The Church at Ephesus | Chris Chadwick | Revelation 2:1-7 — Chris Chadwick

Take your Bibles this morning, turn to the Revelation, the last book in the Bible. If you're new to church, the Revelation, all the way at the back, chapter two. If you did not receive a Bible study handout when you came in and you would like one from a, one of our handsome, happy ushers, would you raise your hand and they will pass that out to you if you would like one and did not receive one. Revelation chapter two in your Bible this morning. And you can get that Bible study handout from one of our greeters or ushers. We are continuing our study in the book of Revelation. We started in chapter one a, couple of weeks ago, three weeks ago, and this is our fourth message, in the study of the Revelation. Now we're entering into chapter two, and if you remember, from our study in the, in chapter one, the book of Revelation is really easy to lay out. much easier than most books in the Bible.

Not easiest to always understand because it's apocryphal in nature, but it is one of the easiest to lay out because it tells us in verse number 19 of chapter one kinda how it's laid out. And he says, "Write the things which were, which, you've seen, the things which are and the things which shall be." So tell me what happened in the, what you saw, tell me the things that are, and tell me the things that will be hereafter, verse number 19. And chapters two and three are the things that are. They are Jesus' letters to seven different churches in Asia Minor or what we would call modern-day Turkey. this is the letter that we'll study today to the church at Ephesus. This passage, verse one to seven, is probably, there's some speculation here on my part, no way to know for sure, but from my experience, the most preached of all of the churches in this passage of scripture.

And Jesus is writing here to the church at Ephesus a very important letter that I think is very helpful for us as a church family. Now each one of these different churches are going to teach us some lessons about ourself and our church, and they will be incredibly important and valuable for us to understand. don't know if you've ever been to maybe anywhere in the Roman Empire, Greece or Rome or the Middle East, but Debbie and I saw a theater very similar to this in Caesarea Maritima, when we went to, Israel. And you can literally stand in the front of the podium or the platform, if you will, and you could almost whisper, and the person that's furthest away can hear you. The engineering in these places was just fantastic for the time. It was amazing. Ephesus was a free city, self-governing within its limits. No Roman troops were garrisoned in the city of Ephesus.

It was, a city that hosted, Olympic events similar-- that rivaled Olympic events similar to the Olympics. they would have had, a major harbor, that picture that you keep seeing there, a major harbor in the province. And, by law, all incoming Roman governors had to enter into Asia through Ephesus and primarily, we believe, through this harbor. It was located on the Kayster River, about three miles, upriver, from where it is, or six miles upriver from where it is located today. It was located in a very important junction of four of the most important Roman roads in Asia. And I say that to say this, if you take a city that is, at the center of the four most important roads, land travel, and the most important harbor, you're going to have a city that is very well-to-do. Very well-to-do. one of the, contemporaries of Christ, a geographer named Strabo, described Ephesus as the market of Asia.

It would kind of be like, in some ways, a cross between the port city of New Orleans and the affluence of New York City, just to put it in perspective for you, to help you to understand what is going on at Ephesus. You say, "Pastor, why are you telling us so much?" 'Cause it's invaluable to the text, of Scripture, and we won't deal this much with every city because we don't have that much information, but Ephesus we certainly do. Of all of these things about Ephesus, it was most famous not for its harbor and not for its roads, but it was most famous as the center of worship to the goddess Diana or Armatus. a point of great civic pride, and this is the all that remains of the temple today is the, statue or the pillar there in the back and the statue there in the foreground of that picture. It's all that's there, but that's where the prominent landmark of the day. The temple to Artemis was its most important place in all of the city.

Its inner shrine was supposedly sacred, and because of that, it served as one of the most important monetary or money banks in all of the Mediterranean world. It was a very popular bank. The temple was surrounded by a sanctuary place, if you will. If you were in the temple region, you could not be arrested. So it was a very well-known area for criminals who would go there to seek refuge, and they would not be arrested if they were in the general region of the temple to Armatus Further, the sale of items to Artemis or Diana provided a great source of income to the city. And there was a spring event, a month-long festival that was held in honor there every single year.

And it was probably this in 1 Corinthians 6:8, 16:8 that led the Apostle Paul to go to this city and to begin an evangelistic campaign to reach people there in Ephesus with the Gospel of Christ, and he had a team that we'll talk about in a moment that go with him, that went with him. The worship of Artemis was unexplicably vile. Unexplicably vile. Diana was one of the most gross and hedonistic of all of the ancient gods in the, Greco-Roman world. Her idol was a gross, multi-breasted monstrosity, popularly believed to have fallen from heaven. The temple was attended by numerous priests that took care of the temple, eunuchs, and slaves. Thousands, literally thousands of priestesses, who were little more than ritual prostitutes, played a major role in the worship of Diana. The temple grounds were a chaotic cacophony of priests, prostitutes, bankers, criminals, musicians, dancer, and dancers, and frenzied, hysterical worshipers.

