Riot in the Church

There is a verse in the book of Acts which sums up the New Testament believers. It is found in Acts 17.6 and it states, They drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also. Let me tell you, friends, that if you have a church full of lost members and you get an evangelist to come in there and preach awakening sermons, whereby the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin and awakens them to their lost condition, you will have a right on your hands, just like the one found in the book of Acts.

The title of my message today, friends, is Right in the Church. And I'd like to introduce this message to you through an account in the ministry of Rolf Barnard, the greatly used evangelist of the 20th century, who, it was said of his preaching, brought 100,000 souls to Christ. Well, just about everywhere Rolf Barnard went, a riot would break out in that town.

The citizens of one town signed a petition at the local mill, with over 300 signatures on it, to run Rolf Barnard out of town, and in another city, in the local Baptist church where he was preaching. Seven deacons opposed him and made fun of the work of God that was going on. And in a couple weeks' time, the pastor of that church had to have seven funerals back-to-back for those deacons who met sudden and tragic deaths.

In another town, where Barnard was holding meetings ahead of Baptist church, right in the midst of the meeting, the pastor's wife jumped up and cried, My God, I'm lost, and she ran right out of the room. On her heels was the pastor, hollering, I'm lost, I'm lost, and he ran out of the room. Following them were several deacons and a string of other lost church members.

That was over 50 years ago, friends. And we live in a day of the unconverted church member, including many pastors. The gospel's been so watered down, and so many preachers have broadened the way to heaven in ways Jesus never would.

He said it was a narrow way, and few there be that find it. I believe Southern Baptists are the most notorious for making false converts in their mad rush to grow their churches. It was Dr. R.G. Lee who addressed a Southern Baptist convention years ago, and confessed he believed that, in his church, there were only about 1 out of 10 of his members who were truly saved.

At least he was honest about it. Many of us refuse to face that sad fact today, that a majority of our members are lost. The problem is, an unconverted person is asleep, dead in trespasses and sins.

They need to be awakened to their perilous position outside of Christ. If a house was on fire, and the family inside lay fast asleep, unaware of their great danger, why, you'd do everything in your power to rouse them and save them. You would pound on the door with your fists and shout at the top of your voice warnings of alarm.

But we preachers today leave the unconverted alone in our congregations. We let them sleep on by not preaching awakening sermons to rouse them. Rather, we preach soothing words of peace, peace to comfort them.

The great Puritan Thomas Brooks wrote the following. When a man is in a deep lethargy, if you pinch him with pinchers or prick him with needles, he feels it not. If you scourge him, he cries not.

If you threaten him, he fears not. Or if you speak to him fair, he regards it not. And now, this is the condition of such that are in a spiritual lethargy.

Let the judgments of God be denounced and the terrors of the law be preached. They tremble not. Let the flames of hell fire flash upon their souls.

They regard it not, for they are sermon-proof and judgment-proof and hell-proof. Listen to me, friends. A sinner must be awakened to his lost condition by the Spirit of God and shown he is a lost sinner on his way to hell or that person will remain asleep and rest upon a false foundation of carnal security and a good opinion of themselves and go on and die in their sins and drop into a devil's hell.

But men of former days preached searching sermons to allow the Holy Spirit to work on the consciousness and bring conviction of sin. They preached on the final judgment and a burning hell to awaken the lost to their great danger of dying in their sins and causing a riot in the process. Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, in Enfield, Connecticut, in a meeting house of church folk.

Their distress under the conviction of sin became so alarming and great that an eyewitness wrote, Ye minister had to desist a sermon because the shrieks and cries in the house drowned him out. And Mordecai Ham, the greatly used evangelist under whose preaching Billy Graham was saved, caused riots wherever he went. His twin doctrines were on repentance and the lordship of Christ.

Ham said that Billy Graham was a lost church member when he got mad at Mordecai Ham for pointing his finger at him and calling him a sinner. Mordecai Ham said, I didn't point my finger at him, but the Holy Spirit did and showed him he was lost. And in one town, a Texas town, Mordecai Ham had the cavalry to be called in to rescue him and put him on a train while the soldiers kept their rifles on the rowdy mob who wanted to hang Ham.

A federal marshal was appointed to ride in the train car alongside the evangelist for protection until he got out of town. The marshal said to him, any man that can remain calm in the face of a mob riot possesses something I need. Tell me, sir, how can I be saved? You see, friends, the problem with much of our preaching today is we no longer cause any riots.

But look back in history and see how the preaching of Martin Luther caused a riot whereby popes quaked. Look at the preaching of John Knox in Scotland and how he made Bloody Mary tremble. Look at the preaching of Wesleyan Whitfield and how they caused riots to break out wherever they preached.

Whitfield was preaching in Ireland and a mob riot broke out as his hearers picked up stones and began to stone him. He nearly escaped with his life. Several years later he was introduced to a Boston minister who said he was from Ireland, to which Whitfield bent over and removed his beaver-skinned cap and pointed to a large scar on his forehead and replied, this wound, sir, I received for preaching Christ in your country.

If we today would just be honest and admit that most of the folks inside of the church are lost, we could then apply ourselves to awakening them by our preaching and point them to Christ, the only one who can save them. Vance Havner used to say, I could have led a lot more folks to the Lord had they not already joined the church. And it's true, friends.

If you start preaching blood redemption and the need for holy living and the lordship of Jesus Christ, if you begin to preach up a bloody cross and a crucified Christ, and you call sin black and hell hot, and you warn sinners of a future judgment that awaits all mankind, and you preach except you repent, you shall all likewise perish, and if you preach that you must be born again, and if you want to go to heaven, you must be washed in the blood and born from above, you will cause a riot in the church because lost men and women do not want you to cross their point of rebellion to God with all the rights and claims that the gospel and the Lord Jesus has on a person. What we need today, friends, are more preachers who fear God more than man, and we need to awaken lost church members and lost pastors to the danger of dying in their sins and being sent to a devil's hell. You may cause a riot in the process, but souls will be saved to the glory of God.

Let us pray.