37 Sermon Illustrations on Accountability to God

The sins committed by ancient Israel were recorded "for our admonition" (1 Corinthians 10:6, 1 Corinthians 10:11) that we might not make the same mistakes. Many great men have failed God because they were found in the wrong places. In the form of a question, we introduce several of the "wrong places" where some great servants of God failed. Are you on the slippery path of DISHONESTY, as was Abraham when he went down to Egypt (see Genesis 12:10-20)? Since his wife, Sarah, was such a beautiful woman, Abraham feared that the Egyptians might kill him in order to have her. To prevent this, Abraham deceived them by telling them she was his sister. It was only a "half-truth" for Sarah was Abraham's half-sister (Genesis 20:12). We have a modern name for what Abraham did: "situation ethics," the philosophy which says that one's ethics are determined by the situation in which he finds himself. According to this concept, there is no absolute standard of morality, no objective basis for conduct. Thus, one may lie, cheat, commit immorality, etc., if the situation "calls for it." However, God has always abhorred the practice of dishonesty (Deuteronomy 25:13-16), no matter who was involved. Christians are to "provide things honest in the sight of all men" (Romans 12:17). Are you giving way to IMPURITY as did David when he walked upon the housetop (2 Sam. 11, 12)? David yielded to his lower and baser instincts when he saw the beautiful Bathsheba bathing. The immorality led to further sin-murder! It all began when David was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The Christian, whose mind should be on things above (Colossians 3:2), would do well to avoid people, places and literature which tempt him to yield to unholy passions. Are you sitting under the juniper tree of DISCOURAGEMENT as did Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-18)? Elijah's great victory at Mt. Carmel was followed by despondency when he learned that Jezebel was out to kill him. He sat down under a juniper tree and prayed that God would let him die. Despondency frequently comes after a mountain-top experience, doesn't it? When it happens we want to crawl under our "juniper tree" and let the rest of the world pass us by. Remember, God is still on His throne and rules the world (cf. Psalms 42:5). Are you sailing on the ship of DISOBEDIENCE as did Jonah when he fled to Tarshish (Jonah 1:1-17)? Jonah's prejudice prompted him to disobey God when he was told to preach in Nineveh. Is it possible that you are "on the way to Tarshish" when you should be "on the way to Nineveh?" Did you obey the Lord in becoming a Christian, but you have now boarded the ship of disobedience and are fleeing away from your Redeemer? Saints in the wrong places! Maybe we can learn something from them and avoid their mistakes. The Door That Goes Nowhere Have you ever been caught in a revolving door? It just keeps on going around and you cannot get out. Some people are like that, they have no direction as to where they are going. You may ask someone, "Where are you going?" The person will answer, "I don't know." Then how will you know when you get there? Besides its common use as the entrance to a house or building, this word is used metaphorically as the entrance to anything. Jesus said that He is the door, the entrance, into the kingdom (John 10:7-9). The door of faith is the opportunity of belief offered to the Gentiles in Acts 14:27. Elsewhere it means opportunity. Paul refers to a great door opening to him in 2 Corinthians 2:13. Revelation 4:1 says, "I looked and a door was opened." Do we have the ability to see the open doors, and if so, do we go in and avail ourselves of the opportunities that await us? Jude talks about people who have no direction, driven about by winds first one way then another. This accomplishes nothing. Ephesians 4 speaks of being carried about by every wind, again depicting no direction. Some brethren show no more direction after being a Christian for thirty or forty years than they did when they first obeyed. This is the door that goes nowhere. They have gone through the door but stopped, so in essence it has taken them nowhere. Paul relates to this when he says, "By reason of time you ought to be teachers, you have that need that someone teach you again what be the first principles" (Hebrews 5:12).