It's really unlike anything that we would see in the Western world today. Really unlike anything we would see in the Western world today. in January, I'll be going, with the Garzas and some other pastors to Cambodia. And, we'll leave Cambodia and take some of our missionaries over to Bangkok with us, and we'll have a time of fellowship with them there. And we will... If you've ever been to Bangkok, and you've been on the BTS, the Bangkok Transit System, there's walkways that go all throughout the BTS and lead you to the different parts of the metropolitan area in Bangkok. And if you go downtown, there's a place, I've shown many pictures of it throughout the years, there's a shrine, if you will, to Vashti, the Hindu god. In a Buddhist country, but the Hindu god. And if you go there, the statue is gold, and, there is a chaotic cacophony of worshipers and charlatans that are there.

And people will go there, and they'll pay money to release birds out of cages. If it wasn't so tragic, it would be comical because you can sit on top of the BTS on the, like 50 feet up, just on a walkway And watch all of this transpire, how people will pay, like, three or four dollars, and they'll pay to release the birds, which is an act of kindness, out of a cage. And so they'll pay the guy that owns the birds, who gives a part of the cut to the people that own the land and the statue, and so they'll pay the guy. And there's hundreds, if not thousands, of people here at any given time throughout the day. And they'll pay that money, and they'll release the birds, and the birds will fly away, and the guy who paid, the folks who paid the money, will pray a required prayer, and then they will leave.

And as they leave and walk around, this is not an exaggeration, I've seen it happen so many times, the birds will fly around in a circle, and then they will fly right back into the cage they were just let out of. I mean, it's comical and tragic all at the same time. People will come in to offer flowers to Vashti, and they will, they will pay money to the florist for these beautiful yellow flowers that they'll lay down at the, on the statue to Vashti. And they'll take that money and buy the flowers and lay the flowers down, and they'll say their ceremonial prayer, and they'll pray, with some incense. They have to buy the incense, and they'll pray with some incense. And then they'll get up, and they'll walk out. And as they walk out, and literally before they're around the next corner, I mean, you can just... You watch it happen every single time. And the folks, I guess, know it will happen.

But the, owners of the flower, the flowers, the florist, will go take the flowers off of the, statue, put them back in their buckets, and sell them to the next person that makes their way through. It's very similar, minus the sensuality part. It is very similar to what would have went on in Ephesus Paracelitus, who was a philosopher in Asia Minor said this, that no one could live in Ephesus who did not weep over her immorality. It was a massively immoral place In the midst of this economic and political behemoth that was a vast wasteland of broken lives, God in his goodness, chapter two, verse number one, allowed an amazing church to be built. It was amazing. In this broken world, and I want to remind us today that the power of God is greater than the brokenness of our world. And the gospel is greater than your sin, and forgiveness is available regardless of what you have done. It's not dissimilar from what Dr.

Julie Slattery wrote in her wonderful book, Rethinking Sexuality, God's Design and Why It Matters, when she said this, "How many of us sought God when we were, when we too were in a desperate circumstance? An abortion, an addiction, a divorce, a betrayal, shame that won't go away. These are the things that drove many of us to faith in Christ. When life no longer worked for us, we became open to a gospel that was once offensive and irrelevant to us." This is the seed of the soil that the gospel would cultivate in Ephesus. In Ephesus. The church at Ephesus was a, had a very rich heritage. Priscilla and Aquila, two of Paul's companions in Acts chapter 18, introduced the city to the gospel. Apollos soon came after and helped them. Apollos was a great preacher and a, and an apologist for the gospel, and the three of them laid a groundwork that Paul would come in and in his ministry, he would, he would start a church.

Paul would stay at that church for three years. He would stay connected to that church for quite some time, and it stood the test of time for a long time. But four decades later, when John the Apostle writes the words of Jesus to the church at Ephesus, things have changed, and it starts out in verse number one of our passage this morning with Christ's depiction of himself. Now, I'm gonna define a word that is not related to Christ, it's related to the church, but everybody always asks. When it says, "Under the angel of the church at Ephesus," and you're gonna read that seven times if you're to read chapters two and three, the angel of the church. The word angel here simply means messenger. It's pastors of the churches, that seems to be the most logical meaning that is involved. We see Christ's description of himself, and Christ is writing the pastor of the church at Ephesus, and he depicts himself in this verse.

In the middle of the verse, if you'll look there with me in verse number one, says, "These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of seven golden candlesticks." Christ is reminding his church of his authority over the church, his empowerment of the church, his protection of the church, and his presence in the church. Christ is reminding them of this. We don't have time to go back to chapter one verse number 13 and following, that depict the power of Christ in John's depiction of Christ. Jesus in, the Revelation is not the suffering Savior of the Gospel, and he's not the babe in the manger of the Gospel. In the Revelation, he is the eternal judge, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Lord with a sword that proceeds out of his mouth that is for all churches to understand, and it's for you and I to understand. Amen.

Jesus is not always demonstrated in Scripture as this humble little baby in a manger. Is he humble? Yes. Did he come in a manger? Yes. Is he like that now? No. That's right. He is No... like that at all. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the judge of the universe, and he is speaking to the church at Ephesus, helping them to know his desire. And he starts off in verse two and three with a commendation of the church. "I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and how thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and found them liars." Notice the second word here. Jesus is referring to himself. He says, "I know." The word know is self-evident, but here it's a little deeper. The word know speaks of a progress of knowledge. It it reflects a full or complete knowledge.

It depicts here the absolute cleanness of mental vision which photographs all fact of life, facts of life as they pass. This is what Jesus says, "I know everything about you, church at Ephesus." Right. "There's nothing that you have that I don't understand." Yeah. "There's no words that you have, there's no actions you can make that I don't already understand." And he says, "I know," verse number two, "I know thy works." He knows their service to the cause of Christ, their works. This is really helpful for us to understand. I'm saying I know what you've done. I know the result of your work. I know the result of your employment. I know the result of what you're working. I I've seen the progress. I've seen the end state. And then he begins describe, to describe what it is. I know thy works. I know thy labor.

The word labor means hard work or strenuous labor, that which induces stress, even brings about, here's what it says, fatigue and sweating. Now think of that for a minute. This is what Jesus is saying. Church at Ephesus, you've worked yourself to the point of fatigue and sweating. You've exhausted yourself for the cause of Christ. But what a counterintuitive idea to modern-day Christendom in so many ways. Yeah. Right. I mean, so often people don't mind Jesus as long as he requires nothing of them, and as long as they get to live their life exactly how they want to live it, with absolutely no sacrifice. And Jesus says, "Hey, I recognize you." And you're gonna see he's commending them. He's gonna say, "I see your hard work for the cause of Christ." Some of you have never studied your Bible so hard while I'm preaching. You're like, "This cannot be what it means." But no, you could look it up. This isn't a new thought.

Jesus would expect me to tire myself for Him? Bro, He died for you. That's right. He didn't just die in your place, He died as you on the cross of Calvary for your sin And he says, "I can recognize, I know, I see, I have the full understanding of your labor." Friends, can I encourage you? And if you're not a believer here this morning, if you don't know Christ as your savior, you could take a nap for a few minutes. I'll come back to you in just a second. All right? I mean that. But if you're a believer, you need to understand that serving Christ is not an hour and a half on a Sunday morning. Yeah. Right. Yes. Serving Christ is a lifetime of exhaustive labor for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who deserves more than we could ever give him. Yeah. And we could praise with our mouth, that's a wonderful thing, but if you praise with your mouth and you're lazy with your feet, your mouth means nothing. That's right. Amen. Amen.

I'll amen myself. Didn't have to do it at 8:30. Y'all should've came there. I'll do it at the 10:30 service. I'm not scared Their service to the cause of Christ. He commended their resilience in serving. Notice what he says in verse number two. "I know thy works, thy labor, and thy patience." Now, patience is associated with hope and refers to a quality of character which does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or to succumb under a trial. It's the same word we read about in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 that says, "Remember without ceasing your faith, your labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father." It is a character quality that does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial.

In other words, as the church at Ephesus was facing grave difficulty, and the folks of the church at Ephesus were being shunned for their faith in Jesus Christ, they did not give up because people ridiculed them. They didn't give up even because they lost their jobs. They didn't give up because, people-- friendships ended. No, they were patient. They kept moving forward over and over and over again for the cause of Christ I submit this to you. Being a Christian's too easy in America. Yeah. Yeah. It's too easy. I don't want it to get hard, I'm just saying it's too easy. Yeah. Because, like, people quit serving Jesus, leave church and never go back, and they say, like, "The church really offended me." And you begin to get in the weeds of, like, pardon me. You begin to get in the weeds of, like, "Well, what happened?" And they're like, "Well, there was a big church vote and things didn't go my way." "Well what did they vote on?"

"They were voting on should we have chairs or should we have pews. And I'm a traditionalist and I wanted pews, and those young whippersnappers voted in chairs, and that's it. I can't even sit in a chair." And I look at them like, "What are you sitting in now? But never mind, never mind." "I'm I'm just not going back." When an Ephesus believer, they were literally being Yeah... for their faith in Christ. Wow. Not a disagreement, persecution for their faith. And here is Jesus's commendation to them, "You've shown or demonstrated patience." And jump down to verse number three. We'll come back and finish up verse number two, but the way John writes is a little bit different than Paul writes. And so John says, "And hast borne, and hast patient..." The word patience. The word borne means to endure something unpleasant or difficult, whether on one's behalf or on the behalf of someone else.

You've literally put yourself under a burden of something unpleasant and difficult because of your faith in Christ or someone else's faith in Christ. And he reiterates this idea of patience. And this word patience is a little different. It means the power to withstand hardship or stress, especially the inward fortitude necessary to handle this kind of stress, this kind of discomfort This kind of internal suffering You've endured when you've been telling yourself that you don't think you can make it, and the only way that you can make it is by God's grace, and God continually gives you grace as you endure through this If you're a guest here or you're new to Canyon Ridge and you haven't heard me preach that much because of my sabbatical, I'll let you in on some insight. Like, I'm weird about certain things. I just am weird. I... There's no other way to say it. It's not even funny, it's just factual.

