Thanks, Claire. Good evening,
everybody. Let's turn to Revelations chapter
two. Revelations chapter two, we're
going to look at the first five verses. I'm just going to briefly
cover the first three and our main text will be in verses four
and five. The revelations two, and this
is the Lord speaking to the churches, the seven churches in Asia. And
he's speaking to the Ephesus, the church at Ephesus here. And
we're going to read, we'll read down through verse five and then
we'll cover the first three briefly and then we'll look at four and
five in more detail. And to 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 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
namesake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I
am somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
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." Now, verse
1, he's speaking to the Church of Ephesus, and we have the seven
stars, which are the seven ministers and the seven candlesticks are
the seven churches that he's talking to here. And he noticed
he's walking in the midst of them at the end of verse one.
He's walking in the midst. He's here now where his people
meet. He's in the midst of us. And
but what and you'll notice he nurtures and he cares for us.
But look in verse two, the first phrase, I know thy works. He
knows every thought. Every work and every motive behind
these works that we do. And he commends them for their
works. They cannot bear them when they're evil and they've
tried them, which say they're apostles and they're patient
and they spread the gospel and they're zealous for Christ just
as we should be. I mean, we we give we support the missions,
we support radio and TV, and it's a good thing to be commended
for. And and we need to continue that. And the Lord does know
that we do these things. He knows all things. And he knows
that this church performs some good works. And we are, too,
as we spread the gospel of Christ. But he continues in verse 4 with
the word nevertheless. Even though they were performing
all these good works, he had something against them. Nevertheless
is used in the scriptures lots of times, like in Psalms, I think
it's 106, where He lists all of Israel's sins and says, nevertheless,
I will have mercy on you. Well, here he lists all their
good works. But then he says, nevertheless,
I've got something against me. And it's still a word of grace
because he's giving us a warning here. If we did not if he did
not tell us that you've left our first love, we would continue
on with our works and just trust into him and go on. But he gives
us a word of grace here and he warns us that we've left our
first love. I want to. This leaving your
first love. Is drawing back from Christ,
and it's a it's a condition called back backsliding backslidden. It's in the Scriptures. I want
to look at Proverbs 14 one verse in Proverbs. You can hold your
finger there. Revelations two or mark it will be coming back
to it. Quite a bit. Proverbs 14 we're talking about
how the church had left the first love. I want to see what that,
and it's called backsliding. I'd like to see what that actually
means. And we'll see here in Proverbs
14, verse 14. The backslider in heart shall
be filled with his own ways and a good man shall be satisfied
from himself. We see here from verse 14 that
it's a heart condition. It's a condition of the heart.
And you might not even see it outwardly. The outward works,
the outward efforts all continue. But it's a condition of the heart.
Backslidden in the heart from Christ in all your words and
actions and suffer still performed outwardly, but they're not performed
out of love and faith in Christ. They're just performed. As as
works to prove to yourself and prove to others that you're a
believer, but and you're trying to draw assurance from these
works and you're not trusting Christ and you're not. They're
not done out of love of Christ, so it's a it's a condition of
the heart. Now it's not a eternal. Bad condition. If you're saved
by Christ, you're eternally secure. There's going to be times where
you backslide and he's going to draw you back up. But you're
going and it's not going to be an eternal backslide. If you're
one of his, you know, you're preserved forever. But it is
a condition of the heart. It's not a desired state to be
in. It's you withdraw from him and he will withdraw from you.
And that's that hurts a believer that, you know, we get physically
hurt, but to be spiritually hurt. hurts more than physically to
me. If he withdraws himself from you for a while and you can't
come near to him or seek him in prayer or hear his word when
it's preached, that's a bad state to be in. And it's a condition
of the heart. It's a backslidden believer.
I want to look at an example of this in Isaiah chapter 1.
So just turn over right after Proverbs, Song of Solomon's in
Isaiah chapter 1. Now, remember, all these Old
Testament people, countries, Jacob, Israel, Judah, when he's
speaking to Israel and Judah, he's not speaking just to them.
He's speaking to all believers, all the elect. So don't read
this as just speaking to someone else. This is to us. These words
are to us and they describe us. And I'm going to read the first
five verses here and then skip over a little bit. The vision
of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem
in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.
