THE
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR:
or,
ANECDOTES, SIMILES, EMBLEMS, ILLUSTRATIONS, EXPOSITORY, SCIENTIFIC, GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND HOMILETIC, GATHERED FROM A WIDE RANGE OF HOME AND FOREIGN LITERATURE, ON THE VERSES OF THE BIBLE
by
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator: St. Luke, vol. II (London: James Nisbet & Co., n.d.).
the preaching recede before the shadow of the coming events. In the former stage the Sermon on the Mount is put out of its place (comp. Luke), and made the opening of the ministry, for it is…
1. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.— The habits of Jesus:—At the close of the day Jesus withdrew to the Mount of Olives, and it is interesting to trace in Him once more that dislike of…
has gone forward, as described by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, including many miracles, the Sermon on the Mount, the early parables, and the mission of the twelve. Returning from this mission, on…
a more pleasing effect, “salt,” “light.” 3. Is your character such as the Saviour describes? (Sermons by the Monday Club.) The Preacher:—Jesus Christ was every way ennobled and qualified for the…
Love. Near to Capernaum He fed the five thousand, walked on the sea, and preached His Sermon on the Mount. He loved the busy, basaltic town, and after His expulsion from Nazareth He made it the…
life will bring the beggar’s vices. Yet here, as in the case of the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount, the spirit is binding still, though the letter has passed away. The mission work of the…
chapters are filled with the record of Christ’s teaching. I need only indicate the Sermon on the Mount; the instruction to the postles on their first Mission; the cluster of the parables of…
the law. (J. E. Good.) Purity of motive in religion:—When Mrs. Judson read the Lord’s “Sermon on the Mount” to the first Burman convert, he was deeply affected. “These words,” said he, “take hold…
to leave their coasts? I doubt it. 3. If they had heard His teaching contained in the Sermon on the Mount, would they have acted so? Think of the goodness and gentleness pervading it. 4. The…
law:— I. Mark the position our Saviour occupied, as forming a key to the whole of the Sermon on the Mount. II. The meaning of these words. 1. Christ fulfilled the law in His teaching. He…
sincerity is not salvation. IV. Christ and His gospel are man’s only security. (Monday Club Sermons.) Figs or thistles?—It has pleased God to make every tree and herb “after its kind.” There are…
rivalries. It is here we want our religion. (Ibid.) Relation of this discourse to the Sermon on the Mount:—Men have doubted whether the discourse in Matt. 5–7, is to be regarded as an ampler…
1. If we desire to behold the glory of the transfigured Redeemer, we must climb with Him the mount of prayer. 2. Learn from this great scene the metamorphic power of prayer. There are holy men…
ambition, who taught for the doctrines of God the commandments of men. Indeed, the Sermon on the Mount was spoken to correct the errors which found a home there. He designated the great mass…
as it is, will be large enough to hide the sun. 2. Again. Sermons should be heard with a desire to profit by them. 3. Lastly. Sermons should be heard with humble dependence on God’s Holy Spirit…
to the behaviour of many hearers of the Word. By a very short sermon he was led to prayer. Instead of praying over sermons, a great many disport themselves with them. Some are anxious for…
on with one which men would call—well, at least measurably decent, like that man’s, but which mounts into the sky of success in such swift and easy fashion?” It was only a momentary temptation…
It is a serious thing to preach. Robertson said that “he would rather lead a forlorn hope than mount the pulpit stairs.” Is it not a solemn thing to hear? Is not the pew as terrible as the pulpit…
came to be attached in the Christian Churches, and which subsequently developed into the sermon. The reading of the law being over, the one who had recited the opening prayer read a portion…
in them than in hours of mere wire drawing and word spinning. True prayer is the soul’s mounting up to God, and if it can ride upon a cherub or the wings of the wind so much the better, yet…
to the third evangelist, not the sermon on the mount, but the sermon in the synagogue of Nazareth. There is reason to believe that neither of the sermons occupied the place of an inaugural…
to the lowly, and not to those who hold a superior position in the social scale. The Sermon on the Mount may be all lived out by the labourer, the poor widow, the person whose intelligence and…
we are reconciled. 3. A great inspiration. Ever since, the cross has been the pattern on the mount which holy lives have copied, and it has inspired love and sacrifice into countless hearts. IV…
