Sermon illustrations
Sermon illustrations on grace
Short, ready-to-use illustrations of grace — God's unearned favour reaching the undeserving. Every one is taken from a first-person account you can read in full; pick the one that fits and follow the link for the longer version.
- 1
“The chief of sinners”
John Bunyan, a profane tinker tormented for years by the fear that he had sinned past forgiving, finally found assurance in Christ's righteousness and titled the story of it Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. The title is the sermon: grace that abounds precisely where sin seemed to win.
1 Timothy 1:14
From Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan (1666) — read the account →
- 2
“Take up and read”
Augustine, worn out by years of resisting God, heard a child's voice in a Milan garden chanting 'take up and read.' He opened Paul's letter, read a single verse, and the long fight was over. Grace met him not at his best but at the end of himself.
Romans 13:13–14
- 3
An orphanage built on prayer alone
George Müller went from a thieving, dissolute student to a man who cared for thousands of orphans without once asking anyone for money — only God. His life answered a single question: is grace enough to live on? He staked everything on yes.
2 Corinthians 9:8
- 4
“The Lord's dealings” with a former slave
Born enslaved, Amanda Smith became an evangelist who preached on three continents and founded an orphanage. She framed her whole autobiography as 'the Lord's dealings' with her — grace as the through-line of an entire life, not a single moment.
Ephesians 2:8
- 5
Rescued from the pit — William Cowper
The poet William Cowper, sunk in despair and more than once bent on taking his own life, was restored and converted — and went on to write “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood.” Grace that reaches the very bottom and lifts a man out of the miry pit.
Psalm 40:2
T.S. Baker Books — true stories of changed lives, free to read and quote.