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333 Sermon Illustrations on Consequences of Sin

333 illustrations Page 7 of 7

The consequences of sin in Christian preaching highlight the inevitable destruction and alienation that follow disobedience to God’s law. Sin leads to ruin not only spiritually but also in practical life, as selfishness, greed, and wrong choices bring harm and loss (Galatians 6:7-8; Romans 6:23). Illustrations often use images of ruin, reaping a whirlwind, and the collapse of prosperity to convey these truths.

Lawlessness, Springs Of

Small acts of lawlessness, like cutting in line, sow seeds for greater lawlessness later.

It was recently my good fortune to be invited to talk to a club of Jewish boys. Among other matters I talked to them about law and lawlessness, and tried to show that the spirit of lawlessness, now so rife in this country, manifests itself at first in little ways. I reminded them of the wanton lawlessness of automobile drivers in exceeding speed limits, and then I sought to bring the illustration close home to them by asking if they ever saw a fellow at a ball-game, where scores of men were standing in line waiting for their turn to get a ticket, pass up to the head of the line and surreptitiously induce some friend there, or even a stranger, to buy a ticket for him, and thus take advantage of all those who had come before him. They all recognized the illustration. It is a very common incident in American life. Then I pointed out that such a proceeding is a rank violation of the law of courtesy and fair play, and that any one who would do that thing ruthlessly is sowing the seeds of lawlessness, and may some day expect to reap the consequences.--GEORGE W. COLEMAN, “Searchlights.”

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles

Laziness, Excuse For

Proverbs 22:13

Laziness uses excuses to avoid responsibility, illustrated by the sluggard fearing a lion outside.

In the book of Proverbs is this verse: “The sluggard saith, ‘There is a lion without; I shall be slain in the street.’” This means that a lazy man did not wish to go to work, and so pretended that there was a lion in the street, and offered as an excuse for not going to work that the lion in the street would kill him if he went out.

It is a fact that every lazy boy and every indolent girl has a lion; that is, some excuse for not doing what is asked. A daughter is told to do her piano practising and exclaims: “Oh, I can’t! It is so cold in the parlor” (lazy man’s lion). A son is asked to run to the store on an errand and answers that his shoe hurts his foot when he walks (lazy man’s lion). On Sunday morning he can not go to church because it is rainy (lazy man’s lion). He can not study his lessons because his eyes hurt him (lazy man’s lion). She can not eat the crusts of her bread because her gums are sore (lazy man’s lion). She can not get up in time for breakfast because her throat pains her (lazy man’s lion).

Look out for the lazy man’s lion, that foolish excuse for not doing what we should do!--E. H. BYINGTON, _Congregationalist_.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles

Little Gifts

Little sins grow and lead to greater destruction if unchecked.

See CHILD’S GIFT.

LITTLE SINS

And I am afraid of little sins because they grow so great. No one can tell whereunto sin will lead. The beginnings of sin are like the leakings of water from a mighty reservoir; first an innocent ooze, then a drip, then a tiny stream, then a larger vein, then a flood, and the rampart gives way and the town is swept to ruin. The habits of sin are like the habits of burglars, who sometimes take a little fellow and put him through a window too small for a man to enter, and the child must open the door for the burglar gang to pass. So with little sins; they creep in and open the door for larger to enter. A little sin is the thin edge of the wedge, and when once inserted it can be driven home till it splits and ruins the life.

— A. H. C. MORSE

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles conviction of sin

Little Gifts

Many small wrongs can ruin a life as much as one great sin.

* * * * *

I remember, when a lad, the so-called army-worms first swept across the fields. They went straight ahead, and moved like a mighty host with captains. They were little things, but when they were gone the fields looked as tho they had been swept by a fire. So a thousand little wrongs in the life can rob it of beauty as really as one great, blazing, public transgression.

— A. H. C. MORSE

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles

Little Gifts

Small dishonest acts are still theft and morally wrong.

