Forsaking Our First Love This sermon was first preached on September 26th in the year 1858 by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The text for tonight comes from the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 2 verse 4. I hold this against you, you have forsaken your first love. It would be a great thing to have as much said in our commendation as was said concerning the church in Ephesus. Just read what Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, said of them. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not. and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary. Oh, my dear brothers and sisters, we may feel sincerely thankful if we can humbly but honestly say that this commendation applies to us too. Happy is the man or woman whose works are known and accepted by Christ. They are not idle Christians. They have practical godliness. They seek by works of holiness to obey all of God's commands, by works of love to reveal God's love to their neighbor, and by works of devotion to show their attachment to the cause of their master. Jesus said, I know your deeds. Sadly, some of you have never reached this point in your lives. Jesus Christ cannot bear witness to your good works, for you have not done any. You are Christians by profession, but you are not Christians as to practice. I say again, happy is the man or woman to whom Christ can say, I know your deeds. It would be a commendation beyond measure to have that said about us. But further Christ said, and your hard work, I know your deeds and your hard work. Many Christians have works, but only a few Christians have hard work. There were many preachers in Whitfield's day that had works. But Whitfield had hard work. He worked hard and anguished over souls. He worked much harder. There were many in the days of the apostles who worked for Christ. The apostle Paul worked very hard for the conversion of souls. It is not merely work, it is apprehensive work. It requires all of one's energy and strength for Christ. Could the Lord Jesus say that much about you? I know your hard work. No, rather he might say, I know of your idleness. I know your laziness. I know you're boasting of what little you do. I know your ambition is to be thought something special. when in fact you are nothing. Oh friends, it is more than most of us dare to hope that Christ would say to us, I know your hard work. But further Christ says, I know your perseverance. I know your perseverance. Now there are some that work hard and they do well for a while. But what hampers them? They only work for a short time and then they cease to work and begin to faint. But this church had worked hard for many years. It had exercised all of its energies, not in some sporadic effort, but in a continual strain and unabated zeal for the glory of God. I know your perseverance. I say again, beloved, I tremble to think how few out of this congregation could win such praise as this. I know your deeds, your hard work and perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men. The absolute hatred which the Church had of false doctrine, of evil living and its corresponding intense love for pure truth and holy living is something that I trust some of us can claim in our lives as well. That we have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false. I know the difference between truth and error. Arminianism, that is the doctrine of man's free will and salvation, is a lie that will never be accepted by us. The doctrine of men will not suit our taste. The husk, the shells, and the chaff are not things that we can feed on. And when we listen to those who preach another gospel, a holy anger burns within us, for we love the truth as it is in Jesus, and nothing but that will satisfy us, for we have persevered and have endured hardships for Christ's name. and have not grown weary."

Jesus said that this church had put up with persecutions, difficulties, hardships, embarrassments, and discouragements, yet they had never grown weary, but always continued faithful. Who among us here tonight could lay claim to so much praise as this? What Sunday school teacher do we have here who could say, I have persevered, and I have endured hardships, and I've had patience, and have not grown weary?

Ah, dear friends, if you can say it, it is more than I can. Often I have been ready to faint in the master's work, and though I trust I have not been tired of it, Yet there has sometimes been a longing to get away from the work, away from the work and to the reward, to leave the service of God, before I had fulfilled, as a laborer, my workday. I am afraid we do not have enough perseverance. We do not have enough hard work and enough good works to get even as much as this said of us.

Sadly, I fear the majority of us will still find ourselves in our text. Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love. There may be some preachers here tonight in this large crowd. Did you ever hear of a minister who had to preach his own funeral sermon? What hard work that must have been. to feel that he had been condemned to die and must preach against himself and condemn himself.

