Revelation 2.1, unto the angel
of the church of Ephesus write, these things saith he that holdeth
the seven stars in his right hand. This is Christ. The seven
stars, he tells us there in the verse right before this, are
his seven angels, the angels of the churches. These are his
pastors, his preachers. And he says here, he says, who
walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. And he says
in that verse just before that the seven candlesticks are the
seven churches. They represent all his churches
in the earth. He holds his preachers in his
hand and he walks in the midst of his churches. This is Christ
speaking. And he says, I know thy works,
and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them
which are evil. And thou hast tried them which
say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars,
and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored,
and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat
against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember,
therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the
first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove
thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this
thou hast, thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also
hate, the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And
him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which
is in the midst of the paradise of God." Now it's been 40 years,
over 40 years, since Paul first preached at the church at Ephesus.
And you remember when he preached there, the Lord did a mighty
work. The Lord began calling out his
sheep there in Ephesus and called out a great number of them while
Paul was there. Those believers that were there
at that time, they're sitting there now in this church and
they're aged believers now. They've been there a long time.
And they've watched as the Lord has called out new young believers
and united them together and called out a new generation.
And there they are together, all worshiping together. The
truth is still being preached. They still believe the Lord.
But the Lord says something terrible has happened in the midst of
them without them really noticing it. Nobody has noticed this has
happened. He says in verse 4, Nevertheless I have somewhat
against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Therefore
Christ sends this letter to be read publicly to the church.
But it's a letter to all the Lord's churches. It's the letter
to us right here today. The Lord says in verse 7, He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches. So let each of us here today, whom the Spirit of God
has given life and faith in Christ, let us hear. Let's hear what
the Lord says here. And let's lay this to heart.
Believer, never leave your first love. Never leave your first
love. First, the Lord says something
good. He says something good. First, the faithful witness says,
I know thy works. I know thy works. Wherever God
has given faith, wherever He's given faith, it will be accompanied
with good works. It will be accompanied with good
works. James said, as the body without the spirit is dead, so
faith without works is dead also. It's just like, how natural is
it for you who are alive to have the spirit? You have the spirit
in you. It's just natural, isn't it?
You don't try to have the spirit in you, spirit of life in you.
You just have it. You're alive. As natural as it
is to have the spirit in you, to be alive, And to be dead without
it is just that natural. When you have faith, you're going
to have works. And if you have faith with no works, wherever
it says faith without works is dead. Just like the life without
the spirit is dead. The body without the spirit is
dead. A good work is that which is done in faith, and obedience
to Christ. That's what constitutes a good
work. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. It doesn't matter
what kind of work. We're not talking about works
to earn a righteousness. We're not talking about works
to try to earn a reward. It's faith. Faith. Works done by faith. Believe
in God. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. It springs from love to Christ.
Faith which worketh by love. It's not done by the constraint
of law. It's not done by a legal constraint.
It's not done for rewards or for fear of punishment. The love
of Christ constraineth us. It's faith which worketh by love. Love, because you love Him, because
you see what He's done for you. And it's done for His glory and
gives Him the glory. done because you want to glorify
Him. You want Him to receive the glory. And when you've done
it, you don't brag on what you've done. You give Him the glory.
Because He gets the glory. He did it. He worked it, didn't
He? Paul said, I labored. Yet not I, but Christ working
in me. The grace of God which was with
me. Christ knew their works and he commended these Ephesians
for their works. So you see, works are important.
Good works are important. Works of obedience to God, works
of charity to men, works of devotion to Christ. Good works are important. They're very important. Secondly,
he says, verse 2, and I know thy labor. I know thy labor."
The works they did, they didn't just go about them half-heartedly.
They did these works with all their heart. That's what he means
by labor. These were hard things they did.
