Sermon Illustration

During the Spanish-American War some transports with supplies for General Shafter’s army found it impossible to secure anchorage off the coast of Cuba, and were compelled to steam slowly back and forth. This made it difficult to land the horses and mules, and it was finally decided upon to push them overboard and allow them to swim ashore. So they were pushed into the water, and soon the sea was black with animals. Some instinctively swam toward the shore; others completed circles in the water; still others, more frightened than the rest, started out to sea. It was a distressing situation, and the ship’s officers showed much concern. Finally the men who were aboard the transports espied a soldier on shore hastily making his way toward a rocky promontory. The stripes upon his uniform denoted the bugler. The jutting rocks reached, he placed the bugle to his lips and emitted one after another of the calls which the army horses and mules had learned to know so well. The sound traveled far...

A Glasgow minister was sitting on a coach beside the driver on a lonely Highland road, and saw in the distance an old woman, who looked wistfully toward the coach. As it came near her face showed by turns anxiety, hope, and fear, and as the coach passed, the driver, with downcast eyes and sad expression, shook his head, and she returned disappointed to her cottage. Being much affected by what he saw, the minister asked an explanation of the driver. The driver said that for several years she had watched daily for the coach, expecting either to see her son or to receive a letter from him. The son had gone to a large city, and had forgotten the mother who loved him so dearly. But the mother went every day to meet the coach, trusting that one day her son would return to her. Such a tale makes our hearts bleed for the parent who was cruelly forsaken, but many forget how badly they are treating their heavenly Father when they forsake Him and refuse to return to Him.

It has been stated by scientists that the eucalyptus tree is destined to save the world from a famine of wood. Its growing powers are marvelous. A certain large plantation on the Pacific coastline, set out some twenty-five years ago, has been cut down three times, and is again high in the air. It is most serviceable. It produces cordwood and piling; makes excellent fuel, protects orange and lemon groves along the coast from the ocean winds. Above all, its medicinal value for its oil extract is remarkable. In California it is a home cure for almost every ailment from simple cold to consumption. A wonderful tree, full of promise for mankind. There is another tree, however, that is destined to save the world in a higher and truer sense. The tree of shame—the Cross of Calvary—whose healing power has been proved on millions of souls, and under the Shadow of which they were shielded and sheltered from the fierce, piercing blasts of awful temptation. That is like the tree in the Paradise of G...

2 Corinthians 12:9 Remember it is not just compensation, but transformation, that you are to seek. Not heaven yet that looms before us always, tempting us on; but now the earth, with all its duties, sorrows, difficulties, doubts, and dangers. We want a faith, a truth, a grace to help us now, right here, where we are stumbling about, dizzied and fainting with our thirst. And we can have it. One who was man, yet mightier than man, has walked the vale before us. When He walked it He turned it all into a well of living water. To them who are willing to walk in His footsteps, to keep in His light, the well He opened shall be forever flowing. Nay, it shall pass into them and fulfill there Christ’s own words: “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). —Phillips Brooks

It is wonderful that an infinite creator and Ruler of the world and a fallen, sinful human being can be in fellowship—the Creator showing Himself to the creature, and the creature leaning, as it were, upon the arm of the Creator. It is a wonder of grace. It comes about through One who is fittingly called Wonderful. Why should we not say hourly, “Lord, what will you have me to do?” yes, or to bear, for it is possible for us to “endure as seeing him who is invisible” (see Heb. 11:27). —John Hall

One warm summer afternoon, a bird flew through the open door into a chapel, where service was being conducted. Full of fear it flew backward and forward near the ceiling and against the windows, vainly seeking a way out into the sunshine. In one of the pews sat a lady, who observed the bird, while thinking how foolish it was, not to fly out through the open door into liberty. At last the bird’s strength being gone, it rested a moment on one of the rafters. Then seeing the open door, it flew out into the sunshine, venting its joy in a song. Then the lady who had been watching the little bird thought to herself: “Am I not acting as foolish as I thought the bird was? How long have I been struggling under the burden of my sin in the vain endeavor to get free and all the while the door of God’s grace has been wide open?” Then and there the decision was formed to enter in. “I am the Way,” says Jesus, “no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

Take, for instance, the eucalyptus tree. It seems especially adapted to antidote the gaseous effects of a polluted atmosphere. It is the loftiest timber tree of Australia; it grows especially in malarious districts, sometimes to a height of five hundred feet. It absorbs moisture to a very remarkable extent, and grows with extraordinary rapidity, covering vast barren districts with a huge forest in a few years. And you may enclose seed enough in an envelope to plant an acre. How like the blessed Gospel, making the tree of life to grow in the worst moral marshes, rapidly, beautifully, gloriously covering the deserts with the foliage and fragrance of heaven! And you may distribute the seed so easily and cheaply.

