I trust this morning that you are excited and filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory because the High King of Heaven has won the victory. Were it left to us, we would be lost forever. Turn with me, if you will, in your Bibles to the Revelation. chapter two. Revelation chapter two. We'll begin our reading at verse one. If you follow along with me, you'll find these words. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my namesake and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from whence you have fallen. Repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly. and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Before we go on, brethren, let us pray and ask God for his help in this time and his word. Our Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the privilege which is ours to come and to hear your word, to come and sing your word. to pray prayers that are motivated by the promises of your word. Father, we thank you for our great Savior. And we thank you that he has procured for us a great salvation, an inheritance which is undefiled, does not fade away, that is reserved in heaven for us. We thank you that we are kept by your power. Father, we ask now that we would hear this word, that we would hear from our Savior what he has said to the churches. Oh, Father, we pray that you would help us to glorify you as long as we have breath in this life and in the years and throughout all eternity. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Four centuries ago, an English poet wrote a play. And in the third act, in the first scene, the prince, who is the main character, is summoned before the king of Denmark. When he arrives, the king and his chief consular hide themselves behind a curtain, waiting to eavesdrop on the conversation of the prince and the beautiful maiden, who happens to be the daughter of the consular. She has been left there to greet and comfort the prince when he comes. As he approaches, the prince begins this soliloquy. Children, that's just a fancy word for he was talking to himself. In his self-centered monologue, he considers the relative merits of bearing troubles or fighting them, staying alive or committing suicide. 400 years later, The opening utterance of the prince's soliloquy are still remembered and quoted by many. To be or not to be, that is the question. This morning, I'd like to hijack or borrow this statement not to consider whether it's better to be or not to be alive, but rather as an exhortation to be all that Christ commends and not to be all that Christ condemns. To live under his smile. and not to live under his frown. As we consider this morning, a message from the Lord to his church. May we be granted the aid of the Holy Spirit to embrace, to be all that Christ commends and approves of, and help to jettison and not to be all that he accuses and condemns of. Verse one of our text says, to the angel of the church of Ephesus write, The Apostle John has been exiled to the Isle of Patmos, according to the ninth verse of the first chapter. And he is the one who wrote this book, which includes the Lord's message to his church, represented here by the seven. This was no Hawaiian vacation. The aged apostle was sent away because of the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. This was a punishment because he preached the word of God. Brethren, there may come a day in this land when we are incarcerated and when God may see fit to keep us in his care, even behind bars, because we love Christ and we love his word. It was on the Lord's Day that he hears a loud voice as a trumpet and receives his vision from the glorified Christ. On that holy day, he was commissioned, according to verse 11, to write in a book what he sees and send it to the seven churches. My Bible says to the seven churches which are in Asia. Some of your translations may say that, but it's not in the original. But if we continue on in that verse, we'll find it's very clear that the letters were written to the churches which are in Asia Minor. I must say at the outset, it is not my purpose to discuss how to understand apocalyptic literature. My desire to set forth the message of Christ to his church as an encouragement and a warning to us in Indian Trail, as we purpose to be a biblical church and to be a witness for our Lord in the greater Charlotte area. So I'll set my focus on just one of the seven churches this morning, and that's the Church of Ephesus. which for the most part is a very clear letter as written by the apostle, and it's even to be understood by our 21st century ears. The structure of each letter follows the same general pattern, so as we go through these, if we have opportunity in the future to go through the other letters, they follow basically the same structure and pattern. First, there's a greeting given to the angel of the church. Secondly, a description of Christ, usually taken from the vision in chapter one. Thirdly, there's a commendation for faithfulness and good works. However, this commendation is absent in the case of Laodicea. Some might say even Sardis did not receive a commendation, but it is said of Sardis, there are few there, even in Sardis, who have not soiled their garments. Fourthly, there's a condemnation of sin, except in the case of Smyrna in Philadelphia. Fifthly, there's a word of warning. Sixthly, a call to hear. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. And seventhly, a promise to the victor, a promise to those who overcome. Let me first give a little background concerning the city where this church was planted in this bustling Roman province, then something of how the Lord is described to this church, after which I'd like to focus our attention on the remainder of this letter under three heads. The approval, the accusation, and the admonition. The approval, verse two, three, and six. The accusation, verse four, and the admonition. in verse five through seven. Bruce Barton writes, the Ephesus was a center of land and sea trade. For three major land trade routes converged in the city, and a large port sat on its coast on the Aegean Sea. Along with Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria, Ephesus was one of the three most influential cities in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. This ancient port city is now modern-day Turkey. Ephesus was a free city, meaning it enjoyed a certain amount of self-rule. The city boasted of a huge stadium, a marketplace, and a huge theater. It's said the theater was built on the slope of a mountain overlooking the harbor, and it was able to seat about 25,000 people. Bank of America Stadium could house a little over 75,000. So this stadium that was built in Ephesus was a third of the size of the stadium that the Panthers play in. And it was larger in capacity than the Spectrum Stadium where the Hornets play, which only seats about 200,000. And when you look at the time when this structure was built, you can't help but to stand back and say, wow, they didn't have our brother Nathan with his Topcon Theodore light with a laser pointer and his CERBRI prism and poles and transit levels. There were no enormous earth-moving machinery and giant hydraulic cranes. This was a wonder. that this city built such magnificent buildings. The Temple of Diana, one of the ancient wonders of the world, was in Ephesus. It is said to have had 127 marble pillars. Many of them were overladen with gold and precious jewels. The temple employed thousands of priests and priestesses, many of whom were temple prostitutes, for Diana was the goddess of fertility. A major industry was the manufacture of images to this goddess, as we read in Acts chapter 19. This city also was proud of its temples to the emperors. A growing cult called the Imperial Cult viewed the ruling Caesar as God. Ephesus was a city known for its idolatry. Perhaps the Ephesians considered themselves to be very religious. Or as they say in our day, a spiritual people. Like those in Athens, as we read up in Acts chapter 17, and the Apostle Paul comes there, and he says, I perceive that you are very religious. Or as the King James says, very superstitious. Another translation says, religiously sensitive. That would fit the vernacular of our day. In this wicked city, God planted a church. Never give up hope, brethren, concerning the work of God, and never be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Romans 1, 16 says the apostle, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why, Paul? For it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. Men, women, boys, and girls will come to a saving knowledge and a right relationship with God. How can we be right with God? We can only find that truth, that reality, those things that we must lay hold of by faith in the gospel. So, brethren, I urge you, never be weary of the gospel, this old, old story. We live in a time when people want to hear new things, just like those Athenian philosophers. The apostle Paul stuck and clung and held tight to this gospel. In Acts chapter 20, he's speaking to the Ephesian elders. He says, none of these things move me. What things, Paul? The chains and the tribulations that await me. They don't move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 1 Corinthians 1, 18, Paul says, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Young people, stay here. Stay right here with the gospel. You young men coming up in this church, some of us will be gone in a few years. Will this church still be a light on a hill in a dark city? You young men, grab a hold of the gospel in your life and proclaim it to the world. God forbid that when we are gone, that this place becomes just a religious or a social club. May you hold tight to the gospel. The apostle Paul was serious about this gospel. Even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you that we have preached to you, let him be accursed, he says. We have said before and now say again, if anyone preaches another gospel to you that we have preached, let him be accursed. Paul preached in Ephesus. Timothy preached there. History tells us John spent much of his ministry in this city. Aquila and Priscilla planted this church in Ephesus. Help plant this church in Ephesus and explain to that eloquent and mighty preacher of Paulist the way of God more accurately. Here we have a husband and wife ministry team understanding the scriptures and explaining the scriptures to this young preacher. You husbands and wives, use your marriages to minister to people in your neighborhood, to minister to people in your job, bring folks into your home that you might explain to them the gospel of Christ. Labor together as husbands and wives, and may God be glorified in your labors. A solid church in the midst of a pagan metropolis. John writes to the angel, the messenger of the church, and describes its head as he who holds and he who walks. Verse 1, and to the angel of the church of Ephesus write, he says, these things as he who holds the seven stars in his hand, in his right hand. And he walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand as we read in chapter one. And the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. Christ first reveals to John the mystery of the seven stars that he was holding in his right hand. The right hand in the scripture speaks of power. It speaks of authority. It speaks of protection. It speaks of provision. And Christ is all this to his church. And as we read through these letters, you'll see these descriptions of Christ being pulled from the first chapter of the Revelation. And each of these descriptions have a peculiar significance to the church to which John is sending these letters. The New Testament word mystery describes something formerly hidden but now revealed. Christ explains that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. But just who are the seven angels of the churches? Well, who are the angels is the question that should be asked. Because the Greek word angeloi can mean angels or messengers, some believe that the angels are designated to guard the churches. Others believe that they are elders or pastors of the churches. The case for angels, as the correct interpretation, comes from the fact that every other use of angels in Revelation refers to heavenly beings. However, because the seven letters in Revelation 2 through 3 contain reprimands against the messengers, And angels are not ever considered to be heads of churches. It is doubtful that these angels are heavenly messengers. If these are earthly leaders or messengers, they are accountable to God. for the churches they represent as we read of those whom the ascended Christ has given to the church in Ephesians chapter 4. In Hebrews 13, 17 we read that they are the ones who watch for your souls and who must give an account to God for how they watch for your soul. The seven golden lampstands among which Christ had been standing, it's descriptive that he was in the midst of them, represents the seven churches to whom these letters were circulated. And as we look at the heart of the letter, consider with me first the approval. Verse two, three, and six. Christ says, I know your works. Because the Lord walks in the midst of his church, he is intimately acquainted with all her ways. He is up close and personal. Brethren, Christ is here, up close and personal, and he's acquainted with all of our ways. Psalm 139 should come to your mind when you think of the omniscience and the omnipresence of God. Oh, Lord, you have searched me and known me. You've known my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my mouth, but, oh, Lord, you know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. And the psalmist says, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you're there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night shall be light about me. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day, and the darkness as the light are both a light to you." We taught our children in the catechism, can you see God? I think that's question 11. No, I cannot see God is the answer, but he always sees me. Question 12. Children, Does God know all things? Nothing can be hidden from God. As a little aside, parents take time to work together to instill this sense of the omniscience of God in your children. What do I mean by work together? Our children think sometimes when they're out of our sight that we don't know what's going on in their activity. And so if other parents see other parents' children's misbehaving, or even if they're doing good, take notice of those things that you might report those things back to their parents. And the children will be in awe of how did they find that? Omniscient parents. No. Parents networking and working together. I can remember when I was younger, and I was asked to do some chores. And I was in the back doing my chores, but my friends came along, and they said, let's go play some basketball. And I hadn't finished my chores, but I snuck off with my friends. And we went up to the school. And we didn't play outside. We climbed in the window of the gymnasium. And we played ball and had a good old time. And we got out of the gym. And I ran back home and went to the yard and pretended like I was still about my chores. And my grandmother came. And she says, so you've been up there in the gym, have you? How did she know? Her friend got on the phone and said, Miss Gussie, I saw your boy climbing in the window down there. God knows everything. Make your children aware of the fact that nothing can be hidden from God. The Lord says, I know your works. Many people tremble at the thought of God watching. That's why they love darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. John 3, 19. They think the darkness will hide them. No. Darkness and closed doors don't hide you from God. Proverbs 5, 21 says, for the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths. Hebrews 4.13, and there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked. They're uncovered and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. Proverbs 15.3, the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. And the good. So we read in Hebrews 6 10, for the Lord is not unrighteous to forget your work and your labor of love, which you have shown toward his name and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. Don't ever think that your work or what you're doing for God goes unnoticed. He's taking notice of all that you do. And don't ever think that you're not being appreciated. No one ever looks and gives me a pat on the back, or I don't receive the accolades from my peers. God knows, and God's taking account of all that you do, the good and the bad. The psalmist says the Lord knows the way of