If you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Revelation chapter 2. Let me read the first seven verses, the Lord's message to both the angel and the church at Ephesus. 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 has borne, and has patience, and for my name's sake has labored, and has not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his 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. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." There are any number of reasonable and respectable views of the book of Revelation. My uncle and my chief mentor at the beginning of my ministry held to a historical or historicity view of the book. It was a panoramic view of the history of the church from that point till the second coming. A lot of respect for that view, but it's not mine. How we view a book will in large part determine how we interpret it as we go. I view the book, and I'm an odd duck, and I confess that I am. But my view of the book of Revelation is it's the same as the other books of the New Testament. It is a letter to believers in Christ to encourage, to teach, and instruct them today about how they should live and serve God. In the beginning of the book, John mentions two markers of time. He says, what I'm going to write you is things which must shortly come to pass. And the other point, the time is at hand. This is not long-term prophecy, it's short-term and it's immediate spiritual truth that those seven churches needed, that you and I need today. Beginning in verse 17 of chapter 1 to the end of chapter 3, Jesus is the speaker. Beginning with chapter four, John describes interactions with angels. He talks with them, they talk with him, they point him and lead him to different revelations that he narrates to us. So what we're reading here is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've recently been preaching on the teachings of scripture that use a comparison to us, to humanity or to human beings, to give us truths that we need to understand about God. We have two of those notices or ideas here. He holds the stars in his right hand. When Tyler came up to speak, did you see a cosmic right hand wrap around him? Do you see a big right hand wrapping around me now? I don't think so. The idea there is support, there is guidance, there is control, there is protection, there is benefit. The right hand in scripture is always the hand of blessing. The other comparison is that he walks among the candlesticks. there's a key enlightenment that Jesus gives us. Just as when he spoke the parables and the disciples asked him to explain them, he gave them the meaning. And here, Jesus himself gives the meaning of stars and candlesticks. Chapter 1, verse 20, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, the messengers of the seven churches. I believe the pastors, they're the messenger who preach the gospel to the Lord's people. And the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. The history of the church at Ephesus we can learn in terms of its beginning in the book of Acts, beginning in chapter 18 and through a portion of chapter 20. It's a church rich in history. There are a lot of interesting and informative events that occur in that record. Paul was the beginner of that church. You've heard me preach on this before, but I'm not going to preach the same sermon I preached last time, so pray for me. Turn for the moment to 1 Timothy, Paul's letter to the young preacher Timothy. Chapter one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God, our savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Sometimes people in modern churches say, what do you mean you primitive Baptist hope? What's this idea of hope? Jesus Christ is your hope. Paul in Colossians said, Christ in you is the hope of glory. That's not wishful thinking hope, that's assured anticipation with joy hope. Timothy my own son in the faith and grace and mercy and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord ah notice now as I besought thee to abide still where at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that Thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith. So do Now the end of the commandment, Paul said he's an apostle by the commandment of God. The end, the purpose, the objective of the commandment of God that made Paul an apostle is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. from which some, having swerved, have turned aside into vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm." At least for a period of time after Paul started this church, he leaves Timothy there to serve as a continuing pastor to establish and frame these people and grow them stronger in their faith. We don't know how long Timothy remained. There's no record that I'm aware of that says Timothy was there for 10 years or 50 years. It's interesting that early Christian history identifies that after John was released from the prison isle of Patmos and was allowed to leave the prison island, he spent his final years in Ephesus as a part of that church. So this church has a very special place in his heart along with Paul's. In all of the seven letters that Jesus speaks to the seven churches, one thing stands out as common to all seven. Verse two, I know, I know. That could be disarming, it could be