Today we come in our series in the book of Revelation to finally dealing with one of the actual specific letters of the seven churches. So those of you who are regulars here know that I've been mentioning and talking in the big picture of these seven churches and the seven letters. But now we come to this point where today we will deal specifically with that first letter to the first church, namely the church in Ephesus. And as my oldest son Jeremiah just asked me this morning, he was like, are you going to preach seven sermons on the seven letters to the churches? And I said, yes. And he said, it makes sense. So I hope you agree it makes sense. We will spend one sermon per church and looking at the things that we see there and then obviously from that we'll continue on even the whole rest of the book of Revelation. So, yeah, please, if you haven't already, turn in your Bible to Revelation, the book of Revelation, and chapter 1 and 2 will be mainly there in 2. Before I read the text, I want to just kind of make myself very clear. I have quite a simple target I want to hit home today, so to say. I want there to be two main truths engraved in your mind as you think about the church in Ephesus and as you think about what I am preaching today. And I hope that these two things, maybe you'll even remember this phrase, but at least remember the concept. And there's two aspects to this church in Ephesus and what we should specifically learn from it. I have entitled this message and the summary of this message with these words, namely, blessed hatred and cursed lovelessness. Blessed hatred and cursed lovelessness. These are the two aspects that I think are crucial and central in what Jesus tells his church in Ephesus here, and I think what we need to learn as well. Often when we think of hatred, we think of it as simply a bad thing, and sadly most of the time it is, because it's sinful hatred, sinful anger. But there is such a thing as blessed hatred, commendable hatred, of which Jesus says, good. Good. There are things that we should hate. There are things that a Christian, a godly Christian man or woman needs to hate. And we are reminded of this. And then the other aspect of this, the serious, serious rebuke that Jesus has to this church in Ephesus, is what I've entitled here, cursed lovelessness. The lack of love, true, biblical, genuine love, the lack of love is not some kind of a little side issue that it's like, oh it's fine to be without it. No. As we will see, biblically speaking, if you are without true love, And then we look at love towards who and what and all that. But in the big picture, lovelessness, without love, you are under God's curse. It is cursed. It is anathema. which is a word, you know, that then used as accursed. It is something that we should stay far from. So blessed hatred and cursed lovelessness. And as today is the first Sunday that we're specifically looking at one of these letters to the churches in the book of Revelation, I also want to mention this that we've kind of mentioned about that there is these seven churches and we even talked about the seven angels or messengers of the churches last time. Since you might even be aware that there's people who interpret these churches a little bit differently, as in what they mean, I want to just briefly mention it that there are people, good and godly people, who interpret these seven churches as kind of prophetic ages. I don't believe this, but there are people who believe that these seven churches are to be understood that church history from the time of John the Apostle even to this present day, even toward the future to an unknown point when Jesus will come back, That church history, these 2,000 years, can be kind of divided up into ages. And that there's the Ephesian age, there's the Smyrnian age, there's the kind of Philadelphia age, and so forth. That these are more like kind of... times in Christian history when the Christian church at large is seen as having the problems of the Ephesian church or the Philadelphian church or the strengths and weaknesses and such. I don't believe that's how we should understand it. I don't believe that these are somehow chronological ages and that we can kind of think, oh, the Ephesian age is somehow far away and that's not necessarily our problem, but we are now in whatever age that it is. I don't believe that's how it's presented to us. even though there are men in the Reformation that held this kind of view. There's many who hold to dispensationalism, which I hold to a form of dispensationalism myself. There are many dispensationalists who hold this kind of ageist view about these church periods. I don't believe that. And I don't think it's very helpful. I believe these are real, literal churches in John's time. You can look at a map and so forth. There's Ephesus, Myrna, Pergamon, Thyatira, Sardis and so forth. And no one is saying that they weren't that, but then they're saying that the main point is to teach this kind of prophetic calendar or ages and such. I don't believe that's the point, but I do believe that these seven churches, as I've said before, because the seven, so it's like number of completion, that they summarize to us different kind of problems that Christian churches face throughout the last 2,000 years and even still today. And I think it can be very harmful and confusing to think that we now live in one particular of those and that we don't have the problems of the others. I would say that we can see all of these churches and the different problems manifest themselves even still today in different situations. And certainly the church in Ephesus, the church in Ephesus and the problems that the church in Ephesus are called to repent of. I think it is a very, very serious warning. I would say perhaps of all the churches, I say maybe our context, our church here, I think perhaps this is the one that we need to be most on guard of because I believe we are strong in the ways that the church in Ephesus was strong. And then there is the danger of becoming weak in the place where the church in Ephesus was strong. As we will see what that then looks like in actual practice. Okay, so... Let me read to you now, I won't read all three chapters this time, even though I would be tempted, but I will read chapter one and then the first seven verses of chapter two. So what brings us to this point? What has Jesus said in this book of Revelation? What is the book of Revelation, the centrality of Christ, the vision of Christ? and then how then that connects to this first letter of the church in Ephesus that Jesus gives. So please follow along in your Bible or listen, but try and pay attention and listen to the Word of God as it is being read. Revelation chapter 1 verse 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him, Even so, Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not. I am the first and the last and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are, and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. 