Sermon Illustration

The son of a widow in difficult financial circumstances was on his last journey to Oxford. His mother had made a great, and a last effort, as she hoped it might be, to raise the money to enable her son to take his degree. The coach was within two stages of Oxford, when a little before it reached the inn where they stopped, the young scholar missed the money which his mother had given him. He had been a good and careful son, and such a sickness of heart as he felt at that moment some can guess. He tried to recollect whether he had taken out his purse, and remembered that he had done so a few miles back. Almost without hope, and yet feeling it to be his duty to try and recover this large sum that he had lost, he told the coachman to let his luggage be sent on as directed, and walked back towards the place where he thought it possible that he might have dropped the note. He had gone about three miles, when there met him, working his way slowly and wearily, a poor creature whose appearance...

About 6:00 A.M. on a Wednesday morning James Lawson of Running Springs, California (in the San Bernardino mountains) left home to apply for a job. About an hour later his thirty-six-year-old wife Patsy left for her fifth grade teaching job down the mountain in Riverside—accompanied by her two children, five-year-old Susan and two-year-old Gerald—to be dropped off at the baby-sitter’s. Unfortunately, they never got that far. Eight and a half hours later the man found his wife and daughter dead in their wrecked car, upside down in a cold mountain stream. His two-year-old son was just barely alive in the forty-eight-degree water. But in that death the character of a mother was revealed in a most dramatic and heart-rending way. For when the father scrambled down the cliff to what he was sure were the cries of his dying wife, he found her locked in death, holding her little boy’s head just above water in the submerged car. For eight and a half hours Patsy Lawson had held her beloved toddler...

“Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt. 7:1). There was once a wise old man sitting at the gate of an ancient city. A young traveler stopped before entering the city and asked the old man, “What kind of people live in this town?” The wise man answered with a question, “What kind of people were in the town you just came from?” “Oh, they were liars and cheats and thugs and drunks, terrible people,” the young traveler replied. The old man shook his head, “The people in this town are the same way.” Later another stranger paused to ask the same question, and again the wise man questioned his questioner, “What kind of people did you just leave?” The second traveler answered, “Oh, I left a fine town. The people were good and kind and honest and hardworking.” The wise man smiled and said, “The people in this town are the same way.” People who are kind and forgiving toward others usually experience tolerance from others themselves; those who are harsh, censorious and critical toward others fi...

How important is it to read the Bible? Here is the answer of some of America’s historically prominent men: Andrew Jackson said, “That book, sir, [the Bible] is the rock on which our republic rests.” George Washington put it this way: “It is impossible to righteously govern the world without God and the Bible….” Charles Dickens stated, “The New Testament is the very best book that ever was or ever will be known in the world.” Horace Greeley asserted, “It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people.” Finally President Woodrow Wilson urged, “I ask every man and woman in this audience that from this day on we realize that part of the destiny of America lies in their daily perusal of this Book [the Bible].” Reading the Bible and following its instructions will enable you to find Christ as your all-sufficient Savior. Further, regular reading will minimize your anxieties, decrease appetite for lying, cheating, stealing, immorality, and all manner of sin. You will real...

The Word of God corrects us. That is a particularly interesting word. When flying to Florida, it seemed to me like a pretty straight shot from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale. But in the cockpit of the airplane is a fine-tuned radar mechanism. All during the trip, the plane is flown on automatic pilot, which continually yet imperceptibly corrects the course of the plane to keep it on track. That’s what God’s Word does for us. It nudges us to keep us on course. It keeps affecting the way we think, the way we draw conclusions, and the way we make our daily life decisions. Man’s Testimony How important is it to read the Bible? Here is the answer of some of America’s historically prominent men: Andrew Jackson said, “That book, sir, [the Bible] is the rock on which our republic rests.” George Washington put it this way: “It is impossible to righteously govern the world without God and the Bible….” Charles Dickens stated, “The New Testament is the very best book that ever was or ever will be know...

