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When I study church history, especially seasons of

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revival, I find a common thread in the

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preaching of those men whom God used mildly

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in the midst of revival.

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It's basically the core message of the gospel,

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repentance, that God demands repentance from all sinners

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and you must repent or perish.

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Now, I know that goes against the teaching

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of a long-deceased and very wrong-headed

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seminary professor who founded a seminary and taught

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repentance is not necessary for salvation.

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And this error birthed the only-believed gospel

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of our day, which was the mainspring of

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football stadium crusades who had you walking out

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for Jesus.

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But I know this for a fact as

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well, friends.

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A few years ago I was standing speaking

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with one of Billy Graham's nephews, Jim Wilson,

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and this is what he told me.

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He once asked Billy Graham, when he was

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older, if he had any regrets and he

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posed this question to him.

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Uncle Billy, if you could go back and

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do it all again, what would you change?

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What would you do differently?

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He said they were on the back porch

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of Billy's home and Billy was sitting in

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his favorite chair and he got a faraway

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look in his eye and answered, I would

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have preached repentance more.

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And I believe, brother pastor, when we all

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get to heaven and stand at the beam

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of sea to review that we will say

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the same to Jesus that we wished we

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had preached repentance more.

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Listen, friends, if you don't repent, you will

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surely go to hell.

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I'm just repeating what Jesus taught and when

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he sent out the twelve disciples on their

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first preaching mission, this is the doctrine that

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they preached as well.

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We see this in Mark 6, which states,

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And they went out and preached that men

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should repent.

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I reckon Billy Graham should have paid more

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attention to his mentor, Mordecai Ham, of whom

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Billy Graham came to Christ in a tent

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meeting under Ham.

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Billy Graham was a member of a church,

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but unsaved, and he went to hear Mordecai

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Ham and he got mad at the preacher

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because Ham called him out as a sinner

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who needed to repent.

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Ham later would comment, I didn't point at

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him and call him a sinner, but the

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Holy Spirit did.

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And that's the key, friends.

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We must preach the gospel in its purity

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and proper order so the Holy Spirit can

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go to work.

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Picture in your mind two millstones grinding at

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the mill as they grind flour.

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The bottom stone is the preached word of

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God, and the top stone is the Holy

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Spirit making that connection.

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As they turn together, they grind on the

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sinner in conviction of sin.

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If more preachers preached repentance, more sinners would

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be saved.

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I believe that, friends.

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But the main hindrance to preaching repentance is

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the risk we preachers face in offending man.

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We look at what happened to another preacher

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of repentance who called sin sin.

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For John had said unto Herod, It is

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not lawful for thee to have thy brother's

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wife.

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Most pastors don't want to upset the apple

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court by preaching disturbing messages to their congregations

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because they fear the good deacons more than

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they fear Almighty God.

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They don't want to upset anybody and risk

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losing their head.

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But the gospel of the Son of God

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had a bloody cross right smack dab in

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the middle of it.

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And unless you repent, friend, you will die

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in your sins and be cast into a

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devil's hell that is full of the unrepentant.