You are listening to a message from Sound Words. To find information about our ministry, please visit our website at soundwords.org. You can also download our free app from iTunes or Google Play to access more great sermons. We'll talk about the reign of God when we get to the return of Christ. There's two areas or aspects we want to keep distinct. God does reign overall in his universal reign as he always has. That's true today. But someday that universal reign of God will come to the earth. In the person of Jesus Christ himself and then with the Father and the Spirit as well. And God's presence will be in the midst of his creation where he will rule for eternity. What a glorious future. That's where the book of Revelation is going. And he's preparing us for that, reminding us that we should be living in light of that. Turn in your Bibles to Revelation, chapter 2. We have finished the first chapter, and in the first chapter we have the first vision. And the first vision given to John was of the resurrected, glorified Christ. The one who is Son of God and Son of Man. The book of Revelation is written to his servants, or literally to his slaves. The book opens up in chapter 1 verse 1, saying, The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his bondservants. That word translated bondservants is simply the Greek word for slave. Those who serve Him because they are no longer their own. They have been bought with a price. Praise is given to Him at the end of verse 5 as the One who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood. That revelation of Christ in His glory revealed certain characteristics of Him. which are important for us as a church to understand and grasp. You realize the book of Revelation was not written for the unbeliever. The book of Revelation was written to those who belong to Christ and are to be living in light of His redeeming purposes for them. So as we move into the letters to the churches, this book is written to seven individual local churches. Seven in number, as we've noted, because they have been selected by Christ, because what is characteristic of them, important for us to understand what He approves and what He disapproves, will be significant for every church down through the history of time. Oh, what is commendable in these churches is commendable down to today. What is unacceptable is unacceptable down to today. So we as a local church, as we look at these letters, examine ourselves to see what Christ approves and what he does not approve. What he approves is commended and will be rewarded. What he does not approve must be corrected. So very personal letter. Very personal revelation with these individual letters that begin it. So we can begin chapter 2 with the first letter. The letter to the church at Ephesus. We're at Patmos. The seven churches are in what is known as Asia Minor, what is present day Turkey, basically. Ephesus was a coastal city. John is exiled in what I've called a Roman penal colony, where Roman prisoners were sent. There were mines there that prisoners worked. And John is exiled on that island. But he has opportunity for visitors, similar as Paul had. When he was under house arrest at the book of Acts, people could come visit him. And obviously John can have visitors on that island, but he himself is restricted there. As he sends the letters and addresses them each to each church, what is addressed to each church is applicable to every church. Because at the end of every letter, as we have noted, like down at the end of the letter to the Ephesians, verse 7, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, plural. So it's addressed to the church in Ephesus. But what is said here is applicable to other churches, and that's true of each of the letters. So that it's not just restricted in here for historical information. Church at Ephesus is an historical church. But it is applicable to us. The city of Ephesus. I want to spend some time a little more here. Because this is the major city of the seven. The standpoint. It is the largest city. It is the most important city. as far as commerce, activities, and so on are concerned. It is from this city that the other churches in Asia have been impacted. And evidently the salvation and establishing of these other churches in Asia The seven addressed here are a result of the ministry Paul had when he spent three years in Ephesus on his third missionary journey. So we talk a little bit about the city of Ephesus. It starts out, it's addressed to the angel or the messenger. We know that word angel is simply a word that means messenger. Often it means a spirit being who is a messenger, an angel. But it often means also just a human messenger. So here I think it's the human messenger. He is here representing and on behalf of the church at Ephesus as each of these messengers will be. The letter is addressed to them and through them to the church itself. This messenger is identified in the symbolism of a star. Look at the end of chapter 1 verse 20, the last part of that. The seven stars are the angels or messengers of the seven churches. This is drawn from that first vision where Christ had in verse 16, in his right hand he held seven stars. So now we're reading to the messenger of the church at Ephesus, the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, says. So the stars we noted are lights. What do stars do? They shine in the darkness. You see the stars in contrast to the darkness. that is around them. So these messengers evidently are a prominent figure from each of these churches. And they are identified as standing out in a special significant way. And they are addressed and share the