Okay, well let's go ahead and start with prayer and then we will look over the quiz and then move into chapter two today. Heavenly Father, thank you for this beautiful morning and for the opportunity to come together to consider your word. Lord, we're grateful for the revelation that our Lord Jesus gave to his servant John, and we're thankful that we are beneficiaries, that as we read it, that we enjoy the blessing that you have promised to those who hear and take heed. And though this prophecy was given to your church long ago, yet it continues to bless your people even in the present day. and to encourage us to see the victory of our Savior and to have hope for his future return. We pray, Lord, that you would bless us this day, that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear all that the Spirit says to the churches. We pray, Lord, especially as we begin to look at these letters to the seven churches, that you would help us to consider how to rightly divide and apply these instructions in our own context as a congregation. that you would be glorified in our midst, O Lord, and that we would walk faithfully and humbly in fellowship with you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Okay, so we've got a quiz here, and again, you can use this however you see fit, but I'm gonna just walk back through it with you and give you a chance to check it. The first question, where was John when he received the revelation and why was he there? Patmos, yep. He was in exile because of preaching the word. That's exactly right. So he's sharing in this persecution. We've described this as perhaps the eye of a storm between two great waves of persecution, but clearly there is still some persecution going on because John is still in exile. The second question, the events described in the Revelation would not be fulfilled until long after John wrote, true or false? False. It is false. So remember, chapter 1, we saw verse 1, things that must soon take place. Verse 3, for the time is near. We're going to see it again in chapter 3, and then we'll see it twice more in chapter 22. So that time element. Now, are there things in the book that would not be taking place until a great while off. Well, yeah, obviously. I mean, I think all of us would agree chapter 20 is describing a future day of judgment. And I would argue that chapters 21 and 22 are a vision of the church in glory, so the new heavens and the new earth in heaven itself. And we'll talk about that when we get there. There are some differences of opinion about that, but I think that that's fairly widely affirmed. Yeah, 21 and 22. Yeah, so I would say that events at the end of Chapter 20 and 21 and 22 are certainly still future for us, even though I tend to think that the rest of the book has been fulfilled. But nonetheless, the affirmation in Chapter 1, the affirmations in Chapter 22 are that this would not be fulfilled a long time after John wrote, but soon after he wrote. Question 3, what might be the meaning of the phrase in the spirit in Chapter 1 in verse 10? A couple of possibilities. Yeah, the Lord's Day. This is what I suggested. Now, I will say that one of the ladies in the class, who I'm married to, kind of called me on this last week. And she was like, well, now, but later in the book, John says I was again in the spirit. And so I probably did, I'm sure I did, suggest that there's not nearly as much to offer for that kind of traditional interpretation. I should have been more cautious in what I said. Traditionally, historically, people have read this statement in chapter 1 and verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, as describing John being caught up in the vision, alright, that he is in some kind of a meditative, visionary state. And that's certainly a possibility, and maybe we do see it used that way later in the book, and maybe maybe in Acts chapter 10. But I suggested to you that another possibility that I find compelling and that I also find widely attested in the New Testament is the idea that to be in the Spirit is to be in worship, specifically in corporate worship on the Lord's day. We see that in John chapter 4 verse 24. We see it in Philippians chapter 3 in verse 3. I gave you some indications of that on your study notes last week. So, two possibilities there. You could say, in the spirit means that John is caught up in the spirit in kind of a trance-like vision, or you could say he is in worship, maybe corporate worship on the Lord's Day, and that phrase could relate to either experience. Rhonda, did you have a question? Yes, I think that's right. I think that's a good possibility. with Christ? Well, I mean, I guess, um, yeah, it's not, that's not as specific maybe as yeah. Right. Right. Sandy. Okay, okay, and maybe that's going along the line of having this visionary experience, and that's certainly a possibility, right? But it's just a question of what does in the spirit actually mean? And it seems to me that in chapter one, he is in the spirit before the vision, and then the vision commences with the appearance of Christ, right? And so that's why I lean to think that he's talking about being in worship. Yeah, I think so. Obviously, there's some communion there, whether it's in corporate worship or whether it's in the visionary experience. There's communion either way. Yeah, Sandy? Yes. Yeah, but John's not dead. That's the thing. He's not dead. He's still alive. And yet he is in the spirit. Well, sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, well, OK. Right. Maybe the vision is kind of like an out-of-body experience. So I guess, yeah, you could read it that way. All right, number four has been on your last quiz and on your pre-test, because I'm wanting to help you learn these. List the seven churches in Asia to whom the message of Revelation was sent. Ephesus, Smyrna, Artemis, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Very good. And if you learn them in order, and I'm going to give you a map today that shows you, they're kind of moving in a circuit. Now, this is Asia Minor. This is not the continent of Asia as we think of it. It's a massive land area. But this is Asia Minor, which is the modern Turkey. And these seven churches that are addressed in chapters two and three are going to be kind of representative of all the church. And we'll see that as we begin to look at those letters. And then I gave you kind of a fill in the blank. This