I stand here tonight, not in that capacity, but in one somewhat similar. I feel that tonight I will condemn myself. And my prayer before I entered this pulpit was that I might boldly discharge my duty, that I might deal honestly with my own heart. and that I might preach, being aware that I am the chief offender, and that each one of you, in your own way, have also offended in this respect, even though none of you so grievously as I have. I pray that God the Holy Spirit, through His renewing grace, may apply the word, not merely to your hearts, but to mine as well. that I may return to my first love and that you may return with me.

Tonight, we will look at three things. First, what was our first love? Secondly, how did we forsake it? And thirdly, what must we do to get it back again?

First, what was our first love? What was our first love? Oh, let us go back. It is not many years for some of us. We are only youngsters in God's ways. And it is not so long ago for any of you that you will have a hard time remembering it. If you are Christians, those days were so happy that your memory will never forget them. And therefore you can easily return to that first bright spot in your past.

Oh, what love it was that I had for my Savior the first time He forgave my sins. I remember it. Surely each one of you also remembers that happy hour when the Lord appeared to us, bleeding on His cross, when He seemed to say and did say in our hearts, I am your salvation. I have blotted out your iniquities like a cloud, like a thick cloud I have blotted out your sins.

Oh, how I loved him, passing by all other loves because of the love which I felt for him. If outside the door of the place in which I met with him, there had been a burning stake of flames, I would have walked over and stood right next to it without chains, glad to give my flesh, my blood and my bones to be ashes that should testify my love to him. Had he asked me then to give all my money to the poor, I would have given everything and thought myself to be amazingly rich in having emptied myself for his name's sake. Had he commanded me then to preach in the midst of all of his foes, I would have said, there's not a lamb among your flock I would refuse to feed. There's not a foe before whose face I'd fear your cause to plead."

I can understand what Rutherford meant when he said, being full of the love to Christ, in the dungeon of Aberdeen, Oh, my Lord, if there were a wide hell between me and you, and if I could not get to you except by wading through it, I would not think twice, but I would plunge through it all. if I could just embrace you and call you mine.

Now I am afraid that it is that first love that you and I must confess that we have forsaken in part. Let us now look back to that love and ask ourselves, have we lost that love? When we first loved the Savior, we were very intense We were very intense when we first loved the Savior. There was not a single thing in the Bible that we did not think most precious. There was not one command of his that we did not think to be like fine gold and choice silver. Never were the doors of his church open without our being there. If there was a prayer meeting, we were there. Some said of us that we had too much zeal. We would do too much and expose our bodies too frequently to the elements by walking long distances in all kinds of weather just to be with God's people. But we never thought much of it. You will get sick was spoken in our ears, but we wouldn't listen, for we felt we could have done anything back then.

Yet today, Years later, there are some of you who cannot walk to church on a nice Sunday morning for you feel it is much too far to walk. When you first joined the church, you would have walked twice as far. There are some of you today who cannot be at the prayer meeting because of business or pleasure. Yet when you were first baptized, you never missed a prayer meeting. It is the loss of your first love that makes you seek the comfort of your bodies instead of the prosperity of your souls.

There have been many young Christians who have joined this church, and old ones too, and I have said to them, well, you realize that our church services are very, very crowded, so crowded that we run out of seats. That's fine, sir. Well, what will you do? Do you have a reserved seat somewhere? No, I cannot get one, but I don't mind standing in the crowd an hour or two hours. I will come early so that I can get in. Sometimes I don't get in, sir, but even then, I feel that I have done what I ought to do in attempting to get in. Well, I have often said to them, you live five miles away, and that means you have to make two round trips each Sunday. You cannot do that. Oh, sir, they have said, I can do it. For I feel so much the blessedness of the Lord's day and so much the enjoyment of the presence of the Savior. I have smiled at them. I could understand it. and I have not felt it necessary to caution them.

But sadly, now their love for Christ has cooled down. That first love does not last half as long as we would wish it would. Some of you stand convicted even here. You do not have that blazing love, that burning love, that ridiculous love as the world would call it, which is, after all, the love to be most coveted and desired. Know you have lost your first love in that respect.

