The Greatest Sermons Ever Preached

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Scripture quotations noted NKJV are from The New King James Version, copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

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CONTENTS

1. Abraham Lincoln: Second Inaugural Address

2. The Prophet Ezekiel: Irresponsible Shepherds

3. Tony Campolo: It’s Friday, but Sunday’s Comin’

4. Aimee Semple McPherson: Behold the Man!

5. Martin Luther: Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

6. Max Lucado: Rocking the Boat

7. The Prophet Isaiah: God’s People Are Comforted

8. Mother Teresa: Whatsoever You Do

9. Billy Graham: The World’s Darkest Hour

10. Jonathan Edwards: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

11. Anne Graham Lotz: The Right Man in the Right Place at the Right Time

12. Jesus—The Savior of the World: The Parable of the Sower

13. John Stott: A Charge to a Man of God

14. John Wesley: On 1 Corinthians 13

15. Billy Sunday: Why Delay Your Real Conversion?

16. Pope John Paul II: Excerpt from Reconciliation and Penance: In the Mission of the Church Today

17. Dwight L. Moody: The Lord’s Work

18. Martin Luther King Jr.: I Have a Dream

19. The Apostle Paul: Sermon in Athens

Notes

Index

1

Abraham Lincoln

SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) was the sixteenth president of the United States (1861–1865). The spirit that guided his presidency was articulated in his Second Inaugural Address, which was delivered March 4, 1865.

Fellow Countrymen:

At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it; all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! [Matthew 18:7 KJV]. If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether [Psalm 19:9 KJV].

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

This sermon is in the public domain.

2

The Prophet Ezekiel

IRRESPONSIBLE SHEPHERDS

Ezekiel lived during 600 BC, a time of great international upheaval. He was among the Jews exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. While among the exiles, he received his calling from God to become a prophet.

EZEKIEL 34:1–10

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them."

‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock"—therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD!

‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them.’

GOD, THE TRUE SHEPHERD (VV. 11–31)

‘For thus says the Lord GOD: Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment."

‘And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture—and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet."

‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken.

‘I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.

Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid. I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore. Thus they shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people, says the Lord GOD.’

You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 34, NKJV.

3

Tony Campolo

IT’S FRIDAY, BUT SUNDAY’S COMIN’

Tony Campolo is professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. He previously served for ten years on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. Founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education (EAPE), Dr. Campolo has provided the leadership to create, nurture, and support programs for at-risk children in cities across the United States and Canada and has helped establish schools and universities in several developing countries.

He is well known for this sermon, which has been published in a book by the same title and released on video. This particular version was delivered October 9, 2001, in the chapel of North Park University in Chicago.

If there was ever a time that we could say, These are the best of times and the worst of times, it would have to be right now. You’re living in an incredible time, because it is the best of times and the worst of times.

The best of times because I can’t remember a time when I have seen so much heroism. As those people were rushing down the steps to get out of the World Trade building, there were three hundred policemen and firemen running up the steps into the building to see if they could save lives. I don’t know where that kind of courage comes from, but they did it and they lost their lives in the process. That is heroism that has to be respected.

My friend Gordon MacDonald spent a week at Ground Zero after the buildings collapsed, ministering to people. The stories he tells about the heroism, the self-sacrifice, and the ostracism that he saw. He said he’s a Calvinist, but he has a hard time being a Calvinist because he is not convinced about the total depravity of human beings anymore. He saw so much goodness in that place.

The best of times, but also the worst of times. Profiling has reared its ugly head again. We’re profiling people. And I have to tell you that this has dangerous implications, and we’d better be on guard against this because it seems like everyone is in favor of it now that we are in a time of an emergency. We’re fighting against terrorists, but the truth of the matter is, Nietzsche had the answer when he said, Beware, beware when you fight a dragon, lest you become a dragon.We have to be careful that in fighting those who would threaten liberties, we don’t get rid of liberties; that in standing against those who would do away with freedom, we don’t do away with freedom.

It’s going to be a hard time for you as young people, figuring out how to balance things in the days that lie ahead, so that we’re not foolish on the one hand, but the ugly face of racism doesn’t rear itself in the disparaging ways that it has already reared itself in the last few weeks. We must not allow resentment to overtake us.

When Bill Clinton met Nelson Mandela for the first time, there was an incredible conversation. Bill Clinton asked Nelson Mandela, "When they released you from prison, I got Chelsea up at three in the morning because I wanted [to] have her see this. I knew it was a historic moment, and I got her out of bed to see you released from prison.

As you walked across the courtyard, from the cell block to the gate of the prison, the television cameras focused in on your face. I have never seen such anger, such animosity, and such hatred. I mean, you usually can’t see that so clearly revealed. It was all over you. It was intense hatred, intense resentment. President Mandela, that is not the Nelson Mandela that I know today. Could you explain what was going on?

Nelson Mandela says, "You’re the first one that brought that to my attention. I didn’t know that anybody noticed that. But as they released me from the prison block and as I walked across the courtyard to the gate, I thought to myself, They’ve taken everything away from me, my family is destroyed, my cause has been crushed, my friends are dead— anything, anybody, that meant anything to me, they’ve destroyed it all, and I hated them with a fiery hatred. And then God spoke to me and said, ‘Nelson, for twenty-seven years, you were their prisoner, but you were always a free man. Don’t let them make you into a free man, only to turn you into their prisoner.’"

We have to be careful when we fight the dragon, lest we become the dragon. When it comes to profiling, I can only think of one friend of mine who talked about racism in a way that really made sense to me. As I got off the airplane at O’Hare, I thought of him because that is the last time I saw him. You may remember Peter Arnett from CNN. I ran into him one day in O’Hare, and I said, Peter, I’m out of stories. Speakers live my stories. Do you have any good stories?

He said, I’ve got one for you. Last week I was on the West Bank, and a bomb went off, a terrorist bomb went off. Bodies were flying through the air. There was blood all over. A man came running up to me, holding in his hands a girl that was badly wounded, bloody from head to toe. The man holding this little girl in his arms said to me, ‘Mister, the soldiers have sealed off the area. They won’t let anybody in and anybody out. If I don’t get her to a hospital, she is going to die. You can see that—that she is going to die if I don’t get her out of here. You’re the press; you can get us out of the lines. Please, please, will you help?’

Peter told me, What could I do? I put them in the back of the car, I covered them with a blanket, and we made our way through the lines. And on the way to Tel Aviv, he kept on saying, ‘Go faster; please, mister, go faster.’ And then he started moaning, ‘I’m losing her, I’m losing her, I’m losing her!’

Peter said, "When we got to the hospital, we rushed the