Bloodstained Cross Disturbing Christ — E.A. Johnston

The Disturbing Power of Revival and Genuine Conversion

I've got a serious message for us tonight, friends. We in the American modern church don't know much about the power of God in the meeting because revival today is as rare as Bigfoot. We've run God right out of our churches with all our laughter and entertainment.

But in former times, in seasons of revival, there was such a God consciousness in the land that it's best summed up by the following story of a revival that took place in England. The Puritan Thomas Goodwin, after hearing Rogers of Deadman preach, hung a quarter of an hour upon the neck of his horse weeping before he had power to mount.

That's how he was affected by that sermon and the power of God in that sermon, friends. And I want you to experience the reality of God tonight, friends. My desire for you in this message is for you to feel the power of truth in your own heart.

That's the prayer of this old preacher's heart. In the book of Job, we read,. Therefore I am troubled at his presence when I consider I am afraid of him. For God maketh my heart soft and the Almighty troubleth me.

The title of my message this evening, friends, is Bloodstained Cross of a Disturbing Christ. And I got this sermon while many of you were still asleep. I'm going to do my best to get some of you lost tonight, friends, because you can't be saved unless you are first lost.

For Jesus said, For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Are you a lost sinner? You have to feel your need of a savior for sin before you can apply the remedy for sin in the person of Christ Jesus.

I come here tonight, friends, to warn you of your danger of dying in a natural condition, to warn you of misunderstanding what genuine conversion is. We live in a day of a predominantly false gospel that produces false conversions.

A genuine conversion is like the Apostle Paul, where he's heading in one direction and going his own way. And he has an encounter with the risen Christ smack dab in the middle of the road, which knocks him off his horse, alters his course of life through transformation.

Getting saved isn't just raising your hand to accept Jesus or walking an aisle with a silly grin on your face. Rather, it's where God speaks to you in His Word by His Spirit. And your life is turned inside out and upside down and right side up.

And you see your bad heart for what it is. And you acknowledge your own sins and acknowledge you are in need of a savior for sin. And through a supernatural work of grace upon your heart, you exercise repentance toward God and faith in Christ Jesus.

And the result is the entire course of your life is altered because you've experienced change. But some of you aren't really saved because you've never heard the true gospel before. I may be speaking to you, friend.

You can't have faith without repentance. They go hand in hand like biscuits and gravy. Acts 20, 21 plainly states what true conversion is, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice he says Lord. To accept Jesus Christ as Savior and priest is evangelical faith. To enthrone Him as Lord and King is evangelical repentance. If there's no repentance, there's no genuine faith. You better hear me, friend.

Many sit upon a false foundation of an empty religious profession. If that's your case, friend, then hopefully God through this sermon will point you savingly to Christ who saves. You need to put your pride in your pocket, friend, and get honest before God tonight.

And be sure you're on a solid foundation with Christ as your rock. Christ held nothing back at Calvary. How can we hold anything back from Him? Listen, friend, you're either all out for Christ or you're not.

God will not accept partial obedience. He will not accept a divided heart. Oh, how I plead with you tonight, friend, to hear me. If this sermon is a solemn warning and I'm going to bring before you, I'm going to preach about sin and God's judgment on it, then I'm going to present Christ as a Savior from sin and the wrath of God.

And I want to be honest with your souls tonight, friends, and preach to the full counsel of God. Listen to me, friends, hear me now. You must be clear about the fact that you are lost and damned, hopeless and helpless, and that nothing can save you but the grace of God and Jesus Christ and only Him crucified, bearing the punishment of your sins, dying, rising again, ascending to the right hand of the Father, and sending the Spirit in regeneration.

A Prayer for Conviction and Spiritual Awakening

Uh, now, before we begin, let me pray. I need the Lord's assistance here. Uh, great and dreadful God in heaven, creator of all the earth. You are a God high and lifted up, whose name is holy. You're a God of majesty.