commendation and the condemnation given to each of the churches. The seven lampstands that we'll see at the end of verse one represent the churches. That's at the end of chapter one as well. The seven lampstands are the seven churches. We talked about this. What are the lampstands for? They give off light. So you see the connection. The stars stand out in their position in the church. But they are what? To be lights in the darkness. The lampstand does what? Gives light in the darkness. So the pictures are similar. This is key as we're going to look at the city of Ephesus and then the church in Ephesus. And our church. What are we to be? We are to be lights in this darkness. The city of Ephesus was a place of darkness. It was a thriving, successful, prosperous city. It was of major commercial significance. There was a major seaport here. Now they were having problems. There was a major river that came down to the sea there. And it would carry the silt, as rivers do, down. And the harbor there that was so key was beginning to become less hospitable to large ships, but you were still accessible in biblical times. Today, the old city of Ephesus is six miles from the ocean there, the sea there, the Aegean Sea. So you can see how much silts come down over the years. But then it was a significant commercial port. It also had three major land routes, commercial routes, that intersected at this city. So you not only had the sea route, but you also had then the land commerce that would come into the city of Ephesus. So it made it of major commercial significance. It was of great political importance. It was what was known as a free city. in Roman times. The Romans ruled the world at this time, as you're aware. But they had granted Ephesus the status of being a free city, which meant it had a lot of liberty in governing itself. Roman soldiers were not permanently stationed in the city of Ephesus. That was a unique privilege given. If Rome had any concerns, About possible trouble, they stationed their soldiers in a city. Remember like Jerusalem. In times of the gospel when there were trouble, Roman soldiers appear on the scene. but in Ephesus there were no Roman soldiers stationed there. So being a free city gave it a position of honor and recognition as a significant place and a place that the Romans had conferred this honor on. The Roman governor for the region, would make his rounds and in Asia, the region of Asia, he would set up his court for major cases in the city of Ephesus. So it becomes a significant place because of its governmental position, if you will, where cases would be tried. We live in a city where sporting activity gets some attention. And Ephesus was a major center of the Panannonian Games. Now we don't think of the Panannonian Games, but we do think of the Olympics. Now the Olympics took place in Greece. But in Biblical times of equal importance and impact were the Panannonian Games that were held at Ephesus. So thousands of people would pour in in the month of May when the Panannonian Games were held. So all of this made this a thriving, humming city of significant importance, of special interest to us. It was of great religious importance and significance in the whole world. This was the center of the worship of Artemis. Artemis is the Greek name for the one we know of by the Latin name Diana. Artemis is Diana. And the center of the worship of Artemis was in the city of Ephesus. And the temple built for the worship of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. So one of those must-see places. And of course, with this kind of religious impact, people poured in here. They had a huge temple here, built for her. There were 127 columns around this temple. Each one of those columns had been paid for by a different king. You see something of the significant importance for a king to establish his loyalty and devotion to Artemis and be privileged to pay for one of these pillars to be built. So it had an impact around the world. It's centered in the worship of an image supposedly that had come down from heaven, from Jupiter. A carved image, you've seen it in books and Bible encyclopedias. A little squat, grotesque image. A female with multiple breasts. It was a fertility kind of thing. So associated with the worship of this goddess was all kind of immoral, lascivious activity. There were hundreds, some say thousands of priestesses. Which was just a religious name for the religious prostitutes. And you see what took place in connection with worshipping in this system. It was a very licentious, immoral thing. Interesting and we may have a little touch of this that helps us appreciate it. The temple of Artemis was an asylum. We would call it a sanctuary. We have sanctuary cities or places today. There is a lot of debate about them. Which are what? If a person who is illegal can get there, they are supposed to be free from any prosecution. I'm not into that, so don't get sidetracked. But the temple for Artemis was a sanctuary for all crimes or illicit activity. And so for 200 yards all around the temple, It was a safe asylum. So if you had committed a crime, but could get into that area around the temple, you could not be arrested or prosecuted. So you can imagine the kind of people this drew to the city. One writer says of Ephesus, so into Ephesus there poured a stream of criminals of every kind. Fugitives from the law, escapers and avoiders of justice, into Ephesus there flowed a torrent of credulous, superstitious people. For in a superstitious world, Ephesus was well-nigh the most superstitious city in the world. The character of the people of Ephesus was notoriously bad. The people had the