Lessons from Dead Preachers

Earlier today for one of my classes I had to read excerpts from sermons by Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, and Billy Graham. And let me say, as much as I love some of the well-known preachers today, these three guys absolutely captivated me. Once you get past the KJV-type language, the way these guys taught seemed so simple, yet poetic.

Each of these preachers, particularly Edwards and Finney, were working in times when Christianity was seeing major revivals. People were coming out in droves to hear them preach because of the emotional responses they invoked. Now, I come from a very Southern Baptist background, so I'm not the most comfortable with the more charismatic aspects of Christianity, but I do think that to a certain extent, we should be unable to control our emotions about the goodness and grace of God. I mean, just read transcripts of these sermons from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries; you'll get chills. I can only imagine the reaction you'd have if you saw them in person.

As I was reading, 2 thoughts became abundantly clear to me that I want to expound upon more:

We don't talk about hell enough.
Revival must start within the Church.

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE

Yep, I said it. We don't talk about Hell enough anymore.

Pastors used to be known for teaching "fire and brimstone," otherwise known as "scaring people into Heaven." Now, do I think that this is the most effective way to spread the gospel? No. But, do I think that making people aware of the dangers of Hell is important? Absolutely yes.

Here's the problem: when we downplay Hell, we downplay God's grace. That's just the bottom line. If we don't know how terrifying Hell really is, then we can't fully appreciate the miracle that is salvation. We have to be fully aware of what God is saving us from.

One of my absolute biggest pet peeves is when people say anything that includes the phrase "God sends people to Hell." NO, HE DOESN'T. God does not send anybody to Hell. Graham says,

"God will never send anyone to Hell. If you go to Hell, it will be because of your own deliberate choice."

I know that's harsh. But it's the truth, and once we can start to wrap our heads around that, we can start to more easily comprehend the totality of God's grace. Because of our sinful, human nature, we are headed for Hell. However, God, out of abundant goodness and mercy, plucks us out of the path of destruction and brings us to him. If that's not good news, then I don't know what is.

Edwards addresses this in his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God." (Read the whole thing here) He metaphorically describes humans as spiders on webs dangling over fire. The only thing keeping us from falling in is the hand of God, holding us on strings above the fire. He says that we deserve Hell, but God's grace gives us a way out.

"There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God."

Just think about that for a second. It should teach us the urgency of the gospel. As long as we downplay Hell and talk about other, more pleasant things, we can't fully understand that everyone is going to die, and they're going to go to either Heaven or Hell. If they haven't accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord, they're going to Hell. And that's not pleasant. The phrase used in the Bible is "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Luke 12:38). It's time for us as Christians to become more comfortable talking about Hell, if only to urge us to share the gospel with those we come into contact with. It's the most basic form of love.

REVIVAL STARTS IN THE CHURCH

These three preachers taught in three different centuries. They talked to different people. They had different opinions about certain non-essential Christian issues. But as I read their sermons, I was struck by one of the most startling similarities. All three of them made the point that revival starts in the Church. Logically this makes sense. If revival were to start, it should come from the people who are most invested. However, what they point out, and what we still see today, is that the Church is too focused on non-essential issues to be focused on bringing revival to a dying world.

In his sermon "We Need a Heaven-Sent Revival," Graham covers this at length. He talks about how the world is "aching for peace, for reality, for God." He says that in order for us to see revival on a large scale, we (the Church) must first be in earnest prayer, forsake our sins, and seek the real face of God. I love how unashamedly blunt he is. He says,

"The bickering, the prejudices, the ill will, the envy, the jealousy, the bitterness and the criticism among Christian people today must end before revival can begin. The revival must begin in the hearts of Christians before evangelism can be brought effectively to the world…The enemy of souls has weakened the effectiveness of the Church because we have majored on controversy and dissension rather than on going forth weeping and bearing precious seed."

Read that last sentence again.

"The enemy of souls has weakened the effectiveness of the Church because we have majored on controversy and dissension rather than on going forth weeping and bearing precious seed."

Now go listen to this song as you keep reading.

The Devil knows how to keep the Church from doing what God has called her to (Matthew 28:19-20). When we're focused on issues that don't matter, like worship styles or Bible translations, we aren't as focused on spreading the Gospel. We need to recognize the division that comes from worrying about secondary, non-essential issues and refocus our priorities on what matters for eternity: sharing the gospel.

Believe me, I'm talking to myself as much as I am to you. I am as guilty of this as anyone (see my previous blog post). I fixate on non-essential issues and get really passionate about them. If I were half as passionate about sharing the Gospel as I was about women in ministry, I would see major changes in my life. It's something I've been really convicted of lately.

I want to encourage you to go read the entirety of Graham's sermon. There are so many lines I could pull out that gave me chills and got me feeling really convicted. But I think the one that stood out the most was this one:

"If Christianity is important at all, it is all-important. If it is anything at all, it is everything. It is either the most vital thing in your life, or it isn’t worth bothering with."

Is Christianity the most important thing in your life? I'm asking myself the same questions, and I don't like the answers I'm coming up with. I want to see what God can do with revival in our world. I want to see him be glorified, but have I been too caught up on issues that don't matter in the scope of eternity?

WAKE UP

Christians today are in serious need of a wake-up call. We need to be more comfortable hearing and talking about Hell. We need to stop focusing on issues that aren't going to matter when Jesus comes back and start focusing on the millions of people who are going to spend eternity in torment if they don't know the glory of salvation.

Each of these preachers were spokespeople during some of the biggest spiritual revivals in history. They unashamedly told the truth without concern for how they were seen by other people. Where are these leaders today? The world is actively looking for hope. Where are the people who are going to risk everything in order to bring light to a world that is stumbling about in darkness? I want to be one of those people. I want God to give me a passion for unbelievers. I want to channel Peter and John in Acts 4:

"We are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Acts 4:20

I'll leave you with this quote from Billy Graham:

"By some wonderful miracle known only to God, all who look to the Lamb slain on the cross have life—not just the good, the respectable and the decent, but the vile, the despicable and the outcast.

May the revival that the world needs begin in you."

Sidney

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