Revelation chapter number two tonight. Look at Revelation chapter number two. And we're going to begin taking a look at the seven messages that were given to the seven churches in Asia. These messages to these seven churches should be real eye-openers to us and the church today. In them we find what Jesus expected of His churches. and what he found and what he expected them to do about what he found in his revelation to them. Amen. There are a couple of things to remember about what Christ has to say here to these seven churches to whom these letters were written. Number one, they were all seven different churches in existence in 95 AD, all located in different parts of Asia Minor, the area that's now called Turkey. These seven churches were being addressed. They were given these particular messages to them. Remember we said each church is different because it's made up of different people. Each church has a personality. We see seven different churches here, but they were all churches of the Lord. Those who have ears to hear, are to pay close attention to these messages. And why is that? We're not told, but it's implied that the various characteristics seen in these seven churches might be found in each church that has come down through the age, church age even to our day and time. You might find a few characteristics from this church and a few characteristics from that church. We're to look among this and we're to see the things that the Lord warned about and the things that he was pleased with, and check our own church. Check us. Check us out as members of the church. So each of these messages serve as examples and warnings to local churches everywhere that Christ is aware of our conduct and our doctrine and that we should hear and heed the messages because we're all going to stand before the Lord Jesus to be judged by one of these days. I just imagine He might look at us and say, you've got ears, right? Yeah, you've got ears. Why didn't you hear? I told you if you had ears, you would hear these messages through the churches. You think he might do that? I don't know whether he'd do it in that tone or not, but sometimes his tone is a little firm. He does. He gets a little firm with some of these churches. But each church throughout the course of history since the founding of the church by Jesus Christ has had its peculiar problems. Nevertheless, each church has had an obligation to rise above those problems and overcome those problems through the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. Now, the first church that Christ addressed here in Revelation 2 was the church at Ephesus. And understand that no matter how much the Lord loves us, just as in Ephesus, modern believers seem to love the Lord less and less over time. We wane in our love. And I don't know how to be sober. The more we know about Christ, the more we ought to More we ought to grow in our love toward Him. It ought to be like that first song we sang. The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows. It ought to be that. But not always is that. This message from the Lord Jesus Christ aims to correct this church's love. So let's begin by reading the first seven verses here addressed to them. Revelation 2 verse 1, Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars, and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted." That's a good characteristic there. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. That word first is foremost in time, place, or importance. That's what that word means, foremost in time, place, or importance. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works. We can say remember, repent, and return, or repeat, go back and repeat the first works. Or else I will come unto thee and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. First thing we notice is we see the revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ there in verse number 1. The message is the Lord's. This comes directly from Him. The message is to He goes to His messengers and the messengers are the Lord's. Amen. He has them in His hands. We saw that last week. The church is the Lord's. We need to keep that foremost in our mind that the church doesn't belong to anybody except the Lord Jesus Christ. I've seen many instances in churches through the years. I've been in a lot of churches, visiting, or knew a lot of churches. And sometimes there's people who view that it's their church, rather than the Lord's church. And that's dangerous for that to take place. I understand what we mean when we say, this is my church. But technically speaking, it's the Lord's church that we are a part of. Now the Lord is near to both his messengers and his churches. And of course he held the messengers in his right hand, place of authority, and he walked among his churches. And so the Lord Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. Understand that. So we see the revelation. Then in chapter 2 verse 2 here, verse 2 and 3, we see the review. And we're going to slow down here and take a look real close at these things. This church at Ephesus had the following characteristics that were observed by the glorified Christ. He says, I know thy works. And that word works is talking about acts of toil. It's talking about effort put forth for Christ. It's talking about good works is what it's talking about. Now understand that good works are part of what we were saved for. We're saved unto good works. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10. We are His workmanship, Christ's workmanship, creating Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So it's ordained that we ought to be busy doing things that could be considered good works. Titus 2 verse number 14 says, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. We're not only to have good works in our lives, but we're to be zealous in those efforts. We're to put our all into it. It's not supposed to be, well, you know, the Bible says I've got to do something for Jesus, so I guess I'll do something. It's not that at all. It's like, boy, I get to serve the Lord. You know, I get to do something for God. And so we are to be zealous of good works. So good works are part of what we were saved for. Another thing is that good works are a result of God's grace working in us. It's actually us allowing God to do His work through us. And that's what Paul told the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 9-8. is that when