Sermon Illustration

Two unbelievers once sat in a railroad train discussing Christ’s wonderful life. Even non-Christians cannot escape thinking of Christ. One said, “I think an interesting romance could be written about Him.” The other replied, “You are just the man to write it. Set forth the correct view of His life and character. Tear down the prevailing sentiment as to His divinity and paint Him as He was—a man among men.” The suggestion was acted upon and the romance was written. The man who made the suggestion was Colonel Ingersoll; the author was General Lew Wallace, and the book was Ben Hur. In the process of constructing it, General Wallace found himself facing the unaccountable Man. The more he studied His life and character, the more profoundly he was convinced that He was more than a man among men; until at length, like the centurion under the cross, he was constrained to cry, “Verily, this was the Son of God.” That’s exactly the testimony of John the Baptist. He says, “The one coming after me,...

A Brahmin said to a missionary: “We are finding you out. You are not as good as your Book. If you were as good as your Book, you could conquer India for Christ in five years.” Scripture reveals the truth and sheds light on our shortcomings.

A young theological student came to Spurgeon to tell him that the Bible contained some verses which he could not understand and about which he was very much worried. To this the great English preacher replied, “Young man, allow me to give you a word of advice. You must expect God to know some things which you do not understand.”

A skeptical young man confronted an old Quaker with the statement that he did not believe the Bible. The Quaker said, “Dost thou believe in France?” “Yes, though I have not seen it, I have seen others that have; besides there is plenty of corroborative evidence that such a country exists.” “Then you will not believe anything you or others have not seen?” “No, to be sure I won’t.” “Did you ever see your own brains?” “No.” “Ever see anybody that did?” “No.” “Do you then believe you have any?”

A young girl after sweeping the room, went to the window shade and hastily drew it down, saying, “It makes the room so dusty to have the sunshine coming in.” She foolishly imagined that it was the sunshine which made the dust whereas it only revealed it.

In the spring of A.D. 372, a young man in great distress of mind flung himself on the ground and burst into tears. The sins of his youth weighed heavily on his soul. Overhearing a chance conversation from a neighboring house, he was led to read the thirteenth chapter of Romans, and as a result was gloriously converted. In the language of Gaussen, “Jesus had conquered, and the grand career of Augustine, the holiest of the fathers, then commenced. A passage of God’s Word had kindled that glorious luminary, which was to enlighten the Church for ten centuries … even to this present day. After thirty-one years of revolt, combats and misery—faith, life and eternal peace came to this erring soul; a new day, an eternal day, came upon it.”

By the aid of that most perfect scientific instrument, the ophthalmoscope, with its condensing mirror and myriad of little lenses, the ophthalmologist can look into a person’s eye and not only determine approximately the necessary strength of glass required to give perfect vision, but also the existence of tumors pressing on the brain tissue, the condition of the general nervous system, the presence of disease in various organs, and the richness of the blood current as they are clearly traced on the sensitive plate of nature’s camera. What the ophthalmoscope is to the ophthalmologist, revelation from Scripture is to our higher nature—a test and criticism of supreme value. One of the ways by which we can prevent the darkening of our spiritual eyesight is to look daily at the Word of God so that the Word may become the mirror to which we are exposed. “The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, a...

A young farmer in North Dakota brought home a fancy barometer for which he paid $24.65. In the following days he watched it avidly as it predicted the weather. On one of the walls of his home it hung in an honored place. But the day came when for three days it predicted “storm” while the sky was turquoise and clear. So he took it off the wall and back to town where he demanded his money back. Returning home, he and his wife became alarmed when they saw evidence of a storm ten miles out. When they turned in their yard, their home had blown away. The furniture was up in the apple trees, and the bathtub three blocks away in a pasture. But the grandmother had believed the barometer, and when a dark cloud appeared she took the two small children and went to the shelter in the old storm cellar, long unused, and they were saved.

The Gospel hidden in mystery should arouse our best and most active faculties. That is why we are commanded to search the Scripture, not simply to read it. It is the great repository of all the truths and mysteries of our faith. It is a rich mine that we ought to dig into and shall never exhaust. Just as gold and diamonds and most other precious stones and metals lie concealed in the depths of the earth, so the most valued things of revelation are concealed by the great Creator and Redeemer from the common view of the world. Only as this mystery stimulates us to dig into the Word shall we unearth the treasures that God has there for us.

A young woman who was soundly converted immediately began to read her Bible. One who disbelieved the Scriptures and took delight in ridiculing them asked her, “Why do you spend so much time reading a book like that?” “Because it’s the Word of God,” replied the girl. “Nonsense! Who told you that?” scornfully asked the unbeliever. After a moment’s silence the girl asked, “Who told you there’s a sun in the sky?” “Nobody,” replied the scoffer; “I don’t need anybody to tell me. The sun tells me.” “Yes,” said the girl in triumph, “and that’s the way God tells me about His Word. I feel His warmth and sense His presence as I read His wonderful word!”

An unbeliever of acute mind sought an acquaintance with the truth of the Bible and began to read the Book of Genesis. When he had reached the Ten Commandments, he said to a friend, “I will tell you what I used to think. I supposed that Moses was the leader of a horde of bandits; that, having a strong mind, he acquired great influence over superstition, that the exhibition was supernatural. I have been looking into the nature of that law. I have been trying to see whether I can add anything to it or take anything from it, so as to make it better. Sir, I cannot. It is perfect. “The first commandment directs us to make the Creator the object of our supreme love and reverence. That is right. If He be our Creator, Preserver, and Supreme Benefactor, we ought to treat Him and none other as such. The second forbids idolatry—that certainly is right. The third forbids profanity. The fourth fixes a time for religious worship. If there be a God, He surely ought to be worshiped. It is suitable tha...

