Every illustration you have ever preached, in one bank

[00:00] Christ reaching from heaven to hell The preacher pictures Christ moving from speaking with Moses and Elias in glory to confronting a foul spirit, showing that his ministry reaches from heaven’s glory to the deepest human misery. He also contrasts Christ receiving a believer’s crown with healing the brokenhearted. The point it made: Christ’s mercy and power extend to every extreme of human condition. Tags: Christ, mercy, human misery

[01:50] Saul of Tarsus and the dying believer The preacher contrasts the triumphant believer dying and entering rest with the first weeping repentance of Saul of Tarsus, who sought mercy from the Saviour he had persecuted. Though their experiences are very different, the Lord’s heart and eye are with both. The point it made: Christ cares equally for the believer entering glory and the sinner beginning repentance. Tags: repentance, salvation, Christ

[05:30] The lost sheep The preacher recalls the shepherd who has a hundred sheep, leaves the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and goes after the one that has gone astray. He uses this to express his determination to seek those who are far from Christ. The point it made: Even one wandering sinner is worth pursuing. Tags: lostness, pursuit, salvation

[07:49] Giant Despair The preacher compares people overwhelmed by melancholy, mistrust, unbelief, and despair to captives carried away by “Giant Despair.” He also describes them as being scourged onward over dry places, seeking rest and finding none. The point it made: Despair can overpower people so completely that they seem unable to resist it. Tags: despair, temptation, suffering

[08:47] The demoniac’s bodily torment The preacher retells the afflicted child’s anguish: he foamed at the mouth, wallowed on the ground, cried out, bruised himself, and dashed himself against whatever stood before him. He uses this physical picture to describe the inward torment caused by conviction of sin and Satan’s accusations. The point it made: Spiritual despair can inflict an agony more terrible than bodily suffering. Tags: despair, conviction, spiritual warfare

[09:27] The Bible appearing to condemn The preacher describes a distressed person reading the Bible but finding no promise suited to his case, while every page seems to glow with threats. Even comforting passages appear to say, “Intrude not here. These comforts are not for you.” The point it made: In severe spiritual despair, even sources of comfort may appear to turn against the sufferer. Tags: despair, Scripture, guilt

[10:19] Worship seeming to oppose the sufferer The preacher describes someone attending worship who feels that the preacher, chapter, hymns, and prayers are all against him. Instead of bringing relief, the service seems to rub salt into his wounds, and he goes home more despondent. The point it made: Deep anguish can distort a person’s experience of even the most comforting Christian gathering. Tags: despair, worship, suffering

[11:00] Job’s anguish The preacher quotes Job describing his anguish, fear-filled nights, terrifying dreams, and desire for death: “Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.” He presents Job’s words as an example of the horror experienced by a soul under unbearable distress. The point it made: Scripture gives voice to the extreme anguish of a wounded spirit. Tags: Job, anguish, despair

[11:58] The martyr and the tormented spirit The preacher compares a martyr fastened to a stake while flames kindle around him with a person inwardly scorched by the sense of God’s wrath. He says the martyr’s physical anguish would be nothing compared with the torture of such an afflicted spirit. The point it made: Inner spiritual torment can exceed even the worst physical suffering. Tags: suffering, wrath, spiritual anguish

[12:21] Jeremiah in dark places The preacher quotes Jeremiah saying, “He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old,” and describes himself as hedged in, chained, unheard in prayer, and wounded by God’s arrows. This illustrates the experience of feeling shut away from mercy. The point it made: A suffering soul may feel imprisoned and abandoned even while crying out to God. Tags: Jeremiah, prayer, suffering

[13:25] Fire and water The preacher recalls that the evil spirit cast the child into fire and water. He compares this with distressed souls who swing between fiery zeal and cold apathy, intense repentance and apparent indifference, or fervent prayer and inability to pray. The point it made: Spiritual distress can drive people between opposite emotional and spiritual extremes. Tags: instability, despair, spiritual warfare

[14:23] An oven and cells of ice The preacher refers to legends of souls in purgatory suffering by turns in an oven and in cells of ice. He uses the image to describe people who fluctuate between intense spiritual heat and cold indifference. The point it made: Despairing souls may be tormented by violent and unpredictable changes in feeling. Tags: despair, instability, suffering

[16:42] Squirrels in revolving cages The preacher compares people who cannot receive spiritual counsel to squirrels in revolving cages: they keep moving but never get forward. Promises, encouragements, and explanations leave them where they began. The point it made: Human advice cannot advance someone whose mind is sealed by spiritual distress. Tags: counsel, despair, helplessness

[17:40] Speaking to a wall The preacher says that a person may seem convinced during a conversation but, half an hour later, be unchanged, as though the counselor had been speaking to a wall. He uses this to portray the apparent inability of spiritual truth to penetrate the troubled mind. The point it made: Severe spiritual confusion can make repeated instruction seem ineffective. Tags: communication, despair, helplessness

[20:45] The weakening effects of distress The preacher explains that the afflicted child was pining away because continual torment broke his sleep and exhausted his strength. He adds that despair can weaken the body until a sufferer says with David, “My moisture is turned into the drought of summer.” The point it made: Prolonged spiritual anguish can damage both soul and body. Tags: despair, weakness, suffering

[21:43] John Bunyan’s spiritual experience The preacher directs listeners to John Bunyan’s Grace Abounding, describing it as a vivid picture of a soul left like a heath in the desert, unable to see when good came. He portrays Bunyan’s mind as tossed on ten thousand waves of unbelief and continually disturbed by suspicions and forebodings. The point it made: Bunyan’s experience demonstrates how intensely and persistently spiritual doubt can torment a person. Tags: Bunyan, unbelief, despair

