This sermon emphasizes the urgent call to repentance for the church in North America, drawing parallels to the messages to the churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. It highlights the need for the church to repent of worldliness, complacency, and compromise, and to return to a faithful, steadfast relationship with God. The consequences of not repenting are portrayed as facing great tribulation and losing God's favor and blessings.

Good evening. We want to finish up looking at Revelation chapter 2 and 3 on a call to repentance to the church in North America today. This is not a new command of the scriptures, not a new thing of myself or anyone else, this is just the way that the gospel is presented. So, I wanted to look at, and already had started as we were looking at the church mainly of Ephesus and those first verses of Revelation chapter 2. I was able to get through most of that, although there is still multiple things that are left for us that we need to look at and to apply to our condition, to the church's condition as a whole. Because again, where we're at right now is that the church has responded to a call to prayer, which as I mentioned last time, I've done numerous calls to prayers. And some of those went unheeded, but others, it is that some of them were embraced and that is a joy. Others are picking that up and there is a movement happening of prayer. Now, it's not just enough for me, as I've said before, it's not just enough to say, let's pray, or we are praying. There's that essence of prevailing prayer where God says, I have heard your prayer and I'm going to answer your prayer. Psalm 66 that I gave you last time, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. And there are numerous verses found throughout the scripture where God says, you can pray all you want, I'm not going to listen. And so it is that most times because we are so focused on what we want and by path, truths, and error that's preached is that you'll hear a scripture like Matthew chapter 7, ask and you shall receive. And that's as far as it goes, but that's not the whole condition of the state of the church. That's not the whole condition of prayer. There are numerous people praying, but we still don't see the power of God operating in the church of North America. We still don't see prayer movements that are sustained by tears, by brokenness, by being contrite, and that's where we need to get. Now, in order to get there, that's where this comes into play. I gave to you, church of Ephesus, I gave to you the first verse 5, chapter 2, verse 5, repent. And I walked us through that and He gave the warning because if you don't repent, after God gives the call to repent, if the church doesn't respond, then as according to the church of Ephesus, what they face was is that He says, I will come to you quickly. And I'll remove your candlestick. And as I shared in closing last time, that's exactly what happened. When Robert Murray McShane went to where the church of Ephesus was, he found the foundation stone underneath a cornfield, or at the corner of a cornfield, and the church candlestick had been removed. Now, lest we be doomed to repeat that, denominations need to respond to this. Denominations are groups of like-minded Christians that come together and form for a purpose. But if the denomination becomes corrupt, if they become humanistic, if they become self-reliant, and they lose the essence of relying upon God, then God simply withdraws His spirit from them and they fade away. Their candlestick is removed. Now, lest we be doomed to repeat that as the church of North America, because God does not need the church of North America to complete or to finish His purposes. But as the church of North America, you and I as brothers and sisters in Christ should desire and should want to be a part of that, which I'm sure that you would say, yes I am. So then we've got to do it God's way. Denominations need to do it God's way. Church leaders need to do it God's way. Pastors need to do it God's way. And laymen that are in the churches need to do it God's way. Now, the warnings come. The call comes. Repent. And if you don't repent, then I will come to you quickly and I will remove your candlestick. The blessedness is that if you do repent, then you find God's favor. You find God's forgiveness. You find God's restoration. And we are in a process right now that we are in desperate need of God's favor and restoration. And that's where the church is at. So this is crucial to this hour that we're in right now because as the church shrinks in numerics, population in the churches, the churches are getting smaller. The denominations are getting smaller. The churches, we know it, of evangelical Christians are getting smaller that believe in the absolute truth of God's word and follow after it. They're not a majority out there. It's a minority. And so as the minority, it doesn't matter about the numbers. It's just this one thing that does matter. Are we obedient? So I want to read in the next passage. I want to give you the next three phrases that use this word repent to finish up this call to repentance for the church in North America. And as I said, chapter two, we start off with the church of Ephesus. I've read verse one through seven. You go down to the seven churches that are spoken, that Christ speaks to the seven churches that are in chapters two and three. We're going to look at two more of those. And so we start down. Let's go to verse 18. And we will pick up with the church of Thyatira. And we will read down through this church. And then the next one is in chapter three. And I'll go ahead and I'll read that one from verse one as well. Chapter two, Revelation. Begin reading in verse 18. And we will read down to the end of this chapter in chapter three with the churches of Sardis. And we'll come to our next word, repent there. And then I'll have a word of prayer and we'll begin. Verse 18. And unto the angel of the church of Thyatira write. These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass. I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works, and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding, I have a few things against you. Because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess. Teaching to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed. And then they commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death. And all the churches shall know that I am he which searches the brains and the hearts. And I will give unto every one of you according to your words. But unto you I say, and unto the rest of thy chariot, as many as have not the start, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak. I will put upon you none other burden. But that which you have already, hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. And he shall raise them with a rod, rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter. Shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Chapter 3. And unto the angel of the church of Sardis write, these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars. I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest in our day. Be watchful, strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. For I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received, and heard, hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on you as a thief. And thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon you. Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment. And I will not block out his name out of the book of life. But I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the church. Let us go Lord in prayer now. Blessed Father, we thank you. Upon reading your blessed word, upon the address to the seven churches, we see these addresses by Christ our Lord, our Master, and unto us as the church. We hear the same words from your most wonderful voice. Lord, it is a voice that you also give us a condemnation. So Lord, it is that we would pay attention. Lord, it is that your Spirit would work and move to saturate us, that we would be found completely obedient unto you, Lord. Lord, how we need you tonight, Lord. May you come across us and over us and work in us, Lord, that we would cast away all that which is offensive unto you, having the works of repentance, Lord, as our testimony, so that you might bless us once again. In the name of Christ Jesus, I ask and I pray. Amen. I want to begin with the three mentions here of this that I just read to you. And if you're paying attention, you noted it already. Or if you have markings in your Bible, you've already got this. The church of Thyatira. Now, I'm not so much interested in going down through these churches and all the background and the studies of those that a lot of people like to do. I take words out in my Bible readings that God points out to me and then the application of that which says, what does this mean to me? Now, here's the warning that is before us today, is that what the church in this nation has experienced in the 1700s and the 1800s and even in the early part of the 1900s, where there may not have been such a great awakening, but there was definitely a movement across this nation that was responding to God's Spirit across the nation. And we've seen centuries now where God's Spirit has come upon the church, shaken them, revived them, and now the outflow of that, we've gone out into the highways and the byways and we've compelled them to come in and they found Christ and the numbers of Christians has increased. Now, that is the bliss of the way that God expected it to be, the way He wanted it to be. For when a church, God's people, whether that be Old Testament, Israel walked away from God in the covenant, Judah walked away from God in the covenant, Jerusalem and the kings of Judah forsook God and walked away from that, then God gives them an opportunity to repent and to reconcile and to restore their relationship with Him. If they don't do that, then He continues to send judgments and tribulations to them that forces them to begin to see this is not the way life is supposed to be. And if they respond to that, then God meets them. If they refuse to respond to that, then it continues until we get to the end of 2 Chronicles 36 where Judah had transgressed for so long against God, over 400 years they rejected God's calls of repentance and they continued to slide further away from Him until at that close is that 2 Chronicles 36 that says until there was no remedy. Meaning is that they crossed the line, they went over the line and God said I'm done with you. And so He sent them into captivity and scores of tens of thousands were killed of the sword, of famine, and of pestilence and there was great death and there was great shaking of the nation. Now, now we have a church and after Christ has come, after Christ has said to Peter, upon you Peter, I'll build my church, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And yet we see now that St. John that wrote the Revelation is that within his lifetime, that this is like within 50 years of the time that Christ had ascended back to the throne, the day of Pentecost, the churches were spreading and growing and happening and here's this elder of the church receiving the words from the master, from the Lord Jesus Christ speaking about his beloved bride, the church, and within this short amount of time or decades they've already defiled themselves, they've already lost their way, they've already forsaken Him and they're already starting to be corrupted. And if they don't repent, then we read these horrible things that are going to happen. Now it's the same for us today. We're on a path, we're on a collision course, is that God has been merciful for decades, over 100 years He has been merciful with us. The 1920s were called the Roaring Twenties and in the process of the Roaring Twenties, there was great fluency, there was great social breakthroughs, and people lifted up. And immediately after that came the stock market crash. And all that where we increased in goods, and we increased in indulgences, and we increased in our immorality, and we began to live life the way we wanted to do instead of the way that God wanted to do because God did not bless the United States of America and the church which sits inside the United States of America with wealth, with technology, with advancement, with all kinds of talent and opportunities that we have. He did not bless us as a nation so that we could corrupt ourselves as the church and work against Him to satisfy our flesh. He blessed the United States so that the church, which has this wealth, which has this power, which has this opportunity, that we could go evangelize the nation and we should have done it 50 years ago. Now because we have repeated the same sin and transgressions that we just got done reading about, He says, repent. And we have rejected that call that we have heard over and over, repent. And now we're in a place of dire consequences. That we are on the last hurdle of repentance that before God says, until there is no remedy. When is that? I don't know. And neither does anybody else. I know that there are all kinds of prophets out there who want to predict and all that. More power to them. But as far as I am able to say by what I see in the scriptures is that we have not reached that point of no return yet. There is still hope. And there is still a call, just like this one, to