This is, you recognize, the message
to the church at Ephesus 1 through 7. Under the angel of the church
of Ephesus write, These things saith he that holds the seven
stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy
patience, 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, hast patient, for
my name's sake hast labored, and have 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 its place, except thy repent. But this thou hast, that
thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh
will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst
of the paradise of God. Flipping to 1 John chapter 4,
verse 1 through 3. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that
confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of
God. And this is that of antichrist. whereof ye have heard that it
should come, even now already is it in the world." I'd like
to add one more passage, and that would be from 2 Peter 2,
verse 1 and 2. He writes, but there were false
prophets also among the people even as there shall be false
teachers among you, who privately, that is secretly or covertly,
will bring in their damnable heresy, their awful opinions,
even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction. And the sad thing to be noted
in that last passage that we read is in the second verse. And that is the success of these
false teachers and false prophets that go out into the world. that
many will follow their pernicious ways, that they will have a great
measure of success in the world. And the second verse said, many
shall follow their pernicious ways, or the word might be their
lascivious ways, causing the way of truth to be utterly blasphemed
in this world. Not only that, Paul, all during
his ministry, warned, and especially the elders at Ephesus, the same
church, in Acts chapter 20, 29, and 30, with these words, I know
this, that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock, but also of your own self shall
men arise, speaking perversely to draw away disciples after
themselves. One more. Our blessed Lord Jesus
Christ warned his disciples, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the Sadducees in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 6. These are but part of the warnings
that we have in the scripture to beware a false teacher and
their doctrine. Because you can be assured that
there are two things that are certain and that are true. And
that is, number one, that there will be false teachers in all
time and in all places so long as the world is standing. And
the second thing is even sadder. They will enjoy a measure of
success. They will, so many of them, gain
a following. Many of them a large following. Many will be taken in by them. And so it is not surprising,
nor is it uncommon, that more there are in the world who espouse
a lie than espouse the truth of God, that have traded the
truth for a lie, And these false prophets generally cast their
nets in Christendom and they trawl through Christendom in
order that they might make unto themselves converts. Now, coming
to the text that we've read today in Revelation, the second chapter,
as you probably already know, There are seven churches here
in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 where the angel, or literally
the messenger, is addressed. And we notice something else.
That is that these seven churches existed when John wrote these
things that we have read from this morning. They existed simultaneously. For example, the church at Laodicea,
one of the worst, existed at the same time as the church at
Ephesus, which was one of the best. As another example, the
church at Carim, with all of its chaos, all of its confusion,
its carnality, its schism and division, existed at the same
time as the church at Ephesus, and Paul refers to both of them
as being churches, and the people he addresses as the saints of
God. Now, there was a time when the
church at Ephesus was sound and strong in the doctrine of Christ. I think that can be seen by reading
Paul's letter unto them, how deeply he speaks to them of doctrinal
things and doctrinal matters. Herman Hoeksema wrote of this
in his commentary on Revelation, that the church at Ephesus, he
said, was once one of the strongest and the most flourishing churches
of that period of time. One of the reasons not to be
discounted, I think, was because they had been ministered to by
some of the ablest servants of God of that day and time, including
three times that Paul was there in Ephesus with that church teaching
and instructing them in the things of God. I think Paul's departure
from the church at Ephesus found also in Acts chapter 20 when
he met there with the elders of the church, is one of the
most touching and most emotional in all of the New Testament,
as Paul leaves them for the last time and warns them that grievous
wolves would enter in among them. Be that as it may, as Hoeksema
started into the second chapter of his commentary on Revelation,
he called this period or this church, quote, the beginning
of decline, unquote. Already there was a beginning
of decline toward the end of the apostolical era. We can see
that in verse 4 and verse 5. Let's read it again. 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 its place, except thy repent. But also, we notice that
he has things by which he commends them. He commends them. You'll
find it in verse 2, in verse 3, and in verse 6 of this chapter
that we have read. One thing in common, to each
of the seven churches, the Spirit said two things verbatim to each
one of the seven. Number one, it opens with, I