* * * * *

I am afraid of little sins because they involve a great principle. You go into a bank with a check for $1,000, and in his hurry the clerk passes out $1,100, and you walk out of the bank with that sum. You agree with me, I suppose, that you do a dishonest thing--that you have stolen $100. Would it not be the same if your check called for $5, and he gave you $6 by mistake? You ride on a train to Boston, and by some oversight your ticket is not collected, and you ride back on that very same ticket. You agree with me that the thing is wrong. Is it not the same when you ride on a trolley car and elude the conductor, or slip past the gateman and enter the train? In either case the man is a thief.

— A. H. C. MORSE

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles conviction of sin

Little Things

Small overlooked causes can disrupt great systems or lives.

We belong to a scheme of nature in which the chief factor is the infinitesimal. The composition of the elements depends on the multitudinous accretions of particles. We are most in danger when we overlook the power of mere atoms to affect us, and when we despise trivial causes of mischief.

A cathedral clock with its musical chimes suddenly stopt intoning its sacred and beautiful melodies. The cause was for a time a perplexity, as nothing could be discovered to have gone wrong with the machinery of the chimes. But at length it was found that a frail brown butterfly had become entangled in the wheelworks, and had brought to a complete standstill the clock and its chimes. (Text.)

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles spiritual discipline

Loss And Profit

Big operations can yield great profits or great losses depending on small details.

It is said that the bursting of a pin in the driving-wheel of an engine in the Illinois Steel Company will cost the company $369,000, since the accident stopt the operation of the whole plant about six days and a half, and the loss involved by the stop was reckoned at about $40 a minute. This fable teaches that great business operations work both ways: where big profits are made big losses stand ready to overwhelm when something goes wrong.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles responsibility

Lying

Laziness and neglect on the Lord's day harm spiritual life like lying harms character.

See LOYALTY, SPIRIT OF.

LYING AROUND

“Yes, he lied about it. I’m sure of that, and can prove it.”

That’s a pretty serious matter, to call a man a liar. Doubly serious if you can prove it on him. It is very, very bad to be lying about anything whatsoever.

But I’m convinced that lying around is almost as bad as lying about. I said, “You were not out at church yesterday. What were you doing?”

“I was just lying around.” An excuse--offered as a reason--that I’ve heard scores of times.

Late to get out of bed Sunday morning. A very late breakfast. Everything starts behind, and never catches up. The men are lying around unshaved, unbathed, undrest. They look bad, and probably feel worse. An unclean skin and dirty clothes are not good to rest in.

Maybe the women are lying around with hair unbrushed, and dresses and aprons showing the stains of week-day work. Rather frowsy. If they don’t feel any better than they look, they are some points below normal.

Just lying around, not at church, not fit to be seen, not feeling much respect for oneself. Pretty low down, not much above the dirt level. Doing no good, getting no good out of the blest day.

Does plain lying about things hurt one more than this lying around on Sunday? It makes one almost trifling.

Don’t do it. On Sunday morning, get up, wash up, dress up, shave up, shine up, go up to church, think up toward God and the highest and best. The day will be worth much more to you. You’ll feel better Monday morning, better rested, better fitted for the work of the new week. Quit lying around, and try it.--_Presbyterian Advance._

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles discipline

Lying Punished

Lying under oath brings legal consequences and damages personal and public trust.

Some time ago in a case in New York a man gave false evidence under oath and upon that evidence the point at issue was sent to a referee and costs amounting to $1,759 were incurred. A certain judge to whom these facts became known fined the perjured man the full amount of the costs and directed that when the fine was paid it should be turned over to the aggrieved party. This action has recently been affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals.

“This is hailed as a rebuke to a growing evil, that of lying under oath and nothing being thought of it if one can avoid detection or any civil consequences. The home, the school, the Church and the State should unite and compel greater attention to the dishonor of lying, and business concerns should be held strictly to account wherever misrepresentation or lying form a part of the business methods. Decent men should refuse to trade with the man who scolds his clerks for not making a sale and declares the failure was due to not lying hard enough.”

