Good evening. Tonight we're going to look at Revelation chapter two. And we were at seminary, we had our last class last night and we were just finishing with eschatology. And tonight we're not going to focus on the future. We're going to focus on the present, on the here and now. And before we go to Revelation chapter two, let's just quickly go to the Lord. They are Lord Jesus Christ. You are the head of this church and Lord, we humble ourselves under your mighty name and father. You've got the ability to draw a straight line with a cricket stick. And tonight I ask that you hide myself behind the cross and let me be the voice of the one that's heading this church. And Father, I pray that we attend to your commands and your warnings. And Lord, that you can continue to bless us. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Revelation chapter 2, we're going to focus on the first seven verses, and let's read together. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say that they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for my name's sake, and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. Repent and do the first work, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Now, the book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ, a revelation of what He is currently doing, chapters 1 to 3 in Revelation, and what He will do in the future, that's chapter 4 to 22. Jesus, the head of the Church, sits in heaven on the right hand of God and is glorified, and His glory made John drop down as if dead in chapter 1 in a vision. Jesus is not passive. He didn't ascend into heaven hoping his church will be okay, hoping she gets it right, hoping she will be ready when he returns. No, he is actively involved to intercede for his church. He is glorified through the church. He is actively protecting her as we speak. He's evaluating her continuously. He's controlling her through his appointed leaders. He enjoys the victories and he lovingly purges from evils and sin. Jesus is holy and he requires his bride to be holy as well. And we will see from this passage tonight that he also judges those churches who do not repent from their sin. To this particular church in Ephesus, Jesus exposed the cancer within, abandoning the first love. And how will we fight lovelessness? How will we fight our weakening love for God? Well, Jesus in this passage will show us how. So the book of Revelation, there's a special blessing for reading this book and for those that hear and obey this book. That's in verse 3 of chapter 1. And it was written around about AD 94-96 by John who was exiled to the island of Patmos and he was about 90 years old when he received the vision from the Lord. And this book was written, all these letters were written to seven churches. actual churches in Asia Minor. And seven is the number for completeness in the Bible. And so we can say that these seven churches represent the church today. The book of Revelation provides a message of hope. God is in his sovereign control at all time in human history. And even if evil often seems pervasive and wicked men all-powerful, the ultimate doom is certain. Christ will come in glory to judge and to rule. So in the context of this book, of Christ coming back for his church, of the coming judgment in the tribulation period, of his millennium reign and the final white throne judgment day of the Lord and the start of the eternal state and the new heavens and the new earth. Let us hear the head of the church speaking tonight. He has something to say to NCBC. Let us obey his commands. Let us be encouraged by his commendations. Let us take heed of his warning and let us look forward to the promise and persevere. For the Lord Jesus loves His church. He loves NTBC. And He wants us to be absolutely spotless, holy, and faithful. So let's read. Jesus is giving the instruction to John to write to the churches. And the first church is the church in Ephesus, Revelation 2.1. The angel of the church of Ephesus. And he's writing to an angel And the Greek word here, angelo, means messenger, which is also angels. But in this particular context here, it's speaking to leaders, elders, pastors of churches in Ephesus. And Ephesus is the capital city in Asia Minor. It was a center of worship for Artemis, the Greek god, or Dihanna, whose temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Beautiful architectures there. And interesting enough is that Dihanna and Artemis is a male and a female name. And even back then, Satan tried to distort the gender lines. So the church in Ephesus had the best teachers as well. Paul ministered to the church in Ephesus for three years. Timothy and John all served in this church. They had wonderful, excellent, godly leaders. What can possibly go wrong? To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things say he who holds the seven stars in his right hand. Now, the seven stars in his right hand is Jesus' relation to his ministers. The ministers, or the pastors, or the elders of Christ are under his special care of protection. Forget about the stars in Hollywood. Jesus is holding Pastor David in his hand, a star. But He knows His stars, they are called and equipped by Him. They are a blessing to the church. He directs all the motions. He fills them with the light and influence. He supports them or else they would soon be falling stars. They are instruments in His hand and all the good they do is done by the hand through God, through Jesus. And then he walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. That's Christ's relationship towards his church. Christ is an