446 Sermon Illustrations on Sin

There is a dainty bright

blue butterfly of less than an inch wingspread that

has jewel-like gold spots on its wings. It is very lovely to behold,

but it

has a disgusting habit and diet. Instead of soaring heavenward in

sunlight as

it might. . . instead of protecting it's beauty. . . it descends

instead to

settle and feed on the dung in the field. When you come to Jesus and

repent of

your sins, He forgives you making you clean, and innocent before God.

The

forgiveness you receive, however, is only for sins that you have

committed

against Him. Still remaining down inside is a corrupt human nature

that you

were born with. It has corrupt desires. Since you have given your

heart to

Jesus you want to live for Him in purity and obedience. Unfortunately

the

corrupt human nature has a different idea. . . it wants its own way

which is

usually not God's way. . . so a struggle begins in between your

forgiven

spirit and your corrupt human nature. Paul talks about this in

\reference{Romans 7}{Romans 7} . .

note for example in verses 22, 23 where he says, "For I delight in the

law of

God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members,

warring

against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law

of sin

which is in my members."

When I was a boy (Sam

Lindahl), I would go with my cousin across the pasture

to a little creek on my uncle's farm. Once, while following my oldest

cousin

we came to the "crick" and were going to cross. Carmin straddled the

water

and reached down to pick up what I thought was a large rock. It was

bumpy,

mossy, green, and hard. But when he pulled it out of the water, it

had a

head, 4 legs, and a tail. It was mean old snapping turtle. He did

his best

to bite, and get loose from my cousin's hold, but he couldn't. I'll

never

forget how surprised I was. Many people come to camp or church, and

look like

they fit right into the environment. They act right, talk right, but

in their

hearts is biting, snapping, carnality.

A man came to California

to be the pastor of a church. The first Sunday, his

wife sat on "the wrong side." He didn't even dream he'd come to a

split

congregation. She sat with the "wrong" group. . . she sat with the one

third,

and there were two-thirds the other way. . They never forgave her. . .

though

she didn't known the church was divided into sides. Nothing is more

unbecoming. . . nothing is more fatal to a church. . . than those who

are not

entirely sanctified and refuse to listen to God's call to holiness of

heart.

As long as Christians refuse to obey God by going on the receive the

cleansing

of their human natures as Jesus baptizes their spirit with the

cleansing agent

of His Holy Spirit,. . . .as long as Christians refuse His call to be

entirely

sanctified, then there will be division and strife in that church.

We cringe when we think

of the Nazi scientific experiments of injecting

children with TB germs and watching them die. Genocide was so shocking

it is

even today hard to bear the horror of five million dead. The utter

and

absolute depravity of man and his horrible capacity for evil became

most

apparent. But, Nazis are not the only ones to blame. All of us have

seen men

and women who are apparently dedicated to evil, with hearts united to

hate God

and goodness.

George Goff was holding a

revival (his first) for Winfield Poe. When he

arrived Bro. Poe said, "Preach it like every one of them needed to get

saved."

That's exactly what Bro. Goff did. Following the first nights service,

the

board of deacons called Bro. and Sis. Poe in to talk to them. They

talked to

them until 1 or 2 in the morning. They literally raked them over the

coals.

During the meeting, as Bro. Goff was preaching he would sense that the

service

would tighten up. Each time he would say, "Well it looks like I hit a

stump."

or "It looks like a hit another stump." Then he would go on

preaching. It

wasn't until late in the revival that he found out that some of the

people in

the church had the name "Stump."

Radio personality Paul Harvey tells the story of how an Eskimo kills a

wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the

consuming, self-destructive nature of sin. "First, the Eskimo coats

his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he

adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is

completely concealed by frozen blood. "Next, the hunter fixes his

knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his

sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he

licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster,

more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is

bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in

the arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf

does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own

tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable

thirst is being satisfied by his OWN warm blood. His carnivorous

appetite just craves more--until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!"

It is a fearful thing that people can be "consumed by their own

lusts." Only God's grace keeps us from the wolf's fate. Chris T. Zwingelberg

The drunk husband snuck up the stairs quietly. He looked in the

bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he'd received in a

fight earlier that night. He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling

at the thought that he'd pulled one over on his wife. When morning

came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. "You were drunk

last night weren't you!" "No, honey." "Well, if you weren't, then who

put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror

In 1982, “ABC Evening News” reported on an unusual work of modern art -- a chair affixed to a shotgun. It was to be viewed by sitting in the chair and looking directly into the gun barrel. The gun was loaded and set on a timer to fire at an undetermined moment within the next hundred years.

The amazing thing was that people waited in lines to sit and stare into the shell’s path! They all knew the gun could go off at point-blank range at any moment, but they were gambling that the fatal blast wouldn’t happen during THEIR minute in the chair.