They did these things with all their heart. Paul said to Titus,
the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for us. He gave everything for
us. He gave Himself for us. He gave
the greatest labor that could be given. He gave Himself for
us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto
Himself a peculiar people, a people set apart, a people just for
Him, zealous, zealous, with a heart set on good works. Their pastors
worked diligently, they worked willingly, they didn't do this
in drudgery, and all the brethren amongst them did what they did
wholeheartedly. Everything that they could to
support their work and to help one another and to help those
in need, they did it wholeheartedly, with their whole heart. And then
thirdly, the Lord commends them saying in verse 2, I know thy
patience. It means they didn't work. You
know how some folks will get a fit of religion and then they'll,
boy, I need to make up for what I've lost time. Boy, they'll
work, work, work, work, work, and then they stop again. They
didn't do that. It meant they were steady. They
were continually doing that which was necessary, that which was
needful, that which was helpful. They did it. They continue to
do it. They continue to do it. Now, you remember, they lived
in a place much like where we live. They lived in a wealthy
place. They lived in a place that was
heavily populated, where there was a lot of competition, where
they had all the responsibilities that we have today. They lived
in a place just like that, but they patiently persevered in
these good works. They continued in them, and many
of them since that church was founded. And then fourthly, Christ
says, I know, verse 2, how thou canst not bear them which are
evil. You can't bear them which are evil. The Ephesian brethren
didn't want to be around those who were evil in their doctrine,
and in error in their doctrine, or those who were evil in their
lives. They didn't want to be around them. They couldn't bear
to be around them. And that's true of believers.
Believers don't want to be around folks who are evil. Believers
don't want to be friends and be in communion and be yoked
with folks who don't believe our gospel and whose works are
evil, whose lives are evil. They just don't want to. Paul
said, be not deceived. Evil communication, they do corrupt
good manners. Whoever we're hanging around,
that's who we're going to end up being like. Good, evil communication
corrupts good manners. Those who love the truth want
to keep company with others who love the truth. Listen to Solomon. The fear of the Lord is to hate
evil. Pride and arrogancy and the evil
way and the forward mouth do I hate, he said. Romans 12, 9
says, let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil and
cleave to that which is good. Don't mix the two. Don't say,
well, it's all right, and let love be without dissimulation.
Don't be divided about this thing. Hate that which is evil and cleave
to that which is good. And then fifthly, the Lord said,
I know thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are
not, and hast found them liars. I realize there's a lot of folks
who think I preach too much warning you about false preachers. I
stand here and I tell you to beware of men who stand up and
preach that a sinner, a sinner has a will that's free. Adam
had a will that was free from sin and Christ had a will that
was free from sin. But you and I, we have a will
that's in bondage to our nature by birth. And a sinner in bondage
to his nature can't do anything but what his nature dictates
for him to do. It's in bondage to sin. He could
be a sinner. That's all he's going to do.
So beware of those who preach to you that you can by your will
be born of God or that you can by your will come to Christ in
yourself. If you can't, by your will, search
God out and find out who God is. God's got to teach us. God's
got to give us new life. God's got to call us Himself.
I stand here and I warn you about those who preach that Christ
died for everybody. That's a lie. I'd warn you about
it. Christ didn't die for everybody.
And they say, but it's up to you now to make His blood effectual
for you. That's making men out to be the
Savior. That's blasphemy. I preach against
that. I'm not ashamed of it. I preach
against those who say, now that you're born of God and called
into the faith, now you've got to perfect yourself in the flesh
by your works. I preach against that. We're
not getting more and more perfect by our fleshly deeds. That's
not. Sanctification is a heart matter. It's of the Spirit of
God. It's in Christ. It's being separated into Him
and growing in grace and knowledge of Him. This is where our sanctification
is. growing in grace, not holiness.
But the Ephesians proved here that they didn't like false brethren.