was on your study notes, a reference to this verse, and then we emphasized it in our class last week. Verse 19 of chapter 1, write therefore the things that you have seen or that are past, those that are or are present, and those that are to come, that are future. And so it seems to me, and I admitted last week that not everyone would agree with this, but it seems to me, and I think many commentators would affirm, that there is a past, present, and future aspect to that verse, and that in many ways it seems to be kind of an outline of what we're seeing in the book of Revelation, an interpretation of the things that have already happened. Antipas has died, John is in exile, the saints have been slain, and their souls are in heaven crying out for justice. Why did this happen, O Lord? There's going to be an explanation of that in Revelation. And then what's going on right now? There's going to be an explanation of that. What's going to happen in the near future? There's going to be an explanation of that. So it seems to me that that's kind of an outline of the book. All right, if I could get a couple of you ladies to help hand out. Now, the outline is the same study notes that I gave you last week. So if you did not get a copy of that, you need to get another copy today. It's the announcement, chapters 1 through 3. And then I also have for you a map. This is not a copyrighted map. This is out of a book of maps that they give us copyright privileges for teaching purposes. I'll do it right behind you. OK. Yeah, so again, Annette's got an outline that you may already have, and Audra has a map that you do not have, or you may have a copy in your book, in your Bible. Okay, we're going to start Chapter 2 today, and we're going to be looking at Chapters 2 and 3 probably over a couple of classes. I will point out that on the exploded outline of the book, where we have the book of Revelation in outline that I gave you the very first week of class, you have not only an outline of each of the letters, but you also have on about the fourth or the sixth page a chart summarizing the messages to the seven churches. That may be helpful to you because we will be talking about some of this and this will be some of the material that we'll be learning. Each of the letters to the seven churches follows the same outline, there's the same structure, there is an address, which characterizes Christ. He identifies the church to whom he's speaking and then he describes himself. And the description of Christ in each of the seven letters corresponds to the description of Christ in chapter one. So that's one of the reasons we said chapter one is so important. This vision kind of sets the stage, as it were. And then there will be a commendation. praising whatever is praiseworthy among the churches with two exceptions. There will be a rebuke or condemnation, correcting whatever there may be, and then instructions for how to repent of that. And then there will be a conclusion with a promise of overcoming. Now, there'll be some variation in that as we go through the seven letters, but that's just kind of a broad sense of the overall outline. They're in the back, or I'll give you Did anybody else need these? Yep. Okay. All right, so let's start by reading this first letter to the church in Ephesus, Revelation chapter 2. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands, I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my namesake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet, this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. All right, the church in Ephesus is the first one addressed. This is probably, at the time of writing, the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire. Ephesus was a very, very significant city. It was a major center of commerce. Paul spends about three years in Ephesus. And it's almost certain that many of the other churches in Asia Minor, including some of the ones that are addressed in the Revelation, that those churches were established during the time of Paul's ministry in Ephesus. For instance, Colossae, which is not one of the churches addressed here, but was one of the churches in Asia Minor, Colossae appears to have been planted by people who were taught by Paul in Ephesus and who then took the gospel back to their own city. And if we study the letter to the Colossians, we can see some of the reasons that we believe that. Now, Ephesus is so significant in terms of influence in the broader region, I think it's appropriate that the letters begin by addressing that particular church. And of course, Ephesus has also had prominent people like Paul, Apollos, Aquila, and Priscilla guiding them, instructing them, and blessing them Now, part of what we don't know, we said last week, is exactly when the Revelation is written. The majority of commentators will say that it was written around 96 A.D. Some will say that it was written in the late 60s A.D. And I've suggested that I kind of lean towards somewhere in between, maybe around 70 A.D. during the reign of Vespasian. But we don't know for sure. Probably more historical evidence for the late date than anything else, but it's admittedly a bit uncertain. But the reason that that becomes significant here is that the church in Ephesus is clearly in a sort of decline. In fact, their condition is so bad that Jesus says he will remove their lampstand if they do not repent. And we're going to talk about what that means in just a minute. So this is one of the reasons some people will say revelation must be much later because the church in Ephesus would not have gone astray so soon, relatively speaking, after Paul and so many others had been there. And admittedly, depending on how early you date the book, you're getting pretty close to the time that Paul was actually there. You'll remember, though, in Acts chapter 20, when Paul is on his way back to Jerusalem, that he meets with the elders from the church in Ephesus at Miletus. He can't stop and go all the way to the city of Ephesus, but he stops long enough to have the elders meet him at Miletus, and he gives them in Acts chapter 20 this great exhortation about how to be faithful as shepherds of the flock. the church of God which he purchased with his own blood, for I know that after my departure there will come among you savage wolves not sparing the flock." And he says, men will arise from among you speaking perverse things. So