know thy works, then a description of whatever their works might
be. And each letter also closes with the words, he that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the church
here. So we want to look at a twofold
commendation to the messenger and the congregation at Ephesus. The last part of verse 2, we
read it, how thou hast tried them, rather how thou cannot
bear them which are evil, and hast tried them which say they
are apostles and are not. Then in verse 6 again we read,
But this also you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitan,
which things I also hate, saith the Lord God. Now these things
being mentioned in such a way, They indicate unto us that these
things may have been present, and if not present, they were
an issue and having an influence upon the messenger and the congregation. And the Lord Jesus commends them
because they took a right view and the right action of these
things. First of all, they could not
bear them which were evil. Oh, that's a commendation unto
any church. Secondly, we noted, they tested
the apostolic claims of some that came among them claiming
to be such. And then thirdly, they hated
Nicolaitism and that accorded with the Lord's view of it as
well. Now the first one that we mentioned
may refer either to discipline or to membership or fellowship
in the church at Ephesus. It says very clearly they had
no use for evil person, bad men, ne'er-do-wells that might come
among them, base ones as we might describe it out of the Greek. They had no tolerance for such
persons. And then let me explain, at least
not in the church. They had no tolerance for such
people in the church, in good standing, in membership. You
know, consider today. Today, churches are filled with
such characters as that. who are not fit to be member
of the Lord's church and body. Today, the church has little
discipline. Seldom do you ever see discipline. All are welcome, they say, whether
they be a rascal. And many adulterers today are
singing in the choir of some church, and it ought not to be
according to the word of God. But our focus falls upon those
words in the end of the second verse, as I pointed out. You
have tried them which say they are apostles and are not. You have tried them that say
that they are apostles. I think the Greek might express
it like this. You've tried them calling themselves
apostles. and coming among you, passing
themselves off as being an apostle in the same company with Paul
and Peter and James and John and so on. Look at the word tried
here, if you might, at least in the King James, it is the
word tried. And it does not necessarily imply
that there was a public trial held in the church where accusers
and defenders and witnesses were called to participate in a trial. Rather, the word that we have
tried here, you'll find it some 35 times or upward in the New
Testament. And it's variously translated. Not translated in the same way
each and every time. But it is the same word that
you meet with in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 1, where it says
that Jesus was tempted of the devil. Same word that we have
here in verse 2. In John 6 and 6, again, it's
the same word. to feed the multitude. And it
says there, Jesus said this to prove him. And prove is the same
word that we had in verse 2. In Hebrews 11 and verse 17, when
Abraham was tried to offer up Isaac, You read in Genesis 22
and verse 1. After these things it came to
pass that God did tempt Abraham. There it is, tempt. That is,
Abraham was tried or tested by God. Again, the word is in 2
Corinthians 13 verse 5. Paul says, let a man examine
himself. And that's the word. Examine
is the same word. So the word means to test. It
means to scrutinize, or to put to the test, or to prove, to
examine, to make trial of. We'll say more about that later
in our study. But now, let's branch out to
two things. Number one. The claim of some
that they were apostles in the church at Ephesus. And secondly,
eventually, how they were proved to be not true apostles, but
false apostles. And the question comes, what
measure did they use? How did they try them? How did
they prove them? How did they find it was so? And how did they get at the truth
of the matter? First, the claim of some that
they were among that self-group of apostles known as the apostolate. They say they are apostles. That is, they say that they are
apostles of Christ and apostles toward and in the Christian church,
that they have authority to function as an apostle and to be given
the due respect that is accorded unto one who is an apostle of
the Lamb. Now you know, I think, that the
word apostle means assent one. One who has been sent on a mission. One who has been sent out. One that's been sent forth. And
in this case, sent forth from and by Christ. Let's not forget. Hebrews 3 and verse 1, the Lord
is called the apostle and high priest of our profession. And this word apostle appears
around 80 times in the New Testament. Now, let's do something, though
it may help us put their claims in perspective and will also,
for a time, temporarily take us away from the text here in
Revelation chapter 2, and that something is for us to consider
the various levels of ministers that God provided to the New
Testament church, to the New Testament people of God. For
you see, not all ministers were of the same sort or upon the
same level. If you want to turn to the Ephesian
epistle and chapter 4, I'll read verse 10 through verse 12 in
this chapter, to the same church, by the way. Ephesians 4, 10 through
12. Paul speaking said, and he's