They warned one another about it. And the Lord commends them
for doing it. He commends them for doing it. So that's not something
to be ashamed of. Sixthly, the Lord Jesus said
in verse 3, I know how thou hast borne, and hast patience, and
for my sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Thou hast borne
means they bore reproach and they bore persecution for the
sake of Christ. For the gospel they preached
and supported and believed. They bore reproach. A believer
is going to bear reproach. It may be bad reproach, I mean
like severe, or it may be milder reproach as it is usually in
our day, but we're going to bear some reproach. These folks would
have co-workers come with them that they invited, or they'd
have friends that came with them that they invited, or they'd
be brethren that sat there for years with them, pretending to
be like they were one with them. And then they listened to their
preachers preach, and then they criticized them. They reproached
them for everything. They reproached them because
they looked up to Paul, who was instrumental in establishing
that church. You put too much emphasis on
Paul, you look up... Why do your people do that? You
ought not to do that. When all the while they're looking
to their works and their flesh. What they're saying is, don't
make him a god, I want to be the god! That's what they're
saying. And they reproach you for looking
up to those pastors that the Lord sent to minister to you
on a daily basis. And they reproach you for the
way you conduct your services. And they reproach you because
you don't do things the way that the preachers that they love,
their worldly preachers, do things. They reproach you for everything.
They criticize you for everything. You're just nagging and nagging
and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging. And
just keep on with it. Just a thorn in your side. And
the Lord says here, I commend you that you've borne with them.
You've borne with them. You've patiently borne with them.
You've persevered even though they kept on reproaching you.
It hadn't turned you to the left or to the right. You've kept
on steady in the Gospel. Steady in the Gospel. Can you
imagine getting a letter from the Lord Jesus Christ to be read
to us? And He said to us, I commend
you for not fainting. We'd say, Lord, the only reason
we haven't fainted is because of your strength. That's not
because of us. But He does it in His people
and strengthens His people and then He commends His people for
not fainting. That's gracious, isn't it? That's
gracious. Well, seventhly, the Lord commended
their hatred of the deeds of the Nicolaitans. But this thou
hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also
hate. The Nicolaitans were true antinomians. They were true antinomians. We
get accused of that, and you're going to get accused of that
if you preach that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. If you preach that the believer
is in no shape, form, or fashion under the law, we're under grace.
If you preach that our rule of life is faith, it's not the law,
because the law is not of faith. If you preach that we walk by
faith, not by sight, we're led of the Spirit, not of the law.
If you preach that, men are going to say, you're an antinomian.
You're against the law. But these right here, when Paul said, we
be slanderously reported as some affirm that we say, they say
that we're teaching men, let us do evil that good may come.
They said their damnation is just, men who say that. He said, what then, shall we sin because
we're not under the law but under grace? God forbid. These are
the kind of folks he was talking about, the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitans
said, well, we've been chosen of God. God's purpose from the
beginning, we're going to be saved. Christ has redeemed us
from all iniquity. He's paid for all our sin. That
means nothing's off limits. We're not under the law, we're
under grace. Nothing's off limits. And so they committed fornication. They committed adultery. They
had their wives in common with one another. And the Lord said,
I hate their deeds. And he said, and I commend you
for hating their deeds as well. And we hate their deeds. A believer
is not, we don't desire to be, to live in sin. The reason we
mourn our sin is because we have been saved by grace and we see
that our sin is against this one who loved us and gave himself
for us. We don't, we don't, Don't ever
misunderstand that when we preach that we're not under the law,
we're under grace. Don't ever misunderstand that
what we're saying is now nothing's off limits. You're just free
to go out and live. Those taught of the Spirit know
the truth. Those taught of the Spirit will know the difference.
I'm talking to you sitting here that don't know the difference.
That's not what we're saying. That's not what we're saying.
So these seven things the Lord commended them for. He commended
them for all this. But now secondly, the Lord speaks
something very bad. He says in verse 4, Nevertheless,
I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first
love. Now you watch this. They were
commended for being orthodox in their doctrine. They knew
the truth. They knew the truth. They were
commended for being uncompromising with false preachers. They didn't
compromise. They were commended for being
zealous, for good works, for being patient, for persevering.