Yes, it was foolhardy, yet many people who wouldn’t dream of sitting in that chair live a lifetime gambling that they can get away with sin. Foolishly they ignore the risk until the inevitable self-destruction.

________

ILLUSTRATIONS FOR PREACHING & TEACHING, editor Craig Brian Larson, Baker Books, p. 226.

Mr. Spurgeon once made a parable. He said, "There was once a tyrant

who summoned one of his subjects into his presence, and ordered him to

make a chain. The poor blacksmith -- that was his occupation -- had to

go to work and forge the chain. When it was done, he brought it into

the presence of the tyrant, and was ordered to take it away and make

it twice the length. He brought it again to the tyrant, and again he

was ordered to double it. Back he came when he had obeyed the order,

and the tyrant looked at it, and then commanded the servants to bind

the man hand and foot with the chain he had made and cast him into

prison."That is what the devil does with men," Mr. Spurgeon said. "He

makes them forge their own chain, and then binds them hand and foot

with it, and casts them into outer darkness." My friends, that is just what drunkards, gamblers, blasphemers -- that

is just what every sinner is doing. But thank God, we can tell them of

a deliverer. The Son of God has power to break every one of their

fetters if they will only come to Him. Moody's Anecdotes, Page 48-49

This was how Susannah Wesley defined "sin" to her young son, John Wesley: "If you would judge of the lawfulness or the unlawfulness of pleasure, then take this simple rule: Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, and takes off the relish of spiritual things -- that to you is sin."

Resource, July/August, 1990

Augustine's stages with sin: 1. Lord make me good, but not yet. 2. Lord make me good, but not entirely. 3. Lord make me good.

A striking incident was given me while laboring on the Pacific

coast. A deep cave had been discovered that, so far as was known, had

never been explored. But one man, determined to have the exclusive

honor of exploring the interior of the cave, procured a small hand

lamp and a large ball of twine, and went to the cave alone, and

fastening one end of the twine securely to some firm substance

outside, took his lamp and ball of twine and entered the cave,

climbing over rugged rocks and through deep, damp passages, unwinding

his ball as he went. He felt sure if his lamp went out he could find

his way back by the twine.

In this way he had gone a long way into the cave, having several

times passed through small openings, until he reached a large,

beautiful room in the cave. This room was adorned with rare and

beautiful curiosities.

As far as could be ascertained, the man meant to bring out some of

these curiosities. So setting down his lamp and putting his ball of

twine by the side of it, he had gone some distance to break off a

specimen, to bring out to his friends.

While he was doing this his lamp tipped over and went out. He at

once left whatever he was endeavoring to obtain, to find his lamp and

twine. He knew his life depended on his finding his lamp and twine.

His tracks could be seen where he had crept in total darkness back and

forth in search of his lamp, but it was all in vain. His lamp once out

his death was certain. If any one ever started for a given window, in

a very dark night, perhaps reaching just the opposite window, you can

imagine how difficult was the situation of this poor man in the dark

cave.

Long weary hours and weary days and nights, he searched as best he

could for his lamp and twine, still in vain. Oh what thoughts of home

and dear ones. What self reproach over his folly in not having some

one with him, but it was too late then. He must die alone unwept. At

last the struggle was over. Exhausted and worn he laid down and died.

And as no one knew he was there, it was a long time before his body

was found and returned to the dear ones.

So it is with unconverted men, they have a little light, in having

some desire to become a Christian. The Holy Spirit, though often

grieved and insulted by their rejection of his gracious calls, still

shines, although it may be faintly, upon their darkness and would lead

them out to hope and heaven. As in the cave when the light went out,

the thread was lost, so when the Spirit leaves, the silken thread of

desire is lost and they are in a dark cave without a guide to lead

them out. Then their bitter cry will be, "The harvest is passed, the

summer is ended, and we are not saved."

"Too late! too late! will be the cry,

Jesus of Nazareth has passed by."

-- A. B. Earle, From: "Incidents Used ... In His Meetings," published

in 1888

When I was in Portland, Oregon, a merchant attended our meeting with not the slightest idea of ever becoming a Christian. He stated to me that for the last ten years he had felt entirely certain that he had committed the “unpardonable sin,” and that nothing that could be said or done could possibly bring a ray of hope to him.

He was engaged in a large mercantile business, and very active in it, yet certain that hell was his portion when life terminated. Think of a man in his family and business circles for ten long years, shut up in this prison of despair.

On Sunday, I preached in the great City Hall, on the sin that can never be forgiven. This man was present.

In the sermon, I answered four questions. First, what is this sin; second, who can commit it; third, how it shows itself after it has been committed; fourth, why it cannot be forgiven.