One cannot think that any holy earthly love will cease, when we shall be like the angels of God in heaven. Love here must shadow our love there, deeper because spiritual, without any alloy from our sinful nature and in fullness of the love of God. But as we grow here by God’s grace will be our capacity for endless love. So, then, if by our very suffering we are purified, and our hearts enlarged, we shall, in that endless bliss, love more those whom we loved here, than if we had never had that sorrow, never been parted.

Do you reign in life? If not, the reason may be that you do not distinguish between praying and taking. There is a profound difference between entreating for a thing and appropriating it. You may admit that God’s abundant grace is near you through Jesus Christ, and yet you may not quite see the necessity of learning how to take it. Some people are always telegraphing to heaven for God to send a cargo of blessing to them; but they are not at the wharf-side to unload the vessel when it comes. How many of God’s richest blessings for which you have been praying for years have come right close to you, but you do not know how to lay hold of and use them! Note—“They which receive the abundance of grace shall reign” (see Rom. 5:17) The emphasis is not on grace, not on abundance, but on receiving it; and the whole grace of God may be around your life today, but if you have not learned to take it in, it will do you no good. —F. B. Meyer

A little boy made himself a boat and went off in high glee to sail it on the water. But presently it got beyond his reach, and in his distress he appealed to a big boy for help, and asked if he could get it back for him. Saying nothing, the big boy picked up stones and seemed to be throwing them at the boat. The little chap thought that he would never get his boat again, and that instead of helping the big boy was annoying him. But presently he noticed that instead of hitting the boat, each stone went beyond it and made a little wave, which moved the boat nearer to the shore. Every throw of the stones was planned, and at last the toy was brought within reach, and the little boy was happy again in the possession of his treasure. Sometimes things in our lives seem disagreeable and without sense or plan. But if we wait a while, we shall see that each trial, each striking of a stone upon the quiet waters of our lives, has brought us nearer to God.

God’s promises are ever on the ascending scale. One leads up to another, fuller and more blessed than itself. In Mesopotamia, God said, “I will show thee the land.” At Bethel, “This is the land.” In Canaan, “I will give thee all the land, and children innumerable as the grains of sand.” It is thus that God allures us to saintliness. Not giving us anything till we have dared to act—that He may test us. Not giving everything at first—that He may not overwhelm us. And always keeping in hand an infinite reserve of blessing. Oh, the unexplored remainders of God! Who ever saw His last star? —F. B. Meyer

There are times at sea when I’ve seen a beautiful morning after a stormy night. It is great to see the daybreak of a beautiful morning; it is just like the experience of the sinner after he accepts Jesus into his life. No longer tossed about under the storm of sin but all is calm in their lives now, the dawning of a new life in Jesus; like the dawning of a beautiful morning after a storm at sea.

Mr. Spurgeon once had a singular experience. He had been out in the country to preach, and, when traveling back to London, suddenly found that he had lost his railway ticket. A gentleman, the only other occupant of the compartment, noticing that he was fumbling about in his pocket, said, “I hope you have not lost anything, sir?” Mr. Spurgeon thanked him, and told him that he had lost his ticket, and that by a remarkable coincidence he had neither watch nor money with him. “But,” added Mr. Spurgeon, “I am not at all troubled, for I have been on my Master’s business, and I am quite sure all will be well. I have had so many interpositions of Divine Providence, in small matters as well as great ones, that I feel as if, whatever happens to me, I am bound to fall on my feet….” The gentleman seemed interested, and said that no doubt all would be right. When the ticket collector came to the compartment, the collector touched his hat to Mr. Spurgeon’s companion, who simply said, “All right, Wil...