God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that she always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. So the ability and the grace that we need to actually do what the Lord has called us to do, it all comes from Him. It all comes from Him. Good works. Number three, good works are a part of the worthy, or we could say appropriate wall, worthy wall. The word worthy means appropriate. Colossians 1 verse 10 says this, that ye might walk worthy. Paul prayed for the Colossian church that he says that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. So they're part of a a worthy walk. And we see that good works are also what brings glory to God in this dark world we live in. And boy, there's no doubt about that we are living in a dark world. But we are to shine as lights in a dark place, aren't we? Jesus Himself said in Matthew 5, verse 16, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father. which is in heaven. And then good works are part of what we are to be inciting and encouraging one another in. You know, when we come together, we're to do that. Hebrews 10.24 tells us, so let us consider one another to provoke, to love and to do good works. We usually associate provoke in a bad way. Somebody provokes you and they make you mad. But we're to provoke unto love and to good works. So we'll be inciting and encouraging one another in those things. So the Lord knows our works and knew their works. And if we can know that He knew their works, He knows our works. Amen. He says, in thy labor, thy labor. Now we might think, well, what's the difference between works and labor? You've got to put forth a labor to have works. Well, thy labor is talking about pains. The pains. God has never said that we were going to have it easy trying to live for Him. Just never did. 2 Timothy 3.12 says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Now, you try to live for God, and I guarantee you that you're going to come across some unsavory characters that are not going to like that. And some of them are going to be church members. Sadly. They just will be. And what are we to do? Well, we're just keeping on for the Lord. Amen. And that's why you've got patience there. You knew not only their works, their labor, but their patience. It takes patience. And that word patience is talking about a cheerful endurance, a constancy, being faithful, The word patience is mentioned actually in verse 2 and in verse 3. Notice verse 3, "...has borne and has patience, and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted." And so he brings up both the patience and the laboring there, and the continuing on, not fainting. Again, that's endurance. Constancy, keeping on. Look at Hebrews chapter number 12 for just a minute. Flip back. Hold your place here. I'll be right back. I'm not going to have you turn to a lot of places tonight. I think this is the only place that we're going to turn to. Hebrews 12. But I do want us to see verses 1-3 here as it relates to us viewing Christ. And of course, we're to walk as Christ walked, aren't we? And this tells us... Hebrews 12, verse number 1, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which hath so easily beset us, and let us run with patience. There's that endurance, that patient endurance, the race that is set before us. So we have a race. That race has been set before me and you. I can't run your race and you can't run my race. We run our race on Him. Now look at verse 2. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 4. Consider Him, notice this, consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." Now, what does that mean? That means that you're going to probably have to endure some contradiction of sinners against yourself too. Amen? And you're going to have to do that because you are following Christ. It's really not against you, it's against Christ that's in you. Now, if you remember 2 Timothy 2 verse 3, Paul encouraged Timothy There he says, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. We're to be soldiers of the cross. And when you're a soldier, I understand, especially if you're in war, and we're in war all the time, spiritually, it's hard. It's difficult. There's hardness to endure as a soldier, as an actual soldier that's fighting a war. There's also hardness for the child of God who's fighting the good fight of faith as he's battling spiritual battles that he faces. I understand Christianity is not about instant fruit or instant gratification. It involves determination, and perseverance. That's why it takes patience, determination, and perseverance. Back to our text here. There in Revelation 2, in verse number 3 again. We're back in verse number 2. It says, And how thou canst not bear them which are evil. Canst not bear them which are evil." In other words, they refused to put up with those who were overtly evil, especially liars. We read about some liars who were purporting to be something they weren't. They were purporting to be apostles, but they weren't apostles. There's specific things that have to be if you're going to be an apostle. They didn't line up with the Word of God. Now, understand, not bearing with those which are evil. We should hate sin as believers. We should abhor sin. Romans 12.9, the latter part of that verse says, Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good. That ought to be a part of our life. It's practical Christianity is what it is. Abhorring the evil and cleaving to the good. Sin should disgust us. And these people were who were tried were clearly evil. Now, I want you to understand that this tolerant society in which we live, some churches are afraid to speak out against particular evils. They just are. I'm not. We should not put up with evil in the church. We just shouldn't. I mean, yes, we're to love, but we are not to love evil. We are to love the Lord, and if you love the Lord, you're not going to put up with evil. Paul told the Corinthian church. They were glorying in the fact that they could be so liberal-minded. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, they had one among them that was involved in immorality, couldn't be found among the Gentiles. And when you read this story there. He told him, he said, hey, look, your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? And what he was saying there is if you don't take care of this for long, the whole church is going to be full of immorality. That's what it's going to be full of. Because a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. And in Galatians 5 verse 9, Paul warned the Galatians that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump as well. They were involved in things that should not, they were allowing things that they should not allow there as well. Now, here in verse number 6, look at verse number 6, "...thou hast, thou hatest the deeds of Nicolaitans, which I also hate." I don't know to what extent, verse 2 is is tied to verse number six. We're really not told. We do know that there were false religious leaders who did wrong. And Nicolaitans actually means to conquer the people. And we're not told what their deeds were. I've seen some speculation. But I've seen nothing firm. There's nothing in the Scripture that tells us what they were involved in. But it is just understood that the deeds were contrary to right doctrine. That's all we need to know. Our deeds ought to line up with right doctrine. If your deeds are contrary to right doctrine, you don't need to be doing them the way it's supposed to be. Then we see there also in verse number 2, and has tried them. In other words, they showed discernment. This church showed discernment. They tried those who said they were apostles. They examine and reason through the things in light of the Word of God, which ought to always be the case when we judge something. How does that line up with the book? Because this is our final authority. The Word of God is the final authority. It's not what you think. It's not what I think. It's not how you feel. It's not how I feel. It's what doth say the Lord. And that's what we judge things by. They examine and reason things in light of the Word of God. They check things out like they ought to. May we be people of the Book. You know, a lot of times what happens is people don't know the Book well enough in order to make the right determinations. May we be folks who know what the Word of God says. So much so that when we see something that's not right, we say, oh, that's not right. That's not right. And so it has tried them. Let's look at verse number 3. And has borne and has patience and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted. Let's take and has borne there in verse 3. It means that they carried burdens because of their faith and patiently lived with those burdens. It means that they held up while under the weight of troubles and temptations. They had a good testimony. It means that they put up with bad things in life when things were not going their way. You know, sometimes we just have to endure some things that are wrong. It means they did not shirk away from the will of God when it called for them to stay in the midst of hard times. But bottom line, it means they were steadfast, right? Steadfast, that's a good word for church. Be steadfast in the things of the Lord. So we see revelation, we see the review, and then in verse number 4, we see the rebuke. Nevertheless. We don't like those words, nevertheless, do we? No, we don't. I mean, yeah, he complimented them in verse number 2 and verse number 3, but then he gives them some rebuke. Something very important was wrong They had worked so hard at doing right, but forgot about being right. Forgot about being right. Both of these must be true. Remember the Pharisees, how they did so many things right, but they weren't right themselves in their heart? I want you to understand, this was not a rebuke about not loving. He wasn't saying that they weren't loving Him. But it was about having left their first love. The best love. The most vibrant. That which is first or the top. Not the dregs. As I said, it means foremost in time, place, or importance. What is supposed to be our first love? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. And then love thy neighbor as thyself. Amen. It's Mark 12. Verse 30 and 31, love is the greatest work a soul can do. And they had lost the fervency of the love that they had began with in Christ. You're not going to really be able to do work that pleases the Lord if you don't do it with love. Just read 1 Corinthians 13. You can do all kinds of things, but if you do it without love, it don't really mean much. In fact, I was going to have you turn to 1, but let's just turn over there to 1 Corinthians 13 for just a moment. Hold your place there, and we'll be right back. I don't have this one marked, but we'll turn over there for just a minute. Just to see what I'm talking about here. Love is the greatest reason for doing anything. It says, love is the greatest work a soul can do. Love is the greatest reason for doing anything. Well, do it out of love. Verse 1, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, and that's that agape love, that love that looks out for the highest good of another. That's what that word charity means. He says, if I don't have love, I am become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, and though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, boy, those are some great things, right? But he said, and have not love, I am nothing. Well, that just kind of undid everything, didn't it? And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, you know, somebody gives their goods away to feed the poor, Somebody that would be willing to put their life on the line for Christ. It's a great thing, but he said, if you don't have love involved in it, it says, it profiteth me nothing. Just some good things to remember there. Understand that any church that doesn't have an overwhelming sense of love that compels them to serve is not what they should be. The Lord is more concerned with what we do with Him than what we do for Him. Because if we do with Him and right, then what we do for Him will be right. Don't put the cart before the horse. We've got to have the proper love for Him and do it with that love. To the public, this church might have been deemed a success. I'm talking about the church at Ephesus. Folks might have looked at it and said, That was like a very successful church. But to Jesus, it fell short because they had left their first love. The problem was simply that this church had left its first love. Left it behind. Left it for something else of lesser value. What came to my mind when I read this is that it was kind of like demons. Demons had forsaken me having love. this present world. There was a time when Demas showed love for the Lord. He was working with the Apostle Paul. But in 2 Timothy 4.10, that was no longer the case. He had become enamored