15 Sermon Illustrations on Redemption

A few years ago, I was going away to preach one Sunday morning, when a young man drove up in front of us. He had an aged woman with him. "Who is that young man?" I asked. "Do you see that beautiful meadow?" said my friend, "and that land there with the house upon it?" "Yes" "His father drank that all up," said he. Then he went on to tell me all about him. His father was a great drunkard, squandered his property, died, and left his wife in the poor-house. "And that young man," he said, "is one of the finest young men I ever knew. He has toiled hard and earned money, and bought back the land; he has taken his mother out of the poor-house, and now he is taking her to church." I thought, that is an illustration for me. The first Adam in Eden sold us for naught, but the Messiah, the second Adam, came and bought us back again. The first Adam brought us to the poor-house, as it were; the second Adam makes us kings and priests unto God. That is redemption. We get in Christ all that Adam lost, and more. Men look on the blood of Christ with scorn and contempt, but the time is coming when the blood of Christ will be worth more than all the kingdoms of the world.

"If a man find a pearl of great price, and knoweth not what it is, he maketh no more esteem of it than of a piece of glass or a common bead, and is ready to sell it for a few pence. But if upon the offer of it to a skilful lapidary, the jeweller at first sight biddeth two or three thousand crowns for it, doth he not change his mind, and think this jewel is of greater value than he took it to be? So here: man knows not the value of his soul, and does not greatly set by it. Adam lost his own soul and the souls of all his posterity for an apple, and we sell our birthright for a mess of pottage. But when Christ, who made souls, and knoweth the value of them, came to recover lost souls, he gave himself for us, did he not hereby teach us to set a higher price upon them, for nothing but his precious blood could redeem them?" This is a suggestive simile, and may suggest the framework of a sermon on "the estimate which men set upon their souls, and the hints which God has given them as to their real value by what he has done in reference thereto." In the shop of a diamond-merchant at Amsterdam we saw great machinery and much power all brought to bear on what seemed to be a small piece of glass. One might be sure of the value of that transparent morsel if he would but look around and see what skill and labour were being expended upon it. God has laid out for the good of a soul the watchfulness of angels, the providence of this world, the glory of the next, the councils of eternity, himself and all that he hath, the Holy Spirit and all his divine influences,—yea, he spared not his only Son. Say, soul, what must thou be worth thus to have all heaven's thought, and power, and love laid out for thee? "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Let not a man attempt to answer the question till he hath heard the Lord himself say, "I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee."

A researcher of art in Italy, who, reading in some book that there was a portrait of Dante painted by Giotto, was led to suspect where it had been placed. There was an apartment used as an outhouse for the storing of wood, hay, and the like. He besought and obtained permission to examine it. Clearing out the rubbish, and experimenting upon the whitewashed wall, he soon detected the signs of the long-hidden portrait. Little by little, with loving skill, he opened up the sad, thoughtful, stern face of the old Tuscan poet. Sin has done for man what the whitewash did for the painting. It has covered over the likeness of God upon the soul; and it is only by the Spirit of God himself that the long-hidden likeness can be manifested again.

REDEMPTION, Emblem of About the tenth century, the cross became the only symbol of the Christian faith, to the exclusion of the fish, a previous emblem. From the death of Christ, it had been the symbol of redemption.

A gentleman, visiting a slave-mart, was deeply moved by the agony of a slave-girl, who had been delicately reared, and feared that she should fall into the hands of a rough master. The gentleman inquired her price, paid it to the slave-trader, then placed the bill of sale in her own hands, telling her that she was free, and could now go home. The slave-girl could not realize the change at first, but, running after her redeemer, cried, "He has redeemed me! he has redeemed me! Will you let me be your servant?" How much more should we serve Him who has redeemed us from sin, death, and hell?

