Revelation chapter two this morning. Revelation chapter two. For those of you who are guests with us this morning, we are preaching through the book of Revelation. The series is entitled, Revelation, It's Not the End of the World. And this morning, we find ourselves in chapter two. And if you found your way there, I'm gonna invite you to stand with me. Revelation chapter two, we're gonna be reading the first seven verses this morning. And this is the word of the Lord. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands says this, I know your deeds, and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and that you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false. And you have perseverance, and have endured for my namesake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first or else I'm coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. Yet this you do have that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. And you can be seated this morning. Last week, we looked there at the end of chapter one, and we saw there a descriptor of these seven churches to whom John had been instructed by Jesus to write these letters. And we began this morning with the church at Ephesus. And each of these seven letters, again, are written to specific churches there in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey today. And although each letter was written to a specific church, they do share similar characteristics in the way that they're written. Each one begins with an opening or a greeting, and then we find the acknowledgment in each letter that Jesus knows the works of that church, be they good or bad. Some of the churches receive a condemnation from Jesus, and some of them receive a commendation from Him. Ephesus, Pergamos, and Thyatira all have their good works recognized, but then comes that phrase, but this I have against you. Smyrna and Philadelphia receive praise, but no condemnation of bad works. Sardis and Laodicea are condemned without any praise of their good works. And all five of those who receive a condemnation from Christ are then commanded to repent, and then he also offers a warning to them on what will happen if they do not respond. to that message. Now again, these are written to specific churches in John's day there in Asia Minor, but they're written in such a way that it's demonstratable that we can read these and understand that not only were these letters to be read in their entirety to all the churches, but also these letters apply to every church of every age. since the time of John. There's instruction that finds here that the things that the church at Ephesus is going to face, the church at Laodicea, the church at Smyrna, the church at Philadelphia, all of these are things that every church in every age will face. And so here John by the power, by the Word of Jesus here, has given us instructions that are very helpful for churches as churches continue on throughout time. Because there is this moment that each and every church could have the tendency or the potential to face some of the things that each of these churches faced. Now, there's six things that I want to pull out from this text this morning. And all of these are about the one who has written this letter to the church, and that ultimately is Jesus. John is writing it down, but the letter comes from Jesus himself. And I would hope that all of us, and as we recognize this in these letters to these churches, you would think and we would hope that if the Lord himself sent us a letter in the mail, And it arrived on the scene, and we knew that this letter was demonstrably and certifiably from the Lord Jesus Christ himself, that we would heed the message that it contains. But what we're going to find here as we study through these seven churches is that's not always the case. And really, brothers and sisters, if we think about it openly and honestly, the Lord has written a letter to us as the church. And He's instructed us in how we are to do what we are called to do here as the body of Christ. And it is up to us to listen and to heed those things and to obey Him. But again, we find that that's not always the case. I want you to notice the first thing in this text is the one who cares. Now, each one of these is going to start with the one, and that one obviously is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because he is the one who cares. Notice there in verse one, it says to the angel at the church at Ephesus, write, The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands says this. Now this letter is to the church at Ephesus. Ephesus at this time was the largest and the most prominent city of the Roman Empire there in those providences outside of Rome. The city had a population of about 250,000 people. It was devoted to the Roman God, Artemis, or Diana, as most people would know. The Temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the world, was located in this city. It was a city that was given over to wickedness and idolatry, a city that was steeped in paganism and culture and practice, but it was a very influential city. Not only in culture, things would start there and begin to spread out. You know, we see that happen in our own day. Typically things and cultures and trends start over in Europe and then spread to the United States after a period of time. It was the same way with Ephesus. Things would start there and then spread out into the entirety of the region. It was influential in politics, influential in trade. It was located right there on the sea, but it also had a major thoroughfare that passed by. So it was really just a thriving, populous city. Luke also shares in Acts chapter 19 that Ephesus was a location of Jewish occultism and magical arts. What ultimately developed into Gnosticism really began there in Ephesus as some of those who tried to hold on to some of the original Jewish practices tried to mix that in with pagan idolatry and thought. And all of this