reputation all over Asia of being fickle, superstitious, and immoral. Amazing. We think of, we say, oh what's going on in our country? What's happening? You know, Paul would have thought this was a cakewalk. He comes into Ephesus, and this is the kind of cesspool he comes into. A people who delighted and promoted the most vile of activities. In fact, the center of the worship. promoted and involved this. And the people superstitious and the metal workers would make these little, like we have, souvenirs. They'd make these little images of the goddess and so on, and so supposedly had magical powers. You had something if you had gone to the temple there and bought this. It would be like going to the Vatican and you were a devout Roman Catholic getting something that had been blessed by the Pope. Supposedly this would bring some kind of blessing to you in your home and so on. The superstitions haven't changed, but this just permeated the city. And it's the city that this letter is written to. It was a city that had the church established in it over 40 years earlier. We're going to look in a moment at that, but just a couple of dates. The city was established by Paul on his third missionary journey in 52 AD. Then in 62 AD, Paul wrote a letter to them, which we have in our New Testament, the letter to the Ephesians. Now this letter is being written to them in 95 AD. They just have some kind of perspective. The church has been in existence in Ephesus for over 40 years. And over 30 years earlier, Paul had written a letter that will have some connections to what is said here and what is connected in Revelation to them as we'll see. Come back to the book of Acts. This is review for most of you, but we're going to do it anyway. Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18. Now, we talk about the Mediterranean down here and then body of water coming up known as the Aegean Sea and separates Asia from Europe and you cross that water and you move from Asia into Greece. And Ephesus is in Asia. We're talking about Asia Minor there now where Turkey is. If you went straight across the water, really basically just straight west, you'd run into Athens, and then a little further west you'd run into Corinth. So that's something of the proximity here we mention, because in Acts chapter 17, Paul is ministering, and he's in Athens, and he comes down to Corinth. His ministry at the end of chapter 17 is on Mars Hill, and then in chapter 18 opens up after he left Athens and went to Corinth. And in verse 11, he spent a year and six months, we're on the second missionary journey, ministering the word in Corinth, and then there was trouble. So in verse 18, Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren, sent out to sea for Syria. And where he's going to go is to Antioch of Syria, which is over north of Israel, Jerusalem. If you're familiar with where Paul started out, we call it Syrian Antioch to distinguish it from the other Antioch over there. And so that's his ultimate goal, but they're stopped on the way. So he sets out to sea, and of course you cross over from Corinth, and the major stop there would be at Ephesus. So he came to Ephesus, and Priscilla and Aquila are with him. They were with him in Corinth, and now they leave with him. and travel over when he came to Ephesus. And he leaves Priscilla and Aquila there. And he'll go on, but we interrupt here the flow because it says he came to Ephesus and he left them there. Well, you could put a parenthesis around that to get the idea, because we're going to say something that happened in Ephesus. Paul hasn't left yet, but it's just telling us that when Paul leaves, these two individuals will be saying, now he entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. That's where Paul would start. Where else to start? People who believe the Old Testament. To show these Jews that their Messiah has come. Old Testament prophecies have seen a fulfillment in the coming of the Messiah to be the Savior. So he ministers there. Evidently there's some positive response because they want him to stay longer. But he is committed to go on. So he tells him in verse 21, I'll return to you if God wills. He said, sail from Ephesus. and evidently goes to Caesarea, then he'll stop at Jerusalem, because when he landed at Caesarea, which is the seaport over there below Jerusalem, he went up. It doesn't say he went up to Jerusalem, but wherever you are, you go up to Jerusalem. So he goes up to Jerusalem. So he went up and greeted the church, evidently in Jerusalem. And then he went down to Antioch. Well, Antioch is north. We would say you go up to Antioch. But you always go up to Jerusalem and down to Jerusalem in the Bible. So you don't want to get confused. He's going up to Antioch in the north. But since he's in Jerusalem, he's going down to Antioch. All right. So he's at Antioch. Then he's going to leave Antioch and go on his third missionary journey. He's going to do this by land. He's going to go across the land there through the region of Galatia, where the churches he wrote the letter to the Galatians to. Now, verse 24. We are back at Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila in verse 24. Because now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. Well, Paul's not at Ephesus, but Priscilla and Aquila are. And he was mighty in the scripture. He's what we would call an Old Testament believer. He hadn't learned and been taught that the Messiah had come, the scriptures regarding his suffering and death and resurrection had been fulfilled. and the Spirit of God had been given to indwell believers. So he had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he's a man