I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled
against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and
the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know. My
people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden
with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors.
They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel unto anger. They are going away backward.
Why should you be stricken anymore? You'll revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. Look over
in verse 11. To what purpose is the multitude
of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I'm full of the burnt
offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts. I delight not
in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he goats. When you
come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand
to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations.
Don't bring any more empty offerings. Incense is an abomination unto
me. The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I
cannot away with. It is iniquity. Even the solemn
meeting, your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are a trouble unto me. I
am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make
many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
Now look in verse 4, at the end of verse 4, they've gone away
backwards. That's a backslidden believer. That's us, to an extent,
on a daily basis. We don't love and follow God
out of a pure heart daily. We slide backwards. But here,
Israel had gone backwards, and it was revealed in verse 5, but
the whole head is sick. Their thoughts were wrong, and
the whole heart faint. They'd fallen out of love and
faith to Christ, and so they continued these works outwardly. But they weren't done out of
love and faith to the coming Savior. And so, look in verse
14, these worship services that they were continuing in, he says
he hates. And I hope, I pray, you know,
that's not going on here tonight. I pray we're here, Matt, to worship
God and trust His Son and hear from Him out of love Christ and
out of faith to Christ. But if the Lord knows the Lord,
like we said in that verse, the Lord knows that works and he
just doesn't know him. He knows him intimately. He knows
it means to have seen or fully perceived because he knows the
motive behind it. He knows what attitude. And spirit,
we brought ourself here in to worship him. Did we come here
to worship our father through faith? and love in Christ? Or
did we just kind of show up out of duty and routine? You know,
you can fool others. You can fool yourself. But you
can't fool God. He knows. He knows why you're
here. Every one of us. He knows what
attitude we have as we sing these hymns of praise to our Savior.
Do we sing from the heart praises to our Savior who gave all for
us? Or do we just sit here and kind
of listen to the melody and the pitch and kind of listen to other
people and get distracted and you're worried about the sound
and you repeat the words half-heartedly from memory? You know, it's become
a routine. He knows. You know, to an extent,
but he knows. He knows the state of our heart
while we're listening to our brothers come up here and read
the scriptures and lead us in prayer. You know, do you love
hearing God's word read? And do you unite with your brother
that's up here praying for us? Or do you sit there and listen
critically and judge every word he misspeaks or mispronounces
and every word he misses? And do you judge the weaknesses
and faults of your brother while he's up here? You know, the Lord
knows. And he also knows the state of
your spirit as you listen to the gospel preached. Is it good
news? Is it good news to you? Is it
the best news you've heard today or ever? I mean, he knows. Are we here rejoicing in our
Savior? lived and died for us and the
grace of our Father that's elected us and drawn us to Christ and
saved our souls and given us eternal life. Does that, you
know, it's this is good stuff we're doing here. Or does it
fall on a barren, hard heart and it brings no joy and it brings
no peace and your mind constantly wanders. You might pick up every
third or fourth sentence You know, and the time seems to move
slow and there's no joy in your heart as you hear of Christ.
There's the Lord knows. So backslidden is a bad state. It's it's not falling away permanently
from Christ. It's you know, you're. But you've
went away from it. You're doing things out of love
to self and love to this world and not love to Him and faith
in Him. And He will withdraw from you as you've withdrawn
from Him. And it's a sad state to be in. So what does He say
to do? He says, you've left your first
love. You're doing things now out of
love to self and to the world, not to me. What to do? He says,
remember, go back. Let's go back to Revelation 2
real quick. Hopefully you marked it. If not, it's not that real
hard to find. He commanded them in the first
three verses, but then verse four, he condemns them because
they left their first love. In verse five, he gives the remedy.
Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen. Remember from
where you fell from. Let's look at Luke chapter seven. Luke seven, we're going to read
of the woman that washes his feet with her tears. And we're looking to see where
we fell from. Luke seven, verse 36. And one of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him. And he went to the Pharisee's
house and set down the meat. And behold, a woman in the city,
which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in
the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment
and stood at his feet behind him, weeping and began to wash
his feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head
and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now,
when a Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself,
saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who
and what manner of woman this is that touches him, for she
is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have
somewhat to say unto thee. And he said, Master, say on.
