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12 Sermon Illustrations on Salvation By Faith

12 illustrations

Salvation by faith emphasizes trusting in Christ's finished work for forgiveness and eternal life, rather than relying on personal merit (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christian preaching often uses images like clean robes symbolizing purity and the assurance of salvation secured through simple, genuine faith (Romans 5:1). Faith is portrayed as the means by which grace effectively brings salvation to the believer.

How Were People Saved in the Old Testament?

Hebrews 11

People in the Old Testament were saved by faith, not by law or sacrifices.

Dr. Harry Ironside, for 18 years pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago, told of visiting a Sunday School class while on vacation. The teacher asked, "How were people saved in Old Testament times?" After a pause, one man replied, "By keeping the Law." "That's right," said the teacher. But Dr. Ironside interrupted: "My Bible says that by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified." The teacher was a bit embarrassed, so he said, "Well, does somebody else have an idea?" Another student replied, "They were saved by bringing sacrifice to God." "Yes, that's right!" the teacher said and tried to go on with the lesson. But Dr. Ironside interrupted, "My Bible says that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin." By this time the unprepared teacher was sure the visitor knew more about the Bible than he did, so he said, "Well, you tell us how people were saved in the Old Testament!" And Dr. Ironside explained that they were saved by faith-the same way people are saved today! Twenty-one times in Hebrews 11 will you find the same words, "by faith."

Saved by Faith

The urgent need is to seek salvation, not to understand the origin of sin fully.

The recognition of your sinful and lost estate does not necessarily mean that you have to understand fully how and why it all happened before you can cry out for help and salvation. A man once came to a preacher and asked, "How is it that I was born with an evil heart? Is that fair, that I should inherit the sin of Adam?" The preacher replied, "The question that should concern you more is how to get rid of your evil heart. You have an evil heart which renders you completely unfit for the Kingdom of God; you must have a new heart or you cannot be saved. The question which now most deeply concerns you is, how shall you obtain it?" But the man insisted, "I wish you would tell me how I came by my wicked heart." "I shall not do that at present," replied the preacher, "for if I could do it to your entire satisfaction, it would not in the least help you toward obtaining a new heart. The great thing for which I am desirous is that you should become a new creature and be prepared for heaven." Then he continued, "You are like a man who is drowning. Along come his friends to save him, but he insists on being told exactly how he came to be drowning before he will consent to be rescued." The man started to think. The preacher was right. The most urgent thing for him and for you is not the full understanding of why and how you came to be what you are, but to come to the Savior, to become what you can be-a child of God by receiving Jesus Christ.

Man's Way of Salvation

Good works don't replace the need to accept Jesus Christ as Savior.

Billy Sunday told of a man who came to him and said, "I will cut out the booze and get on the water wagon," "Good; what else?" "Of course, I am a gambler; I will quit gambling and I will never touch a pack of cards." "All right; what else?" "I am a bad man, and I will live a clean life." "Good; what else?" He said, "If I quit these things, I think they cover about all. I will quit drinking, swearing, stop gambling, and I will quit being impure." Billy said, "Good. Give me your hand and say you will accept Jesus Christ as your Savior," He said, "No, I will not. If I stop those things, I won't need to do that."

You Must Believe

Salvation must be personally received by faith; it cannot be taken on another’s behalf.

A young nurse was helping to care for a sick, Christian gentleman whom she loved very much. He said to her, "Ellen, it is time I should take my medicine. Measure just a tablespoon and put it in a glass." She quickly did so and brought it to his bedside. He made no attempt to take it from her but said, "Now, dear, will you drink it for me?" "Me drink it? What do you mean? I am sure I would in a minute if it would make you well, but you know it won't do you any good unless you take it yourself." "Won't it really?" "No, I am sure it will not." "If you cannot take my medicine for me, neither can I take your salvation for you. You must go to Jesus and believe in Him for yourself." The dear old saint of God had been trying to explain to his young nurse that she could not be saved on his account and by serving him, but rather through her own acceptance of Jesus Christ as her Savior.

Believe and Receive

Galatians 2:20

Belief is necessary to receive God's regenerating life in Christ.

There are radio waves all around us sent out by transmitters. Only a receiving set can catch them. If you don't tune your radio to the waves of the transmitter you'll never understand what the speaker is saying. If you're not tuned in to God, you'll never understand Him either. Don't try in your unbelief to understand and know God. It's impossible. You must believe before you can receive His regenerating nature. St. Paul knew this when he said, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). Then your battles, the temptations that beset you, will be fought by Christ Himself. He can more easily bear the burdens of your life than you can by yourself.

The Wrong Door

John 10:9

Salvation comes only through Christ, not by trying to earn it through good works.

“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” John 10:9

A young man who often listened to a great Scotch preacher wanted to be saved. He had a longing in his heart to know Christ as his deliverer and to know the blessedness of God’s salvation; although he wept and prayed and sought, he could get no sense of forgiveness, no assurance that he was received by God. One night the minister preached on those words, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” and he showed that “any man” took in poor sinners, no matter how vile, how wicked, how corrupt they were. As he preached, he could see the cloud lift from this young man’s face; at the close of the meeting, he came to the front and said, “I got in tonight.”

“What do you mean,” asked the preacher.

“Why, I got in at the open door tonight while you were preaching.”

“I am glad to hear it. But why did you not get in before? You have been troubled for a fortnight and I have been trying to help you, and others have been doing their best to help you. How was it that you did not get in until tonight?”