“God hath chosen the foolish things … the weak things … the base things of the world” (1 Cor. 1:27, 28). The Bible saints, who now shine as stars in the firmament of heaven, were men of like passions with ourselves. They were not always saints; they sinned, and murmured, and rebelled, as we do. Heaven’s rarest blades were not produced of finer metal than that which is in our own constitution. God’s choicest vessels were not turned from superior earth to that of which we are made. The jewels which now lie at the foundation of the new Jerusalem were once obscure, unnamed men of no finer texture than ourselves. Look to the quarry from whence they were hewn, and the hole of the pit whence they were digged, and say if there was much to choose between their origin and your own. Then take heart, for if God were able to take up such men and make them princes and kings surely He can do as much with you. The discipline may be keen as fire; but the result shall be glorious, and all eternity s...

A rabbi was forced by persecution to leave his homeland, according to an ancient Hebrew story, and to wander about in distant countries. His only earthly possessions, other than the clothing he wore and a copy of the Scriptures, were a lamp by which he studied and a donkey upon which he rode. Late one evening, after a long day’s journey, he came upon a small village where he sought shelter for the night. The villagers, however, turned him away. The only shelter this weary rabbi was able to find was next to a wall which surrounded a well on the outskirts of the village. Trying to make the best of the situation, he lit his lamp and began to read from the Scriptures. Soon a violent wind arose and repeatedly blew out the lamp. Unable to read in the darkness, he reclined against the wall and tried to go to sleep. His rest was soon disturbed, however, by the nearby roar of a lion. He looked over the wall just in time to see the lion dragging his slaughtered donkey into the underbrush. ...

“…Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt. 22:36-40). We are hearing it backwards these days. This self-esteem stuff is getting way too much of the spotlight. God-esteem isn’t even a recognizable catch phrase: and what God thinks of me is infinitely more important than anything I could ever think about myself. Ponder this: Healthy self-esteem either comes as a by-product of doing right or else it is not healthy at all. So it would seem that we ought to quit focusing on how we feel about ourselves and simply set about the life of serving our Lord. Add this to the mix: Jesus said that even when we have done all the commandments, we are still unprofitable servants who have only d...

As a boy in Oklahoma my family would spend a lot of time on the creeks and rivers. As a small boy my Dad would take me by the hand and would wade out to the sandbar in the streams. The swift water was dark and often over my head, but how I loved and enjoyed the water, because of my father’s hand. My father is dead, and if asked, “What do you miss about your Dad?” it would be his hand. All of us today do have a hand we can hold on to. It is the hand of God. We can remember the words of the Psalms: “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me” (139:9, 10). Today we must take hold of the right thing in our life, for holding on to the wrong thing will end in death. The story is told of a sailor on one of the sailing ships of the last century. He tumbled out of the rigging. In his fall he caught with both hands a rope; and observers said, he is saved! But the rope itself had no faste...

Travelers in the North Atlantic Ocean traffic have frequently observed icebergs traveling in one direction in spite of the fact that strong winds are blowing the opposite way. The icebergs were moving against the wind. The explanation is that the great bergs, with eight-ninths of their bulk under the water, were caught in the grip of mighty currents that carried them forward, no matter which way the winds raged. So the ideal Christian leader has the greater part of his being thrust down into the deep places of God. The currents move him toward righteousness no matter how the winds of passing opinion blow.

God is the only final dream of man. Door after door opens; there is no final chamber till we come where He sits. All that ought to be done in the world has a right to know itself as finally done for Him. It is God, and the discovery of Him in life, and the certainty that He has plans for our lives, and is doing something with them, that gives us a true, deep sense of movement, and lets us always feel the power and delight of unknown coming things.

Go where we may, we cannot get away from the calm, clear gaze of the divine Eye. Neither in the blue depths of the heavens nor in the dark abysses of the grave can one hide away from God. If we could take the morning sunbeams for wings and fly away on them with all the swiftness of light to the remotest bounds of space, we could not get beyond the reach of the divine Eye. If we creep into the darkness—darkness so deep and dense that no human eye can behold us—still God sees us as clearly as if we stood in the bright noonday sunshine. Darkness hides not from Him; night shines to His eye as brightly as day. When we know that God loves us, there is infinite comfort in this thought of His unsleeping watchfulness. It is our Father who watches. There ought also to be wondrous incitement and inspiration in the consciousness: while the Eye of divine love is looking upon as we should always do our best.