Sunday morning, we had quite a few visitors with us in meeting. Bro Joe Coons brought a lesson about "What Makes a Man Miserable?",  taken from I Cor. 15:19 “If in this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”  Once again, he blended music with his teaching, quoting several songs and even singing with his guitar at the close of the message. 

If we only believe Jesus was a good teacher to teach us how to live, but not a divine, being who rose from the grave, we have no hope after death and are indeed, miserable.  Miserable means “to be pitied” and all people who have never taken faith in Christ are miserable or wretched.  Such people need to be helped and those of us looking on want to ease their misery.  Thank God for amazing grace that can save a miserable wretch.   

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. 

What makes a person miserable and how does such a one get delivered from their misery?  Selfishness makes one miserable -the fact that we have chosen to not care about our Father nor obey Him.  Instead we are filled with wrong desires and actions.  A person must become miserable with their sin before they can be delivered.  Pain and suffering caused by their sin works to bring righteousness in the sinner.  To show the sinner the great evil of his sin, and cause him to want to do RIGHT from now on.  When a man is not miserable enough with his sin, he will only want to be saved from the consequences of them (the suffering).  The Lord never came to deliver men from the consequences of their sins while those sins yet remained.  That would be to cast out the window the medicine of cure while still the man lay sick…He came to do more than take the punishment for our sins.  He came to set us free from our sin. Until man’s sin is a burden to him, until he would rather go to Hell then have these sins, until his sin is like Hell to him and he is ready to quit, until he is sick of the sin, let Him keep his misery and suffering for it is working for his good.  * 

* Discovering the Character of God  by George MacDonald