intimate, in an intimate manner, he's present and familiar with his church. He knows and observes their state. He takes pleasure in them, as a man does to walk in his garden. Though Christ is in heaven, He walks in the midst of His church on earth, observing what is wrong in them and what it is they want. That is a great encouragement, that Christ knows our church 100%. Jesus is very much active in His church today. He's evaluating His church. He is perfectly in the know. His omniscience can't escape a thing. He is the all-knowing, all-knowing God. And he says in verse 2, I know your works. All of it. Jesus has total knowledge of his people, according to John 21 7. There's nothing that escapes the Lord's eyes. He sees both the good and the bad, and here the start of by commanding the church in Ephesus, by the good he sees. He says, I know your works, your labor, diligence in duty, careful, persistent work or effort for the kingdom. Christ says he sees that and he commands them. your patience, your steadfast endurance, your perseverance, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. Though we must show all meekness to men, we also must show a just zeal against their sin. Here the zeal was to be commended and praised by the Lord Jesus. And you have tested those who say that they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. The Ephesian church exercised spiritual discernment. It knew how to evaluate men who claimed spiritual leadership by their doctrine and behavior, as 1 Thessalonians 5 tells us. This is a sign of a church that was taught very well. A church where the truth was preached and taught. error can only be exposed in the light of truth. And so the church in Ephesus was faithfully doing so. They acted on what they knew and was obedient, even if it meant persecution, conflict, or difficulty. Christ praises his church for their diligence, for their discernment, and for their doctrinal purity. Verse 3. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary." For over 40 years since its founding, this church in Ephesus had remained faithful to the word of the Lord. Though through difficulties and persecution, the members had endured, always driven by the right motive, And that is for Christ's name and reputation. For 40 years they were faithful. And Christ keeps an account of every day's work, of what His servants does for Him. Isn't that encouraging? All the good that we've been doing in NCBC for what, almost 16 years even, Christ notifies. And he's aware of that and he praises us for that. These are things that we could imitate from the Church of Ephesus. Imagine how this letter was read in front of them. The messenger took it from John and gave it to the elder of the Church of Ephesus and the whole congregation was there as the letter was read. And imagine how these people were feeling. Yes, thank you, thank you. And then the problem, verse four, nevertheless, nevertheless. You know when somebody tells you that all the wonderful things, and then they say, but. You know, all the stuff before the but then gets thrown out the window. Almost similar thing that happens here. And you can imagine when this was read, the absolute silence and dumbstruckness from the Church of Ephesus. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. That is sin. That was sin. What a big blow. What? They didn't see this coming. They were doing all this faithful work, enduring for Christ, working hard, diligent for the Lord's name. And this? Silence. Big shock. Could it be that they got so busy with the things of God that they lost the sight of the God of the things? Were the things they were doing the problem? Absolutely no. We just saw Christ commending them for the good they have been doing. Jesus first observed what is good and praises the church for them. And now he also observed what is wrong. That's a loving thing from Christ. And he is faithfully rebuking them for that. The sin that Christ charged the church with was their decay and decline in the holy love and zeal. You have left your first love. They did not left or forsaken the object of it, but lost the fervent degree of an appropriate affection. A love for God that involved their whole being. See, our first affections towards Christ and holiness and heaven are usually alive and warmly. Just think back when you got saved, right? Then these lively affections will decline and cool if great care isn't taken and diligent use to persevere and preserve them in constant exercise. Now, Christ is grieved and displeased with his people when he sees them grow cold towards him. And he will, one way or another, make it known in a way that he does not approve. So the church at Ephesus forgot what it meant to be a Christian. For God, what it means to be a Christian. What the Christian life is all about. See, Jesus answered the scribe in Matthew 22, when the scribe asked him, what is the greatest commandment? And Jesus answered him and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Mark 12 30 adds strength as well, which is a direct quote from Deuteronomy 6 verse 5. This is the great, the first and the great commandment. God deserves our ultimate love. A love that involves all our heart, all our being, that ranges from our thoughts to our motives and our desires. A love that is complete. It's the kind of love God calls for. He's worthy of that love. And this was the case before. They did love God in the past, but now they left their first love. Now there's nothing wrong with their affections, their affections in itself. It was there all the time. Since we are created to love, so all our love will be