Sermon Illustrations(I L) (A Compilation)

《Sermon Illustrations(I~L)》(A Compilation)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I

Ideals
Ideas
Identity
Idioms
Idols
Ignorance
Illumination
Illusions
Illustrations
Image
Imagination and Fear
Imagination
Imitation
Immanuel's Land
Immortality
Impatience
Impressions
Impudence
Impurity
Incarnation
Inconsistencies
Indifference
Indirection
Individuality
Infants
Infidelity
Infirmities
Influence
Ingratitude
Inheritance
Iniquity
Initiative
Injustice
Innocence
Innoculation
Inquisitiveness
In-service Education
Inside
Insomia
Inspiration
Instructions
Insult
Insurance
Insurgents
Intelligence
Intercession
Interest
Intermission
Interviews
Intolerance
Inventors
Invitation
Irish Bulls
Irishmen
Iron
Irreverence
Israel
Ittai

J

Jacob
Jargons
Jealousy
Jehovah
Jesus
Jets
Jew
Jewels
Job
John
Joined
Jokes
Jordan
Joseph
Journalism
Joy
Judas
Judge
Judgment
Junior High School
Jury
Justice
Justification
Justified
Juvenile Delinquency

K

Keeper
Kindergarten
Kindness
King
Kingdom of God
Kinship
Kinsman
Kiss
Kissing
Kneeling
Knowledge

L

Labor Classes
Labor
Lamb of God
Landlords
Languages
Laughter
Law
Lawyers
Laymen
Laziness
Leadership
Leading
Leaning
Leap Year
Learning
Leaves
Leaving
Legacy
Legerdemain
Legislators
Lending
Lent
Letter
Liars
Liberty
Librarians
Lies
Life
Light
Lighthouse
Lightning
Likeness
Lilies
Lincoln
Lips
Lisping
Listening
Literal
Literalness
Little Things
Living Water
Locusts
Logic
Loneliness
Look Up
Loquacity
Lord
Lord's Day
Lord's Supper
Lost
Lost and Found
Love
Love for Christ
Love for Others
Lover
Loyalty to Christ
Loyalty
Luck
Lunacy
Luxury
Lying

Ideals Sermon Illustrations

Andrea del Sarto was spoken of in Italy as the "faultless painter." Yet, like every great worker, he realized that he fell far short of his ideals and ambitions. He took that falling short, that failure, however, as evidence of life to come. So Browning makes him say:

Ah, but a man's reach should exceedhis grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?

As a mother once sat by the cradle of her child, five spirits approached her and proffered her a gift for the child. The first said, "I am health, and whom I touch shall never know pain or sickness." The second said, "I am wealth, and whom I touch shall never know poverty or want." The third said, "I am fame, and whom I touch shall have immortal fame." The fourth said, "I am love, and whom I touch shall have a friend in life's darkest hour." But the fifth said, "Whom I touch shall be forever faithful to his dreams and his ideals." When the wise mother heard the fifth spirit, she laid hold upon his garment and besought him to touch her child.

But that is only a dream, a legend. There is no one, outside of ourselves, who can touch us and make us faithful to our dreams and our ideals. The only one who can do that is ourselves.

As in some old ruin you will come upon the fragments of a delicately traced capital or massive archway which proclaims the original beauty and splendor of what is now but a heap of rubbish, so in the life of the worst sinner or criminal, where now only sin and bestiality reign, you may discover the fragments of a different kind of man—a man who measured up to the best that you yourself know, a man who entertained hopes just as radiant as your own, who set before him aims just as high as your own, who hung high the golden shields of a pure and honest life and promised that he would reverence them to the end.

Brass for gold! That tells the story of the decline of Judah. It tells the story, too, of what so often happens in the kingdom of a man's life. One day the walls of the palace of his soul, like those of the House in the Wood, are hung with bright shields beaten out of the pure gold of honorable ambition and lofty principles. Then comes the struggle of life, the invasion of sordid motives, the temptations to ease and self-indulgence,

The hardening of the heart thatbrings
Irreverence for the dreams of youth.

The Danish theologian and philosopher Kierkegaard has a parable of a wild duck. With his mates this duck was flying in the springtime northward across Europe. On the flight he happened to come down in a barnyard in Denmark where there were tame ducks. He ate and enjoyed some of their corn, and stayed— first for an hour, and then for a day, and then for a week, and then for a month, and, finally, because he liked the good fare and the safety of the barnyard, stayed all summer. But one autumn day when his wild mates were winging their way southward again they passed over the barnyard, and their mate heard their cries. It stirred him with a strange thrill of joy and delight; and, flapping his wings, he rose in the air to join his old comrades in their flight to the land of summer.

