Just a few weeks before his 95th birthday on Nov. 7, Billy Graham is releasing a new book. The Reason for My Hope: Salvation drops in cunjunction with the culmination of My Hope America with Billy Graham, a nationwide outreach using video programs including “The Cross,” which features a new message from Mr. Graham.
The following are four excerpts from Mr. Graham’s 32nd book:
Hope for Rescue
I have spent my life talking about this subject. After all, who doesn’t want to be saved? “Search and rescue” is a term we hear almost every day, whether in the newspaper, over the Internet, or on television or radio.
We watch people being saved from automobile accidents. We hear about children being saved from drowning. We read of others being pulled out of fiery flames. We sigh with relief when military men and women save innocent lives around the world or when the National Guard rescues families from floods left in the wake of hurricanes like Katrina and Sandy. And most of us, I believe hope that if we find ourselves in dangerous situations, there will be someone to rescue us.
What we seldom stop to realize is that when we are rescued from something, we are also saved for something. When we are rescued by someone, we are indebted to the one who has saved us from disaster, impending doom, and perhaps from death itself.
Redeeming Hope for All
You might be shocked to learn that Americans are sitting on thirty billion dollars in unused gift cards —gifts never redeemed! Numerous laws govern the booming gift-card business, and customers are often warned to check the issuer’s redemption policy.
Some cards must be redeemed by an expiration date. One online store specifies that to redeem a gift card for certain items, holders “must save the Gift Card .. to [their] account.” Who would think that there would be so many strings attached to redeeming a gift. Yet the industry still seems to be flourishing.
Redemption is a word filled with hope and promise and involves a giver and a receiver. A gift is based on another’s sacrifice and is rarely shunned by the one to which it is offered. Would you say “no thanks” to someone who offered you a gift? Actually some do. The choice is ours to receive it with thanks or turn our backs, rejecting the gift and the giver.
We understand the meaning of redemption—buying something of value— exchanging one thing for another. But there is always a price to pay for redemption. More valuable than any financial redemption is the hope of a redeemed life.
Resurrecting Hope
While it is captivating to read what others say about Jesus Christ, faith is still the key to believing in Christ, who saves the sinner’s soul.
As I meditate on the infallible proofs from Scripture of the life, death and resurrection of this One solitary life, it occurs to me that there is a tremendous amount of convincing evidence—evidence that would be acceptable in any court of law as to the validity of Christ’s resurrection.
But there are many who still have serious doubts. I am not presumptuous when I say that I have no doubts. I have experienced the living Christ in my heart. But for some of you who may be skeptical, there are many other reasons why I am sure that Christ rose from the dead.
My Hope
Who is this Man of hope?
His name is Jesus Christ. Hope rests in God’s son alone, not in the affairs or the change agents of this world.
True hope and real change is coming to this world. No government can prevent it, no individual can escape it, and those who refuse to embrace its reality will never change its certainty. The end of the world as we know it will take place when Christ returns to earth. It is a doomsday prediction for scoffers who refuse to believe, but it is a glorious prospect for those who know He is coming again.
Jesus Christ will one day come back in great glory—as King.
Are you looking for Him?
To order The Reason for My Hope: Salvation, click here.