Again, how obedient you used to be back then. If you saw a new command in the scriptures, that was good enough for you. You obeyed it. But now, when you see a commandment in the scripture, you also see the pleasure or advantage of the other side. And how often do you linger with the pleasure or advantage and choose the temptation instead of yielding a pure obedience to Christ?

Again, remember how happy you used to be in the ways of God? How happy you used to be in the ways of God? The love that you felt within you was of such a happy character that you could sing all day long. But now your Christianity has lost its luster. The gold has become dim. You know that when you come to the Lord's table, you often come there without enjoying it. There was a time when every bitter thing was sweet. Whenever you heard the word, it was always precious to you. Now you can grumble at the minister.

Sadly, The minister does have many faults, but the question is whether there hasn't been a greater change in you than there has been in him. There are many who say, I do not think our pastor's sermons are as good as they used to be, when the fault lies in their own ears. Oh brothers and sisters, when we live near to Christ and are still enjoying our first love, it is amazing how little it takes to make a good preacher to us. Why, I confess I have once heard a poor, weak minister preach the gospel, and yet I felt as if I could jump for joy all the while I was listening to him, and yet he never gave me a new thought or even a good illustration that I could remember, but he talked about Christ and even his elementary teachings were to my hungry spirit like the finest of foods.

I have to acknowledge, and perhaps you have to acknowledge the same, that I have heard sermons from which I ought to have profited, but all the while I was thinking of the man's style or some little mistakes in grammar I should have been holding fellowship with Christ all during the sermon. Rather, I was letting my thoughts wander all over the place. And what was the reason for this? Simply that I had lost my first love.

Again, when we were enjoying our first love, we would do anything for Christ. Now we do very little for Him. When we were enjoying our first love, we would do anything for Christ, and yet today we do very little for him.

Some of the actions which we performed as newly converted young Christians, when we look back on them, seem to have been very wild and very bold. You remember when you first came to Christ, you had very little money in your pocket. It was all you had. and you met with some poor saint and you gave it all away. You did not regret that you had done it. Your only regret was that you did not have a great deal more to give, for you would have given all of it away. You only remembered that something was needed for the cause of Christ. Oh, my brothers and my sisters, we could give away anything when we first loved the Savior. If there was a preaching service to be held five miles away and we could walk with the young preacher to be a little comfort to him in the darkness, we were off. If there was a Sunday school, however early it might be, we would be up so that we might be present. Unheard of feats, things that we now look back upon with surprise, we could perform then.

Why can't we do them now? Do you know that there are some people who always live on what they have been? I am speaking very frankly right now. There is a brother in this church who may think I am speaking directly to him. I hope he does. It is not many years ago since he said to me, when I asked him why he didn't do something, well, I've done my share. I used to do that. But now I do something else a little bit more pleasant. Oh, may the Lord deliver him and all of us from living on the has-beens. It will never do to say we have done a certain thing. Suppose for a solitary moment the earth should say, I have turned on my axis for 24 hours. Now I will stand still. Let the sea say, I have been ebbing and flowing all these many years. I will ebb and flow no more. Let the sun say, I have been shining and I have been rising and setting for so many days. I have done this enough to earn me a good name. I will now stand still. And let the moon wrap herself up in veils of darkness and say, I have illuminated many a night. and I have lighted many a weary traveler across the oceans. I will extinguish my lamp and be dark forever.

" Dear friends, when you and I cease to work hard for Christ, then let us cease to live. God has no intention to let us live a useless life. But note this, when we cease to do the things we did at first, then there is no question about our having lost our first love. That is certain. If there is strength remaining, if there is still power mentally and physically, if we cease from our calling, if we abstain from our labors, there is no solution of this question which an honest conscious will accept except this, you have forsaken your first love. and therefore you have neglected the things you did at first.