Testimony of a former Soviet prisoner: One time I was put in prison in Siberia. I was taken to a cell in the middle of the night. There were about 20 prisoners already there. None of them were sleeping, even though it was after midnight. They were all upset about something. When the door was locked behind me, immediately they surrounded me and their first question was, “How many men did you kill?” I said, “Well, I didn’t kill anyone. I am a Christian.” They said, “You are lying. In this cell there are only murderers. Everyone here has killed at least three men. Some of us have killed four or five. So prove you are a Christian. Let us see your Bible.” You can’t have a Bible in a Soviet prison. It would be confiscated. But hidden away in my things I had a miniature Gospel of Mark that I used to read secretly. I showed it to the prisoners and immediately they said, “Let us read it.” So I did. The next morning I awoke late, and I found that none of the other prisoners had been sleeping. Th...

A farmer took his little son on a visit to a distant village. Along the way they came to a swift stream spanned by a rickety old bridge which frightened the little lad even though it was daylight. Returning at dusk, the boy recalled the stream and old bridge and became panicky. How would they cross that turbulent stream in the dark? Noting his anxiety, the father lifted the boy and carried him in his arms. Before they reached the bridge, he was fast asleep against his father’s shoulder. As the next morning’s sun streamed in his bedroom window, the boy awoke to discover he was safe at home. At death the believer falls asleep in the Savior’s arms to awaken in His bright land of no night and no fear.

Earthly thrones are generally built with steps up to them; the remarkable thing about the thrones of the eternal kingdom is that the steps are all down to them. We must descend if we would reign, stoop if we would rise. Some think that God put His best gifts on a high shelf for them to reach up to them. It does not take long, however, for a Christian to realize that the best gifts are in the lower shelves, that the babes may get them also.

At 14 years of age, the “bad boy” of a little Massachusetts town, was so powerful in his influence for evil that no one was found able to teach the district school which he attended; it seemed “pretty poor soil.” Everyone said the student in question was “bad clear through,” “hopeless,” and “bound to go to ruin.” One day a new teacher came who said he was not afraid to try. The school friends were quick to tell him all the stories of “the Marcy boy.” All advised that he be forbidden to enter the school. However, he was allowed to enter. The teacher analyzed the “hopeless soil,” and began at once to enrich it with kindness, justice, goodwill and confidence, and at the right time, dropped in seeds of ambition, hope and self-respect. The seed took root, developed, grew and began to bear fruit. The promising young student dropped his bad habits, studied day and night, went to college, and graduated with honors. He studied law, answered the call for men in 1812, became associate justice of ...

Nearly every businessman complains of at least one ulcer. Think how many ulcers the poor businessman would have if he worked under the same circumstances as the average minister! “Just suppose, Mr. Businessman, that you were the overseer of 100 workers. Suppose only about 50 percent of them ever showed up for work at a given time, and only 25 percent could be relied upon. Suppose that every time a simple flash of lightning appeared in the sky, large numbers of young workers pulled the covers over their heads and failed to report for duty. “Suppose your workers only worked when they felt like it and yet you must be very sweet and never fire one of them. To get them back to work you must beg them, plead with them, pat them on the back, and use every means under the sun to persuade them without offending them. And suppose you were in competition with a notorious rascal, the devil, who had no scruples and is far more clever than you are and uses such attractive things as fishing rods, guns...

—Between the atheist who would not dream of financially supporting the church and the Christian who will not financially support the Lord’s church? —Between the skeptic who does not believe the Bible and the negligent Christian who never reads it? —Between those who do not believe in Bible classes and those who choose never to attend a class? —Between the atheist who does nothing to build up the Lord’s church and the Christian who finds fault with others but does nothing himself? —Between a man of the world and a person in the church who lives like a man in the world? —Between a man of the world who lives for self, and a person in the church building who lives for self, not God? These are tough questions for Christians who live in a tough world. The fact is that Christians make no difference until they are different. Again, what’s the difference?

Some years ago in a little western town, a crowd of men gathered about a store window through which they saw a large American eagle. It was fastened by one of its feet to a chain which was secured at the other end by a ring in the floor. Held captive this way for some months, it had become seemingly indifferent to its condition. While the men were looking at the huge bird, a tall, young mountaineer pushed his way through the crowd and entered the store. He asked the proprietor what he would take for the eagle, and the owner said, “Two dollars.” When the young man took the money from his pocket and paid the price, the keeper of the store unfastened the chain and handed the eagle to his new owner. Followed by the crowd, he carried the great bird down the street until he came to a signboard, and on top of this, he placed the one-time child of the skies. But the great bird remained motionless and the crowd was disappointed. It had been bound so long to this earth that it did not seem to ca...