the righteous. God knew his servant Job, and he boasted that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil. Oh, beloved God knows when you are doing work for him, and he knows when you're doing it to receive praise from men. And he says in Matthew chapter six, you have your reward. If we're doing what we do in church, in our lives, in our neighborhoods, on our jobs to please men, we'll have our reward. We'll have our pats on the backs. But we ought to have, this is our motivation, and this is our guiding principle. And whatever you do, do it hardly as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ, Colossians 3, 23 and 24. This kind of labor, hard work with patience or perseverance, meets with God's approval. Don't give up. Your labor is not in vain. in the Lord. Work hard, all of you in this church, all of you in this church. Don't leave it to a faithful few. Discover your place in Grace Fellowship Church. Seek out and try to understand the gift or the gifts that God has given you, that you might glorify him with those things in his church, that you might work hard for him. Make these words of this hymn that I plucked from the Trinity Hymnal be your motto. Content to fill a little space if thou be glorified. What more does this look like? It's a watchful kind of labor. In verse two he says, you cannot bear those who are evil. We must not tolerate sin in our lives, but must put it to death. by the Spirit. That's what Paul says in Romans 8, 13, that if you by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. As a church, we don't allow unsaved evil people into the membership, even if they're family. And when unrepentant sin is discovered in the church among the members, we seek to deal with it biblically. Take Matthew 18 and the example of 1 Corinthians 5. This church in Ephesus was commended because it tested those who say they were apostles and are not, and found them liars. Beloved, study your Bible and be committed to sound doctrine. You say, Ernest, we're in a good Reformed Baptist church. What are you talking about? You'd be surprised how many people are in good Reformed Baptist churches and don't have a good grasp on the main things. Why do you think we keep rehearsing and keep going over and, as the apostle says, stirring you up by remembrance? It's because we're prone to forget. We even have this table in front of us. Every Sunday we come here, it says, this doing remembrance. We have to remember. We're constantly charged. There's so many occasions and statements in the Bible about remembering. Brethren, study your Bible. Give yourself to the truth of God's word. If you don't know the truth, you won't be able to detect a lie or a false teacher. Because many are pastors. Many are seminary professors. Many of them are media preachers. Sometimes they're hard to detect with their subtle, deadly perversions. They appear to be right, as they distort the message just slightly. But what they distort is damning. Peter says, but there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you who privately or privily shall bring in damnable or destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who brought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. Why are so many Christians turned into pretzels by the Jehovah Witness and the Mormons that come to their door. Is it because we lack knowledge of God's word? God's rightly divided word? Go back during the week and listen again to the messages that are preached in this place. Talk about it at home. Ask God to make those messages stick. Pray and ask God to help you remember what you heard last Sunday. Thank God for Sunday school and morning service and evening service and discipleship groups and Titus 2 groups and men and ladies Saturday prayer meetings. Thank God for those things because God is doing a work in molding us and teaching us his word to equip us that we might understand error and see error when we see it coming. When the studies get hard, persevere, ask God for help, and ask your brethren for help. That you might be able to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. That you might always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Jews said false teachers have crept in to the church unnoticed. This is what the Apostle Paul was warning the Ephesian elders about in Acts chapter 20. He called them to be like watchmen on a wall, like in Ezekiel 33. This is an arduous and taxing labor. But the Lord commenced this church because they heeded the exhortation of the Apostle. And they persevered and had patience. They had this hupomone, this abiding under the trials and difficulties, giving up. not an inch, nor crumbling under the weight of their responsibilities to follow God. They labored, they toiled. This word kapos is working onto weariness and to exhaustion. Is that the kind of labor we give to God? We give it to our earthly employers. Some of us come home so exhausted we can barely make it to the dinner table. Is that the kind of energy we give to the work of God? Or do we give God our leftovers? The King James says, thou hast not fainted. They've worked hard, they've worked until exhaustion, but they have not fainted. What are they to be? They're to be like God, who hated the deeds and the doctrines of the immoral Nicolaitans, and they did and thus receive the approval and commendation of God. Some think that these Nicolaitans were followers of the proselyte from Antioch, Nicholas, who had departed from the faith. Irenaeus and some others think this was Nicholas, one of those first deacons that we read of in Acts chapter 