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 with those who are evil. but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, 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." Let me end the reading there, this first letter of one of the seven churches. Also, one comment regarding chapter 1, verse 19. I don't remember if I mentioned this in my previous sermons or not, but verse 19 in chapter 1, when Jesus says, I guess I may be mentioned in the reminder then. I believe what Jesus is there saying to John is that, okay, you have to write the things you have seen, refers to the vision he has just seen, the vision of the greatness of Christ. And then he says, so write that, which he will write, and then those that are. So that they are presently. I believe that refers to these seven churches, because that's the present situation. That's the present situation which these seven churches that will receive these commendations and rebukes from Jesus. So those are the situations that are, as John is writing, it's present reality. And therefore then chapters 2 and 3, These letters to the churches are that section of things that are, and then it says, and those that are to take place after this. Chapter 4, verse 2 says, I will show you what must take place after this, and that, I believe, is all still future. I believe that has not happened. Obviously, not including some aspects relating to the birth of Christ and things that are kind of flashbacks from the back, but basically all the kind of future things in those chapters, I believe, are still in the future, and we'll get to those as we progress the Book of Revelation. But these seven churches, and the first one is the church in Ephesus, and it makes sense that this is the first one in the list, as Jesus says, Ephesus. It makes sense in multiple ways. If you see here, just, you can look, I mean, if you can see, but Patmos is the little island here. And by the way, Jerusalem is somewhere far here, kind of, you know. quite far away, Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. But Ephesus, as you then come from Patmos, Ephesus is the closest one. So if you think about then as they then go, probably those messengers of the churches, the angels of the churches, as they go and take those letters, they would have, you know, gone this route. And Ephesus would be the first one. And Ephesus is kind of a major city, major town in that time period. And closer to like a port city, so to say, here. By some estimates, in that time, Ephesus had about, like even a conservative estimation, apparently 175,000 people living in Ephesus, of one of the things I was reading. But in that city of Ephesus, there's a church, the church in Ephesus. And as we think about the New Testament, we are like, wait a minute, isn't there a book called Ephesians? Of course there is. There is the book of Ephesians, which some of you have even been here when I preached through the book of Ephesians. The book of Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul to this church. So Ephesians, the church in Ephesians, Ephesus has actually two letters. So this could be, you know, Ephesians part two. And this one comes directly from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And so roughly about 30 years after original, like first Ephesians was written. Paul wrote that first letter around 60 AD. 60 or 62 AD and Book of Revelation from the best understanding that we have from early church history and so forth is that Book of Revelation was written around 90 AD, 95 AD. So roughly 30 years between the Book of Ephesians and now this letter to the church in Ephesus. And it's a significant church. And those of you who might even remember me preaching through the book of Ephesians, or if you're just reading it on your own, you will realize and know that the book of Ephesians is interesting in that aspect that there is no clear problem in the church in Ephesus when Paul writes Ephesians. It's more of a positive letter. There are things that he calls them not to do, and not to do, and so forth, but it's different, for example, than 1 Corinthians, which has, they have a lot of problems. Paul says, repent of this, repent of this, repent of this, repent of this, you know, like all this. And Galatians, you know, repent of this, whatever. Ephesians is unique, that in that sense, the church in Ephesus was like a, it was a model church. It was like a healthy church par excellence in many ways. And even as Jesus writes this letter, in some ways it still is. But in one deadly way it isn't, which they need to repent of. But this church not only receives this letter, but then about 30 years before had received the letter of Ephesians. Well, let's walk through this then. In Revelation 2, verse 1, Jesus says this. He says, And again, I believe the word angel can be translated messenger. We dealt with that. I believe here the best understanding is that an angel of the church in Ephesus is the messenger of the church in Ephesus, who maybe is one of the elders, maybe a deacon or someone else, it doesn't really matter, but he was appointed to represent the church and it's very likely that these were the ones who then took those letters to the churches and visited John to maybe help him on the island of Patmos and so forth. But I do not believe it's talking about an angelic spiritual being, because again, why would Jesus communicate through John back to an angelic being and tell the angelic being, you have lost your first love? It doesn't make any sense. Even though there are good and godly men who hold this view that it's an angelic