the church at Ephesus, after he had commended that church
with some great compliments. He said, nevertheless, I have
somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first
love. And as I was considering that scripture
here the other day again, I began to think on what he was saying
to that church. Remember, every church, the seven
churches in Asia, every church that he wrote to, he's writing
to every church in every age. Every letter to every church
is to every church. Does that make sense? All seven
letters were to this church. All seven letters is to every
church in every age that the Lord has written of this instruction. When he said, I have somewhat against thee, You've
left your first love." And I began to look again at that truth that
was set forth. I'm talking about God's people
now. I'm talking about the true believers. We're all going to have to be
honest, and we're going to have to admit. We wouldn't think about
taking away or adding to. Word of God, we wouldn't do that.
We hold firm to sovereign grace. We admit our struggles with sin, but we know
that the Lord has everlastingly loved His people. We know that.
He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
we believe, in particular redemption. We believe that when the Lord
laid down His life, He laid down His life for the sheep. We know
that. And we hold to that. Irresistible grace. Preservation
of the saints kept by the power of God. But let me ask you this. Let
me ask you if it's so with you. Have you ever found yourself
in believing what you believe? Have you ever found yourself
at times doing so in a methodical way? Have you ever found yourself
coming to the services and getting up on a Sunday morning, Wednesday
night, getting ready and going through? It's been a long day
on Wednesday. Rise early on Sunday and fail
to stop and ask, knock, knock at the door of heaven himself
Opportunity. Asking. Ask. He said you have
not because you ask not. Have you ever found yourself in times
of coldness? You sit this morning,
I stand this morning, and we assemble ourselves together and
we know what we want to hear. We want to hear Christ. We want
to hear that. But there's often that our hearts are just cold
if we're honest. I think when the Lord told the
church there at Ephesus, He said, repent and do the first works
or else I'll come and I'll remove the candlestick. What are the first works? What
do you mean the first? works. I'll tell you this, the
doing of the first works, I believe, is found in what Brother Scott
just read. David said, Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew aright a constant spirit within me. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. and uphold me with thy free spirit." When the two on the road to Emmaus
were walking with the Lord that day and the Lord began to open
unto them the Scriptures and to expound in all the Scriptures
beginning with Moses and all the prophets those things concerning
Himself and His discourse to them, blessed by the Spirit of
God. And they said later, did not our heart burn within us
as He opened unto us the Scriptures, the first works? Repent and do
the first works. But I realize this, without Him
I can do nothing. I don't have any ability. I can
sit, Brother Scott, and try as hard as I could. I'd try. I'd
try to create within myself a joy. I'm going to try to make my heart
burn, and I can't. I feel myself so often as aching We saw the Babylonian garment
and the wedge of gold and took it and hid it, still pretending, you know, to
go through the motions of obedience. And I admit my self-conceit, my disobedience,
and do the first works. Whenever the Lord told that church
at Ephesus, repent. You've left your first love.
Do you know what a believer is going to do immediately? Immediately,
when they hear that, they're going to fly back to Him. Lord,
have mercy on this sinner. Lord, I'm sorry. Lord, as You
say, it is. Lord, I've found myself. to be
cold and indifferent so often. Peter told the Lord, I will never,
others will forsake you. Not me. Not me. Peter, before the cock crows
twice, oh, the omniscience of him who knows our frame. Before the
cock crows twice, you'll deny me three times. And the Scripture
says when he did it, and I'm talking about this man that God
Almighty had called out of darkness, this Peter that the Lord had
revealed Himself to, the Peter that said when others say you're
Jeremiah or some other prophet, and the Lord asked Peter, who
do you say I am? And Peter said, You're the Christ.
You're God. You are God Almighty. Come in
human flesh. And the Lord told Peter, He said,
Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you. We forget that. We forget how much we've been
taught And here we deal with the unsearchable
riches of God's grace and the revelation of truth. I mean,
we're dealing with things this morning that we've already looked
at, written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation
of the world. Think of the glorious truth,
the miracle of God's grace. Think of the indescribable mercy
of God. And we're dealing with things
here that We can't even describe. I'm talking about all of us.
Let's start right here in the pulpit. How I'll deal with these
things. And I think to myself, how can
I deal with that which is so gloriously wonderful? With these
eyes, I'm going to see God. This body that's going to be
put in the grave. It's going to be changed. There's
going to be a resurrection of this body. Not a new body. A changed body of which I bow
to that truth and know that that is so. But I bow to this thing. Not a new creation. A resurrection. There's a difference
in those words. Now, I'm talking about these
eyes. This mouth, this voice that you
hear, these ears by which I hear with these hands changed, sown
in corruption, raised in incorruption, sown in weakness, raised in power
and glory and strength. But with these eyes, I'll see Him. I'll see Him. And I'll hear His voice. And the very one that John said
we handled of the Word of Life. He said we're setting forth these
things that you might rejoice with us and that your joy might
be full and that you might be comforted. John said we saw Him. We saw Him ascend into glory. I saw Him. But we have a more
sure witness than the witness of those apostles. We've got
God's Word on it. And how many times have I sat
and believed these things and my mind just wanders. I just do the first works, repent
and do the first works. Lord, I can't do those first
works. I can't. Not of myself. You say it. Without You, I can do nothing. Without You, I am absolutely
helpless. Repent. Think differently. In
my mind, He turns me. You turn me. Lord, You turn me and I'll be
turned. You repent me, I'll be repented. You've created in me
a heart, a new heart. Lord, renew a right spirit within me. And Lord, restore unto me the
joy of Thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. Do the first works, and a believer
by the grace of God will cast himself upon the mercy of Almighty
God, and he will, by God's grace, cry out unto Him, Lord, help
me. As Peter says, Lord, save me,
I perish. May the Lord be pleased To bless
these few words out of Psalm 51 that I did not plan to preach
on this morning. I was going to preach out of
Proverbs 8, verses 22 to 36. But this is what I had on my
mind. And I'm going to stop. May the Lord be pleased to bless
these words to our heart. Cause us to remember, for Christ's
sake, Amen. Gary, would you lead us in a
song?