on fire. He's fervent in spirit. And he's speaking and teaching, so he's an Old Testament style believer, but he's only equated with the baptism of John. Remember, John's baptism is get ready for the Messiah. And remember, we're a long time ago before all the electronic communication that everything travels. So not unusual that a person in this part of the world, Paul's evangelizing it for the first time. So they don't know about Christ. And Jews that live here, even that are believers like John the Baptist was, an Old Testament style believer, they don't know all that's happened. So Priscilla and Aquila are here. They update him. At the end of verse 26, they explained to him the way of God more accurately. They brought him up to date. The Messiah has come, suffered and died, been raised from the dead. The Spirit of God has been given. God is now saving Gentiles as well as Jews. So, Apollos is ready now to go over to Greece and tell them. What he learned and be involved in the ministry there that Paul had established. So he goes over to Achaia. Which is the southern region. The northern province is Macedonia. And he helps the believers there. All right. Now chapter 19 opens up. Now it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth. Paul passed through the upper country and came into Ephesus. So he's come over by land. Before when he was returning home he was going by ship. Across to Ephesus and then down through the Mediterranean over to Caesarea. Now he's left Antioch. up at northern tip there and crossed over through Galatia and come down into Ephesus. And when he comes to Ephesus, he finds some disciples, but these are not aware that the Holy Spirit has been given. So you get the idea that the ministry of Priscilla and Aquila and what was that impact, but this is a significant size city. And when Paul comes into the city, he finds some Old Testament style believers. They were what? Verse 3, baptized into John's baptism. People get confused when they come to the Book of Acts because they try to read everything through as though everybody knew everything that we know. Remember, the Book of Acts is unfolding the progressive history. of the truth of the redemptive work of Christ being now spread through the world. But these people, they had been exposed to John's ministry, perhaps in visiting on feast days, perhaps Jews from there had brought. But at any rate, so Paul ministers to them and the Holy Spirit comes upon them. In effect, they become New Testament believers, if you will. Then the spirit that is given to believers in Acts 2 is now given to them. You know this happens through the hands of the apostles. We've talked about this. That keeps all the churches unified. They're all, what, under the authority and oversight and leadership of the apostles so that the doctrine comes down through them. You don't have all these starting out individually on their own. Okay, so then he goes into the synagogue. There were about 12 men that experienced that ministry of Paul. Then he goes into the synagogue, verse 8, and he's there for about three months. Every Sabbath he'd be in there and other opportunities, and he's persuading them about the kingdom of God. instructing of them how this all had to happen. The Jews believed the Messiah would come to establish the kingdom. Paul had to clarify and show them from Old Testament scriptures. First he had to come and suffer and die to secure redemption so we could be cleansed from our sin so that then we could inhabit the kingdom when he came to establish it. So he's going on. But the Word of God always does something. Softens or hardens. So we read in verse 9, some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the way. Made it difficult to continue the ministry. Because you have this now intense opposition building. They don't want to hear this. They want the old way. These would have been Jews. Who are not open. What Christ confronted during his earthly ministry and what we find continually being an opposition to the ministry of God's truth. But there are some people who were positive. So he moves out of the synagogue, can no longer stay there, because evidently the Jews and the leading Jews are not open. And he moves to another facility called the School of Tyrannus. And he's there for two years. And note here, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord. So I wonder, how did these other churches, the other six churches in Asia hear? Well, Paul is here for three years. Turn over to chapter 20. Verse 31, on a later visit to Ephesus, he'll remind them, verse 31 of chapter 20, therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. So his total time there was three years. He was three months in the synagogue, he was two years in the school of Tyrannus, and we don't know what other places he ministered. About a total of three years. During that time, there are other people with Paul. We'll get a few names, but there would have been a group gathered with him. They would have went out to the other regions of Asia carrying the Gospel. And some people that would have come into Ephesus and heard, gotten saved, would have carried it back. And perhaps one of these companions of Paul would have went back with these. Two or three get saved. They might have gone back to Smyrna or to one of the other cities and helped establish a church there. So at least we know what happened and how this portion of Asia where these seven churches were got evangelized. During this three years, Ephesus becomes a center for the word going out and we know a number of churches more than seven because we know of other churches that aren't mentioned among the seven like the