Like, I'm, I have a cold plunge at my house, and it's, like, set to, like, 45 or 43 degrees, depending on the day. And, I get in a cold plunge on a, on a very regular basis. Zane gets in one on a daily basis 'cause he's skinny and young. And, but I get one on a very regular basis for no reason other than to just be really uncomfortable. That's it. Why? 'Cause I just kinda feel like I get too comfortable in life. I live in a climate-controlled house. I drive a climate-controlled car. I pastor a climate-controlled church. Everything is really sanitary. Life is pretty easy to endure, not a lot of hardship in my life. And I realized something. I just need... The Bible commands us to endure hardness as a good soldier. Now, listen, the hardness of a cold plunge is not what Paul is talking about when he says that. But it's the idea of patience and endurance, that these people were not willing to quit under the most difficult of circumstances.

And Paul-- or I'm sorry, Jesus is saying, "I commend you for your willing to persevere, to work through, to be patient, to have resilience, to have resilience in serving, to keep on serving, to keep on serving. Good job, guys." Go back to verse number two. He says, "I know your works, labor, patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and how thou hast tried them which said they are apostles, and are not, and found them liars." Jesus commends their separation while serving. Every church that follows the Scripture We'll have to take a stand against evil at times. We just have to take a stand against evil. The world doesn't always understand that. There's times when we have to stand up and say there's things going on in our community, in our culture, in our world, and we just have to outrightly say like, "This is wrong And sometimes it's even with fellow believers.

And the Scripture actually requires a church that follows the Scripture to remove a member from membership who claims to follow Christ but is living in unrepentant, open sin and rebellion to the Bible. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we don't have time to exposit it this morning, but it's very helpful to us and gives us the requirements that we have to follow, when it comes to dealing with evil men that have to be removed from the church, and that's what Jesus is saying in verse number two. I can't-- "You cannot bear them which are evil." In the New Testament, evil is wicked or people who retreat in battle, one who is evil in himself and tries to get others in trouble. So the church has to, has to remove those folks and could not allow their sin to stay in the church because they tried to talk to the person who was a professing believer about it, and the professing believer just stayed in rebellion.

So over a period of time, the church finally had to say, "We have no other option than to remove you from our membership. See, 'cause when a person joins a church, here's what happens. You have an interview with a pastor or a leader in the church and you're able to demonstrate that you understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, Pastor, what is the gospel of Christ? If you're here and you're not a believer... Come back, all right? Come back. All right. Stop thinking about other stuff. Think about what I'm about to say. here's the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Christ is that you are a sinner, and so am I. Everybody on the face of the earth has sinned against a holy and righteous God. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Because of our sin, we can never be made right with God by anything that we have done.

The Bible says, "For by grace are you saved through faith, not of yourselves. It is a gift. Salvation is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." The gospel is understanding we're a sinner and understanding there's nothing you could ever do in your life to make that make yourself right with God. So God, in His goodness, sent Jesus from heaven to earth, no surprise to Jesus, from heaven to earth to die in your place on the Cross of Calvary. He did not die, listen to me clearly, He did not die as your representative on the cross. He died as you on the cross Big distinction. Well, Jesus died as the representative of mankind on the cross. No fret. He is the propitiation, 1 John chapter 2, verse number 2. He is the propitiation for our sin. He is the substitutionary payment for our, not our as mankind, our as the individual of man. He is the substitutionary payment for your personal sin He died on the cross for you. Yes.

And if you will acknowledge that you've sinned against Him, have a change of heart and mind about who He is and what He's done, and receive Him alone as your Savior, because He alone is your Savior, He promises to forgive you of your sin and give you heaven as your home. If you say, "Well, I'm gonna try to do good things to be, have a right relationship with God," you can't do good things, 'cause God said He won't receive your good things. Right. I didn't say that. If I came up with a system, I'd say, like, tithe double, you're good. But I didn't get to come up with the system. It wasn't a system that was designed by man. It was a a system that God clearly described in His Word, that the Gospel is you're a sinner, you need a savior, Jesus died in your place as you on the cross of Calvary, and if you will accept Him as your Savior, then heaven can be and will be your home.

So when you join a church, that is what you describe in some form or fashion. You don't have to be a super theologian to do it. We don't try to look for special words. We just wanna make sure the person understands the Gospel, has received the Gospel, has been baptized, and wants to join our church. And if they do that, they join our church on the affirmation of their faith and their desire to grow together for the cause of Christ. It's wonderful But if their heart grows cold, like some of yours, and then they go into sin and they're unrepentant, sins that the Bible clearly lists out that are major sins, that are a testimony to a lost and dying world that this person's not a believer, then the church at Ephesus did what all churches are supposed to do, and that was remove them from the membership, letting the world know that we at the church at Ephesus no longer recognize John Doe as a believer.