" Yes, we are all so ready to make excuses for ourselves. Many a preacher has retired from the ministry long before he had any need to do so. He has married a rich wife, somebody has left him a little money, and he can do without the humble life of a minister. He was growing weak in the ways of God. And let anyone here tonight who was a Sunday school teacher and who has left it, who used to share Christ with others and who now has given that up, who was active in the ways of God but is now idle, let that person stand tonight before the bar of his conscience and say whether he is not guilty of this charge which I bring against him that he has forsaken his first love.

I needn't stop to also say that this may be detected in the closet as well as in our daily life. For when we forsake our first love, there is a lack of that prayerfulness which we once had. When we forsake our first love, there is a lack of that prayerfulness which we once had. I remember the day I was baptized. I was up at three o'clock in the morning. I was wrestling with God in prayer until six. Then I had to walk some eight miles and started off and walked to the baptism. Why, prayer was a delight to me then. Even back then, my duties at that time pretty much kept me busy from five o'clock in the morning until ten o'clock at night. and I did not have a spare moment for relaxation. Yet, I would be up at four o'clock to pray. And though I feel very sleepy nowadays, and I feel that I could not get up so early to pray, it was not so then, when I was enjoying my first love. Somehow or other, I never lacked time then. If I didn't get the chance to pray in the morning, I prayed late at night. I was compelled to have time for prayer with God, and what prayer it was. I had no need then to groan because I could not pray. For love being fervent, I had sweet liberty at the throne of grace. But when our first love departs, we begin to think that ten minutes will do for prayer instead of an hour. and we read a verse or two in the morning, whereas we used to read whole chapters and would never think of going into the world without getting some nourishment from the Word of God. Yet today, years later, business and the business of our lives have so increased that we must get to bed as soon as we can. Therefore, we do not have time to pray. And then at dinnertime, we used to have a little time for communion with the family Well, that is dropped too. And then on Sunday, we used to make it a custom to pray to God when we got home from church for just five minutes before dinner so that we might profit from what we had heard from the pulpit. That too is dropped. And some of you that are present here tonight were in the habit of retiring for prayer when you got home from work. Your wives have told that story. Various visitors have heard about it when they have called at your house. When they have asked your wife, where is your husband? Ah, she has said, he is a godly man. He cannot come at this time, for he is upstairs alone. I know what he is doing. He is praying. Then when that godly man came to the dinner table, he often said, Mary, I've had a difficult day. We must go and have a word or two of prayer together. And some of you could not even take a walk without prayer. You were so fond of it that you could not have too much of it. Now, where is it today? You know more than you did. You have grown older. You have grown richer, perhaps. You have grown wiser in some respects. but you might give up all that you've got and go back, go back to those peaceful hours you once enjoyed. How sweet their memory still. Oh, what would you give if you could fill that aching void the world can never fill, but which only the same love that you had at first can ever fully satisfy. And now beloved, Our second point tonight, where did you and I lose our first love? If we have lost it, let each one speak for himself, or rather, let me speak for each one of us. Where did we lose our first love? If we have lost it, let each one speak for himself, or rather, let me speak for each one of us. Haven't some of you lost your first love in the world? You used to have that little shop once. You did not have very much business, but you had enough and a little to spare. However, in time there was a great increase in business, so much so that you started your second shop and you are getting along very well. However, what is sad is that when you grew richer and had more business, you began to have less desire for the things of God. Oh dear friends, it is a very serious thing to grow rich. It is a very serious thing to grow rich. Of all the temptations to which God's children are exposed to, it is the worst. Because it is the one that they do not dread, and therefore it is the more subtle temptation. You know a traveler, if he is going on a journey, by foot takes a staff with him. It is a help to him. But suppose he is greedy and says, I will take with me a hundred of these walking sticks. That will be of no help to him at all. For now he has a great load to carry on his journey and it hinders his progress instead of assisting him. But I do believe that there are many Christians who used to live near to God when they were living on very little money each week. I believe these people would give up their yearly incomes with the greatest joy if they could now have that same contentment, that same peace of mind, that same nearness of access to God that they had in times of poverty. Too much of the world is a bad thing for any man. I question very much whether a man shouldn't sometimes simply stop and say, There is an opportunity of doing more business, but it will require all of my time, and I must give up that hour I have set apart for prayer. Therefore, I will not accept that extra business at all. I have enough, and therefore let this additional business go. I would rather do business with heaven than more business with the earth." Don't you also think that perhaps you have forsaken your first love by getting too involved with worldly people? That perhaps you have forsaken your first love by getting too involved with worldly people? When you were in your first love, no company suited you but the godly. But now you have got a friend that you talk with, who talks a great deal about silly things. and gives you a great more of the froth and scum of levity than he ever gives you of solid godliness. Once you were surrounded by those that fear the Lord, but now you dwell in the tents of freedom where you mainly hear cursing. But dear friends, he that scoops hot burning coals into his lap must be burned. And he that has wicked companions cannot help but being injured. Seek then to have godly friends that you can maintain your first love. But another reason. Don't you think that perhaps you have forgotten how much you owe to Christ? Don't you think perhaps you have forgotten how much you owe to Christ? There is one thing that I feel from experience I am compelled to do very often. which is to go back to where I first started. I am the chief of sinners, but Jesus died for me. Sometimes you and I get to talking about our being saints. We know our election. We rejoice in our calling. We go on to sanctification and we forget the pit from which we were lifted out. Remember, my brother, you are nothing now but a sinner saved through grace. Remember what you would have been if the Lord had left you there. And surely then, by continually going back to the first principles and to the great foundation stone, the cross of Christ, you will be led to go back to your first love. Don't you think, again, that you have lost your first love by neglecting communion with Christ? Don't you believe that you have possibly lost your first love by neglecting your communion with Christ? Now preacher, preach honestly and preach to yourself. Hasn't there been sometimes this temptation to do a great deal for Christ but not to live a great deal with Christ? One of my besetting sins, I feel, is this. If there is anything to be done actively for Christ, I instinctively prefer the active exercise to the passive quiet of His presence. There are some of you, perhaps, that are attending a Sunday school who would be more profitably employed to your own souls if you were spending that hour in communion with Christ. Perhaps, too, you attend the means of grace so often that you have no time in secret to improve what you gained with the means. One godly Christian once said that if all the Twelve Apostles were preaching in a certain town and we could have the privilege of hearing them preach, yet if they kept us out of our prayer closets and led us to neglect prayer, it would be better for us never to have heard their names. than to have gone to listen to them.

