Sermon Illustrations

Donald Grey Barnhouse was parked on the street of a large city on the west coast, he witnessed an accident a few yards away. A car wove through the traffic and collided head on with another car that was coming in the opposite direction. The driver was apparently drunk. Another man in the car pushed the drunk aside and got behind the wheel himself. When the policeman came the sober man began to berate the driver of the other car, saying he was at fault. At this point Dr. Barnhouse came forward and gave his testimony to the policeman. He said, "I saw what happened. This drunk was the man who was driving; the accident was his fault, and after the crash this man exchanged places with him." As Dr. Barnhouse said this the crowd that had gathered around the scene of the accident began to growl: "What business do you have interfering?" "Let them argue it out!" "Leave it to the police!" Dr. Barnhouse replied that it was not a matter of intrusion, but of right and wrong: "If this man perjures himself in court by saying that it was the innocent driver’s fault, I will fly to the west coast from Philadelphia and will testify against him. And I’ll identify this drunk by the scar on his cheek." Then he gave his name and address to the driver of the other car and to the policeman and walked away. As he did so the crowd yelled out after him and cursed. Dr. Barnhouse believed that a Christian must stand up and be counted whenever there is a clear-cut moral issue. And he knew that this must be true even though the crowd would hate him for it.

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