“Well,” said the young man, “I have been at the wrong door all the time. I have been knocking at the saints’ door and I found it locked against me. I thought I had to become good enough for God to save me, but I said tonight, I will try the sinner’s door, and when I came to it, it was open and I got right inside.”

Christ, the Only Name

Only the name of Christ brings true peace and salvation to the sinner's soul.

A few persons were collected round a blind man, who had taken his station on the bridge over a canal in the City Road, London; and was reading from an embossed Bible. Receiving from the passers-by of their carnal things, he was ministering to them spiritual things. A gentleman on his way home from the city was led by curiosity to the outskirts of the crowd. Just then, the poor man, who was reading in the fourth chapter of the Acts, lost his place, and, while trying to find it with his finger, kept repeating the last clause he had read, "None other name — none other name — none other name." Some of the people smiled at the blind man's embarrassment; but the gentleman went away deeply musing. He had lately become convinced that he was a sinner, and had been trying in many ways to obtain peace of mind; but religious exercises, good resolutions, altered habits, all were ineffectual to relieve his conscience of its load, and enable him to rejoice in God. The words he had heard from the blind man, however, rang like solemn music in his soul, "None other name." When he reached his home, and retired to rest, these words, like evening chime from village tower nestling amongst the trees, were still heard, "None other name — none other name — none other name;" and when he awoke, in more joyful measure, like matin bells saluting the morn, the strain continued, "None other name — none other name — none other name." The music entered his soul; and, by the blessing of God, he awoke to a new life. "I see it all," said he; "I see it all! I have been trying to be saved by my own works, my repentance, my prayers, my reformation. I see my mistake. It is Jesus who alone can save. To him I will look. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name, none other name, none other name, under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."

from New Cyclopaedia of Prose Illustrations · Elon Foster salvation

Faith, Robes of

Revelation 7:14

Saving faith is like robes washed white in the blood of Christ, symbolizing purity and salvation.

There are divers degrees of faith, as divers-colored cloths; but the saving faith is arrayed in the scarlet robe, hath dipped and dyed herself in the blood of her Saviour Jesus: yet is she white, pure white, as the snow of Lebanon. So are all that be washed in that red fountain: "They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." T. Adams.

from New Cyclopaedia of Prose Illustrations · Elon Foster faith

Faith, Salvation by

Salvation is assured for those who believe, while unbelief leads to condemnation.

God has linked faith and salvation together by more than "books of steel,"—even by his unchangeable decree. No decrees of God are more certain than these: "He that believeth shall be saved; and he that believeth not shall be damned." He that believeth is passed already from death to life, while he that believeth not is condemned already. Dr. Hoge

from New Cyclopaedia of Prose Illustrations · Elon Foster faith

Faith, Saving

Even a small measure of true faith in Christ secures salvation.

It is not the quantity of thy faith that shall save thee. A drop of water is as true water as the whole ocean; so a little faith is as true faith as the greatest. A child eight days old is as really a man at one of sixty years; a spark of fire is as true fire as a great flame; a sickly man is as truly living as a well man. So it is not the measure of thy faith that saves thee,—it is the blood that it grips to that saves thee; as the weak hand of a child, that leads the spoon to the mouth will feed as well as the strong arm of a man; for it is not the hand that feeds thee, but the meat. So, if thou canst grip Christ ever so weakly, he will not let thee perish. T. Adams.

from New Cyclopaedia of Prose Illustrations · Elon Foster faith

Salvation, by Faith and Grace

Faith and grace work together as instrument and power in salvation.

Faith saves, and grace saves, — faith as the instrument, and grace as the divine efficacy; faith the channel, and grace the heavenly stream; faith the finger that touches the garment's fringe, and grace the virtue that pours from the Saviour's heart. Faith cannot scale the dreadful precipice from which Nature has fallen; but it can lay hold on the rope which grace has let down even into his hands from the top, and which will draw up again with all the burden faith can bind to it. And this is all the mystery of faith's saving. Christ reaches down from heaven, and faith reaches up from earth; and each hand grasps the other, — one in weakness, the other in power.

— Dr. Hoge

from New Cyclopaedia of Prose Illustrations · Elon Foster grace of god

The Sailor'S Explanation

True faith is trusting Christ's finished work, not merely good works or religious acts.

Mr. Stewart, in his Journal of a Residence in the Sandwich Islands, relates that whilst on board a ship sailing from America to those islands, he felt it his duty to instruct the sailors; and he had several proofs that his labors were not in vain. One sailor, named R—, had been brought to trust in Christ for salvation; and, shortly after, meeting with another who was anxiously inquiring the way of salvation, he thus addressed him: "It was just so with myself once; I did not know what faith was, or how to obtain it; but I know now what it is, and I believe I possess it. But I do not know that I can tell you what it is, or how to get it. I can tell you what it is not: it is not knocking off swearing, and drinking, and such like; and it is not reading the Bible, nor praying, nor being good: it is none of these; for even if they would answer for the time to come, there is the old score still, and how are you to get clear of that? It is not any thing you have done or can do: it is only believing and trusting to what Christ has done; it is forsaking your sins, and looking for their pardon and the salvation of your soul, because he died and shed his blood for sin; and it is nothing else." The most learned divine could not have given a more simple or scriptural exposition of this important subject, or one better adapted to carry conviction to the heart. The simplest terms are the most difficult of explanation, while the unsophisticated feelings of genuine piety find a ready response in every awakened mind.

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