Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spue thee out of my mouth.
–Revelation 3:16 (KJV)–

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.
–Isaiah 5:20 (KJV)–

Charles G. Finney won some 250,000 souls in a few short years, most of them in New York state and in nearby areas. Within certain limited areas the profound effect of the Finney revivals was more intense, more revolutionary than even the Moody revivals. And how did Charles G. Finney preach? Did he preach upon the love of God? Not often! Did he preach on grace? He believed in grace, but law comes before grace in the Bible, and so it came in Finney’s preaching. Did he give tender invitations? Perhaps, toward the close of each campaign, certainly not in the first part of the services. In school houses and small churches, usually, he preached. And the revival fires spread like a prairie conflagration before the wind!

How did Finney preach? He tells us again and again in his autobiography. For example, note this passage:

That night I determined that I would cry aloud against the sins of the people and bring to bear the very fires of Hell as a final consequence of their rebellion. For almost two hours I literally flailed the evildoers who sat before me. I called God to witness that the judgment was not far off for them. Concluding, I gave a few moments to the mercy of God but I did that in a stern manner. I was determined that the people should for once stand face to face with the fact of sin and Hell. That night the meeting broke and I think I never experienced such a divine demonstration.

Oh, may God give us preachers who will preach like Charles G. Finney against sin! Finney preached against cursing, against drunkenness, against covetousness, against pride. He named sins. He preached on Sodom and Gomorrah. He preached on Hell and judgment. He preached on the death of the wicked. He preached on the justice and wrath of God. Men fell unconscious in their seats, or became utterly helpless as they sobbed and prayed, and would not leave the building. The conviction was so terrible in many services that Finney could preach no longer. (After he had already preached perhaps an hour and twenty minutes or two hours on sin!) Finney’s revivals must be traced to a deep consciousness of sin brought about by the preaching of the Word of God on the sin matter by a Spirit-filled preacher. Certainly God used the Gospel of grace, but it does not take people long to be taught salvation by faith when they are deeply convicted of their sins.

–Dr. John R. Rice, Why Preach Against Sin? (Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1985), pp. 23-24. Dr. Rice was a fundamental Baptist evangelist, a colleague of Bob Jones Sr. and Jr.,
and a mentor of the young Billy Graham.–