He is not a believer as far as we can tell. You could not bear them which say they are evil or not. And he goes on even a little further, and he talks about, their spiritual discernment. Everyone who serves Christ will have to determine if they are going to follow every spiritual fad that comes our way, or are they going to mature and turn to-- turn from things that dishonor Christ, propagated by charlatans who desire the praise that is reserved for Christ. And he says that's what he's talking about in verse number two at the end of it. "You tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and you have found them liars." You've put people to the test who claim to be apostles. There are those who are coming into the church at Ephesus, like there are in all churches, who claim to have a special spiritual gift, a unique spiritual knowledge.

They argue that because of their special gift or knowledge, in this case it was apostleship, that they should be allowed to preach, teach, influence, or take an offering at the church. And by the way, happens at Canyon Ridge on a regular basis And the church at Ephesus being obedient to the command of scripture. Proverbs 14:15, the simple believe every word, but a prudent man looks well to his goings. Matthew 24:4 and 5, First-- 2 Peter 2:1, 1 John 4:1, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone into the world." We're commanded to try the spirits. Upon trying these people, upon in-- the word try means to interrogate. Upon interrogating these people who claimed are apostles and found that they are not apostles, they actually found them to be, verse number two, these people, they found them to be liars. Liars, deliberately deceptive.

A word that denotes all those who contrive idoliship-- idolatrous worship and false miracles to deceive men and make them fall into idolatry. These folks were trying to get into the church, and the church at Ephesus had done an amazing job of not allowing them into the church. Like, "Hey, I'm an apostle. Can I preach?" And the church was commanded to show friendship and fellowship to pastors and people that were traveling through Ephesus, as we are as well, gift of hospitality and things related to that. But the church at Ephesus, "Oh, you say you're an apostle? Well, we need to ask you a few questions before we go ahead and endorse that." And they asked them some questions, and they're like, "Oh, no. Sorry, bro. You-- We found you to be a false teacher, not what you claim to be And Jesus commends them for that. Look down in verse number six. He commends them for something else.

"The, but this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate." Now, the Nicolaitans here, I don't have time to get into all of it that I did in the 8:30 service, but they're not super well-known, and there's a little bit of discussion because there's not a lot of writing on it. But what we can conclude based on kind of the totality of all that is written about it, is that the deeds of the Nicolaitans involved, sensual temptation that led to sexual immorality and eating things sacrificed to idols without regard of how it offended others, all in the name of Christian liberty. The Nicolaitans were masters at scripture manipulation so that they could get what they wanted in a timeframe that they desired.

And Jesus says to the church at Ephesus, "Guys, I am so proud of you because you've showed real tremendous spiritual discernment in that you tried those that say they are apostles and you found them to be liars, and you've tested the deeds of the Nicolaitans and you hate what they stand for." And Jesus says, "And I hate it as well." By the way, let me just give an aside here for a minute. There is a lot of sensuality going on in the modern-day church in America today. Yeah. Yeah. There's a gross amount of sensuality, and be very careful who you listen to on YouTube. Amen. Now, we don't think we're the only good church in the world. We think there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of phenomenal Bible-preaching churches that probably do it way better than we do, but we're the ones here in San Diego and there's other great churches in San Diego as well. So we're... We don't have this idea of exclusivity in any way, shape, or form.

But understand this. For every one good church, there's probably three or four really crummy Nicolaitan-type churches Which is why churches have a, or members have a responsibility to listen to spiritual authority that is trying to protect them and help them from falling prey to false teachers, false preachers, and the Nicolaitans who will give you everything you want. The Nicolaitans will give you anything that you want. That's right. That's right. All in the name of Christian liberty, and Jesus says, "I hate what they do, and I'm glad you hate them, too." And by the way, people who say Christians shouldn't hate probably need to read verse number six again. Just in case you're wondering. Amen. Yeah. There are biblical things that you're supposed to hate. You're like, "Well, I don't think it means hate like we mean hate." No, it does. Yeah. Like, I'm a student of these things. It does, and I can help you figure out how to study it.

Like, there's things we ought to hate. Like, I hate sex trafficking. Like, if you're like, "I don't think you should hate that," well, then I think you're dumb, and I hate it. And I don't care that you're dumb. I still hate it, and I'm not changing. "Well, I think we should show grace." I'll show grace as I punch somebody in the face. Yeah, I don't work out for nothing. Amen. Somebody ought to say amen right there. Amen. Every dude in this church ought to hate it as well. Like, "I don't think it's that big a deal." But it's 'cause you're a wuss, and you ought to hate that kind of stuff I'll have a backbone for you. You can come rent mine later. That's fine There's just some things that we ought to hate. I mean, that's not even in my notes. That's like free. My sermon review team did not tell me to say that. They would have said, "You might want to be more gracious."