amalgamated into this false doctrine that continued to be spread throughout the early New Testament church. And the reason that's important is because those Jews who had developed this pagan practice were some of the most ardent enemies against the New Testament church. Because they hated Jesus and they hated Christianity and they wanted the ability to practice licentiousness and wicked lifestyles, they hated the church so much. And so these pagan Jews and this pagan Judaism practice would really be the source of the greatest difficulties and trials faced by the early church. not just in their personal assault, but then them going to the Roman authorities and telling lies about the church in order to get them more severely punished. The church was planted by the Apostle Paul. Later on, he would spend three years there doing ministry. The church also there was blessed by the ministry of Apollos and Priscilla and Aquila. Later on, Paul would send Timothy there. It would be Timothy serving there in Ephesus when Paul would write those two letters to him. And so as Jesus opens this letter here to the church at Ephesus, he reminds them of the scene that John saw earlier in chapter one, a vision of the risen Christ that Jesus there was standing amongst the seven golden candlesticks with the seven stars in his right hand. And those seven stars, for those of you who weren't with us last week, the seven candlesticks represent the churches, each of these seven churches that the Lord is writing a letter to. And the angel or the stars in his right hand symbolize the angels or the pastors of those individual churches. And so the description that Jesus gives here in verse one offers an important message to both the pastor and to the church at large in each of these locations, but specifically here to the church at Ephesus. Because He says, the one who holds the seven stars in His right hand. So those seven stars, again, are the angels or the pastors of those churches. And what Jesus here is reminding them, He's offering them a comforting reminder that He is the one who watches over them as the pastors and the leaders of those churches. Now, I don't mean to sound self-serving this morning, so I'm just trying to speak openly and honestly. But pastoring a church is oftentimes not an easy job. There are difficulties and things that arise. There are spiritual and physical elements of battle that happen in many different arenas. And sometimes it's easy to become discouraged and wonder, am I doing the right thing? What's going on? What's happening? And no doubt for these pastors here in Ephesus, in such a wicked and idolatrous city, as they watched persecution arise, and these pastors were having to shepherd and lead their people through this difficulty, and they were watching some of their church members lose their livelihood, lose their lives, face difficulty, it was very challenging for these pastors. And so the Lord here offers this word of comfort that in the midst of all of this, He's like, I have you in my right hand. It's a place of protection. It's a place of watchfulness. In fact, Matthew Henry says it this way, speaking of the Lord and what he does for the pastors, quote, he says, he directs all their motions. He disposes of them into their several orbs. He fills them with light and influence. He supports them or else they would soon be falling stars. They are instruments in his hand and all the good that they do is done by his hand with them. It's just this constant reminder for pastors that if we will put ourselves where the Lord desires for us to be, that He watches over us, He holds us, and He keeps us. And this is a humbling thing for pastors as well, because we understand and realize that if we are doing anything good, it's because the Lord did it. If we are having any kind of influence, if we're seeing any kind of spiritual development happening, it's not because I'm doing it, it's not because Pastor Wes is doing it, it's because the Lord is doing it. And He just chooses to use lowly, humble, stupid people like us. And that's glorious. Because in our own strength, I think sometimes I'm pretty smart. And then the Lord shows me how dumb I am. but we're in his right hand and he holds us there and he keeps us there. What an encouragement that is to those pastors. But the Lord doesn't stop there because he also offers that same type of encouragement to the church at large and to the members of that church because he says he also walks among the seven golden lampstands. Now earlier in chapter one, he's just pictured as standing there amongst those lampstands or the symbolic representation of the churches. But here he's walking amongst them. And so what this is demonstrating is demonstrating Jesus's continual presence and watching over the churches and what happens inside of them. Leviticus chapter 26, the Lord says, The Lord's presence still walks among the church today. The Lord Jesus Christ is still careful to watch over what is happening inside of His churches. To quote Matthew Henry again, he says this, quote, Christ is in an intimate manner, present and conversant with his churches. He knows and observes their state. He takes pleasure in them as a man does to walk in his garden. Though Christ is in heaven, he walks in the midst of his churches on earth, observing what is amiss in them and what it is that they want. The Lord sees us gathered here together as the church. He knows what we do. He knows what we need. He knows what we desire. And just as one cares for their family or cares for the thing that they work upon, the Lord cares for the church. He has given his life for the church. And he loves the church. And so he sees the things that the church needs and he blesses churches with those things that they need. But the other side of that is Jesus also sees those things that are not so good. And because he loves the church, he is willing to bring correction to the church when necessary. And that's a good