314 Sermon Illustrations on Christ

1. Join all the glorious names

Of wisdom, love and pow’r

That ever mortals knew,

That angels ever bore:

All are too poor to speak His worth,

Too poor to set my Saviour forth.

2. Great Prophet of my God,

My tongue would bless Thy name;

By Thee the joyful news

Of our salvation came:

The joyful news of sins forgiv’n,

Of hell subdued, and peace with heav’n.

3. Jesus, Thou great High Priest,

Thou gav’st Thy blood and died;

My guilty conscience seeks

No sacrifice beside:

Thy pow’rful blood didst once atone

And now it pleads before the throne.

4. Divine, almighty Lord,

My Conq’ror and my King,

Thy sceptre and Thy sword,

Thy reigning grace I sing:

Thine is the pow’r – behold I sit

In willing bonds beneath Thy feet.

5. Now let my soul arise

And tread the tempter down;

My Captain leads me forth

To conquest and a crown:

A feeble saint shall win the day,

Though death and hell obstruct the way.

[Tune “Darwell”]

*

The picture painted in the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah is a depiction of realized hope, redemption, and reconciliation. It is a stirring picture of wholeness:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion --

to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified (61:1-3).

The prophet's words mark one of the most beloved passages of Scripture. Isaiah outlines God's plan for restoration, putting into words the hopeful cry of justice and liberty, marking the end of mourning and ashes. It was no doubt a passage that sustained the Israelites through exile and desperation. I imagine that in Babylon the imagery in this chapter was often longingly upon their hearts, the promise of God's comfort and grace treasured words upon their lips. Likewise, I imagine that in Jerusalem congregations delighted to hear Isaiah 61 proclaimed from the scrolls in worship.

Consequently, I imagine faces of utter shock, when after reading these familiar words before a synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus commented: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (See Luke 4:14-30).

According to New Testament scholar Darrell Bock, the Gospel of Luke has often been the neglected gospel in the life of the Church. Yet more so than any of the other gospel accounts, Luke depicts in detail how a small part of history in a small part of the world reveals the plan of God for the nations. Luke writes the story of Christ across the pages of human history, showing the tension between that which blinds us to the work of God and that which points us to our desperate need of Him. Luke's portrait of Jesus shows God's continued work among the oppressed and downtrodden, the captives and the blind. As he carefully places the parables and teachings of Christ before his readers, Luke forces us to see that whether we deliberately make a choice to receive him or not, a choice is always made.

At the synagogue visit where Isaiah 61 was read aloud, Jesus reveals himself as the fulfillment of a story set in motion long before his time on earth. His words put both the hearer of that day and the reader of the present in the position of having to make a choice. All of the promises of God stand before us in the person of Christ. He is the fulfillment of God's plan. He brings liberation to the captives. He brings sight to the blind. He binds the brokenhearted. He brings salvation - - or he does not. In this particular synagogue, the people ran him out of town.

Scottish theologian James Stewart once noted, “Christianity is not for the well-meaning; it is for the desperate.” In Christ we encounter the story of God among us, the certainty of our captivity and the hope of our release. He comes to bind the broken. The invitation to receive him is a startling invitation to wholeness.

________

Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Though Dean Farrar was the privileged friend of Queen Victoria, he seldom referred to this distinction. But he did so on the occasion of the first anniversary of the accession of Edward VI to the throne of England, during the service in Canterbury Cathedral, when he related that Queen Victoria, after hearing one of her chaplains preach at Windsor on the second advent of Christ, spoke to the dean about it and said: "Oh, how I wish that the Lord would come during my lifetime." "Why does your majesty feel this very earnest desire?" asked the great preacher. With her countenance illuminated by deep emotion the Queen replied, "Because I should so love to lay my crown at His feet."

An artist wanted a man for a model who would represent the prodigal. One day he met a wretched beggar, and he thought: "That man would represent the prodigal." He found the beggar ready to sit for his painting if he would pay him. The man appeared on the day appointed, but the artist did not recognize him. He said: "You made an appointment with me." "No," responded the artist, "I never saw you before." "You are mistaken; you did see me, and made an appointment with me." "No; it must have been some other artist. I have an appointment to meet a beggar here at this hour." "Well," said the beggar, "I am the man." "You the man?" "Yes." "What have you been doing?" "Well, I thought I would get a new suit of clothes before I got painted." "Oh," replied the artist; "I don't want you."