We shall never love Christ very much unless we live near to him. Love to Christ is dependent on our nearness to him. It is just like the planets and the sun. Why are some of the planets so very cold? Why do they move at so slow a rate? Simply because they are so far from the sun. put them where the planet Mercury is and they will be in a boiling heat and spin around the sun in rapid orbits.

So, beloved, if we live near to Christ, then we cannot help loving Him. The heart that is near Jesus must be full of His love. But when we live days and weeks and months without personal interaction, without real fellowship, then we will learn that no one can maintain love towards a stranger. He must be a friend and we must stick close to him as he sticks close to us. Closer than a brother or else we shall never have our first love.

There are a thousand more reasons that I might have given to find out why you have forsaken, each one of you, your first love. Now, dear friends, just give me all your attention for a moment while I earnestly beg you and implore you to seek to restore your first love. To seek to restore your first love. Shall I tell you why? Though you are a child of God, if you have forsaken your first love, there is some trouble near at hand.

For the Bible says, The Lord disciplines those He loves, and He is sure to discipline you when you sin. Is everything calm and peaceful with you tonight? Is it? Oh, dread the calm. There is a storm brewing. Sin is the forerunner of the storm. Read the history of David. All of David's life In all his troubles, even when hiding among the rocks and in the caves of Ein Gedi, he was the happiest of men until he lost his first love. And from the day when his lustful eye was focused on Bathsheba, even to the very end of his life, he went with sorrow to his grave. It was one long string of afflictions. Be careful it is not that way with you.

