Sermon Illustrations

Listen to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Christian minister who opposed the Nazis and was killed in a concentration camp just weeks before the end of World War II.

Cheap Grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline,

Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price, to buy which, the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.

It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is...

Continue reading this sermon illustration (Free with PRO)

Related Sermon Illustrations

Related Sermons

  • Broken: How God Uses Defective People

    Contributed by John Beukema on May 1, 2013
    based on 4 ratings
     | 25,621 views

    The Bible is filled with stories of fractured lives and messy situations. From these we can learn truths about how God works.

  • Into The Wilderness Series

    Contributed by Chris Kelly on Jul 5, 2012
    based on 4 ratings
     | 19,032 views

    What I at first thought was a dry and boring book with no relevance to my life, turned out to be one of the most profound and exciting books in the bible, with full of application to my life! Learn how to make it through the "wilderness" of this life suc

  • Great Expectations Series

    Contributed by Tim Smith on Feb 26, 2012
    based on 1 rating
     | 16,767 views

    ?” People with a great life purpose reach forward with great expectations. Here’s the good news: God is able to abundantly exceed all that we ask or think. Said another way: your expectations will never be so great that God is not able to more than meet

  • Saved For A Purpose

    Contributed by Daren Mitchell on Dec 10, 2013
    based on 1 rating
     | 10,786 views

    You don't have to be a theological scholar to figure out what God expects of those who follow Jesus. He made it really clear. Take care of those who are in need in Jesus Name because you love God and you love people.

  • What Is Man? Series

    Contributed by Perry Greene on Feb 7, 2012
    based on 1 rating
     | 8,896 views

    Psalm 8 asks a probing question and indirectly answers some basic ones -- Who Am I?; Why Am I Here?; Who Is God?