But, alas, he found that his good fare had made him so soft and heavy that he could rise no higher than the eaves of the barn. So he sank back again to the barnyard, and said to himself, "Oh, well, my life is safe here and the fare is good." Every spring, and again every autumn, when the wild ducks flew over his barnyard and he heard their honking cry, his eye gleamed for a moment and he began to lift his wings and would fain have joined his mates. But at length the day came when the wild ducks flew over him and uttered their cry and he paid not the slightest attention to them.

What a parable that is of how the soul can forget its high ideals and standards and be content with lower things!

In one of the galleries of Paris there stands a notable statue. The sculptor, like so many great artists, was a very poor man, and lived and did his work in a garret. One night the beautiful statue was finished. The sculptor surveyed it in pride and affection for a time, and then lay down to sleep upon his bed. But that night a killing frost fell over Paris. The sculptor awoke in his chilly room and thought of the statue he had just finished—how the water would freeze in the pores and destroy the dream of his life. With that thought, without a moment's hesitation he got up from his bed; and, taking the bed clothes, he draped them carefully about the statue. In the morning the sculptor was dead, but the statue lives on. Some things must die if we are to be faithful to our standards and our ideals and keep our shields of gold.

Let each man think himself an act of God,
His mind a thought, his life a breath of God;
And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds,
To show the most of Heaven he hath in him.—Philip James Bailey

The fact that his two pet bantam hens laid very small eggs troubled little Johnny. At last he was seized with an inspiration. Johnny's father, upon going to the fowl-run one morning, was surprised at seeing an ostrich egg tied to one of the beams, with this injunction chalked above it:

"Keep your eye on this and do your best."

Ideas Sermon Illustrations

The most powerful thing in this world is an idea. It may be powerful for good, it may be powerful for evil—but always it is powerful. The world has been blessed, from the standpoint of comfort and well-being, by the application to daily life and its problems of the discoveries of science. Imagine our world today without the electric light, the steam engine, the wireless, the wheel. How did all this come about? Through the power of an idea. Watt saw steam lift the lid of the kettle—and had the vision of power in industrial life through the energy of that steam. Franklin saw the play of lightning—and had the idea of its power. Marconi had the idea of a message transmitted through the air, and now wherever at sea a vessel is in distress half a hundred ships will hurry to the rescue, called by the mysterious voice of the wireless. An idea is power.

What would your reaction be if a business associate told you he knew how to make a square bubble? You will probably find you don't really want to hear about such a (preposterous) idea. Our historic past is strewn with records of men scorned or persecuted for new ideas—Jesus, Columbus, Darwin, etc. (Yet) these new ideas changed the course of civilization. ..

The ideas that will carry us forward to lasting prosperity are to be found among us today. But to harvest such ideas, a new dimension must be added to every man's equipment—a readiness to accept ideas as startling and new as that square bubble.—Client's Service Bulletin American Appraisal Co.

Don't let a warm idea freeze to death.—Client's Service Bulletin American Appraisal Co.

Ideas are like beards: men do not have them until they grow up.—Voltaire

The Greeks, who long have been concerned about how to save the ruins of the Parthenon from ultimate destruction by souvenir-seeking tourists, have hit upon a brilliant idea which is working admirably, according to reports. Every night a load of cracked marble is brought from nearby quarries and scattered about the ruins. This permits tourists to steal all the souvenir marble they want without doing any damage to the Parthenon itself!

An American religious leader recounts the story of a businessman from this country who had been sent to China to make some contracts with Chinese businessmen for an American firm which he represented.

After the business had been transacted, the ever polite Chinese asked the American if there was anything in particular that he would like to see while in China. The American expressed a desire to watch the coolies at the water front carrying their heavy burdens. He had heard of the tremendous loads they can carry, and he wanted to see them at work with his own eyes.

Thereupon, the American and the Chinese businessmen went down to the water front. Almost immediately the American's interest was attracted by two coolies who were engaged in a fierce quarrel. Words were being exchanged rapidly and in heated tones, fists were clenched and poised threateningly in the air, and a fight appeared imminent.

The American waited, expecting that a tremendous fist fight would break out at any moment. But after some minutes had elapsed and neither contestant had struck a single blow, he became a bit impatient. Turning to his Chinese associate, he asked when the fight would begin.

"Oh," replied the Chinese, smiling, "I cannot say. You see, the man who strikes the first blow admits that he has run out of ideas!"—Sunshine Magazine

Let our teaching be full of ideas. Hitherto, it has been stuffed only with facts.—Anatole France

When I got on a hunt for an idea I could not sleep until I had caught it.—Abraham Lincoln

Ideas are very much like children—your own are very wonderful.