Nevertheless, the Lord said, I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love. It's not that they didn't
It's not that they had ceased to love the Lord. They still
love the Lord. Those that are born of the Spirit
of God loves of God. It's a gift. It's from Christ
dwelling in us and it's God's gift. And those that love the
Lord, they will continue loving the Lord. It's not that they
cease loving the Lord. Listen to Jeremiah 32, 39. I'll
give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever. for the good of them and of their
children after them. And I'll make an everlasting
covenant with them that I'll not turn away from them to do
them good. But I'll put my fear in their hearts that they shall
not depart from me. You see that? His people aren't
going to leave him. He's going to make sure they don't. Paul
James said that every good gift and every perfect gift is from
above, and it comes down from the Father of lights with whom's
no variableness, neither shadow of turning. What he gives, he
don't take back. He's going to keep his people.
We're kept by the power of God through faith under salvation
that's been ready wrought and ready to be revealed. Now if one of his children suffers
Christ, he'll send his gospel, just like he's doing today. And
he'll turn them through the Spirit, and he'll correct them, and he'll
stir up that love within them. He's not going to let it fade.
So what's his first love mean? It just means what it says. It
means the love you had at first. The love you had at first. Now,
this is for you who truly have been born of the Spirit of God.
Truly been born of the Spirit of God. Do you remember the love
you had for Christ at first? Do you remember that? Some of
you it hadn't been too long. But for some it's been a long
time. Do you remember the love you had in your heart for Christ
at first? Do you remember how His love
for you just overcame you? You sat for a long time. And
these things didn't make any sense to you. You couldn't hear.
You could hear the gospel priest, but you couldn't make head nor
tails of it. You'd look into the Word and nothing made sense
to you. It never came clear to you. And then, you didn't know
what was happening, but God had made you alive. And the Spirit
of God had breathed life into you. And He began to teach you
and give you eyes to see and ears to hear. And these things
started coming clear to you. And you began to delight in what
was being said. You were made to see what a sinner
you are. You began to see how dead you'd been and how arrogant
and how scornful and how hateful you'd been against the Lord.
And you began to see it was against the Lord. And then you began
to see Him there hanging on that cross. And you saw Him hanging
there and you began to see Him bearing your sin in His own body
on that tree. Your sin. And it was just as
real, just as real as the Lord looking down at you from that
cross and said to you, I'm doing this for you. I'm bearing this shameful, sorrowful,
just hurtful, hurtful, painful death and I'm doing it for you.
I've loved you from everlasting. I've loved you from the eternity. And now I've come right here
to where you are. And I've saved you. I'm washing you. I'm purging
you of all your iniquity. And you began to believe every
word He's speaking to you. You began to just have your heart
just overflowing in love for what He'd done for you. You couldn't
believe it. It was amazing. It was beyond
anything you'd ever imagined would happen that here you'd
be believing what God said. You remember this? You remember
this? And as He did these things in
your heart, you began to just believe Him. You began to just
simply say, I have to put everything into His hands. And He began
to say to you, you're washed, you're justified, you're sanctified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. I've
done all this for you. and you fell so in love with
him. When you heard a scripture like this, as the apple tree
among the trees in the woods, so is my beloved among the suns. I sat down under his shadow with
great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. And you
could see it. You could just see that apple
tree. You could see all these bunch of trees. And then you
see that pretty, just those gray trees. And then you see that
real pretty red tree standing there in the middle of them.
covered all in red, like that apple tree. And you said, among
all the people in this earth, my mama, my daddy, my sisters,
my brothers, my preacher, my everybody, among everybody on
this earth, are the sons of men. There he stands. He stands out
from all of them. And I go and I sit under His
shade. I just sit there under His shade
from the scorching heat and from the painful heat of the law and
from the painful heat of my sin and from the scorching heat of
all the persecution in this world. And I sit under His shade and
oh, it's so nice. You ever been in a hot, hot place
and get in the shade? It feels good. And his apples,
all the fruit was just sweet to my taste. That's what we're
talking about. You remember that? Your love
for him was so warm, you confessed him publicly in Believer's Baptism.