repent. But our failure to respond to it only deepens and dooms us faster and more. So let's pay attention to what God wants to do in this nation and in the church today. And the first thing here is that He says, I know thy works. God knows everything. Christ knows everything. He's omnipresent. He's omniscient. He knows everything. He knows exactly what's in our hearts. He knows exactly what our lives are all about. And He knows that these things is that, again, I am not looking at the church today to criticize them and to say they woke up in darkness and blindness and they have continued as that. I believe with all my heart that there are numerous Christian brothers and sisters who may not be as advanced spiritually in their walk with God as they need to be, as they want to be, but their integrity is there. Their intent is good. They are hungry and thirsting after righteousness. They may not know how to get there, but they are hungry and thirsting because God birthed it within them. Now, I'm able to say before you tonight and share again my testimony. I am no specially favored person by God's kingdom or by God's mercy or hand of Him to say, you know, this is my beloved son, and Dan Visor is it. No way, shape, or form. My sin is just as gross and just as high as anybody else's. I am found in iniquity, but there are mercy drops round me falling. All my life is that I've been able to see God's hand work in the midst of this, putting things in my life that would remind me of where God wants me to be. That's a call, a call from God to a man that says this is the way, now walk in it. Have you heard that call? Have you had that leading of the Holy Spirit where God put a person in your life and they taught you and they fed you spiritually and you grew? Is that not the command in 1 Peter at the end of that where he says let us grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Can you count on your fingers and able to say God put this man, this woman in my life. It was a Sunday school teacher. It was a parent. It was one of my blessed friends. It was somebody there and they fed me the word of God. They gave me the Spirit and the things of God and I grew in grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's God. Not everybody's got that. There are some that I believe that are hungering and thirsting and they're looking around for someone but they can't find anybody. They're alone. I don't understand all the ins I can't explain it. I just know is that there are those that are out there that have shared their testimony and say if I could only find one to pray with me. If I could only find someone that would befriend me so that we might be able to sit and talk and have spiritual conversations. God says I know thy works and it is good and there are those that are good in the church today and there are good Christians in this land that is seeking his face as he has said. But you and I have got to understand no matter how good we think we're doing it. There's another level up. If you think that you've arrived then me and you need to talk. You know there are those who said you know I have one guy I remember one time he was talking and he said oh God answers all my prayers and I said well then I've got to pass them on to you. The idea and the opportunity of this is not to think more of ourselves because if we're thinking more of ourselves then we've already become guilty of the sin of pride. The idea of this is that God wants us to grow. God needs us to grow but when we allow for sin when we allow for shortcuts and compromises when we become less diligent and when we become less steadfast than what we're supposed to be then we fall. And the church in North America has fallen into a trap of laziness and selfishness and contentment and we've lost the sight of the prize. The prize of his kingdom the prize of his glory the prize of his name being exalted in all the earth. And God says I know that works. He's able to take us and put us into a place that we might be able to live in peace. It's not about a denomination. It's about him. And if that becomes the vocabulary and the pronouns used that it's more about us listen to people when they talk. Church, a family, a pastor a denominational leader a church leader when they're talking about us then they're not talking about the inclusiveness of the kingdom of God. As much as we have here in this country it is not for us to lose sight of those who don't have it. Only for some that when they've gone across seas into the mission field and they've sat with other brothers and sisters in Christ in these places of persecution and able to see it and able to weep with them and able to rejoice with them by seeing their faith and seeing that they don't have what we have but they're still part of the kingdom. And in some ways they're doing it better than we are because they're totally relying on God whereas we have become self-reliant. God says to them the same as he says to us I know your works. Now what does he say? Verse 20 he begins this condemnation of something that was happening in this place that is something that we need to understand and to make sure that we're not guilty of and there are several facets to this so let's look at it. He says notwithstanding I have a few things against you a few things. What's God going to say about you and about the church and about us as a nation of the church in this nation what's he going to say towards us about this? Just a few things. I have much against you where much is given much is required. A few things I hope that we're not supposed to think that we just have if we could just get a few kinks out of the system if we could just get a few rough spots off the gears we'll be back in shape. That's not the repentance that's required today that's not this call to repentance this call to repentance is that there are enormous amounts of things that is wrong inside the church and they are detrimental to our spiritual health and livelihood and they've got to be addressed and in these few things the very fundamentals of the faith that I think is required of us I always say that there are four pillars inside the church that we have to fight and it's maturity. The first thing is the word of God how it's preached how it's taught how it's read how it's studied how it's memorized you go into a church that the word of God is preached 15-20 minutes very little is taught in that opportunity 45 minutes in a church service they go home and read it the same Bible if they bring a Bible to church it stays in the car all week long they never crack it open most of those that sit in churches like that if you was to say how many of you have ever read the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation you get a blank look on their face and you get people that automatically feel like they have to defend themselves is to say well you know I've read a number of portions over and over and over a few things how can you be a church without the word of God faith cometh by hearing hearing by the word of God we have been awarded that great opportunity of education and knowledge and opportunity to know this book we've got everything seminaries, Bible schools, CDs, DVDs tapes, teachers, professors, preachers all over the place we've got them everywhere the word of God is not a few things it is a major pillar in the church which has led to the crumbling of the church because we took our eyes off God's promises, God's directives God's people and we put them on things of our own making of our own choosing the second pillar is prayer you already know my forte on this what can we do without prayer we can do things with prayer but the church in North America has learned to do what we can do without prayer oh God bless us it's the same prayer that I hear at the 7-Eleven when I'm standing there getting ready to buy a newspaper and a cup of coffee and the people in front of me are buying their lottery tickets they say the same prayer God bless this ticket that's not prayer and to a God that hears them and the church says prayers every Sunday without God ever hearing them same prayers that you could probably repeat over the offering when it's collected or the opening prayer or the closing prayer and it's the same old phrases and the same old statements and there's no brokenness and there's no frustration and there's no conversation and there's no worship and there's no movement coming back to it but it has crippled and weakened us so bad is that the absence of God's power is due directly to the absence of God's people praying word of God prayer a few things the church itself in my lifetime I am a middle-aged man in my forties and in my lifetime I've seen the church cut off because of the world I've seen Sunday night services hacked and cut off because people didn't want to come back that evening I've seen people that they come for an hour on Sunday and they can't even come for the Sunday school class I can remember the great exodus where people would come to Sunday school in the summertime and immediately leave after Sunday school not even stay for worship because they had to get to the river they had to get to their vacation spot they had to get to what they wanted to do and still declare it as the Lord's Day and now we see this wicked generation that's infiltrating into the church and now every holiday cancels church services Easter services are now canceled on Sunday night because of the holiday Memorial Day Mother's Day Father's Day they're starting with almost one Sunday per month where this nation has to have its vacation has to have its holiday and they're cutting away the church services this doesn't even take into place is that something that I grew up with the discipleship class training union where on Sunday nights at 6 o'clock you went to training union and then you went into 7 o'clock worship service because you was discipled and then you went in to hear the word of God and worship a night of visitation unheard of today a night a day one day a week given for prayer I'm talking in places yes I'm talking as a whole Wednesday night Bible study and prayer meeting one of the greatest jokes that's upon the church in North America and I say jokes irreverently prayer meeting and Bible study we've lost it we're the third pillars of the church God's people won't even come to his church oh well the church isn't a building that has nothing to do with it church is his bride and in every building location and I don't care whether it's a structure I don't care whether it's a storefront I don't care if it's a living room in a home I don't care if it's the mock room at the factory it's a gathering for God's people and God's people aren't faithful to God's gathering forsake not the assembling of yourselves together after the manner of some is and that's the testimony of the church in North America absence of the word absence of prayer absence of the church and then the fourth one which is all because of the effects of these other three is that you're not going to be a witness you are not going to be evangelistic in soul winning if all those other things are missing if you're just evangelizing and you're giving out tracts and you're knocking on doors and you're talking to people but there's no power because you're not praying and you can't answer them or lead them to Christ other by the decisionism and believism of saying would you like to go to heaven yes okay God bless you but not able to instruct them in the things of God because you don't know the word of God and you don't have a house church to bring them to because you're not attending yourself lest you be found the hypocrite now all four pillars of the church are eroded away a few things I have against you oh I'm telling you is that that might have been true for the church of Thyatira but that's not true for the church of North America he has more than a few things against us and we're going to have to answer for it I'm much like Leonard Ravenhill and I have listened to him preach and read on his about the judgment seat of Christ I am horrified by what will be there so it is that I have just a few things against you because you suffer that woman Jezebel which calls herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols now here is an illustration made about what we already know from the days of Elijah the prophet and first king we have a wicked king Ahab we have a wicked queen Jezebel she was a veil worshipper she made all her servants she made her husband she made the nation of Israel bow down to Baal we got that one encounter on the mount where Elijah and Jezebel's prophets squared off and he prevailed and God was glorified and he killed the Baal prophets and then took off running but she declared herself as a prophetess that she ruled and reigned them in these things of religion and there are a lot of religions out there and I'm not talking so much about Catholicism or Islam or Jehovah Witness or Mormonism or any of these other cults that are out there that have blemished the truth come up with false heresies and blasphemies out of their own pockets and out of their own making like some of these false religions that we know about today that's in our land and every corner stop is that there's somebody else that rises up as a Jezebel who declares himself to be a prophet who declares himself to be a pastor I want to tell you something if God didn't call you you got no business speaking on his behalf that's the anointing