directed to someone or something, but it is there. But they drifted from the one who offered himself for them for eternal life. Their love slowly started to shift from God, who is worthy of our highest affection, to a lower, inferior love. They started to love someone or something else, the creation instead of the creator. How is that even possible with fantastic, great leaders? Apostles, how is that possible? They had the best teachers. They had the most godly leaders. There was abundant church life. with ministries floundering and blossoming, not for a year or two, for 40 years. Is it possible that they can become puffed up with knowledge? Is knowledge then bad? Is it too much truth, dangerous for our spiritual health? Only when it's received without love. Only when it's received without love. So what made them to drift? Well, the text doesn't give us a clear answer. Maybe they didn't explain meaning to the next generation properly. Maybe the baton was handed over without teaching in the main ingredient, love, ultimate love for God. Maybe they started to neglect their personal quiet times with the Lord. Maybe they forgot how much they were forgiven. Maybe they forgot the cross and the personal encounter they had with Christ and the forgiveness of their sin for the weight and of the guilt that was removed for the joy and the gratitude of being born into the family of God. Maybe they forgot about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And that doesn't seem that they had much time for self-reflection. Times when they called to Jesus and cried to Him, saying, Are we glorifying You, Lord? Are You pleased with us? Show us. Let your word of your mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight." Maybe if they'd just turned to Deuteronomy 6, verse 5, the answer is big and loud. But they had an impressive CV, verse 2 and 3. But they are empty, worthless, meaningless, a clean symbol with no substance, no significance. Please turn to 1 Corinthians 13. And this was the motivation for the title of the sermon, the clanging cymbal. And this is the love chapter, which we all know very well. We're going to read the first three verses, and then verse 8 and 13. Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I become a sounding brass or a clinging 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 could remove mountains and have not love, I'm nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Verse 8, love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fall, but they will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will seize. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love. Love is eternal, and labor done Not in love is not. When Christ returns, there will be no need of faith, for we will see Him. There will be no need of hope, since we will be with Him. But what shall we do when we meet Him loveless? Suppose a wife and a husband tells each other, listen, I don't love you anymore, but nothing will change. I'll still make you coffee. I'll still provide for you. I'll still do this. Nothing will change, but I don't love you anymore. What's wrong with that? It's evil. It's wicked. It's not supposed to be like that. See, Jesus didn't ask Peter, Simon Peter, do you labor for me? Simon Peter, do you fight for the truth by catching the false teachers out, by hating sin and those who commit it? No. What is he asking? Simon Peter, do you love me? Three times. John chapter 21. See the dangers of dead orthodoxy is being faithful in service and careful in doctrine while our love grows cold. Her love grows cold. But Christ didn't leave it there. Gave them commendation, he praised them for their great work, and then exposed this cancer, the sin of lovelessness, and he gave a solution for that. The solution or the cure with a warning. And God's cure for lovelessness is three things. Remember, repent, and reward. Remember, repent, and reward. Verse five. Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Now the word remember appears around 253 times in the Bible. So many times God reminds his people to remember. Remember how God freed his people from Egypt. Remember the covenant vows. God asks us to remember, since he also remembers. He remembers his covenant with Abraham, and he remembers the promises of the new covenant, and he acts on it. And he is faithful and true to his word. Jesus is providing to the church in Ephesus, by contrast, that they have lost their first love. He knows it, Christ knows it, For he knows everything and has just revealed it to him. But they are apparently ignorant to this. And Jesus wants them to see for themselves to what extent the damage is. They need to get a first-hand shock, an internal audit, to see the extent of the apparently unaware damage and horror. There was a time when they loved Christ with all their hearts, minds, and strength. And Paul once commends them for exactly that, for their love for God. In others, in Ephesians chapter one, verse 15, they had it. They tasted the joy and the zeal for Christ that drove them with passion and fire. But many of the church founders had died, and many of the second generation believers had lost their zeal for God. They were very, very well taught in a busy church with good leaders, doing good deeds, pushing through the hardships and hurt, but drifted from the most important thing, love for Christ. If they look back and realize from where they have fallen, they would agree with Jesus. They would confess saying, yes, Lord. Yes, we see that, we have sinned. Oh, how much better it was with them then than now. How much peace, strength, and purity, and pleasure they have lost by leaving their first love. How much more comfortable they could lie down and sleep at night. How much more cheerful they would be when they're awake in the morning. How much better they could bear afflictions. And how much more they could enjoy the favors of providence. How much easier the thoughts of death were to them. And how much stronger their desires and hope were for heaven. See, remembrance brings confession. 