SALVATION

John Bunyan in his immortal allegory gave us the story of the pilgrim who set out from the City of Destruction for the City of Life.

Now men have suddenly discovered that the famous pilgrim was a selfish & unworthy man, because he made the salvation of his own soul his chief end in life & set out all by himself, leaving his own family in the City of Destruction.

But John Bunyan is eternally right. A man who has not himself started for the City of Life will never start others in that direction.

- (moreillustrations.com)

Rom 9:22 (TLB): “Does not God have a perfect right to show his fury and power against those who are fit only for destruction, those he has been patient with for all this time?”

“If I was to ask you tonight if you were saved? Do you say 'Yes, I am saved'. When? 'Oh so and so preached, I got baptized and...' Are you saved? What are you saved from, hell? Are you saved from bitterness? Are you saved from lust? Are you saved from cheating? Are you saved from lying? Are you saved from bad manners? Are you saved from rebellion against your parents? Come on, what are you saved from?” -  Leonard Ravenhill.

NO TIME TO GET READY?

God is very merciful, but He is just & righteous as well. When men disregard warning & entreaty, then law steps in.
 
I remember when I was living some years ago in Burnley in Lancashire, a woman told her husband, who had always kept aloof from things religious, about a man whom they both knew very well, and who had just died very suddenly.
 
The man remarked, "What a terrible thing to be called away like that without any chance of getting ready!" 

And the woman could not help replying: "Without any chance of getting ready! Why, he has had 54 years of chances!"
 
- Sunday Circle. (moreillustrations.com)
 
Ecc 7:4 (GNT): “Someone who is always thinking about happiness is a fool. A wise person thinks about death.”
 
“Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won't last forever. We must take it or leave it.” -  C.S. Lewis.
 
“Anyone who believes me and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe me will be condemned.” - Lord Jesus Christ (Mk 16:16 CEV).

SOLITUDE

One of the most impressive things in the 88- yrs of John Wesley's long life was when he was taken with his last illness. He returned from the house of a friend, where he had preached his last sermon on the text, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found" (Isa. 55:6).
 
His friends & housekeeper carried him up to his chambers adjoining the City Road Chapel. Realizing that his end was not far off, the aged saint desired all his friends & his servants to leave him for one half hour by himself.
 
Obedient to his desire, they all went out & left him; and there John Wesley met his God alone, reviewed the incidents of his long life & prepared for death.
 
- (moreillustrations.com)
 
Pro 14:32 (NLV): “The sinful is thrown down by his wrong-doing, but the man who is right with God has a safe place when he dies.”
 
“Solitude, silence, and the strait keeping of the heart, are the foundations and grounds of a spiritual life.” -  Robert Leighton.
 

EPITAPH

John Newton’s epitaph reads:

John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.

Grace did not free him to serve no master, but a new Master.

Source: Amazing Grace in John Newton: Slave Ship Captain, Hymn Writer, and Abolitionist, William E. Phipps (ministry127.com)

“Live so that when the final summons comes you will leave something more behind you than an epitaph on a tombstone or an obituary in a newspaper.” -  Billy Sunday.

“Every sin is a mistake, as well as a wrong; and the epitaph for the sinner is, ‘Thou fool!’” -  Alexander MacLaren.

Heb 12:1 (TLB): “Since we have such a huge crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstands, let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us.”

AVOIDING ANYTHING PIGGISH

John Dewey (an educational reformer ) once said of intelligence-testing:

"It reminds me of the way they used to weigh hogs in Texas. They would get a long plank, put it over a crossbar & somehow tie the hog on one end of the plank.

They'd search all around till they found a stone that would balance the weight of the hog & they'd put that on the other end of the plank.

Then they'd guess the weight of the stone."

- Anne Snyder in "Letters to the Editor," The Saturday Evening Post (moreillustrations.com)

Mat 7:6 (GNT): “Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs—they will only trample them underfoot.”

Pro 11:22 (ERV): “A beautiful woman without good sense is like a gold ring in a pig’s nose.”

“There is a trend today that would put a new robe on the prodigal son while he is still feeding hogs. Some would put the ring on his finger while he still in the pigsty. Others would paint the pigsty and advocate bigger and better hogpens.” -  Vance Havner.

POWER

When I first met Mr. Hudson Taylor, in London in 1887, I expected to see a man with a black beard & a full round voice. Instead, I found him a little man, with a blonde beard & a quiet & gentle voice.