greatly comforting. Think about the symbolism. He holds the stars in his hand, his right hand. A person has to have had the experience of preaching to really appreciate what Paul is saying here. You can hear any number of people stand up before the Lord's people and speak and talk, but that's not preaching. Preaching is not how a person speaks. It's not preaching because you sing-song your words. It's not preaching because you magnified your volume to the point that people's ears hurt. Preaching is the content, the truth revealed by what the man says. His own mannerisms will often determine how he says them. But preaching the gospel is not some man getting up and giving you his personal philosophy about Christians and Christianity. If he doesn't give you what God says and what God in the form of Jesus holding him in his hand directs him to say, I'm not talking about pouring grace and sermon here and it comes out your mouth, I'm talking about sanctifying and blessing the message with power, not only in his words, but power in your heart when you hear those words. He can whisper the words, but if the words are sanctioned by the Holy Spirit, they cut and touch your heart. That's preaching. And it only comes from a man who is being held in Jesus' right hand. There's more. He walks among the churches. There's a long list that Jesus gives here of what he knows. When we talk about the attributes of God, many times we condense the attributes of God to certain omni words, omniscient, omnipotent. Omniscient means all-knowing. Well, yes, he's all-knowing, he knows everything. Tyler mentioned it in terms of judgment. No man can keep a secret from God, never. Some wicked people in the Psalms thought they could, but God laughed at them, no way. And in the setting that we have here, it's not just impersonal divine omniscience. It's the fact that the Lord has a personal, intimate knowledge based on personal observation of everything that goes on in his churches. The good, the bad, the ugly. People who are Too caught up in themselves will say, well, I want to control the church and I will use this or that strategy to control the people and get them to do what I want. Do you think Jesus doesn't know that? It's not your church, it's his church. Do we want to do what we want in church or do we want to do what he wants us to do in church? Whose church is it anyway? He said to this church and to the others, I know what's going on in this church. I want to flip the coin of that thought though. I would venture if I went around the room, every person in this room, what's weighing heavy on your heart today? What's weighing heavy on your heart today? Every person would have something different to say, right? Let me give you a comforting reality. Jesus knows. He knows what weighs your heart down. He knows what weight that you feel is burdening your soul to the point of breaking. He knows. And He cares. He knows what trials you're going through. He knows what disappointments that cut you to the bone and are breaking your heart. He knows and he cares. We sing a hymn sometime, come what may of joy or sorrow. It goes on, Jesus knows, Jesus knows. It should be one of the most comforting truths in our life. Whatever is breaking your heart, He knows. And what does he do? When you're in church, he's ministering to that very thing in your heart and giving you grace and insight and peace and love and reminding you, I know and I care and I'm with you in the corner when you're facing that adversary as big as a building on the other side of the ring. I know. Oh, what a blessing. Do we overlook that jumping at the messages and the details of the churches to realize that this is an amazing place where we can sit down with all of our private thoughts, but with the realization he knows, he knows what I need and he's able to give it. Paul says, I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. If you've given something to Jesus, don't worry about it getting lost. What are those little apple things you put on your keys so you don't lose them? Air tag, yeah. Saturday I tease about me. often at this stage of life, you need something to make you a little more stable when you're walking around. I have my leaky canes, that's the brand name, and I have them and I carry them around, and then I get busy and I'm feeling pretty steady on my feet, so the canes where I laid it down, and I'm in another room, where's my cane? I need that AirTag, where is it? I need to find it. you never have that problem with the Lord never he knows this church was a church that if you look at the book of Ephesians and we would say was incredibly well grounded in the basic doctrines of salvation by grace. How could you read the first two chapters and not understand that? Paul writes doctrines of salvation by grace you know, as an everyday truth to these people, not as a defense to unbelievers, but as an affirmation of what they believe and to confirm them in this glorious truth of God's eternal sovereign salvation by grace. There's no rebuke to the Ephesus Church in Paul's letter. But by the time he leaves or at the time he leaves Timothy to continue the work, it would appear that Paul had some concerns. Frivolous questions are a part of our carnal human nature. Any more? I try to be more patient as I get older