with the world. He got where he loved the things of the world rather than loving Christ. Now, understand that this church at Ephesus, they didn't lose it They left it. You remember that love that you had for the Lord when you first got saved? Think about the time when you got saved. Just think about that right now. You know, that first love needs to remain fervent in our lives. If we love right, it will help us to live right. So how is our first love? We each need to ask that. in our own lives. And we see the requirements here in Revelation 2 verse number 5. He says, Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. Three requirements here. Remember, repent, and we can say restart or repeat, You know, repeat the first words. Restart the first words. First of all, remember, do you have a memory of being closer to the Lord than you currently are? I remember driving down the, when I was going to college over in Valdosta, I would drive on the weekends, I'd drive home, let Mama do my laundry, and I'd drive back on Monday. So on Fridays, I'd drive home, and I was going through Hoboken. Hoboken Baptist Church is on the right there. And up on the sign it said, if you're not If you're not as close to the Lord as you once were, who moved? That kind of stuck with me. I mean, it's been a long time since I went to Palo Alto State. But that sign, it really stuck there. Something to think about, right? Because the Lord doesn't move. It's us that moves. And if you remember, have a memory of being closer to the Lord than you currently are, that means you need to get back to that point. You remember what that first love was like? Do you know what Christ has done and still does for you, for me, out of love? Think about the great love that He has for us right now. It's not that He just loved us and went to the cross for us. No. That love is continual. He continues to manifest His love each and every day in our lives. They were to remember. They were to repent. And that word repent means to change the way you're thinking. Change your thinking. The way you look upon things. Redirect your love back to the first things, the right things. Get excited about Christ-honoring preaching again. Stay excited to read and study your Bible. You know, some folks, they get to the point in their daily quote-unquote, devotion, said it's just going through a routine. There's not really much to it other than it's a routine that they do. That's not what the Lord wants us to be. He wants us to stay excited as we read and study and as we get close to Him, draw close to Him. We're to be mindful of Godliness. You know, when we first got saved, man, we were cleaning up our life. We wanted to please the Lord. Well, guess what? You still need to clean up some things. You still need to have that desire to please the Lord. Being clean and pure. And then repeat. Repeat or restart. Fall back in love with the Lord with that first love that you had when you first got saved. Ask the Lord to help you to return to that place. We see the restoration there in verse number 7. He said, an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says in the churches. That will help us get back to where we need to be. That's why the Lord rebukes us. It's for our benefit. He rebuked them for their benefit, but He rebuked them for our benefit as well. Because we have a tendency to drift from our first love as well in our own lives. If a church is hard, If it's not in the things of God, then Jesus pulled the plug on the church and lights go out. He says there in verse 5, He said, "...or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent." I've seen a lot of churches close right now. It's unreal how many churches are closing in the United States. I don't know what it's like in the rest of the world. There's a big thing that's happening, and I believe it comes out of the churches not returning to where they need to return to. Our heart attitude, once changed, brings about restoration, transformation from selfish and carnal back to spiritual, and overcoming, conquering. That's what we're designed to be. We're to be overcomers. Amen. So tonight, make sure that you're saved and have experienced that first love, because if you've not experienced that first love, that's the first place you need to start. But if you're saved, are you struggling with some things? Maybe that you're struggling upstream against evils and tribulations and trials. Don't get scourged about that. But just remain vigilant. Steadfast, that's a good word. Get steadfast in your life. Be steadfast. You may be busy for God in all sorts of areas, but how is your fellowship with Him? Are you taking time to fellowship with the Lord? Do you keep that love strong between you and Him? Could it be that maybe your struggles have become bigger than your fellowship with Christ? What does the Lord say? Draw nigh unto God, He will draw nigh unto you. If you're struggling, draw near to the Lord. You have an opportunity right now to remember, repent, and restart your life in God's way again. Get back to where things need to be in your life. I'm going to wait next week and we'll take a look at the end of verse number 7. I'm going to take time tonight to address it. But when he says, to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. That was an encouragement. It was not a warning. Because if you are in Christ, you're an overcomer. What overcomes even our faith? If you've had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, one of these days you're going to eat off a tree of life. Amen? Praise God. Alright, let's pray. Father, we thank You for loving us the way You did and the way You do. Lord, we thank You for saving us. We thank You for that precious time when we came to a realization of our sins And we repented, we changed our mind, changed our direction, and embraced You and You fully for our salvation. Oh, what a change was wrought in our lives that day. And Lord, our love was strong then for You and what You did. And Lord, we did things out of love that we ought to still be doing. And Lord, help us to get back to the old flame there, that love that we need. Lord, I pray that we've had ears to hear what you said to the church at Ephesus. Lord, that we will accept that part that applies to us in the situation where we're at, things that we need to work on. Lord, help us to be willing to do that. Have your way in this invitation. Tonight we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.