1 John 1.19, if we confess, he is faithful and just to forgive. So remember, and then, verse five again, repent. Remember, and then repent. Repent and do the first works, or else I will come quickly and remove you from your lampstand, from its place, unless you repent. Repentance with a warning. Christ's shocking and true but accurate diagnosis of the church in Ephesus brought the unseen and underlining terminal cancer to the surface. He made it public for everyone to see. Repent. Repent. You can only repent if it's sin. The first and the greatest commandment is to love our Lord, our God, with all our hearts, all our minds, all our strength. If we don't do that, that's a sin. repent and do the first works. They must repent. There must be an inward grieve and a shame for their sinful weakening and fading love. They must blame themselves and shame themselves for the fact that their love grew colder and humbly confess it in the sight of God. And then as the fruit of genuine repentance, return and do the first works. They must, as it were, begin again, go back step by step, till they come to the place where they took the first false step. They must revive and recover the first zeal, the tenderness, seriousness, and must pray as earnestly and watch as diligently as they did when they first set out in the ways of God. And then a warning or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place." See, God says that judgment starts in the house of God. And I went through this. This was a heavy subject for me. Judgment starts at the house of God, 1 Peter 4, 17. That's a sobering reality. Not in the same sense as unbelievers, though. God, when God judges unbelievers, sends them straight to hell. Believers are secure in Christ always. John 10, 28. Christ intercedes for the church with the Father. He has promised that none of these will be lost, that he will complete what he started until the end. But God doesn't tolerate sin. Not even in his church. There's no license to sin. So how would it look like if God judges his church? Well, we see in 1 Corinthians 11, when the Lord's Supper was misused, we saw illness, we saw weakness, we saw death. Remember Ananias and Sapphira when they lied to the Holy Spirit? joylessness, public exposure, shame, and even shutting down ministries. And the Church of Ephesus is on the brink of losing their ministry. See, there can only be a benefit to the world if the light is shining from an elevated lampstand. Christ can't be glorified if love is absent. What's the use of a dark lampstand? Remove it and replace it with a lamp that shines brightly in this darkness. That is the warning of Christ to that church and to us tonight. He will un-church them, take away his gospel, his ministers, and his ordinances from them, and they will lose their ministry and effectiveness. I just want to read 1 Corinthians 3, verse 9 to 15, just to illustrate this sobering reality. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each one's work will become clear. For the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. And if the fire will taste each one's work of what sort it is, if anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss. But he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." You can smell the smoke on his garment. So close. So close. All things done in the name of the Lord, without love for Christ, is useless. And NCBC is not exempt from this sin. We too are blessed with a faithful pastor. We receive truth for around 16 years. Ministries are active. Although we can still grow in this ministries and service in the church, and we can even learn from the church in Ephesus tonight, we must examine ourselves. We must remember how it was when we first came to Christ and compare it to the love we have now. Has your love grown cold? Has your love grown? Do you love Him more? Because you have come to know Him better over the years, learn more of what He loves and what He hates, and align yourself with that. And the more you please Him, the more your joy and your eternal, internal fire is enlightened, ignited. If that is you, then praise God and thank Him and continue to serve Him with endurance, with joy up to the end. But if that's not you, brother or sister, repent. Repent, for the warning of God's judgment is hanging over our heads like a dark cloud. Remember from where you fell, repent and do the first works and now look forward to the reward. Verse six. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate." Here's another commendation from Christ. And these Nicolaitans were a problem in Pergamos. This here is similar to the teaching in Balaam that we see to the letter to Pergamos. And Uranius wrote that Nicolaus, who was made a deacon in Acts 6, has the credentials and was able to lead the church astray. And he later became a pastor. And like Bilal, he led the people into morality and wickedness, and the teaching perverted the grace and liberty with license. And so Christ is praising the church of Ephesus here again, saying, you hate that evil workers. I hate them too, and I praise you for that. And then he comes to verse 7, and he says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. The Holy Spirit speaks in the scriptures, and we know that from 2 Timothy 3.16 as well. All scriptures are God-breathed. And he is speaking to all churches, including Ephesus, and to us tonight. And the best use of our hearing is to listen to God's Word, and we deserve to lose it if we don't use it for its purpose. Those who will not hear the call of God now will wish at length that they had never had a capacity of hearing anything at all. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from a tree of life which is in the midst of the garden of the paradise of God. To him who overcomes. So according to John's own definition, to be an overcomer is to be a Christian. The Greek word for overcomer means conquer, to have victory, to have superiority or conquering power. And the word reflects a genuine superiority that leads to overwhelming success. The victory is evident. It involves overthrowing an enemy so that the victory is seen by all. And because of believers' union with Christ in his victory on the cross, they too partake in his victory. And I will give to each from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. If Adam just endured his trial, this could have been a reality for him. True believers enjoy the promises of heaven. We see that in Revelation 22, verse 2, Genesis 2, chapter 9. And the tree of life symbolizes heaven and continual blessing. There's abundant variety in heaven and it's full and it's satisfying. A promise of great mercies to those who remember, repent, and chase their reward and overcome. Everywhere in scripture we see this truth. that we must persevere to the end to be saved. Warfare against sin, Satan, the world, the flesh. We know that saving faith is enduring faith. That's one of the lessons of Job. And Jesus has promised not to lose any one of his children. You are secure in Christ. But our responsibility is to push through, to endure, to be faithful until the end. For the warfare and the victory shall have a glorious triumph and reward. The church in Ephesus did persevere. They labored hard for 40 years. They endured hardships and did not get weary. That was not the problem. The problem was that it was done without the love of God. With inordinate affections toward the head of the church, Jesus Christ. But the loving and the caring message from Jesus to this church is, remember the time when the fire was burning, when the love for Christ was the fuel and the reason for all the diligent and hard labor. And contrast that with your current situation. Realize the wrong, the error of the sin and repent. Do then the first work and persevere. Keep on pressing towards the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. There is reward. And yes, we can and we must work for reward and glory. And at the same time be grateful for God's enabling grace. But the reward is in heaven. The reward is being with the one you love the most. The reward is heaven. The reward of heaven must influence my actions today, here and now. The yearning of loving God perfectly in his presence when he returns or take me home must motivate me to serve him faithfully, now, here. So is good teaching the problem? Is truth the problem? Is Godly leaders the problem? No. That is a blessing from the Lord. The problem is with us. The problem is that we left our first love, making us a clanging symbol, lifeless and empty, meaningless and dead, useless, bringing no glory to God and no benefit to this world. But Jesus loves his Christ too much. He loves his church too much to leave them to their own devices. He intercedes for her. He protects her against evil and evil men. He shines forth his glory through her, and he encourages her for a job well done and for her faithfulness. But he also warns her. He exposes filth and dirt that spoils her clean garment. He wants his church perfectly holy. He wants to bless her and use her as a blessing in this dark world. Let us listen to the head of the church tonight. Let us examine our own hearts and remember the time when we had zeal and passion for our Lord Jesus Christ. And let us compare that to now. Is there a decline? Have the eyes of your heart moved away from its only and ultimate love? Slowly started to love something else or someone else? If so, then we are in serious danger. We are in serious danger of being shut down. So if that is you, Do not delay. Respond in haste. Obey the Lord's command and repent and do the first works and then look forward to the reward of being with Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Repent or remember, repent and reward. Let's pray. Dear Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the knowledge that our Lord Jesus is active in His Church, even now as we speak, Lord. His sovereign control. His omniscience. He sees everything. He knows everything. He protects us. He intercedes for us. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for your protection. Thank you so much for your evaluation of NCBC and Church Universal. Thank You for purifying us, Lord. And tonight we want to ask that if our love has grown cold, Holy Spirit, please point that to us. Help us to see that, to repent of that, and do the first words. Work in us a holy zeal, a love for Christ, a fire that's ignited from within, Lord. And let us, all of our work and ministry that we do in this church, that will be done out of a heart warm and motivated, full of zeal for the head of this church, Jesus Christ. Remind us of the gospel. Remind us of how much we've been forgiven. Lord, thank you for your faithfulness. This I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.