Sermon Illustrations

George Eliot wrote a book about Adam Bede. Adam was a stalwart carpenter, a solid man, and he was in love with a woman who was pretty, vain, and superficial. There comes into their lives an author who is a wealthy playboy. He took advantage of this woman, and the rest of the story is about her hapless child, frenzied wandering, and the agony that came into her life because of all these things. There comes a time when the playboy wants to repent and straighten up his life, and he goes to Adam Bede and asks for his forgiveness. He got it, but it was hard, as Adam said to him, "There’s a kind of sin that can’t quite be made up for."

We need to remember that. Our sins hurt people. We need to remember that it’s hard for God to forgive sin because He loves people and our sins always hurt people.