Ah, but you say, I shall not sin as David did. Brother, you cannot tell. If you have forsaken your first love, what would hinder you from losing your purity? Love and purity go together. He that loves is pure. He that loves little shall find his purity decrease until it becomes marred and polluted. I would not like to see you, my dear friends, tried and troubled. I do weep with those who weep. If there is a child of yours sick and I hear of it, I can honestly say I do feel something like a father to your children and as a father to you. If you have sufferings and afflictions and I know of them, I desire to feel for you and spread your griefs before the throne of God.

Oh, I do not want my Heavenly Father to use His rod on you, but He will do it if you forsake your first love. As sure as ever, He is a good Father. He will let you have the rod if your love cools. Illegitimate children may escape the rod. If you are only a nominal Christian, a Christian in name only, then you may go happily along. but the true born child of God, when his love declines, must and shall be disciplined for it.

There is yet another thing, my dear friends. If we forsake our first love, what will the world say of us when we forsake our first love? What will the world say of us if we forsake our first love? I must say this, not for our name's sake, but for the sake of our dear God. Oh, what will the world say of us?

There was a time, and it is not gone yet, when people would point at this church and say of it, there is a church that is like an oasis in the middle of a desert, a bright light in the midst of darkness. Our prayer meetings were truly prayer meetings. The congregations were as attentive as they were numerous. Oh, how you drank in the words, how your eyes flashed with a living fire whenever the name of Christ was mentioned.

And what, if in a little time it shall be said, ah, that church is just as sleepy as the other. Look at them when the minister preaches. Many of them fall asleep when he preaches. They do not seem to care for the truth. Look at the Spurgeonites. They are just as cold and careless as others. They used to be called the most aggressive people in the world, for they were always ready to defend their master's name and their master's truth, and they got that name as a consequence.

But now you may swear in their presence and they will not rebuke you. Once these people used to live near to God. They were always at church and always at their prayer meetings. There would be just as many people at a prayer meeting as at an ordinary service. Now they have forsaken all that devotion. Ah, says the world, just what I said. The fact is it was a mere tremor, a little spiritual excitement, and it is now all died down.

And the worldly people say, ah, we knew it wouldn't last. We knew it wouldn't last. Just the other day I was reading of an account of my dropping in popularity. It was said my church was now nearly empty, that nobody went to it, and I was greatly amused and interested. Well, if it comes to that, I said, I will not grieve or cry very much.

But if it is said, the church has left its zeal and forsaken its first love, then that would be enough to break any honest pastor's heart. Let the chaff go, but if the wheat remains, then we have comfort. Let those who like to play church and live on the fringes, let them cease to hear. What does it matter? Let them turn aside.

But oh, you soldiers of the cross, If you turn your backs in the day of battle, where shall I hide my face? What shall I say for the great name of my master or for the honor of his gospel? It is our boast and joy that the old-fashioned doctrines have been revived in these days and that the truth that Calvin preached, that Paul preached, and that Jesus preached is still powerful to save. and far surpasses in power all the new theology and novel notions of the present time.

But what will the heretic say when he sees that it is all died, it is all over? Ah, he will say, that old truth urged on by the fanaticism of a foolish young man did wake up the people for a little while, but it lacked substance and strength and it all died away.

Oh, my brothers and sisters, will you thus dishonor your Lord and Master? You children of the Heavenly King, I beg that you do not do so, but endeavor to receive again as a rich gift of the Spirit your first love.

