Everyone probably has their definition of what “hard preaching” is. Preachers who are serious about the truth are finding the very task of preaching to be harder and harder because so many have lost real love for it.
It is not uncommon to hear somebody say about a visiting preacher, or someone of whom they have received report, “He sure does preach hard.” Possibly you are acquainted with statements heard about a preacher conducting a Gospel meeting, “Do you preach that hard at home?” as if there should be a conscious effort by the preacher to preach “hard” away from home but “softer” at home.
What is this thing called “hard preaching?” It might depend upon how applicable the sermon is to the life of the one doing the measuring. If the sermon called for something the hearer has already done, that is not too hard. If it condemned something of which the hearer is not guilty, that is not too hard. But if the lesson presented God’s requirements in a matter that the hearer has not obeyed, or condemned some sin of which he is guilty, then that sermon might be labeled by him a “hard sermon” and the preacher a “hard preacher.”
In our day, there seems to be a lessening desire for certain sounds: sound speech, sound doctrine and clear distinction between truth and error. Some are repulsed by anything that shows the line God has drawn. They often insinuate that the preacher has drawn the line of his own authority rather than what he has actually done; namely, brought attention to the line God has drawn. But such preaching is called “hard.” With some, only the mushy, ambiguous, “yo” type of sermons (those kind where you can take it either way, yes or no, whatever you like) is judged to be preaching “in the Christian spirit.” Even among many brethren this attitude of choosing what you like and discarding what you do not wish to accept, (the same attitude that has dominated the denominational world throughout history), is very much in evidence. A growing number just would prefer nothing that is demanding or that possibly could offend anyone. As one elder once told me of a sermon(?) he heard from a preacher(?), “It was wonderful. Nobody was upset and nobody felt guilty. Nobody was aroused and all left feeling good.”
I challenge anybody, if they really “preach the word,” to offend nobody. What can you preach? You will not preach Jesus Christ as the Son of God because that will be too hard for the unbeliever. You cannot teach that salvation is only in the church because non-members may become offended. You certainly cannot teach the moral standard of Christ because that would offend liars, the dishonest, the adulterers in multi-married relationships, drinkers, swearers, on and on. To them, moral purity is hard preaching. Just sit down and try to figure it out and see if there is much of anything in the Bible that you can preach that somebody does not call “hard preaching.” You will find you have no material left.
You really cannot even preach the truth on the lovely theme of love because so many have the distorted impression that love means acceptance regardless of what you do, that it is only an emotion that prevents objecting to any doctrine whether false or not, crossing anybody despite their conduct. Few subjects have been as maligned in our time as the subject of love. That love demands obedience is “hard preaching” to many people even though Jesus said we show our love by our obedience. Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John14:15). “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say” (Luke 6:46)? The inspired apostle John wrote, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3).
While there is no excuse or justification for deliberately abusive speech from the pulpit or anywhere else, we need to “get our heads on straight” before we cast stones at what some have called “hard preaching.” It just could be that the truth is being preached just as the Word of God has revealed it and what is “hard” is the heart of the one who is hearing it, who does not really want it, and therefore, will simply reject it, hoping to someway cast some discredit against it by calling it “hard preaching.”