6. That's extra biblical information, brethren. The inspired text says, Nicholas had a good reputation, he was full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. And I'm going with that. That was Nicholas. But what is the takeaway? The church in Ephesus hated what God hated. And we are called to hate what God hates. Psalm 97 says, you who love the Lord hate evil. Secondly, consider the accusation. Verse four, Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Ramsey said, this is a weighty charge. How serious this is is evident from the admonition and the warning that followed. We can detect how serious this is because of what follows, what was the admonition given by the Lord. It made me think of this hymn, Hymn 303. Ye who think of sin but lightly, Nor suppose the evil great. Here may view its nature rightly. Here is guilt may estimate. How? Mark the sacrifice appointed. See who bears the awful load. Tis the word the Lord's anointed, son of man and son of God." If you think sin is a light thing, if you think it's just something that you could just, you know, say a few Hail Marys and all that kind of good stuff, Or take 1 John 1 9 and use it in a wrong way like it's some magic wand and continue on in your sin? You think lightly of sin? Consider this, that in order for sin to be put away, the God-man had to hang on Calvary's tree to put away sin. There are no good deeds. There are no brownie points. All our righteousness is no more than filthy rags in its sight. It took the second person of the Godhead. That's how serious sin was or is. And so as these words come to this apostle here, he says, remember, therefore, from whence you have fallen. and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto you quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except you repent." With all the attention to orthodoxy and purity, with all the busy working with patience, the most important thing is missing. Some have labeled this the loveless church. I don't believe they were devoid of love, but they were in critical condition. No external zeal can compensate for declining love. We can be busy, and we can be doing a lot of things here, but we don't have love. Paul says it's nothing. Do I give my body to be burned if I have not love? I can speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but if I don't have love, I'm like a bunch of little bad boys beating on some cans, clanging cymbals. But there was a time when you once were what I call happy glad, and you rejoiced with the psalmist and said, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Perhaps once Some of us, if we declined any, we can remember the time when our hearts and our souls melted in penitence and grateful love as you thought of the sufferings of your Savior. There were times when we wrestled in prayer in the closet at church and at home. We beat down the doors to get here at church so we could pray with the brethren because we loved God and we loved people's souls. but other things that push those things out of our lives. We gave ourselves the self-denying work for his kingdom. Has your joy departed in your devotions? Or you just go through the motions so you can just check it off so when the pastor comes and asks you about your Bible reading, you can say, yep, we've done it all. But when you open the scriptures and you read of your Savior, as we read of this, our great Savior in chapter one of the Revelation, Does not your heart burn as you see all that he is for us and what he has done for us? Or have our hearts grown cold? Has the fight dulled your sweet thrill for service? Do you find yourself keeping company with David as he complained with his broken bones, or Peter in his time of weeping with bitter tears? The foremost, the greatest commandment is this, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength this is the first commandment and the second is like this you shall love your neighbors yourself there is no other commandment greater than these mark chapter twelve are we busy are we good churchmen but lack love for our savior you say Ernest how can this thing how can these things be it can't happen What is first love? One commentator says, he asked the question, he says, what is this first love? It is the devotion to Christ that often characterizes the new believer. Fervent, personal, uninhibited, excited, and openly displayed. It is a honeymoon love. A husband and a wife. And when a man, a husband, and a wife begin to take each other for granted, and life becomes routine, then the marriage is in danger. I remember when we first got married, and their landlord back in Michigan, old Miss Dukes, she said, you young people, don't let the honey get out of the moon. I didn't ask her to exegete that. This is one thing I knew. If this marriage is going to last, it's going to be sweet. It's got to stay sweet. You've heard a certain pastor talk about carrying a bunch of photos of his beloved. That's not just a Johnsonism, OK? There are a lot of us who had those wallets, and our wallets were like this, not because they were full of money, but the old wallets had those old plastic envelopes where you could stick photos in. And we couldn't wait to show our beloved and our children to our loved ones. They were dear to us and we kept them close and we were excited about showing those things because of the love that was in our hearts. There was a time when some of you held hands, you couldn't wait to get home from work. But when the fellas say, hey, let's go play ball, you said, no way, I'm going home to see my sweetheart. We don't hold hands