fig-tree was withered (Mark 11:20). In the evening going back to Bethany, and sitting on the Mount of Olives, He foretelleth the destruction of the Temple and city (Matt. 24), and discourses…
appearance, but without its pungent savour and antiseptic properties. Our Lord, in His Sermon on the Mount, warns us against being deceived by these pseudo-reformers: and also against the still…
on earth can white them”; while St. Luke is the only one who records that the visit to the mount of Transfiguration was made for the purpose of private prayer; that Moses and Elias, in their…
tend to promote real godliness. The standard of Christ’s kingdom must be sought in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matt. 5:8; Col. 2:23). (Bp. Ryle.) What think ye that He will not come to the feast…
feet; living stones which will cry out with a thousand voices; stones which will be full of “sermons;” dry bones which when we prophesy over them, will stand on their feet an exceeding great…
upon the roof, upon the choir, upon the Communion Table, might not prayers be read, and sermons preached with poorer habiliments and in meaner places? Well, no man denies but God was…
life. One day a Christian lady heard of the dying girl, heard the sad story of her life, and mounting the rickety stairs that led to her miserable room, found her out. She went to her side. Her…
mind. 1. Faith. 2. Adoration. 3. Wisdom in selecting place, not on Mount, but in valley; time, not interrupting His sermon. 4. Patience. Content to stay God’s leisure. 5. Confession. III. Now…
and typified in the Old Testament. See especially Psalms 68 and 110. Moses, ascending the mount to receive the law, may be a type of Christ ascending to receive spiritual blessings for men…
to do besides gratifying our desire, even for the highest spiritual enjoyment. Peter, on the Mount of Transfiguration, though he said, “It is good for us to be here,” was not permitted to build…
39–46. The mount of Olives.— The mount of Olives:—The mountains are Nature’s monuments. Like the islands that dwell apart, and like them that give asylum from a noisy and irreverent world…
faith and hope and love are in the heart. As Israel Putnam left the plough in the furrow and mounted a field-horse when the bugle sounded for the rallying at Cambridge; as the minute-men of…
and died to give it. (D. Thomas, D.D.) Christ our revealing Light:—I once spent a night on Mount Righi, and there was nothing visible for a rod from my window. But when the morning broke, the…
look worked wonders. I sometimes preach with all my soul to Peter, and, alas! he likes my sermon and forgets it. I have known Peter read a good book full of most powerful pleading, and when…
abroad.” The same thing is taught in language not less explicit in our Saviour’s sermon on the mount. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or…
of God, if God never answered prayer, without receiving a blessing. When Moses was on the Mount, we read that he came down from it, and his face shone, though he wist it not. There are…
of Dr. Lupton, who had it from his father, “had Thomas learned from hearing sermons, and exceedingly good sermons, for forty years.” (Anecdotes of the Wesleys.) Except a man be born of water…
preaching, but in His doing the work of the kingdom of God. It does not centre in the Sermon on the Mount, but in the death on Calvary. V. The training of men is more important than the…
by familiarity with God’s Word. 4. A Divine peace follows the resistance of temptation. (Sermons by the Monday Club.) Christ tempted of the devil in the wilderness:— I. Why our Lord was…
thirst of a soul. He pitied them, and came to the rescue. (W. Arnot, D.D.) The Preacher’s last sermon for the season:— I. The inquiry for the thirsty. 1. It is very wide. “Any man” of all that…
pursuits. Christianity for them is something “very spiritual.” “They cannot live by prayer.” “Sermons do not satisfy hunger.” “Godliness does not give success in trade.” The gospel and Christian…
through the power of the Holy Spirit. So is it with sacred song. The wings with which I mount towards the skies in sacred harmony and joy are Thy wings, O Holy Dove! The fire with which my…
He shows that if we cannot do such apparently little things as He has specified in His sermon, it is absurd to suppose we can do things which are infinitely greater; checks our anxiety by…
of what is morally right and good. If a man pronounce the decalogue evil, or the Sermon on the Mount immoral, it is proof positive that he is immoral. If this is so, why should it not be…
That Christ towers up above the history of the world and the process of revelation, like Mount Everest among the Himalayas. To that great peak all the country on the one side runs upwards…
