Okay we'll turn back to the end
of Ephesians chapter six and we're going to be looking at
this for the last time this week. We've been about six months looking
at the epistle to the Ephesians overall just after Christmas
when we started and I think you'll agree that in a relatively small
package there's a tremendous amount of truth it's so rich
with the gospel of grace I mean anybody who sort of argues about
what the gospel the true gospel really contains let them come
to this epistle and read it and tell us that it is not about
sovereign grace and particular redemption and God fulfilling
his purposes to save a people for his own glory. Of course
it is. It's absolutely writ clear. It couldn't be clearer. There's
no question about, oh, well, that's your interpreter. How
do you interpret he chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world any other way than he chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world? He, God, chose us, his people,
in Christ before the foundation. It's as clear as it can possibly
be. And the church at Ephesus was
clearly a church where there was great blessing. The Apostle
Paul had ministered there for three years. He went there on
his third missionary journey, preached the gospel. It was a
great, prosperous city. It was a great place of trade
and idolatrous religion. Is that not the world in which
we live today? A place that's full of idolatrous religion.
Absolutely. And yet there, God established
a church. He established the truth of His
grace. And when Paul is writing, he's writing from Rome to the
Ephesians. He's obviously been there. It's
some years after he's been there. It's some years after he's left
them on the beach. You know, in Acts 20, there's
the message of Paul to the elders, the Ephesian elders on the beach
at Ephesus before he departs from them. They all wept because
they knew they wouldn't see him again in the flesh. and that
he's now in prison, he's now in house arrest in Rome and he's
writing this epistle to them and I think you'll agree that
as we've looked through it there have been no issues to tackle
at all there's been no problem in the church at Ephesus none
whatsoever it's been it's been nothing other than a clear reiteration
of the gospel of grace and an encouragement to bear the marks
of that gospel and to wear the clothes of that gospel and to
wear the character of that gospel in our dealings with other people.
That's been the clear thing. It's been the encouragement to
put on the whole armor of God to be able to withstand the wiles
of the devil. It's been absolutely clear. No
issues. You know like in other epistles,
you read the first epistle to the Corinthians and you think,
oh wow, problems there, sexual immorality, all sorts of things
that were wrong in that church amongst those people who Paul
was still pleased to call the redeemed of Christ, his brethren
in the Lord Jesus Christ. But here at Ephesus it seems
that there was nothing that he had to complain to them about
or to rebuke them about or to say that it needed to be corrected
or else it was just a clear reiteration of the gospel of his grace. And
then he goes through the armor and he asks for prayer for himself
that even where he is, you know he was given great liberty in
those last couple of years that he was in Rome. Anybody was able
to come to him and the gospel prospered there in that situation. and he prays for that they would
he asks that they would pray for him that utterance may be
given to him that he may open his mouth boldly to make known
the mystery of the gospel and then there's just the closing
greetings he's going to send Tychicus to them so that they
know about his state of affairs obviously they didn't have uh...
email and uh... a good postal service it was
it was it was very primitive communication and he was going
to send Tychicus so that he could let them know how things were
with Paul who they loved so dearly as a minister of the gospel of
his grace. And so he then says, verses 23 and 24, right at the
end he closes with this, peace be to the brethren and love with
faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace
be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. All you at Ephesus, he says,
all you that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, grace, the
grace of God be with you. And that's what he says to us.