Two fellow travelers were seated together in a railway compartment engaged in earnest conversation of a religious nature. One of them, a skeptic, was evidently trying to excuse his unbelief by exposing the various evils which afflict Christendom, detailing with pleasure the hypocrisy and the craft, and the covetousness and divisions found in the professing church, and then he pointed to some of the leaders as the most markedly corrupt of all. In front of them sat a Christian who was compelled to hear all this. He knew the accusations to be true—too true to be concealed from the most charitable mind—so all he could do was to bow his head and bear the deserved reproach. Soon, however, the accuser, anxious to extend the circle of his audience, addressed this fellow passenger in front of him. “I see you are quick to detect evil,” said the Christian, “and you read character pretty well. You have been uncovering the abominable things that have turned Christendom into a wreck, and are fast ri...

Shortly after the Korean War, a hungry waif wandered the darkened streets trying to find shelter from the bitter cold of winter. A night watchman noticed his plight and said, “GoMa (child), go to yonder house and say to the one who answers the gate, ‘John 3:16.’ ” “But I do not know what John 3:16 is,” replied the lad. Nevertheless, desperation took him to the gate and brought that strange expression to his lips. He did not understand, but he whispered, “John 3:16.” The lady smiled and took him into her warm home. The lad was puzzled as he thought, “I do not know what this John 3:16 is, but it sure makes a cold Korean boy warm.” Seeing his gaunt cheeks, the lady soon had him seated before a steaming bowl of soup. As he ate, the lad thought again, “I do not know what this John 3:16 is, but it sure makes a hungry Korean boy full.” After a bath, he lay there on the warm bed with tears flowing down his cheeks, “I do not know what this John 3:16 is,” he thought, “but it must be the most won...

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). New status, new life, new creation—we must not separate these blessings. They belong together, and are given to all who are in Christ. A simple illustration may help. If a vagrant comes to us in dire need, down and out, in rags and tatters, and sick, even starving, it will be good to give him a bath and a change of clothing, but not enough. For he is ill and undernourished. So, in addition, he needs food and hospital treatment. Similarly, we come to Christ down and out, in the rags and tatters of our sin, spiritually sick and starving. In Christ, we are at once made welcome and accepted, and given a bath and a change of clothes. God sees us as righteous in Christ. This is our new status. But it is only the beginning. The Good Physician knows we are sick. So he puts His Spirit within us to give us new life and health, and He feeds us with His Word until we grow strong and vigorou...

Speaking to his physician, John cried in great perplexity, “I might not live a week!” “Of course you may not, John, but very likely you will, and the medicine will be in the house; it will keep; and if you find yourself getting worse, you could take some. I shall not charge anything for it. If you should feel worse tomorrow you might begin even then.” “Sir, I may be dead tomorrow!” “When would you propose to begin your medicine then, John?” “Well, sir, I hoped you would tell me to begin today.” “Begin today, by all means,” consented the doctor, kindly. “I am glad to see you realize how foolish it is to put off taking this medicine.” And then the physician, reflecting upon their past conversations about spiritual matters, inquired, “But are you not being just as foolish when you put off taking the medicine which the Great Physician has provided for your sin-sick soul? I plead with you, John; don’t put it off!”

Quite a few years ago, Governor Neff of the State of Texas received an invitation to speak at one of the penitentiaries in that state. He spoke to the assembled prisoners, and afterward said that he would be around for a while to listen to anything any of the convicts might wish to tell him. He would take as much time as they wanted, and anything they would tell him would be kept in confidence. The convicts began to come, one at a time. One after another told him a story of how they had been unjustly sentenced, were innocent, and wished to get out. Finally one man came through who said to him, “Governor Neff, I do not want to take much of your time. I only want to say that I really did what they convicted me of. But I have been here a number of years. I believe I have paid my debt to society, and that, if I were to be released, I would be able to live an upright life and show myself worthy of your mercy.” This was the man whom Governor Neff pardoned.

