Sermon Illustration

A mother attended a service in a large and crowded auditorium with her little daughter, Mary. In some manner the two became separated. The mother sent a note to the platform which was read aloud: “If there is a little girl named Mary Moore in the audience, who is lost, will she please raise her hand so her mother can find her.” No little girl raised her hand so the mother had the police searching the city for the child. Still not finding her, the mother came back and stood at the door of the auditorium as the people filed out. Among the last of them was Mary. Her mother snatched her up, crying, “Where were you, Mary?” “On the front row,” replied the little one. “Didn’t you hear the man read the notice, ‘If there is a little girl named Mary Moore in the audience, who is lost, will she please raise her hand so her mother can find her?’ ” “Yes,” said Mary, “I heard it.” “Then why didn’t you raise your hand?” “Why, Mother, it couldn’t have meant me,” said Mary, “for I wasn’t lost. I knew w

A missionary was preaching on the resurrection when the native chief cried out, “What are these words about the dead? The dead arise? Will my father arise?” “Yes,” answered the missionary. “Will all that have been killed and eaten by lions, tigers, and crocodiles arise?” “Yes, and come to judgment.” “Hark!” shouted the chief, turning to his warriors. “You wise men, did you ever hear such strange talk?” The chief then turned to the missionary and said, “Sir, I love you much; but the words of resurrection are too great for me. I do not wish to hear about the dead rising again. The dead cannot rise; the dead shall not rise!” “Tell me, my friend, why not?” asked the missionary. “Because I have slain my thousands. Do you think I want them to rise again?” The gospel was all right as long as he did not have to face his sins.

The first mate on a certain vessel, yielding to temptation, became drunk for the first time in his life. The captain entered in the ship’s log, “Mate drunk today.” The mate implored the captain to remove it from the record, saying if the ship’s owners saw it he would lose his post, and the captain well knew it was his first offense. But the obdurate captain refused, saying, “This is the fact, and into the log it goes.” Some days afterward, the mate was keeping the log. After giving the latitude and longitude, the run for the day, the wind and the sea, he made this entry: “Captain sober today.” The indignant captain protested, saying that it would leave an altogether false impression in the minds of the owners of the vessel, as if it were an unusual thing for him to be sober. But the mate answered as the captain had, “This is the fact, and into the log it goes.”

A mother had fallen into the disagreeable habit of yelling at her children. She thought this necessary in order to maintain her authority; then she was confined to bed for a week with severe laryngitis. She could not speak above a whisper and had to run the affairs of her household from her bed. “Do you know,” she confessed afterward, “I found that the children were far more well-behaved and good-natured when I could only speak to them in a whisper than when I used to shout at them.”

The pastor of a large city church was walking down the street one day with set lips and a steely look in his eye. A parishioner greeted him with the question, “How are you today, Pastor?” He waked as from a dream and said, “I am mad!” It was an unusual word for this mild-mannered Christian, but he went on to explain with deep emotion: “I found a widow standing by her goods thrown into the street. She could not pay the month’s rent. The landlord turned her out; one of her children is going to die; and that man is a member of the church! I told her to take her things back again. I am on my way to see him now!” Wrath against injustice, hypocrisy, and greed can be found throughout Scripture. But if we are to be guided by the Word of God, our wrath must always yield to mercy when the repentant sinner turns to ask forgiveness.

An aged man went to his physician for an examination. The physician expressed astonishment at his robust vigor in spite of his advanced years. The man explained that he had been compelled to live an out-of-doors life. He then went on to say that when he and his wife were married, they made a compact. When he lost his temper, she was to keep silent. When she lost her temper, he was to go out of doors! This is still better advice: “Enter your closet and seek the Lord in prayer.”