"They are dead fish which are carried down the stream"—Living fish may go with the stream at times, but dead fish must always do so. There are plenty of such in all waters: dead souls, so far as the truest life is concerned, and these are always drifting, drifting, drifting as the current takes them. Their first enquiry is—what is customary? God's law is of small account to them, but the unwritten rules of society have a power over them which they never think of resisting. Like the Vicar of Bray, they can twist round and round if the stream is running in an eddy; or, like the sluggard, they can remain at their ease if the waters are stagnant. They stand in awe of a fool's banter, and ask of their neighbour leave to breathe. Is this a right state to be in? Each one of us must give an account for himself before God: should not each one act for himself? If we follow a multitude to do evil, the multitude will not excuse the evil nor diminish the punishment. Good men have generally been called upon to walk by themselves. We can sin abundantly by passively yielding to the course of this world; but to be holy and gracious needs many a struggle, many a tear. Where, then, am I? Am I sailing in that great fleet which bears the black flag, under Rear-Admiral Apollyon, who commands the ship Fashion? If so, when all these barques come to destruction I shall be destroyed with them. Better part company, hoist another flag, and serve another sovereign. Come, my heart, canst thou go against stream? It is the way of life. The opposing waters will but wash and cleanse thee, and thou shalt ascend to the eternal river-head, and be near and like thy God. O thou who art Lord of the strait and narrow way, aid me to force a passage to glory and immortality.

"We shall be called to an account, what we have done with our time, and talents, and interests, and opportunities: 'At his coming our Lord will require his own with usury' (Luke xix. 23.) Ah, unfaithful ones, what will you say, when you cannot shift and lie? Will this be an answer: I spent my time in serving my own lusts? This will not avail you. A factor, (or steward,) that is sent to a mart or fair, should stay guzzling in an inn, or ale-house, and there spend all his money, which was to be employed in traffic, could he excuse himself by pleading that he was busy with his cups? Oh, what a dreadful account will poor souls make, that have spent their time either doing nothing, or nothing to purpose, or that which is worse than nothing, even sin which will undo them for ever! Come, my heart, call thyself to account. What hast thou been at? Hast thou served thy Lord, or hast thou wasted his goods and his time? The Lord will require this of thee before long, therefore require it of thyself. How would it fare with thee if the judgment-day commenced to-morrow, and on leaving thy bed in the morning thou shouldst find the dread assize already commenced? Say, my soul, if thou wert at this instant called away, how stand accounts between thee and thy Lord?

Every man, says a Turkish allegory, has two angels, one on the right shoulder and another on his left. When he does any thing good, the angel on the right shoulder writes it down and seals it, because what is done is done forever. When he does evil, the angel on the left shoulder writes it down. He waits till midnight. If before that time the man bows down his head, and exclaims, "Gracious Allah; I have sinned: forgive me!" the angel rubs it out; and if not, at midnight he seals it, and the angel upon the right shoulder weeps.

"Brother," said the Soul to the Body. "we must part shortly; and now let us reckon together."—"Let us reckon, sister," said the Body. "You," said the Soul, "have been active in labor, and toiled late and early, and gathered much gold: will you keep it with you, or shall I take it with me?"—"Alas," said the Body, "how can I take it among the darkness and dust and corruption of the grave? What will it profit me there?"—"Nay," said the Soul, "but how can I carry it where earth and earthly things are not suffered to enter? And it is, after all, but yellow earth."—"True: then, shortly, it shall be neither mine nor thine," said the Body sorrowfully. "Our reckoning is not over," said the Soul. "How are we to meet again (for we must meet again): will it be in sorrow, or in joy? You have never allowed me to look heavenward, but have robbed me of my freedom, and used all my powers to help you get gold."—"Alas!" said the Body, "you tempted me, and now you reproach me."—"What if we should meet as fellow-tormentors, bound together for eternal misery?" said the Soul. "I am defiled as you are, and you have never cared for our cleansing; I am without a right to heaven, as you are, and you have never cared for an entrance to it: so, then, this gold will be our mocking accuser in eternity, and I shall reproach you forever with having destroyed me to gain it."