I need your touch upon me tonight, Lord, and an anointing so I can preach in the demonstration of the Spirit and power. I pray, Lord, you come among us during this time and disturb folks. Come disturb some off their false foundations of carnal security.

Come disturb folks off an empty religious profession. Take the veil off this empty world and bring us to the very verge of eternity, to a final judgment where every mother's son must stand before a holy God who must punish sin.

Lord, in your mercy, open hearts, I pray, show somebody their rotten heart and disturb them off a false faith that's as empty as a hole in the wall. Let your Spirit attend the preaching of your word, I pray, and I pray these things in the strong name of Jesus.

Amen. Amen. Well, that's my little introduction, friends. Let me gather myself a minute, friends, for a plumb warm a self-hab before I even got started here tonight. Give me a little message. Give me a little time here, friends.

Revival History and the Need for Searching Preaching

All right, we're going to get started. It's important to prepare the ground of your heart to hear from God and also believe, friends. It's important to study revival to see how God has moved in former times so we can prepare ourselves for revival when it comes.

When I study the history of revival, I find a common denominator in the preaching of George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. They both preached searching sermons that were probing and disturbing, and revival followed their ministries like chicks follow a mother hen in Enfield, Connecticut.

On July 8, 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached his now-famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, wearing a witness recorded in his diary. We went over to Enfield, where we met dear Mr. Edwards of Northampton, who preached the most awakening sermon from these words, Deuteronomy 32, 35.

To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. Their foot shall slide in due time, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. And before sermon was done, there was a great moaning and crying out throughout ye whole house.

What shall I do to be saved? Oh, I'm going to hell. Oh, what shall I do for Christ? To where the minister was obliged to desist from preaching, the shrieks and cries were piercing and amazing. That's what revival is, friend.

And that's our text from Job about being troubled at his presence. For the Almighty troubleth me in time's revival, when you feel the power of God in a meeting. There is a disturbing presence of Christ.

Christ’s Disturbing Earthly Ministry

Listen to me, friends. Christ, in his earthly ministry, was disturbing. As Jesus passed through towns and villages, he disturbed things. The spiritual world was disturbed by him. Devils cried out and besought him to possess a herd of swine that ran violently into the sea.

And the citizens of that coast were so disturbed by that, they begged Christ to depart from them. Everywhere Christ went, there was a disturbance. The complacency of towns and villages were disturbed by him.

To where the multitude thronged him, Jesus disturbed hearts and consciences. Jesus disturbed the woman at the well until she felt her sinfulness. Jesus disturbed religious traditions. He disturbed the religious leaders of his day, to where they wanted to destroy him.

Christ disturbed lives. He disturbed physical nature in healing the lame, the sick, and the blind. He disturbed death in raising the dead to life. Jesus disturbed one's entire course of life. He disturbed Saul of Tarsus by confronting him smack dab in the middle of the road, altering his life's direction and purpose.

Christ disturbed Herod's rotten heart. He disturbed the physical laws of nature by walking on the water. Jesus disturbed reality by multiplying the loaves and the fishes to feed a multitude. In truth, when Jesus passed through towns and villages, he disturbed things.

He disturbs consciousnesses. Jesus disturbed religious pandering by overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple. He disturbed the Philippian jailer who cried out, what must I do to be saved?

He disturbed the Roman centurion who cried, truly, this was the son of God. Jesus disturbed his first hearers by stirring animosity in their hearts, to where they wanted to hurl him headlong off a cliff.

Christ disturbed the devil wherever he went, for demons cried out, son of God, don't torment us before the time. He disturbed the religious crowd who said he was possessed by a devil. Jesus taught by parables because bare truth would have been too disturbing.

Christ disturbed all things, from the touch of a woman's hand to his garment, disturbed the flow of her plague and healed it when physicians could not. By the touch of his hand on Jairus's daughter, he disturbed death itself by raising her from death to life.

Christ disturbed the very atmosphere on the Mount of Transfiguration, where he spoke with Moses and Elijah. Jesus disturbed reliance upon material possessions by disturbing the rich young ruler's priorities.

