When God Shakes a Town — E.A. Johnston

The Nature and Purpose of Revival

I've been a student of Revival for several decades now. The bulk of my preaching ministry is centered around the subject of God-sent revivals. I've written 18 books dealing with the topic of Revival.

I pray for Revival every day of my life, friends. I agonize with God for Him to once again pour out His blessings in Revival upon our land and upon our nation. I've traveled extensively in this country and abroad visiting actual historical sites where God-sent revival and religious awakening.

I've spent countless hours in university archives, poring over handwritten documents by the likes of George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, Azahel Nettleton, and other men most of you would not be familiar with, men whom God used mightily in seasons of Revival, where He poured out His effusions of divine grace and blessings.

I've actually witnessed Revival and have felt the power of God in a meeting where lives were transformed for eternity. You see, friends, when God shakes a town, it is never the same again. And that's the tale of my message today, when God shakes a town.

We don't see much in the way of Revival and spiritual awakenings in this sad day of spiritual declension in the church and the remedial judgment of God through His withdrawn presence in the land. We are a nation today like many other nations, wholly destitute of the living God.

There's a generation of young people today who've never witnessed God move in Revival. There's a generation of pastors and evangelists who've never seen a true move of grace and Revival in their entire lives.

There's yet a handful of men living who have. They're getting nearer their grave with each new day. And when they're gone, who's going to pass this knowledge of what Revival truly is and what it is not?

Listen, friends, Revival is not a series of evangelistic meetings with loud music and louder preaching. That's not Revival. Don't let anybody try to convince you that it is. Only God can send Revival.

It is a sovereign move of God, initiated by God, carried out by God, and finished by God. And when God begins to stir the tops of the mulberry trees with His manifest presence, you will know it, friend, for when God shakes a town, that entire community is gripped with a God-consciousness that is overpowering.

In Psalm 110 and verse 3, it reads, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. That's a pretty good description of Revival, friends. You see, when God shakes a town, there is lasting influence.

Revival’s Community-Wide Influence

When I was conducting my research on my two-volume biography on George Whitefield, I came across a document from Ben Franklin. Oddly enough, Ben Franklin and George Whitefield were the best of friends.

Even though Franklin never embraced the God of Whitefield, he certainly recognized his influence under Whitefield's preaching. As a matter of fact, when Whitefield was preaching in Philadelphia, he often stayed in the home of Ben Franklin.

They were pals. Franklin made a statement to the effect that when Whitefield came to Philadelphia, it seemed as if the entire city was going religious. For in every house, there was the sound of hymns and prayers.

And that's true, friends. It's a fact when God visits a community with Revival, there is transformation within that community. I want to list for us today events that transpired during a true work of grace from a God-sent Revival.

The Eight Marks of a God-Sent Revival

Let me list them for us now. Number one, when God shakes a town, sin is exposed. Number two, when God shakes a town, restitution is made. Number three, vice and crime decreases. Number four, souls are gloriously saved.

Revival Exposes Hidden Sin

Often the most wicked sinner in a community becomes a trophy of grace. Number five, a fierce opposition arises from the enemy, and it comes hot and heavy to thwart the human instrument of Revival and to damage the work of God.

Number six, transformation of individuals is permanent and lasting. Number seven, evangelism, which was on the back burner prior to the Revival, now is first and foremost in the life of the church. And number eight, holiness and the glory of God is the new desire for many who have been impacted in the Revival.

Allow me to briefly cover each of these in some detail before we go to our time of prayer. Regarding point number one, that when God shakes a town, sin is exposed. Picture in your minds a metal container full of sand.

There are bits of jagged glass in that sand, which are not seen by the naked eye, for they are out of view. But if that metal container becomes a sifter, and you sift that sand, allowing it to fall through the holes, then the jagged pieces of glass are brought into view.

That's exactly the effect of a God-sent Revival, where sin is hidden in the life of the church. And when God comes in a glorious Revival, His Holy Spirit begins to shine a spotlight on the sin in the lives of individuals.

In the great Revivals which took place in China, under the mighty preaching of John Sung, sin was exposed in every meeting he conducted. In fact, he had a sermon he often preached called, Open the Coffin.

He'd carry a little miniature wooden coffin with him up on the platform, and in the coffin were pieces of paper with various sins written on them. And as he would pull out those pieces of paper and read the sins like stealing, adultery, lying, fornication, covetousness, and so on, those in his audience would begin to weep under conviction of sin and openly begin to confess those sins.

Sin was exposed as God was dealing with human hearts and revealing to individuals the wicked windings of their own heart. I recall that evangelist Rolf Barnard, who was used to guide in mighty Revivals, would often be confronted during a meeting with someone bolting up on the platform to openly confess their sin.