being, I don't believe it makes any sense at all. The Bible does use, at many places, the word angel to describe human messengers, as we looked at last week. This messenger is then tasked to give this message to the church in Ephesus. And Jesus, in all of these letters, He begins, almost all of them has a reference to this vision that we've already seen about Jesus in chapter 1. And here Jesus reminds of two aspects. He says, before you get the letter, before He says anything to the church in Ephesus, He says, who is it who is writing? Whose words is it? The words of Him. who holds the seven stars in his right hand, and who walks among the seven golden lampstands. And who is that? That's the Lord Jesus, and Jesus is here speaking. And it's, by the way, interesting then, as you read the end of this little letter in chapter 7, verse 7, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So, at the same time, it is the Word of the Spirit, and at the same time, it's the Word of Christ. Well, because Christ, through the Holy Spirit, is giving this, and we believe in a triune God, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But why this reminder? Why this reminder? I mean, they've just been told the vision in chapter 1. And by the way, when this letter, these churches did not simply receive, Ephesus did not simply receive this chapter 2, verse 1 and 7. And not the rest of the book. No. Notice what Jesus says there in chapter 1, verse 10. No, verse 11 in chapter 1. Jesus says, write what you see. So what you see, which then includes the whole book of Revelation, what you've seen, what is, and what is to come, all of that, the whole package is sent to all of these churches, and they need to know that, but then they have this unique section that they really, really need to pay attention to and right away repent, unless, otherwise Jesus will judge them for that sin and unrepentance. So they were given this whole, letter and so therefore they would have known already this vision but why does Jesus remind them right away just a few verses after again that he is the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and he's the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Again, my interpretation that the seven stars are those messengers. I mean, that's what they are, the angels. That's what Jesus says, but I believe those are the human messengers. And I believe the church in Ephesus needs to remember that because the church in Ephesus, rightly so, didn't just trust anyone. They tested false apostles and false prophets and ignored them, which they shouldn't do. But Jesus here reminds them and says like, Don't you then think that the messenger that I'm sending, one of these seven stars that will bring the book of Revelation to you, don't you dare to question the message that is coming through him that I'm telling them to do. They are in my hand. They are in my hand. They come with his full authority. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. So I believe that's the point why he says, who holds the seven stars in his right hand. So if you're tempted to question the messenger who brings the message, just remember, he's just a messenger. I hold him in my hand. Don't you dare to question me as the Lord of the Church, Jesus, says basically here. It is His Word and the Word of the Spirit, what the Spirit says to the churches. And then the reminder, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Again, the lampstands are symbolic of the churches. And here we're told this, that I've been referring to, Jesus walks among them. He's intimately aware of what happens in the churches. And again, the vision is this, there are seven golden lampstands and there's a man walking. And at times, he probably looks at this one, then he inspects this one, and so forth. And later in this letter, Jesus will say, if you do not repent, I will remove you. So, if you do not repent, this Son of Man will grab a hold of that lampstand and take it away. Remove it. You are no longer a Christian church. You are no longer my church. I will remove your witness. You might have a dead outward appearance of a Christian church, which there are many even still today, but you are no longer an actual lampstand belonging to Christ. I will remove you from your place unless you repent. So the reminder is that Jesus is near, it's his authority, and he walks among the lampstands, and he's intimately aware. He knows with these eyes of flaming fire, he knows and sees everything, and he is now going to tell them, He's going to commend them of things, and then He's going to condemn them of things. He's going to commend them of their discernment, and even hatred of that which is false, and then He's going to condemn their lovelessness and call them to repentance. Jesus says in verse 2, I know your works. Jesus is aware. Jesus knows everything. I know your works. Your toil and your patient endurance. Notice how John said earlier, in verse 9 of chapter 1, he's a partner in the tribulation, the kingdom, and the patient endurance that are in Jesus. The church in Ephesus was exemplary in this regard. They toiled. So they worked hard for the glory of God in many ways. They patiently endured. And again, at this point, it seems like they've been, you know, for 30 years plus, that they've been a faithful, like a model church, like a headquarters church. This is a church that Paul wrote Ephesians to and didn't really have anything bad to say about them. They've been faithful and they haven't given up. They've been patiently enduring. They've toiled and Jesus says, I know that. And Jesus says, these are good things. He commends them. He says, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil. The church in Ephesus knew that there are people who are evil. And the context here is not, oh, we know there are unbelievers who are evil and hate Christ. Well, of course, that's true as well, but the context is here. Christians. Those who call themselves Christians. Notice how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who, notice, who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. There are people in the time of Ephesus, in the time of the Ephesian church, who claim to be, whether they claim to be one of the kind of unique apostles that were called by Christ, which obviously