Repent Or Go on to Hell — E.A. Johnston

The Famine of Hearing God's Word

We live in a day, friends, much like the Jews in the days of Amos, where there is a famine in the land. A famine not of bread, but for hearing the Word of God. There are several reasons for this. A famine of hearing God's Word is a direct result of the churches being under a remedial judgment from God because they refused to preach the Gospel in its purity and proper order.

Preaching That Transforms Rather Than Merely Informs

Most of our pulpits today don't have any preaching at all, but merely teaching. Teaching informs and preaching transforms. And the dearth of preaching and the prominence of teaching is why we have such well-informed but unconverted church members who have never had their conscience cut by the Holy Spirit nor their hearts broken under the hammer of God's authoritative Word.

The Word as Fire and Hammer

Yet we read in Jeremiah 23, 29, It's not my word, like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. It's nice to hear about the canons of Dort and the Reformation, but teaching religious history to lost people won't help them in eternity.

It will merely harden them in their sins. Men and women, and boys and girls, must be brought to the brink of eternity beneath searching sermons that probe the heart and discover all false refuges that men hide under.

Preaching That Awakens and Alarms

Let me ask you, friends, what does a fire do? A fire does two things. It awakens and alarms. If your house was on fire while you slept in your bed, your neighbors would pound and pound on your door to awaken you to your danger.

Awakening Sinners to Their Need of Christ

Once you were awakened, then you would become alarmed. This is what the preaching of the Word of God will do, preached in its proper order and in its purity. It will search the conscience like a fire, revealing sin and warning of hell.

Once men see their danger of dying in their sins and being sent to hell, then they can be brought to seek an interest in Christ whose blood can cleanse the deepest stain of sin. But first, men must be awakened to their lost condition to see their danger before they will seek a refuge in a Savior from sin.

Then, hearts must be broken beneath the hammer of the Word of God to bring men to humility in seeking God and repentance from sin. Today, many pastors fear their congregations more than God and will not preach anything disruptive to them.

When Pastors Fear People More Than God

Why risk getting the good deacons mad at you when it's easier to teach nice little messages that don't disturb anyone? The problem is, they don't save anyone either. But if we maintain our pulpits as teaching lecterns that merely inform, then we risk sending our educated congregations to a burning hell.

The Urgent Command to Repent

Most folks today don't need to hear about the doctrine of a lectern as much as they need to repent. It's repent or just go on to hell. Men today live like Cain as they raise all the cane they can. Because they are renegades fleeing from the face of a holy God, they will hide in every false refuge and remain in carnal security until a preacher comes along who is willing to fear God more than men and preach the old God-centered gospel that saves.

The Barbed-Wire Gospel and the Necessity of Regeneration

Preach a barbed-wire gospel that cuts the conscience and disturbs souls. Wear spirit-anointed preaching that calls sin black and hell hot and warns men of their duty of repentance and their utter necessity of regeneration.

Then the Word of God can be used by the Spirit of God to bring hearts under the hammer of God's Word so false foundations can be broken up and sinners brought to see their need of a blood-stained Savior from sin.

Repentance and Faith in Jesus Christ

In the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, you must repent or just go on to hell. It is my prayer that God in His mercy will awaken you to your danger and peril of dying in your sins and that He will grant you the grace of repentance and faith for His namesake and for His glory.

Amen.