73 Sermon Illustrations on Faithfulness

There is a tiny harbor town on the ocean shore where many ships have crashed on the rocks in violent weather. This town became well-known because of a dedicated rescue team which aided mariners in distress. The rescue team would rally to the sound of the siren and rush to the scene of the accident, risking life and limb to save the sailors from drowning. As time went on, the citizens of that tiny town raised enough money to build a rescue station close to the shore. While this greatly facilitated the operation, it softened the dedicated team as well. As time went by they added some of the comforts and conveniences that other rescue stations had. Through the years the rescue station became a social club where the town's people gathered to have fun and relax. Ships would still crash upon the rocks, the alarm would still sound, but eventually no one responded. They were reluctant to leave their comforts because their commitment to rescue the miserable mariners was no match for their complacency. A Successful Shock Treatment A young military officer was traveling by train from Newark to New York City. He constantly introduced profane language into his conversation as he conversed with another passenger beside him. His profanity greatly annoyed a young lady who sat not far away. At last, unable to tolerate his language further, the offended passenger leaned over and inquired politely, "Sir, can you converse in a foreign language?" "Yes," was his reply in a slightly surprised manner, "Then," she continued, "if you wish to swear anymore, you would greatly oblige me-and, no doubt, the rest of the passengers-if you would swear in another tongue." Astonished at her suggestion as well at her audacity, the young officer was speechless momentarily. However, he finally resumed his conversation; he did not swear again-neither in a "foreign language" nor in English.

A shepherd once came to the city of Edinburgh from the country. He had his small obedient dog with him. While there, the man died and was buried. That little dog lay upon its master's grave-not for a day, a week, or a month, but for 12 years. Every day at one o'clock a gun was fired in the castle of Edinburgh. When the gun was fired the dog would run to the local baker who gave it food and water. Then back to the grave it would go. This continued till the dog died 12 years later. That was faithfulness! A man threw a goose, which had been run over and crushed by a car, into an oil drum. For seven years the gander, that goose's mate, never went more than ten feet away from that oil drum. That was faithfulness! George Mueller prayed for 52 years for a certain man to come to Christ. A pastor visited an elderly man 21 times before being admitted, but then he befriended the man and led him to Christ. That was faithfulness! A Welsh postman had the British Empire Medal conferred upon him by Queen Elizabeth; he had not missed a day's service in 43 years. Paul Dhrlick, the chemist, performed 605 unsuccessful experiments; the 606th was a success! Thomas Edison made 18,000 experiments before he perfected the arc light. After experiencing 50 failures on another project he said, "I have found 50 ways it cannot be done!" That was faithfulness! During the Korean War a man buried himself in the muck and mud of a pig sty (except for his nose and mouth so he could breathe) for eight days and nights rather than betray his buddies and surrender to the enemy. That was faithfulness! Are you not glad that Jesus was faithful in dying for us and that He now lives and is faithful to care for us? God grant us grace to be faithful!

A man, long noted for intemperate habits, was induced by Rev. John Abbott to sign the pledge "in his own way," which he did in these words: "I pledge myself to drink no more intoxicating drinks for one year." Near the end of the year, he again appeared at a temperance meeting, without having once touched a drop. "Are you not going to sign again?" asked Mr. Abbott. "Yes," replied he, "if I can do it in my own way." And, accordingly, he wrote, "I sign this pledge for nine hundred and ninety-nine years; and, if I live to that time, I intend to take out a life-lease!" A few days after, he called upon the tavern-keeper, who welcomed him back to his old haunt. "Oh! landlord," said he, as in pain, "I have such a lump on my side!"—"That's because you have stopped drinking," said the landlord: "you won't live long if you keep on."—"Will drink take the lump away?"—"Yes; and, if you don't drink, you'll soon have a lump on the other side. Come, let's drink together;" and he poured out two glasses of whiskey. "I guess I won't drink," said the former inebriate, "especially if keeping the pledge will bring another lump; for it isn't very hard to bear, after all." And with this he drew the lump—a bag of dollars—from his side-pocket, and walked off, leaving the landlord to his reflections.

Clytie was a water-nymph who loved the sun-god without any return. She constantly gazed at the object of her affection, looking at him when he rose, and while he passed his daily course. She saw no other object. At last, her limbs rooted, and her face became the sun-flower, which turns on its stem so as always to look at the sun.

It was while standing on the poop of his vessel, amid the heat and the fire of severe combat, that Nelson received his mortal wound; and, on being afterwards assured that the day was in favor of his country's flag, he breathed out his spirit with the words on his lips, "Thank God! I have done my duty!" It is to him who is faithful unto death, that there is held out the crown of glory.

— Dr. Ferguson

Faithful to. During the dark day of 1780, in Connecticut the candles were lighted in many houses, and domestic fowls went to their roost. The people thought the day of judgment had come. The legislature was then in session in Hartford. The house of representatives adjourned. In the council it was also proposed. Col. Davenport objected, saying, "The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjourning; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish, therefore, that candles may be brought."

