Comfort The Afflicted, Afflict The Comfortable

It is said that good evangelical preaching will “comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable”.

And it is true. Because it is the essence of the Gospel, and indeed the entire Bible.

The Bible’s timeline is one of humanity always searching for a sense of comfort, but in all the wrong places and things.

We want to find peace, justice, equality, mercy, forgiveness, love, happiness, gentleness, and solutions to our inability to get along.

The answers to these questions have always been there though, in God’s Word, the Bible.

But the answers afflict us, because it means we must surrender our wills to God and His Word.

And to most people that ‘goes against the grain’ because we don’t want to be told by anyone, even God, what we must do.

And we simply don’t like being told what we must do.

However, it is only God’s Word and God’s way that can provide us with true and lasting peace and comfort.

Any other way to try to come by peace and comfort is just folly.

As the chorus of a famous song goes: “On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand”.

Which of course reflects Jesus’ parable of the “wise and foolish builders” (Matthew 7:24-29).

A parable whose meaning is the wise person builds their life on Jesus and God’s Word and is safe and secure, and upon the return of Jesus, or our death, will find eternal rest, peace and comfort in Him.

While the foolish build their lives on what in the end was just secular philosophies and folly, and upon their death will find eternal damnation and eternal separation from God.

So good evangelical preaching will always highlight these aspects.

And good evangelical preaching will always therefore be Christ centered.

Charles Spurgeon, often referred to as the ‘prince of preachers’ stated: “A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution”.

Spurgeon also said: “No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching”. And that “we shall not adjust our Bible to the age, but the age to the Bible.”

So, in our age, we are to preach ‘Christ and Him crucified’ (1 Corinthians 2:2) and His resurrection.

Preaching this will afflict (convict) those people who are comfortable in their sins, because they will hear of the eternal damnation that is awaiting them for their foolishness.

The Bible tells us that: “And He (the Holy Spirit), when He comes, will convict the world about [the guilt of] sin [and the need for a Saviour], and about righteousness, and about judgment: about sin [and the true nature of it], because they do not believe in Me [and My message]; about righteousness [personal integrity and godly character], because I am going to My Father and you will no longer see Me; about judgment [the certainty of it], because the ruler of this world (Satan) has been judged and condemned.” (John 16:8-11 AMP)

And it will also give comfort to those people who are afflicted (convicted) of their sins because they will hear the Good News that, if they repent, they have a Saviour Who deeply loves them and will give them strength and comfort and the promise of spending eternity with Him.

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