We are living in troublesome times. The whole world seems like a powder keg ready to explode into another World War. Morality is moving further away from God's standards. Right is called wrong and wrong is viewed as right. Millions scream out, "My body and my right to choose," Only when the Covid pandemic happened that same logic did not work for people who refused to be vaccinated. Children are mutilated and manipulated into altering their gender. Children are devalued as many are kidnapped, abused, and trafficked for the pleasure of adults who should know better. If that weren't bad enough, millions of babies have been murdered in the American holocaust called abortion. Gay used to be a world that meant happy. Now it defines a reprobate lifestyle. The rainbow is the symbol of God's promise not to destroy the world by flood again. It has been hijacked to mean homosexual pride.
This is not a time for soft speaking. Nor is it time for soft preaching. Tickling the ears. Such preaching is like eating a diet of only deserts. People like deserts after a meal or for a snack from time to time. Health will decline if all you eat is deserts. Our bodies need protein, vegetables, and dairy to provide strength from day to day. A steady pulpit diet of pats on the back and that a boys does not lead to spiritual maturity.
I received a letter this week from one of our members. He wrote that a sermon I preached hit him hard. In fact, it was not even the whole sermon, but just one phrase, "We don't take sin seriously." He wrote God used that statement like a backhand across his face. It brought conviction that ended in repentance. Would that have happened if the sermon had been 4 Steps to a Happier Life?
There are hard truths on hard topics in the Bible. This is not the age to tip toe around them. It is not the time to soft pedal speeches devoid of spiritual meat. These hard times call for hard preaching. It calls for a prophetic voice in the pulpit proclaiming the pure and unadulterated word of God. That word will not return to God void. He will use it to accomplish His purpose. We cannot improve that word with our clever sermon series.
Preachers are scared and so they speak softly so as not to offend anyone. They sell out convictions for comfortable salaries. They trade, "Well done good and faithful servant," from the Lord for the fleeting and fickle applause of people. Preacher, beware. The same crowds that sang hosannah to Jesus were also the ones who screamed for Him to be crucified a week later. We need preachers who will speak boldly and yet with love. We need pulpiteers who are not afraid to offend people with Bible truth. Over the years many have told me such preaching is hard to find.
I'm not advocating mean spirited preaching. Angry men who go on a tirade beating up listeners from the pulpit is not the solution. Nor is shying away from controversial texts against the social evils of the day. We preachers must preach with conviction and without compromise. We must also preach in love. This is not a time for soft speaking as Charles Spurgeon once said. It is a time to take a stand, to be steadfastly minded, and resolute in our convictions without regard to who it offends.