You see them driving around most urban areas and even venturing out in small town USA. Their destinations are automotive garages and any other place of business that uses tools. Most of the vehicles are large vans or panel trucks and carry such logos as “Snap-On Tools,” or “Matco.” What if it were the job of these drivers to rush from place to place tightening, untightening and doing all the actual mechanical repairing of the vehicles? Imagine the mechanics in these shops calling on the tool man every time they needed a bolt tightened or a screw adjusted, sitting around waiting for them to arrive and do the work. It is a comical scene based on the ridiculous; hundreds of mechanics waiting for the help of few exhausted and distraught tool men. The truth of the matter is, these tool men in their vans only provide the tools. It is the mechanics who do the work. Sometimes we in the local church can actually get caught up in a similar comedy of errors. A church can look to their pastor as t...

A young pastor of a little church complained to the “Prince of Preachers,” Charles H. Spurgeon, about the smallness of his church and its few members. Spurgeon asked him, “How many members do you have?” “Fifty,” replied the young pastor. “Ah,” exclaimed Spurgeon, “that is more than you will want to account for on the day of judgment.”

More than 90 people conducted an all-night search for an eight-year-old boy named Dominic. While on a skiing trip with his father, this little boy apparently had ridden a new lift and skied off the run without realizing it. They hoped to find Dominic somewhere on the snowy mountain slope before it was too late. As each hour passed, the search party and the boy’s family became more and more concerned. By dawn they still had found no trace of him. Two helicopters joined the search, and within fifteen minutes had spotted ski tracks. A ground team followed the tracks which changed to small footprints. The footprints lead to a tree where they found the boy at last. “He’s in super shape,” the area search and rescue coordinator announced to the anxious family and press. “In fact, he’s in better shape than we are right now.” A hospital spokesman said the boy was in fine condition and was not even admitted. The rescuer explained why the boy did so well despite spending a night in the freezing e...

When J. Wilbur Chapman was in London, he had an opportunity to meet General Booth, who at that time was past 80 years of age. Dr. Chapman listened reverently as the old general spoke of the trials and the conflicts and the victories he had experienced. The American evangelist then asked the general if he would disclose his secret for success. “He hesitated a second,” Dr. Chapman said, “and I saw the tears come into his eyes and steal down his cheeks,” and then he said, “I will tell you the secret. God has had all there was of me. There have been men with greater brains than I, men with greater opportunities; but from the day I got the poor of London on my heart, and a vision of what Jesus Christ could do with the poor of London, I made up my mind that He would have all of William Booth there was. And if there is anything of power in the Salvation Army today, it is because God has all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life.” Dr. Chapman sai...

Some of these newfangled inventions are great—especially the puncture-proof tire. If you are driving along with ordinary tires and a nail goes through one of them, whis-s-s, you lose all the air. But a puncture-proof tire is different—if a nail goes through, there is some stuff inside that runs around and stops the hole and the air stays in. The heart of a Christian is like that puncture-proof tire. An ordinary heart may be filled with love, but when someone does something to puncture that heart, all the love runs out and hatred and hard feelings take its place. But a puncture-proof heart is different. It is filled with the Spirit of Christ and when someone, through their words or deeds punctures that heart, immediately the hole is stopped up tight and the love stays in.”

United States Senator Jake Garn of Utah did something most of us admire—and perhaps should consider doing ourselves. He donated one of his organs to save a life. A recent survey says 73 percent of Americans approve organ donation. But only about 20 percent actually sign donor cards and make arrangements for our corneas, kidneys, or other organs to be used when we die. In Senator Garn’s case, however, he did not wait until his death to donate his left kidney. His 27-yearold daughter, Susan Garn Horne, suffered from progressive kidney failure due to diabetes. Her condition deteriorated, and doctors determined that she needed a kidney transplant immediately. Jake Garn and his two sons were all found to be compatible donors. The senator insisted that he should be the one to give the kidney. “Her mother carried her for nine months,” he said, “and I am honored to give her part of me.” So, on September 10, 1986, in a Washington, D.C. hospital, a six-hour surgical procedure was performed to re...