Suppose a large graveyard, surrounded by a high wall, with only one entrance by a large iron gate, which is fast bolted. Within these walls are thousands and tens of thousands of human beings, of all ages and of all classes, by one epidemic disease bending to the grave. The grave yawns to swallow them, and they must all die. There is no balm to relieve them, no physician there: they must perish. This is the condition of man as a sinner: all, all, have sinned, and the soul that sinneth shall die. While man was in this deplorable state, Mercy, an attribute of Deity, came down and stood at the gate, looked at the scene, and wept over it, exclaiming, "Oh that I might enter! I would bind up their wounds; I would relieve their sorrows; I would save their souls." While Mercy stood weeping at the gate, an embassy of angels, commissioned from the court of heaven to some other world, passing over, paused at the sight; and Heaven forgave that pause. Seeing Mercy standing there, they cried, "Mercy, Mercy, can you not enter? can you look upon this scene, and not pity? can you pity, and not relieve?" Mercy replied, "I can see;" and in her tears she added, "I pity, but cannot relieve."—"Why can you not enter?"—"Oh!" said Mercy, "Justice has barred the gate against me, and I cannot, must not, unbar it." At this moment, Justice himself appeared, as it were to watch the gate. The angels inquired of him, "Why will you not let Mercy in?" Justice replied, "My law is broken, and it must be honored: die they or Justice must." At this, there appeared a form among the angelic band, like unto the Son of God, who, addressing himself to Justice, said, "What are thy demands?" Justice replied, "My terms are stern and rigid. I must have sickness for their health; I must have ignominy for their honor; I must have death for life; without the shedding of blood, there is no remission."—"Justice," said the Son of God, "I accept thy terms. On me be this wrong, and let Mercy enter."—"When," said Justice, "will you perform this promise." Jesus replied, "Four thousand years hence, upon the hill of Calvary, without the gates of Jerusalem, I will perform it in my own person." The deed was prepared and signed in the presence of the angels of God. Justice was satisfied; and Mercy entered, preaching salvation in the name of Jesus. The deed was committed to the patriarchs; by them to the kings of Israel and the prophets; by them it was preserved till Daniel's seventy weeks were accomplished; and, at the appointed time, Justice appeared on the hill of Calvary, and Mercy presented to him the important deed. "Where" said Justice, "is the Son of God?" Mercy answered, "Behold him at the bottom of the hill, bearing his own cross;" and then he departed, and stood aloof at the hour of trial. Jesus ascended the hill, while in his train followed his weeping Church. Justice immediately presented him with the important deed, saying, "This is the day when this bond is to be executed." When he received it, did he tear it in pieces, and give it to the winds of heaven? No: he nailed it to his cross, exclaiming "It is finished!" Justice called on holy fire to come down, and consume the sacrifice. Holy fire descended: it swallowed his humanity; but, when it touched his divinity, it expired, and there was darkness over the whole heavens; but, glory to God in the highest! on earth peace, and good-will to men.

Man and all things were made in concert, to form part of the same great system, of which man's life was to be the key-note, and man himself was to be the head. And the whole system, the whole structure of man and of the world, is moulded to be the theatre of the redemption of the sinner. Not in Eden, but there on Calvary, and in heaven, which is the child of Calvary, we see realized the whole idea of God. J. B. Brown.

A young lady, a visitor of a Bible Association in New-York, found her way to an obscure cellar, where she discovered a colored woman far gone in a consumption, with her aged husband sitting by her bed-side, and another colored woman, about the age of forty, acting in the capacity of nurse and servant. The young lady told them her business. When the sick woman heard that she came on an errand of mercy, her withered and sickly countenance assumed an unwonted glow and brightness. After expressing a steadfast hope of salvation through the merits of the Savior, she gave the following epitome of her life. But a few years before she was a slave in New Orleans: by industry and economy, she and her husband were enabled to purchase their freedom; and in the course of two or three years to lay up about 400 dollars. Sitting at the door of a cottage one morning, she heard that a number of slaves were to be sold by auction that day. She determined to go and see the sale, and, if possible, to buy one of the female captives, and restore her to liberty. "I have so much money," said she, "and if I can make it the instrument of redeeming one of my fellow beings from slavery, then I can say to my soul, depart in peace." She went and purchased one for 250 dollars. "But now," said she, "I must place her under the ministry of the gospel." She took a passage for herself, her husband, and her liberated friend, for New-York. When they landed, she said, "Now you are in a free state, where the privileges of the gospel are enjoyed; all that I ask for my kindness to you is, that you endeavor to seek the favor of God. If you live with me, and with me work for your support, I shall be rejoiced; you are at liberty to do as you please." The liberated woman accepted her invitation, and was found by the young lady, acting as her deliverer's nurse; and enjoying with her the privileges of that heavenly citizenship in which there is neither bond nor free, but all are one in Christ Jesus. Let us cease to eulogize those who have contributed of their abundance for the relief of the wretched; here was an aged, illiterate, degraded daughter of Africa, who gave her all to promote the salvation of one soul.