Every time a man puts a new idea across, he finds ten men who thought of it before he did—but they only thought of it.—Advertiser's Digest

Some men have ideas; other men have notions. How easy it is to mistake one for the other.—W. D. Houm, Hoard's Dairyman

A group can spark an idea, but only an individual can have one. As Pres. Griswold of Yale, has so aptly asked: "Could Hamlet have been written by a committee? Or the Mona Lisa painted by a club?"—W. JoaN Unomq addressing 3rd Annual Communications Conference, New York Art Directors Club

Imagination . . . provides the way to new ideas, new processes and new things. If we did not have imagination, we would plod along each day, seeing the same old things, going through the same old thoughts.—York Trade Compositor

Idea: The result of careful thought and experience, when you have it. When somebody else has it, it's a lucky hunch.—Phoenix Flame

The more ideas a man has the fewer words he takes to ex-press them. Wise men never talk to make time; they talk to save it.

Greater than the force of marching feet is an idea whose hour is come.—Victor Hugo

Summer is a good time for you to go fishing—for ideas with which you can awaken the zest for learning. Remember, an idea doesn't care who has it.—M. Dale Baughman

There is a story of a certain sea captain and his chief engineer, who disputed as to which of them was the more important to the ship. Failing to agree, they resorted to the altogether unique plan of swapping places.

The Chief ascended to the bridge, and the Captain dived into the engine room.

After a couple of hours the Captain suddenly appeared on the deck covered with oil and soot. One eye was swollen shut, and he was very much the worse for wear. "Chief!" he yelled, wildly waving aloft a monkey-wrench. "You'll have to come down here; I can't make 'er go!"

"Of course you can't," replied the Chief, "she's ashore!"—Sunshine Magazine

Aesop's Fly, sitting on the axle of the chariot, has been much laughed at for exclaiming: What a dust I do raise!—Thomas Carlyle

Identity Sermon Illustrations

The paying teller told mournfully of his experience with a strange woman who appeared at his wicket to have a check cashed.

"But, madam," he advised her, "you will have to get some one to introduce you before I can pay you the money on this check."

The woman stared at him disdainfully.

"Sir!" she said haughtily. "I wish you to understand that I am here strictly on business. I am not making a social call. I do not care to know you."

Idioms Sermon Illustrations

The foreigner, who prided himself on his mastery of colloquial expressions in English, was speaking of the serious illness of a distinguished statesman.

"It would be a great pity," he declared, "if such a splendid man should kick the ghost."

The old man told how his brother made a hazardous descent into a well by standing in the bucket while those above operated the windlass.

"And what happened?" one of the listeners asked as the aged narrator paused.

The old man stroked his beard, and spoke softly, in a tone of sorrowing reminiscence:

"He kicked the bucket."

Idols Sermon Illustrations

Helpless Gods

Dr. Roy L. Smith uses the Revised Standard Version of Isaiah 57:13, "Let your collection of idols deliver you," to make these wise statements:

"Military might, political power, emperors on gilded thrones, tribute, loot, booty, spoils—these were the great facts in the ancient world.

"The Hebrew governments had gone collaborationist. With a cynical disregard for the ancient faith, near-quislings had sold out to the conquerors, lived riotously, and installed pagan deities even inside the sacred precincts of the temple in Jerusalem.
"But the spirit of prophecy was not dead, and no nation is lost if that survives. At least one man of God continued to declare that 'our God is not through.'

"Tyrants and totalitarians have always had a way of making themselves to appear final and unbeatable. While they ride the crest of the wave they seem so completely victorious. But there has always been another day!

"With all Europe almost within his grasp, and with a hundred battlefields strewn with his enemies dead, Napoleon seemed to have conquered the world.But that was yesterday.

"For a time it appeared that Hitler would move his legions across North America, take the Suez, cut the jugular vein of the British Empire, and bring the Allies to their knees. But at Alamein he was strangled in a dust storm. And now all that was yesterday.

"Call the roll of the tyrants who have ridden roughshod over the rights of men in the image of God. Sargon, Pharaoh, Alexander, Genghis Khan, Caesar, Hannibal, Mussolini! Where are they now? Entombed in yesterday!

"How helpless are our idols—political power, military might, economic resources, atomic bombs, juggernauts, invincibles!

"Just because communism is of the same essence its fate will be the same. Technological processes, scientific methods, economic determinism, impersonal materialism, the dictatorship of the proletariat. Such gods can never deliver the race. They have failed too many times and so pathetically! Our God is not through!

Ignorance Sermon Illustrations

It is sometimes said that ignorance is bliss. But ignorance due to the neglect of means is not excusing but condemning. It is inexcusable to be in darkness in the midst of light.—The Biblical Illustrator