talking of Christ, he that descended is the same also that ascended
up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And watch verse 11. And he gave
some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some
pastors and teachers for what reason? Verse 12, for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ our Lord. And it seems in this place, Ephesians
4, 10 through 12, Paul lists them in the order of their importance. And then in the early stages,
the establishment and the development of the Christian churches in
that day. Notice he first lists apostles. He puts them at the head of the
list. And some gave the Lord to be
apostle. And some, but not all, prophets,
that is, this was their threshold or this was their threefold design
in verse 12. For the perfecting of the saints,
the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ. And of course, the body of Christ
means and refers to the church, the Lord's body. In Acts 13 and
verse 1, down there in the church at Antioch, we read, Now there
were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and
teachers. They had to their ministry men
who were prophets and men that were teachers. They were distinct
servants, two sorts of ministers, or the edifying, both of the
good church there. Or even if the same men served
as both of them, at times teaching, at times prophesying. And so
the order was Christ, who taught and revealed the Father, then
the circle of apostles, whom the Lord chose, trained, commissioned,
and sent, and also, after that, prophets and evangelists, and
pastors and teachers. And understand there's an argument
about pastor-teachers, whether It says pastors and teachers
are pastor teachers, and you'll find good men on both sides of
the issue. And I guess this would be as
good a place as any in our study for us to make the point for
what it is worth. I agree with John Gill and other
good writers of old time that at first in the churches in these
days, in these early days, there were ministers supernatural and
ministers natural, ministers ordinary and ministers extraordinary. The extraordinary, of course,
being the apostle and the prophet and the evangelist. And these
offices have ceased They are no more. They have become extinct. They cannot be revived. They
need not be revived in the ministry of the church. The ordinary minister
being the settled pastor and the teacher, the shepherd, the
bishop of the flock and such like. So I would say to that,
how dare any to call themselves an apostle and a prophet of God
in this period of time, and especially to call themselves an apostle
in and toward the day's church. Such are liars and they are imposter. They are not to be embraced by
the church of God and the church of Christ. They are to be tried. They are to be found out to be
liars. Their mouths are to be stopped.
They're not to be admitted into the pulpit. Now, as an example
of the imprudence of some in claiming the sacred office of
an apostle, we must remember the audacity of men. For there
were some who would even claim that they were Christ himself. We read our Lord's warning, Matthew
24 and 24, there shall arise false Christ and false prophets. Matthew 24 and verse 5, many
shall come in my name saying, I am Christ and shall deceive
many. Also in Matthew 24 11, Many false
prophets shall arise and shall deceive many. And Luke 21 8,
go not after them. That is, do not follow them.
Do not believe them. Do not adhere under their doctrine. Now, let's make a point of emphasis
here in our moving along. If some would claim to be Christ,
then it is no surprise that some will claim to be apostles in
the churches of the Lord. And if we might express it like
this, being an apostle, was or is the top office in the church
next to Christ, who is her head and her sovereign. So some at
Ephesus were calling themselves apostles, but they were not. They call themselves such, but
in fact, they were not so. Now, whether they were settled
in the church, whether they were itinerant, going place to place,
I do not know. We're not told. Who can say? What we are told is this, that
the leadership and the church did try their claims and they
found them to be liars. Linsky, who is pretty good in
the tenses in the Greek, points out that there are two heroists
here for us to notice and consider. Number one, they did try those. They did try those, claiming
apostleship. It is not they would, they should,
or they might, or they will. They did try them. And the second errorless is they
did find them liars. Not they will in the future,
but they did and have found them liars. so that this was not something
which they were exhorted to do then and there. It was not something
that needed to be done at that time, for they, by the heroists,
had already done it. Because in the Greek, the Aorist
tense sort of says, as to the verb, that it is something that
has been done with lasting or standing result. Again, they
tried them, they found them liars. Let's look. They tried them,
tested them, examined them, scrutinized them, as to the various meaning
of the word. A.T. Robertson, in his word Pictures
in the New Testament, says this, that it is in the first Erebus
active indicative of the Greek meaning to test. So the question
then, how did they put these men to the test? which they failed
and were proven to be liars. What method? What did the test
consist of upon these men? Did they hear them preach and
come to the conclusion? Did they ask them a reason of
the hope that was in them? We're not told. Did they ask
them their view of Christ and their experience with Christ?