Paul, even in close proximity to his first imprisonment, not too long after the church at Ephesus has been established, he's already indicating there are problems on the near horizon. Those elders would experience some of those problems. So that's one of the reasons I don't find it difficult to believe that Ephesus could have developed some of these issues that are described in the letter so soon after Paul's work there. You have to remember that. you are always just kind of around the corner from apostasy, that the adversary walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And if we rest on our heels, so to speak, and we just imagine that we are faithful and we always will be, then we may find ourselves in a position like the church in Ephesus. So notice how the letter begins, to the angel of the church in Ephesus. Every letter begins that way in chapters 2 and 3. To the angel of the church in Smyrna, in Pergamon, in Thyatira, in Sardis, in Philadelphia, in Laodicea. To the angel of the church. Now the word angel means messenger. And normally when we think about the word angel, we think of a spirit being, right? Hopefully we don't think about the little cherubic child, you know, whatever. But we think of this awesome spirit being that is described in the Revelation and in many other parts of the Bible. And it's certainly possible that what is being described here is that an angel right, serves each congregation of the Lord's people. There may be an angel in heaven that watches over the churches of the Lord. Or it may be that this is the angel who will convey God's message from Christ to John. Now that seems less likely because if we're reading chapters 1 2 and 3 all together, it seems like Christ is there with John, that he has appeared to John. But we've admitted at the beginning of our study that one of the characteristics of apocalyptic literature is that it is conveyed by means of an angel. Most often you see that in Daniel, you see that in Ezekiel, you see that in Zechariah. You certainly see it here in the Revelation as the book proceeds. So this may be just an apocalyptic feature where the angel is involved as an intermediary, Christ is speaking, and yet it's the angel that is going to actually deliver this to John. There's a third possibility, and I alluded to this last week. I told you I was going to argue that these angels may not be angels. They may be people. And I am more inclined to believe that that's the case. The word angel can simply be translated messenger, and in fact is sometimes in the Bible, where it is clear that it's not a heavenly being that is referred to, but simply a messenger among men. I actually think that what we're looking at here is an address probably to the elders of the church. Now you may say, well now wait a second, it's singular, not plural, and so why would it be the elders? Maybe it's the pastor, maybe it's the preacher. But there are indications throughout the New Testament that the word church, singular, often means plural gatherings and congregations. In fact, the church in Ephesus almost certainly is more of what we would think of as a presbytery. Right? I don't want to get off track here, but it really is quite startling. Some of you have maybe heard this in some of the new member classes, but it really is quite startling when you start studying some of the prominent churches in the New Testament and you start realizing that those prominent churches were actually Presbyteries, not local individual congregations. The church in Jerusalem, right? The church, singular, in Jerusalem, has over 5,000 men in it in chapter 6. You think they all meet in one place? You think this is just a megachurch that has a large facility? No. All the churches are meeting in homes at this point in history. We don't have a church building, as we think of it, until the 4th century AD. You do have some churches meeting in public places, like the School of Tyrannus. in the city of Corinth or perhaps in the temple courts, but there is really nowhere for 5,000 Christians to get together on the Lord's Day, right? Not in the first century in Jerusalem. How in the world would they conduct worship services? How in the world would they eat the Lord's Supper? Well, they are distributed in homes. You see the same thing in Rome. The church in Rome is distributed among multiple house churches. There are at least five distinct house churches mentioned in Revelation chapter 16. And as we continue to go through other significant churches in the New Testament, you'll see the indication of the very same kinds of things. This is one of the reasons that I became convinced several years ago, and our elders as well, that Presbyterianism was actually the biblical form of church government, is that you see the unity and yet the plurality of the church in its organic relationships, that it's one church and yet in multiple congregations, not with a bishop over it, not with a pope, not with a hierarchical form of government, and yet congregations being shepherded by elders, meeting from house to house, and yet it's one church. Now, if in fact that's the case, in Ephesus, it makes sense to me that the presbytery, right, as Paul refers to it in 1 Timothy chapter 4, the laying on of the hands of the presbytery ordained Timothy to service, to ministry, right? That that presbytery, singular, consists of multiple Elders, right? And that what you may have here is a letter that is addressing the leaders of the church in Ephesus. Now, as I said, it may be the pastor. Maybe it's not the plurality of the elders. And maybe, in fact, it is a heavenly being that is somehow associated with the congregation. But if you think about the role and responsibility of the pastor and elders in the church, what is their role and responsibility? It is to be a messenger of God. It's not to be a priest for the people. We all are priests, right? My ministry as a pastor is not sacerdotal. It's not priestly in the sense that I am administering sacrifices or I am praying on behalf of you because you can't pray yourself. No, it's that I am a messenger sent to speak the Word of God to the people of God. And this is what Jesus is doing. He is addressing a letter to those who are going to carry the word of God to the people of God, the angel, right? And so it makes sense to me that this may in fact be the pastor and the elders. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Well, that's part of the description we saw of Jesus in the vision of chapter one. What were the seven stars? the angels of the churches. So again, depending on how we interpret these angels, Christ could be saying, I have in my hand the seven heavenly beings that represent or serve or watch over. Again, we get down the road of some really wacky kind of mystical things when we start thinking about guardian angels for the churches and things like that, right? But maybe somehow there's a relationship between those angels in heaven And the churches on earth, after all, 1 Corinthians 11 verse 10 says, the cause of the angels, the cause of the angels. So there may be some connection there. Or Jesus is saying, I carry in my right hand the leaders of these churches, the pastors, the elders, the shepherds, the messengers of the churches. I hold them in my hand. In the first century and in subsequent centuries, it was often the pastors and the elders who were first persecuted. And as you go forward from this, what we'll see particularly with Antipas and the possibility there, you think about the church knowing that their leaders are gonna be first exposed to the persecution and execution of their enemies, and yet Jesus says, I'm holding them in my hand, right? I am keeping hold of them. Diane? I'm thinking of, I thought there was a passage in there that says that That's right, 1 Corinthians 6. That's right. Well, no, I think there he actually is talking about heavenly angels and that, yes, the church will in some way pass judgment upon or sit in judgment upon the angels. And we could talk about that in that particular passage. I don't think it's saying that we have authority over them. I think it's very similar to what Jesus says when he says the men of Sodom will rise up in the judgment and condemn Jesus' own generation for not believing. The angels who fell saw the glory of God. They dwelt in the presence of the Holy God. And those angels, I believe, will be condemned on the Day of Judgment by the saints who, though we have not seen, yet we have believed. And so I think that's actually what Paul is referencing there. But it's in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, we could unpack that a little bit more. So some way, somehow, the church will judge angels. Well, it's a matter of trying to understand what does the word mean in its context. So remember that words This sounds very progressive when I say this. I don't mean it in a progressive way. Words don't have meaning. Words have semantic range. In other words, a word has a range of possibilities, right? What do you mean by dog? Do you mean Datsun or do you mean hot dog? I mean, you know, it depends on the context what that word means. So a dictionary gives you several definitions for a word because it could mean this in this case or it could mean that in that case. But words in context In other words, words in a particular passage of the Bible, that's more than a word, that's a term. And a term has a meaning, it has a specific meaning. The question is, what is this word, angulos, angel, what does it mean? Well, which passage are you referring to? It means messenger, but it could be a heavenly messenger, it could be a heavenly being, it could be perhaps a messenger on earth. It depends on the context. Yeah, exactly. Every word is this way. You always interpret words in the context where they appear. Like all. Exactly. That's a good example. No, it's true of all languages. Yeah, it really is. So the seven stars are the seven angels, and then he's walking among the seven golden lampstands. What were they? The churches, that's exactly right. So Christ in the midst of the churches, and these letters are as if he is, as he's walking in the midst of the churches, he's looking upon each church and talking about what he's seeing. And then verse two, I know your works. And you notice how that recurs, right? Verse 9, I know your tribulation and poverty. Verse 13, I know where you dwell. Verse 19, I know your works, love, faith, service, patience, endurance. Chapter 3, verse 1, about halfway through, I know your works. Verse 8 of chapter 3, I know your works. Verse 15 of chapter 3, I know your works. Every one of the seven letters starts with Christ saying, I know. In most of the letters, he says, I know your works. But in every case, he says, I know. I know who you are. I know what you do, good or bad. And it's going to cut both ways, we're going to see. Some of the churches that look good outwardly, Christ knows better. He knows inwardly the corruption. And in other cases, churches outwardly that may not be impressive, like Philadelphia, he knows better. He knows inwardly the faithfulness, the purity, right? But Christ knows. He knows who we are. He knows the things that we may have hidden from others. He knows our real character, the difference between character and reputation, right? Reputation is what others think about you, what you are publicly or outwardly affirmed to be. Character is who you really are. He says, I know you. I know who you are. I know where you are. I know what you do. I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. Now, before we get into the specific good things that Jesus says about Ephesus, I want you to think about just the practice of whenever possible, beginning with the good. You know, Jesus begins by praising the saints whenever possible. Now, there are going to be two churches where he can't praise anything, and that makes it all the more noteworthy, right? This is the practice of the apostles as well. Paul, in the 13 letters that he writes, always begins by praising his recipients and thanking God for them, except in one case, and that's Galatians. And it's because the Galatian error is so serious that it jeopardizes their salvation. It undermines the gospel by which we are saved. And he's saying, if you lose the gospel, you don't have God's grace. But in every other case, even when he writes to Corinth, as troubled as the church in Corinth was, he begins by praising them, commending them where he can, and thanking God for them, expressing his prayers for them. And Jesus does the same thing here. The church in Ephesus because they have left their first love are in danger of losing their lampstand, losing their fellowship with Christ. And yet Jesus doesn't begin with that. He begins by praising them for the good. So there's a lesson here for how we parent, for how