And so if you are coming to God, come just as you are. Do not go and put on some garments of your own. Do not try to make yourself more acceptable to God. All your "put on" righteousness will not avail. Come just as your are. Come with all your crimes. Come with your broken vows. Come with your lost opportunities. Come with your hardened heart. Come with your crushing burden. Come, come just as you are.

A railway gatekeeper, who one cold night required every passenger to show his ticket before passing through to the train, and was rewarded with considerable grumbling and protesting, was told: "You are a very unpopular man tonight." "I only care to be popular with one man," was the reply, "and that is the superintendent." He might have pleased the passengers, disobeyed orders, and lost his position. He was too wise for that; his business was to please one man-the man who hired him, gave him his orders, and rewarded him for faithfulness, and who would discharge him for disobedience. The servant of Christ has many opportunities to make himself unpopular. There are multitudes who would be glad to have him relax the strictness of his rules. If he is their servant, they demand that he should consult their wishes. But if he serves them, he cannot serve the Lord. "No man can serve two masters." He who tries to be popular with the world, will lose his popularity with the Lord. He will make friends, but he will lose the one Friend who is above all others. He will win plaudits, but he will not hear the gracious words: "Well done!"

Many years ago there was a little church on a lonely hillside which had no lamps, and yet on darkest nights they held divine services. Each worshiper, coming a great distance from village or moorland home, brought with him a taper and lit it from the one supplied and carried by the minister of the little church. The building was always packed, and the scene was said to be "most brilliant." Let each one of our lives be but a little taper-lighted from the life of Christ, and carrying His flame-and we shall help to fill this great temple of human need and human sin with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. The life of Christ will be the new sunshine of the world. "Men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed"; universal man shall receive "God's Living Light."

I remember hearing some years ago of an incident which occurred near Inverness. A beautiful yacht had been sailing in the Moray Firth. The owners of it-two young men-landed at Inverness, purposing to take a walking tour through the Highlands. But they lost their way, and darkness found them wandering aimlessly about in a very desolate spot. At last, about midnight, they fortunately came upon a little cottage, at the door of which they knocked long and loudly for admittance. But the inmates were all in bed, and curtly the young men were told to go elsewhere, and make no more disturbance there. Luckily, they found shelter in another house some distance away. But next morning the inhospitable people heard a rumor that filled them with chagrin, and gave them a lesson which they would not be likely to soon forget. What do you think it was? Just this: that the two young men who knocked in vain at their door the previous night were Prince George and his brother, the late Duke of Clarence-the most illustrious visitors in the kingdom. You can fancy the shame the people must have felt thus unconsciously to have shown themselves so inhospitable to the noblest persons in all the land. But are we any better? Are we not, indeed, much worse if we shut Jesus Christ, the greatest of all Kings, out of our hearts?

Suppose there is a person who does not exactly know his age, and he wants to find the register of his birth, and he has tried and cannot find it. Now, what is the inference that he draws from his not being able to tell the day of his birth? Well, I do not know what the inference may be, but I will tell you one inference he does not draw. He does not say, therefore, "I am not alive." If he did, he would be an idiot, for if the man is alive he is alive, whether he knows his birthday or not. And if the man really trusts in Jesus, and is alive from the dead, he is a saved soul, whether he knows exactly when and where he was saved or not.

-C. H. Spurgeon

If I were to attempt to prove the divinity of Christ, instead of beginning with mystery or miracle or the theory of the atonement, I should simply tell you the story of His life and how He lived and what He said and did and how He died, and then I would ask you to explain it by any other theory than that He is divine. Reared in a carpenter's shop, having no access to the wisdom of the other races and people, He yet, when about thirty years of age, gave to the world a code of morality, the likes of which the world had never seen before, the likes of which the world has never seen since. Then He was put to death. He was nailed to the cross in shame, and those who followed him were scattered or killed. And then, from this little beginning, His religion spread until hundreds of millions have taken his name upon their lips, and millions have been ready to die rather than surrender the faith that He put into their hearts. To me it is easier to believe Him divine than to explain in any other way what He said and did.