thing as well. Because as a church, we don't wanna just go about and do our own thing and think that we're doing well, but yet we're actually being disobedient to the Lord. We need the Lord to bring those moments of correction to us and to bring us back to the place that we need to be. One commentator kind of hearkened the idea of how the priest in the Old Testament would walk through and tend the lamps there in the temple to keep them from going dim or going out. So Jesus too is moving among the churches to ensure that the purity of the church is maintained and that the light to the world that we are called to be does not become snuffed out. The presence that we see here of Jesus, both in the lives of the pastors of these churches and in the church itself, helps us to remind, reminds us of the fact that Jesus knows the good and the bad of what happens in every church. Nothing that happens here in the body of Christ is outside of his gaze. And this is why it's so important that how we worship the Lord matters. It's not up to us to decide our preferences when it comes to the worship of the Lord. We have to go to His Word and say, Lord, how do you want us to worship you? And the Lord's been very clear in His Word how He desires to be worshiped, worship in spirit and in truth, honor and reverence, glory and holiness, There's all types of recommending God that has laid out commands of how he desires to be worshiped. Because we could get up and do something until we're blue in the face and think that we're worshiping the Lord when in really we're just wasting our time. If we're not worshiping the Lord the way he desires to be worshiped. So how we worship matters. And what we worship matters. That's why we come back to this idea that we're gonna see here in this text and see throughout all these seven churches. is the way that we worship God matters and what we are worshiping matters. And the reason that that is true is because Jesus is watching over everything, from the small things to the big things, and he knows it all. So Jesus expounds upon this omniscient knowledge of the church in this next verse, because not only do we see one who cares, but we also see one who knows. Look at verses two and three. He says, I know your deeds, and your toil and your perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and that you put to test those who call themselves apostles and they are not, and you found them to be false. And you have perseverance and have endured for my namesake and have not grown weary." Jesus begins here with a commendation of the work that this church has done, highlighting several things that they were doing well. Their deeds, their toil, perseverance, that they did not tolerate evil men, tested the faithfulness of apostles, and their ability to not grow weary. In all these things, there were no issues that the Lord pointed out. Their deeds and their toil, this is basically just the core ministry of the church. their love for one another, their care for other people. And really what we see here in the church at Ephesus is a church that is really rigidly and doctrinally strong. They made a stand for the truth of the gospel. And we can see that because their deeds and their toil, all the things that they're doing, the practical ministry of the church, the Lord commends. And we see that they had a strong perseverance. The Lord actually calls their perseverance out twice in this passage. Because this is a church that did not compromise. They were willing to stand firmly for the gospel and not waver in face of opposition. Again, in this town in Ephesus where they were, there was often times where opposition arose to them and they were willing to stand firmly on the gospel. One commentator pointed out that, in fact, of all of Paul's letters, his letter to the church at Ephesus alone is the one that does not mention a single doctrinal issue that they needed to work out. So no matter what they had endured for the cause of Jesus Christ, they stood strong. And what a commendation from the Lord, right? That I see your deeds and it's good. I see your perseverance and it's good. But Jesus also points out something. He said they had no tolerance of evil men. So the pastors of this church knew full well the importance of correct doctrine and theology and they didn't mess around when it came to dealing with it. There was a no tolerance policy of heresy in the church at Ephesus. Now, sometimes when we think about this and we read this, perhaps in our 21st century American mindset, It's a little lost to us, but it really shouldn't be. In the early church, false doctrine was rampant. We already talked about and the Gnostics, but there were many other groups. He's going to address false apostles here in just a second. But as we read through the history of the early church, there were many men and women who arose and began to teach false things about Jesus, about Christianity, about other different sects and cults. And so the church was being faced by these things all the time. And the pastors at the church at Ephesus knew that it was their responsibility combined also with the members of the church's responsibility to ensure that the gospel that was being preached in Ephesus was the true and faithful gospel. And so they were willing to deal with it. And notice here, Jesus says they had no tolerance of evil men. What that meant was that they didn't compromise. No tolerance means exactly what it says, no tolerance. because brothers and sisters, false gospel is just as prevalent today as it was in the day of the church at Ephesus. Now, sometimes it takes on different pictures, it takes on different perspectives, but even today, there are a number of false gospels out there that hold to certain tenets of Christian teachings, but at their core are entirely corrupt. And the tendency of churches sometimes is to say, well, that's not our cup of tea, but who are we to say that they're wrong? Well, Jesus says they're