11 Sermon Illustrations on Salvation Call

11 illustrations

The salvation call in Christian preaching emphasizes the urgent invitation to accept Christ personally and decisively, highlighting that faith requires active response (Romans 10:9). Illustrations often use images of timely opportunities, invitations, and the consequences of neglecting God's grace, underscoring the critical choice between eternal life and lost opportunity (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Get on Board

Faith alone is not enough; one must actively accept Christ to be saved.

A certain businessman arrived at the airport 30 minutes in advance of his flight. He went to the ticket window and received his boarding pass. Next, he checked his suitcase in plenty of time to get it on the proper flight with him, then sat down with a magazine in the lobby waiting for time to board. Since this was his first chance to relax all day, he closed his eyes for what he thought would be a ten minute "cat nap." He rested his eyes right through the first, second, and final boarding calls on his flight. When he awoke, a quick glance at the clock on the wall snapped him back to reality. The flight had taken off without him. He had done everything right except one. He had not gotten on board. Some people are going to miss the plane spiritually if they do not get on board. It is fine that we have faith and Christian parents and atmospheres in our homes. But we must accept Christ to get on board. Do You Believe in Your Sins? A pastor in New York urged an intellectual but dissipated man to become a Christian. The man replied, "I cannot believe in the inspiration of the Bible, in the deity of Christ, or in prayer." "Do you believe in your own sins?" asked the pastor. "Oh, yes," replied the honest soul; "there is no doubt about my being a sinner and sometimes I am in hell!" "Are you willing to bring your sins to Christ for forgiveness and let Him, whatever you think of Him, take your guilt?" "But," he said, "I cannot believe in the inspiration of the Bible, or in the deity of Christ, or in prayer." "Just now," persisted the wise pastor, "I am not asking you to believe these things. You know you are a sinner, and in sin there is a taste of hell. Now, I offer you Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin. Will you accept Him as such, and leave all questions that puzzle you for future solution?" The man went to his home, and that night he accepted the Christ he knew as his Savior, and came to the meeting the next night to tell the people the joy of forgiveness that was in his soul. After several days of testimony which led others to Christ, the pastor gently asked, "What do you think now of the deity of Christ?" "Such a Savior," he said, with great emotion, "must be divine; if He were not divine He could not have done what He has done for me!"

Choice, Wise

Choosing Christ is the wise choice that grants heirs all the kingdom’s wealth and honor.

A king once said to a particular favorite, "Ask what thou wilt, and I will give it unto thee!" He thought, "If I ask to be made a general, I shall readily obtain it; if for half the kingdom, he will give it to me. I will ask for something to which all these things shall be added." So he said to the king, "Give me thy daughter to wife." This made him heir to all the wealth and honors of the kingdom. So choosing Christ makes us heirs to all the wealth and glory of the Father's kingdom.

Day Of Grace, for Every Man

Every person has a day of grace to seek God before eternal darkness comes.

It was day at Jerusalem in Christ's time; at Ephesus, in St. John's time; at Corinth and Philippi, in St. Paul's time; at Crete, in Titus' time; at Alexandria, in St. Mark's time; at Smyrna, in Polycarp's time; at Pergamos, in Antipas' time; at Antioch, in Evodius' and Ignatius' time; at Constantinople, in St. Chrysostom's time; at Hippo, in St. Augustine's time. It is now night with most of them, and yet day with us. Jerusalem had a day; and every city, every nation, every church, every congregation, every man, hath a day of grace, hath an accepted time if he do but accept of it; and he may find God if he seek him in time: but if he let the Sun of righteousness go down, and work not out his own salvation whilst it is called to-day, he must look for nothing but perpetual darkness when time will be swallowed up into eternity, when there will be no time at all. Spencer.

Day Of Grace, Neglecting the

Missing God's appointed time for salvation means losing the opportunity forever.

An artist solicited permission to paint a portrait of the queen. The favor was granted; and the favor was great, for it would make the fortune of the man. A place was fixed, and a time. At the fixed place and time the queen appeared: but the artist was not there; he was not ready yet. When he did arrive, a message was communicated to him, that her Majesty had departed, and would not return. Such is the tale. The King eternal consented to meet man. He fixed in his covenant, and promised in his word, the object, place, and time of the meeting: it is for salvation; it is in Christ; it is now. He has been true to his own appointment; but how often is it otherwise with man? Arnot.

Invitation, Accepting an

Faith in Christ's invitation brings peace and freedom from burden.

During a religious awakening in a factory-village in New England, a foreman was awakened, but could not find peace. His superior sent him a letter, requesting him to call at six o'clock. Promptly he came. "I see you believe me," said his master. The foreman assented. "Well, see; here is another letter sending for you by One equally in earnest," said his master, holding up a slip of paper with some texts of Scripture written on it. He took the paper, and began to read slowly, "Come — unto — Me — all — ye — that — labor," &c. His lips quivered, his eyes filled with tears; then he stood for a few moments, not knowing what to do. At length he inquired, "Am I just to believe that in the same way I believed your letter?" — "Just in the same way," rejoined the master. This expedient was owned of God in setting him at liberty.

Opportunity, Lost

Delaying to seize God's opportunity risks losing salvation and life itself.

