LONELINESS –
By – Billy Graham
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The billy graham classics.
Now, tonight, the 102nd psalm and
beginning with verse five, well, say just six, "i'm like a pelican of the
wilderness, "i'm like an owl of the
desert.". "i watch and am as a sparrow, alone, 'upon the housetop'.
Today i went out into the foothills for a few minutes. Taking a little walk
down a little road. Didn't go very far because they informed me there were
rattlesnakes around that area. I'm not on good terms with rattlesnakes for some
reason
Or they're not on good
terms with me.". We have a big population of them where we live, so we're
well-acclimated with them. I let my wife kill those. And she does, she ain't
coward in, well, she ain't coward in nothing, that i ever heard of. But she's
shouldn't be leery of snakes. She was born and raised in china in a town that
she said she never slept a night that she didn't hear gunshots. And so she
learned not to be afraid. Because she never saw fear in her father and mother
because the town would change hands every now and then
As bandits and warlords
would invade and then finally the japanese arrived and my father-in-law had a
large hospital and he survived all of that. And she remained there for
seventeen years. But i want to say that today as i walked out on that small
outhouse, i started to think and muse a bit. And i saw a bird. I don't know the
species of that bird. It's a large bird and it is different colors. It could be
a magpie, i don't know, but it sure does have a queer sound to north carolina
ears. And then the bird sat on a fence post
And he sat there alone.
No mate came by. Now, we do have a lot of doves where i live, as you know,
They mate for life. And
they'll go around together. And they
have friendship and fellowship. And produce little children, little birds. But
this bird today seemed to be all alone and i thought about this passage of scripture
that's found in the 102nd psalm. "i'm like a pelican in the wilderness,
"i'm like an owl in the desert.
"i watch and am as a sparrow, alone, "upon the housetop".
Do you know, tonight,
there are a lot of lonely people here. A lot of single people in the city of
denver. Fifty-one percent of your population is single. And a lot of those
people are lonely. And one of the supreme problems of modern society is
loneliness. The modern city is a lonely place. Here in america, seventy percent
more people are living alone in one person dwellings than ten years ago. A new
york psychiatrist was quoted the other day as stating, "new york city is
the loneliest place 'in the world ' for millions."
What would you have to say about denver, or the town you're
from? An american university study found that university students are the
loneliest group of persons in the united states, followed by divorced
individuals. Are you lonely? One of the main reasons for loneliness is
alcoholism and drug use. Alcohol and drugs are attempts to get away from
loneliness. Drugs give you a trip and being drunk gives you the feeling that
you've got somebody with you. Contrastingly, going with christ is a trip where
you truly, always have jesus with you
As your lord and
companion. You can't drink away loneliness. Most adults blame young people for
turning to drugs for kicks and getting hooked, or peer pressure. But thousands
turn to drugs due to loneliness. A cover story in a magazine recently featured our
neglected youth. It stated that in fact most of them are appropriately clothed
and fed, but something is lacking in the lives of millions. It's a neglect of
the spirit, the article stated, that leaves them lonely and susceptible to
drugs and alcohol. But all too frequently, to suicide.
what can be done about it? One of the most important words
in the bible is communion from which we derive our term, communication. Jesus
went to a man once who was lonely and ill and paralyzed. Thirty-eight years
he'd sat in the same spot. Lonely and tired, without a friend and jesus looked
at him and said, "do you need a friend?" and he said,
"yes." this bundle of loneliness and human pain had been buffeted by
the surging tides of thousands of people. But jesus singled him out. He became
his friend that day and he healed him.
he can become your friend tonight, if you'll let him.
Loneliness began, actually, in the garden of eden. In a perfect paradise. When
man and woman declared their independence of god. They said, "we don't
need you, god, "we can build this world without you." so they
made a terrible choice. They chose to
turn away from god. They went their own way. Tried to build their world and sin
entered at that beautiful garden. And it was given to the next generation, the
next generation, the next, the next, down to you and me.
and we all have the
disease and it's a fatal disease. Nobody ever escapes the judgment of the
disease of sin. So the roots of loneliness were planted in the human soul and
it has been inherited by every inhabitant ever. Because you see, in that garden
god went looking for adam. He knew where he was. But he went looking for him.