wrong. The Bible says they're wrong. And if we're standing upon the authority of God's word, I can, you can, you can point at something and say, that is wrong. That is false teaching. It is incorrect. It is an affront to the gospel of Christ. And even though you're the one that's saying it, you're not saying it of your own opinion. You're saying it built upon the premise and the foundation of God's word. And that's what we are called to do. And here, the Lord celebrates this. He commends them and says, I am proud of you because you have stood up against these evil men and these false teachers and have sent them out from among you. You did not allow them to stay. You did not coddle them. You did not support them in any way, but you had no tolerance for them. But Jesus continues there. He says, you cannot tolerate evil men. He says, and you put to test those who call themselves apostles and they are not and you found them to be false. The church at Ephesus heeded well and the leaders of this church heeded well the words that the Apostle Paul had given in Acts chapter 20. When he speaks to the church leaders there and he says, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock. among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood." This for pastors is one of those sobering verses, because it tells a pastor a couple of things. Number one, he has to be on guard that he does not succumb. He has to be on guard that he does not get drifted away into some false teaching. And then he says, and then the responsibility is you have to be a guard, not for yourself, but for all the flock who the Holy Spirit has made you overseer of. And notice that the last part of that verse, he says, which he purchased with his own blood. Why is it that Jesus, Paul, here John, the other apostles, why were they so adamant about the purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Why are they so adamant of ensuring that what the church hears and what the church teaches is that which aligns according to the scripture? Because Jesus paid for the church with his own blood. He was willing to sacrifice his own life on behalf of the church. And if anybody gets to make the decision about what the church believes and what the church teaches, it should be the one who paid for it. So in this time, there were many who had been rising up. Josephus points out a lot of this in his book about the history of Jerusalem. That there were many who rose up and proclaimed to be apostles. And basically what this is was people just taking advantage of an easy situation because they had seen the apostles of Jesus who taught, they seen that they had some type of power and prominence, and people said, hey, this looks like an easy way to gain a following, an easy way to gain attention. And so there were those who would rise up and they would call themselves apostles, they would call themselves followers of Jesus, and they would begin traveling around the regions, preaching and teaching in the churches. Now not to divert too much from our text this morning, but you remember there's several key factors of what it means to be an apostle. An apostle had to be called by Christ. had to have seen Jesus in person, right? There are some characteristics that are there that have to be laid out, which eliminates modern-day apostles, because no modern-day apostle has seen Jesus face-to-face. No modern-day apostle, or so-called apostle, has had a call specifically from Christ in those matters. And so all of these failed the test. Because as they would come in and claim to be apostles, the church and the leadership there would begin to ask them questions. Well, tell us about your call to be an apostle. When did Jesus appear to you? When did he call you to be an apostle? Tell us about the truth of the gospel. Tell us what the gospel means. And as they discerned these matters, they found these apostles to be false. And notice what it says, they had no tolerance for them as well. In their discernment, they had uncovered some of those who were con artists and they dealt appropriately with them. It's interesting to point out that the rigidness of the doctrinal purity of the church at Ephesus was so strong that some 40 years later, St. Ignatius would write a letter to the church and still commend them for their orthodoxy. He said, quote, you all live according to God's truth and no heresy has a home among you. Indeed, you do not so much listen to anyone if he speaks of anything except concerning Jesus and truth. I have learned that certain persons pass through you bringing evil doctrine and you did not allow them to sow seeds among you. Listen to this, for you stopped up your ears so that you might not receive the seed sown by them, end quote. That's an important thing to consider. It's that our view as believers in Jesus Christ should be that when false teaching is recognized, that we plug our ears. We don't even listen to their hello and their goodbye. to their greeting and their salutation. He says, no, he said, you plugged up your ears so that you didn't allow it to have any influence on you. Because here is the subtle thing about the way that Satan works through false teaching. It's very rare that a false teacher arrives on the scene and very blatantly just comes out and says, I deny the deity of Jesus Christ. More often it's these very subtle things. And Satan, again, is a very cunning individual. We know that. And more often what happens is the false teacher comes in and what they do first is really don't teach anything. They just begin to build inroads and relationships in people's lives. Because the one common thing that I've heard many times about certain people who would teach false doctrine is they say, well, they're such a nice guy. They're so friendly. They're so happy all the time. It's all the more dangerous. Because it's not about a person's personality that makes them a true believer or not. It's about the truth of the gospel. They can have