I am
and waiting not ♪
 While hundreds in Glasgow
 are responding to
 Mr. Graham's invitation
 to make a public commitment
 to Jesus Christ,
 you can make
 that same commitment
 right where you are. 
 Just pick up your phone 
 and call the number on
 your television screen
 right now.
 Special friends are waiting
 to talk with you
 and to pray with you about
 this most important decision.
 Don't wait. 
 Please make that call now.
♪ O, Lamb of God,
I come, I come. ♪
Here in Glasgow, 
we have seen a tremendous moving
of the Spirit of God 
and you're seeing people come 
and make their commitments
to Christ.
You can make
that same commitment
where you are.
Just say,
"Lord, I too am a sinner.
"I'm sorry for my sin. 
"I receive Jesus Christ as
my Lord and my Savior.
"I want to trust Him
and follow Him
"in the fellowship of
his church."
He will receive you 
right now 
and his peace will come
into your heart
and you can know
the forgiveness
that Christ brings
and you can have the assurance
that if you died, 
you're going to heaven.
If you just prayed that prayer
with my father, 
or if you have any questions
about a relationship
with Jesus Christ,
why don't you 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 1-800-380-6804.
 That's 1-800-380-6804.
 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 BillyGrahamTV.org. 
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.
