Forgiveness Archives - Sermon Illustration Ideas

Forgiving Enemies, Becoming Friends

Christ's Example, Enemies, Forgiveness, Friends, Friendship, Healing, Love, Prayer

After a twenty-four-hour shift, firefighter and EMT Matt Swatzell fell asleep at the wheel, crashing into another vehicle. As a result, June Fitzgerald was…

Christ Cleanses Us From Sin

Baptism, Cleanse, Demonstrate, Forgiveness, Jesus Christ, Sin, Washed Clean

The attached link includes a “scientific” object lesson, using a basic chemical reaction to demonstrate how Christ heals us of our sin. Combining a…

All Sins Washed Away

Baptism, Cross, Forgiveness, Grace, Healing, Purity, Salvation, Washed Clean

Marilynne Robinson’s novel Lila follows the story of a young woman—a drifter from birth, without home or family—who finds hope in the church and…

Freedom From Condemnation

Condemnation, Forgiveness, Freedom, Gospel, Grace, Kindness, Second Chances, Sin

An illustration of our freedom from condemnation can be seen in the novel Do We Not Bleed? In that novel, the character Jon Mote…

Love Overcomes

Forgiveness, Forgiving Others, Journey, Love, Loving Others, Loving Our Neighbor, Peace, Truth

NPR interviewed Koko Kondo, a woman who was just eight months old when the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on her city, Hiroshima….

Paid Debt

Debt, Forgiveness, Generosity, Kindness

Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida paid off almost $40,000 in school lunch debt so that graduating seniors and rising juniors would not be…

Messing Up

Failure, Forgiveness, Healing, Hope, Sin

On his podcast The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, Mike Cosper interviewed Joshua Harris about Harris’s path from evangelical golden boy to leaving…

Unsatisfying Vengeance

Anger, Forgiveness, Revenge, Vengeance

In The Princess Bride (directed by Rob Reiner [Twentieth Century Fox, 1987]), Iñigo Montoya has dedicated his entire life to getting revenge on the…

The Process of Forgiveness

Forgiven, Forgiveness, Grace, Process, Seeking Forgiveness

The 2015 shooting of nine people at a Bible study at the Charleston Emanuel AME church was horrendously shocking. But what was even more…

Struggling to Forgive

Anger, Forgiveness, Forgiving Others, Hurt

In her book Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott tells the story of struggling to forgive her enemy, the mother of one of her son’s classmates….

God’s System of Justice

Forgiveness, Justice, Redemption, Repentance

In some of the states in America, if you commit a felony and are found guilty, you lose your right to vote. It doesn’t…

Extending Mercy

Forgiven, Forgiveness, Forgiving Others, Grace, Mercy

This powerful scene from Invictus (directed by Clint Eastwood [Warner Bros., 2009]) recounts the story of Nelson Mandela insisting that his leaders extend forgiveness…

Refused Forgiveness

Christ's Sacrifice, Forgiveness, Lent, Sacrifice, Sin

In the film Les Misérables (directed by Tom Hooper [Universal Pictures, 2012]), Jean Valjean’s choice to let Javert live brings the police officer to…

Miraculous Conversion

Conversion, Forgiveness, New Life, Relationship with Christ, Relationship with God

Despite growing up in a churchgoing home and being baptized as a kid, Thomas Tarrants became a white supremacist. He was an unlikely convert….

Gracious Forgiveness

Bitterness, Forgiveness, Forgiving Others, God's Love, Grace

A survivor of a concentration camp during the Holocaust, Corrie ten Boom dedicated her life to traveling and preaching about forgiveness. She told the…

By Faith Alone

Faith, Forgiveness, Grace, Salvation, Works

In William Shakespeare’s Henry V, Shakespeare depicts a young King Henry praying to God for favor. While praying, he lists the “good” work that he…

Better Than A Second Chance

Forgiveness, Good News, Grace, Salavation, Sin, The Gospel

The new life given to Christians by God through Jesus Christ my not be best described as a ‘second chance’. Aaron Wilson illustrates this…

A Picture of Grace

Favor, Forgiveness, Grace, Love

What is God’s grace? It is God’s unmerited favor. It is kindness that is notdeserved or earned. Imagine a parent sets a jar on…

The Forgiveness Cycle

Confession, Forgiveness, Grace, Repentance, Sanctification

Dissonance is a musical term that indicates a lack of harmony. Cognitive dissonance is having disharmony in our thoughts. It happens when our idea…

The Blind Side

Adoption, Forgiveness, Justification, Peace, Salvation, Transformation

This real-life story is the basis of the movie The Blind Side, in which a young troubled teen (Michael Oher) is adopted into a…