Grace be with all those that love our Lord Jesus Christ in
sincerity. I might ask you do you believe
that Jesus existed and you might say well yes of course I do I
know lots of people don't but yes I do I believe there was
a historical character and I might ask you all sorts of things about
what you think you know it's a good question what think ye
of Christ but here's one do you love him not do you know about
him do you love him Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? You know
that's what Jesus asked Peter. Remember after the resurrection
on the shore at the end of John's Gospel, Peter, do you love me
more than these? Yes Lord, you know that I love
you. Peter, do you love me more than these? Three times, do you
love me? This is what he asks us, do you love me? Do you love
him? Is he, as Peter says, To you
who believe, 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 7, to you who believe
Christ is precious. Oh, what's precious to you? Oh,
you can think of all sorts of things that you'd rather that
people didn't take from you. You can think of all sorts of
things that are rather dear to your heart. But is the Lord Jesus
Christ precious to you? To you who believe, to you really
who believe, to you really who trust Him, He is precious. Do you believe this is so important? Grace be with all them that love
the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. you see we're talking about heart
love we're not just talking about head knowledge you can have head
knowledge of the things of God you can have head knowledge of
doctrine I could give you an exam on the doctrines of grace
and probably from what we've been studying and what you've
seen you could probably get most questions right in a multiple
choice test but I'm not talking about head knowledge I'm talking
about heart love. This is what this is, grace be
with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. You
know what happens to love in human relationships it's often
such a fickle thing that which seems to burn so brightly and
so strongly one minute so in such a fickle way can drift and
change but God's love for his elect, for his people his love
for his people is an everlasting love I have loved you he says
with an everlasting love and if God has everlastingly loved
you you will love Christ in sincerity you will be amongst these like
those at Ephesus that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity
and you'll persevere in that love to eternity for he says
he'll keep his people but you know again and again in the scriptures
wherever we're given confidence there's always a warning there's
always an implicit warning to beware of idle presumption to
just beware of idle presumption you know you watch boats on still
water And you think, they're not moving.
Have you ever been on a perfectly still lake in a pair of boats
and nobody's rowing? And you think, they're completely
still. And you look 10 minutes later, and the other boat is
50 meters away, 100 meters away, because it has just imperceptibly
drifted away. And so it can be with love if
we're not careful. If we just rest on idle presumption
it can drift away. What about this church here at
Ephesus? When Paul was writing from Rome there's such a glowing
I mean it's implicit he doesn't commend them as such but the
way he talks to them it's clear that this was a faithful church
these were those who in the main the majority loved the Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity these were the true people of God but you
know in every company of God's people in every company of God's
people there's always the wheat and the tares there's always
the true and the false it may be so here now don't start going
I wonder who it is just ask this like the disciples did you know
when Jesus said one of you will betray me and they didn't go
going they didn't all start saying oh is it him oh is it him no
they didn't do that do you know what they did? they said is it
me Lord? is it me? that's the place to
look look in there is it me Lord? is it me? or that it might not
be me let's look at Ephesus forty years after Paul first went there. Let's look at Ephesus then. Let's
see, you know, because some of the old saints that had been
there and heard the gospel first there, they'd gone on to glory
and it had changed and it had moved on. Let's look at the second
epistle to the Ephesians. You know where that is? It's
in Revelation chapter two. I don't know if you knew that
there was a second Ephesians, but there is in Revelation chapter
two. Let's turn over there now. because
you know all of the scriptures it's not just the Old Testament
scriptures that are written for our learning these things that
were written in the Old Testament are written for our learning
says Paul to the Romans but nevertheless all scripture is written for
our learning that we might learn that we might be warned that
we might be alert for idle presumption in chapters two and three we
have seven letters to seven churches seven being the number of perfection,
God's perfect number it's not a coincidence that there happen
to be seven churches to whom he writes it's because that's
symbolical of all of the churches of Christ in all of this New
Testament age he's writing to every church, every one of these
letters has got something to say to all of us and to all of
his churches and the first of them is to the church at ephesus
but first of all to bring it clearly, as clearly as I can,
home to you who it is that's dictating these letters. John
the Apostle in, he was on the island of Patmos in exile in
the Mediterranean for his faith, he's a very old man by this stage,
he's probably ninety years old by this stage and he's there
and he says he was in the spirit on the Lord's day so it's Sunday
he's on the Lord's day, it's the day on which we particularly
we remember the resurrection of Christ we live in the good
of that every single day but if there's a day especially the
Lord's Day I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and he was
caught up and given this revelation of Jesus Christ these seven sequential
pictures of the whole history of the purposes of God and the
culmination of his purpose in saving his people and he dictates
seven letters to John to go to the churches and look who it
is he had in his right verse sixteen of chapter one he had
in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword we already know what that is don't we from a