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles justicehonesty

Negative Teaching

Excessive prohibitions often lead to disobedience and unintended consequences.

* * * * *

The writer, some years ago, heard an educational worker at a teachers’ institute tell the story of the mother who, on going away from home for a while, called her children for a few final precautionary prohibitions. Her conference with the children ran as follows:

“Children, you are not to go up-stairs while I am away. But if you do go up-stairs, you are not to go into the back room. But if you do go into the back room, you are not to play with the beans piled there. But if you should play with the beans, do not put any into your noses.”

There is no need to finish the narrative for any persons who know child-life. The physician eventually succeeded in preventing the nasal cavities from becoming vegetable gardens.

The story seemed to have been made to order. But it is not at all improbable. The writer knows of kittens having been put “into the Baltimore heater,” and of little pigs having been run through a windmill after thoughtful parents had enjoined upon their children not to do these things. Thus does the law operate, as any fireside will abundantly verify.--A. B. BUNN VAN ORMER, “Studies in Religious Nurture.”

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles

Neglect

Neglecting small details can lead to widespread harm and sickness.

See DECAY; INDIFFERENCE TO THE GOOD.

NEGLECT, CONSEQUENCES OF

The cause of an epidemic of typhoid fever among the 1,000 inhabitants of Three Oaks, Mich., was discovered when a member of the Board of Health climbed to the top of the waterworks’ stand-pipe and found the bodies of several thousand young sparrows covering the surface of the water. Immediately the mayor gave instructions to empty the stand-pipe, scrub and paint it.

Hundreds of sparrow nests have been built on a ledge that runs around the summit of the stand-pipe and the young birds are supposed to have fallen in while trying to fly. The cover made for the stand-pipe when it was constructed was never put on. The result was twenty-one cases of typhoid in the town.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles

Poison Drink

Society carefully regulates harmless things but neglects to control deadly sins like drunkenness.

An officer from Japan, visiting America, one day, while looking about a big city, saw a man stop a milk-wagon.

“Is he going to arrest the man?” he asked.

“No,” was the answer; “he must see that the milk sold by this man is pure, with no water or chalk mixed with it.”

“Would chalk or water poison the milk?”

“No; but people want pure milk if they pay for it.”

Passing a whisky saloon, a man staggered out, struck his head against a lamp-post, and fell to the sidewalk.

“What is the matter with that man?”

“He is full of bad whisky.”

“Is it poison?”

“Yes; a deadly poison,” was the answer.

“Do you watch the selling of whisky as you do the milk?” asked the Japanese.

“No.”

At the markets they found a man looking at the meat to see if it was healthy.

“I can’t understand your country,” said the Japanese. “You watch the meat and the milk, and let men sell whisky as much as they please.”

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles

Pruning To Destroy

Repeated sin requires persistent spiritual pruning to prevent its growth and destruction.

Said Luther: “Sin is like the beard, the oftener it is cut off, the more shaving seems to be necessary!”

Perennial weeds continue to live and bear seeds from year to year. Some weeds of this class, as the quack-grass, sow-thistle, and the wild morning-glory, multiply from buds on underground parts as well as by seeds. They are the hardest of all to destroy. As the leaves manufacture the food that nourishes roots, by preventing the leaves from growing, the roots will starve--the surest way to kill perennial weeds, tho often hard to carry out. (Text.)

Reprisal

Deceit practiced on others often returns to affect the deceiver in unexpected ways.