— Leisure Hour

I will govern my life and my thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one, and to read the other; for what does it signify to make any thing a secret to my neighbor, when to God, who is the Searcher of hearts, all our privacies are open?

— Seneca

Many fill their life with regrets for being confined to such a narrow sphere of usefulness. If they only were in the ministerial office, or had millions of money, they would do so and so; but what can an ordinary laborer, a poor Sunday school teacher, accomplish? Friend, be content to serve God where he has placed you for there precisely you can accomplish the most. It is better to make the best of what you have, than to fret and pout for what you have not. The man with one talent is never accountable for five; but, for his one, he must give as strict an account as the other for his five. It may require more humility to husband one talent than five, and, so far as the improve ment or misimprovement of either is concerned, they are both equally important in the sight of God. The king's million and the widow's mite are worth the same with the Eternal.

Ralph Waldo Emerson says that the girl at the spinning-frame tied a broken thread so carelessly, that, when the fabric was woven and dressed, it was imperfect; and the master traced it back to the girl who carelessly caused it, and she was made to pay the damage. So it will be with us, if we do not exert a good influence on society: there will be a damaged wool, a faulty thread; and the Great Master will trace the fault to its source.

When a pupil of John Brown of Haddington spoke disparagingly of the smallness of his pastoral charge, his revered instructor replied, "It is as large a congregation, perhaps, as you will want to give account for at the day of judgment."

Sink the Bible to the bottom of the ocean, and man's obligations to God would be unchanged. He would have the same path to tread, only his lamp and his guide would be gone; he would have the same voyage to make, only his compass and chart would be overboard. Beecher.

Daniel Webster was once asked, "What is the most important thought you ever entertained?" He replied, after a moment's reflection, "The most important thought I ever had was my individual responsibility to God."

Rev. John Thomas of Serampore was one day, after addressing a crowd of natives on the banks of the Ganges, accosted by a Brahmin as follows: "Sir, don't you say that the Devil tempts man to sin?" — "Yes," answered Mr. Thomas. "Then," said the Brahmin, "certainly the fault is the Devil's: the Devil, therefore, and not man, ought to suffer the punishment." Mr. Thomas, observing a boat with several men on board descending the river, replied, "Brahmin, do you see yonder boat?" — "Yes." — "Suppose I was to send some of my friends to destroy every person on board, and bring me all that is valuable in the boat: who ought to suffer punishment, — I for instructing them, or they for doing this wicked act?" — "Why," answered the Brahmin with great emotion, "you ought all to be put to death together." — "Ay, Brahmin," replied Mr. Thomas; "and, if you and the Devil sin together, the Devil and you will be punished together."

"Two things a master commits to his servant's care," saith one, — "the child and the child's clothes." It will be a poor excuse for the servant to say at his master's return, "Sir, here are all the child's clothes neat and clean: but the child is lost." Much so with the account that many will give to God of their souls and bodies at the great day, — "Lord, here is my body; I was very grateful for it; I neglected nothing that belonged to its content and welfare: but as for my soul, that is lost and cast away forever; I took little care and thought about it." Placed.

The teacher is like the switchman, who holds the key to the switches on the railroad. If he does his duty faithfully, the train will reach its destination safely: if he neglects it, disaster and ruin follow. A misplaced switch or a wrong signal may send hundreds into eternity unprepared.

A young man lay in an upper room in the city of New York, raving with delirium. Friends were attentive to him. Ever and anon, he cried out, "Hold me, hold me!" In an unguarded moment, he rushed to the window, threw himself upon the pavement below, and was crushed to death. How his friends regretted their fatal neglect! Many a reckless youth, as he is tempted to ruin, should cry to his friends, "Hold me, hold me!" They might thus save a life from sin, and a soul from death.