And now, once again, dear friends, there is a thought that ought to make each of us feel alarmed if we have forsaken our first love. Is it not possible that this question may arise in our hearts? Was I ever a child of God at all? Oh, my dear Lord, must I ask myself this question? Yes, I will. Are there not many of whom it is said, they went out from us because they were not of us? For if they had been of us, doubtless they would have continued with us. Are there not some whose goodness is like the morning cloud in the early dew? Couldn't that have been my case? I am speaking for all of you. Ask the question. Couldn't I have been impressed under a certain sermon? And couldn't that impression have been nothing more than a mere carnal excitement? Couldn't it have been that I had thought I repented but did not really repent? Isn't it possible that that was the case, that I got a hope somewhere but had no right to it, and I never had the loving faith that unites me to the Lamb of God? And couldn't it have been that I only thought I had love to Christ and never really had it? For if I really had love to Christ, could I be as I am now? See how far I have fallen. Isn't it possible that I will keep on falling until my end will be in hell and tormented by the never dying worm and the eternal fire? Many have fallen from the heights of a profession in Christ to the depths of damnation, and couldn't I do the same? Isn't it possible that I am like a wandering star for whom is reserved blackness and darkness forever? Couldn't I have shone brightly in the midst of the church for a little while? And yet, couldn't I be one of those poor, foolish virgins who took no oil in my vessel with my lamp, and therefore my lamp will go out? Let me think. If I continue as I am, it is impossible for me to stop. If I am going downwards, will I continue going downwards? And oh my Lord, if I go on backsliding for another year, who knows where I may have backslidden to. Perhaps into some gross sin. Oh Lord, prevent it. Prevent it by your grace. Perhaps I may totally backslide. If I am a child of God, I know I cannot do that. But still, isn't it possible that I only thought I was a child of God and that I could fall so far as to give clear evidence that I always have been dead in my sins? Oh, how dreadful it is to think and to see in our own church members, those who turn out to be spiritually dead members, if I could weep tears of blood that would not express the emotion that I ought to feel and that you ought to feel. when you contemplate that there are some among us that are dead branches of a living vine. Our deacons find that there are many members of our church who are not holy. I grieve to think of that because we cannot see all of our members. There are many who have backslidden. There is one who says, I joined the church, it is true, but I never was converted. I made a profession of being converted, but I was not, and now I find no delight in the things of God. I am moral. I attend church, but I am not converted. My name may be taken off the church register. I am not a godly person. There are others among you who perhaps have gone even further than that. You have fallen into habitual sin. And yet I may not know it, I may not hear of it in such a large church as this. Oh, I beg you, my dear friends, by Him that lives and was dead, do not let your good be evil spoken of by forsaking your first love. Are there some among you that are professing Christianity and not possessing it? Oh give up your profession or else get the truth and don't let it go. Go home each one of you and get on your knees before God and ask him to search you and examine you and see if there are any evil ways in you and pray that he may lead you in the way of eternal life. And if it is true that in the past you only professed Christianity but not possessed it, then seek the Lord while he may be found, and call on him while he is near. You are warned, each one of you. You are solemnly told to search yourselves. Guilty as I may be in many respects, there is one thing I am clear of. I have not hesitated to proclaim the whole counsel of God. I do not believe that any people in the world will be more dreadfully damned than you will be if you perish. for I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the great evil of making a profession of Christianity without being a true Christian in your heart. No, I have even preached from this pulpit so personally to some of you that I could not have gone any further without mentioning your names. Rest assured, by God's grace, Neither you nor I will be spared in the pulpit in any personal sin that I may observe in any one of you. But, O, let us be sincere. May the Lord purge this church until only a tenth of you remain, rather than allow it to grow unless it grows with true believers in Christ, the holy flock that the Lord himself has ordained and will remain faithful to the end. Now, as I close, I would like to announce that tomorrow morning, Monday morning, we will meet together and pray, praying that we would repent and restore our first love. And I hope many of you will come to this special prayer meeting to again seek the love which you have forsaken. And as for you that have never experienced that love at all, may the Lord give you that free gift, that free gift of love for Jesus Christ. Amen.