the greatest disposition and personality, but if what they're teaching is counterintuitive or is against what the word of God teaches, it does not matter how nice and friendly they are. Paul goes on to commend them, not just for their willingness to stand against false teaching, but he commends them again, secondly, for their perseverance, and he says, and have endured for my namesake and not grown weary. So Jesus is pointing out here that they've endured a lot, and they've endured it for the sake of Christ. It's not because of anything else, but the fact that they had believed the gospel, they were living out the gospel, and they were suffering for the gospel. But what the church at Ephesus did is in despite of all this, they had not grown weary. They hadn't allowed the troubles and the trials of their life to give them, to drive them to disappointment or to drive them to despair or hopelessness. That they continue to stand strong. However, with all of these commendable things, not all was well with the Ephesian church. For now Jesus points out thirdly that he is the one who warns. The one who warns. Verse four, he says, but I have this against you, that you have left your first love. You can almost imagine the church at Ephesus reading this letter, the pastor standing up reading it to the congregation, and they hear the praise of the Lord for their toil, their perseverance, their rigid doctrine and stance against false teaching, And you can almost imagine they're feeling really well about it. But then it comes to verse four, but, and we all know what that means, right? You have a lot of really good things that are said, but anytime somebody starts off and giving you really commendable things about you, and then they go, but, you know what's coming next. Jesus says there's one thing that he does not celebrate about this church, one thing instead that he has against them. And if there's any place that you don't wanna be as a believer and any place you don't wanna be as a church, it's against the Lord. And he says that they've left their first love. Despite all they'd done well, their major problem was they had left their first love. Now, Jesus here does not define if he means specifically their love of God or their love of one another. As I've studied through this passage and looked at different commentators, I tend to think that Jesus here is talking about both because both of those things are so closely aligned. Because remember what Jesus said when he was asked about the greatest commandment? He said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. John chapter 13, Jesus repeated again, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. There is a picture there in the scriptures of our love for God and its vital importance, but there's also a very clear picture in the scriptures of our love for one another and what a necessity that is for the believer. Because what does John say again in 1 John, if anyone says, or someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God for whom he has not seen. So let's first talk about their love for God. They have left their first love. All of us in this room who are Christians were new Christians at one time. And we all can think back to that day when we were a new Christian and the excitement and the passion that was in our heart, our desire to serve and our desire to be faithful. But if we're not careful over time, that passion begins to wane. If we're not careful to put ourselves back to the feet of Jesus every day, that passion and excitement can begin to drift. We have to think about the church at Ephesus that a new generation really by this time had arisen from when the church was first founded. And typically what happens is a new generation comes along, they don't remember some of the things that the earlier generation remembered. And it's easier for them to drift away from that and to just kind of get settled into the normal routine of life. Now it wasn't that the church at Ephesus wasn't doing well in many things. We've already seen the Lord's commendation of them, of how the things that they were doing so well, they were holding to such rigid, strict, doctrinal purity, but yet the one thing that they lacked was that passionate love for the Lord Himself. They were busy serving the Lord, but they had forgot about loving Him. And beloved, it can be so easy for us to fall into the same trap. We can get so passionate about serving the Lord and doing for the Lord that we forget to just love the Lord and to love Him for who He is. But there's also a love for others here because the other problem sometimes in a church that becomes so doctrinally and rigidly or pure in doctrine, again, that we begin to have that absence of love towards one another. Think about this. You can have a husband and a wife, and the wife, out of her duty for faithfulness, because she's made a commitment, she can do all the things that a quote-unquote good wife is supposed to do, keep the house clean, help do, make dinner, all the things that she's expected to do, but yet have no real love for her husband. Because duty does not always equate love. It's easy to just do the things that you're expected to do, but not have any love on the other side. And this was the danger for the church at Ephesus. They were doing, but they had lost their love for God, but they'd also lost their love for others around them. In the Reformed world, it's very easy to fall into a trap of passionate theology without corresponding love. Now when we talk about this, I see this on two perspectives of the end in the Reform community. One is on the front end. And it's what we affectionately call cage stage. That means when someone comes to discover Reformed theology or the doctrines of grace, and they've come out of perhaps some kind of man-centered theology or something else, and all of a sudden they're awakened to see the sovereignty of God and His glory and His holiness in all things, you're just so