Jesus disturbed blind Bartimaeus who cried out, Jesus! The son of David, have mercy on me! And Jesus disturbed his darkness of sight to where he could see on the cross. Listen to me, friends. On the cross, Christ was disturbing.

The Bloodstained Cross and the Judgment on Sin

It was disturbing to look at him hanging there, naked, in the shame and pain of the cross. To see the Son of God writhing beneath the burden and weight of sin was too disturbing a sight to behold. Even the angels looked away.

It was disturbing to his friends to see him bleeding and suffering so. On Calvary, Christ disturbed the very elements of nature. The sky darkened. The earth trembled. Rocks were torn asunder. And the veil in the temple, which was 60 feet high and four inches thick, was torn right in two like it was made of papier-mâché.

Christ disturbed things that day. He disturbed hell itself, reconciling sinners back to a holy God. Jesus even disturbed the dead in their graves. For we read in Matthew,. And the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection.

And appeared unto many. There is nothing, there is nothing, friends, like the disturbing presence of Christ. And a day is fast approaching where Christ will come again with his mighty angels, with a shout!

In times of revival, there is a disturbing presence of Christ, for Christ is disturbing. Therefore, I'm troubled at his presence, said Job. The Almighty troubleth thee. And tonight, friends, as I bring this message before you that is burning in my bones, it is my prayer that you just won't hear this shaky voice of an old preacher.

But by God's grace, some of you will hear his voice as it breaks through to you in power and authority. Let me share a story with you, friends. Oh, I was playing golf with a giant of a man years ago. And this man was at least six foot five and as wide as a brick wall.

And he had one of the filthiest mouths I ever heard. Every time this big man took a swing at the ball, he damned God and cursed man. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. On a tee box, I turned to him and said, friend, can I ask you a question?

And he said, shoot. I asked, what's your relationship with God like? And he smiled a big grin and replied, fine. I have a great relationship with God. I leave him alone and he leaves me alone. That's what the big man said.

And it breaks my heart to say it, friends. But all you have to do to go to hell is for God to leave you alone. If God doesn't invade your life and disturb your heart, by his grace, give you repentance and faith.

You'll bust hell wide open when you die, even if you're the chairman of the deacons. Salvation is of the Lord. If you have faith and faith, friend, it's because God gave it to you. The head knowledge of Jesus isn't enough.

It isn't going to cut the mustard on judgment day. But when you die on your sins, for you die in your sins and you enter a Christless eternity, I weep over your souls for you must be born again. You must know the life of God in the soul of man.

The Dynamite of the Gospel and the Cross

Listen to me, friends. In 1 Corinthians 1 18, we read for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us, which are saved, it is the power of God. That word power in the Greek is the word dunamis, where we get our English word for dynamite and the preaching of the cross.

Friends is pure dynamite. What does dynamite do? Why? It brings an explosion to remove things. The imagery here by the preaching of the cross, men and women and boys and girls will be awakened to the lost condition.

Hear me now. I was in a revival meeting in 1968 when I was 13 years old and a Canadian evangelist by the name of Ernest Wakefield preached a searching sermon that night and it awakened me to my lost condition.

And he preached the cross and a 13 year old boy got saved for the gospel of the preaching of the cross unto those who are saved. It's the power of God. It's absolutely dynamite, friends. Why? It blows up every false foundation, smokes out every false refuge to where sinners come under Holy Ghost conviction and feel the need of a savior for sin.

Paul preached a Christ crucified. We read in 1 Corinthians 1, 23, 24, but we preach Christ crucified onto the Jews, a stumbling block and onto the Greeks foolishness, but onto them which are called both Jews and Greeks.

Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. There's that word dunamis again, friend. The genuine gospel is pure dynamite. Like we say in the South, I'm going to give you tonight the oil straight from the can because I preach a unvarnished, undiluted gospel of the cross that has a bloodstained savior nailed there for sin.