He wanted adam to understand where he was. He asked, "adam, where are
you?" and adam tried to hide. Got some fig leaves and sewed them on. He
didn't know he was naked until then.
But he couldn't hide.
Loneliness has never been a respecter of persons. The world's greatest artists,
writers and composers, kings and queens and carpenters and plumbers and
everybody, have felt this horrible thing called loneliness. In john 13 it
speaks of the last supper. And it says about the betrayal of judas. And the
scripture says, "he went out and it was night." no one ever went away
from jesus but what it was night. Maybe there was a time that you knew the
fellowship of god's people and you had peace with god.
But you've backslidden,
you've gone away, you've turned away. You've drifted off. There was a day when
you knew christ, when you thought you knew him. There was a day when you
thought you meant business with god. But now your heart has grown cold and hard
towards spiritual stuff. You've been drawn aside by others, and other stuff and
other gods and other pleasures that you know to be wrong. And you came out from
god's presence and you have discovered that it's darkness out there. You don't
have fellowship with sane believers and
You don't really feel at
home in the world you're living in. And certainly you no longer have fellowship
with christ. And there is no loneliness quite so bitter as the loneliness of a
backslidden christian who with his mouth professes to know christ, but in his
heart he knows he doesn't. How many of you are teetering on the fence, with one
foot in god's kingdom and the other foot in the world's kingdom? Sin makes us
lonely because it separates us from god. And it was never god's plan for you to
be alone.
hundreds of questionnaires demonstrate that our culture has
not made us a better adjusted or happier society. Oh yes, we can experience
moments of sensual satisfaction. Leaves a bitterness and a loss of sense of
pleasure that no psychiatrist can heal. The bible states that "the wicked
are like "a troubled sea when it cannot rest". "whose water
casts up mire and dirt." remember the story of jesus and the woman at the
well? She was a lonely woman. She had several husbands. Had had several
husbands, no satisfaction, no peace, no joy.
jesus came and spoke to her, forgave her her sins, changed
her life, made her a new person. She went to the village of sychar and
announced to all the people that there was someone who knows everything about
you. Go and see him. And they all went out to meet jesus. The bible describes
him as, "he's despised and rejected of men." "a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief." though great multitudes went about him at
times, he was alone. Even in the death, the scripture describes that all the
disciples forsook him and fled. The multitudes who shouted one day,
"hosanna!"
That same week, five days
later, they were crucifying him. And finally, we hear from the cross. Jesus, on
the cross, dying for you and for me. God placing on him all of our sins and our
judgment and our hell, which he bore on that cross. He cries out, "my god,
my god, why hast thou forsaken me?" in that horrible instant, something
mysterious occurred. No theologian can account for it. Jesus bought your sins,
your judgment, your hell.
All the punishment that i
deserve for my sin, he carried on that cross, and it was a solitary moment.
A solitary time when he
alone had to carry the cross. And he became guilty of all the sins of the
entire world! He felt the ultimate loneliness as he died for you and died for
me. I've never understood how a person can turn away from jesus when they actually
see him on that cross, dying for you, and to reject him, to turn away when he
offers you forgiveness, he offers you a new life. He offers you peace and joy
and friendship. Never to be lonely again.
Through his death christ
dealt with the primary cause of human loneliness. 00:11:34 separation from god. Because hell,
essentially, is separation from god. Hell is the loneliest place in the
universe. Jesus suffered its agonies for you. Jesus was lonely for you. I
remember when my grandmother died i had the privilege of being there at that
time. She sat up in bed with a smile and a glow on her face. Her husband had
been wounded at gettysburg. Lost an eye, lost a leg at gettysburg. And she sat
up and said, "i see ben," her husband. Who had passed away some years
before.
And she said, "oh,
the music is so beautiful!"
And then she fell back on
the pillow out in eternity. I remember when my mother was dying a relatively
short time ago. And all the nice sayings that she left behind when she died on
her death bed because she just lived for the lord. She had a joy and a peace.
You never went into her room that you didn't come out and feel that she was
ministering to you. You didn't minister to her. And even when she was in a
coma, she woke up one night and quoted scripture.