You weren't ashamed anymore of him. Your love for him was so
strong that when he was in amidst a group of folks, anytime you
could, you was looking for a reason to bring up his name so you could
talk to him and tell him about him and just speak about him.
You make time to get along in a quiet place and read the Scriptures
and read about Him. You couldn't wait. You couldn't
wait to get to hear the Gospel. Wherever the Gospel is being
preached, you want to go hear it. You open your heart to Him
all the time and there was this genuine communion between you
and the Lord Jesus. I remember when me and a buddy
of mine We used to go out and we would, when I was a lot younger,
we'd go out and there was an old bridge and it had a creek
there and the old bridge was closed. It was just out in the
middle of the woods, out in the middle of nowhere. And we'd go out there
and we'd sit. We set fishing lines off that
bridge and around that creek, and we'd build a fire up there. We were in college. We'd build
a fire, and we'd sit out there and listen. We'd put a sermon
in on the cassette tape. I had some speakers I could set
out on the back of the truck, and we'd set them out on the
back of the truck and listen to a sermon and sit there by
that fire. And my heart just burned within
me. I remember just being on fire. And we'd run those nets. We fished one time for a week
so we could get enough fish so we could go and feed the Lord's
people. Just because of Him. Just because of our love for
Him. And my work, I had a job all through college and it got
to be where I wasn't working just for myself. I was working
so I could support the church. I was working so I could send
off and get some more of those tapes and listen to His Word.
Just in love with Him. in love with it. That's the first
love Christ is speaking about. That's the first love, that love
that made you surrender all to Christ. When you heard a scripture
like this, the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus
judge that if one died for all his elect, then were all his
elect dead. And that he died for all that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. And you heard that and
you said, of course. How can I henceforth live unto
myself? I have to live unto him. He lived
for me and he died for me and he saved me. How can I live for
myself any longer? Of course I have to live for
him. And now Christ says, you've left your first love. So have
we done that? I've been asking myself that
question. I don't want to leave my first love. I don't want to
lose it. So what are some things that can help us keep our first
love? First, the Lord says in verse five, remember therefore
from whence thou art fallen. Remember. I love to remember
my first love for Melinda. I love to think about it. That
little girl, she could wrap her arms around me and we just fit
together. It was just a perfect fit. And
I'm a little bit heavier than I was then, but it's still a
perfect fit. I love to think about our first love. I just
love to think about those early days. That's what he taught. Remember, be always remembering
your first love for Christ. Don't become too familiar with
him. Don't let this time become just a routine. Don't let this
time just be a thing you do. Be always remembering what it
was to have the faith of a little child. Remember that? Remember
when you were honest with the Lord? Remember when you opened
this book, every time you opened this book, you opened it like
it's the first time you ever opened it? You went to it, just
wanted to have him teach you. And you just ask him, Lord, teach
me. Show me what this means. I remember sitting in a room
full of men that knew a lot, and they could be sitting there
talking about doctrine and talking about some deep things. And I
remember I being just fearful to even open my mouth. I didn't
know anything. I didn't know anything. One of
the things that's helped me more than anything in the world to
remember my first love is some of these young people and what
they've said to me when they've come and asked for baptism. It's simple. Just a simple, childlike
faith. I gotta have him. I see myself
now being that sinner. I see I'm the one who died in
Adam, and I gotta have him. I gotta have him. He's my all. Verily I say unto you, whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he
shall not enter therein." Remember that? Remember the price that
was paid by Christ. If you're truly God's elect child,
if He chose you and sent His Son for you, Christ came down
for you. He came down from glory to you. He came down into the
midst of a bunch of persecuting, God-hating sinners. He came down
when He went to that cross and was lifted up and buried your
sin in His body on the tree. He went down in separation from
His Father. He went down in separation from
everyone. He went down into the grave.