and the unction that comes from God not from men Jezebel was a self-proclaimed prophetess she had no power the only thing that she did was use her feminine allurements she seduced them to commit fornication and to lead them and to keep them under her spell there is a host of tricks out of hell just like that entertainment is used to draw young people into churches today to hold them there on a Wednesday night a Sunday night youth program to feed them pizza and hotdogs to feed them and entertain them in front of the television and the games and those kind of social areas but it is that it is completely removed from the gospel to say you've got to die to sell in order to live for him the allurements of Christians today are just as dangerous and just as out of hell as some of the things that we're talking about in false religions and cults and we better watch it because he says I gave her time to repent verse 21 and I gave her space to repent time was alive here's God's mercy he could have just cut her off he could have just destroyed her but he did and he gave him time to repent so that his mercy might find him and his long suffering might reach them his desire is that none should perish and none should go away from him and he is beckoning on the religionists today that sit in the pews and stand in the pulpits of Christianity and they disguise themselves that it's all about them he gave them a season to repent and our time of repentance is there but if they don't respond there is huge consequences that lie at the very door front of what we're talking about here and she would not repent oh the hardness the pride the vanity of people that has seduced thousands upon millions of people in the name of deception I can remember going into a Chinese restaurant not too far from here and when I went into there now I've been over in Taiwan I've seen family ancestor worship I can remember talking to young people that was there and they had to hold up the tradition of their elders and of their families and if they didn't their father would cut them off and they would be renounced and I went into this Chinese restaurant and I could see this shrine up on the wall and there was a couple incense candles that was there and a little pot and a Buddha statue and a couple oranges were there automatically know I'm in the place of a false religion I've sat in a Jehovah Witness Kingdom Hall and listened to them preach and that's how our publication Bible that's full of that which they want to promote their doctrine and it is just as much of Jezebel and of hell as anything else see these things are all around about us do we have eyes to see do we have minds to understand do we have knowledge about the good and the evil Cain killed Abel his brother because God said you can have all the fruit that's in this garden but of that tree don't touch it and they didn't listen and the sons became products of the parents sin and there are children and grandchildren today that are byproducts of the parents sin who demoted Christianity to a compromising self-serving God said yes you can well we're all good in God's eyes nobody goes to hell and they believe lies rather than believing the truth Jezebel is still among us today that wicked woman who seduces the feeble minds of men women and children leads them on the path to hell holds them at bay by her seduction and the truth will respond to the truth one of the greatest insults today is that we have whole truth absolute truth and if you try to give it to people today they look at you like you're off the mark and they choke on the word because of this wicked woman's seduction he gave that chance he gives that opportunity and I gave her space to repent of her fornication an illicit sexual encounter I gave her a chance that she had done the deed she had corrupted her body she had sold her life she had given away the treasures that was there she had taken men like a Solomon or a Proverbs and she wiped them out and she didn't care that she had sent them to hell she didn't care that their loved ones are going to hell so long as they're happy and satisfied there are churches who don't care that the people around them are going to hell and they never cry out to God for their salvation and there are Christians today self-proclaimed Christians who don't care that they're going to hell and never ask anybody about their soul or their relationship with Jesus Christ I can tell you how you got in there with Jezebel somebody baptized you gave you a Bible made you a member of the church and you're just as much a child of the devil as you was before you started going to church because you're a by-product of Jezebel and God gives you a message like this or God puts someone in your life or somewhere along the line you're just out of interest open the Bible and you begin to read the truth the truth shall set you free and there's a conflict I remember one encounter that I had over in Taiwan and there are awful experiences like this we're standing in a college in Taipei I don't speak Mandarin we had translators there but there were so many things going on I didn't really have too many people around me to help me translate so my task, my job was simply to be handing out tracts and New Testaments in Chinese and we were handing out flyers because we were going to have a service that night on the campus and we were inviting people to come to our service and there are dozens of kids there and they're receiving nobody's protesting nobody's pitching a fit there's nobody wadding it up and throwing a back at us and all of a sudden there's the old Chinese girl right in front of me and she says you all are Americans in perfect English now I can't tell you so to hear someone that can speak your language is a great relief and so this young woman standing there in front of me I said we sure are and she said well I was a foreign exchange student and she said I spent about three years in a place you probably never heard of she said right outside of Washington D.C. I said I'm two hours from Washington D.C. I said where was that she said Fairfax, Virginia I said that's right down the road from me I knew very well where you was at and so we had this communication going on and this little thing happening here about we knew we didn't want to know and she says well what are you all doing here and I said handing out Bibles talking to people about Christianity I said now when you was in the United States I said was you with a Christian family oh yes we went to church every Sunday and I am taking by her statement is that she's been in a church that preached the gospel I can't assume that but I take that as a notion when she makes mention of that and I said well we're going to be having a program