The legend of Christina the Roman maiden, is, that her father was an idolater, and she a devoted Christian. One day, a crowd of beggars moved her compassion. She took her father's idols of gold and silver, and, having broken them up, threw the fragments among the beggars. At this, her father caused her to be beaten, and then thrown into a dungeon; but the angels healed and comforted her. Her father next caused her to be thrown into a lake with a millstone round her neck; but the angels held up the stone, clothed her in a white garment, and brought her safe to land. Then her father ordered her to be thrown into a fiery furnace, where she remained five days unharmed, singing praises to God. She was next dragged to the Temple of Apollo, to sacrifice; but, when she looked at the idol, it fell down before her. In prison, she sang the praises of God continually, when her tongue was cut out: yet she sang more sweetly than ever. She was shut up in a dungeon with venomous reptiles, who became harmless in her presence. At last, she was shot to death with arrows, and went up to receive the martyr's crown as the reward of her dauntless fortitude.

A dog which accompanied Lieut. Pheff of Illinois to the war was with his master when he was killed at Pittsburg Landing; watched over his body till it was buried; and then staid by the grave, never leaving it, except for his meals. Thus he watched for twelve days, till the lieutenant's widow came, and took him and his master's body away.

On catching the first sight of the Mamelukes drawn up in order of battle on the banks of the Nile, in view of the Pyramids, Bonaparte, riding before the ranks, cried, "Soldiers! from the summits of yonder Pyramids, forty generations are watching you." "Forty generations look down upon you," is the other and better version.

During a flood in St. Petersburg, the sentinel before the palace refused to leave his post (though ordered so to do by the empress, and death by drowning seemed imminent) till relieved by the proper officer.

An Edinburgh correspondent of "The Boston Journal" says, that some five years ago, a man was buried in the Greyfriars' Cemetery in the former city. His dog made a bed on his grave. From that time to this he has lived in that yard. At a given time, on the pealing-out of the clock, the dog goes out for breakfast, which is given to him at one place. At one o'clock, as the time is struck, he goes to a baker's, who has given his dinner all these years. He consumes about one hour and a half to refresh himself. He then comes back, and keeps watch. He has done this more than five years. What is queer, on Saturdays he will wait for an extra dinner. This he keeps till Sunday. He does not go for dinner on that day. Thousands visit the yard to see this dog.

Paulina, the wife of Seneca, being determined not to survive her husband, whom Nero had condemned to death, opened a vein in her arm, and would soon have fled to death, if the tyrant had not sent persons who compelled her to stop the blood. For the remainder of her life, her face wore an unusual paleness, which, says Tacitus, was a glorious testimony of her fidelity to her husband. Percy.

There is nothing in Pompeii that invests it with a deeper interest than the spot where a soldier of old Rome displayed a most heroic fidelity. That fatal day on which Vesuvius, at whose feet the city stood, burst out into an eruption that shook the earth, a sentinel kept watch by the gate which looked to the burning mountain. Amidst the fearful disorder, the sentinel had been forgotten; and as Rome required her sentinels, happen what might, to hold their posts till relieved by the guard, or set at liberty by their officers, he had to choose between death and dishonor. Pattern of fidelity, he stands by his post. Slowly, but surely, the ashes rise on his manly form; now they reach his breast; and now, covering his lips, they choke his breathing. He also was "faithful unto death." After seventeen centuries, they found his skeleton standing erect in a marble niche, clad in its rusty armor, the helmet on his empty skull, and his bony fingers still closed upon his spear.

When Kossuth, escaping the pursuit of the Cossacks, sought the protection of the sultan, that monarch offered him safety, wealth, and high military command, if he would renounce Christianity, and embrace the religion of Mahomet. A refusal of these conditions, for any thing he knew to the contrary, would be equivalent to throwing himself upon the sword of Russia, which was whetted for his destruction. And this was his answer: "Welcome, if need be, the axe or the gibbet; but evil befall the tongue that dares to make to me so infamous a proposal!" Biblical Treasury.

Henry V., on the evening of Agincourt, found the chivalric David Gam still clasping the banner, which, through the fight, his strength had borne, and his right arm defended. Often had the monarch noticed that pennon waving in the foremost van of the men of England who that day, pierced, broke, and routed the proud ranks of France. The king knighted him as he lay. The hero died, but, dying, was ennobled. S. Coley.

When the Marquis of Montrose was sentenced to death, the judge ordered that his head and limbs should be severed from his body, and hanged in the Tolbooth in Edinburgh, and in other public towns of the kingdom. The marquis heard the sentence with a grim smile of pride; and, in defiance, cried, "I wish I had flesh enough to be sent to every city in Christendom, as a testimony to the cause for which I suffer."

— Dr. Wise

The keeper of the lighthouse at Calais was boasting of the brightness of his lantern, which can be seen ten leagues at sea; when a visitor said to him, "What if one of the lights would chance to go out?"—"Never,—impossible!" he cried, horrified at the bare thought. "Sir," said he, pointing to the ocean, "yonder, where nothing can be seen, there are ships going by to all parts of the world. If to-night one of my burners went out, within six months would come a letter, perhaps from India, perhaps from America, perhaps from some place I never heard of, saying, such a night, at such an hour, the light of Calais burned dim, the watchman neglected his post, and vessels were in danger. Ah, sir! sometimes in the dark nights in stormy weather, I look out to sea, and feel as if the eyes of the whole world were looking at my light. Go out?—burn dim?—never!"