[23:21] Mrs. Honeywood and the Venice glass The preacher tells of Mrs. Honeywood, who had endured melancholy and despair for years. She declared, “I am as surely damned as that glass is dashed to pieces,” and threw a slender Venice glass onto the floor, but it remained unchipped and uncracked; this became the first ray of light that led her to cast herself upon Christ. The point it made: God may use an unexpected providence to bring light and deliverance after prolonged despair. Tags: deliverance, providence, despair

[25:23] The unsuccessful search for help The preacher describes an anxious soul who has attended church for years, sought ministers and Christian people, received prayers, read consoling books, and heard teachings that converted others, yet found no relief. The case seems as impossible to comfort as calming the sea or silencing thunder. The point it made: Some cases surpass every human method and require Christ’s direct power. Tags: helplessness, pastoral care, Christ

[26:44] Sliding gently to hell The preacher imagines someone thanking God for never experiencing spiritual distress, then warns that it may be better to reach heaven “burnt and branded” than to slide gently toward hell while sleeping sweetly. He contrasts temporary torment that ends in joy with false peace that ends in destruction. The point it made: Spiritual discomfort may be a mercy if it awakens a person to salvation. Tags: false peace, judgment, salvation

[28:05] The stillness before a storm The preacher describes birds suspending their notes, bees becoming silent, and a horrible stillness settling over nature before thunder, lightning, earthquakes, and a devastating storm. He compares this calm to the sinner’s present peace before coming judgment. The point it made: Apparent calm is not safety when judgment is approaching. Tags: judgment, warning, false peace

[30:13] Prayer and fasting The preacher uses contrasting images for prayer and fasting: prayer takes believers into God’s banqueting-house and feeds them with heaven’s bread, while fasting overturns earth’s surfeiting tables and frees the soul from being encumbered by fullness. The point it made: Prayer and fasting strengthen believers for spiritual conflict by joining them to heaven and separating them from earthly distraction. Tags: prayer, fasting, spiritual strength

[32:14] The living Christ The preacher describes Christ as a living Helper to whom he can bring every difficult case in his ministry and every difficulty in his own soul or in the souls of others. He warns listeners not to seek Jesus among the dead because Jesus lives and remains able to meet distress and sorrow. The point it made: Christ’s present life means believers can bring every need directly to him. Tags: Christ, prayer, hope

[33:12] Demons trembling at Christ’s word The preacher pictures even the most forceful demon trembling when Jesus merely speaks or looks at him. This emphasizes Christ’s authority over every spiritual power. The point it made: No demonic power can withstand Christ’s authority. Tags: authority, demons, Christ

[34:45] Baal’s silence The preacher contrasts Jesus with Baal, who did not answer his worshipers and had to be mocked as possibly sleeping. Jesus, however, neither sleeps nor remains indifferent to the church’s grief. The point it made: Unlike powerless idols, Christ is living, attentive, and ready to help. Tags: Christ, prayer, idolatry

[35:43] A child trusting his father The preacher says believers should trust Jesus unstaggeringly as children trust their father. He connects this childlike confidence with Abraham’s faith that God is able to perform what he has promised. The point it made: Faith should rest confidently on Christ’s ability and promise. Tags: faith, trust, fatherhood

[36:35] Bringing the afflicted person to Jesus The preacher urges parents and relatives to bring a distressed loved one to Christ in prayer, even if the case becomes worse while they pray. He pictures them laying the sick one before Jesus and continuing to trust the infinite Son of God. The point it made: Difficult cases should be persistently entrusted to Christ rather than abandoned. Tags: prayer, family, trust

[37:16] The hopeless-looking child The preacher revisits the child’s condition: he was deaf and dumb, foaming and wallowing, with no apparent opening for divine power. Yet Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to leave him, proving that the most hopeless-looking case was still within Christ’s power. The point it made: No condition is too far gone for Christ to heal. Tags: healing, hopelessness, Christ

[38:31] Peace like a river The preacher compares Christ’s lasting forgiveness and peace to a river that never ceases, running until it melts into the ocean of eternal love. He uses this to explain that when Jesus heals, he heals permanently. The point it made: Christ’s forgiveness and peace endure forever. Tags: peace, forgiveness, eternal life

[39:23] Satan’s final assault The preacher describes the devil rending and tearing the child with great wrath because he knew his time was short. The child fell down as if dead, illustrating how Satan may intensify distress before Christ’s deliverance becomes evident. The point it made: Increased trouble at the moment of deliverance does not mean Christ has failed. Tags: spiritual warfare, deliverance, Satan

[39:52] The child who seemed dead The preacher imagines people crying, “He is dead,” when the afflicted child collapses, but then Christ’s healing hand brings life. He applies this to a despairing person who feels spiritually dead and has no remaining hope. The point it made: Christ can bring life and healing even when all visible hope seems gone. Tags: hope, healing, resurrection

[40:38] Snatched from the jaws of hell The preacher pictures a sinner between the very jaws of hell, with flames flashing into his face, yet still able to be saved by looking to Jesus. Even someone at death’s door can be received by eternal mercy. The point it made: Christ can save sinners at the extremity of guilt, despair, and danger. Tags: salvation, mercy, despair

[42:23] Every disease and every sin The preacher imagines one person bearing all the diseases and sins of humanity, including blasphemy, murder, fornication, adultery, and every imaginable sin. Even such a person, he says, can be cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The point it made: Christ’s saving blood is sufficient for the greatest accumulation of sin. Tags: grace, forgiveness, salvation

[43:09] Falling into Christ’s arms The preacher urges the sinner to stop debating and mistrusting and instead fall into Christ’s arms. He assures the sinner that Christ cannot reject the one who comes because he has said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” The point it made: Saving faith means entrusting oneself directly to Christ’s welcoming promise. Tags: faith, salvation, invitation