We are not told. But such men made an acclaim. We are an apostle of the Lord. And the church tried them, tested
them, examined them, scrutinized them, and pronounced them to
be liars in the sight of God. Now we could also raise the question,
what was the extent of their claim of apostleship. Did these men claim that they,
too, had accompanied with Jesus, that they had been called, taught,
and sent by him, a witness of his great works, to have seen
him after the resurrection from the dead? Did they claim to see
him work miracle and that they also would work miracle? We're
not told. Whatever the method was, they
were found to be liars. How they were tested, John Gill
made the point. what we are considering is more
peculiar to the apostolic age and church. I think that's probably
true. Think about it. More peculiar
to the apostolic age and church. Pat Gill wrote this, quote, In
no other age could men with any face pretend to be the apostle
of Christ, unquote. Brass on their face, claiming
to be an apostle in any other age but that one. Not after Christ
was dead, risen, and gone to heaven, with the exception of
the apostle Paul, and that directly at the hand of Christ. Let's
go back to the question and try to get at it. How did they test
these men and their claim? There are at least three ways
that are available and that are in play. Number one, particularly
in that day, a spirit of discernment in the leaders of the church. The apostles had sharp discernment
to the things of God that Peter could hear a man and say, you're
lying to the Spirit of God in Acts chapter 5. Number two, or
B, they weighed them in the balances of the Word of God and found
them wanting. And C, by their fruits, which
did not accord with the signs of an apostle." I'm not going
to turn and read them, but there are some scriptures that speak
of the signs of an apostle, which actually are the credentials
of an apostle. Here are some verses, Hebrews
2, 3 and 4. Acts 2 verse 43, Acts chapter
5 verse 12, 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 12. Now, in 1 John 4, 1 through 3,
as we read, it tells us what measure to use in trying the
spirits whether they are of God. And the need of doing so is given. because many false prophets are
gone out into the world. And they are best known by their
view of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so vital is that, I'd like
to say it again. They are best known by their
view of the Lord Jesus Christ. not by their diploma, not by
their skill or the degree of their education. They are best
known by their view of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as for testing
the prophets, Let's divert for a minute. Moses gave the people
good counsel. You'll find it in Deuteronomy
18, 21, and 22. In fact, much of that chapter. That if a prophet claims to prophesy
in the name of the Lord, If a man came among them saying, I'm a
prophet and gave a prophecy, Moses said this, if that prophecy
fail, then it is not from God. Don't be afraid of him. Don't fear his threats. and don't
stand in awe of him. For with a true prophet of God,
it happens as it did with Samuel. Here's another passage to consider. 1 Samuel 3 verse 19 and verse
20. It says there of Samuel, who
was a prophet, God let none of his words fall to the ground. So that Israel knew that Samuel
was an established prophet of the Lord God. For none of his
words fell to the ground. Hear what Moses said? If his
prophecy fail, he's not of God. Don't listen unto him. Now, let's
look at those words in our text back in Revelation chapter 2
concerning the words which say they are apostles and are not,
and have found them to be liars. I just wanted to point out that
there is a similar saying to the church and the messenger
at Smyrna. If you look down to chapter 2
and verse 9, I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews. and are not, but are of the synagogue
of Satan. See the same thing written to
the church, the messenger at Philadelphia in chapter 3 and
verse 9 of Revelation. Honestly, I don't understand
all that I know about this saying in the Scripture. It seems that
it might be something also that is applicable to the churches
in that period or in that age of time. Notice something though. Revelation 2 verse 9 calls their
claims blasphemy. They say they're Jews. They are
not. It's blaspheming. And both verses use the same
expression. They are of the synagogue of
Satan. And the word synagogue would
certainly have a connection with a Jew. They were not part of
the church of God, but of the synagogue of Satan. And they were Jews, but they
were making a false claim. Say they are Jews and are not. It may be that Paul gives us
very good commentary on this and the solution found in the
book of Romans in the end in verse 17 to verse 29, concluding
with verse 28 and 29 with a contrast between a physical Jew and a
spiritual Jew, but also a contrast between physical circumcision
and heart circumcision. Being a Jew, has lost its privilege
and its advantage. There's no boast in being a Jew
after the flesh since Christ died apart from him. And any
Jew in that time that turned away from Christ and the gospel
was, as John Gill called him, a child the devil unquote remember
what Jesus said you are of your father the devil in John chapter
8 Then back in our text. Let's look at verse 6. What were
the deeds of of the Nicolaitans. Who were they? What sort of people
practiced what he calls the deeds, or in verse 15, hold the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans, that is the teaching Well, I found here that
commentators are not much help on this matter in question. Some
take them to be the same as those in verse 2, and others followers