is not true, or then they even claim to call themselves just apostles in general, like a little a, like some kind of church leaders or some kind of authority figures in one way or another. who came and maybe, you know, itinerant preachers maybe who showed up to the church or whatever and let me, I have a message from God or let me preach or whatever it might have been, the church in Ephesus tested them. They didn't just, they weren't naive and gullible and just like, oh, anyone who says about Jesus something, oh, come here, you know, preach. You know, there are churches still today that, you know, you could go and maybe for the first time and you just say, I have a word from the Lord. They'll let you come in the pulpit, you know, and maybe even share. There's people sometimes who've come in our church who ask that from me. I said, no way. You know, you're welcome to sit here, but no way I let you share something. I don't even know who you are. Who do you think I am? You know, there's times when I've had to, like during my ministry, well, I have stories to tell. Like, you know, one man who started to try to start preaching, suddenly I was like, Jesus, sit down now. I didn't give you permission to do that. You know, whatever. So the church in Ephesus was exemplary in the sense that they did not just accept anyone, but they noticed, but you have tested. Neither were they just saying like, oh, we just reject everyone for no reason. No, that would be foolish as well. But you then receive those who are genuine, but you test them. You test them. And if they're found wanting, if they're not passed the test, so to say, you reject it. And if they are not, you have found them to be false and you reject them. You say, you're a false teacher, false apostle, you know, that's false teaching, you know, do not spread that here, you know, you need to repent, get out, kind of a thing. This was commendable. This is good. Jesus wants his church to do these kind of things that the church in Ephesus did. This is good. I know your works. Jesus knows this, and Jesus does not rebuke this. In fact, he begins his letter to the church in Ephesus saying, I know these things, and you are doing these things well. He commends them. The church in Ephesus is exemplary in this regard. They exercise biblical discernment. They test preachers, prophets, apostles. And if they do not line up with the Word of God, they reject them. You cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and have found them to be false. And the Christian church at large, I think, you know, I would say most Christian churches have the opposite problem in our day and age. They are not at all like this. But everything, you know, again, everything kind of goes if you say something about Jesus. Okay, fine, whatever, it doesn't matter, you know, and all those kind of things. And all kind of false teaching is, you know, it's, oh, you can't judge and who are you to, you know, are you saying that the, you know, are you questioning the Holy Spirit or whatever kind of things that people foolishly try and say to try and justify all kind of false teaching and false preachers and so forth. The Christian church at large needs to learn from the fact that Jesus commends this. Can Jesus say this about your church, that it's good? Are we a church that similarly, not in the same exact context and so forth, but could Jesus, if he wrote a church to us, Grace Baptist Church in Tampere, What would he say? Would he say that we are doing well in these regards? I can't say for full certainty, but I believe, to my best knowledge, I believe this is a strength in our church. Our church is a church that prioritizes right doctrine, right biblical teaching, understands that there's false teaching that needs to be called out, and so forth. And I, as a pastor, try to do that as to the best of my ability. So I believe this is the strength of our church and our kind of churches, that we seek to exercise discernment and call evil for what it is, and call false apostles, false prophets, false preachers, pastors for what it is, and to reject it, to test it. And I believe that we fall in this category. And I do not believe that we've, in that sense, we haven't given up. You know, with a small church, you know, like now we're slightly bigger, but for many, many years, very, very small. You know, in the eyes of the world, it's like, just give up this little you know, laughable mission, you know. It's only a handful of years. It's like, you know, compared to the, you know, big stadiums of the world or people with their big churches and flashy lights and this and that, you know, whatever. No, no, we continue on with the toil. It's not easy and it's difficult. There's downsides. There's all this. You continue on your toil and your patient endurance. You cannot bear with those who are evil. I believe that we as a church in general would be similar. I believe that Jesus would say something similar, something similar to this, to us. At least that's what we're seeking to try to be. And that's good. It is good to have this, what the church in Ephesus did have. And they were faithful in this regard. They were commendable. Verse 3, I know you are enduring patiently. Again, Jesus again, in Ephesus, this is just like, I know you're toiling patiently. Now verse 3, again, you're enduring patiently. They're just like, just keep on going, keep on going. Enduring patiently. Bearing up. There's this idea that there's this weight on them, the pressures of false teachers and false teaching, and it would be easy to just kind of give in to it. It's not nice to be the one pointing out false teaching and saying, you're wrong and that's wrong and all that, and now people hate me even more. It would be easier just to say, like, hey, kumbaya, everything's okay. No, no, whatever. You know, you'd more easily fill a church. You know, just happy words all the time. But then when you start, like, calling something evil and reject something, things become a little bit more difficult. But they did this, and they did faithfully for His, notice, for my name's sake. They even had the right motive. They were doing this for Christ's name's sake. And you have not grown weary. They have not given up. This is all good and excellent and right. And they've been doing this for 30 plus