be true. But every living Christian is a preacher. Every prayerful, earnest, godly life is a sermon. There are a hundred ways of preaching Jesus without choosing a Bible text or standing in a…
the means of His argument, the evidence of His statement. His flesh and bones were text and sermon for Him. 5. In that day, beloved, when we shall rise again from the dead we shall remember the…
Every true teacher has always something more to say. He never says all in any lesson or sermon. How could such riches of knowledge and love be bestowed all at one time, and that to feeble…
far to prove the truth of this proposition. From the appearance of Moses and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration, it seems evident that they possessed power of various kinds, of which we…
evil and not a benefit. Men ask, “Why do not you, as a believer in Jesus Christ and the Sermon on the Mount, make common cause in the things of this world with the destitute around you, and trust…
others of Jesus (vers. 40, 41). Conclusion: Here is—1. A lesson for those who preach. John’s sermon was short, but full of Jesus, and effectual for soul-winning. Imitate him. 2. An example for…
been voyaging on towards Christian life; you have found it a rough passage; a hurricane from Mount Sinai has smitten you, but now you see lighthouses, and you see buoys, and the great headlands…
Mr. Fuller could not well avoid making some reply. He said, “I gave close attention to your sermon, and tried to ascertain at what you were aiming it: what was your object?” Several years…
15:6); 10. To James only (1 Cor. 15:7): 11. To all the apostles, and probably some others, on Mount Olivet, at His ascension. Most of these eleven appearances require little or no explanation…
D.D.) The true vision of the Father:—Philip knew that Moses had once led the elders up to the mount where “they saw the God of Israel,” and that to many others had been granted sensible…
the Egyptians, took especial care to preserve memorials of the dead. St. Peter, in his first sermon, alludes to David’s sepulchre as being “with us even to this day.” Would St. Peter, think you…
Christian privileges. Peter was one of the most favoured apostles, who beheld Christ on the mount of transfiguration and in the garden of Gethsemane. 4. The greatest warmth of zeal. Peter was a…
in the same way still. 1. In childhood, by a mother’s voice. 2. In after years, by books, sermons, friends, trials. The conscience is touched; we stand face to face with God. III. The healed…
all our endeavours and reaching upward, see His countenance and person, as Zaccheus did, by mounting into a tree; but we may see much more than he did, who saw Him but in the flesh, not yet…
when Satan raises storms of temptations upon him; he is safe also from the thunderings of mount Sinai, or the thunderbolts of the law and of the wrath of God, which all unbelievers lie open…
Salvation was of the Jews, but Christ was the fulfilment of hopes as old as the race. (Sermons by the Monday Club.) The woman of Samaria:—1. The person here introduced was a member of a…
of truth. 2. True morals. The ten commandments command man’s universal assent, and the Sermon on the Mount forms the only true basis of society, and true society will be one day constructed on…
by the oldest of existing sects, the Samaritans, this is added, “Thou shalt build an altar on Mount Gerizim, and there thou shalt worship.” And for commandments such as this, half the energies of…
or hillock in accordance with the common phrase, for which there is no direct authority, “Mount Calvary.” Whichever of these is the correct explanation, Golgotha seems to have been a known…
who is also full of holy confidence, and the two are not long together before their faith mounts to full assurance, and their full assurance bursts forth in a torrent of sacred praise. This…
were always full of great spiritual significance. Nature was moulded by Him into evangelical sermons. 2. But their spiritual achievements were to be greater than Christ’s miracles. (1) The…
it and we received instruction. It did not want beauty, for the parables, and the Sermon on the Mount, and many a touching passage were still there. It looked like a coronation tapestry with…
I. The way through the preached Word. 1. “Behold the Lamb,” &c., is the heart of the Christian sermon. That is the aim of the whole Bible: Moses, the prophets, John, and the apostles. No matter…
their manifestation. I gladly believe that some would, some must. (A. B. Grosart, D.D.) A sermon to parents:—“What manner of child shall this be? “Will it grow up to manhood or womanhood, or…
earnest of the Garden; but out of the darkness light unspeakable arose—the reflection of the Mount. I. The Lord enters into the darkness of His hour and proclaims its glory. 1. “The hour” is the…
