Point Stomp Shout
E.A. Johnston passionately calls preachers to revive bold, convicting preaching that awakens sinners to the reality of judgment and the necessity of repentance.
In this sermon, E.A. Johnston challenges contemporary preachers to reclaim the boldness and urgency of biblical preaching. Drawing from the prophet Ezekiel and historical examples like George Whitefield, Johnston emphasizes the necessity of confronting sin and warning of judgment to awaken sinners. He critiques the modern tendency to soften the gospel and calls for preaching that stirs consciences and leads to genuine repentance and regeneration.
Full Transcript
In old time preaching schools, young preachers were instructed that if they wanted to get their audience's attention, they were to do three things. They were to point, stomp, and shout. In a similar vein, we see God's instruction to the prophet Ezekiel as found in Ezekiel 6-11.
Thus saith the Lord God, smite with thy hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas! for all the abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. I am reminded, friends, of a story about the great British evangelist George Whitefield, who, while preaching in a church in New England, he realized that an old man on the front pew was fast asleep. Whitefield brought his foot down with such a force, it made the whole house ring.
The old man stirred, and Whitefield replied, Aye, aye, so I waked you, I meant to do it. I have not come here to speak the stocks and stones, but to speak on behalf of Almighty God about His Son Jesus Christ, and I must and will have an audience. I like that story, friends, and I appreciate Whitefield's zeal, but today's anemic preaching puts more people to sleep than stirs them.
We've watered down the gospel message so much to make it more palatable to sinful man that we've removed all the teeth and terrors of it. In 2 Corinthians 5, 11, the apostle Paul warned, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade man. And Jesus often confronted His hearers with the warnings of an everlasting hell and a future judgment.
Listen, friends, men are dead in sin and fast asleep, and gentle sermons will not rouse them. The threatenings of God must be made to ring in their ears. They must stand face to face with all the strictness and severity of God's unbending law.
Sinners need to be frightened, not entertained. Men must be brought to the verge of eternity with pointed preaching about the certainty of a last judgment and a boiling lake of fire which will be the final abode to every man whose name's not found written in the book of life. A preacher's duty is to awaken men to their lost condition and set their consciences on fire with alarm of the great dangers of damnation and a devil's hell.
We are to be as Ezekiel and smite with the hand and stomp with the foot and confront the evil of our day and show men their danger of dying in their sins by saying, Alas for all the abominations of the house of Israel. But most preachers today won't preach disturbing messages to their congregations because they don't want to upset the good deacons. But listen, men must be warned.
They must be made to repent. They must be shown their utter necessity of regeneration for the great design of gospel preaching is to convert men to God, to open their blind eyes, to turn them from darkness, to light and from the power of Satan onto God. If more of us preachers got on fire for God, we could persuade more men with a point, a stomp and a shout all for God's glory.
Let us pray.
Sermon Outline
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I. The Old-Time Preaching Method
- Point, stomp, and shout to capture attention
- Example of Ezekiel's prophetic actions
- George Whitefield's zealous preaching
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II. The Problem with Modern Preaching
- Gospel watered down to please listeners
- Lack of conviction and terror in messages
- Gentle sermons fail to awaken sinners
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III. The Necessity of Bold Preaching
- Preachers must confront sin and warn of judgment
- Sinners need to be frightened, not entertained
- The duty to awaken and alarm consciences
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IV. The Call to Action
- Preach with zeal like Ezekiel and Whitefield
- Persuade men to repentance and regeneration
- Glorify God through powerful gospel preaching
Key Quotes
“We've watered down the gospel message so much to make it more palatable to sinful man that we've removed all the teeth and terrors of it.” — E.A. Johnston
“Sinners need to be frightened, not entertained.” — E.A. Johnston
“A preacher's duty is to awaken men to their lost condition and set their consciences on fire with alarm of the great dangers of damnation and a devil's hell.” — E.A. Johnston
Application Points
- Preachers should embrace boldness and urgency in delivering God's message to awaken sinners.
- Listeners must recognize the seriousness of sin and the reality of judgment to respond in repentance.
- The gospel should never be watered down but proclaimed with all its convicting power.