church at Colossae which is near the city of Laodicea but it's not one of the seven mentioned here. So this area is being evangelized. The rest of the chapter tells you about Paul's ministry at Ephesus. We don't have time to go into that, but as often happened, the ministry of the word touches hearts, but the larger number are antagonized and stir up opposition. So verse 23 tells us, at that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the way. And things that people didn't like were happening. The silversmith that made a lot of money making these images of Artemis that you could purchase and you know have a little shrine in your home. They have the magical powers. Well, these people don't want to buy it. Well, now they say this is a threat. You know, everything's a threat. And it would turn people away from that. So, verse 26, you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying the gods made with hands are no gods at all. Well, that's true. But they don't want to hear it. Same problem Jeremiah the prophet had. He says, you know, a piece of wood is a piece of wood. And they cut down a tree, and they make a table out of it, and they make out of another portion of it a god. And they make it with their hands. What kind of god is this? That's why he said, don't fear them. They can't do any good. They can't do any harm. So that's Paul's message. The whole city's in turmoil. So they flow into the large theater there, amphitheater, and boy, one of the Jews who's a believer, that's how we know there are others here, Alexander, he wants to make a defense. But verse 34 says, when they recognize he was a Jew, this just inflames them. Some of you saw in the paper there's a rise of anti-Semitism that's just surprising people happening in our country, as well as Europe, and of course we have it in other parts of the world. So you can't believe it. The devil has one continuing goal, destroy the Jews. That's where we're going in Revelation. all the followers of Christ. But there's a kingdom promised to the nation. So all the followers of him are anti-semitic. Well, I know some people that aren't saved that are not anti. Give them time, give them the right circumstance. The children of the devil always do the will of their father, the devil. And there'll come a time when the whole world will join in to destroy the Jews. So here you have this opposition. It's so bad, and the end result, finally, the city's quieted down, and that's why we talked earlier. The leading figure here, political figure, the town clerk, gets into this theater, they've been for two hours doing nothing but crying out, great is Diana, great is Diana, or great is Artemis, great is Artemis. And we can see this, we see it in some Muslim countries where something inflames them and they can just chant and chant. Two hours of this. Things could get out of hand. You could have a riot here. Now remember, Ephesus is a free city. If things get out of control, you know what the Romans will do? They'll send a contingent of soldiers in to settle things. They don't have any special love for Ephesus. The soldiers will come in and then they'll lose their freedom and then they'll be under the thumb of the Romans with a contingent of soldiers here and a Roman ruler stationed here. And so he quiets them down and says, you know, we have courts. If there's something that needs to be dealt with because the Roman governor would come through, we can do that. And we also have a way to handle things. So, you know, verse 40 says, indeed, we are in danger of being accused of a riot. There's no need for it. And we wouldn't be able to account for it because the Romans don't have any particular thing here. They were willing to make compromises with the Jews, give them certain freedoms. And Christianity is just there. The Ephesians better be able to take care of their own business or the Romans will take care of it for them. So, that's how things get settled down. Paul moves on. This is about 52 AD. Church is established. Come back to the book of Revelation. Christ is speaking. He's the one who holds the seven stars in His right hand. The one who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Says this. You'll note here, He has the seven stars. He's prominent representative of the church. Each church who's here. In His right hand, we noted that from the description. Up in verse 16, for example, of Christ. His sovereign authority. Control and protection, that's all involved. And he's walking among the seven golden lampstands. And the lampstands, remember, represent the churches. In verse 13 of chapter 1, he was in the middle of the lampstands. But now what you have is him moving around, giving his evaluation of each of the churches. The picture, remember, with those eyes as a flame of fire. And he'll start out in verse 2, I know. And he gives his evaluation and this is serious business. And he'll move from church to church. So that's the picture. He's walking among the lamb stands. He's not getting reports given to him. But the reminder is his presence there observing. And observing with perfect knowledge. And this is recorded for us. That this church is under that penetrating gaze and evaluation of the one who is our master. We are his slaves. He has brought us together as his body in this place. And he is doing his searching evaluation. He talked about that we easily lose our perspective. And what he is doing? He is the high priest who released us from our sins by his blood in verse 5. He has the dress and the robes that would characterize the high priest and also the person of authority and dignity. And he is here now looking at the lampstands. And remember