couple of weeks ago it's the word of God for he is the word
Christ is the word out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged
sword and his countenance his appearance was as the sun shining
in its strength and when I saw him this is this old apostle
this man who's known so much this one who leaned on Jesus'
bosom you know imagine so close physically he leaned on his bosom
he calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved when I saw him
I fell at his feet as dead the life drained out of me And he
laid his right hand upon me, saying to me, Fear not, I am
the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and death. Write the things which thou hast
seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be
hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sourcest
in my right hand. and the seven golden candlesticks
the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the
seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches
and so then we get into the message but who is it that's speaking
this is our God this is the God-man This is the one who is the expression
of the mind of God, the express image of his person. This is
the Alpha and the Omega. As God the Father is the Alpha
and the Omega, so Christ here is the Alpha and the Omega. He's
the Son of God and the Son of Man, the God-Man. He's no more
humbled as a man, humbled for a season. Humbled for a season,
we sing in that hymn, to receive a name. Humbled for a season,
he's no more humbled, he's glorified. this is the glorified Lord Jesus
Christ the one who became a man to redeem his people to save
his people from their sins and here he is glorified as he is
now and he's speaking to his churches and who is he speaking
to unto chapter two verse one the angel of the church of Ephesus
write these things, saith he that holdeth the seven stars
in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks. He's writing to the angels of
the churches. Who are the angels? The word
angel simply means messenger, to the messengers of the church,
the messengers, the pastors. God establishes churches, he
establishes companies of his believing people and he gives
them a pastor. That's what he does. He gives
them a man who is burdened with his message. This is the way
that God works. God is pleased to use sinful
fallen men to be his angels, to be his messengers to his people. This is why preaching is so important. This is why we have to take heed
of what the Scriptures say about preaching. It's by the foolishness
of preaching that it pleased God to save those that believe.
By the foolishness of preaching. not by the wisdom of their own
private meditation by the foolishness of preaching is what the word
of God says now are we going to believe the word of God or
are we going to believe what men and women tell us has happened
to them the word of God says that he sends a preacher with
his message. He burdens a man with his message. Look at the Old Testament prophets,
and look where they came from, and look who taught them. God
taught them. We read nothing of Elijah, that
great prophet. We read nothing of him until
we get to First Kings chapter 17, and we read, and Elijah the
Tishbite just came out of nowhere. We don't read that he got training
and he went to this Bible school and he just came with God's message
because God anointed him and so it is he raises up men for
his purpose and you say well I know of groups of believers
that haven't got a pastor oh you can get a pastor for yourself
any groups like that there's the means to do it in these days
probably better than there's ever been probably better than
ever there's the internet there are DVDs from a look amongst
their own number you know I mean it's happened I've known this
in my experience that a situation where there was no pastor and
no one preaching and you know what? God raised one up from
amongst their own number because that's what he does No, you don't
need to go off to this Bible college or that theological seminary,
not at all. God raises up men to come with
his message and he holds his messengers in his hand, in his
right hand, his hand of a special power, you know this is symbolical
language, but he holds his pastors in his right hand, he protects
them, he uses them, they're his instruments to accomplish his
purposes. and he walks in the midst of
the churches, in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
There's no doubting what those seven golden candlesticks represent,
we're told at the end of chapter one. The candlesticks you saw
are the seven churches. He walks, our Lord Jesus Christ,
our glorified Lord Jesus Christ walks among his churches. He
listens, he speaks, he speaks through his servants but he knows,
look, verse two I know thy works I know thy works that's what
he says I know that he walks amongst his churches he speaks
via the messengers that he sent he speaks in that way but he
knows he sees he knows think about that do you know if only
we walked every minute of every day in the conscious knowledge
that our Lord Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord Jesus Christ knows
everything about us. Everything that we are, everything
that we do, everything that we think, he knows about us. Or
how that might motivate us to put off that old man with his
deeds, to mortify the flesh. Well, this letter's specifically
written to Ephesus. It's the church of Ephesus, but
of course, as I've said, it's to all churches. It's written
to that church to which Paul first went to minister, to whom
he wrote from prison, and it's now, best part of 40 years later,
it's written to that church in that rich, idolatrous city. And
there it is, there's still a church there, a literal church there,
but nevertheless we can say it's representative of us and other
churches it speaks to us it's a rich idolatrous city where
Paul spent three years ministering and preaching it was a tremendously
blessed church and it was known throughout that period for devotion
to Christ but forty years has gone on and you know what he
said right at the end, Paul, right at the end of the epistle be with all them that love our
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Grace be with them. It's generally
written to all the churches but look let's have a look and see
what he says about them nearly forty years on from that epistle.