While there was pending a bill which had been introduced into Congress to preserve as a military park the splendid and picturesque Palisades of the Hudson, the work of their destruction went forward with great rapidity. The snorting drills which pounded all day long, eating holes in the cliff-top for the explosives, were operated by a large engine, protected by an unpainted shed. This unsightly building added to the hideousness of the scarred and mournful scenery. Within a month the force of men employed was increased from seventy-five to one hundred and eighty, and the demolition went on at a disheartening rate. Heavy boulders, torn from the crags above, were blasted into fragments every few hours, and scores of men were employed loading and sending to the crusher carloads of the rock to be pulverized for road-making. A spot which should be one of nature's most beautiful pictures became an eyesore, a sordid scene of desolation. How sad that Congress waited so long! But it is sadder still to see a young man or a young woman permitting the best years of youth and hope to be eaten up in frivolity and sin instead of giving to Christ the strength and beauty of their young souls.

One of the things that differentiates Christianity from all other religions is that it offers more. Alchemy, the practice that supposedly transforms all the baser metals into gold-at least, it would if we could discover it-the only real alchemy is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I once heard somebody say that it made plain faces beautiful. So it does. It makes commonplace people majestic. I have thought sometimes where would William Carey have been-one of our great pioneers and national heroes-if he had not given his heart to Jesus Christ? A cobbler in Northampton. And Bunyan was worse, he would have stayed tinker, and not much of a tinker at that, but for the fact that he gave himself to Jesus Christ. One of the most surprising men of the nineteenth century was Dwight L. Moody, just the hard old New England type. Somebody said of him that the world had yet to see what God would do with a man who gave himself unreservedly to Jesus Christ; and he said, "I will try."

The love of Christ hath a height without a top, a depth without a bottom, a length without an end and a breadth without a limit.

Did you ever stop to ask what a yoke is really for? Is it to be a burden to the animal which wears it? It is just the opposite. It is to make its burden light. Attached to the oxen in any other way than by a yoke, the plows would be intolerable. Worked by means of a yoke, it is light. A yoke is not an instrument of torture; it is an instrument of mercy. It is not a malicious contrivance for making work hard; it is a gentle device to make hard labor light. It is not meant to give pain, but to save pain. And yet men speak of the yoke of Christ as if it were a slavery, and look upon those who wear it as objects of compassion. Christ's yoke is simply His secret for the alleviation of human life, His prescription for the best and happiest method of living.

-Henry Drummond

There was a certain king whose son was sent upon an errand to a far country, and when he came into that country, although he was the lawful prince of it, he found that the citizens would not acknowledge him. They mocked at him, jeered at him, and took him and set him in the pillory, and there they scoffed at him and pelted him with filth. Now, there was one in that country who knew the prince, and he alone stood up for him when all the mob was in tumult raging against him. And when they set him on high as an object of scorn, this man stood side by side with him to wipe the filth from that dear royal face; and when from cruel hands missiles in scorn were thrown, this man took his full share; and whenever he could he thrust himself before the prince to ward off the blows from him if possible, and to bear the scorn instead of him. Now it came to pass that after awhile the prince went on his way, and in due season the man who had been the prince's friend was called to the king's palace. And on a day when all the princes of the court were around, and the peers and nobles of the land were sitting in their places, the king came to his throne and he called for that man, and he said, "Make way, princes and nobles! Make way! Here is a man more noble than you all, for he stood boldly forth with my son when he was scorned and scoffed at! Make way, I say, each one of you, for he shall sit at my right hand with my own son. As he took a share of his scorn, he shall now take a share of his honor." And there sat princes and nobles who wished that they had been there-they now envied the man who had been privileged to endure scorn and scoffing for the prince's sake! You need not that I interpret the parable. May you make angels envious of you, if envy can ever pierce their holy minds. You can submit for Christ's sake to sufferings which it is not possible for seraphim or cherubim to endure.

