Shake the Gates of Hell — E.A. Johnston

The Great Awakening and the Church's Spiritual Sleep

In 1740, when God moved through New England, it was called the Great Awakening. A revival has often been referred to as an awakening. At Gethsemane, Jesus faced the crisis point of his earthly ministry, and his disciples slept right through it.

Christ's Call to Self-Denial

Today, the church is in a crisis point, and we are sleeping right through it. In Matthew's Gospel in chapter 16, and verses 24 through 25, we read, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. And I want to ask us, friends, I want to ask us today, where is the individual who is so Christ-intoxicated that is willing to throw it all away for the sake of the gospel?

The Need for Prophetic Intercession

The greatest need in our land today is a prophet, a man sent from God, a God's man who will stand in the gap between heaven and earth, between mortal man and almighty God, a holy man who is so wholly sold out to God and so intoxicated with Christ and so consumed with eternity that his very footprints leave a smoky trail of the lingering fire of God, a man whose desperate life of prayer has left fingerprints on the horns of the altar in glory, a man whose emboldened faith and eunuch-like walk with God moves mountains of resistance and proves that the God of the Bible is alive and interested in the most minute requests of man.

God will always raise up an Elijah whose prayers impact a sleeping nation. The church in each generation has had individuals who live upon their knees, whose prayers reach heaven with a holy violence.

Historical Prayer Warriors and Revival

India had her pray and hide, China her Hudson Taylor, England her Puritans, Scotland her Covenanters, America her firey imbounds, voices which gained the attention of the throne room startled angels and shook the gates of hell, making even the demons quake and tremble with their desperate prayers.

Listen to me, friends. We're in a desperate time, in a desperate day. We need revival. We need the God of revival to come and to change the church from what it is, asleep and lying in its impotency without any power.

Wesley's Challenge to Shake the Gates of Hell

When was the last time you saw the power of God in a meeting? John Wesley said, give me 100 men who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin and I will shake the gates of hell. And he did just that.

We need men today who rise up and be willing to stand in the gap, to live on their knees and cry out for the sins of the land. Where oh where are the prayer warriors of our day? Where oh where are the preachers like men of former days?

The Fire and Courage of Revival Leaders

Listen to these kind of men, the men we need at this hour. 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, 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 Hell, 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.