He says this, I know thy works, 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 has labored and has not fainted. Now we'll stop there. What does he report as good in
this letter? This dictated letter? Their works. They practiced their faith. It
wasn't just head knowledge, they practiced it. It worked out.
As a man thinks, so he is, says the Proverbs. as they were in
their hearts, in their faith, in their belief, in their trust,
in their knowledge of how they lived and walked in this world,
they practiced their faith. It wasn't just a mere profession.
I know thy works. That's a commendation. I know
thy labor, thy labor. They put themselves out for the
cause of Christ. They didn't just, they weren't
just content to be comfortable to have a comfortable existence
and do God's service once a week in going to worship with others. No, they work, they put themselves
out for the cause of Christ in their everyday lives, in their
work, in their home, in their family. All things were ordered
according to Christ and this is forty years on he still says
this to them and he says about their patience and perseverance
they kept going they had dogged determination you know they didn't
quit when those rivers that we were looking at in Isaiah 43
earlier came along and those fires of persecution and difficulties
no they kept going patience and perseverance with dogged determination
they didn't quit in the face of opposition and they were intolerant
of evil There was no compromise with those, you know, unlike
at Corinth, where there had been compromise. And in other places,
some of these other letters, it's clear that there was compromise
with immorality, with sin. But not here, not at Ephesus.
No, they were intolerant of evil. No compromise with those who
practiced open sin. In verse 6 there's a particular
group that is singled out and we read about them another couple
of times in these letters. This thou hast that thou hatest
the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate. What were
they? Well I don't think we really
know but John Gill, and I'm happy to go along with John Gill, he
thinks that they were a group of blatantly antinomian people
believed in no law and so they lived their lives on this premise
let us sin that grace may abound we're not under law but under
grace Christ has saved us therefore we can live as we like and so
they were known for their blatant sexual immorality and other sorts
of immoral deeds and yet the church at Ephesus forty years
on they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans, they wouldn't tolerate
that sort of evil they were completely against it and they were guardians
of the truth forty years on look at verse two, you have tried them
which say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars,
oh don't you mean that they're being a bit judgmental I thought
we're told not to judge. No, we are. We're told to try
the spirits, says John. First John chapter 4 and verse
1. Try the spirits whether they be of God. Test the preachers
whether they be of God. Test what they're saying. They
claim to stand and preach in God's name. Test them. And there
were some who were claiming they were apostles with a new word
for the church and new revelations that had come down to them. and
you've tested them, well done, you've tested them you believers
at Ephesus, they're not you found them to be liars all these years
on no that was a good report but look there was a fatal flaw
at Ephesus verse four nevertheless I have somewhat against thee
because thou has left thy first love Remember what he said at
the end of Ephesians chapter six, grace be with all them that
love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Heart knowledge, heart
love or head knowledge. You have left your first love. That was the fatal flaw. Everything
else was good. All those other things were good.
Their works, their labor, their patience, their perseverance,
their intolerance of evil, their protection of the truth, their
guarding of the pulpit, all of that was a glowing commendation
from the head of the church. But there was a fatal flaw. They'd
lost. They'd left. Sorry, important. They'd left their first love.
if they're true believers they haven't lost it they left it
and that's the fatal flaw you can be a true believer and leave
it for a while you can't ever lose it forever but you can leave
it for a while it's just like a marriage you know in a marriage
you know human relationships are so variable a marriage can
remain faithful but it can become dutiful the spark of love and
of passion it can become mere routine and if neglected it will
drift and it will die you know that's why marriage is such a
good institution because it's a legal protection against what
the natural man just might naturally do in terms of just drifting
apart and if there's no legal ties well why bother and look
at the catastrophes we see in society all around us You know,
if it's just neglected, it will drift. It's like the illustration
about the one who doesn't come to the meetings, the fellowship
of the people of God. You know, that well-known old
illustration of the fire glowing in the great with all the coals
there together. encouraging one another to burn.
And the old pastor comes along and visits somebody who's been
absent from meeting after meeting and he takes one of the burning
coals and just puts it on the grate on its own. And that coal,
what does it do? Because it's not with the others.
It gradually drifts cools, and before too long, before a few
minutes is up, it's virtually gone out altogether. Because
it's only thriving whilst it's there in amongst the other coals.