anymore. What's wrong? Is our love waned? Do we not want to be close? Do we not want to be close to Christ when we distance ourselves from his word? And we find other things, television programs, and concerts, and ball games, and all these things mean more to us than Christ? What we love, we spend the most time with. You do know that, don't you? and we'll find a way to get to what we love. Do we love Christ? Christ tells this church, you're busy, you're orthodox, you're a good Reformed Baptist, but you've lost your first love. This is the most important thing. Orthodoxy is a good thing, but love to Christ is the main thing. Christ looks past externals and he sees our heart. Paul prayed for the saints in Thessalonica this way. He says, now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and to the patience of Christ. Consider God's love for you. Consider all those things the Bible tells us about God and his love to us and meditate on those things. In Jeremiah 31, the Lord has appeared of old saying, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I've drawn you. With an everlasting love? We're talking about before my mom and my dad met each other. We're talking about before I was even conceived in my mother's womb, before time began, God set his distinguishing love upon me in Christ. Oh, but in time, he drew me to himself with the cords of love, with compassion. Think about that. God demonstrated his own love toward me when I was a sinner. Christ died for me. Think of those things, brethren. Thirdly, consider the admonition. The cure for this malady is found in our Lord's instructions. Remember, repent, repeat, and reflect. Remember, call to mind. Keep on remembering. There's a present imperative. Keep on remembering. Call to mind what you've lost. What changed in your life? Where were you once? How did you get here? Don't be like Bunyan's man in the iron cage, who was once a flourishing professor. But Bunyan says he laid his reins to the neck of his lust, and he drifted away from God and everything that was wholesome and godly. He found himself locked up in the iron cage. We're to remember from whence we've fallen. Where were we once when we loved God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and it was evident to everyone who knew us that we loved Jesus, they knew we had been with Christ. By the way we lived, by the way we talked. Meditate, brethren. Remember, look back on those days, those good days, that your hearts might be melted. You know, when we take those pictures out, we say, wow. This is really good for me. When I was a little agitated with my teenagers because they wanted to go a different way. When kids are little, you can tell them what to do. When they start developing their own personalities and they start doing things that you may not be pleased with, you get a little agitated. As we heard this morning, that's one of those things that God uses in that sanctification to mold us into the image of Christ. It teaches patience. But you know what helped me a lot of times? I'd go back and I'd look at my teenagers, now who are adults, and they may not be walking the way I want them to walk, but you know what melts my heart when I pull out those pictures when they were two years old. Wow. I pull those pictures out. Some of you pulled the pictures out when you first got married. You go through difficult times, and you say, wow, I really loved him once. I really, really, really loved her once. Remember where you used to be. Meditate. Henry Scudder, in his excellent little book, has a section on walking with God alone, where he discusses rules concerning solitude, reading the word, meditation. And he says medication involves two acts, enlightening the mind with the truth, and secondly, make an application to self for reformation. The psalmist said in 119, I thought of my ways, and I turned my feet unto thy testimonies. Take God, I'm not talking about transcendental meditation and all this emptying, this Eastern religion emptying your mind. Christian meditation is taking God's word and pouring it into your mind. And get somewhere alone and sit down with God and look at God's word and look at your life. Am I measuring up to what the word of God says? I heard what the preacher said this morning in Sunday school. Am I there? Am I looking at all the circumstances and the situations and everything that comes into my life? Is God's hand molding me and using all these things to conform me to the image of Christ? Or are you complaining and angry? And so the scholar says, take your life and put it alongside the word. Secondly, he says, repent, change your ways. And I can give you a big definition, a catechism definition of what repentance is. And I don't want you going home saying, what was that definition he gave? Turn around. Repent. Turn around. If you're going the wrong way, turn around and go the other way. Go towards Christ and turn away from your sin. What in your life? has caused you to neglect the public means and the private means of grace. Let me park here. I know my time is running low. But let me park here. What are the means of grace? We talk about the means of grace. Preacher, we know what the means of grace are. Listen, beloved, God has established means for us to have communion with him. And without them, there should be no meaningful expectation of communion with God. None. And God communicates his grace and his love to us through the means which he has ordained. Means are the medium, the method, the instruments that are used to obtain a result and to achieve an end. Consider a few