excited, you're so passionate, you just wanna tell the world about it, and you think if anybody disagrees with you, you can't understand why they do it. And the reason they call it cage stage is because Every person who comes to discover Reformed theology, in my opinion, should be locked in a cage for about a year till they temper down just a little bit and then set free again. But it can also be true on the other end, that the longer we're Christians, we can sometimes become so ingrained in our study of doctrine and theology that we forget that we have to have those things have a practical application in our lives. And if the love of Christ is not demonstrated through our belief and our practice in theology, then we've missed the point altogether. Jesus here is demonstrating to this church that despite all their good doctrine, that it wasn't enough. Despite having correct theology in every area, the one thing they had missed was that love. because passion does not always equal love. The church at Ephesus was passionate about what they were doing. They persevered through hard times and trials, but they didn't have the right love. We have to remember as Christians, as we are working with people to demonstrate the love of Christ that is applicable to the position that that person is in. When we're dealing with lost people, We can't expect lost people to act like saved people. So we have to demonstrate a love to them that understands where they are, why they're there, and a graciousness because they're still in their sin. But even when it comes to dealing with other Christians, we also have to remember that every single Christian is in a different stage of spiritual growth and development. So we need to respond to them in a way that is applicable to the place that they find themselves. Because when we're talking to someone, We can't just, because there's a disagreement, we don't just want to write somebody off. We have to be willing to be gracious with them. There was a period of time in my Christian life where I would have told you that Reformed theology and the doctrines of grace were certainly not true, and perhaps were crazy to even believe. But thankfully, there were men in my life who patiently walked through me in that time and graciously loved me enough to continue to steer me away from my misunderstanding to the truth of what Scripture really teaches. Because my friends, love and doctrine are not opposing forces. That tends to be the mentality of many people. It's like, oh, okay, well, we're all about love and those people over there are about doctrine. Where it's like, well, we're about doctrine, and those people over there, they're just too much love. But love and doctrine are two sides of the same coin. If we're going to be faithful to what God has called us to do, we have to have both. We have to have rigid, firm, and solid doctrine on what the gospel teaches, but we also have to have gracious love in the way that we demonstrate that and use that in the world. So Jesus has clearly pointed out to them this problem, Now he also tells them what's necessary to correct him. Notice in verse five, it is, he is the one who corrects. Therefore, remember from where you've fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first or else I'm coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. Jesus tells him there's three steps to correct this problem. They must remember where they've fallen from, they must repent and they must do the works that they did at first. So first they have to remember from where they've fallen. What he's basically calling them to do here is to hearken back to how life used to be. Think back to when you first became a Christian. Think back to the love of God that was so overwhelming in your heart that you had for him, that you had for others. Remember that call back and remember how much better that was. Because that's the tendency sometimes. Oftentimes our spiritual stagnation happens so slowly that we don't even recognize it until we get all the way over to one side. And then we think back and think, well, that's not how it used to be. And so this is what Jesus is calling to do. He's like, think back to how it was before. Think back to how it was in the beginning. Think back to what you used to be like. But it wasn't enough just to remember, right? Because a problem here has happened. We may not think of love being as serious as a matter it is, but Jesus tells them their lack of love was so great that they just needed not just to think about it, they needed to repent of it. Because lack of love in the Christian's life is a very, very serious issue. Because if God loved us, the scripture tells us, how can we withhold love from somebody else? If God has forgiven us, how can we hold forgiveness from someone else? So love is a pivotal issue for the Christian's life. If you do not have love for God, if you do not have love for one another, then you do not know God. The scripture's as clear as that. So he tells them, remember where you came from, and now that you have that recollection in your mind, then you repent. Now what's the word repent mean? We know this means to turn. So you turn from how you're doing things now and turn to something completely different. It's a complete 180. You turn from one thing, turn to the other. In Sunday school this morning, we talked about repentance and we looked briefly at Psalm chapter 51 where David repents. To me, it's like the best illustration of what a true repentant heart looks like. Because in that passage, David doesn't point the finger at anybody else. He acknowledges his sin, he acknowledges his guilt, he acknowledges how everything he did was totally his fault. He didn't try to blame it on his parents, his cultural situation, or anything else. He said, I did this, I was wrong, I deserve everything I'm getting. And Lord, forgive me. That's what it means to repent. We acknowledge our sinfulness, our responsibility, and we beg God