He went down, down, down, down, down. His visage was so marred
more than any man is far more than the sons of men. Is it nothing
to you, all you that pass by? Behold and see, if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." You're
bought with a price. It's a price. Therefore glorify
God in your body. And we're talking about your
spirit here. We're talking about any in your spirit which are
His. Secondly, the Lord says in verse 5, and repent. Repent. Turn from whatever is taking
your time and attention away from Christ. Is it the world? The cares of the world have choked
the world. Is it riches? Oh, the deceitfulness of riches. Is it family? Is it family? He said, any man love father,
mother, son, or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
My poor mother right now, she just torn in every direction,
got no time whatsoever for anything but taking care of sick folks.
Everybody around her sick, her mama, my dad, my sister. Get along with God. Anything that's taking our time
away from Christ is the very thing we need to repent from
and go get along with God, get along with Him. It don't matter
what it is, what it is. Repent from thinking big of ourselves.
Think big of Christ and think little of self. Repent from being
wise and self-reliable, self-sufficient. Remember what a poor, worthless,
vain sinner we are. Repent from being self-reliant.
Trust Christ for everything. Repent from taking pleasure in
your strength. Take pleasure in how weak you
are. Paul said, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,
in necessities, in persecution, in distresses for Christ's sake.
For when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong. A gradual neglect of personal,
intimate, heart communion with Christ is what we should always
watch for and repent from. It's just slow, slow. Remember
how Christ went away from the crowds and got along? Remember
how he did that? Remember how he did that? The truth is, if we're too busy,
if there's anything that's making us too busy, that's what we need
to repent from and get with Christ. We used to work everything around
Him when we had that first love. Truthfully, I'm going to embarrass
John. John and Carly, that's first
love. Who's the first one you think
of when you wake up in the morning, John? That's what I'm talking
about. Who's the first one we think
about when we wake up in the morning? Think about all the
things you've got to do. Where's the first love? Where's
he at? Then he says here in verse
5, and do the first works. Do the first works. I'll just
be just a minute more. Do the first works. Men, what
were the first works that accompanied your first love for your wives?
What were the first works? Time revolved around her, didn't
it? You'd go a long way out of your
way across town. Took you longer to get there
than time you had to spend there, just to see her for a little
while. Because no time was too short just to go out of the way
and spend just a little time with her, was it? All time away
from her was just too long. Remember that? And no expense
was too great. Whatever you had to do to get
with her, you'd do it. You'd do it. Set your affection
on things above. Remember how you used to get
along so you could read His Word? Remember how you used to ask
Christ to open your heart and teach you and to commune with
you? And how you used to open your heart to Him? Get to the
foot of the cross. Get there and camp out there. Get there and camp out there.
Here's one last thing. Christ gives us a word of warning.
He shows us how serious this thing is. He shows us how needful
it is to do this immediately. Look at verse 5. He says, or
else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick
out of his place, except thou repent. Now those chosen of God
the Father, redeemed by His blood, born of His Spirit, they're never
going to be lost. They're never going to be cast out by Him.
Can't be. Can't be. His justice demands
they be saved, and they're going to be saved. But Christ is telling
us here that any believer that goes on in this way, we're going
to lose our light and our usefulness in the church. It's not going
to use you. It's not going to use you. You'll be useless. You'll
be in the way. Be in the way. But notice here
he gives a promise. He says, to him that overcometh
will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst
of the paradise of God. What he's saying is walk in the
light while you have the light. Walk in the light while you have
the light. That's what he's saying. Someone may hear this and they
say, well, a man can't turn himself. Well, you can't be preaching
that. You've got to preach how the Spirit of God can come and
turn a man and give a man repentance and work these things in a man.
You've got to make your doctrine straight when you preach these
things. Maybe Christ has sent this Word to you who says that. Maybe He sent it to you to bring
you down off your high theological high horse and bring you down
to a simple trust in Him. Maybe He's turning you right
now. Maybe. Hopefully. Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Turn us again,
O God, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Turn thou
us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned. Renew our days
as of old. Amen.