And the nurse said she
had never seen such a look on anyone's face. And rolled back into her coma and
into eternity. There's a world of difference, even in the hour of death,
between those who know christ and those who don't know him. Then the loneliness
of your choice. Because, you see, christ died for you, he rose from the dead,
he is alive. He wants to enter your heart. He offers you forgiveness and
salvation and assurance and peace and joy. And he offers you a tough life. I'm not going to play games with
you and tell you that it's easy to follow christ.
It's not.
He said if you're not
willing to deny self and take up a cross and follow me, you can't be my
disciple. Now the cross was where they hanged criminals. It would be like today
he'd be saying, "take up the electric chair, and follow me." he said,
i'm going to suffer, i'm going to die.
And he said, "if you
follow me," he said, "you're going to have troubles and difficulties
"and problems and persecution and maybe death! " are you willing to
do that? Are you willing to go all the way with me to the cross? 00:14:25 oh yes, in the midst of it there'll be his
peace and his joy and his friendship and his forgiveness and his promise and
the hope that he offers for the future. But there will also be the chance of
suffering and persecution and problems which you never dreamt about when you
decide for christ. We have been in those areas of the world where people suffer
because they decide for christ.
You have to decide for
christ yourself. Our response to loneliness is usually to treat the symptoms,
not the cause. We engage in pleasures, parties, good times, sex. We engage in
our work. We throw ourselves into the social whirl at school. We read one of
the selling books which challenges us to take charge of our lives. Any we try
to handle sin without conversion is like fighting in quicksand. And how many
young people today and older people are struggling in quicksand? Trying to save yourself, but
you can't! You've come to the end of your rope.
Turn your life over to
christ. Let him bear your burdens. Help
you solve your problems. Help direct and lead you in your life. How many of you
young people here tonight do not really know what you want to do with your
life? Or help you in your marriage. Who you should marry. There's a woman spoke
with me tonight who said she's just waiting for the right man to come along.
And there are many like that.
Make sure it's god's man
or god's woman. I remember i taken my three daughters apart when they were, oh,
they couldn't have been more than eight, nine or ten years old. And i said,
"let's stop here in the mountain "and pray for your husbands you are
going to marry.". "they're boys somewhere. "and let's just pray
that god will lead them "and lead you and that they will be men of
god." well they looked at me like my dad had lost his mind. [laughter] but
we prayed and they got the right men too! One of them's here tonight. And we
prayed the same way for our sons.".
For the first time in
years, for at least both of my sons, i don't know where they are, but they're
here somewhere.
But you must make this
choice by yourself. If we look for a cure for aloneness in drugs and in alcohol
and sex and encounter groups and psychological exercises frequently it can only
because we engulf ourselves still deeper in hopelessness, without remedy.
Through jesus christ we
may have the most essential relationship in life reconciled. He declares,
"behold, i stand at the door and knock. "if any man hear my voice and
open the door, "i will come in to him and will sup with him and he with
me." the psalmist who wrote that about the pelican and the owl said,
"oh my soul, why be so gloomy and discouraged? "trust in god! "i
shall again praise him for his wondrous help. "he will make me smile again
for he is my god." loneliness is often god's way of letting us know it is
time to reach out, reach out to the cross. And you'll never be lonely again. A
couple of weeks ago i received a letter which said, quote, "about a month
ago, my wife and i separated.".
"she moved out of
our house stating that she could not stand "to be around me anymore.
"we'd gotten to a point where we could not communicate 00:18:26"with
one another anymore. "we were spewing accusations, some based and some not
"and bitter, spiteful words at one another. "so she moved out and
went to live with another man "until she could find an apartment of her
own. "on june the eighth, "this year, "i had come home from
work, and after dinner, "i felt a compulsion to turn on the tube.".
"i attributed it to
the loneliness and frustration "i was feeling. "sometimes the tube
can be an excellent fire escape "for a short while, "but it's not a
good fire extinguisher," he said. 00:19:01 "anyway, i put the set on
and just randomly turned the dial."
"the station i had
tuned into was just making the announcement "of the billy graham crusade
from south carolina."
"i don't mind to
tell you, i was more than a little doubtful "about tv religious programs,
"but i kept
listening."
"at the close of
your sermon,"
"which i felt was
pointed at me and my problem.".