Well, it's not exactly the right illustration, I know, but that
love can drift. And it's clear that here with
these people at Ephesus, these believers who were so commendable
in so many ways, they'd left their first love. William Cowper
wrote this, where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul refreshing
view of Jesus and his word? You see, as Paul says to the
Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 13, we can do all sorts of things
for God. We can give our bodies to be
burned in martyrdom. We can give everything that we
have to the poor in charity. We can do all of these things,
but he says this, if we have not love, if we have not charity,
in the King James Version which means that love, if we have not
the love for Christ and the love of Christ in our lives we're
nothing we're just a tinkling noise we're just a great big
fuss about nothing if we don't have that love but the imperceptible
drift had set in here we need to ask ourselves is it so with
us? has it with us? Are we prone
to this? Certainly we're prone to it but
we need to be on our guard against it for the scriptures warn about
it. Has the worship of God and devotion to Christ in any way
become merely mechanical routine? Where that spark of fire and
devotion in the heart for him has gone. If it has, how does
it happen? These are ways in which it happens.
This is how they had left their first love. It's a willful neglect
of the things of Christ. We read earlier the Song of Solomon,
chapter five, and you know that's the Song of Solomon is the love
story of Christ and his people. It's couched in terms of a passionate
love affair. And the reason for that is it's very important because the
believer's relationship with Christ is a passionate love affair
it's a passionate love affair and in Song of Solomon chapter
5 you know the Savior comes, the Beloved, He comes to the
door and for communion and the Shulamite, the one who is loved
of Him uh... or she's uh... she's hung her
coat up and uh... she's got ready for bed and washed
her feet and uh... how can she go out to fellowship
anymore because well you know she's cozy as she is and so he
withdraws and goes away and she goes looking for him and then
she's hit with pangs of lovesickness because he's gone he's left Where
is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where is
the soul-refreshing view of Jesus and his word? And then the true
believer has that yearning in the heart. You see, if everything
else is taken away from me, if all those that I know and love
and are dear to me, everything is taken, where do I find solace? it's in the Lord Jesus Christ
I must have Him if I have nothing else I must have Him as a believer
if you know the truth you cannot not have him you must have him
you must have him there and so she goes out looking for him
oh now she's realized yes I must have him this comfort is nothing
to me I must have him and she goes and there are the watch
keepers and have you seen my beloved and they say what is
your beloved? more than another beloved that
you seek him so and then there's that outpouring of beautiful
poetic language you know my beloved is white and ruddy and thick
black hair and and all of these these pictures of somebody whose
heart is utterly enraptured with the one she loves this is what
it's about if you know these things if you know personal communion
with him if you know the joy of feeding in his word not just
going through the motions of things but you pick up the scriptures
and you read and it shouts out what God has done for you in
eternity in time in the Lord Jesus Christ what he's done for
the good of your soul for eternity how you know how well it is with
your soul how it is to commune with him in prayer from the heart
you see it's so easy to fool ourselves and others with mere
external activity I'm sure there are so many for whom it's just
an external thing There was advice given to a young preacher, he's
starting out, what should I do above all else? And the old pastor
said this to him, don't ever lose your sweetheart affection
for Christ. There's a willful neglect of
Christ can cause this. A willful neglect of fellowship
and communion with him. There's love of the world secondly.
Love of the world. You know in the parable of the
sower it starts out well. Some of the seed falls on stony
ground and some amongst thorns and thistles and it starts to
grow well but soon the thorns and the thistles and the weeds
grow up and choke it. The thorns and the thistles are
picturing the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches,
oh how they lure you, oh how they draw you and yet how they
would draw you away from Christ, the deceitfulness of riches and
perhaps gradually we no longer feel the need to depend on Christ
so much because things are going well with us and we don't need
to pray so much because we're having such an easy time and
things are looking good you know God keeps his children dependent
on him all that he wouldn't ever give us such ease that we fail
to be dependent on him and then presumption you know there's
this kind of self-confidence and self-righteousness that can
drift in if you read on to the seventh letter, the letter to
the Laodiceans oh they were typical of some that call themselves
Christians, oh we're rich, we're full, we've got everything we
need Because thou sayest, I am rich
and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And you
don't know, says Jesus to them, you are wretched and miserable
and poor and blind and naked. presumption and self-confidence.