A father and son once lived near each other in a new settlement. The old gentleman invited preachers to the neighborhood, and entertained them freely; opening his doors for religious meetings. The son took alarm, and advised his father to discontinue the practice, or he would surely ruin himself, and come to want. The father took no notice of the son's worldly-minded caution; and, instead of coming to poverty, he grew wealthy fast. The son, seeing how things went, concluded he would try the same method to obtain property. So, when the preachers came again, he invited them to his house; supposing it would add to his property as he concluded it had to his father's.

John Wesley preached, on an average, fifteen sermons a week. Instead of breaking down under it, when seventy-three years old he writes that he is far abler to preach than when three and twenty. His brow was then smooth, his complexion ruddy, and his voice strong and clear, so that audience of thirty thousand could hear him without difficulty. This vigor he ascribes to continual travel, early rising, good sleep, and an even temper. "I feel and grieve; but, by the grace of God, I fret at nothing."

— Dr. Stevens

The story of the six thousand six hundred Christians comprising the Theban legion is, that, having been led over the Alps by Maximin, they were ordered to sacrifice to heathen gods, and, at the same time, informed that their work was to extirpate the Christians in Gaul. They unanimously refused both, and were ordered to be decimated. Those upon whom the lot fell rejoiced at this their great honor. Thrice was this repeated; when the tyrant, unmoved by such heroism, ordered a general massacre. The army was let loose upon the noble band. The Christian soldiers made no resistance. They threw down their arms: they were cut down with the sword, shot with arrows, trampled with horses, hung upon trees, till not one remained alive.

The world-renowned Rothschilds ascribe their success to the following rules: "Be an off-hand man: make a bargain at once. Never have any thing to do with an unlucky man or plan. Be cautious and bold." John Jacob Astor, when requested to furnish incidents of his life, replied, "My actions must make my life." Stephen Girard's fundamental maxim was, "Take care of the cents: the dollars will take care of themselves." Amos Lawrence said, when asked for advice, "Young man, base all your actions upon a principle of right; preserve your integrity of character; and, in doing this, never reckon the cost." A. T. Stewart, the merchant-prince of New York, says, "No abilities, however splendid, can command success without intense labor and persevering application." Nicholas Longworth, the Cincinnati millionaire, says, "I have always had these two things before me: Do what you undertake thoroughly. Be faithful in all accepted trusts."

Men of. The great men of earth are the shadowy men, who, having lived and died, now live again and forever through their undying thoughts. Thus living, though their footfalls are heard no more, their voices are louder than the thunder, and unceasing as the flow of tides or air. Moses was not half living when he was alive. His real life has been since he died. The prophets seemed almost useless in their time. They did little for themselves or for the Church of their day; but, when you look at the life they have lived since, you will find that they have been god's pilots guiding the Church through all perils. From their black bosoms, they sent forth the blast of his lightning and the roar of his thunder; and to-day, if the Church needs rebuke and denunciation, it is they who must hurl it. I could have killed old Jeremiah, if I could have got at his ribs; but I should like to see the archer that could hit him now. Martin Luther was mighty when he lived; but the shadowy Luther is mightier than a regiment of fleshly Luthers. When he was on earth, he in some sense asked the pope leave to be, and the emperor and the elector leave to be; he asked the stream and the wheat to give him sustenance for a day: but now that his body is dead, now that that rubbish is out of the way, he asks no leave of pope or elector or emperor, but is the monarch of thought, and the noblest defender of the faith to the end of time. Beecher.

Galeazius, a gentleman of great wealth, who suffered martyrdom at St. Angelo in Italy, being much entreated by his friends to recant, replied, "Death is much sweeter to me with the testimony of truth than life with its least denial."

Wesley and Whitefield. John Howard the philanthropist, upon whose grave in Russia was engraved the motto, "He lived for others." Clarkson, Willeridge, and Buxton, the statesmen. The Thorntons, merchants. Mrs. Fry, the merchant's wife. Robert Raikes, the founder of Sunday schools. Bowes.

When Mr. Disraeli retired from the premiership, he was offered a place among the hereditary aristocracy with the title of earl. He declined it with the intimation, that, if there was any reward thought to be deserved, he wished it conferred upon his wife, to whom he attributed all his success. On the day he retired from power, his wife took her place among the noble ladies of England by the title of Viscountess Beaconsfield. Once in a crisis of his career, he was to explain his financial scheme to the House. He entered his carriage absorbed in his theme, his wife quietly taking a seat beside him. In getting in, her finger was caught by the door, which, shutting upon it, held it so fast, that she could not withdraw it. Fearful of driving figures and arguments from his head, she uttered no cry, nor made any movement, until they reached the House; nor did Disraeli hear of it till long after. All that evening the faithful wife sat in the gallery, that her husband's quick eye might not miss her from it, bearing her pain like a martyr, and like a woman who loves.