As I'm sure you will remember,
we have gone through the first chapter prior to this message
to the seven churches. And it's significant that in
that first chapter, John heard the Spirit speaking to him and
saying, what thou seest, write in a book and send it unto the
seven churches which are in Asia. And then he gives a list of the
seven churches. So therefore, although there
was this specific message given to those seven churches, they
were also to hear the message that was sent to the other churches. So in fact, there were seven
direct messages which they were to read and to take heed to. And we should be thankful for
that and realize that now Today, we are privileged to read such
words, and we shouldn't think, well, they only apply, of course,
to those churches which were so many years ago, and they have
no application to us today. They do, of course, have application
to us today. And we should therefore be thankful
that we have a record, a detailed record, that the Holy Spirit
spoke to the Apostle John when he was an old man on the Isle
of Patmos and was able to write it down and we now today have
a record of those great truths. Now you will remember also that
at the end of that first chapter John tells us the mystery of
the seven stars which he saw in the Lord's right hand and
the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels,
or the ministers, of the seven churches. And the seven candlesticks
which thou sawest are the seven churches. So the Holy Spirit
directed John to write to Ephesus. First of all, Ephesus was a wealthy
place. In those days it was situated
on the coast and it was the commercial centre of Asia. Wealthy and prosperous,
but sadly had also the temple of Diana there. So we should
be thankful that the Lord has given us such a record to take
note of and to take heed to. And therefore, the message is,
it starts off by the words, I know thy works and thy labour and
thy patience. Well, there's three good things. that the apostle was to note
and to write and to inform the church at Ephesus. And again
it's just significant to realise that there were those seven churches
in existence in those days, and none of those churches exist
today. So we should realize that the
Lord does raise up people, raise up churches, and then sometimes
they fall away and disappear. And so the church of Ephesus
was one of those. And he says, I know thy works. Well, obviously they're not detailed,
But he does know what works we do. And we should realise that
we are on this earth to do the work of the Lord, to be his servants,
to serve him in whatever way that may be. And we should never
think that this only applies to ministers. It applies to the
whole Church of God. who are to realise there is work
to do. God doesn't bring us into this
world just to sit down and be lazy and do nothing at all. But these works are for the benefit
of the Church of God And we should not forget the work of prayer. Prayer is a work. Prayer is not
easy. The devil doesn't like it. He'll do all he can to stop us
praying. So we should remember then as
we go to prayer, whenever we pray, we may find the devil tries
to change our mind. and to bring other things before
us. And we may be perhaps sad and
upset, but we should realise here we have a situation. I know
thy words. God knows what we desire to do
and what we should do. And then he says, and thy labour. In the things of God, there is
labour. We are told in all labour there
is profit. And so it is. And we should not
be surprised, therefore, that as we journey on through life,
it is a time of labour. in the things of God. They don't
just flow along. We find we have to work. We find we have to labor. And he goes on to say, and thy
patience. We need patience. Patience is
not something which always comes easily. Sometimes we're impatient. We want things to occur now,
but the Lord tells us, your time is always, but my time is not
yet. So we need to have patience,
the works and labor and have patience. And then he says, and
also, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil. Well, that's a good statement,
isn't it? Because we have a fallen nature. And sometimes we can
go along with those who are evil, who speak evil things. And yet
the word is here, and how thou canst not bear them which are
evil. It's good, therefore, if you
and I turn away from those who speak evil things. and not give
them any room. And thou hast tried them which
say they are apostles and are not. Well, again, some people
pretend to be what they're not, and even pretend to be their
apostles. Well, we can test whether they
are. We know, of course, there were
only 12 apostles, And that included the apostle Paul, after Junius
Iscariot took his life. So to have people who pretend
they are apostles and are not, and then he says, and has found
them liars. Again, it's a good direction
to us to not accept people who pretend they are apostles when
quite clearly they are not. Then he goes on, and has borne
and has patience. Again, he renews this statement
about patience. It is an important position to
have, to be patient. It's very easy to become impatient
when things don't follow the pattern that we think they should.
And we therefore become impatient. Well, says the apostle, and has
patience. This church in Ephesus were blessed
with patience. And for my name's sake has laboured
and has not fainted. we do all for the Lord's sake. That's a blessing, isn't it?
We know, we should know what the Lord will have us to do and
therefore we shouldn't weary in well-doing but we should indeed
have patience for his sake and has laboured and has not fainted. Sometimes the pathway is not
easy. Sometimes it's very difficult. And sometimes we may feel like
giving up and thinking, well, I can't carry on anymore. Feel as though we're going to
faint. Well, says the apostle, and has
not fainted. What a blessing, then, if God
gives us strength to hold on our way in this difficult world
in which we live. But then he comes, not all good
things, most of it is with Ephesus, and he says, nevertheless, I
have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Well, my friends, what a sad
thing that is. Our first love should be the
Saviour, that one who has come and given us spiritual life. And we should desire that we
may not forsake our first love, but we should pray that we may
be kept close to the Saviour and realise his great love toward
us. and realise that great truth,
not that we've loved God, but that he has loved us. And what a mercy then when we
are drawn to the Saviour, because of his wonderful love toward
us. Because thou hast left thy first
love. And then he says, remember therefore,
for whence thou art fallen, and repent. Again, it's good to trace
back in our life how God has blessed us and how we've been
left sometimes, perhaps, and we've fallen. And he says, remember,
therefore, from whence thou art fallen. And if we have, and repent,
to be sorry for those things that we've done wrongly, gone
against God, and repent and do the first works. That means looking
unto Jesus. That means following his good
and gracious example. And then he says, or else I will
come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of
its place, except thou repent. See how necessary it is that
God gives us grace to repent, grace to be sorry for our sins. You see, the devil desires that
we never repent, that we're never sorry for our sin. What a mercy
when God's grace comes into our heart and makes us willing, in
a day of his power, to come and repent, because he says, else
I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick
out of his place, except thou repent. And then he goes on,
but this thou hast, thou hatest the deeds of Nicolaitans, which
I also hate. Now, we're not clear of what
this means, the deeds of Nicolaitans, but clearly it's that which was
against God. And therefore we can recommend
that anything which appears to be against God we should hate,
we should turn away from, because these Ephesians were commended,
because they hated such deeds. And then finally he says, He
that hath an ear, well, what a mercy, if God hath given you
and me an ear to hear, to hear God's word, an ear let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches. It's in the plural,
it's not just Ephesus, it's the other six churches, that God
may give us grace to hear what the Spirit says unto these churches. And then finally he tells us
gloriously, to him that overcometh, and we only overcome through
the blood of the Lamb. him that overcometh. Will I give
to eat of the tree of life, and surely that really means to be
a partaker of the Lord Jesus Christ, by faith to eat his flesh
and to drink his blood, which is in the midst of the paradise
of God. Well we know that the Lord will
be in glory, and he will be the centre of our attraction. Well may he be, to each one of
us, the centre of attraction while we are upon the earth,
to know my Jesus, crucified, by far excels all things besides. Well may God instruct