years, faithfully plodding along, faithfully calling false teaching for what it is, faithfully testing those who claim to be apostles and are not and found them to be false, faithfully enduring, bearing up. That's good, that's good. And Jesus, let me just jump a little bit here, Jesus again here in verse 6, before I get to my second part. Jesus, He begins with this good thing and then in between, which we'll get to in just a moment, the thing that they were lacking, that is the most serious thing. But notice, after Jesus has said that thing about lacking, He again in verse 6 says, yet this you have. So he's given this commendation list and then he calls them to repent, which is very serious. But even after that, verse 6, he again emphasizes how right and good it is. Yet this you have, that you hate. The works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. The church in Ephesus hated something. I mean, they hated, I think, many things, but one of the things that Jesus says that it's good. Yet, this you have. Basically, Jesus is saying, this is good. This is good. It's good that you do this. The church in Ephesus hated the works of the Nicolaitans. And Jesus says, not only is that good, but Jesus says, which I also hate. Jesus hates stuff. There's things that Jesus hates. There's things that God hates with a holy hatred. Jesus, during His ministry, cleansed the temple twice with a whip. He hates things. There's things that are against God. And because He loves God, because He is the Son of God, He hates wickedness from the bottom of the core of His being. If you truly love something, you have to hate the opposite of it. To truly love God, there needs to also be a hatred of that which is evil. We, earlier in our responsive scripture reading, read from Psalm 119. What did it say at the last verse there as we read? Through your precepts, I get understanding. Therefore, I get precepts from your word. I understand your word. Therefore, I hate every false way. Anything against Christ, the greatness of Christ, the commandments of Christ, we should hate. And Jesus says he hates the works of the Nicolaitans, and the Ephesians hated the works of the Nicolaitans, and Jesus says that's good. There is a blessed hatred. If there's nothing in your life, when you think about things, if there's nothing that causes in you this deep-seated hatred towards something, not sinful hatred, but righteous hatred, righteous indignation. If there's nothing that is like that, there's something wrong with you. Because as a believer, you need to have a blessed hatred of evil things. Whether it's evil in doctrines or evil actions and so forth. And we should hate evil sin in our own life and fight against it as well. We should hate the lovelessness in our life as well, which we'll get to in just a moment. But there's a blessed hatred that Jesus has, and that the church in Ephesus had, and Jesus commends them of it. Well, now that I'm speaking about the Nicolaitans, let me just briefly mention, and who are the Nicolaitans? Jesus doesn't here identify more. He doesn't explain what were the Nicolaitans. He says in chapter 2 verse 15, one of the other churches, he says also about the Nicolaitans. But it's not explained. Obviously, the church in Ephesus knew exactly, because they hated that. They knew what he was talking about. But we are not given in Scripture exact mentions of what exactly it was. We know it's something wrong, some kind of false teaching, some kind of sin. that plagued that time that they lived in. But we can get a little bit of an idea from some of the early church fathers. One of the earliest church fathers, Irenaeus, who was in that area. He very likely was actually converted in Ephesus, Irenaeus. He, in his monumental book Against Heresies, where he speaks against different false teachings of the time, and especially the last book in that series that he speaks about the future and even the millennium and those kind of things. Very good stuff, by the way. I agree. Basically, with almost everything that Irenaeus says about the future, his idea about what the book of Revelation teaches and the New Testament teaches, I think is excellent, and he was one of the earliest church fathers. But Irenaeus says this against Heresies Book 1 Chapter 26. He says this, the Nicolaitans are the followers of that Nicholas who was one of the seven first ordained to the Diaconate by the apostles. So according to Irenaeus, he says the Nicolaitans here are Basically the followers of Nicolaus who is mentioned in Book of Acts chapter 6 verse 5. There were seven deacons who were appointed by the apostles and one of them is Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. So the name at least matches. And unless we're just saying the Iron Age is just making this up, and again he even lived, overlapped with the Apostle John a little bit, and Polycarp and so forth. But so his very early father, church father, he's saying that that's what this is referring to. So if that's true, Nicolaus was, therefore, he had this blessing from the Apostle appointed as a deacon, one of the seven original deacons of the early church. And apparently, he went off the rails. And part of the reason that maybe his teaching was so significant is that, well, after all, he was one of the seven original deacons appointed by the Apostles. And he probably then used that authority to then, you know, gain acceptance and so forth. And obviously he'd found enough of a following to his teaching then later on. Well, what did he then teach apparently? Irenaeus continues saying, they, referring to these Nicolaitans who are the followers of this Nicholas, they lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. So they just like give in to all kinds of sinful impulses. Unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John when they are represented as teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practice adultery and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Wherefore the word has also spoken of them thus, but this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. These Nicolaitans are mentioned there in the letter to the church in Pergamum in Revelation chapter 2 verse 14. Jesus says, but this I have against you that you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality. So