of Antipas and such like. Gil called them impure heretics,
quote, unquote, who committed fornication, adultery, all manner
of uncleanness. And the sect sprang up at the
end of the apostolic era. While the church at Ephesus rejected
them utterly, they got an inroad at Pergamos, and the camel got
his nose in the tent. This shows us something by looking
at these seven churches quickly at something that is said, what
can't take root in one place can take root in another. What
one church will reject, another will allow. What can't find a
root in one place will put down its roots in another place, so
that all churches are not exactly alike, and all heresies are not
exactly alike. Because, you see, there are many
foul birds. that roost in the branches of
visible Christendom, that every church is in danger of being
invaded by some heresy, except they watch, except they be sound
in their doctrine, and except they have an ear to hear what
the Spirit says unto the churches, and try the Spirit whether they
are of God. Try them, examine them, look
at them, bear close observance of them. For example, In Revelation
15 and verse 2, the Nicolaitans got some hold in Pergamos, for
they are said to dwell, the church was in Satan's seat. My, this church was in a stronghold
of the devil. Revelation 2 and verse 15, where
Satan dwelled, and that some there held the doctrine of Balaam
chapter 2 and verse 14 and Thyatira revelation 2 and 20 had suffered
that woman Jezebel calling herself a prophetess to teach and seduce
my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed
unto idols." Of course, these names, Balaam and Jezebel and
such like, are Jewish Old Testament symbolic names that they recognize. Until look at the church at Laodicea,
chapter 3, verse 17. Trusting in its prosperity, rich
and increased with goods, and saying to themselves, we have
need of nothing, and yet the Spirit said, are naked before
God. In thy prosperity thou art naked
before God. Brother and sister, nothing can
help purge the church of heresy and heretics or keep out the
unregenerate from the membership better than good sound doctrine. And the pure gospel of Jesus
Christ as risen Lord for sound doctrine is the best antidote
against heresy and against false teaching. Heretics have little
love and little appreciation, little tolerance for sound doctrine. They cannot bear it. They cannot
stand it. And this thing, remember, brethren,
we must not sacrifice truth for unity. In our day, you see all
these churches willing to cast aside their doctrine as nothing,
come together in some purpose where there is one heritage with
another. We must not sacrifice truth for
unity, and we must not sacrifice truth for numbers. But before
closing, let's say a few things about verse 4 and the leaving
of their first love. Reminded us of a passage, Jeremiah
chapter 2, verse 2, where the prophet reminded them of, quote,
the love of their first espousal, the love of thine espousal, when
first saved, when first blessed, when first taught by God, when
the heart was warm and tender and yearning after Christ and
new joy filled the soul at grace coming into us, when the time
of refreshing come, when grace had renewed the soul of this
one or that one, How fresh was the love and the joy of our espousal. I think this is likely capable
of a twofold application, a double application. Number one, of course,
to the church. and number two, of or toward
an individual. That a church may leave its first
love, an individual may leave its first love, in the sense
and degree that we have here in our text. Now the Ephesian
church had much to commend it, but a somber warning is included
in all of that, the declining of their first love. The establishing
of the church at Ephesus, you have it in Acts chapter 19. Though
time limits us, it came into being by Paul's use from God,
and from the epistle unto them they were well instructed, well
versed, in the doctrine of Christ, of the gospel, salvation by election
and sovereignty of God. They knew that and they knew
it well. You find that in Ephesians. They
were strong in doctrine. They're diligent concerning ministry,
intolerant of evil person, steadfast in the Lord's work, yet waning
of first love called for repentance to avoid God snuffing out the
candlestick as he threatens them in verse 5. And the word first,
does he mean in time or in degree? Or perhaps a combination of the
two? The earlier deep love. not just to each other, not just
to their minister, but to the risen head of the church, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, they and the church must
be jealous toward the Lord Jesus. that they have a right regard
of all things pertaining unto him, his doctrine, his person,
his work, and such like, especially to remain doctrinally sound and
avoid false teachers being allowed to gain whole and to gain foot
in the assembly. Now, we close with this. Paul
warns us, Satan is a messenger of light, he said to the Corinthian. Thereby, it is no surprising
thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of
light. coming among us as if they were
sweet and charitable and love the Lord and deceiving some. So therefore, we must hold to
our first love. We must try those who would become
ministers among us. and find their soundness in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So he commends them. You have
tried them, which say they are apostles and are not, and has
found them liars. Today the church has open arms. Come one, come all. Oh, you're
a teacher? Oh, we need a Sunday school teacher. And they'll take someone off
the street the first day and give them a Sunday school class
in a lot of churches in this city and in this country and
in this world.