That this sin is not murder, nor theft, nor drunkenness, nor falsehood, but a wilful and continued rejection of the gospel of Christ. Not one act of a man's life, but a repetition of the same thing until he is a sinner let alone. To continue to say, no, no, to the calls of the gospel and strivings of the Holy Spirit, until not one desire is left in his heart to become a Christian. That with the commission of this sin the desire to seek Christ dies out in his bosom.

That when he has fully reached this sin he is never gloomy, never cast down as the effect of this sin. He never enjoyed life better, sleeps well, works well. He has no conviction for sin now, but on the contrary,

“The conscience may be still at ease,

The spirits light and gay;

That which is pleasing still may please,

And care be thrust away.”

I showed as clearly as I could that the most moral person in the world, who deliberately said no, to the call and invitations of the gospel of Christ, was in equal danger with the immoral, as the moral had more light than the immoral, and hence the danger of grieving the Spirit.

As I pursued this course of reasoning, it flashed across this despairing man's mind that it was barely possible that he had not committed this sin. After the sermon he sought an interview with me alone.

After listening to an account of his experience and reasons for believing himself a doomed sinner, I saw clearly that the Holy Spirit was then striving with him, and that he only needed light on the nature of that sin. I finally said to him:

“I will not take your sins on me, but I will take the unpardonable part of them on me (I know better); this sin never shows itself in this way in one instance. I can pray in faith for you if you will give yourself to Christ as far as you know.”

We kneeled and prayed. What a scene followed. He seemed to wake up as from a ten years, dream. The spell was broken, Christ stood forth before his mind's gaze, all radiant with love as his Saviour. He felt the witness of his acceptance, and oh, such joy as beamed in his face. Such manifest expressions of gratitude to me that I had come six thousand miles to show him Christ. I felt then and do now a thousand times paid for the whole journey and work, on the Pacific Coast. I wished then and do now that I could fly to every man on earth who fears, as did this man, that he has committed this sin, and speak the same words to him. But let me caution every one not to say no to calls of the Gospel again. There is the last call and the last opportunity. -- A. B. Earle, From: “Incidents Used ... In His Meetings,” published in 1888

In the center of the village there stood a giant oak. It must have

been more than one hundred years old. It was stately and grand. It was

admired by all. Storms swept the village. Other trees were blown down,

but not this mighty, sturdy oak. It defied all storms. But a strange

thing happened. A storm came one day, not so severe as many other

gales, but the oak fell. The villagers passed by and looked sadly upon

their boasted oak, as it lay prostrate. All were perplexed. They set

out to see if the cause could be ascertained. As they examined they

found that many years before, a worm had bored its way into the very

heart of the tree and made its home there. As a result the heart of

the tree had been affected and weakened. The fall was the result. It

took years for the worm to do this, but finally it did. Backsliding is

not usually sudden. Too often some ill feeling, bitterness, impure

thought or desire, some sin finds lodging in the heart. The soul is

polluted and the character weakened. The storm of temptation comes and

finally there is a crash. All are bewildered and wonder why. Oh, the

insidiousness of sin. Beware!

The boys were skating on the river. The weather was getting warmer,

and the thaw had begun. The old river man warned the boys of the

danger, but one insisted, "Let me make just one more round." And with

this he glided out on the river. Soon he reached the middle of the

stream where the ice was thinner and it gave way. He cried, "Help,

help!" But it was too late. He was gone. How many have said, "Just one

more round in sin, but that was the last one."

A worker once said in speaking to children, "Children, are there

any snakes in Kansas?" "Yes, yes!" "What kind? Any striped snakes?"

"Yes." "Adders?" "Yes." "Copperheads?" "Yes." "Now, suppose you had a

nest of snakes in the cellar, what would you do with them?" "Kill

them, kill them," the children answered. "But would you let them grow

up to be large snakes?" "No." "What then?" "Kill them while they are

small."

Then the worker said, "Well, children, some of you, I am afraid,

have snakes in your bosoms. Did any of you ever disobey your parents?"

"Yes." "No." "Yes." "Ah! there's a snake there! Did any of you ever

tell a lie?" "No." "Yes." "No." "Yes." "There's a snake there, too.

Now, children, I want you to kill these snakes, destroy them while

they are small. Tear them out of your hearts. Let Jesus save you and

destroy the snakes."

William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."

In the West some men were boring a well. The machinery was taken

out for repairs. A little girl fell in -- down about thirty feet. A

rope was let down, and she was told to take hold and they would draw

her up. But the answer came back from the bottom of the well, "My

hands are fastened down between the wall and me." Other efforts were

made, but all in vain. Finally there was no answer as they called to

her. All night long men dug and rolled back the sandy earth. In the

dawn of the morning they reached her, but she was dead. The mother

became deranged. If your child were in the well, what would you do?

