13 Sermon Illustrations on Salvation By Grace

“The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10

It is a very unpalatable truth for the average natural man or woman that man is an utterly lost sinner who could never find his own way back to God. We all like to think there is something we can do to help save ourselves, whereas, according to God’s Word we are not only lost, but without ability to retrieve our condition. It is remarkable how apt some are in quick illustrations of spiritual realities, as the following instance will show.

A recent convert rose in a meeting to give his testimony to the saving grace of God. He told how the Lord had won his heart and given deliverance from the guilt and power of sin. He spoke of Christ and His work, but said nothing of any efforts of his own.

The leader of the meeting was of a legalistic turn of mind, and when the man’s testimony was ended, he said, “Our brother has only told us of the Lord’s part in his salvation. When I was converted there was a whole lot I had to do myself before I could expect the Lord to do anything for me. Brother, didn’t you do your part first before God did His?”  The other was on his feet again in an instant and replied: “Yes, sir, I clear done forgot. I didn’t tell you ‘bout my part, did I? Well, I did my part for over thirty years, runnin’ away from God as fast as ever my sins could carry me. That was my part. An’ God took after me till He run me down. That was His part.” It was well put and tells the story that every redeemed sinner understands.

“They … weave the spider’s web … neither shall they cover themselves with their works.” Isaiah 59:5-6

Some years ago there came to Los Angeles, the great metropolis of Southern California, a so-called “human fly.” It was announced that on a given day he would climb up the face of one of the large department store buildings, and long before the appointed time, thousands of eager spectators were gathered to see him perform the seemingly impossible feat.

But slowly and carefully he mounted aloft, now clinging to a window ledge, anon to a jutting brick, again to a cornice. Up and up he went, against apparently insurmountable difficulties. At last he was nearing the top. He was seen to feel to right and left and above his head for something firm enough to support his weight, to carry him further. And soon he seemed to spy what looked like a gray bit of stone or discolored brick protruding from the smooth wall. He reached for it, but it was just beyond him. He ventured all on a spring-like movement, grasped the protuberance and, before the horrified eyes of the spectators, fell to the ground and was broken to pieces. In his dead hand was found a spider’s web! What he evidently mistook for solid stone or brick turned out to be nothing but dried froth!

Alas, how many are thinking to climb to heaven by effort of their own, only to find at last that they have ventured all on a spider’s web, and so are lost forever.

I remember when I was a boy and went to Boston, I went to the postoffice two or three times a day to see if there was a letter for me. I knew there was not, as there was but one mail a day. I had not had any employment and was very homesick, and so went constantly to the postoffice, thinking perhaps when the mail did come in my letter had been mislaid. At last, however, I got a letter. It was from my youngest sister, the first letter she ever wrote to me. I opened it with a light heart thinking there was some good news from home, but the burden of the whole letter was that she had heard there were pickpockets in Boston, and warned me to take care of them. I thought I had better get some money in hand first, and then I might take care of pickpockets. And so you must take care to remember salvation is a gift. You don't work for salvation; but work day and night after you have got it. Get it first before you do anything, but don't try to get it yourself. Look at what Paul says in Ephesians: "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God"--it is the gift of God--"Not of works, lest any man should boast." There is one thing we know: We have all got to get into heaven the same way. We cannot work our way there; we have to take our salvation from God.

There is a well-known story told of Napoleon the First's time. In one of the conscriptions, during one of his many wars, a man was balloted as a conscript who did not want to go, but he had a friend who offered to go in his place. His friend joined the regiment in his name, and was sent off to the war. By and by a battle came on, in which he was killed, and they buried him on the battle-field. Some time after the Emperor wanted more men, and by some mistake the first man was balloted a second time. They went to take him but he remonstrated. You cannot take me." "Why not?" "I am dead," was the reply. "You are not dead; you are alive and well." "But I am dead," he said "Why, man, you must be mad. Where did you die?" "At such a battle, and you left me buried on such a battlefield." "You talk like a mad man," they cried; but the man stuck to his point that he had been dead and buried some months. "You look up your books," he said, "and see if it is not so." They looked, and found that he was right. They found the man's name entered as drafted, sent to the war, and marked off as killed. "Look here," they said, "you didn't die; you must have got some one to go for you; it must have been your substitute." "I know that," he said; "he died in my stead. You cannot touch me: I died in that man, and I go free. The law has no claim against me." They would not recognize the doctrine of substitution, and the case was carried to the Emperor. But he said that the man was right, that he was dead and buried in the eyes of the law, and that France had no claim against him. This story may or may not be true but one thing I know is true; Jesus Christ suffered death for the sinner, and those who accept Him are free from the law.

Observe what happens when the cry rises at sea, "A man overboard!" With others on deck, you rush to the side; and, leaning over the bulwarks, with beating heart you watch the place where the rising air-bells and boiling deep tell that he has gone down. After some moments of breathless anxiety, you see his head emerge from the wave. Now, that man, I shall suppose is no swimmer; he has never learned to breast the billows; yet, with the first breath he draws, he begins to beat the water; with violent efforts, he attempts to shake off the grasp of death, and by the play of limbs and arms to keep his head from sinking. It may be that these struggles but exhaust his strength, and sink him all the sooner; nevertheless, that drowning one makes instinctive and convulsive efforts to save himself. So, when first brought to feel and cry, "I perish!" when the horrible conviction rushes into the soul, that we are lost; when we feel ourselves going down beneath a load of guilt into the depth of the wrath of God, — our first effort is to save ourselves. Like a drowning man, who will clutch at straws and twigs, we seize on any thing, however worthless, that promises salvation. Thus, alas! many poor souls toil, and spend weary, unprofitable years, in the attempt to establish a righteousness of their own, and find in the deeds of the law protection from its curse. Dr. Guthrie.

A Chinese convert, says Dr. Medhurst, illustrates this as follows: "How can a man trust in his own righteousness? It is like seeking shelter under one's own shadow: we may stoop to the very ground, and, the lower we bend, we still find that our shadow is beneath us. But, if a man flee to the shadow of a great rock or a wide-spreading tree, he will find shelter from the noonday sun. So human merits are unavailing, and Christ alone is able to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by him."

The following epitaph is inscribed upon a monument in one of the Roman Catholic chapels, in the city of Cork:—"J. H. S 465 Sacred to the memory of the benevolent Edward Molloy, the friend of humanity, the father of the poor; he employed the wealth of this world, only to procure the riches of the next; and leaving a balance of merit on the book of life, he made heaven debtor to mercy. He died 17th October, 1818, aged 90. R. J. P." How daring the impiety of making the Creator debtor to his creature!