and I'm still working on it, pray for me. But when people ask me these silly hypothetical questions, what would have happened if Adam and Eve didn't eat the forbidden fruit? I don't know and you don't either because Scripture doesn't say. And the more you invest in silly questions like that, the more you're wasting valuable time you could spend studying God's Word. No answer except an imagination, which scripture says the gospel throws out and cast down. And more often than not anymore, I'll say, I don't know, I don't find a scripture that says anything about that. So let's talk about something the scripture does teach us. Jesus finds one major fault with this church. fault that threatens her existence. You have left your first love." Commentaries go all over the map. Your first love, your love of the truth of the gospel. Others, your love of the brethren and the fellowship. And others, your love of Jesus and of God. So which is it? Yes, to all of the above. And don't you find it interesting that Paul teaching Timothy that there are some problems he needs to address in the church at Ephesus? The end of the commandment by which Paul was made an apostle is that the end result is to teach people the reality of charity out of a pure conscience. We like to create tension where there is none in the Word of God. Example. There are many modern Christians today. You find this often stated in some of the megachurches. Well, history proves doctrine divides, love unites. So let's just forget about doctrine and love each other. First of all, doctrine means teaching. The very motto they just quoted is doctrine. So they're not. And I have learned in many cases, they may want to show a lot of love, but the minute they learn you have a different view of salvation and of God than they, they don't show the love they profess. I don't think we have that problem. We may, as a people, because of our belief, be more in danger of the problem with the church at Ephesus. It would appear this church was sound as a dollar. Well, sounder in their doctrinal beliefs. But the Lord still warned them. We talk about churches and people and if they're sound, that preacher's sound. I've never heard him preach anything except the gospel that's as pure as I can know it. Wonderful. I've heard true doctrine preached from pulpits, but the man that preached it didn't show a whole lot of love in the way he preached it. Heard that? Oh yeah. The requirement of scripture, the weight of the gospel, and the weight of the one who holds the preacher in his hand, It's not only that we be sound in the doctrine, but preach it in love. It's not a juxtaposing doctrine versus love. It's the uniting of the two together in harmony. Jesus was not talking about feeding sheep in the last chapter of John when he had that seaside conversation with Peter. Peter, how much do you love me? Three times, three variations of that question. And three times Jesus answered, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. When Brother Ed Green was ordained to the ministry, he requested that I preach the charge. I use that passage as my charge to Brother Ed. I don't know a man who ever lived in my memory who more tried to live by that charge in his life and his ministry. He exuded in the pulpit and out his love for the Lord and his people. We think of repentance as you really get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, you know, God's cookie jar. You did something really awful, you know, moral stink bomb. Well, if you're caught, you need to repent. How about, don't you need to repent if you're not caught too, if it's an offense against the Lord? Amen. I agree. However, Jesus says to the Ephesian church, if you're not balanced with love, with your doctrine, you need to repent too. In his commentary, the book of Ephesians, Bob Utley, this gives us a really good working definition of repentance. Repentance is a willingness to change from one's self-centered existence to a life informed and directed by God. It calls for a turning from the priority and the bondage of self Basically, it is a new attitude, a new worldview, a new master. Amen. There's no church in Ephesus today. I don't know what happened, but something happened that the Lord didn't approve. We have confessions and articles of faith. They're important. They're biblical. I believe the future of this church right here is not just dependent on our doctrinal soundness, but just as much on how strongly we maintain the bond of love between us and between us and the Lord. Those two kind of go hand in hand. I've skipped over some things in this letter, but I hope I've hit some highlights. I want to close with 1 Corinthians 13. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Think about this. I can speak with a silver tongue, I can hang you on the clip with my words, but if those words are not spoken in love, I might as well be... It's just that useless without love. 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 and have not charity, I am nothing. Zip, zero. Churches build reputations and churches need to maintain their reputation. We maintain a reputation of love, how we treat each other, how we treat strangers, and how we think about the Lord. Let's keep a strong testimony to the love of God right here in Bellflower. God bless.