Spurgeon also wrote:

"If I possess a love-token that some dear one has given me, I may rightly desire to have it with me. Nobody can have such a right to your wedding ring, good sister, as you have yourself; and are not Christ's saints, as it were, a signet upon his finger, a token which his Father gave him of his good pleasure in him? Should they not be with Jesus where he is, since they are his crown jewels and his glory? We in our creature love lift up our hands and cry, 'My Lord, my Master, let me have this dear one with me a little longer. I need the companionship of one so sweet, or life will be misery to me.' But if Jesus looks us in the face, and says, 'Is thy right better than mine?' we draw back at once. He has a greater part in his saints than we can have."

"I am lost," said Mr. Whitefield's brother to the Countess of Huntington. "I am delighted to hear it," said the Countess. "Oh," cried he, "what a dreadful thing to say!" "Nay," said she, "'for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost' (Matthew 18:11; Luke 19:10); therefore, I know he is come to save you." O sinner, it would be unreasonable to despair. The more broken you are, the more ruined you are, the more vile you are in your own esteem, so much the more room is there for the display of infinite mercy and power.

Here is yet another illustration by Spurgeon:

"When bullocks are yoked, there are generally two. I have watched them in Northern Italy, and noticed that when two are yoked together, and they are perfectly agreed, the yoke is always easy to both of them. If one were determined to lie down and the other to stand up, the yoke would be very uncomfortable; but when they are both of one mind you will see them look at each other with those large, lustrous, brown eyes of theirs so lovingly, and with a look they read each other's minds, so that when one wants to lie down, down they go, or when one wishes to go forward, forward they both go, keeping step. In this way the yoke is easy. Now I think the Savior says to us, 'I am bearing one end of the yoke on my shoulder; come, my disciple, place your neck under the other side of it, and then learn of me. Keep step with me, be as I am, do as I do. I am meek and lowly in heart; your heart must be like mine, and then we will work together in blessed fellowship, and you will find that working with me is a happy thing; for my yoke is easy to me, and will be to you. Come, then, true yoke-fellow, come and be yoked with me, take my yoke upon you, and learn of me' (Matthew 11:29, Matthew 11:30)."

It is told of a Roman youth who, notwithstanding a mother's unwearied prayers, had lived a life of self-seeking and sinful indulgence. Then one day, as he sat in the garden, in the cloudless beauty of an autumn day, a great struggle took place in his mind. Throwing himself on his knees he prayed earnestly to God, "O Lord, how long-how long-how long wilt thou be angry with me? Must it be forever, tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrows? Why should it not be today?" Suddenly in his agony he seemed to hear the voice as of a little child repeating, "Take up and read"; "Take up and read." And taking up the Epistles of St. Paul which he had happened to be reading, and opening the book at random, his eye caught these words: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof (Romans 13:13, Romans 13:14). The words came to him as a direct message from God, and in one instant strong resolve, he determined forever to break with his old life and in the might of Christ to enter on the new. Augustine put on Christ.

(John 12:32)

A gentleman who was being urged to accept Christ, said to the preacher, "There are some things in the Bible that seem to me to be highly contradictory. Christ must have overestimated himself. Once he declared that he would draw all men unto him, and yet he hasn't done it. I know you will remind me that he hasn't yet been lifted up before all men, but even that does not alter the case. Men go to church and listen to you; they even read the Bible, and then go away and live worldly lives. They devote themselves to money-making and sensuality, and are not drawn to your Christ-at least, not more than one of them in a hundred is."

"Do you believe that there is such a thing as gravitation?" the preacher asked.

"Certainly I do."

"Well, what is it?"

"I believe philosophers define it as being an invisible force by which all matter is drawn to the center of the earth."

The preacher stepped to the window. "Come here," he said. "Do you see those gilt balls?" pointing to the pawnbroker's sign across the street.

"Yes."

"How about the power of gravitation now? You say that it draws all matter to the center of the earth, and yet those balls have been hanging there for three years."

"Oh, well!" said the young man, his face flushing, "they are fastened to that iron rod."

"Yes," replied the preacher, "and it is so with the men of whom you speak. One is bound fast by the lusts of the flesh; another is anchored by his ambitions, and still another finds his business an iron rod that holds him fast."

Christ draws men wherever he is lifted up to their view, but they can resist him if they will.