Amos chapter 6 verse 1 says this, woe to you who are at ease in
Zion and trust in Mount Samaria. Woe to you that are at ease in
those situations. Whoever thinks that he stands,
take heed lest he fall. That's what Paul cautions the
Corinthians. It's a fatal condition is this.
head knowledge or heart love. Just to drift into head knowledge
and to lose that heart love, to walk away from it, to leave
that heart love. Look at verse five, remember
therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the
first works or else there's a warning. I will come unto thee quickly
and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou
repent. Our Lord warms this, he says
if you leave that first love and you stay in that situation,
even when he says these things to us, he says I'll come and
remove the candlestick. The candlestick is the church,
there won't be a church there anymore. you look up and down
this land you know you see more churches these days being used
in TV house conversions and used as a you know converting an old
chapel into a nice house to live in than you do anything to do
with the truth of the gospel of grace being preached there
as it once was if we look back in history to the seventeen hundreds
and you'll see even Anglican church after Anglican church
up and down this country the gospel that we preach here was
preached in those places in those days you know there's been a
huge huge drift away candlesticks have been taken away because
head knowledge has overtaken heart devotion well what must
we do to prevent it because you see this is what had happened
all who love him in sincerity grace be with all who love him
in sincerity and forty years on the rebuke is this you've
left that first love what must we do to prevent it first of
all remember verse five remember therefore from whence thou art
fallen and repent and do the first works remember how was
it remember how was it when you were first do you remember those
of you that have been married and in love and hopefully still
in love do you remember how it was when that burning spark you
know that you you were just enraptured you know what it is you know
when Song of Solomon 5 says I am sick of love that's old-fashioned
language I'm lovesick is what we would say do you know anything
of that? You know? Remember how it was. Think of
when you first understood the gospel. Jeremiah says this, God
says via Jeremiah in chapter 2 verse 2, Go and cry in the
ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee,
the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals when
thou wentest after me in the wilderness. You know, remembering
that time of newness. You saw something of the greatness
of God, the glory of God. You saw your sin. in the light
of his beauty and holiness. You saw his justice. You thought
on eternity and the realization of the gospel of his grace. And
you saw, you know, like John Bunyan's pilgrim, you saw Jesus
Christ carrying away all of my burdens of guilt and sin. In
what he did, taking those sins away, paying for them, them rolling
away down the hill into the tomb. and your soul was enraptured
with the beauty of Christ. You heard the gospel, you even
thought one of the least attractive parts of the anatomy of a preacher
was actually a beautiful thing if you agree with Isaiah 52 verse
7. Beautiful on the mountains are
the feet of them that preach these things because they're
so glorious to you. and you saw him, and you looked
on him, and you believed him. Look unto me, all ye ends of
the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God. He spoke so comfortingly
to your soul. His word was so sweet to you. All of its promises were not
just for any, they were yours in Christ. To you who believe,
He became precious. Oh, remember, remember, He says. Remember, therefore, from whence
thou art fallen. Remember that which you have
left, that first love which you have left, and repent Repent. Turn around. A repentance is
a rethinking. That's what it literally means.
Rethink. Turn around. You're heading that
way. Turn around and go the other direction. That's what it is
to repent. I once gave the illustration, it's like going on a train journey
and deciding halfway through at one of the stops, I'm going
to get off here, I'm going to cross the bridge onto the other
track and get the train going in exactly the opposite direction.
That's repenting. He says repent, think again,
turn around, come back to where you first met Christ and meditate
on his glories, the glories of his person, his gospel, his love
for you, his saving, saving grace. Set Christ before your eyes,
be satisfied with nothing less. Hear the shepherd's voice, look,
he, verse seven, he that hath an ear. Who has an ear? The one to whom he's given an
ear in sovereign grace. If you've got an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Let him hear and
return. Hear the shepherd's voice and
return to him. To the beloved, like that Shulamite,
out searching for him and finally pray. Pray. What can we do? Pray. Not presume. Pray that
he will keep us. Because that's what he's promised
to do. He's promised to keep his people. Pray in accordance
with his word. He's promised to keep us so pray
that he will keep us and he will keep his people. Oh that we might
be those who love him in sincerity the Lord Jesus Christ.