to forgive us. And we turn from those things. The vision there is not of just asking forgiveness, but a turning away from something. So Jesus is saying, remember those things that you used to do, turn away from what you're doing now and go back. And he says, and do the deeds that you did at first. Jesus had already recognized the other deeds they're doing, So these deeds they need to return to are different from what they're doing now. Because Jesus is not just talking about just continuing to do what they're already doing. He says, you've lost something and you need to go back and pick it up again. Steve Gregg in his commentary said, like Martha, a church may become so engrossed in religious works that it neglects the one thing needed. And that's love. that love and faithfulness and service to the Lord we can so easily move away from if we're not careful. So Jesus calls them to remember, to repent, and then to go back and do the deeds they did at first. Now, lest they be mistaken to the seriousness of this matter, Jesus offers a stern warning to them. Notice what he says there, or else I'm coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. Now this coming to the church does not refer to Jesus' second coming. Just as in other places that we've seen in Revelation and other places in Scripture, it speaks to a spiritual coming that Jesus would do as he would come in judgment upon the church. He warns them, if you do not make this correction, if you do not go back and do the things that you did at first, if you do not demonstrate your first love, I will come and remove the lampstand out of its place. The loss of their first love is such an important issue that if it's not uncorrected, Jesus says that it means the end of this church. David Chilton said this, for lack of love, the entire congregation is in danger of excommunication. If the elders of the church fail to discipline and disciple the church toward love, as well as doctrinal orthodoxy, Jesus will step in and administer judgment. And at that point, it may very well be too late for repentance. This loss of a first love was so issued that despite how doctrinally true the church of Ephesus was, Jesus is saying, if you do not get this love thing figured out, if you do not go back to the way it used to be, it's better for this church to not exist. And I will come in, I will remove my presence, and this church will be gone. Sadly, today, there's no church in Ephesus. It's now an area that is predominantly Muslim. And how tragic that this church founded by the Apostle Paul, pastored by Timothy, influenced by some of the greatest people that we know in the New Testament, and such a pivotal part of the birth of the early church, disappeared from the map and all of its influence ceased and vanished with the passing of time. We have to wonder how would it have been different had they heeded the words of Jesus. Because Jesus here is not calling them to abandon orthodoxy for the sake of love, but he's emphasizing the desperate need for both in a church. There is a desperate need for true orthodoxy and there's a desperate need for true love. But in the midst of all this, Jesus does offer one more word of praise for them. Because next we see that he is also the one who hates. Verse six, yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate. This is an interesting verse because it contains a term that many today would tell you that does not belong in the mouth of Jesus. Hate. Because we live in an age that says, hate the sin, love the sinner. But Jesus says, that he hates those who are doing the deeds of the Nicolaitans. The psalmist says in Psalm chapter five that God hates not the iniquity, but the workers of iniquity. There's a strong language being used here to describe something. God does hate some things. And as believers, we are called to love what he loved and hate what he hates. Psalm chapter 139, he says, do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with the utmost hatred. They have become my enemies. And the thing that we have to remember here that this hatred that God has is a righteous hatred. Our hatred is oftentimes, most often skewed because we're sinful human beings. We hate because somebody has offended us. We hate because somebody has done something that we didn't like. And so we have hatred that builds up in our heart. The Lord's hatred is a righteous hatred because it's somebody who is doing something that is against Him. They have disobeyed and they are doing things that go against His pure and holy and righteous word, against His glory and His holiness and His righteousness. And as Christians, We can hate those same things as well. As we look out in the world and we see the things that are happening around us, we see the rise of wickedness and idolatry in our culture. And we see this being perpetrated by certain individuals and certain movements. It is okay to say that we hate those things because the Lord hates those things. And it's built upon the premise of His Word, not our own thoughts and not our own opinions. The Nicolaitans were a group of false teachers who had arisen in the churches, and really what they taught was a life of unrestrained indulgence. It sounds very familiar, doesn't it? Because that's a lot of what this world teaches now, is just unrestrained indulgence. Do what you want, when you want, with who you want, for what you want, it doesn't matter. Make yourself happy and everything will be okay. That's basically what the Nicolaitans were teaching. There's some differing opinions about who founded this group. Some point to the Nicholas mentioned in Acts chapter six, who made her apostatized, they believe. Others to a Nicholas who was a disciple of the Gnostic heretic Cyrenthius. But the most important part that we recognize is that what they taught was in such stark contrast to the gospel of Jesus Christ that Jesus says, you hate them and that's good because I hate them too. Because brothers and sisters, the