At 14 years of age, the “bad boy” of a little Massachusetts town, was so powerful in his influence for evil that no one was found able to teach the district school which he attended; it seemed “pretty poor soil.” Everyone said the student in question was “bad clear through,” “hopeless,” and “bound to go to ruin.” One day a new teacher came who said he was not afraid to try. The school friends were quick to tell him all the stories of “the Marcy boy.” All advised that he be forbidden to enter the school. However, he was allowed to enter. The teacher analyzed the “hopeless soil,” and began at once to enrich it with kindness, justice, goodwill and confidence, and at the right time, dropped in seeds of ambition, hope and self-respect. The seed took root, developed, grew and began to bear fruit. The promising young student dropped his bad habits, studied day and night, went to college, and graduated with honors. He studied law, answered the call for men in 1812, became associate justice of ...

A concert violinist had a brother who was a bricklayer. One day a woman gushed to the bricklayer, “It must be wonderful to be in a family with such a famous violinist.” Then, not wanting to insult the bricklayer, she said, “Of course we don’t all have the same talents, and even in a family, some just seem to have more talent than others.” The bricklayer said, “You’re telling me! That violinist brother of mine doesn’t know a thing about laying bricks. And if he couldn’t make some money playing that fiddle of his, he couldn’t hire a guy with know-how like mine to build a house. If he had to build a house himself he’d be ruined.” If you want to build a house, you don’t want a violinist. And if you’re going to lead an orchestra, you don’t want a bricklayer. No two of us are exactly alike. None of us has every gift and ability. Our responsibility is to exercise the gifts we have, not the ones we wish we had. And when it comes to making decisions about your own life and the direction it shou...

Some time ago in Reader’s Digest there was a short article about a group of sea gulls that was starving to death in St. Augustine. They were not starving because of a food shortage but because they had forgotten how to fish. For years they had depended on the shrimp fleet operating out of the harbor to toss them scraps from the nets. When the shrimp fleet moved to Key West, they began to starve. They had lost their natural ability to fish because they had not been using it. This is a rule of nature. If you do not use what you have, it will be taken from you. This is the lesson in the parable of the talents. The servant who did not use the one talent had it taken from him.

Some folks do not read the Bible because, they say, there are so many things in the Book that they cannot understand. It is said that these things which cannot be understood trouble them. Of course these are excuses. What does one do when he sits down to a Southern-fried chicken dinner, and finds there are bones in the chicken which he is unable to chew? Does he excuse himself, and say, “I can’t chew the bony parts of the chicken, therefore I won’t try to eat any of it?” Hardly. He merely puts the bones to one side and enjoys the edible part of the chicken. Why not put at least this much effort into Bible reading? One rescued sinner said, “The fact that I am alive and on my way somewhere really caused me anxious moments, until I found the answer in the Bible. When I found it, it prompted me to let the shed blood of Christ cleanse me from my sins. God saved me and gave me the assurance of it, and I began to study the Bible, digesting the parts God’s Holy Spirit led me to understand, and...

A number of years ago, a Navy jet fighter plane shot itself down over the deserts of Nevada while testing a new cannon mounted on its wing. The plane was flying at supersonic speeds, but the cannon shells were subsonic. What happened was crucial. The fighter actually ran into the shells it had fired seconds before. The jet was traveling too fast. Sometimes we travel too fast for our own spiritual good. God speaks and we are going too fast to hear Him. Don’t be guilty of traveling so fast with your life that you run past the sound of the Word of God. Be in the center of His will.

I try not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His placement counselor assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee and wasn't sure I wanted one. I wasn't sure how my customers would react. Stevie was short, a little dumpy, with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of Down syndrome. I wasn't worried about most of my trucker customers. Truckers don't generally care who buses tables as long as the food is good and the pies are homemade. The ones who concerned me were the mouthy college kids traveling to school; the yuppie snobs who secretly polish their silverware with their napkins for fear of catching some dreaded "truckstop germ;" and the pairs of white-shirted business men on expense accounts who think every truckstop waitress wants to be flirted with. I knew those people would be uncomfortable around Stevie, so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.I shouldn...