How would you feel? No, he is not in the material well, but many are

in the pit of sin, and we are so little concerned. Tragic!

William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."

Mrs. Anna H- was electrocuted in the Columbus, Ohio, penitentiary.

The last minute appeals had failed. The final moment came, and she

slowly stood up and was led to the electric chair. As she passed

through the death house corridor, twelve men who were soon to be

electrocuted stood at the front of their cells, watching her. She said

to them, "Good-bye, all of you." As she came to the door of the

execution chamber she collapsed, and was picked up by the guards, and

placed in the chair. As she revived, she pleaded with the warden, "Mr.

Woodard, don't let them do this to me. Think of my boy. Can't you

think of my baby?" Then she cried, "Isn't there anyone who will help

me? Is nobody going to help me?" The warden said, "I'm sorry, but we

have to do it, Mrs. H -- ." At this moment the current was turned on

and she went into eternity. Sin will place us where our best friends

can't help us.

William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."

Near Sanford, Kentucky, a drunken father came home. His little

daughter, Maxine, four years of age, greeted him thus, "Daddy, what

did you bring me?" The mother said the drunken husband and father

became enraged and threatened to kill the whole family. She grabbed

Maxine and ran; but as she did, the father shot the child through the

head. She died instantly. The father escaped but was killed later in

the night by the sheriff's officials who sought to arrest him. The two

bodies, child and father, lay in the funeral home while the mother and

wife sobbed bitterly. Sin is to blame.

A young lady saw a heavily charged wire hanging from a light pole.

She said, "I believe I will just touch it and see if I can get a

slight shock." But when she touched the wire, her hand was suddenly

contracted by the current and she could not let go. There she stood,

gripping the wire and crying, "Help me. I am burning up, and I can't

turn loose." Her mother came to her rescue and tried to pull her

loose, but the current threw her to the ground. A man came along and

cut the wire and freed the girl, but not until she was almost burned

to death. Many have got hold of the devil's live wires and can't turn

loose. We had better be careful how we tamper with sin.

William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."

A man was out hunting and came across a large hole in the ground.

Seizing a pole he thrust it into the hole. But, to his dismay, the

ground under him suddenly caved in and, before he realized what had

happened, he found himself in a den of hissing, squirming, biting

snakes. He was unable to extricate himself from these fearful

creatures or to combat them. He cried piteously, and his cries brought

his companions. They threw him a rope and he clung to it while they

pulled him out, but he was badly bitten.

We should be careful how we tamper with sin and play around the

devil's dens. -- Selected.

William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."

A lawyer undertook the defense of a robber on the promise of a thousand crowns' reward. He won his case, and his client brought him the coveted money. The night being stormy, the lawyer invited him to lodge in his house.

At midnight the robber arose, gagged his legal defender, retook the thousand crowns and, gathering all the treasure he could find, bade his helpless host good-by. Such is the deceit of sin and the reward of iniquity.

William Moses Tidwell, “Pointed Illustrations.”

Roland Hill began his sermon one day by saying: "My friends, the

other day I was going down the street and saw a drove of pigs

following a man. My curiosity was aroused, and I decided to follow

him. This I did, and to my surprise I found he was leading them to the

slaughterhouse. I asked the man how he managed to get them to follow

him. The man answered, 'Oh, did you not see that I had a basket of

beans under my arm, and I continued to drop them along, and so they

followed me?' So it is with the devil. He is dropping his bait, which

may look and taste good to the sinner, but it will lead him to hell."

William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."

It is related that a boy was going down to the river for a little

swim. As he was leaving the house his father said, "Be careful,

Herbert; the river looks fair and sparkling, but there is an ugly eddy

beneath that may prove too much for you. I have tried it and know it

is dangerous. It nearly overcame me. Be careful, Son; there is

danger." Herbert went on and was careful for a time, but the river

looked so smooth and peaceful he soon ventured out farther. His

companions, who were in bathing with him, admonished him to be

careful. But he called back and said, "I can swim; there is no

danger." So he ventured out still farther. But soon he was heard

calling for help. The undertow had him. He frantically cried for

assistance, but all in vain. He went down. So it is with sin. It may

look harmless, but there is the undertow.

William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."

A great bar of steel weighing five hundred pounds, eight feet in

length, was suspended vertically by a small chain. Near by, a common

cork was suspended by a silk thread. The plan was to show that the

cork could set the steel bar in motion. It seemed impossible. The cork

was swung gently against it, but no sign of movement. It was done

again and again, until at the end of ten minutes the bar gave evidence

of uneasiness; a slight tremor was noticed. At the end of half an hour

the great bar was swinging to and fro like the pendulum of a clock. --

Selected.

William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."