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One of the doctrines that is in great need

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of definition today is the doctrine of repentance.

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And I find that one of the great practical areas of Scripture

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that helps us immensely to define and study

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the very nature of what true repentance is

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are these seven letters.

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All five that Jesus has something against,

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He calls to repentance.

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And Thyatira, three times the word "repent" comes up.

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I want you to think about this.

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Whatever and however you define repentance,

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one thing is certain from each of these letters,

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including Thyatira wherever Jesus has something

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that He disapproves of.

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What is it?

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Brethren, you know what we've got going on

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in the world today.

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We've got this idea that,

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well, repentance is just a change of mind.

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Brethren, a change of mind is always going to

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change the way we think.

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If you change the way you think,

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you change the way you act.

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How you think, what comes out of the heart,

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what comes out of where you think,

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shows what you really believe in there,

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by how you act, how you live.

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You can't say that a man suddenly

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had a 180 degree turn in the way he thought

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that doesn't result in a 180 degree turn

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in the way he acts.

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That's make-believe. That's fiction.

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That doesn't happen. That doesn't work.

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But people say that because

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what they really want to do is explain

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how somebody could possibly repent

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and their life not change.

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I'll tell you what, it doesn't work here.

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Does it?

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In each one of these cases where Jesus

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finds something wrong, or

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He finds a fault with these churches,

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He calls them to repent.

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And brethren, what He's saying every time is "stop."

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You lost your first love: repent.

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What does that mean?

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It means quit it! Quit losing your first love,

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go back to the first works and get it back.

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You've allowed false doctrine, repent of it!

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Quit it! Stop it!

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You can see that repentance as defined right here

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is that reality that there's 180 degree roundabout.

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We abandon that which displeases Christ.

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We embrace that which pleases Him.

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That's clearly what repentance is here.

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You can't make it to mean anything else.

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You try to go through these five letters

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where fault is found, and try to make repentance

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not a change of life.

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A change of abandoning the sin,

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and pursuing the righteousness.

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You can't do that.

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Jesus is clearly calling for radical measures

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of change in these people's lives.

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Now, notice this:

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Notice in Revelation 2:21

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Notice this very carefully,

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it's one of the most instructive verses in our Bibles

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concerning the doctrine of repentance.

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"I gave her time to repent, but

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she refuses to repent."

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Oh, if that isn't instructive!

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Do you feel the weight of that?

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I gave her time to repent, and she won't.

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She refuses to repent.

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Do you see what Jesus is saying?

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She has opportunity.

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When Jesus says, "I gave her time to repent."

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That means she has the opportunity to do it

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if she wants to!

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The opportunity is there.

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If she doesn't do it, it's because

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she refuses to do it.

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He full well gave her the time...

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You see, brethren, what this tells us,

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is if you don't repent, it's because you refuse.

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Sometimes we have people that say,

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"I want to be saved, but God isn't saving me."

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As though they're blaming God.

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Listen, as long as you have life,

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what does Scripture say?

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God's kindness is meant to what?

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Lead you to repentance.

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You can't say, "I want to be saved and God won't save me."

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What God is saying to you;

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What Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is saying to you,

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is I'm giving you time to repent,

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I'm pouring goodness and kindness on you,

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and I'm giving you opportunity.

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It is meant to lead you to repentance.

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And if you don't repent,

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it's not because God won't save you.

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It's because you refuse to repent.

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You've got something in your life

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you will not give up that He hates.

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That is clearly what this is teaching us.

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Brethren, we cannot say,

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"Well, my circumstances... if God wouldn't have put me

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in this situation, then I wouldn't have to

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have this sin, and I'm going to sit here,

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and I'm not going to repent until

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He changes this situation."

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Brethren, situation and circumstances are never

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reasons to repent or not to repent.

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He calls you to repent. He expects you to repent.

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He calls these churches to repent who are in suffering.

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Suffering isn't the issue.

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Brethren, He calls us to suffer without sinning.

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Suffering is not an excuse.

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We can't look and say,

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"Well, I'm going to wait until God does something,

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I'm going to wait until God brings revival."

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Can you imagine them? Sitting at Thyatira?

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Things have gotten pretty bad here since Jezebel's been here.

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Things have been pretty bad since sister so-and-so got here.

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You know what we need is revival.

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What Jesus is saying is,

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"What you need is to repent!"

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I am giving you time to repent, and if you don't

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I'm going to bring such tribulation on you that

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you are not going to like it.

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You see the realities of this?

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And brethren, in all of these, the consequences

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for not repenting show directly on their responsibility.

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"If you don't repent, I'm going to remove the candlestick."

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Wow, that's drastic! You're going to take the light right out.

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"If you don't repent, I'm going to come against you,

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and war against you with the sword of My mouth."

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And as we looked at last week,

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when you go out further into Revelation,

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brethren, it's the wrath of God.

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That's what that means.

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And here, I will kill your children.

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That's bad.

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And if MacArthur's right, and as I've suggested is right,

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this is a bed of hell, and this is horrible tribulation,

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because it is the tribulation of the fury

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and wrath of God, just like it says there

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in Romans 2.

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Brethren, you go through and you look

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at these churches when they are told

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by Christ to repent.

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The consequences of not doing it are severe.

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But that is nothing more than we find,

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nothing less than we find,

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when He was here on this earth

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and He walked and He taught,

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and He said unless you repent, you will perish.

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It's the same thing.

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Perishing is having Him come against us

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with the sword of His mouth.

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Perishing is having us thrown into the bed of hell.

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Perishing is having us thrown into this

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great tribulation.

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Perishing is having Him kill us.

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It's bad.

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And He gives us time.

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And brethren, what this is telling us,

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is you're never in a place to

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point the finger at God and say,

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"It was Your fault."

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God is saying, "I give you time."

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In other words, you have opportunity to do it

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if you will do it.

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Brethren, whether you profess to be a Christian or not,

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the consequences of not repenting are really severe.