On a wild coast of Britain, there are tall and craggy cliffs, which overhang the ocean. The people residing near make their livelihood by gathering the eggs of the rock-birds. An iron is fixed in the cliff above: a rope is attached, and the adventurer lowers himself until he arrives at the ledge of the rock. Once a man found the rock to overhang so much, that he was obliged to swing himself to and fro, so as to gain his foot-hold on the rock. He succeeded; but, in doing so, he lost the rope from his grasp. The rope swung to and fro, its vibrations becoming less and less, and each time more and more distant. The man stood, and, quick as thought, reasoned thus with himself: "That rope is my only chance of life. In a little while, it will be forever beyond my reach. It is nearer now than it ever will be again. I must lay hold of it or die!" So saying, he sprang from the cliff as the rope was next approaching, caught it, and was safe!

Opportunity, Lost

Ignoring urgent warnings can result in lost salvation and eternal consequences.

"It was my lot," said a shipmaster, "to fall in with that ill fated steamer, 'The Central America.'" The night was closing in, the sea rolling high; but I mailed the crippled steamer, and asked if they needed help. 'I am in a sinking condition,' cried Capt. Herndon. 'Had you not better send your passengers on board directly,' I said. 'Will you not lay by me till morning?' answered Capt. Herndon. 'I will try,' I replied; 'but had you not better send your passengers on board now?'—'Lay by me till morning,' again said Capt. Herndon. I tried to lay by him; but at night, such was the heavy roll of the sea, I could not keep my position, and I never saw the steamer more. In an hour and a half after the captain said, 'Lay by me till morning,' the vessel, with its living freight, went down; and the captain and crew, and a great majority of his passengers, found a grave in the great deep. But for this delay, all might have been saved.'

Matthew 11:28; Revelation 22:17

Matthew 11:28

Persistent invitation to come to Christ can deeply convict and lead to salvation.

A man in one of our meetings had been brought there against his will; he had come through some personal influence brought to bear upon him. When he got to the meeting, they were singing the chorus of a hymn:

Come! oh, come to Me!

Weary, heavy-laden,

Come! oh, come to Me!

He said afterward he thought he never saw so many fools together in his life before. The idea of a number of men standing there singing, “Come! come! come!”

When he started home he could not get this little word out of his head; it kept coming back all the time.

He went into a saloon, and ordered some whisky, thinking to drown it. But he could not; it still kept coming back. He went into another saloon, and drank some more whisky; but the words kept ringing in his ears: “Come! come! come!” He said to himself, “What a fool I am for allowing myself to be troubled in this way!” He went to a third saloon, had another glass, and finally got home.

He went off to bed, but could not sleep; it seemed as if the very pillow kept whispering the word, “Come! Come!” He began to be angry with himself: “What a fool I was for ever going to that meeting at all!” When he got up he took the little hymn book, found the hymn, and read it over.

“What nonsense!” he said to himself; “the idea of a rational man being disturbed by that hymn.”

He set fire to the hymn book, but he could not burn up the little word “Come!”

He declared he would never go to another of the meetings; but the next night he came again. When he got there, strange to say, they were singing the same hymn.

“There is that miserable old hymn again,” he said; “what a fool I am for coming!” When the Spirit of God lays hold of a man, he does a good many things he did not intend to do.

To make a long story short, that man rose in a meeting of young converts, and told the story that I have now told you. Pulling out the little hymn-book — for he had bought another copy — and opening it at this hymn, he said:

“I think this hymn is the sweetest and the best in the English language. God blessed it to the saving of my soul. And yet this was the very hymn that I despised.”

2 Corinthians 6:2; Proverbs 27:1; Isaiah 55:6-7

2 Corinthians 6:2

It is urgent to settle salvation now before it's too late.

Some years ago, in one of the mining districts of England, a young man attended one of our meetings and refused to go from the place till he had found peace in the Savior. The next day he went down into the pit, and the coal fell in upon him. When they took him out, he was broken and mangled, and had only two or three minutes of life left in him. His friends gathered about him, saw his lips moving, and, bending down to catch his words, heard him say:

“It was a good thing I settled it last night.”

Settle it now, my friends, once for all. Confess your sin now, and pray to the Lord. He will make you an heir of His kingdom, if you will accept the gift of salvation.

Christ Inviting Men

Christ invites all who labor and are burdened to come to Him for rest.

In the Doré Gallery in London is the artist’s last picture, left unfinished. It is entitled, “The Vale of Tears,” and was intended to illustrate the words, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” Jesus is in the distance pointing to Himself. Over Him is a deep mist spanned by a rainbow whose light in varying degrees falls upon the multitude of faces and forms before Him, some just touched, others beaming and aglow with radiance.

Problem To Solve

Matthew 16:26

The question of gaining the world but losing the soul convicts and leads to salvation.

—A young man, noted for his mathematical attainments, was fond of challenging his fellow-students to a trial of skill in solving difficult problems. One day a class-mate came into his study, and, laying a folded paper before him, said, “There is a problem I wish you would help me solve,” and immediately left the room. The paper was eagerly unfolded and there instead of a question in mathematics were traced the lines: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” With a gesture of impatience, he tore the paper to atoms, and turned again to his books. But in vain he tried to shake off the impression of the solemn words. The Holy Spirit pressed home his conviction of guilt and danger, so that he could find no peace till he found it by believing in Jesus.

The Call of Christ 47:38

by John Ridley

The sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering fully to God's love and will, and trusting in his power and sovereignty, as demonstrated in the story of Lazarus and Jesus.

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