The story of an intelligent dog given below may suggest that the deceits we practise on others will, sooner or later, be repaid against ourselves:

An old lady rented a furnished villa for the summer, and with the villa a large dog also went. In the sitting-room of the villa there was a very comfortable armchair. The old lady liked this chair better than any other in the house. She always made for it the first thing. But, alas! she nearly always found the chair occupied by the large dog. Being afraid of the dog, she never dared bid it harshly to get out of the chair, as she feared it might bite her; but instead she would go to the window and call “Cats!” Then the dog would rush to the window and bark, and the old lady would slip into the vacant chair quietly. One day the dog entered the room and found the old lady in possession of the chair. He strolled over to the window, and, looking out, appeared very much excited, and set up a tremendous barking. The old lady rose and hastened to the window to see what was the matter, and the dog quietly climbed into the chair.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles deception

Sin-Consciousness

Hidden sins remain dangerous and harmful despite being covered up by society.

See EXPERIENCE AND BIBLE.

SIN COVERED

In the old days the gutters were open in the streets, but in modern towns they are put underground; so society is always forcing vices and abuses underground, covering them up by a variety of regulations that they no longer shock the public sense. Still, on occasion, the covered drain may prove its deadly virus, and the covered sin of the community is still there, working and threatening mischief.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles

Sin, Hidden

Hidden sins gradually destroy a person's character though outwardly unseen.

Donald Sage Mackay, in “The Religion of the Threshold,” writes in substance as follows:

Henry Drummond vividly describes the ravages of the African white ant. One may never see the insect possibly in the flesh, for it lives underground. But its ravages confront one at every turn. You build your house, perhaps, and for a few months fancy you have pitched on the one solitary site in the country where there are no white ants. But one day suddenly the door-post totters, and lintel and rafter come down together with a crash. You look at a section of the wrecked timbers and discover that the whole inside is eaten clean away. The apparently solid logs of which the rest of the house is built are now mere cylinders of bark, and through the thickest of them you can push your little finger. It is a vivid picture of the way in which concealed sins eat out the pith of the soul. To the outward eye everything may remain the same, but the fiber of character has been punctured through and through, till the whole nature is corroded.

Sins, Accumulated

Many small sins accumulate to block spiritual progress more than one great sin.

A great mogul engine goes dashing along at a high speed, plowing its way against wind, and defying every obstruction. But little snowflakes, steadily falling on the track, grow into a heap that brings the monster to a standstill.

Not one great crime, but many small sins block the soul’s progress heavenward.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles sinspiritual growth

Slander

Slander spreads harm invisibly and irreparably, destroying reputations and innocence.

Against slander there is no defense. It starts with a word, with a nod, with a shrug, with a look, with a smile. It is pestilence walking in darkness, spreading contagion far and wide, which the most wary traveler can not avoid; it is the heart-searching dagger of the dark assassin; it is the poisoned arrow whose wounds are incurable; it is the mortal sting of the deadly adder, murder its employment, innocence its prey, and ruin its sport.--_Catholic Telegraph._

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles

Slander Irreparable

False rumors damage reputation more deeply than physical loss and are hard to repair.

The man who breaks into my dwelling, or meets me on the public road and robs me of my property, does me injury. He stops me on the way to wealth, strips me of my hard-earned savings, involves me in difficulty, and brings my family to penury and want. But he does me an injury that can be repaired. Industry and economy may again bring me into circumstances of ease and affluence. The man who, coming at the midnight hour, fires my dwelling, does me an injury--he burns my roof, my pillow, my raiment, my very shelter from the storm and tempest; but he does me an injury that can be repaired. The storm may indeed beat upon me, and chilling blasts assail me, but Charity will receive me into her dwelling, will give me food to eat, and raiment to put on; will timely assist me, raising a new roof over the ashes of the old, and I shall again sit by my own fireside, and taste the sweets of friendship and of home. But the man who circulates false reports concerning my character, who exposes every act of my life which may be represented to my disadvantage, who goes first to this, then to that individual, tells them he is very tender of my reputation, enjoins upon them the strictest secrecy, and then fills their ears with hearsays and rumors, and, what is worse, leaves them to dwell upon the hints and suggestions of his own busy imagination--the man who thus “filches from me my good name,” does me an injury which neither industry, nor charity, nor time itself can repair.--_Catholic Telegraph._

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles

Stains

Hidden sins leave stains on the soul that no outward covering can hide.