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors, the one
owed 500 pence and the other 50. And when they had nothing
to pay, he frankly, he freely forgave them both. Tell me therefore,
which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast
rightly judged. Here's where we fell from. We
fell from a sinner at the feet of Christ, trusting and loving
him for our salvation. Just as this woman is, that's
where when we first come to Christ, that's how we come at his feet,
trusting him and loving him. Now to fall. from somewhere you
have to be lifted up. And he did that. He lifted us
from dead and trespasses and sins to life in Christ. God did
this. He's lifted us up. And when did
it happen? When did this lifting up happen?
When we fell at his feet. So, just like Todd has always
said, the way up is down. Fall at Christ's feet. But that's
where we've fallen from. We've got drawn away to other
principles, other motives, and we've left a sinner at the feet
of Christ. And that's where we've fallen
from. Now, it's hard to imagine how you could fall from such
a low position. You're at the feet of Christ. That's pretty
low. But remember, this falling is not a physical Fall. It's a fall of the heart. And
it's a fall of the heart. It's a fall of the spirit. It
can happen anywhere, anytime, with or without outward indications. Like I said before, you can fool
yourselves and others, but the Lord knows. And He knows the
state of your heart. So you've fallen from a sinner
at the feet of Christ, trusting and loving Him. So where did
you fall to? Let's turn to Ezekiel 33. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations and then Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 33. Ezekiel 33, we'll start in verse
30. Now, this is where we've fallen
to. We've fallen from a sinner at the feet of Christ. And starting
in verse 30, I'll read through the end of the chapter. Also,
thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking
against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and
speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come,
I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from
the Lord. And they come unto thee as a people cometh, and
they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but
they will not do them. For with their mouth they show
much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And
lo, there unto them is a very lovely song of one that hath
a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument. For they
hear thy words, but they do them not. And when it cometh to pass,
lo, it will come, then shall they know that a prophet hath
been among them. So we see in verse 31, here's
where we fell to. We fell into a love in word only. They hear thy words, but they
will not do them. We love. Only in words, we're not loving
in deed and in truth. And your heart covets and desires
this yourself, it covets the world. And love to self, as your
love to the self and to this world increases, your love to
Christ decreases. And you've become backslidden
and you've fallen away from Him. And the work of Christ living
and dying for you doesn't excite your senses anymore. And I'm
not talking about physical senses, touch. taste, feel, or sight
or anything. I'm talking about the spiritual
senses. The fruits of the spirit that he's given you as a believer,
love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, faith, temperance, meekness,
all the fruits that he tells us about in Galatians 6. They're falling away. You can't
even hardly see them anymore. As your love declines, those
fruits decline. And sometimes it may be shown
outward, unfortunately. We all do. You've seen His gentleness
and His kindness to you, yet you're harsh and rough with others.
You've seen how good He's been to you, yet you don't give freely
and you withhold from others. You've seen His long-suffering
toward you, how long-suffering He has been, yet you're ill and
short-tempered with others. And you've seen His faithfulness
to you, yet you go back on your word with others, and you fall
from faith in Him, and you trust other things than Christ alone.
It's a bad state to be in, to where it's not just heart, it's
starting to come out in your outward actions, in your thoughts,
in your motives, in your words, in your deeds towards other people.
It's a bad state to be in. But He tells us, when you get
in that backslidden state, you're to remember where you fell from.
a center at his feet, trusting him in love with him. And we
fell to this love of self and self-righteousness in the world.
So he says to repent. Repent means and it's used here
to think differently or afterwards to reconsider. And so now you've
you've advanced, you think you're somebody now you've advanced
in faith. You're starting to stand by your own strength. And
all these good works that the church is doing and that we do,
you start relying on them instead of Christ. And so now your eyes
are turned to your works instead of to Christ. And you're to repent
of that thinking. You're to think differently and
to reconsider. And now you're to think that
you're still nothing but a sinner saved by grace. That's all you
are. That's all you'll ever be. And to think you've advanced
above that is to be thinking wrong. You need to repent of
that. Repent and do the first works. Remember from where you've
fallen, repent and do the first works. Let's turn to John chapter
six. And he's talking about doing
the first works, and we're talking about works here that we're doing
that are no good because they're done for the wrong motive, yet
we're supposed to do a work that is acceptable to in return and
do the first works. And here's the work that he's
speaking of. John six. Verse 28. Then said they unto him, What
shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe
on him whom ye have sent. And this is the first and only
work that we are to do. We're to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ for our salvation. That's that's our work. Now,
he gives us the grace to do that. He calls us. He gives us life.