also you have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans." So Jesus here, as he talks to the church in Pergamum, who also had a problem with the Nicolaitans. He says that it's somehow comparable to this thing that happened in the Old Testament, specifically issue of tempting others to then eat food sacrificed to idols and to practice sexual immorality. So somehow this unrestrained indulgence and an indifference toward adultery and other questionable things. So basically, it seems to be that the summary of the Nicolaitans is that there's this kind of like, oh, it's not that big of a deal. You can do those kind of things. That's fine. Allowing certain kind of sins and questionable practices to go and say that it's fine to be a Christian and do these things as well. It's fine to be a Christian and practice sexual adultery. It's okay. Obviously, we have that kind of stuff coming through our ears in our day and age. There's people saying it's fine to be a Christian and be a homosexual. It's fine to be a Christian and commit sex before marriage. It's fine to be a Christian and watch pornography. It's fine to whatever. These are all sins against God. Apparently the Nicolaitans said these things were fine. Jesus hates the teaching of the Nicolaitans and so did the church in Ephesus. And that was good. That was good. Another early church father, Victorianus, also talks about this, and he says, the works of the Nicolaitans were in that time false and troublesome men who, as ministers under the name of Nicolaus, had made for themselves a heresy to effect that what had been offered to idols might be exercised and eaten, and that whoever should have committed fornication might receive peace on the eighth day. Therefore he extols those to whom he is writing, and to these men being such and so great, he promised the tree of life which is in the paradise of God." Referring to this same passage. But at the end of the day, even if we don't know exactly what it was, the details, and again, Jesus did not seem to think it that important that he's telling us here what exactly it is. The point is, there are things that are wrong, there's false teaching, there's things like that, and it's good to hate that. Jesus says, you hate that, that's good. You got at least that thing going for you, well done. So this idea that then also even Christians then often go from one extreme to the other. There's Christians who then say, oh we should be all about love, or oh we should all be about doctrine and you know telling things that are wrong. Both are extremes that are unbiblical on their own. There's a road, a biblical road that we should walk on. One ditch is where you have right doctrine and you call out false teachers, you hate evilness. It's good, which is good. Jesus says, it's good. You should do that. But they are lacking love, which we'll get to now. And then the other thing is people say, oh, it's all about love. We don't talk about those kind of, you know, we don't, you know, whatever. It's like, no, you should. You should. You need to test them. You need to call them out. You need to find them false. You need to hate false teaching. We need both. It's not an either or. It's not an either or. We need the blessed hatred and we need The blessed love, which here in their situation is cursed because they're loveless. They have lost their first love. And now we get to that second aspect of this sermon then. All these things so far, Ephesus, well done, well done. You're making your Lord proud in your testing of false teachers and your hatred of false teachers. That's good. I also hate that. That's good. Commend it. Now comes the condemnation. Verse 4. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. What? He's saying that There's just this, like, love is missing, and that's somehow such a big deal. It's a deadly big deal. You're cursed without this. You're cursed without this. Even though all these other things are good and right and you should, but without love you are ultimately nothing. Sound familiar? The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, if I could do this and that, if I had all the prophetic powers, but had not love I would be like a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal. You have abandoned the love you had at first. And notice now what Jesus then says. He's not just saying there's a little thing that you need to work on a little bit, but it's fine. Work on it and you'll get there. Jesus is not just pointing out a little thing. He specifically then says, remember five. So, you have abandoned the love you had at first. Okay, so what are they now to do? Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. And then Jesus says, if not, if this doesn't change, it's not a minor thing, if not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Your days are done. You're done. if you do not repent of this. It's not just that you would be even better if you did this and you'd somehow be a more mature and even better. You know, but okay, I understand that you're kind of lacking in that. It's okay. You still got all these other good things and it's fine. No, Jesus says, even as good as these other things are, if you lack this and if you do not repent, you will be cut down. You're no longer my church because you lack love. What love then? What love? What does Jesus say? Love toward whom? Is Jesus saying love toward God? Love toward other Christians? What is He talking about? Love toward God? Love toward other Christians? Love toward unbelievers? Evangelism? Maybe husbands loving their wives? Wives loving their husbands? Fathers loving their children? What is He talking about? Which love? Yes. Yes. I believe the point is here. Love in its fullness, which is all those things. And it's interesting, when we actually look at the letter of Ephesians, love is a very central theme. As I was preparing for this sermon, I was like, I need to go and read Ephesians again. I've preached the whole book of Ephesians, but it's been a while and I don't remember it all. I was like, looking at the book of Ephesians, does the book of Ephesians say anything about love? And then I looked it up and was like, whoa, it does say quite a lot of things about love. Let me just give you a snapshot. Ephesians. Turn in your Bible. Ephesians 1 verse 15. We'll