A convict, dying of a loathsome disease in the Arizona State Prison at Florence, was given a New Testament one day by a visiting prison worker. He started to read it and became so convicted of sin that he hurled it the length of the cell. When the Book landed on the floor, it fell open to the First Epistle of John. A verse boldly outlined in red caught the angry convict’s eye. He stooped down to look at it, and this is what he read: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” That message brought him to his knees, crying out to God for forgiveness, for cleansing, for healing. He became a new man in Christ Jesus. He started a Bible class for the convicts, and in time secured an unconditional pardon from the Governor of Arizona. The governor’s pardon freed him from prison, but the pardon the Lord gave brought him purity of spirit, soul, and body, and through him brought many others into the Kingdom.

A man who was fond of having his own way at home made sure that he got it by constantly reminding his wife that the Bible said she was to obey her husband. He made this an excuse for passing off on her any tasks he found too distasteful for himself. She became a virtual slave to his comfort and that of his relatives. He conveniently overlooked the biblical admonition to husbands to give “honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel.” His feeling was that God had made him lord and master in his own home and he was exploiting this prerogative to the fullest. We do not invoke Him and His Word to serve our own ends.

A certain prisoner, most cunning and brutal, was singularly repulsive even in comparison with other prisoners. He had been known for his daring and for the utter absence of all feeling when committing acts of violence. The chaplain had spoken to him several times but had not succeeded even in getting an answer. The man was sullenly set against all instruction. At last he expressed a desire for a certain book, but as it was not in the library the chaplain pointed to the Bible which was placed in his cell, saying, “Did you ever read that Book?” He gave no answer but looked at the good man as if he would kill him. The question was kindly repeated, with the assurance that he would find it well worth reading. “Mister,” said the convict, “you would not ask me such a question if you knew who I am. What have I to do with a book of that sort?” The chaplain answered, “I know all about you and that’s why I think the Bible is the book for you.” “It would do me no good,” he cried. “I am past all fe...

A ship’s mate once challenged a chaplain with the question, “How is it that you are always talking to my men about Jesus Christ? Did you ever see Him?” “No, I never did.” “Then how can you tell a man to trust in someone you have never seen? I can’t see any sense in that.” “Well,” replied the chaplain, “when you head for a place of refuge in a storm, what sense is there in telling your men to let go the anchor when they cannot see the ground? On what principle do you trust your ship and your life to ground you have never seen and never can see?” “Oh,” said the mate, “we go by our chart.” “Exactly,” replied the chaplain, holding up his Bible, “and I, too, go by a chart, and it is an infallible one, while yours is not. It tells me of the only sure ground of my salvation—the atoning work of Christ upon the cross. My faith, like your anchor, takes hold of this unseen but real ground, and so rides out the storm of life in peace and safety.”

Dear Ab In January 1997, according to Moira Hodgson in the New York Times, Sam Sebastiani Jr., a member of one of California's most prominent winemaking families, died from eating poisonous mushrooms that he had gathered near his home in Santa Rosa, California. "The mushroom Mr. Sabastiani is thought to have eaten," writes Hodgson, "was an Amanita Phalloides, also known as the death-cap mushroom. It is the cause of 95 percent of lethal mushroom poisoning worldwide and is fatal more than 35 percent of the time; toxins in its cap destroy the victim's liver by rupturing the cells. "Experts…are warning inexperienced mushroom enthusiasts to leave the picking to trained mycologists, who will not be fooled by poisonous varieties that closely resemble their nonpoisonous cousins." Roseaane Soloway, a poison-control-center administrator, says, "A level of presumed expertise is not enough to save your life." "One of the most sinister aspects...

Dear Abby: A young man from a famous family was about to graduate from high school. It was the custom in that affluent neighborhood for the parents to give the graduate an automobile. Bill and his father had spent months looking at cars, and the week before graduation they found the perfect car. Bill was certain that the car would be his on graduation night. Imagine his disappointment when, on the eve of his graduation, Bill's father handed him a gift-wrapped Bible! Bill was so angry, he threw the Bible down and stormed out of the house. He and his father never saw each other again. It was the news of his father's death that brought Bill home again. As he sat one night, going through his father's possessions that he was to inherit, he came across the Bible his father had given him. He brushed away the dust and opened it to find a cashier's check, dated the day of his graduation, in the exact amount of the car they had chosen together.

The Bible can change not only a life but an entire lifestyle. Most of us have heard the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, but few of us have heard how the Bible played a very vital part in that historical event. The Bounty was a British ship which set sail from England in 1787, bound for the South Seas. The idea was that those on board would spend some time among the islands, transplanting fruit-bearing and food-bearing trees, and doing other things to make some of the islands more habitable. After ten months of voyage, the Bounty arrived safely at its destination, and for six months the officers and the crew gave themselves to the duties placed upon them by their government. When the special task was completed, however, and the order came to embark again, the sailors rebelled. They had formed strong attachments for the native girls, and the climate and the ease of the South Sea island life was much to their liking. The result was mutiny on the Bounty, and the sailors placed Captain B...

The cute statements below are said to have been written by actual students and are genuine, authentic and not retouched or corrected: In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, God got tired of creating the world, so he took the Sabbath off. Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark. Noah built an ark, which the animals come on to in pears. Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night. Samson was a strongman who let himself be led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah. Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles. Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients. The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten amendments. The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple. The fifth commandment is to humor thy father and mother. The seventh commandment is ...

A new pastor moved into town and went out one Saturday to visit his parishioners. All went well until he came to one house. It was obvious that someone was home, but no one came to the door even after he had knocked several times. Finally, he took out his card, wrote on the back, "Revelation 3:20 ", and stuck it in the door. The next day as he was counting the offering, he found his card in the collection plate. Below his message was the notation, "Genesis 3:10."