The three ghosts on the lonesome road Spake each to one another, “Whence came that stain about your mouth No lifted hand may cover?” “From eating of forbidden fruit, Brother, my brother.”

The three ghosts on the sunless road Spake each to one another, “Whence came that red burn on your foot No dust nor ash may cover?” “I stamped a neighbor’s hearth-flame out, Brother, my brother.”

The three ghosts on the windless road Spake each to one another, “Whence came that blood upon your hand No other hand may cover?” “From breaking of a woman’s heart, Brother, my brother.”

“Yet on the earth clean men we walked, Glutton and Thief and Lover; White flesh and fair it hid our stains That no man might discover.” “Naked the soul goes up to God, Brother, my brother.”

--THEODOSIA GARRISON, _Zion’s Herald_.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles conviction of sin

Usury In Old Days

Early Pilgrims suffered high-interest loans, showing financial exploitation's long history.

Our Pilgrims were few and poor. The whole outfit of this historic voyage, including £1,700 of trading stock, was only £2,400, and how little was required for their succor appears in the experience of the soldier, Captain Miles Standish, who, being sent to England for assistance--not military, but financial--(God save the mark!)--succeeded in borrowing--how much do you suppose?--£150 sterling. Something in the way of help; and the historian adds, “tho at fifty per cent interest.” So much for a valiant soldier on a financial expedition. A later agent, Allerton, was able to borrow for the colony £200 at a reduced interest of thirty per cent. Plainly, the money-sharks of our day may trace an undoubted pedigree to these London merchants.

— CHARLES SUMNER

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles

Vicariousness

People may suffer consequences from others' actions, illustrating life's just laws.

There are men who reap consequences without having the advantages of the causes that brought them about. For instance, it takes the gout a good long time to grow in a family, but it does grow, and it often grows from a good cellar of port in the possession of an ancestor. Now, what I think hard is that a man should have the port without having the gout; and what I think more tragic still, is that another man should have the gout without having had the port. But still that is one of the great laws of life. We can not avoid it, and we dare not impugn its wisdom. Did we, we should be like the great civic functionary who determined to have a south wall built all around his garden.

— GEORGE DAWSON

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles justice

War, After Effects Of

War causes devastating loss of life, often exceeding other common causes of death.

The Civil War lasted four years. The number of those enlisted in the Union army was 2,113,000. The number killed in action was 67,000; died of wounds received in action, 43,000; while the total number of deaths from all causes was 359,000. I have no statistics of the Confederate army, but certainly they would largely increase the total casualties of the war. On the other hand, the Spanish War lasted but a few months. The total number of men mustered in was 223,000. The number killed in action was only 218--not as many as have been killed in many a single mining catastrophe; the number of those that died from wounds received in action was 81; the number dying from disease, 3,848. The total casualties during that war were less than the number killed in railroad accidents in this country during a single year. According to the report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the number killed on our railways during the year ending June 30, 1908, was 3,764; the number injured, 68,989. Other years show a greater fatality. In the Civil War were some of the greatest battles of history and a terrible loss of life on either side. In the Spanish War, outside of two brilliant naval engagements, there were only a few skirmishes. The two wars taken as a whole compare about like a twelve-inch rifled gun with a small pistol; and yet, as we have seen, after the Civil War there was no cry for an increase in armament, no call for a navy to challenge the fleets of the world, a steady payment of the national indebtedness, a devotion to the pursuits of peace, and a magnificent enlargement of our industries and business, while after the Spanish War we increased our army, and we have been steadily building ironclad after ironclad, until now our navy stands second among the navies of the world.

— DAVID J. BREWER

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles death

War, After Effects Of

War wastes the best young men, leading to physical and societal degeneration.

See SACRIFICE, TOO COSTLY.