do this quickly. Ephesians 1 verse 15. For this reason, because I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I did not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you all in my prayers." About 30 years before they received this letter from Jesus in the book of Revelation, they received a letter from the Apostle Paul, and Paul says, you know what? I've heard about how faithful you are, you trust Christ. And not only that, I've heard about your love toward all the saints. I've heard that this church in Ephesus, they just love Christians and they display, you know, they're like a display of godly love toward other believers and that's great. And He prays for that. Well, this love had dried up and disappeared. Now, when Jesus says, remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the works you did at first, if not, I will come and remove your lampstand. So, love toward believers, yes. Well, what other kind of love? Ephesians 3, verse 17. What does Ephesians say about love? Paul, as he prays for the church in Ephesus, he says, Ephesians 3, verse 17, "...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." So he says that you're rooted. They loved believers, they loved others, and they themselves were just like rooted and grounded in love. And Paul says that you might be that even more and that you might know the love of Christ. So because of the love of Christ, you love others and you're rooted in that love. This seems to describe the church in Ephesus then at the time, he's not telling them, Paul is not saying repent of your lack of love. He's saying that you're doing well and I hope you're doing even more basically. Well let's continue on Ephesians chapter 4 verse 2. with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." So he's talking about here that you're to walk in this manner, and again, the Christian love toward one another, and the difficulty, you know, bearing with one another, and difficulty in helping one another, and disappointment, and bitterness, whatever. No, you help when in love you seek to do these things and you're eager to maintain the unity. And that's what they were doing and that's what they were called to do. But apparently somewhere along the way this church, maybe because of the pressure of all the false teaching and so forth, but they started losing their love. They started losing their love, which is now at this point, which is cursed lovelessness that they need to repent of. Well, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15, what does it say there? It says, rather speaking the truth in love. They still had that truth aspect, but now they apparently were lacking the love aspect. It's still good what they called false teachers for what it is, but they were to speak the truth in love. Apparently even this was missing in them now. Maybe it's just more this cold-hearted judgment of things, which is still good and right to judge, but now they were lacking that love aspect, which makes them cursed. Ephesians 4.16, then it says there at the end, when each part, talking about the church, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. So the church itself builds itself up in love, which now they were missing. Chapter 5, verse 2, it says, And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. So be imitators of God, beloved children, walk in love. So Christ loved us again because Christ loved us that reality that you're walking in love and truth and you're loving other people, you're loving God first and foremost. But this was apparently now missing in their life that was there in the past as a church collectively. Obviously, people come and go and in 30 years, if it seems like it was over 30 years, maybe many of the people who were back in the church in the time of Ephesians were no longer there. Maybe there's new people. I don't know. Things change and happen. But as a church collective, they no longer had this and they were called to repent of it. Chapter 5, verse 25. Two more places in Ephesians. Ephesians 5, 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. So even this love theme relates to that we are to know that Christ loves the church, and because Christ loves the church, husbands are to love their wives. to be willing to give themselves for their wives and to cleanse them by the washing of water and with the word and all these aspects. So even love within the marriage is connected to this. Then, finally, and I would say in some ways most importantly, in Ephesians 6.23, notice how Paul ends the letter to Ephesians. Ephesians 6.23, peace to the brothers and love with faith. from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who, notice, love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. Paul says, grace to who? Those who love the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who love the Lord Jesus Christ. And this love is the thing that it's all based on. Because you love the Lord Jesus Christ, then you love others who are belonging in the family of Jesus Christ. Then you love unbelievers because you want to tell them the truth. You love your wife, your husband, you love your children. And you walk in love and you speak the truth in love. And all these things flows from love toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And when this is missing, it is cursed. When this is missing, it is cursed. If you do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, you are cursed. Your life is cursed and you need to repent of that as quickly as possible. And if you find that in your Christian life, your love toward Christ has grown, cold, you still have love toward Him but it's grown cold and it's not as strong as it used to be, then you need to repent of that and rekindle that love and think about Him, pray to Him, ask for His forgiveness, confess your sins and be restored to that. What Jesus says, apparently it's possible for the church to do this here. Jesus says you need to remember where you have fallen and repent and do the work you did at first. Think about In the beginning, when you became a believer, when you started this journey, you had this love for God, and now you've walked away from Him more and more. No, repent and return to Him. And if you don't, He will remove the lampstand of the church. In 1 Corinthians 16, I need to read this because this is important, and I do want to end with this. 1 Corinthians 16. Verse 22. I remember one time, I was actually first time I was ever in America. I was on my own, young man, what was I, 18? And I sat in the shepherds conference. on my own there first time, I happened to sit next to a pastor preacher who I actually knew about, somewhat well-known. So I knew about him all the way from Finland, and I happened to just randomly sit next to him. I was like, oh, that's him and him, or like, oh. Anyway, as I was sitting there as a young man, I didn't remember what the preacher was saying and what he was talking about, really. But I remember that this pastor, as we were listening to the sermon there, and it related to what he was saying. The pastor wasn't preaching on this specific, but it came up into his mind, and he was just showing me. He showed me 1 Corinthians 16, verse 22. Notice how serious it is. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Some translations rightly anathema. This is Paul is calling down the judgment of God. If there's a man or woman who claims to be a Christian and has no love for the Christ, you're cursed. You're outside. You're cursed. It's not a minor issue. It's not a thing like, well, I believe those things. There's like, you know, I have right doctrine. I hate false teachers. I'm interested in Christian morality. I'm interested in a Christian worldview, or whatever those kind of things. It's like, if you cannot say that you love the Lord Jesus Christ, obviously with a failing love, and, you know, we always need to grow in our love. But if you have no love for the Lord, let Him be accursed. You are anathema. You are cursed. And apparently the church in Ephesus was in this situation. As a church, collectively, they had lost their love that they had at first as a church toward Christ, toward each other, in their gathering. And now they were good in discernment, good in hatred of evil, and Jesus commends them, well done. fail in this thing, and because you fail in this thing, even these good things will not save you, and if you do not repent, I will come and I will remove your lampstand, and you are no longer a Christian church. You are just a dead, outward, empty shell. We love the Lord Jesus Christ. We love the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Christianity is. And we often need to repent, Lord, forgive me of my lack of love, forgive me of my sin against the Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me of some of my cold-heartedness toward others, and all these things. And we need to constantly repent. But at the point when someone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, He is accursed, and it's showing that he does not have the life of God within him, and he is outside the Christian faith. It is not a minor detail. It is cursed. It is deserving of the judgment of God. Verse 7, back in chapter 2 of Revelation, "...he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." We need to hear this, we need to apply it into our hearts. And Jesus says, "...to the one who conquers." So the one who will repent, the one who will turn to Him, the one who will continue and take heed of this Word. I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God." I don't have time now, I've gone already, but the tree of life, Genesis chapter 3, verse 22, the tree of life, and then it will come in the end of the book of Revelation, chapter 22, verse 2 as well. There is a real tree of life. And all those whom Jesus says will repent and who will walk in joyful trust and love toward the Lord Jesus Christ, He will grant them. There will be one day that we will eat from the tree of life. And all of that comes because He is the author of life itself. And that is in the paradise of God that we have to look forward to. May we be men and women as individuals and as a Christian church who hate that which is evil, and loves the Lord Jesus Christ, loves others, and loves false teachers and unbelievers even enough to tell them that it is wrong. We don't just have this sinful hatred, no. We have to have righteous anger, righteous hatred, as the Lord Jesus Christ had. And that is what we should learn from the church in Ephesus, to be like them in discernment and hatred of evil and testing of false teachers, yes. but may it be a warning sign that we never, may it never be that 30 years from now this church would receive a letter that you've lost your first love. May it never be that we in our own life then receive in that sense a rebuke from God that we've lost our first love. May it never be And if we would to receive that, and even today, that we would then repent, confess our lack of love, and be rekindled. Remember what you did at first, return to that, and then that that love is seen in your actions. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank You. Thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one whom we worship. He is the one who by His blood has redeemed us from our sins. Lord, may we love the Lord Jesus Christ. And we confess our lack of love in so many ways. Our love is so failing, so fickle, and so insignificant in many ways, Lord. And we have to repent of this. But Lord, if we are truly believers, Lord, we do love Christ. He's our Savior. We have love toward Him. And may we remember this more and more, and to walk in this joyful trust and love in Him. May we learn about Him more, even in the book of Revelation, about His greatness, and what He says, what He does, what He warns about. And we'd be like, I love this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I love Him. He is my Lord, He is my Savior. And that this love is then seen in our love toward others, and in all aspects of life. Help us to learn from this. Help us to hate what is evil and love what is good. We ask that You would help us to apply these truths in our life and see where we are failing, and to continue in those things that we might be doing well. Help us in this, Lord. We pray that we might be men and women who heed the word of the Spirit that He says to the churches, and to then not only be hearers of the book of Revelation, but to be those who are doers, those who keep the word of this prophecy. So help us in this, Lord. This I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.