tonight and would love to have you come and she said yeah I think I can make that and I said well are you a Christian now that's very forward to some people but I just found let's just get to the heart of this thing and her answer was no my family ancestor worship is primary and our responsibilities in Buddhism is distinct and I've heard Christianity and I sat in Christian churches and I was marveled and amazed at this man Jesus but I'm not a Christian now I turn immediately upon this woman because now there's a soul that's there in front of me that's lost and the desire to reach her for Christ to bring her into his kingdom by his name by his blood his power his word I'll see you tonight seven o'clock every person from ten till seven till ten after quarter after seven they came through the doors and the door would open I thought it was her she never came that night from that day to this day I have no idea where that girl is at I have no idea whether she came to Christ I have no idea whether she's still living or not and I probably won't know that until I get to heaven and so there are many souls like that that God gives a moment in time the gospel has appeared unto all men Titus chapter 2 that was her night that was her opportunity and we pray God that it's not the only opportunity for people that this is their only opportunity tonight but let us not mistake the urgency of the hour this may be her last opportunity tonight and the church has squandered that because Jezebel has seduced them and she doesn't want to give them up religion holds people holds them in comfort holds them in deluge holds them in blindness holds them in sin holds them by lies and you've got to storm hell to break the chains Christ is the great deliverer of the captives he set this captive free and it is that same thing that Jezebel holds them in God's mercy and compassion and loving kindness and long suffering says and I gave you space to repent of your fornication of your enlisteness of selling your soul and your body and all that out there to the things of the world and to the flesh and I even after your defilement was willing to draw you to bring you into a relationship with me but you would not and she repented not condemnation is found with that verse at the end of that verse 21 there because she would not repent therefore there is no salvation oh now isn't that a loaded theological question for people today do you have to repent to be born again Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost and when they asked him say what must we do to be saved he said repent and be baptized every one of you John the Baptist comes along and says to them the first words out of his mouth repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand the first words that Christ spoke all those that kissed her lips all those that had a part of her all those that sold their soul in the entertainment business in the sports business in politics to the lowest up to the highest to the richest to the poorest to men to women to children it doesn't matter near or far to all those that have sold their soul to Jezebel in adultery he's going to put them all in a bin and there with great tribulation tribulation an assault an attack an unfolding of events tribulation that shakes the contentment that shakes the normalcy of the nature of life that rattles people's cages of tragic events that makes them lift up their eyes and say why is this happening why me great tribulation going to put you all in the same place and I'm going to make this great tribulation come to you except they repent of their deeds once again in the heat of his anger that they rejected him in the heat in the anger in his wrath that they refused his invitation after he gave them a season to repent and she would not they would not you would not repent he says now I'm going to bring you to great tribulation now I'm going to ratchet up the judgment and the fire unless except one more opportunity except you repent I can't take time tonight to go through scriptures that have revealed this over and over that God in the last hour the eleventh hour comes to the soul comes to the people comes to a nation that says if you repent I'll pull this back and I'll bring you through it and I'll deliver you from it but you would not that's the crisis of our nation tonight that's the crisis of families tonight you're in emergency work you're at the funeral home you're in tragedy you're in tribulation you're in sorrow you're in life you're in death you're in sickness it is that God comes one more invitation one more divine appointment that says repent God's hand is knocking at the church's door saying unless you repent we have seen now bear with me again I hate to take time to do this again but I'm impressed to do it right now I want you to go back to the book of Exodus and I want you to look at the ten plagues of Egypt here is the children of Israel the promised covenant of Abraham Isaac and Jacob they went down at 70 during the days of Joseph 70 went down into Egypt when they come up 400 years later there was over 600,000 they had multiplied greatly in those 400 years God blessed them and God said I'm going to show you that I'm God and you're a man and I'm going to humble you and I'm going to humble your nation and I'm going to do what I want to do and I'm going to bring my people out because I promised Abraham Isaac and Jacob and I always keep my word and so he began to send plagues and the first plague you know these or should know these he turned water into blood magicians did the same thing and Pharaoh's heart was hard and he refused to repent and he refused to let the people get up and then a slew of other things began to happen that began to affect the land of Egypt the water turned to blood well hey they were able to go by God's mercy they were able to go away from the river and dig and find water and so they were able to be sustained even though the fish died well well the fish dies that's alright we've got plenty of watermelons cucumbers and other things to eat we'll just have to get by people were willing to pay a price to a certain extent then the flies came then the frogs came then the lice came and the lice began to touch them and the moraine came and killed their livestock and the fire hail fell from the skies brimstone and fire ran along the ground and the darkness came and the floods began to constrict upon them and began to afflict the people so that death was there and so that there was life and death in the midst of Egypt it was one thing when it was a natural phenomenon of the water being turned into blood and the flies and the frogs and those kind of things that were outward and yes there are inconveniences and yes it's a hideous thing and