from the practical duties of life, as in the case of Peter, who wished to abide on the mount. This was rebuked by Christ. He kept in the realm of humanity. He laboured to prove Himself…
IV. The particular distinctions and favours conferred on him by Christ. Leans on His breast; Mount of Transfiguration; garden; and He consigns His holy virgin mother to his care; lived long…
The home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus at Bethany, about two miles from Jerusalem across the Mount of Olives, had been the scene of some of the calmest and happiest moments of our Lord’s life…
distance, as if we could no more rise to Him with our spirits than our frail bodies could mount from earth to heaven? Who will give us wings that we may ascend to Him? Alas! the attraction of…
seeing the word of a King in that place is more regarded. The contempt of the Law given upon Mount Sinai, in the hand of angels, was required at their hands; how shall they then escape that…
God is more prone to communicate Himself than the sun to spread its beams, or the earth to mount up its fruits, or the water to multiply living creatures. 4. God is necessarily good…
thought to gain a ray of heavenly brightness without the habitual communing with God upon the Mount? (W. H. Hutchings, M.A.) Necessity of prayer:—Prayer is natural to men. The knowledge of our…
God’s plan. Therefore it follows, they are the best circumstances conceivable, by which we may mount to Him. Shun discontent. Ourselves, not our circumstances, are our hindrances. 2. There is…
a Man what teaching may be expected? 1. Extemporaneousness. He cannot want time to make His sermons, or He is not what He claims to be. Does He retire and compose elaborate sentences and come…
of the moral. It is barely two hundred years since the great Cotton Mather preached a famous sermon called “Burnings Bewailed,” wherein he attributed a terrible conflagration to the wrath of God…
2. When ye pray, say.— Sermonic hints on the Lord’s Prayer:—1. Not a prescription of words. A great merit in prayer is that it most naturally expresses the feeling of him who offers it. A…
they could only ask questions. It is better to know one thing than to guess a good many. (Sermons by the Monday Club.) The history of the man who was born blind:—1. The miracle, or the power…
like all His cures physical and spiritual. 2. Complete. (T. Whitelaw, D.D.) A hospital sermon:— I. Christ always honoured the religious observances of His day. He shows us—1. The advantage…
us as incapable of gratitude. (Ibid.) Joy born at Bethlehem:—In our text we have before us the sermon of the first evangelist under the gospel dispensation. The preacher was an angel, and it was…
also the man; her depth and power, his shallowness and feebleness. He then preaches a short sermon to Simon. No words had passed, but He answers Simon’s thought. Let us believe, with all true…
whom there appeared no symptoms of repentance in other respects, but who could never hear a sermon or comment on this parable without bursting into an agony of tears, which I witnessed on…
earthly relationship be glorified into its heavenly counterpart. (D. J. Vaughan, M.A.) Funeral sermon:—Let us survey— I. The life of the departed. Note—1. His affection as a relative. 2. His…
the love of sin? where the chemistry which shall so sublimate the affections, that they will mount towards God? It is the eternal revolution which I have no power of scrutinizing, except in its…
empty when means of grace are going on—this is one way to be a prosperous Christian. The very sermon that we needlessly miss may contain a precious word in season for our souls. The assembly for…
and power, and holiness; that its members are a true living unity; that its prayers mount up acceptably to God; that the Sacraments and means of grace are made real. It is of the utmost…
He wants each to face for himself the accumulation of a lifetime, to watch the tale of sin mounting up to its deadly total, until like a spendthrift, who having had a general idea that he had…
F. J. Austin.) The lost Christ:—There was a famous preacher in the last century whose sermons, though full of ingenious reasoning and brilliant rhetoric, were empty of Christ. One morning…
scattered at once by being brought to the light of God’s Word. Throughout the whole Sermon on the Mount the prince of this world is judged. His most vaunted blessings are declared to be woes…
or a workman with a spade turns up a piece of turf. A company of men start for the ascent of Mount Blanc. But they do not go up at first, they go down by a river side, then their path slopes…
with everything that is wholesome, and to protest against everything that is pernicious. (Sermons by the Monday Club.) The relaxation of Jesus Christ:— I. Our Lord had passed through the…
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