WAR AND PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

In a sermon on the scientific indictment of war, Dr. James H. Ecob says:

Soldiers must be young men; not only that, but young men of the finest possible physical development. The question at once presents itself, What effect must it have upon the physical stamina of a people, if the very flower of its young men are led out and fed to the cannon? What would we say of a farmer who should lead out into the back lots the very flower of his stock and shoot it down, leaving it there as food for crows and foxes? At first we would cry, shameful waste? But a second thought, more fundamental and portentous, is, what effect must such a policy have upon the physical status or grade of the stock that remains. If the best are thrown away and only the second best are retained, progressive degeneration of the stock must result.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles death

War, Cost Of

War expenditures vastly outweigh civil government spending, showing costly consequences.

That we may better appreciate the present problem in its relation to the United States, attention is called to the appropriations made by the United States Government. For the year ending June 30, 1910, the appropriations for the army, fortifications and military academy amount to $111,897,515.67; for the navy, $136,935,199.05; and for pensions, $160,908,000. The total amount to be expended during the current fiscal year on account of wars and preparations for war aggregates $409,740,714.72. Compare these figures with the relatively insignificant sum of $32,007,049, which is the total amount appropriated for the use of the executive, legislative and judicial departments of the Government during the same period.

The total expenditures of the Government of the United States from its beginning in 1789 to 1909 has been as follows: For war, $6,699,583,209; for navy, $2,441,572,934; for pensions, $4,155,267,356. This aggregates the vast sum of $13,296,423,549 expended for war purposes, as against $4,466,068,760 expended for civil and miscellaneous purposes.

The average annual cost of the army and navy of the United States for the eight years preceding the Spanish War was $51,500,000. The average annual cost of the army and navy for the eight years since the Spanish War has been $185,400,000. The average yearly increase in the latter period as compared with the former has been $134,000,000, making a total increase in eight years of $1,072,000,000, or 360 per cent. This increase for eight years exceeds the national debt by $158,000,000. The amount of all gifts to charities, libraries, educational institutions and other public causes in 1909 in this country was $185,000,000, or $400,000 less than the average annual cost for the army and navy for the past eight years. What benefit has the nation derived from all this expenditure?

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles stewardship

War, Cost Of

Military power and spending consume resources but yield questionable benefits to society.

See ARMIES OF THE WORLD; NAVIES OF THE WORLD; MILITARISM.

WAR DISPLAY

Edmund Vance Cooke writes of the cruise of the American fleet around the globe in the following significant lines:

This is the song of the thousand men who are multiplied by twelve, Sorted and sifted, tested and tried, and muscled to dig and delve. They come from the hum of city and shop, they come from the farm and the field. And they plow the acres of ocean now, but tell me, what is their yield?

This is the song of the sixteen ships to buffet the battle and gale, And in every one we have thrown away a Harvard or a Yale. Behold here the powers of Pittsburg, the mills of Lowell and Lynn, And the furnaces roar and the boilers seethe, but tell me, what do they spin?

This is the song of the long, long miles from Hampton to the Horn, From the Horn away to the western bay whence our guns are proudly borne. A flying fleet and a host of hands to carry these rounds of shot! And behold they have girdled the globe by half, and what is the gain they have brought?

This is the song of the wasters, ay, defenders, if you please, Defenders against our fellows, with their wasters even as these, For we stumble still at the lesson taught since ever the years were young, That the chief defense of a nation is to guard its own hand and tongue.

This is the song of our sinning (for the fault is not theirs, but ours), That we chain these slaves to our galley-ships as the symbol of our powers; That we clap applause, that we cry hurrahs, that we vent our unthinking breath, For oh, we are proud that we flaunt this flesh in the markets of dismal death.

--_Christian Work and Evangelist._

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles stewardship

War, Racial Fertility And

War's horror is its wanton waste of human life and social destruction.

See ARMIES OF THE WORLD; MILITARISM; NAVIES OF THE WORLD.

