Chuck Swindoll Shares the Topic He'd Preach if He Had 1 Final Sermon
Charles “Chuck” Swindoll has delivered thousands of sermons and written dozens of books, but if he had only one final message to preach, he says, it would be about God's grace.
The 91-year-old said as much during a new interview with pastor Greg Laurie, who asked the legendary minister if he were to deliver one last sermon, what his text and topic would be.
Swindoll, who founded Insight for Living and pastored churches for more than five decades, paused for several seconds before answering.
“I believe I would speak on the grace of God,” Swindoll said. “I want to be known as a man of grace – I really do.
“It would revolve around Christ, too, because that's where grace originates. It would take us to the cross. It would probably be from Romans, maybe either chapter five or chapter eight would be the text – maybe both,” he added, according to ChurchLeaders.
“‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though He was rich, and for our sake He became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.’ That's Corinthians, but that kind of message,” he said, citing 2 Corinthians 8:9.
“I would talk about [how] you can know this grace personally – and you don't have to clean up anything, you don't have to correct anything, you don't have to dress up in any way, you don't have to change anything. All you've got to do is come to Christ. Let Jesus become your channel to God. Let Him become your own personal Lord and Savior. And He will bring in the grace like you've never had it before.
“He will take the irksomeness out of your life. He will take the impatience out – and little by little, you'll see changes come that you don't deserve, blessings come that you don't earn. It's all grace. I'd camp on grace.”
Swindoll made the comments near the end of the interview, as Laurie mixed serious theological discussion with lighter questions about his personal favorites and interests. Asked to name his favorite food, Swindoll said his wife's chili. His favorite movie: "Lincoln." When asked which figures from history he would most like to meet, he named four: Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan and Charles H. Spurgeon.
Photo Credit: ©YouTube.com/GregLaurie & Harvest
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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Originally published July 24, 2026.