"when you invited
those who wished to change "the course of their lives "to step
forward and accept christ as their redeemer, 00:19:31 "i hesitated, but
then i did. "at this time, my wife and i are starting "to put things
back on track. Another one. Last night, i preached on john 3:16 and the people
here said it all together. "for god so loved the world that he gave
"his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him "should not
perish but have everlasting life." and last night more than seventeen
hundred people came and made their commitment to christ. A few weeks ago. No,
no. [applause] a few weeks ago in one of our crusades
A man read that same
verse, and the counselor said to him you can insert your name in that verse.
You are the "whosoever." for god so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten son that whoso, and insert your name there. Whosoever believeth
or committed his life to him will never perish but have everlasting life.
Then he did have a smile
on his face and he said "i like that." you can put your name tonight
in that same way as all of those did last night. God so loved the world, for
you, that he gave his son
And you put your name and
say, "lord, "i open my heart and my life to you.". "i
commit myself to you." for some of you, it might be that you are going to
recommit your life. For others, you're going to make a brand new beginning. You
want to be sure how you stand before god tonight. I'm going to ask you to do
what we saw those people do last night and we've seen people in every continent
of the world do.
In over three score
nations we've watched folks do what i'm asking you to do. I'm going to ask you
to stand up out of your seat thousands
of you. And pray tonight, "i want to serve christ, "i want to follow
christ. "i want to receive christ. "i want to come to the
cross.".
"i want to put my
confidence and my trust in him. "i want my sins forgiven.". "i
want to know i'm going to heaven." "i want to be sure that christ
lives in my heart." and after you've all come, i'm going to say a word to
you and have a prayer with you. You say, "well, billy, "why do you
ask people to come forward publicly?" because, jesus, every person jesus
called,
he called publicly. And he answered, "if you're not
going to recognize me before men "i will not recognize you before my
father, "who is in heaven." there is something about stepping forward
publicly and standing up publicly that makes it mean something. I'm going to
challenge you, if you're from that balcony way up at the top, it's going to
take you two or three minutes, so begin now. And i'm going to request that no
one exit the stadium, please. This is the holy moment and god is talking to
you, wherever you may be.". 00:22:28 and
if you're with friends or relatives, they'll wait on you. If you've come in a
bus, they'll wait on you. And after you've all come, i'll say a word to you,
have a prayer with you, give you some literature to help you in your christian
life. Or you can bring your friend with you, but just get up and come, quickly,
hundreds of you. Back over here, over there, upstairs.
You're in the choir and
god has spoken to you even though you're in the choir. You're a sunday school
teacher, you're a leader in your church, 00:22:59
But god has spoken to you
of your need for christ. Get up and come. Over here on the. ♪ ♪ just as i am
without one plea ♪ ♪ but that thy blood was shed for me ♪ ♪ and that thou bidst
me come to thee ♪ ♪ o lamb of god, i come ♪ ♪ i come ♪ as you see, there are
many hundreds coming forward in response to the challenge of mr. Graham to make
jesus christ lord of their life. You too can make that same decision.
There's a phone number on
your screen right now. This is your number for
spiritual help and counseling. 00:24:20 write
the number down. If the lines are busy just wait a few moments and call again. Special friends
are standing by to talk with you and pray with you. Make that call now. ♪ o
lamb of god, i come, i come ♪ and you in other parts of the country that have
been watching by television, you can make this same commitment tonight. And
whether you're at home or in a bar or in a hotel room, you can have that
knowledge that your sins are forgiven.
That you're justified.
And the word justified means just as though you have never sinned in your life. That's how
god sees you through the blood of christ. He will step into your heart where
you are. And if you'll make that vow, pick up the phone and dial that number
that you see on your screen. May god help you to make that vow that so many
hundreds here in colorado are making on this beautiful colorado evening. God
bless you.
And this reminder again,
as mr. Graham has just told you. We'd
like to talk with you and pray with you,
so make that telephone call now.
The number is there
On your screen. 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 the number on the screen.
There will 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 away,
toll free at 1-877-772-4559.
That's 1-877-772-4559. Or
you may write to us at: billy graham 1 billy graham parkway
Department c charlotte,
nc 28201 or you may reach us on the internet 24/7 at peacewithgod.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.
(billy graham) there's
only one way, only one hope.undefined♪ hear the sound of a brand new day ♪ ♪
witness the story that never fa-a-ades ♪ ♪ come, come with me ♪ ♪ to the billy
graham library ♪
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