And I am being more gracious than I want to be, so praise God, we're all being fulfilled 'Cause we hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. And then they, Jesus even shares. Look at, look at verse number three. "You've borne, you have patience, and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted." What was their motivation? Their motivation was the name of Christ. For my name's sake. And by name of Christ, we mean the love that Christ had for them, the gospel, the church. They did all of this so Christ's name would not be mocked or ridiculed. older folks would say besmirched, which would be, the right word I mean, this was a model church. If you wanted to join a model church, not all these churches are gonna be a model, but if you wanted to join a model church, you'd be like, "I'm moving to Ephesus. I'm gonna join the church at Ephesus. Man, check these people out. They've labored to the point of exhaustion and sweat.

They love the, or they have demonstrated their labor by standing for what is true and resisting evil and calling out false teachers and found them liars, and they've endured hardship. Man, they've done all of these things, and they hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. And they hate all of these things. And man, they've not fainted. They've kept going, and they're still doing all of these things for the name of Christ. Man, I'm going to Ephesus. It's a model church." But There's verse number four And we see the condemnation of the church where Jesus says, "I have somewhat against thee." I-I've I've got a problem with you though You've done all these great things, but I want you to know now I got a problem with you You've got a problem with me? Yeah, I've got a problem with you You've done all this stuff, and I've listed all this out. You get a, you get a gold star for that But before You get too excited.

I have somewhat against you Matter of fact If you read down in verse number five, about the middle of the verse... Or just we'll read verse five. "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first work; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and I'll remove your candlestick." Now, candlestick is just a representative of the, them being a church in Jesus' eyes. We dealt with this a little bit last week, but that's what the word candlestick means. Verse number 20, of chapter, one helps us to understand that. it's just a It's a church in Jesus's eyes. "I'm gonna remove your candlestick out of its place, except your rep-" In other words, Jesus says, "What I'm about to talk to you about," this is how I'm gonna say it, "what I'm about to talk to you about, if you don't get it right, you won't be a church anymore."

You can be a civic organization, you can have a lot of people, you can have a lot of money, you can have big buildings, you can have a lot of guys that call themselves pastor. You could have all of these things, but if you don't get this right, you won't be a church Man, what, wonder what it's gonna be? I mean, 'cause they're fighting the false teachers. They're not dealing with allowing sensuality. They hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. I mean, they're laboring. They're sharing the gospel for the sake of Christ. They're doing all of these things. what could it be? Notice verse number four, "Thou hast somewhat against thee." I mean, they protected their doctrinal purity, what we call orthodoxy. They served the Lord to the point of exhaustion. Their doctrine, their service had, though, degenerated into mechanicalism and rigidity and formality. And I don't mean formal like being more formal than us.

Maybe people don't, like, get as excited when they preach or have as much fun, or maybe they wear suits or whatever. I don't mean formality like that. I mean it was just formal, like, "This is just what we do, and then we go home. We just do our duty, and then we go home." No, what was the problem that Jesus had with them? Notice verse number four, the last seven words of that verse, "Because thou hast left thy first love." Has left their first love? Yet their motivation kind of became, "This is just what we do" When asked why, they simply said, "Because." Now, because is not always a bad answer. When Debbie and I, when Debbie told me that she was expecting our daughter, Judith, who I love dearly, our oldest daughter, I told Debbie, I'm like, "Listen, we are gonna be the world's greatest parents." And every young couple thinks that, and then you have a two-year-old.

And I was like, "We're gonna be great parents, and we are never going to say to our children, 'Because I said so.' Because is not gonna be an answer in our house." But I'm gonna tell you cannot be a good parent without eventually looking at your kids and just saying, "Because." Judith was pretty stubborn A That was her boyfriend speaking, and that's a characteristic that has carried her throughout life. Not always well, but carried her throughout life. Many times well, but not always. And Jude, as she is affectionately known in our house, Jude would... I mean, she just wouldn't eat, like, green beans. And some of you parents know, like, you tried all the tricks, and the cajoling, and then finally you're just picking up the green beans, forcing the mouth open by squeezing it, and you're, like, trying to throw the green beans into their mouth and make them chew it, and hold them upside down to get them to swallow.

How many can say amen to something like that? All good parents said amen. All gentle parents are like, "I don't think we should do that." Well, you need Bible parenting. It's right there in 3 Timothy chapter 4. And, if you're new to church, there is no 3 Timothy, but I'm writing it. but I mean, you just, you know, you just, "Ar," like, you just, the level's there. And I remember, like, Judith is, like, two, and Judith could, like, hold conversations with adults as a 14-month-old. And I'm not exaggerating. She was a very gifted speaker, and hasn't stopped. And, awesome. And, she liked chocolate. She didn't like green beans. And we would have these discussions of, like, "Jude, you don't get any treats, or dessert, or anything special if you don't eat your green beans." And she was just like, "Why?" "Well, because green beans are good for you, and they're better for you, and your body needs them, and you gotta have the vitamins."