I immediately concluded that his power was not in his personality, but rather in God. As the years of my acquaintance lengthened out, this conclusion was increasingly confirmed.

To the end of his life he won great victories with God & over men; but the secret was always communion with his Father in Heaven.

- Henry W. Frost, in China's Millions.(moreillustrations.com)

“If you look up into His face and say, "Yes, Lord, whatever it costs," at that moment He'll flood your Life with His presence and power.” -  Alan Redpath.

Lord Jesus said: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5 NIV).

UNIQUENESS

"I don't believe any two words in the English language have same meaning."

"Oh, I don't know. What's the matter with 'raise' and 'lift'?"

"There's a big difference. I 'raise' chickens and have a neighbor who has been known to 'lift' them."

- (moreillustrations.com)

“Your greatest fulfillment in life will come when you discover your unique gifts and abilities and use them to edify others and glorify the LORD. -  Neil T. Anderson.

Ps 139:14 (WEB): “I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.”

USEFUL

Bishop Taylor Smith, when Chaplain-General, was passing a number of convalescent men seated in a corridor of a hospital. Seeing that they recognized him, he looked to God for a message, as was his wont.

There was an inverted bowl on the table.

“See that bowl!” he said. “Turned down as it is, it is full of darkness, empty, useless. But turn it right way up, and immediately it is full of light, the sun shines in & it can be useful, filled with whatever the bowl is used for. 

Just so are we. Until the Sun of righteousness shines into our hearts, all is darkness, and our lives are empty & useless!”

- (moreillustrations.com)

2 Tim 2:21 (GNT): “Those who make themselves clean from all those evil things, will be used for special purposes, because they are dedicated and useful to their Master, ready to be used for every good deed.”

“What an encouragement to realize that God has reserved you and me for a special task in His great work. In His hands we're not only useful, but priceless.” -  Joni Eareckson Tada.

PRIDE

Timothy McVeigh was executed for bombing the federal building in Oklahoma. He did not speak any final words, but he did have a handwritten statement distributed at his execution which included portions of the poem Invictus.

“It matters not how straight the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.”

Pride keeps the sinner from acknowledging he is wrong.

- Harvey Kushner  (ministry127.com)

Pro 16:18 (GNT): “Pride leads to destruction, and arrogance to downfall.”

“Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility.” -  Jonathan Edwards.

Why Did They Go to Church?

Lyman Beecher Stowe, in "Saints, Sinners, and Beechers," tells of one occasion when Thomas K. Beecher substituted for his famous brother, Henry Ward Beecher, at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn.

Many curiosity seekers came to see & hear Henry Ward Beecher. Upon Thomas K. Beecher's appearance in the pulpit the sightseers started for the doors. Thomas K. raised his hand for attention, and made this announcement:

"All those who came here this morning to worship Henry Ward Beecher may now withdraw from the church; all who came to worship God may remain."

- Christian Beacon. (moreillustrations.com)

“To have a faith, therefore, or a trust in any thing, where God hath not promised, is plain idolatry, and a worshipping of thine own imagination instead of God.” -  William Tyndale

Ps 118:8 (GNV): “It is better to trust in the Lord, than to have confidence in man.”

CONSCIENCE

The deputies of a great metropolis in Germany, once offered the great Turenne one hundred thousand crowns not to pass with his army through their city. 

 

"Gentlemen," said he, "I cannot in conscience accept your money, as I had no intention to pass that way."

- (moreillustrations.com)

“Good conscience is sometimes sold for money, but never bought with it.” -  James H. Aughey.

1 Tim 1:19 (NLT): “Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.”

“Conscience is the voice of God in the soul.” -  James H. Aughey.

‘BUT’

"But" is a little word, but my, what a big word it is!

Some years ago, when Chief Justice Charles E. Hughes of the United States Supreme Court was the United States delegate to the Pan-American conference at Havana,  an interpreter was whispering into Mr. Hughes' ear the flowery introduction by a local orator.

Mr. Hughes stopped his aide, saying:

"Don't bother about interpreting anything until he says `but.' Give me everything after that."

- Buffalo Evening News. (moreillustrations.com)

Rev 2:3-4 (GNT): “You are patient, you have suffered for my sake, and you have not given up. BUT this is what I have against you: you do not love me now as you did at first.”

Pro 12:1 (ERV): “Fools always think their own way is best, BUT wise people listen to what others tell them.”

“A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, BUT a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.” -  A.W. Tozer.