most dangerous thing that exists in this world is a false gospel. Amen. Because a false gospel will damn people to hell. All the while thinking that they're gonna go to heaven. There are so many people in this world who have been deceived by a false gospel who on the outside, it looks like candy canes and rainbows. And they're so encouraged, they think everything's gonna be okay. but at the core root of it, it's a false gospel. And when they die, they're gonna be just like those who Jesus said in Matthew chapter seven, on that day, many will stand before me and say, Lord, Lord, look at all the wonderful works we did in your name. Look at all the things that we did in obedience to you. And he said, I'll depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of iniquity. In Greek, Nicholas means conqueror of the people. And the description of the teachings here of what the Nicolaitans did is the same and is linked to the false teachers listed as the followers of Balaam in verses 14 and 15, whose name in Hebrew also means conqueror of the people. And then later on, we're gonna see a group of people connected to the name Jezebel in verse 20. And really what Jesus is doing here is describing the same group of false teachers and the widespread doctrine of demons that had influenced them and was spreading throughout the church. But by God's grace, the pastors at Ephesus, again, had been on strong alert and had recognized the false teachings of these men and had responded accordingly. Notice here. that they did not show them any grace, they did not show them any friendliness, but they despised the teachings of these people, which Jesus says, I also despise. Now, as Jesus begins to close, I want you to notice that he is also the one who rewards. He says, he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Each of the letters ends with that phrase, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Notice that churches there is in the plural, which again helps us to understand that each of these contains information that is of use of and teachable to the churches of all ages. And there's a precious promise that's found here. He says, to him who overcomes, I will eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. We see that word overcome in reference to Jesus and His power of overcoming death, hell, and the grave. But that word is also used as Christians, as overcomers, that through Christ, we also overcome death, hell, and the grave and overcome sin. First John, for whatever is born of God, overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. He's speaking of those who endure for the cause of Christ, endure for the faith of the gospel and stand true to the word of Jesus Christ. That tree of life in paradise. The word paradise comes from a word that actually means pleasure park. It was used in the Old Testament to describe the Garden of Eden. And there in the garden was the original tree of life, which the scripture tells us that had Adam and Eve eaten from it, they would have lived forever. And so because they had sinned, God banished them from the garden and from access to that tree. Both Paul and Jesus use that term, paradise, to describe the place of the departed spirits of Christians. It's where they go after they have left this earth. And here in the book of Revelation, later on, it's going to be described as growing in the New Jerusalem. And the promise here that Jesus is saying is to those who, to him who overcomes, to the one who has trusted in Christ, the one who will endure to the end, the one who has followed me and will serve me, he says, I will grant to eat of that tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. It's the guarantee of eternal life after death. It's the guarantee that those who are in Christ, that this life is not the end, but it's just the glorious beginning. There's also a promise, I believe here, for the here and now. Because Jesus himself is that tree of life that we eat of. And to eat of it is to know and possess the blessings and the benefits of that relationship as we obey Christ. As we seek to be obedient to him and take the gospel and its influence to the world, we see the Lord working in blessing through that promise. I wanna close this morning with a quote from Matthew Henry. He says this quote, the Christian life is a warfare against sin, Satan, the world, and the flesh. It is not enough that we engage in this warfare, but we must pursue it to the end. We must never yield to our spiritual enemies, but fight the good fight till we gain the victory, as all persevering Christians shall do, and the warfare and victory shall have a glorious triumph and reward. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this letter to the church, Lord, for the reminder of the need for rigid doctrine and orthodoxy in the church, but Father, also for the warning that that doctrine and orthodoxy is not to be at the cost of our first love, our love for you and our love for others. So Father, we pray as a church, as Barberville, we beseeched you today, Lord, that you would help us to be a church that holds both of those things in our hands. understanding the truth of the gospel and holding firm to doctrine. The Father also, on the other hand, holding firm to our love and passion and exuberance for you and our love and care and concern for others. Lord, help us to weigh those things out and to balance those things well in the way that we live out our Christian life, whether we are a new believer, a young babe in Christ, or whether we are a seasoned saint. Lord, that we would never allow our lives to be in a place where we negate one for the other, but holding both of them in the proper place. Lord, we desire as a church to be obedient to you in all things. And we thank you for the instruction found in your word here to remind the church at Ephesus and to remind us of where our priorities must lie. And we ask all of these things this morning in Jesus' name, amen.