it's an awful thing but we can make it through but what do you do when it starts to touch the flesh? In the story of Job what did Satan do? God said you take anything away but don't touch Job and he took everything that was precious on the outward and even the devil came and said to God and he said any man will give up the things that are outside but touch his own very flesh and he'll speak against you and curse you and so he was allowed to afflict Job by the boils but not take his life but even in that Job said the Lord gives and the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord and in all this Job said not but Pharaoh never repented. In our nation the church is in the same thing. The constrictions are happening. The natural phenomenon has happened and occurred. The land has been shaken. The economy has been shaken. Disasters have come. Lives have been lost but so long as it doesn't personally affect us where there are scores and scores of a permanent accountability of this where life is being taken and shredded then we don't really care but we don't see it. We won't repent of it. We don't see what drugs and self indulgence is costing us. We don't see what movies and entertainment are doing to us. We don't see, we don't care what technology is allowing for us and advancing us. We don't care and we won't repent and even so much as that now those things are now in the church. And I gave them a season to repent but they would not repent. And therefore I'm going to put you in a box. I'm going to put you in a bed and I'm going to bring great tribulation upon all of you that have devised yourself with her. And in the passages of scripture we know is that at one point Jezebel was referred to as not just as this false religion of Baal as we know over in 1st King. Jezebel was just as much a part of the Roman Empire and everything else that has come down the pike of terminology that we want to use that is anti-God. If it's anti-God it's with Jezebel. I don't care if it's Democrat, Republican. I don't care if it's state. I don't care if it's a court decision. I don't care if it's a legislature's decision. I don't care if it's just an editorial comment. If it's anti-God it's from Jezebel. And God gives us an opportunity to repent. Lord you are God and we are not. But our nation has not done that. The church has not done that. But the church has put their arm around Jezebel and in many cases the church has gotten bed with Jezebel. And I want to ask you tonight who did you get in bed with? What's in your life? What is the tragedy of your existence? The sin that does so easily beset you that it is to kiss Jezebel's hand and it is to be seduced by her and says oh it's just a little sin. Oh it doesn't matter because nobody else knows about this and it's affecting everything round about you. Just like it affected Cain and Abel from Adam and Eve's sin and just the same as it does to us tonight. Your sins are affecting your children. Your children's sins are affecting the grandchildren and on and on this goes. Of a generation after generation that has forsaken the Lord God and has refused to repent and now God says accept. Accept. You repent. Get rid of this deed. Be done with it. Wash your hands. Get back to where you're supposed to be. That's an awful clear sale there. That's an awful clear sale there. That's an awful clear That's an sale there. That's an sale there. That's an awful clear children. But to Christ better and says before him he should remember his kids. that flooded into the minds and the hearts and the lives of so many. Is it not true today that we've had a distinct day going by is that the church did not look like, smell like, act like the world and now you can't tell the difference? Why? Because we got in bed with Jezebel. Her perfume's on us. We've rolled around with her and we've produced a child, a bastard, illicit child that has come forth and it is just as much a child of hell as Jezebel is. And our nation has seen it multiply over in sports, in entertainment, in money, in time, in indulgences. We are so self-sufficient and so satisfied is that we have forgotten what faith in God is all about. And if you won't do it, I'll give you a chance to repent, but if you won't do it, I will kill the children. He did it in Egypt. He did it in Jerusalem. And he can do it today. There's an invitation on Saul 8-10 months ago. I've lost time now, but I can remember exactly where I was at. I was playing the invitational on the piano and it was that softly and tenderly. And I believe it's the third verse in that hymn. As I played that hymn, that invitational hymn, all my life for over 30 years I played it in church. My father would give an invitation and I would be on the piano and we would sing the hymns. And I knew these songs. Because I've been a part of it for all my life. But it was that day, it was that time, that playing that song that I played a hundred times, a thousand times maybe in my lifetime, I played that song over the death day, the third verse, death days are coming. Never had I been hit with that. Never had that really concept set into me. Never had I studied it, but God got my attention that day. And out of that came the seven levels of judgment that I presented before in that I will kill her children. The byproduct of those that get in bed with Jezebel, those that sell their soul, there's a price to pay for it. And it's not going to be just your soul, it's going to be the children. I know parents that have done that because they wanted to have their child popular and they wanted to have them famous, so they allowed for them to skip church and they allowed for them to be negligent on the spiritual truths that we're talking about tonight and sell their souls to go live out their American dream. And what did it do? It cost them and they got in bed with Jezebel. And oh, there's a whole generation of these younger people and from 18 years old up to 40 years old and they said, I was raised in church. My mother and dad made me go to Sunday school. I sat in the youth program and they did all these things and now they're out in the world in drugs. They're out having two or three marriages. They're out as alcoholics. They're out living life. They have money. They have possessions. They've tattooed their bodies. They've pierced themselves. They look small. They look just like the rest of the world and they're just as much a daughter and a son of Jezebel as any. Because they would not repent. They would not respond. And they would not receive redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. I will kill the children of death and all the churches then shall know that I am he. But didn't he say to Moses, say to Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord, you