Shaking the Gates of Hell — E.A. Johnston

The Call to Shake the Gates of Hell

John Wesley said, Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin and I will shake the gates of hell. And he did just that. The title of my message today, friends, is Shaking the Gates of Hell.

The Church’s Need for Vital New Testament Christianity

As a church body, we must ask ourselves the burning question are we living in such a vital New Testament Christianity that we are shaking the gates of hell with our lives or is hell running all over us because of our lack of power and authority.

Spiritual Lethargy and the Church’s State of Emergency

I've been around a long time and I've never seen the church in such a state of emergency, in such a state of impotency as she lies in now. The church in America and Great Britain sleeps the sleep of death on pillows of conformity and compromise.

Empty Religious Lectures and Anemic Preaching

There are religious lectures dished out each Sunday that have the embalming influence of a funeral home. People come to church for fellowship or business contacts and suffer through an anemic message by a pastor who merely wants to entertain or occupy his people with some light biblical teaching.

Authority from on High

Where is the power? Where is the authority from on high? In Matthew 7 29 we read of Jesus for he taught them as one have an authority and not as the scribes. Unfortunately, today many church pulpits are occupied by scribes religious men who don't know God, have no power with God, and cannot effectively represent God to a perishing generation on its way to a devil's hell.

Preaching That Awakens and Convicts

There is a Sunday service but no spiritual transformation in the people. I've known some good preachers who had opportunities to address some large, famous congregations but they folded to the acceptance of men and preached forgettable sermons that failed miserably to awaken and convict their hearers.

Unlike Wesley's 100, they feared man more than God. Your average preacher today would do his best to encourage you with his message, but he will never warn of a future judgment that awaits all mankind.

The Necessity of Repentance and Regeneration

He will never preach against sin or man's duty of repentance. He will fail to warn you of the miseries and torments of hell and man's utter necessity of regeneration. What you'll get instead is some humor, some funny stories or a dry lecture given with no conviction.

God’s Indignation Against Empty Worship

In the book of Amos, God vents his indignation against empty religious worship from people who just give God lip service. He tells them in Amos 5 .23 Take thou away from me, the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy vials.

Political Solutions Versus the Gospel

God has withdrawn himself from the church in the West today because it's a self reliant church, focused on church growth strategies rather than pulling men from the fires of hell. The country grows more wicked every day, and your typical Christian foolishly thinks that a political election will change the heart of a nation back to God.

The early church didn't focus on which Caesar was in control, but rather they were consumed with the spread of the gospel, even if it cost them their very lives. The spirit of Antichrist is already in the land as evil is called good and sin is legalized.

The Fire of Historic Revivalists

What the church desperately needs today are some men, like John Wesley's hundred, men like these. The Apostle Paul, Luther, Wesley, Whitefield, Knox, Edwards, Finney, Spurgeon, Moody, each shared a common denominator of fire in their belly.

They each were so eaten up with the gospel and thirsty for Christ and filled with the Holy Ghost. They could not stand idly by while others perished. They saw nothing but eternity and worshiped the Holy God and served the risen Christ, living not for earth nor its gains but living only for heaven and its rewards.

Preaching Sin, the Cross, and Salvation

When they preached, they linked the devil with sin and the cross with salvation. They preached hell and its fire and Christ and him crucified. Not one of them feared king, queen, or pope and not one of them sought the compliments of men.