WAR, THE HORRORS OF

After his splendid victory of Austerlitz was won and the iron crown of empire securely fixt on his brow, Napoleon, standing on the high ground, saw a portion of the defeated Russian army making a slow, painful retreat over a frozen lake. They were at his mercy. He rode up to a battery and said, “Men, you are losing time! fire on those masses; they must be swallowed up! fire on that ice!” Shells were thrown, the bridge of ice was broken, and amid awful shrieks hundreds upon hundreds of miserable wretches were buried in the frozen waters.

The crime of war is its wanton waste of human life. And so are the social wrongs that decimate our world. And so is evil in every form. (Text.)

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles death

Warfare, Antiquated

Advances in warfare reflect human progress but also increase the destructiveness of conflict.

The ordinary spear was eighteen feet long, or three times the height of the man, and from one inch to an inch and a half in thickness. The iron jaws of the head were two feet and a half in length.

With such spears the Massachusetts militia was trained for more than forty years, or until the outbreak of Philip’s war. I do not know how long they may have been used in Virginia. Poking Indians armed with muskets out of a swamp with a spear might do for imaginary warfare--but when it came to real fighting it was very ugly business. The desperate character of the conflicts with Philip and the necessity for the exclusive use of gunpowder became apparent, and the edict went forth that the militia, who were trained to the use of the spear, should take up the musket. With this edict the spear disappeared in this country forever. It went out in England about the same time. Thus do we learn the progress of the human mind in arts of destruction.

— EDWARD EGGLESTON

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles death

Waste By Drink

Drinking destroys lives and homes, but conversion can restore and redirect a person.

A man, who had destroyed three happy homes through his drinking habits, was converted, and set to work to lead his friends to Christ. Some time after his conversion one of his mates, seeing how clean and happy he was looking, asked him jocularly if he had any houses to let. He knew the questioner was a heavy drinker, so he decided to give him a practical lesson. “Here, mate,” he said, “just take a look down my throat, will you?” “There’s nothing there,” said the other, after a careful inspection of his throat. “Well, that’s queer, for I’ve put three good homes and a grocer’s shop down that throat, drowning them in drink.” (Text.)

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles conversionsalvation

Waste By Drink

Human life wasted by sin is like golden cream spilled for the devil to consume.

See DRINK, EFFECTS OF.

WASTE OF LIVES

Of all wastes, the greatest waste that you can commit is the waste of labor. If you went down in the morning into your dairy, and found that your youngest child had got down before you, and that he and the cat were at play together, and that he had poured out all the cream on the floor for the cat to lap up, you would scold the child, and be sorry the cream was wasted. But if, instead of wooden bowls with milk in them, there are golden bowls with human life in them, and instead of the cat to play with--the devil to play with; and you yourself the player; and instead of leaving that golden bowl to be broken by God at the fountain, you break it in the dust yourself, and pour the human life out on the ground for the fiend to lick up--is that not waste?

— JOHN RUSKIN

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles

Weeds, Warfare Against

Persistent effort is needed to combat sin, like continual warfare against spreading weeds.

Charles H. Spurgeon once said:

An old wall is so interpenetrated--every nook, crack and crevice--by the notorious ivy that, tho you may cut the vine at the roots, you can never thoroughly destroy it, till the wall itself is leveled.

Most weeds spread chiefly from their seeds, hence care should be taken to prevent the formation of weed-seeds. The more thorough we are in keeping out weeds, the easier our work. While we may not hope to get rid of all weeds, we may greatly lessen their numbers by keeping up a continual warfare against them.

The Alibi Agency

Job 24:15

(From a description of services offered by the Alibi Agency Ltd., a company based in Lancashire, England. The Alibi Agency donates a portion of its profits to charities benefiting children from broken homes [to assuage their guilt at their tacky business, no doubt - Holwick].)

Many of us have occasion to stray from our long-term partners, to dally in a brief sexual relationship with a third party. But with modern communications, it has become increasingly difficult to do so without risk of detection. Public knowledge of such a relationship can put an incredible strain on all parties concerned: family life, the home, the business, and your children's welfare can all be put on the line.