back in Leviticus chapter 24. Aaron is instructed in front of the tent where God met with Israel. His presence was manifested. There was a lamp stand. Symbolized what? The light of God's presence. Among his people and on the earth. This is where he manifested his presence. The high priest Aaron is given instruction in Leviticus 24. The opening verses. We looked at them in a previous study. That he is what? To constantly keep that burning. It was a seven pronged lamp stand. You know the menorah. As we call it. And in Exodus it is described. It had a bowl on the top. You filled the bowl with oil. Olive oil. Then you put a wick in it. And then you light it. The high priest was responsible to keep that burning all the time. What did that do? The oil had to be replenished. It would burn down. The wick had to be trimmed and replaced. So that care for the lampstand. So that's what he's doing. Walking around, looking at the lampstand, seeing what is their condition. The lampstand, what? The giving off of light. We looked at this, but I want to connect it to Ephesus. Come to Ephesians. Go to Philippians first. Ephesians is just for Philippians. We're going to both, but we'll do it in reverse order. Come to Philippians 2. And then we'll back up to Ephesians. Philippians 2.14, a verse we looked at when we looked at some of the passages on believers in the church as light. Do all things without grumbling or disputing. We could be in trouble on this, but we won't stop here. So that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent. Children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. You see, Philippi is in Greece. Macedonia, the northern part of Greece. Across from and up from Ephesus. But similar kind of situation. among whom you appear as lights in the world." Church at Philippi was to be the same thing as each of the seven churches in Asia were. Light. Every individual believer and then the church as a whole. Light in the world. By their conduct and by their message. Holding fast or holding forth the word of life. We're making God known. We're revealing Him. We're instruments of revelation. By our godly lives, we reveal His work in our lives. By holding forth the Word of Life, we shed light on people. That's why they're uncomfortable with it. They don't want to be revealed to be sinners. They don't want their conduct revealed to be displeasing to God. They don't want the light. This is the condemnation that come on the world. What? Light has come into the world? But men love darkness rather than light. But we are light. Come back to Ephesians, just before Philippians. This is the letter that Paul wrote to the church. When he wrote this letter, he was in his imprisonment that we have recorded at the end of the book of Acts. It's about 10 years after he established the church, as we read in Acts chapter 19. He says in Ephesians chapter 2, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins. in which you formerly walked. So this is going to picture the darkness. He doesn't use the word here, but keep it in mind. This is descriptive of what he will call the darkness shortly. You were dead. This is spiritual deadness. in which time we will be in spiritual darkness. You walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, were by nature children of wrath even as the rest." Paul reminding the Ephesians. That that cesspool that now they find so revolting, so repulsive, is what you were part of. You were no different. We all were like that. Put things in perspective. That's what we were. What we are now, we are by the grace of God. Verse 8, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is all God's doing. So then come down where time come a little further. Let's see, down to chapter four. Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you've been called. Come down to verse 17. So this I say and affirm together with the Lord, you walk no longer. Just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind, like the people around them were conducting their lives. You no longer conduct your life that way. Back in chapter two, verse one, you used to walk that way. But by the grace of God, you have been made new on the inside that now manifests itself on the outside. Walk in a manner worthy, not walk, verse 17 of chapter 4, not as the Gentiles walk in the emptiness of their mind, no, verse 18, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God. because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. They've become callous. They give themselves over to all kinds of sinful practices. But in contrast, that's not the way we are to function. Come down to chapter 5, verse 7. Therefore do not be partakers with them, the unbeliever, their conduct. which will ultimately bring the wrath of God on them. Do not be partakers with them, for you were formerly darkness. Now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth." Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness. And the whole issue here, come over to chapter 6, verse 12. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly. So you need the armor of God. Come back to Revelation. As you come there, you can, if you don't have it marked, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 3 and following. That Satan blinds the minds of the unbeliever, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ should shine into their darkened hearts. This is the battle going on. Now, we're over 40 years after the church at Ephesus was established. We're over 30 years after Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians. But the battle has not changed. