Sermon Illustrations

DECEPTION: THE TROJAN HORSE

I doubt you’ll recognize this man. His name is Heinrich Schliemann. In 1871, Heinrich Schliemann began to fulfill a dream he’d had since his youth. He started excavating an ancient city in Turkey. He was looking for the lost city of Troy. And to the amazement of many, this retired businessman found it. Today, you can still see the ruins of its towers and its walls, which were 16 feet thick.

Schliemann desire to find the ancient city of Troy can be traced back to his fascination with the Greek stories surrounding it. One of those stories is found in Homer’s Iliad. According to Homer the Greeks besieged Troy for ten years without success. And then when the warrior Achilles was killed, many wanted to give up the fight. But the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, came up with a plan to get the Greek army into Troy. Odysseus built an immense wooden horse may have looked something like this...

Odysseus and his warriors hid inside it. And after leaving the horse at the gates of Troy, the Greek army sailed away. The Trojans thinking the Greeks had given up and had left the horse as a gift, brought it inside the gates.

That night, while the Trojans were sleeping, the Greek ships quietly returned. The soldiers in the horse slipped out and opened the city gates. The Greek army quietly entered Troy and started fires all over the city. The Trojans awoke to find their city in flames. As they tried to flee, they were killed by the waiting Greeks.

(From a sermon by Paul Decker, "Drip, Drip, Drip" 2/8/2009)

Related Sermon Illustrations

Related Sermons

  • The Truth About Lying

    Contributed by Derrick Tuper on Oct 26, 2012
    based on 2 ratings
     | 13,371 views

    Although the movie, "Liar, Liar" is a comedy, the issue of lying is anything but funny. Max’s birthday wish was for his father to stop lying. God has that same desire for us. He understands how serious of an issue lying is and how important it is for his

  • A Failure Of Faith Series

    Contributed by David Owens on Jun 12, 2017
    based on 1 rating
     | 13,059 views

    No one is perfect. Even the greatest of Biblical characters are sinners. When Abraham faced the first crisis since deciding to walk with God, he defaulted to his old ways of falsehood rather than walking by faith.

  • Which Bridge Is Safe?

    Contributed by Bruce Ball on Apr 8, 2015
    based on 4 ratings
     | 12,948 views

    Using the analogy of a bridge crossing a chasm, we discuss that even though there seems to be many bridges available, only one really leads to the other side and we must be careful when deciding which bridge.

  • Accentuate The Positive Series

    Contributed by Dennis Davidson on Mar 7, 2013
    based on 4 ratings
     | 12,121 views

    Prudent, accurate, honest, sensitive communication is a major theme threaded through Proverbs. This emphasis is mandated because words & actions are the way we relate to one another. Basically, we need to accentuate the positive & eliminate the negative.

  • The Value Of Honesty

    Contributed by Dennis Lee on Nov 17, 2019
    based on 4 ratings
     | 9,634 views

    Today's Message is looking at the value of honesty in our series on building lasting values in our lives as we build up God's house within us. We also look at several steps to help us out in the process.