Sermon Illustration

If you want your father to take care of you, that’s Paternalism. If you want your mother to take care of you, that’s Maternalism. If you want Uncle Sam to take care of you, that’s Socialism. If you want some dedicated Communists to take over the government and take care of you, that’s Communism (we would say slavery). If you want and are able to take care of yourself, that’s Americanism. If you surrender all to Christ, and want God to take care of you, that is true Christianity. Of course, you’ll be called a “square” or an “extremist,” or a “crackpot,” but you will have the best for time and eternity.

A painter of landscape scenes always kept in front of him on his easel a number of precious stones—emerald, sapphire, ruby. Asked why, he replied, “To help me keep my colors true. In course of time, without some constant reference, my eye might lose its perception of color tones, and the colors I choose may not be right, may not be what they once were.” So it is with us, in the requirements of our ongoing life. Lest we wander astray, we need occasional exposure to some unchanging and unfading standard. Unless we are in touch with some constant reference, we can deviate and scarcely know it. We need some touchstone to test ourselves by, one that is worthy of what life is, one by which our lifetones can be safely set—the only perfect unchanging Lord.

An artist once drew a picture of a wintry twilight, the trees heavily laden with snow, and a dreary dark house, lonely and desolate, in the midst of the storm. It was a sad picture indeed. Then, with a quick stroke of yellow crayon, he put a light in one window. The effect was magical. The entire scene was transformed into a vision of comfort and good cheer. The birth of Christ was just such a light in a dark world. Remember the words of John William Hart: “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” That Light is more than enough to lend comfort and direction to your life!

When the government phased out its surplus commodity food program, one man went early to the last distribution to secure a place in line before the foodstuffs ran out. A few hours later, he was near the door where the cheese, butter, dry milk and peanut butter were handed out. He saw a friend walking by and called him by name. He knew the man. Neither his wife nor he had any work for some time. They had four children. The man confirmed that his prospects were poor. The man in line knew the food would run out soon, but he told the unemployed family man to take his place in the line. The poor man did so and the other went back to the end of the line. Within a short time the distribution ended and the one who gave up his place had also given up his food. This is like Jesus Christ, who drew us into His place, while He stepped in ours, taking upon Himself all the consequences of our failures.

Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40 and Jesus for only 3 1/2 years. Yet the influence of Christ’s ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined years of teaching from these greatest of philosophers. Jesus painted no pictures, yet some of the finest artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from Him. Jesus wrote no poetry, but Dante, Milton and scores of the world’s greatest poets were inspired by Him. Jesus composed no music; still Haydn, Handel, Beethoven, Bach and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of melody in the music they composed in His praise. Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this humble Carpenter of Nazareth.

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

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

Have you ever wondered why you do what you do? One former Navy pilot tells how he was living a wilder life than he knew he should live. He decided his problem was that he was being led astray by his friends in flight training. So he arranged to finish his work in the program early and be transferred to another field nearby. Yet, it wasn’t long, he said, before he was back in the same old bars, with the same girls, just with different friends. One night out-on-the-town he wondered, “Why do I do this?” And he realized, “Because I like to.” Before a person becomes a Christian— I mean a real Christian, not just someone who says he is—his “want-to” is broken. He is not interested in God. He is bored by church and by reading his Bible. He cannot “make” himself “want to” do right and he cannot “make” himself “want not” to do wrong. When a person is born again, God repairs his “want-to.” Even though he still feels the pull of temptation, he will have a new set of desires. He will love God and

A pioneer preacher was called to conduct the funeral for a man who never entered the church building while he lived. As the pallbearers neared the meeting-house door, the old preacher stood in the doorway and beckoned saying: “Gentlemen, I have never taken an undue advantage of any living person, and I am not going to begin imposing on the dead. If this man were living he would not enter this building. Put him down right there and let us respect him enough to finish his earthly pilgrimage as he lived it.” The service was conducted from the doorway, with the casket resting on the church-house lawn. Perhaps the preacher was a bit “hard,” but he certainly had a point. Better think about dying and eternity while we live.

They huddled inside the storm door—two children in ragged, outgrown coats. “Any old papers, Lady?” they asked a passerby. She was very busy; she wanted to say no, until she looked down at their feet wrapped only in thin little sandals, sopped with sleet. “Come on in and I will make you a cup of cocoa,” she said. There was no conversation. Their soggy sandals left marks on the clean hearthstone. Cocoa and cake would fortify against the chill outside. After serving them, she went back to the kitchen and started on her household budget as they sat enjoying the warmth. After a few minutes, the silence in the front room struck through to her. She looked in. The girl held her empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in a flat voice, “Lady, are you rich?” “Am I rich? Mercy no!” She looked at her shabby slipcovers. The girl put her cup back in its saucer carefully. “Your cups match your saucers.” Her voice was old with a hunger that was not of the stomach. They left then, holding t

A mother and her two little children were destitute. In the depth of winter they were nearly frozen, and the mother took the cellar door off the hinges and set it up in front of the corner where they crouched down to sleep so that some of the draft and cold might be kept from them. One of the children whispered to her, “Mother, what do those poor children do who have no cellar door to put up in front of them?”

A young man was an organist in a large church in Texas. He was a fine musician, but, being blind, was unable to read in the faces of his audience the great pleasure his music was giving. His caressing touch on the keyboard sent out through its great pipes the songs of his soul. People would talk to each other about the beauty and the uplifting influence of his music. Often his music sent tears down furrowed cheeks. But no one ever thought to tell the organist, who was longing to hear a word of response. One morning it was announced that he would not play after that service. His decision was final; another organist must be secured. After the service a woman who had enjoyed his music thoroughly went up to him, and said, very earnestly, “I am sorry you will not play for us any longer. I have enjoyed your music so much. It helped me greatly; it soothed and comforted me when I sorrowed. I have thought many times I would tell you what an inspiration I have received through your music. I than

A doctor wrote a letter of thanks to a schoolteacher for having given him so much encouragement when he had been in her class 30 years before. He later received this reply: “I want you to know what your note meant to me. I am an old lady in my eighties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and seeming like the last leaf on the tree. You will be interested to know that I taught school for 50 years, and yours is the first letter of appreciation I have ever received. It came on a cold, blue morning and cheered my lonely old heart as nothing has cheered me in many years.”

If one should give me a dish of sand and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes and search for them with my clumsy fingers and be unable to detect them; but let me take a magnet and sweep through it and now would it draw to itself the almost invisible particles by the mere power of attraction. The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings, only the iron in God’s sand is gold!

When Justin Armour was a rookie wide receiver with the Buffalo Bills, some veteran teammates invited him to a preseason party. Justin went, and couldn’t believe what he saw: Gorgeous women everywhere, offering free sex to any of the guys who wanted it. “It was the most eye-opening experience I’ve ever had,” Justin says. “I had heard about things like this, but I was so naive. I got out of there as fast as I could!” As a single Christian guy, Justin had committed to saving sex for marriage. To do so, he knows he’s got to run from temptation. “I’d rather not have my mind polluted by those things. Once you’ve been in a couple situations where’s there’s temptation, you learn how to avoid them and you don’t go back.” Justin also calls his best friend and accountability partner, Steve Stenstrom. “You need someone to hold you accountable for walking with Christ,” says Justin. “Steve does that for me. He knows everything about my life, good and bad, and there’s nothing he won’t hold me account