One time, Barnard was preaching in a town, and a bank president bolted up on stage and pushed Barnard out of the way and confessed to the assembled crowd that he had embezzled over a quarter of a million dollars.

He was quickly arrested, tried, and sent to prison, but he got saved first. That's why he confessed to sin of stealing before friends and family who were gathered there. So, in seasons of Revival, sin is exposed.

Restitution as Evidence of Repentance

Number two, when God shakes a town, restitution is made. I recall a story about Duncan Campbell, as he was preaching in a country church during a sermon, a man got up, an elder of the church, and that man left the meeting and did not return for several days.

When he returned, he approached Duncan Campbell and remarked, when you were preaching, I heard a little dog bark. Duncan Campbell answered, I heard no dog bark. Oh, yes, said the elder, while you were preaching on the subject of stealing, I heard a little dog bark.

You see, thirty years ago, when I was a lad, I stole an expensive puppy from a farmer, and I took it and sold it for a large sum of money to another farmer in another district. I've spent the last three days searching out those men.

I found the first farm, and the man had died. His daughter now lives there. I told her about my theft, and I made restitution to her for the price of the dog plus interest over the years. Then I traveled to the other man's farm.

It had been sold to a relation of his, which I too gave money for the dog in my crime of stealing. Now I'm back here at church to say to you, I now have a peace I've never felt before. Under God, I'm a changed man.

So you see, friends, in times of revival, restitution is made. This was clearly seen when you study historical revivals like the Welsh Revival of 1904, where in towns and villages throughout Wales, restitution was made by the hundreds.

Items stolen were returned. Wrongs were righted. When God shakes a town, he sifts it of all its debris. Sin is exposed. Restitution is made. Number three. When God shakes a town, vice and crime decreases.

Revival Reduces Vice and Crime

It was said of the Welsh Revival that the magistrates placed white gloves on their hands to signify there were no new crimes committed and no cases to try. When the evangelist Sam Jones preached in a town, many of the taverns would close for lack of customers.

This was also the case when the evangelist Mordecai Hamm preached in a town. Many whiskey sellers went bankrupt from lack of business, and the jails were emptied of their borders. When God shows up in revival, friends, vice and crime decreases in that town, and sin runs for the shadows.

Revival Brings the Wicked to Saving Faith

Number four. When God shakes a town, souls are gloriously saved. Often the most wicked and notorious sinner in town will come to Christ savingly. This happened time and time again during meetings that Rolf Barnard conducted.

He had prostitutes saved. Criminals would come in and throw their guns down. One time, when Barnard was preaching up in Canada, the most notorious woman in that area, she was a well-known prostitute.

He knocked on her door and personally invited her to come hear him preach. She told him, Are you serious? Why the people at that church would have a fit if I showed up there? He said, Please come and hear me preach, and those people need to have a fit anyhow.

She came to hear Barnard preach, and halfway through his sermon, she came running down the aisle, falling on her knees, confessing all her sins to God as she was gloriously saved. When Mordecai Ham came to town, he'd first actively seek out the biggest sinner in that town, hunt him down, and pray for him.

One time, he chased a man into a cornfield where the man was hiding. Mordecai Ham found him, pulled him out of the cornstalks by his legs, and told him to repent of his sins, or he was going to ask God to kill him.

A few days later, that man was gloriously saved under Ham's mighty preaching. There are more people saved in a month of a God-sent revival than years of steady evangelism, so souls are gloriously saved in seasons of revival.

Jonathan Edwards said of his town of Northampton that it seemed the entire town was stirred by God. 5. When God shakes a town, fierce opposition comes from the enemy, and it is usually hot and heavy against the human instrument of revival.

Opposition to Revival and the Cost of Spiritual Awakening

During the Second Great Awakening, under the preaching of Azahel Nettleton, he came under opposition which tried to smear his character and thus ruin the revival. I speak about that more at length in my biography on Nettleton.

And when Whitefield was in Boston, he met a minister from Ireland. After the introduction, Whitefield removed his beaver cap and, bending over, replied, This, sir, is a wound I received from preaching Christ in your country, pointing to a large scar on his head from a stone which had been thrown at him.

And Mordecai Ham was horse-whipped, pistol-whipped, kidnapped, and almost tarred and feathered and hung from a tree before the mayor of a Texas town called in the Calvary to rescue Ham from his attackers.

So opposition becomes fierce in times of revival. Satan just can't stand revival, friends. 6. When God shakes a town, transformation is permanent and lasting. Houses of prostitution close, taverns close, crime and vice decreases to where the entire town feels it.

Permanent Transformation in Individuals and Communities

Lives are permanently changed. When Sam Jones was preaching in Nashville, Tennessee, and God was moving in revival under his powerful preaching, one of the biggest sinners in town was saved. He was a riverboat captain named Ryman.