synonyms, channels, agency, routes, conduit, pipeline, conveyance, aqueducts, gutters, all these things bring something to you. They are the means. You might ask, why are you parking here, preacher? I guess that's what truck drivers do, they park on the side of the road, right? There's a couple of sayings in the trucking industry. You may have seen them on the back of trailers. If you got it, a truck brought it. That's true. Everything in this building, everything that you have on, came on a truck. It may have come from the airplane, but it didn't get to the store without a truck. It may have come across the rails or on the ship, but it had to come to you on a truck. There's another saying, without trucks, America stops. Did you know that? If all the truck drivers in this country stopped, this country would come to a screeching halt. That's why the Teamsters were so powerful. We have problems right now just because there's a shortage of drivers with supply. Those trucks are the means to bring the goods, to bring your stuff to you. What are you saying, preacher? I'm saying this. The means of grace is what God uses to bring his love to our hearts, to bring all the graces that we need. Everything that we have in Christ comes through these means. And when we neglect the means, we're cutting off the supply. This is how we get stuck, brethren. And when the supply chain is cut off, we say, Houston, we've got a problem. Beloved, if we cut off by our sparse attendance to the means of grace and we don't visit our closets, His love and grace to us won't be boiling over in our hearts. We won't be zealous for Christ. So what has the appointment God given us, it's the appointment to spend time in his word, prayer, and the ordinances of the church, fellowship. Had the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things choked the word? I hope not. He says, repeat, do the first works. What were you doing when you first holy and happy? Do it again. This is not rocket science. Just do it again. If you had a healthy diet, and you did a little exercise, and you felt good, and then you find yourself becoming a couch potato, and feasting a little bit too much on the donuts and the cake, and you start feeling lousy, it's not rocket science, brethren. Do first works. Cut that stuff out, and put your gym shoes back on, and eat healthy food, and you'll find out you'll start feeling better. And when you were strong, and you were witnessing, and you were a bright light in a dark world for Christ, and you were reading your Bible, and you were praying, and you were fellowshipping with the brethren, every time the doors of the church opened. But now you find yourself, oh, I can't get to church now. Are you working on to exhaustion to be in the place where God meets with his people in a special way? Are you hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Brethren, he says, reflect. I will remove your lampstand. Our church is flourishing, is growing. God is blessing the ministry here, and it's not because of us, but it's because of Christ. And we seek to honor God's word And it seems like people keep coming here wanting to hear God's word. That's a good thing. But if we don't keep Christ as our first love, and we're not diligent to be orthodox, Christ says, I will come and I will remove your lampstand. I will remove your usefulness. It will be gone. And there are many churches that used to be bastions for the truth. They're now a shell of what they used to be. You think of institutions like Princeton University was started by the law. It was a law college. It was to train men for the ministry. And now it's one of the most liberal institutions in our land. Of all the people of the earth, we have been chosen. Of all the people who were, all the people who are, and of all the people who shall be, we have been chosen. We have been chosen. to be the bride of Christ. And so God brings this word to us. This word, if you don't love me, I will remove your candlestick. But if you continue on, I will give you to eat the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. The paradise of God in Revelation symbolizes the eschatological state in which God and man are restored to that perfect fellowship which existed before the entrance of sin into the world. And I will add a better than what our parents had because there'll be no more sin. Greater love had no man than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends. And we love God because he first loved us. Those of you who don't love Christ here this morning, let me put a few scriptures into your ears and think about this when you go home. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, Jesus said, I will in no wise cast out. Brother, may God inflame our hearts for love for him, for our Savior, Jesus Christ. And may we sing that hymn, more love to thee, O Christ, more love to thee. May that be our prayer. And may that be our prayer for those who don't know Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your great love for us. And we ask, Lord, that you would forgive us of our waning love and despising, even at times, the means which you provided for us to know your love. Father, we pray that you would continue to help us to stay the course and we'll be valiant for the truth. But most of all, we pray that our hearts would be large, and that our hearts would love our Savior. We pray, Father, that you would help us to love men, and that we might tell them about our great Savior. We shall forever give your name all the praise and all the glory. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.