Fire Hammer Laughter Applause

I remember preaching the Wednesday evening service in a Baptist church in the south, and I was preaching out of Amos chapter 4 on the remedial judgments of God, and I was describing the spiritual condition of a backslidden people of God upon whom God had brought a series of remedial judgments, one more severe than the other, to try to get them to turn back to him. God brought a famine. Then God brought a drought.

You can survive a week or two without food, friends, but you can't get by more than a couple of days without water. Then God sent the wayward Jews a financial collapse. He hit them where it hurts, in their pocketbook.

Still, they refused to repent and turn back to God. So God increased the severity of the next judgment to a pestilence, which killed off many of the young men of the city. You take the young men out of a place, and there's little hope left there.

But after all these judgments, God laments, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. And I noticed while I was addressing the people, the pastor's wife wiped tears from her eyes, as did several others sitting where I could see them. And when I finished preaching, I dismissed them and gathered up my Bible and notes.

And the pastor of the church waited until the room was empty, when he approached me and said, When I preached to them, they'd leave the building smiling and talking. But when you preached here tonight, they left in complete silence, and their eyes were red. Now, I mention that story to you, friends, because I believe many pastors today have forgotten what their job is.

Maybe they had high hopes when they first took over their church to do something significant for God. But after a struggle, a few battles with some wicked deacons, and some complaints from some wealthier members, they toned down their message, so not to disturb anybody. In Jeremiah, we see what sound doctrinal preaching does when the Spirit of God is involved in the work.

Jeremiah 23 29 declares, It's not my word, like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. Let me ask you, friend, what does a fire do? If you're asleep in your house, and in the middle of the night, a fire breaks out, how would you react to that? A fire would awaken an alarm while you jump out of bed like a cannonball shot out of a cannon. Your main priority would be to go through your house to get your loved ones out before they burn to death.

Yet some of you just let your family members go on to hell. Now, let me ask you this, friends, what does a hammer do? It builds or it tears down. True preaching anointed with Holy Ghost fire will awaken sinners to their lost condition and alarm them to the great danger of dying in their sins.

Doctrinal preaching anointed with the Spirit of God will break up all false foundations, smoke out all false refuges. But somehow our pulpits through the years decided it was safer to educate and entertain folks rather than awaken and alarm them. Listen to me, brother pastor, if you want revival to come to your church, then sin must be exposed and self must be crucified.

Then can the Spirit of God burn into the consciousness of man to where they cry out, what must I do to be saved? Unfortunately, many don't want to risk the security of a settled pastorate. So we give the people what they want instead of what they need. We cure our messages to produce laughter and applause because we want to be liked by the people.

And unfortunately, there are many lazy and indolent ministers today like the ones described in the days of Isaiah. His watchmen are blind. They're all ignorant.

They're all dumb dogs. They cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving the slumber. The apostle Paul faced a pagan society head on with the gospel of the Son of God, and he oiled his sermons with his tears.

He told them, I cease not to warn every one of you night and day with my tears. We are living in the last days, friends, and the pulpits of this land should be issuing solemn warnings to sinners to turn to God before it's too late. But our nation grows more evil every hour as a sin-sick society spins out of control into moral chaos and corrupt people are more exposed to the judgments of God.

It is the duty of ministers to preach the full counsel of God and warn men of their duty of repentance and their utter necessity of regeneration. But we fear men today more than God. Instead of preaching for conviction and conversion, we preach for acceptance and applause.

Well, let me end this message, friends, with what Charles Finney told his congregation. Listen to Finney's words. I told the people at the close of my sermon that I had come there to secure the salvation of their souls, that my preaching I knew was highly complimented by them, but that after all, I did not come there to please them, but to bring them to repentance, that it mattered not to me how well they were pleased with my preaching, if after all, they rejected my master.