we grandparent, for how we relate to brethren in Christ, for how we interact with our neighbor. One of the things that I've done for a number of years, I don't remember where I learned this, it wasn't my idea originally, someone else suggested it, but when I call customer service, or I go to a business to speak to a manager because I'm having a problem, because I'm not being served well, one of the first things that I will say to the representative to whom I speak is, I have a problem today, I know it's not your fault, and I'm hoping that you can help. It immediately diffuses the situation, disarms them. It makes them usually, not always, an ally instead of an enemy, rather than putting them on the defensive. Well here, Jesus rightly praises the church in Ephesus, because even when things are bad, there are still good things, in many cases, not all, that can be seen. And we need to learn this lesson. One of the things that I see frequently in counseling is that when two people get crossways with one another, everything is read through the lens of that frustration, right? I mean, we've seen that in our marriages, right? That happens in my marriage. If Kirsten and I are frustrated with one another, suddenly everything that she says or does is offensive to me because I'm looking at it through the lens of my aggravation and vice versa. And that happens in the church. You see in the church sometimes people get crossways with one another and it's like they can't see anything good about their brother or their sister. And we need to be careful of that. And one of the things that the seven letters teach us is that Jesus, whenever possible, begins by praising the good and then addressing where there is fault, where there is error, where there are needs. So what specifically does he praise in Ephesus? Their works. Works are important in the Christian life, by the way. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, Ephesians 2.10. Works are important. Works do not save us, but works are the fruit and evidence of our salvation. In fact, if we do not have the fruit and evidence of good works in our life, then James says, we don't believe in God, and we're not saved, right? And Jesus sees good works in the Ephesian saints. He sees their works. He sees their toil, their hard work. Right? They're not just going through the motions in this case. They're working. They're expending themselves. They're patiently enduring. They're steadfast. They are continuing to hold firm in faith even when others are abandoning the faith. And he says, you cannot bear with those who are evil. You have no tolerance for error and false teachers. And this is something we could wish that a whole lot of churches had more of, right? A tolerance of false doctrine and false teachers is not praiseworthy. You remember when we studied a few weeks ago in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, here is this man who has his father's wife. He's shacked up with his stepmother. And Paul says, instead of mourning, the church in Corinth was puffed up. You say, what in the world could they be proud of? Maybe their tolerance. How tolerant they are, how patient they are. We realize that what this brother is doing is not good, but we want to just love him. We want to just come alongside him and support him and encourage him and help him in any way we can. What you want to do is come alongside of him and smack him in the back of the head and say, if you don't stop this foolishness, you're going to go to hell. That's what Paul says. You hand him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved, because otherwise it's not going to be saved. Right? This endangers the soul. Nancy? Yeah, and impatience with the evil. Exactly. Yeah. Yes. That's exactly right. They know, exactly, they know who they are. They know what they're supposed to believe. They know the difference between truth and error, right? They're able to make those distinctions. They have discernment. This is what so many Christians are lacking, what so many churches are lacking. That here, the church in Corinth, when we get to 2 Corinthians, chapters 10 through 13, we find out that they are being troubled and misled by men who are claiming to be super apostles. Literally, in Greek, it's a Greek word that you know without knowing you know it. It's mega-apostoloi, right? Mega-sized apostles, right? If Paul's an apostle, and they are scorning Paul, by the way, that's part of what's going on, but if Paul's an apostle, we, much more, are apostles, right? We're special. We are significant, prominent, charismatic, dynamic teachers, and Corinth is embracing this. To such an extent that Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11, I am afraid that if someone comes to you and preaches another Jesus, you will accept it. You seem to be willing to accept anything. You'll just, you know, whatever. We'll jump right on board. This is bandwagon Christianity that has no discernment at all. Well, that wasn't the case in Ephesus. They had tested those who claimed to be apostles and had proven them to be false and had put them out. They were protecting the church. That is what the leadership particularly is bound to do, right? To protect the church from wolves that are dressed up like sheep. I've told you before, periodically people will show up and they'll want to preach. They'll want to teach. I've had people come, and like the first time that they're here, they're wanting to talk about teaching opportunities. I don't know you. There is no way. You want to preach? Go preach. But not here, right? Go stand on a street corner and preach at the cars as they go by. But you're not doing that here. The church has an obligation to test men who would influence the church in terms of their doctrine. That's why the process of examining men for ordination is so important. You want the church to vet thoroughly these men. That's no guarantee that they will not go astray, but it certainly is a protection against putting unqualified, untaught men who teach error in positions of influence and authority. And so Ephesus has done that well. He says, verse 3, I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. What a blessing, right? They are not growing weary. Paul exhorts the churches in Galatia, chapter 6 and verse 10 of that letter, do not grow weary in doing good, for we shall reap if we do not lose heart. And we've got to have that endurance, that perseverance in doing good. Don't give up. Don't get tired of doing what's right. Endure, and Ephesus is doing that, Sandy. Galatians 6 and verse 10. Yes, ma'am. But, verse 4, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first, or your first love. Now, this immediately raises a question and a problem, because what is this love that Paul is referring to? Paul. Every time I teach an epistle, I end up calling the author Paul, because I just wrote so many of them. Sorry. Jesus is talking about this, right? Jesus is addressing the church in Ephesus. And he says, you have left your first love. Abandon the love you had at first. Well, now, there are a number of possibilities. I mean, one is that they could have abandoned their love for God, right? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Abandoning that love would be your first love. That's the first and great command. Another possibility might be the love that they showed at first in terms of their zeal for God. The love that is so evident at the outset of the Christian life that oftentimes dims or wanes. Some people have suggested that maybe this is the love for the brethren that characterized the church in Ephesus at the beginning, and that also seems to be a possibility. If you look at 1 Timothy 1 and verse 5, there is a statement in Paul's writings that I think may also be helpful here. 1 Timothy 1 in verse 5, he says, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Maybe it's love as the object of the teaching. Now, I tend to think, I don't think that they're abandoning love for God per se, because they seem to be mighty faithful for people that don't love God at all, right? I tend to think that it is some combination of that loss of zeal and perhaps that forgetting what the faithfulness was all about, forgetting what the faithful doctrine was intended to produce. that what tends to happen is that over time, churches or Christians that are very faithful, that prioritize truth, that are steadfast in their walk, sometimes lose sight of the reason that they are concerned about truth. Right? That we're very concerned about truth, very hostile to error, on guard against false doctrine, and yet that almost becomes an end unto itself. And it's no longer because I am zealous for God. It's no longer because of my love for God and his word, so much as it is I'm just going through kind of the formality of these forms that are so important, that maybe we are real strong in terms of teaching doctrine, but we're forgetting that doctrine is supposed to result in love and a changed heart and a changed life. And I think that one of the dangers for churches like ours, right, that takes truth seriously, that places a premium on teaching, that sees pulpit ministry as central to the church's very existence and purpose, right, is that we emphasize that maybe to such an extent that one day we forget that, yeah, we love truth because we love the God of truth. We love sound doctrine and hate error because God is worthy of our honor and we don't want his dignity to be offended, right? And yes, truth is important and Bible study is important and teaching is important, but it's because God's truth is his means of transforming our hearts, pouring out his love within us and awakening love within us for one another. And it's the difference between kind of going through the motions in terms of the outward standards of the Christian faith and really having the heart of love that is intended to both prompt and be the object of our Christian faith. Does that make sense? I tend to think that's what's happening in Ephesus because you see they're so serious about truth. They're so faithful in their works. They're so steadfast in their walk. I don't think that Jesus is saying you don't love God at all. But maybe they're just going through the motions. And maybe that faithfulness is not really being prompted by this zeal for God, this love for God, this fervor for God, or maybe they are forgetting that the object of all of this teaching and this steadfastness is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith. Have you ever seen Christians who are well-taught but are proud? Christians that are well-taught but don't like people? Right? Pastors that know a lot but are just kind of obnoxious jerks. Right? I mean, you have one of those. The reality is this is a danger for people who prize truth. And I think you see that in Ephesus. Nancy? I was sitting here thinking and wondering how that could be that faithful without a solid love of God. Sure, sure. And I think they do love the Word, but like the Pharisees sometimes, we fall into the formality of loving the form rather than the reality, right? We love the Word, but we love the Word because we love words, right? I mean, I just enjoy words. I enjoy books. I enjoy languages. I enjoy studying, right? But that's not why I'm supposed to love the Bible. Reading the Bible is not reading a history book. Studying the Bible is not like studying literature. This is the word of God, right? And I'm supposed to love scripture because I love God. And I'm supposed to long for scripture and look into scripture daily so that it might conform me to the love of God so that the love of God is then working powerfully in my life, right? It's not an end unto itself. And yet for me, study can be an end unto itself because I just enjoy studying. I enjoy reading, I enjoy learning, but for what? Paul says the purpose of all of this is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. And it seems to me that maybe the Ephesians have forgotten that, lost sight of that. Now, doesn't sound like a big deal though, right? I mean, that could happen to anybody. Not a big deal, except that Jesus says, remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Now, if the lampstands represent the churches who are known by Christ and among whom Christ walks, what would it mean to lose your lamp? The church is no longer there. Now, we need to talk about this for a few minutes. We're running out of time. I've said in several classes recently that we need a robust doctrine of apostasy that a lot of Protestant evangelicalism is lacking. Now, don't misunderstand me. I believe that a person who is truly saved cannot lose their salvation, right? I believe strongly in the perseverance of the saints. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and those who come to me I will never, under any wise, cast out, right? Those who are truly saved will always be safe. But the reality is, not everybody in the church is going to be saved. Not everybody who says, Lord, Lord, will be saved. Not everybody who says, look at what I've done. In your name I've cast out demons. In your name I've done many mighty works. Jesus will say, I never knew you. Matthew 7. We need a robust doctrine of apostasy. We have so many passages in the New Testament that speak about this reality. Galatians chapter 5. 2 Peter chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 6, Hebrews chapter 10, over and over and over the Bible talks about this. Revelation is going to talk about this multiple times. That there will be some who come to an apparent understanding of the truth, but who are unfruitful branches, and Jesus says in John 15, they will be cut off and burned. In other words, they appear to have a relationship with Christ. There is this covenantal connection, and yet it's not inward, it's not spiritual, it's not saving. And those Christians and congregations will be cut off and cast out. And that's why Paul warns as he's writing to the Galatians. Remember, the letter to Galatia is written to an entire region, many churches, at different levels of pollution in terms of the doctrine that's being described and rebuked there. But he says, you have been severed from Christ, you who seek to be justified by law. You have fallen from grace. Galatians 5, 1 through 4. It's very, very stark. That's what Jesus is saying here. Whatever this loss of love, this abandonment of love consists of, it threatens their very identity as a church. It threatens fellowship with Christ. That tells me something. A church can be outwardly faithful, fruitful, and doctrinally pure, and yet lose fellowship with Christ. That's right. That means that when we are looking for a sound church, you know, sound in body, healthy, well, right? We have to define that by more than just the doctrine they teach, not less You know, I don't want to hear anybody saying, well, we love this church. You know, they don't believe in the Trinity, or they don't teach the gospel, but boy, they're loving. Oh, they sure do love God, you know? No, they don't, because they don't teach the truth, right? No, the test of health, spiritual health and wellness in a congregation can't be less than the doctrine they teach, but it certainly is more, right? Or a heartbeat, right? They're dead. But they're not sick. In Ephesus, there's so much to commend, there's so much to praise, and yet Jesus says, unless you repent and go back to the love that you had at first, the works that you did at first, I will remove your lampstand from its place. Now, think about what that might look like. We're going to see as we go on through these letters to the seven churches over the next couple of weeks, we're going to see that there are such things as synagogues of Satan. Here is the possibility that a church is severed from Christ. Does that mean that the church in Ephesus no longer meets? I don't know that that's true. I could imagine that there's still a visible church in Ephesus. That you go to Ephesus and you're driving down the road and you say, there's the sign, right? The church in Ephesus meets here, Sunday mornings, whatever time, right? And yet Christ doesn't see a church in Ephesus. Christ says, I have removed your lamp. That's a frightening thing to think about, to think that there could be churches on earth that we see that Christ does not recognize and says, that does not belong to me. Well, we know that there are Christians like that. And Revelation 2 and 3 shows us in Ephesus and Laodicea that there are going to be churches like that. That we would say, well, there is a church, but Jesus says that is not a church. It may be a social club. It may be a synagogue of Satan. It may have once been a church, but it is no more. And that's a frightening thing. Repentance is necessary if they are going to survive. And yet, verse 6, you have this concession, this admission by Christ of one other positive thing. He says, you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Now we don't know for certain what the works of the Nicolaitans are. Clearly the churches that are being addressed understood this. This is an error in the early church that seems to be associated with idolatry, eating things sacrificed to idols, and possibly fornication. You'll see some further references to this in the next couple of letters. There seems to be a relationship between the doctrine of the Nicolaitans and some of the syncretism, where we're combining Christianity and the pagan idolatry that's around them. And Ephesus has not gone there. Ephesus has rejected that. You remember in Acts chapter 19, in Ephesus, they burned their books of magic, right? like 55,000 pieces of silver. They didn't put it on eBay. They didn't sell it on Craigslist. They didn't give it to somebody else. They burned it. They said nobody should have these books of magic. And so they have rejected the influences of other pagan ways of relating to God. And yet, they were about to lose their connection to him. Now verse 7, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers or overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. We'll see this in chapter 22. The tree of life is there. You see, we are being welcomed to eat of the tree of life. in the paradise of God, in the perfected garden of glory, the Bible ends where it begins, and yet not exactly where it begins, because the garden in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 is good, but not perfect. The garden in chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation is perfected, right? It's the garden of glory. Now, I want to say one more thing about the conclusion of this letter, and then we'll wrap up. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. That's going to conclude each of the seven letters. Sometimes it's before the promise to the overcomer, sometimes it's afterward. Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This is like Jesus' statement when he would teach in parables, right? If anyone has an ear to hear, let him hear, right? And then he would go out and he would speak a parable. You say, well, of course you have ears, right? Yes, but not everybody who has ears has ears to hear. We don't use our ears to hear. That's what they're for, but we don't always use them that way. Listen. This is what Jesus is saying. Pay attention. This is the way that he would signal to the crowds that there is more here to see than what may outwardly seem. You know, this story about a farmer and his fields isn't about a farmer and his fields. It's about the Son of Man sowing the seed of the Word of God in human hearts, and the way that different hearts receive or reject that Word. Well, here Jesus is saying, pay attention. This is not just a little postcard from Jesus. There's a message to be heard, to be believed, and to be obeyed. There's even a step beyond that, because he doesn't say, whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Savior, Jesus, who's speaking, says to the churches. He doesn't say, whoever has an ear to hear, let him hear what the angel says to the churches, as if these angels are delivering the message, whether human or heavenly. He says, whoever has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Now, I didn't know that the Spirit was involved in this. Well, of course, the Spirit is involved in the preparation of all Scripture, right? Holy men of God spake as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, Peter says in 2 Peter 1. But I think that there is another possibility here as well, and that is that Jesus is referring not only to these letters that he's dictating to John on the island of Patmos, he's referring to all that the Spirit has said to the churches already. I think there may be a consciousness that this is the final book, that this is the last part of the canon. and that there is more that the Spirit has said to the churches than just these seven letters. Paul has written. Peter has written. John has written. James has written. Jude has written. If anyone has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And I'm inclined to think that's the case. Now, that probably is not even the majority view among commentators, although I'm not the only one who would suggest that. But I'm inclined to think that that's what Jesus is saying. is that there is a sense of we're standing here at the completion of the revelation, right? Not just the book of Revelation, but God's revelation to his church. And what does Jesus say to every church? Listen to what the Holy Spirit says. We have in the pages of scripture God's word to his church. Say, well, I wish Jesus could write a letter to Reformation OPC in Mesa. Well, he hasn't written one to us, but he has preserved many of them for us. He has given us a letter. This is His Word, and it is addressing us just as it addressed them. And Jesus is saying, what the church needs to hear is what the Spirit has said. And that suggests that the real solutions, as it were, to our problems and our struggles and our challenges in the church are not to be found at the Christian bookstore. They're not to be found on the internet. They're not to be found in innovative programs or ideas among the leadership. They're to be found in the Word of God. That here, Ephesus needs to be called back, hear what the Spirit says to the churches. No matter how we understand this abandonment of love, right, where is that going to be corrected? Where are they going to learn how to do what they did at first, that which pleases God? They're going to learn it by going back to Scripture, right? This is not the only instruction that they have been given by the Lord. They have a Bible, right? Now, the books of the Bible are still being compiled and copied, but they're being circulated among the churches. And I think that's what Jesus is calling the church in Ephesus and the rest to hear, right? Listen to the Word of God, and that's the mandate for all of us to this very day. The church needs to hear what the Spirit has said. Right, Nanette? Right. Yeah, in Psalms. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And the Word of God lays that foundation for us, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Right? Absolutely. Let me develop this for just a second. So I'm not suggesting that Ephesus is losing their salvation. What I am suggesting is that Ephesus, which has been a faithful church with many saved people in it, is at this point in danger of simply going through the motions and yet not being recognized by Christ, and that repentance is the key. They would be visibly losing something, but actually, spiritually, they would not be losing because they haven't ever had. It's just like in Matthew 7 where Jesus says, many will come saying, Lord, haven't we prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name? And he'll say, I never knew you. is that visibly there's a loss of something. Well, I was in fellowship with Christ, and now I'm not. And he says, no, you were never in fellowship with me at all. That at this point in Ephesus' experience is they're trusting in maybe their doctrinal purity and things of that nature, and they're not trusting in Christ. Now, part of the way that God keeps his people faithful is by threatening them in this way, warning them. And so I wouldn't want to say that at this point there are no saved people in Ephesus, right? And God is not going to allow any of his elect to be lost. He's not going to allow any person who's truly trusting in Christ to ever be lost. And yet the church, corporately, could be lost, right? The congregation here, not the overall church, right? Matthew 16, the gates of hell will not prevail. But a congregation? could cease to be. A congregation could be cut off by Christ. Individuals in the church could still be saved. That's where we're going with Sardis. The Lord's going to say, Sardis is dead. There are a few. There are a few. And we're going to talk about that idea there. So not that the church in Ephesus is saved, but may tomorrow not be saved, but to say, as a church, in spite of all of the positive, faithful signs of life among them, if there is not repentance on this point, it will be proven that they have no life at all, and they will be disfellowshipped by Christ outwardly. Does that make sense? It does. Yeah. Yeah. Think about a church where the gospel is preached, where the truth is taught, where worship is right, and the people don't care about you or about each other or truly, you know, on fire for the Lord. They would say that they love the Lord, but it's all outward formality. It's all going through the motions. And maybe that's not a fair characterization of Ephesus, but it seems like something along those lines.