And she would just look at me like, "Yeah, but chocolate tastes good, and green beans taste like green beans." And we're like, "Yeah, but you gotta have them." And then eventually it just became, "Why do I have to eat the green beans, Dad?" "Because Sometimes because is the answer. I know you don't want to, and some of you that don't have kids yet, you're like, "I... That man has lost his mind. I'm never going to him for parenting advice." You should. It will save you a lot of stress when you realize you can just say because. Parents been saying it for thousands of years. The world's been fine. It's been fine. Because is fine there But because it's not a really good reason to serve the Lord Matter of fact, because is a terrible reason to serve Jesus. Why'd you go to church? Because it's just what we do. Oh, really? Why'd you tithe? Because it's just what we do. Why do you read your Bible every morning?

Because it's just what I do The church at Ephesus had been a great church. You could read about it in Ephesians 1:15- Yeah... where Paul says, "Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love for all the saints." I mean, this is a model church. We we don't have time to read Ephesians 3:17-19 or 6:23, but man, they were a model church. But 40 years later, after Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, their love had grown cold Their love had grown incredibly cold. Something that you are in danger of Something that I am in danger, something that we are in danger of. You see, Christian, we must intentionally remember the love Christ displayed on the cross to forgive us, lest our faith become mechanical. You must intentionally remember the love Christ displayed on the cross to forgive you, lest your faith become mechanical. What happened? Why did they leave their first love? What does it even mean?

Well, it means that the love that we're talking about here could include a love for God and Christ. It could include, and probably does include, a love for others, a love for the lost, love that is defined as obedience in 2 John 6. They had sunk into the place where they were carrying out their Christian responsibility with diminishing love for the Lord and others Their love for Christ that at one time had been way up here is now way down here. It's not dissimilar from what we would read about the children of Israel in Jeremiah chapter 2, verses 2 to 13, that Christian read, or Ezekiel 6:8-15 or many other passages in the Old Testament. I mean, we could read about this over and over again. John MacArthur says this about this passage of scripture, "As it had in Israel, the honeymoon had ended in Ephesus.

The loss of a vital love relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ opened the doors to spiritual apathy, indifference to others, love for the world, compromise with evil, judgment, and ultimately the death of the church altogether. Despite its outwardly robust appearance, a deadly spiritual cancer was growing at the heart of the Ephesian church." Despite its outwardly robust appearance, a deadly spiritual cancer was growing in the heart the Ephesian church That's where some of you are Everything seems fine on the outside, but you know there was a time when you were passionate about waking up in the morning and spending time in the Word. You were a new believer, you couldn't wait to share your faith with a bunch of folks. you didn't have a lot of knowledge, but you had a boatload of love. You're like me when I first started dating Debbie.

I didn't know anything, but I wanted the whole world to know, and I just wanted to spend time with her A-and there's a, over time, you've just kinda grown a little bit cold and a, and a little bit dreary in love for Christ, and it just begins to be something that you do. And you're here today, and we praise God for you being here today, and super thankful because the Word of God brings change in all of our lives. But the truth of the matter is, i-it's so prevalent in our lives, and it's not because of the world we live in today. It's a condition of the fall that the world of flesh and the devil are constantly fighting against us, and it's easy to grow cold in our love for the Lord And so what does Christ command? Verse number five Remember Remember, call to mind, intentionally think about. That's what remember means. "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen." Art fallen.

The forgetfulness is frequently the initial cause of spiritual decline Remember the love you once had, the grace you once enjoyed, the relief of forgiveness, the joy of knowing you had been made right with God, all because of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus and His death on the cross of Calvary for our sin. Jesus is saying, "Keep on remembering that. Don't stop remembering that. Don't let yourself quit thinking about that. Remember that." We must intentionally remember the love Christ displayed on the cross to forgive us, lest our faith grow cold. He says, "Remember from where you are fallen and repent." And the word repent means to change your heart and mind toward God, to be sorrowful over your sin, that we ought to weep over the fact that our heart has grown cold or even callous to the Lord. Lord, I'm sorry that I've become formal in my service for you, where I'm looking to do as little for you as I possibly can.

God, I remember there was a time in my life when I was so on fire for you, and I loved you, and I couldn't wait to find out about you, and now I try to squeeze you in between, streaming videos and watching my favorite program, or between this activity and that activity, and I've relegated you not to second, third, fourth, or fifth place, but you're somewhere way down the list. And Jesus is saying And do the first work. Verse number five But what does he mean the first word? Recapture the richness of your Bible study. these are just some ideas Recapture the passion for personal devotion to prayer The passion for corporate worship that once characterized your life where you're like, "Honey, I gotta go to bed early 'cause I'm gonna wake up and read the Word, and I can't wait to get to church tomorrow.

Man, we're gonna hear from the Lord, and we get to sing with the saints, and we get to fellowship with one another, and we get to give to the Lord. I cannot wait to get there Maybe now some of you are like, "Oh, we got church tomorrow. Kids, we could watch football, but we gotta go to church." Remember the first work? Remember what that felt like and don't ever lose that. And so here's Christ's counsel in verse number seven, "He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches." This is what Jesus is saying. He said, "Pay attention to what I said to the churches and learn that lesson." My dad used to say, "A foolish man never learns a lesson. A smart man learns from his own mistakes, but a wise man learns from other people's mistakes." And what the exhortation of Christ is learn from the mistake of the church at Ephesus. "He that has an ear to hear, let him hear." Learn from...

