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.