I didn't come here to entertain you tonight or make you laugh, but to warn you of your great danger of dying in your sins. Don't go to hell, friends. Hell is horrible. Listen, friends. Jesus came into this world doing good.

Jesus healed the sick. Jesus fed the hungry. Jesus gave sight to the blind. He even raised the dead to life. Yet what happened? Men cried away with him and nailed him to a cross. Listen, friends, to these words from Matthew's gospel.

Christ’s Suffering and God’s Justice at Calvary

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head.

And a reed on his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit upon him. And they took the reed and smote him on the head. And after that, they had mocked him.

They took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him. Why did they do that, friends? Why did they do that? Because God is a God who must punish sin. As those cruel Roman soldiers fastened the Son of God to that tree, every stroke of the hammer was an explanation point, crying out, God must punish sin.

God must punish sin. God must punish sin. Listen, friends. Look at that man on the cross. Look at that blessed man on the cross. God declares in Isaiah, Look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for I am God.

And there is none else. Look at that blessed man on the cross. See him there with his arms outstretched, beckoning you to come to him and believe on him. Look, look, look at that bloodstained savior for sin.

See him hanging there, writhing and wiggling beneath the awful weight of sin. My rotten sins, your wretched sins. Look at that blessed man on the cross, friend. How can you avoid him when all is against him?

His love flows out to a world of guilty sinners. The cross is the place where men sought to get rid of him. But by his death, it becomes the place where his saving power flows out to all who come in repentance, confessing they are sinners and own them as their savior and Lord.

Judgment, Substitution, and the Call to Be Born Again

We see our position as guilty sinners before a holy God. For in Romans 3 .23, the word of God declares, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Are you a lost sinner? Listen, friend, I know I am a sinner and I need a substitute for sin in the person of Christ Jesus.

And so do you, friend. So do you. I'm here to warn you about a common judgment that awaits all mankind. Where every mother's son will stand one day before God and the books will be opened and the dead will be judged.

Out of those things written in the books, every sinner there will be arraigned on that day and their life will be examined, exposed and held up against the strictness and severity of God's unbending law.

As the judge of all the earth reviews your life, all your actions, thoughts, words and the motives behind them as they pass under his intense scrutiny. And every man will fail that test. If you stand there in your own merits, for you must stand there, friends, in the merits of another, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus lived, suffered, died and was buried. But he rose again and he ascended back into heaven where he sits at the right hand of the Father. And he earned that right. He earned that right by way of a bloody cross.

Get to Christ, friend. Come experience the reality of Christ's atoning cross in regeneration by the Spirit. You must be born from above and washed in the blood for pardon of sin. Come to him for forgiveness of sin.

Jesus says, theology never saved anybody. Listen, friends, you're not saved by theology. You're saved by Jesus. Get to Jesus. In John, we read, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Come to Jesus, friend. Come. You're not in hell yet, friend. Come to him. Come to a bloodstained Christ.

What are you waiting for, mister? Don't wait until you're better. Come. Come. Bring to him your sorrows. Bring to him your fears. Come. I have to close this message down, friends. I'm plum worn out and I can't preach anymore.

The Final Gospel Call

Don't put off your salvation. You may die in an accident tomorrow. Listen, you've had an old man preach you tonight. An old man with a pacemaker. An old man who doesn't have any strength at all physically.

But I've given you everything I got because I care for the burden of your souls. I've been sincere with you tonight, friends. This may be your final gospel call. At the very end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, we have God's last call to lost sinners.

I'm going to give it to you straight, friends, and then I'm done. I leave you in God's hands. I've done my best. Your blood is off my hands. My conscience is clear. My hands are free from your blood. I've been faithful to God.

Faithful to his word and honest with your souls. For I have preached to you the full counsel of God of the gospel of the cross. And it'll be foolishness to some of you. It'll be death to some of you. And to others, it'll be the savor of life.

The saving power of God. Here now, friends, is God's final plea. And the spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that heareth say, come. And let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.