Dr. Franklin relates the following anecdote of Mr. Denham, an American merchant, with whom he once went a passenger to England. "He had formerly," he says, "been in business at Bristol, had failed, in debt to a number of people, compounded, and went to America; there, by a close application to business as a merchant, he acquired a plentiful fortune in a few years. Returning to England in the ship with me, he invited his old creditors to an entertainment, at which he thanked them for the easy compensation they had favored him with; and when they expected nothing but the treat, every man, at the first remove, found under his plate an order on a banker for the full amount of the unpaid remainder, with interest."

A minister was about to leave his own congregation for the purpose of visiting London, on what was by no means a pleasant errand—to beg on behalf of his place of worship. Previous to his departure, he called to bear for God." "You would be disappointed, Doctor," said W., "I shall die silent. It has pleased God to enable me to bear so many testimonies for him during my life, that he will require none from me when I die." The manner of W.'s death verifies his prediction.

A clergyman who was in the habit of preaching in different parts of the country, was once at an inn, where he observed a horse-jockey trying to take in a simple gentleman, by imposing upon him a broken winded horse for a sound one. The parson knew the bad character of the jockey, and, taking the gentleman aside, told him to be cautious of the person he was dealing with. The gentleman finally declined the purchase, and the jockey, quite nettled, observed, "Parson, I would much rather hear you preach than see you privately interfere in bargains between man and man, in this way." "Well," replied the parson, "if you had been where you ought to have been last Sunday, you might have heard me preach." "Where was that?" inquired the jockey. "In the State Prison," returned the clergyman.

### 371. Happy Effects of Reproving.

Elder S—— was a distiller, carried on the business largely, and supplied his neighbors with the good creature. At length one and another, and another, became drunkards, squandered away their property, and reduced their families to beggary and wretchedness. Nevertheless, the Elder continued to supply them, "for the public good," and being a sober man, did it very regularly. By and by one of his customers came to settle with him, and on settlement owed him twenty dollars; and yet had nothing to pay, and nothing with which to supply his family with a rag of clothing or a morsel of bread. He and they were literally destitute. And the Elder inquired of himself, "What has made this man a drunkard, and brought his family to poverty and wretchedness?" Conscience answered, "Your whisky." "And who must answer in the day of judgment?" said the Elder. Conscience replied, "You;" and spoke with a voice which the Elder could not but hear. He went away heavy-hearted; and sorely pressed, as conscience continued to echo, "You must answer at the day of judgment for making that man a drunkard." He retired to bed, but not to rest, or to sleep. He got up, kneeled down and prayed, and went again to bed, but obtained no relief. He got up, and kneeled down and prayed again, and retired, and so again and again, till he got up, prayed, confessed his sins, implored mercy, prayed for the man and his family whom he had ruined, and laid down no less than eleven times. And his distress grew greater and greater. Not only this man, but one, and another, and another, great numbers whom he had made drunkards, and for whose ruin he must answer at the day of judgment, rose up to his view, and he was well nigh overwhelmed with the conviction of his guilt. He rose and kneeled down the twelfth time before God, and not only confessed his sins, but now, for the first time, resolved without delay to forsake them. He promised, before the Lord, that no portion of his time, or property, should ever again be employed in making that which tends to destroy the bodies and souls of men. And he meant what he said. He then laid down and slept till morning. Next morning he rose, cleared out his distillery, and said that no whisky should ever be made there again. He made known his determination to his children and his neighbors. One of them thought he had become too superstitious, and offered them for the use of his distillery five hundred dollars a year. But he utterly refused, saying that none of his property should ever again be employed by any body in that way. He held to his resolution till his death, and tried to induce all to follow his example. With his children he was successful, and numbers of them before his death were hopefully made partakers of divine grace and heirs of the kingdom of God. The Elder appeared to live the life and die the death of a penitent, and went to give up his account to the Judge of the quick and dead. There he expected to meet with many whom his business had ruined, but as, during the time of divine forbearance,

## UNIVER

### 424. Moral Tendency of Universalism.