The Alibi Agency was established to provide a way out of this situation. By handling "alibis" for you, we can help protect your loved ones from undue anxiety, ensuring the financial security and stability of a long-term relationship.

We offer a full and professional alibi service: We'll send invitations for corporate events, seminars, or sporting events to your home, then telephone you or your wife to confirm bookings. If someone tries to contact you, our receptionists will take the call as a hotel receptionist, for example, or a golf-club secretary. We will let the caller hear us try to page you, then offer to take a message when you can't be found. If we know where you are, we can even ring you while the caller is on hold, then patch the call through as if it were to your "room." We also take care of payments for hotels, meals, or gifts, then bill your credit card for car repairs or software purchases.

Most sexual affairs are inconsequential to your long-term relationships. Our aim is to provide total peace of mind for you and your family.

The Souvenirs of Sin

Job 14:16

If you grew up on a farm, there's probably a dog in your memories. For my farm girl, Karen, that dog was a Collie cattle dog named King. King was great at rounding up her Dad's cattle. All Dad would have to do was to whistle that certain whistle, and King would start circling and circling those cattle until he herded them in. But there was a problem. One day a chicken got out, and King killed that chicken - which gave that valuable dog the taste of blood. They tell me if you can't cure that in a dog, you can't afford to keep it. The dog either has to be killed or disciplined so he'll never forget. So Dad took that dead chicken and tied its legs around King's neck with some twine. Needless to say, the dog tried everything to shake that dead chicken, but as the day wore on, the bird he killed did not, uh, improve with age. By the end of the day, King's head and tail were hanging low. It's a painful way to learn the seriousness of what he had done ... but not nearly as painful as the alternative.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Souvenirs of Sin."

If you have to carry some of the consequences of what you've done wrong, it can be powerful incentive not to do it again - which can save you from consequences that will be far worse. Now that's why God sometimes allows you and me to experience some unpleasant results of our sin. It's not that He hasn't forgiven us or that He doesn't love us. It's because He does.

God had great plans for Jacob - among other things, he would father the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. But all his life this stubborn, self-willed, survival-oriented man had been wrestling with God for the control of his life. And then came the final wrestling match. Our word for today from the Word of God, Genesis 32:24 and following - "Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man."

Eventually, Jacob realizes who he's been wrestling with that night - and all those years. The Bible says, "Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, 'It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared ... He was limping because of his hip." (Genesis 32:30-31) As far as we know, Jacob walked with a painful limp for the rest of his life. Was he right with God? Well, he asked for God's blessing that night, and God changed his name from Jacob, the cheat - to Israel, which means prince with God.

But even though it seems Jacob had made his peace with God, he was like that old Collie, King. In essence, he carried the dead chicken around with him the rest of his life to remind him of how much it hurts to be self-willed and stubborn and manipulative. It wasn't that my father-in-law didn't value that dog - he did value the dog. That's why he made him live with those consequences - the alternative was destruction.

And that may be why God has allowed you to continue to experience some of the scars and pain and consequences of your sin. If you have brought that sin to Jesus' cross in true repentance, God promises that He will "remember that sin no more." (Hebrews 8:12) You are forgiven ... you are clean ... your sin is forever covered by the blood that Jesus shed for it. But God doesn't ever want you to go back where you were. So maybe today there are still the memories, the regrets, some of the brokenness, the scars. God has left you with that aftermath so you will be protected by those consequences from ever doing that again. You won't forget how much it hurts and how much it costs.

It's another dimension of that same grace that forgave you and cleansed you. It's God's keeping grace ... enough pain from the past to keep you from ever going back to what would destroy you. Sometimes God in His grace saves us from the consequences of our sin and sometimes He leaves the consequences there. Either way, it's His love.

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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from A Word With You by Ron Hutchcraft #3803 · Ron Hutchcraft via Kerux Sermon and Illustration Database sin

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