And you're gonna hear that seven times. Learn what I'm teaching the church at Ephesus. Then he says, "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life that is in the midst of the paradise of God." There's a lot in that text, so I'm just gonna give you an overview. To him that overcometh, it does not refer to those who have attained a higher level of spiritual life. It identifies all Christians. John, earlier, in 1 John chapter five verse number four and five, says, "Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth Jesus is the Son of God?" You put your faith in Jesus Christ, you have overcome the world. What do you mean overcome? You have, the world has been defeated for you by the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary's cross.

All that the world could do to you has been obliterated because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin, and the world no longer has authority, power, or control of your life. You are under the protection and care of Christ the King So as I conclude, I'm gonna ask you just a couple of quick questions. And I think they're on the paper here, your Bible study handout Our love for Christ often grows cold Because we grow bitter against God because he didn't give us the life we wanted He didn't let you have the person you wanted. He didn't let you meet the goals that you wanted when you wanted it And we get disappointed and despondent to some degree. Do the struggles of life tempt you away from reflecting on what God has done for you? We all have struggles. We do. You have them, I have them, you have them, you have them. Nobody in this room is free of the difficulties of life.

Do the struggles of life tempt you away from reflecting on God and what He's done for you? Have you allowed monotony to creep into your Christian walk? Monotony. Here we go again. Here we go again. Here we go again. By the way, I could ask these questions about marriage because they're pretty close have you become numb to the Word of God in your life being preached, the singing of the saints, the fellowship of the believers, and the blessings of the ordinances, baptism, and the Lord's Supper that all members at Canyon Ridge will celebrate next Sunday night? I mean, have you become numb to that? Like, seeing people baptize you're like, "Yeah, whatever. It's, I mean, let's come on. Pick up the pace. I mean, let's go." Does that just become numb and mundane? The conversion of a lost sinner that was on their way to hell, and now by the goodness and grace and sacrifice of Christ on the cross, they're on their way to heaven.

Has that just become mundane? Fifthly, do you spend less time thinking about God and more time comparing yourself to others? How come they have this? How come they are this? How come they look like this? How come they own this? How come their bank account has that many numbers before the decimal and mine has a decimal and then numbers? Are you serving God because you expect him to give you a better life? Is God's plan for your life just not meeting your expectations? All of these things, and probably an innumerable number of questions could be asked about why people grow cold. But here's what Proverbs teaches us in Proverbs 6:23, a message we preach to teenagers all the time, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; out of it are the issues of life." It was written to all of us. The word keep means to guard. It's a, it's a military term. Like put up a garrison around your heart. Don't let your heart stray.

Church at Ephesus, the reason you're in the condition you're in is because you allowed your heart to stray from the very things and the goodness and grace of God that He had for you. You let your heart grow cold towards Christ. Come back to me. Repent. Do the first works, the things you used to do. Be passionate about the things of God. Keep your heart with all diligence, out of it are the issues of life. Christians, we must intentionally remember the love Christ displayed on the cross to forgive us, lest our faith become mechanical. Where's your faith? You can listen to a sermon like this and text other people and check scores. I'm just telling you right now, it's mechanical I'm just telling you right now, it's mechanical But I'm not angry. I have love for you. But at Canyon Ridge, we're gonna be kind of a paragraph by paragraph, what's the, what's the author saying in the text?

And this is the message Jesus has to the church at Ephesus as we define the words, explain the text, and apply it to our life. And the lesson that we must learn today is we must remember intentionally the love Christ displayed on the cross to forgive us, lest our faith become mechanical. So if you're here today and your belief and your faith's become mechanical, you have opportunity today to repent and do the first work. Matter of fact, you have obligation today to repent and do the first work. And if you're here today and you don't know Christ as your savior, you have opportunity to receive him today 'cause you've heard the gospel prayed, you've heard the gospel sang, and you've heard the gospel preached. And our prayer is today that you would repent of your sin and ask Jesus to be your savior You say, "Well, I don't know what that all means."

Well, we're gonna have, in just a moment, we'll have some some pastors down here who, and prayer team counselors, who can take the Bible and show you how heaven could be your home. Or you could probably just look to the person to your left or right and say, "Hey, I don't know what all that means. Could you explain it to me?" That's right. And at Canyon Ridge, they'll explain it to you. That's right. And if they're like, "I'm not sure," then they'll go get somebody else to their right or left who can. But there's probably 150 people in this auditorium this morning who can easily explain the Gospel of Christ to you. And if you have more questions, we'll answer them. We're not shunning that responsibility. But make no mistake, make no mistake, I should say, that we do not want you leaving here without understanding fully the Gospel of Christ, and doing our best to answer any of the difficult questions you may have.

'Cause Jesus has the answers to your questions. That's right. That's right. And believer, we have the admonition of the Word to repent if we don't love Him like we should.