He took all the booze on his fleet of riverboats and emptied them into the Tennessee River. He then built a large auditorium for Sam Jones to preach in, and that building still stands in Nashville today, but for the last 50 years or so, it's been home to the Grand Old Opry, Ryman Auditorium, but it was originally built for preaching and the sound of the gospel to sound forth, not country songs.

The city of Nashville was so transformed under the preaching of Sam Jones that the entire town took up a collection and built Sam Jones a large house in the town of Cordisfield, Georgia, which you can still visit today.

Revival Rekindles Evangelism

Number seven, when God shakes a town, evangelism is increased, where before the revival, evangelism was either lackluster or even non-existent. During and after revival, winning souls first and foremost on everybody's mind.

This occurred during the great businessman's revival in New York City in 1858, which spread throughout the entire nation of America to where every single major city was hosting daily businessman prayer meetings, and the topic of evangelism was on everyone's lips and everyone's heart.

Just about every person touched by that revival became a soul winner and a gospel witness. Just pick up a book about it and read it, and that's true of every revival, friends. If you are made willing in the day of his power, you cannot wait to go and tell others about the mercy you have received.

During the John Sung revivals of China between the two world wars, after every meeting some conducted, preaching bands were raised up consisting of men and women who committed their lives to the business of evangelism.

Often in meetings in villages in China, there'd be hundreds of these preaching bands established carrying white flags with a cross on them, sharing their testimony and the gospel. Thousands were raised up under the preaching of Sung during those revivals, and during the preaching ministry of Mordecai Ham, thousands of evangelists were converted under Mordecai Ham's spirit anointed preaching.

One of those converts was a young Billy Graham. And lastly, friends, when God shakes a town in revival, it's common for holiness to become the main priority of those subjects of revival. Lives are consecrated unto God, and a pursuit of holiness is central in everyone's lives.

Revival Produces Holiness and Consecration

Whereas before, many were sinning as much as they wanted to and still called themselves Christians, but when God shakes a town, he shakes the individuals, turning them upside down and changing their life's direction.

This can occur in a personal revival as well, friends. I remember in my own life, years ago, I was traveling in the opposite direction of God. I just wanted to make a lot of money, play a lot of golf, and grab all the world I could.

Then I sat under the preaching of a man called Stephen Offord. He was a British evangelist and pastor. For a whole week, I sat under his spirit anointed preaching, and God got such a hold of me. In a way, I experienced personal revival in my life.

It altered the complete direction of my life, and since that time, my life has never been the same. When God shakes a town, when God shakes a man, that person is forever changed for the glory of God and the good of his people.

A Call to Pray for Sovereign Revival

I hope this message on revival has helped some of you better understand what true revival is. It is my prayer that this nation will once again turn back to the God of the Bible through a powerful spiritual awakening which would grip the land with a God consciousness, and it is my prayer that the church in our day will experience revival to such a degree that teenagers can witness the power of God in a meeting and have their own lives transformed for eternity.

We cannot produce revival, friends. Revival is a sovereign act of God. However, we can set ourselves to receive those revival winds when they do begin to blow. We can pray for God, for the God of revival, to manifest himself again in the land so that people shall be willing in the day of thy power.

Let us go to God now and pray to him to have mercy upon us, to give us the grace to repent of our sins, to turn from our wickedness, and to humble ourselves to such a degree that he would seem pleased to visit us again with the powerful outpouring of his grace.

Prayer for Repentance, Awakening, and God’s Presence

Let me pray. Oh, great God, let the people of the earth know that the Lord is God, heavenly king. We beseech thee to turn and hear our prayer. You who dwell among the cherubim and whose very name is holy, come forth out of your chamber and visit your people with your manifest presence once again.

We are poor and needy, Lord. Your churches lie in a spiritual stupor. Entire congregations are sound asleep, and they sleep the sleep of death. Entire denominations, once mighty for you, now are in the throes of great spiritual declension and even out and out apostasy.

Great God, have mercy upon us. Forgive us our sins and come and heal our land. Save our teenagers, great God, who are in the death grip of Satan and sin. Oh, God, grant us the grace to be awakened to our great danger, which lies before us as a people and as a nation.

We come to thee, our only hope, the blessed hope, the Lord Jesus Christ, to send forth your revival blessings and rouse us from our slumber. Oh, king of kings, we are bankrupt without thee. Come again in your preeminence and prominence in both our personal lives and the life of your church.

May our sanctuaries once again be houses of prayer for your great glory and not houses of flesh and entertainment. Have mercy upon us, great king on high, who is the king of glory, the Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory.

Amen.