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of wickedness. The devil and his hosts, as he said in Ephesians 6. So now, as Christ evaluates the church, he graciously begins by commending them. I know I know that full, complete knowledge. I know your deeds, and your toil, and your perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and are not. You've found them to be false. You have perseverance. You've endured for my name's sake. I've not grown weary. So it starts out with this commendation, and so important. Because each of these churches will be true. We are learning what pleases the master that we serve. Remember, Jesus asked when he walked the earth, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you? He is the Lord. We are his slaves. We are not our own. So here's what he commands. It's important to know. I know your deeds. That's simply the word works. Works. We talk about ergonomics. Well, ergon is the word for work in Greek. So, your works. These are people that are active, busy, about Christ's work. That's good. We get concerned about being workaholics. Well, in the spiritual realm, That's commendable. His church is at work for Christ. I know your works. Then you'll get more in detail. Your toil. Now toil is work carried to the extreme, if you will. It's a totally different word. But it means work that is exhausting. So our word toil gives you that idea. They don't just do those things that you can do without a lot of effort. They are working to a level that it wears you out. It's exhausting. They were serious about their service for Christ. They were doing exhausting work. You know, we think, well, we do the Lord a favor, we come out on Sunday. You know, I do something, but I'm busy about a lot of other things. But he looks at his church and sees people who are worn out, if we could put it that way. They haven't quit. But, yeah, we're tired. That's often the way it is. The world even talks about that. The work gets done by tired people, people who are pouring themselves in. That's the work of the church. That's what we are. Is that how the Lord would look at us? Remember, He's evaluating us individually and then our church together. Praise the Lord for people who pour themselves into it and give of their time, their effort, their energy. He commends that for toil. We only have time for one verse. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We could do a word study on kapos, the word for toil, or kapia'o. Some of you in Greek could do that. 1 Corinthians 15, what does Paul say? Verse 58, the last verse. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain. You know, Paul didn't know any other kind of work for the Lord, but that work you pour yourself into it fully. So it became exhausting. I went to think, oh boy, I'm tired. Why don't I look for things I'll cut back on, but I don't want to cut back on my work for the Lord. I realize you have jobs to do and home to take care. But in reality, you know, I look and say, how can I be most used of the Lord? You know, I don't fit the Lord into my schedule with what's left over. I go the other way. Your toil in the Lord is not in vain. Then in Ephesians, back in Revelation 2, and we're going to leave off here. We'll pick up. And your perseverance. And perseverance is simply endurance. So that's just toil over time. You know, we had a football player who had an unusual experience yesterday on the football field. He got to run the ball. You know, he's a lineman. They say he weighs 300 and some pounds. And going down the field, when he got there, one of the announcers said what? They may have to come and get him after everybody else has done showering. Exhausting. You know, endurance, keeping at it. There's a picture with here. These are people who are at work. Exhausting, wearisome work, but they persevere. They endure at it. They keep at it. We'll stop there. That's what Christ commends. I praise the Lord for the years of my ministry. So many people who have given themselves to the work of the Lord in this church that the Lord has brought us together to form. Not only the work, but pour themselves into it. They pour their life into it. And they've done it over time. Some of you have been doing it for 20, 30, 40 years. Some of you were at it when I came. I mean, that's commendable. It's honorable. So I gave up doing other things to do that. I didn't give up anything that would be more worthwhile. That's our privilege, that's our blessing. And we don't want to grow weary in well-doing, in doing the work of the Lord. So these things which are precious to the Lord, we want to be things that if He came and wrote us the letter today, these are things that we would want to be commended by Him. There are others, but sadly there are things that have to be fixed. And we'll have to look at that as well. Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the church at Ephesus. Lord, it's encouraging to meet this church some 40 plus years after it was established and see that our Lord could commend them for their diligence, endurance, And they're discerning, as we will see as we move into the letter. Lord, we want to take these things to heart. See ourselves in light of what you have given as evaluation. There is even less excuse for us not to be what we should be. when we have the clarity of these letters given to us. So pray that we will have a church that is honoring you in every way. Bless our testimony for you, wherever we are and whatever we're doing. May we indeed shine as lights in the darkness. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Thank you for listening to this message from Sound Words, a ministry of Indian Hills Community Church. 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