Christ came that men might have more abundant life than they had ever known before. No man has ever known from any other source a life so sweet and rich and full as that which comes to him whose life is "hid with Christ in God" and who sups daily with Jesus at the head of the table of his heart. How beautifully James McLeod characterizes the richness of such fellowship:

Purer than the purest fountain,

Wider than the widest sea,

Sweeter than the sweetest music,

Is God's love in Christ to me.

Why love me?

I do not know;

I only know

That nothing less than love divine

Could save this sinful soul of mine.

Elsie Lyle took a journey by rail. As the train was starting her pastor said to her: "I am glad you have a holiday, and traveling will give you a good opportunity to shine for Jesus." She wondered how in a railway-carriage she could do anything for Jesus. In front of her was a poor woman with three ragged, untidy children. They did not look very inviting, but she said: "I am one of Christ's disciples and I must be careful how I treat one of his little ones." She read to them and gave them some of her lunch, and was so occupied in entertaining them that she came to the end of her journey before she realized it. When she reviewed the day's work she said to herself: "Mr. Wardwell said traveling gave good opportunity to shine for Jesus and I have not spoken a word for Christ all day." A few days later Mr. Wardwell said to her, "Mr. Smith, the lawyer, who sat on the opposite side of the carriage you traveled in the other day, says he wishes to become a Christian. He said: 'I traveled lately with Elsie Lyle, who had just confessed her love for Christ, and for a half-day she proved an angel of mercy to a worn-out mother and three fretful children and never appeared to think of herself for a moment. What the Spirit of Christ has done for her I want done for me.' And the best of it all is, Elsie, he is now a Christian and your shining face led him to Christ."

A dissipated Russian officer having become hopelessly involved in debt, sat down in desperation and wrote out a list of his indebtedness. Summing up the whole, he wrote in despair at the bottom, "Who can pay such a debt as this?" That night the emperor passed through the barracks in disguise and seeing the paper beside the sleeping man, read it, and wrote at the end of the question the one word Nicholas! In the morning the officer wondered who had done it, but all doubts vanished when at ten o'clock the emperor sent the cash necessary for the heavy payment. Unsaved reader, you are in debt also. Think of your sins, how much you owe your Lord, and when in despair you say, "Who can pay such a debt?" then whisper the name of Jesus. He can pay it. He has paid it.

Jesus paid it all, Yes, all the debt you owe!

Many years ago Lough Fook, a Chinese Christian, moved with compassion for the workers in the South American mines, sold himself into slavery for a term of five years and was transported to Demerara that he might carry the gospel to his countrymen there. He toiled in the mines with them and preached Christ as he toiled, until there were scores of whom he could say, as Paul of Onesimus, "whom I have begotten in my bonds" (Philemon 1:10), He died some time ago, but not until he had won to the Savior nearly two hundred disciples, whom he left behind in membership with Christian churches. To a Christian Chinaman belongs the honor of coming nearest to his Master in actual deed for "He took upon Him the form of a slave" (see Philippians 2:7).

"The Lord shall fight for you" (Exodus 14:14).

The Turks, having tortured and slain the parents of a little Armenian girl before her eyes, turned to the child and said, "Will you renounce your faith in Jesus, and live?" She replied, "I will not." "Then to the dogs!" she was thrown into a kennel of savage and famished dogs and left there. The next morning they came and looked in, to see the little girl on her knees praying, and beside her the largest and most savage of all the dogs, snapping at every dog that ventured near, thus protecting the child. The men ran away terrified, crying out, "There is a god here; there is a god here."

"How do you know that Christ is risen?" Someone asked an old fisherman whose faith in Jesus seemed very simple and sure. "Do you see those cottages near that high cliff?" he replied, pointing to the shore. "Well, sometimes, when I am far out at sea, I know that the sun is risen by the reflection in those windows. How do I know that Christ is risen? Because I see His light reflected from the faces of some of my fellows every day, and because the light of His glory shines into my own life. And I hope that I am reflecting that light to others." That is the way it was with the disciples on the day of Pentecost. They were reflecting the light of the risen Christ, and so the people were filled with amazement. Only as we reflect a risen Christ in our lives will the world know that He is risen indeed.