will know that I am God Almighty when I am done with this. God's going to do it again. He did it to Ephesus. He did it to the seven churches in Asia Minor. He did it in Europe and he can do it in North America. Except we repent of these deeds. You feel since we're out of time and the hands on the wall writing that I'll found the balances and found them one day and the death angels come and a generation is going to be killed because of it because you would not repent. Well, I have to hurry here because this last one comes at chapter 3 to the church of Sardis and it's our last repentance and it is to us just the same message that we just learned about the other repentance. Remember therefore how thou has received and heard and hold fast hold fast. King James Version over and over. Two words, take heed. Take heed to the things I'm getting ready to say to you. Take heed to the things of God. Take heed and hold fast. Steadfast, persevering, loyal, faithful, true. Blessed is he that overcomes. An assault of hell, an assault of darkness an assault of the angel of darkness that poses as an angel of life. Coming against Jezebel and all her seduction and flirtation and all her devices that sit there to lead us astray. He says, hold fast. And I don't care how long it takes. And you say, oh, I'm so weary. I'm so tired. I've been holding fast for years. I've been holding fast for decades. Hold fast to these things. And repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch give up. Over in the Minor Prophets he says, and I will stand upon the watchtower and I will wait to see what my God will say of me. You and I are not to abandon ship. You and I are not to throw in the white towel. You and I are not to quit. Well, we just don't have many coming anymore. You know, we're just wasting our time. Hold fast. Doesn't matter about the number. Doesn't matter about the popularity. Doesn't matter about who's coming and what's coming and how things are going. Hold fast. And repent. Repent of that which has cost us. We lost the four pillars. Repent that we sold our souls to the world in cardinality and we brought the cardinality into the church. Repent of the cardinality and the worldliness for the love of God is upon us to say that which is friends with the world is enmity against God. Repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch then I will come. I will come on you as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon you. When is the Lord coming back? No man knows the hour nor the day. What are we supposed to be doing? What was the command? Watch. Keep your eye fixed on the eastern sky. Watch. What are we supposed to be doing while we're watching? Be faithful. How are we supposed to be faithful? Obey. Obey what? The commandments. Which commandments? Pray without ceasing. Study to show yourselves approved. A word never hit in my heart. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves as the manner of some is. Go unto all the world. Do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry. Go and tell. Cast forth the seeds. Hold fast. And if you won't then I will come as a thief and I will destroy you. And I will remove your candlestick and I will break you and I'll hammer you with great tribulation because you, having put your hand to the plow, you look back. Remember, lost wife. There are many that have sat in the pews of the church and professed themselves. I am a born again Christian. I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I am a lover of Jesus Christ. And I can't tell you tonight how many names and faces come across my mind when I think and I say that I am a lover of Jesus Christ but they're in bed with Jezebel tonight. I've seen young people sit in church services and weep and respond to the altars and prayers and studies and questions and farming and they were sincere. There was integrity. Sincerity was there upon that. But I'm telling you, they're an illicit adulteress of fornication tonight. They're drug addicts and drug dealers. They love the world and they love money and they smell and they stink of it. But oh, they think that they're saved. You know why? They think that they're saved because they believe the lies of Satan. You're okay, you're okay, you're okay. When they lift up their eyes in hell, they realize I'm not okay. And then it's too late. This one clear command of God comes to the church in North America. It comes to my heart. It comes to your heart. We are commanded to do certain things the way that God has said. And we've left that. And we've gotten away from that. And God's calling us back. He's giving us time. He's giving us an opportunity. He's giving us his mercy. And he says that one word, that word that needs to echo in our hearts, our lives as a testimony. It needs to be spoken to our families. It needs to be spoken to our communities. Repent. We're out of time. And the clear command of God's Holy Spirit is being bringed into the church today, saying, come back to me. Come back to the things that I've taught you and instructed of you. A short amount of decades after Jesus had left the earth, after the book of Acts and all that was entailed, the church was already corrupt, the church was already saturated with worldliness, and they had lost the place. Church of North America, after all God's blessings, revival, great awakenings, great evangelists, great preachers, great moments of time and history, great advancements and great opportunities and great blessings, spiritually and numerically and materially. God has blessed us beyond. And now he says, repent. Or I'm going to come take it all away. And it's already beginning to erode, whether you believe that or not. It's already beginning to be taken away. That one that you love most, family, friend, you're going to come and take them. Great tribulation. And it's going to purge the church. And it's going to separate the weak from the chair when this great tribulation comes because it's going to make us re-examine am I really a follower of Jesus Christ or not. And so I ask you that question as we prepare to close tonight. You've heard those scriptures. You've heard the words. You know the urgency of this time. We're out of time. And the call has come in from heaven itself and has been beckoned unto us as a people, a call to repent. Because if you don't repent, then this is what's going to happen. I don't want that to happen. So I want to repent. And I want to do my first work. And I want to be whole and fast. And I want to be faithful. And I want to be loyal. And I want to be a follower of Christ. And I want to be submerged in His love. And I don't want any part of Jezebel. What about you? What say you, church, to this call of repentance?