Sermon Illustrations

Let’s tell the truth: SIN CAN BE FUN! Well at least it is fun for a while. The reality is that sin always has consequences. And the consequences of sin are unpleasant.

The National Geographic reported in October 2005 that a 13-foot Burmese python had been found dead in the Florida’s Everglades National Park after eating its enemy, a 6 foot alligator. This pythons last supper proved to be lethal as it burst in two exposing the remains of the partially digested alligator. Exactly How it happened remains a mystery, but there have been several theories. What makes sense to me is that as the giant python began to wrap itself around its prey, the alligator put up a fight biting the python in its mid section. While the python won the battle and soon swallowed the dead alligator whole, the wound it received did not heal. Eventually it burst from the inside out due to the pressure caused by the digesting alligator within its stomach. At least that’s what I think might have happened.

(see: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1006_051006_pythoneatsgator.html)

The reality is that this dead python is a picture of the consequences of sin within our lives. Sin is our enemy. Yet we naively think that we can master it—we can beat sin because we are stronger than it is. We enjoy the pleasures of sin. It looks as though we have won and beaten the consequences of sin. Unfortunately, sin soon destroys us from the inside out.