But we're to return and do the first works of trusting Christ
alone. That's the remedy for this backslidden
state. Now, I want to look at an Old
Testament picture of the Israel backsliding and how the Lord
brings him back. Let's look in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy
29. I'm going to read quite a bit,
so I'm going to take a quick drink of water. Now remember, when he's speaking
to Israel, he's not just speaking to the physical country of Israel.
He's speaking to every believer, all the elect. So take this as
him speaking to you. We always should take the Scriptures
that way. Deuteronomy 29. We'll start in verse 10. Read down through the chapter
and then a little bit of verse or chapter 30. Verse 10, you
stand this day, all of you before the Lord, your God, your captains
of your tribe, your elders and your officers, with all the men
of Israel, your little ones, your wives and that stranger
that is in that camp from the hewer of thy wood into the drawer
of thy water. That thou shouldst enter into
covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the
Lord thy God maketh with thee this day, that he may establish
thee to-day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto
thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto
thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with you
only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him that
standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and
also with him that is not here with us this day. For ye know
how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through
the nations which ye passed by. And ye have seen their abominations,
and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among
them. Lest there should be among you
man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turneth away this
day, from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these
nations, lest there should be among you a root that beareth
gall and wormwood, and it come to pass, when you hear the words
of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying,
I shall have peace. Though I walk in the imagination
of mine heart to add drunkenness to thirst, and we see here in
verse 18 and 19, we see how in the middle of verse 18, their
heart has turned away this day from the Lord our God. Once again,
it's a heart condition. You may continue outwardly with
all the outward religious works, but if your heart turns away,
that's the state you don't want to be in. And you walk in the
imagination of your heart, your own thoughts, and your ways of
self-righteousness so much that at the end of verse 19 you become
drunk, intoxicated. And it started as thirst. It
started just as a little A little thirst, a little taste for your
works or for self-righteousness. But now it's become drunkenness,
intoxicated. You're consumed by your own thoughts
and ideas of a God you can control and a God that can be bought
and manipulated. And it's a bad state. And Israel's
in this state. Their heart had left the Lord.
Verse 20. The Lord will not spare him.
But then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke
against that man. And all the curses that are written in this
book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name
from under heaven. And the Lord shall separate him unto evil
out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of
the covenant that are written in this book of the law. So that
the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after
you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land shall say,
When they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses
which the Lord hath laid upon it. And here's the sicknesses
we saw in Isaiah 1. The whole head and the whole
heart were sick and faint. The Lord lays this upon Israel
and upon us. In verse 23, the effect is that
the whole land thereof is brimstone and salt and burning, that it
is not sown nor bare. So we see that the heart becomes
barren, the fruits of the spirit are barren. They're not there.
You can't see him anymore. And instead, you see the opposite
of what you should be seeing, because your heart's turned away
from the Lord. And let's see, like the overthrow
of Sodom, continuing in verse 23, in Gomorrah, Admon, Zebulun,
which the Lord overthrew in his anger and in his wrath, even
all nations shall say, wherefore hath the Lord done this unto
this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men
shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the
Lord God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought
them forth out of the land of Egypt. For they went and served
other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they knew not and whom
he had not given unto them. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against this land to bring upon it all the curses
that are written in this book. And the Lord rooted them out
of their land in anger and in wrath and in great indignation
and cast them into another land as it is this day. The secret
things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are
revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we
may do all the words of this law. Now, continuing down here,
and it shall come to pass when all these things are come upon
me, the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee.
And thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whether
the Lord thy God hath driven thee." Here's the remember part.
Remember in Revelation, remember from where you've fallen. He
tells Israel right here in verse 1 of chapter 30, call them to
mind. Remember the blessings. Remember where you fell from.
Fallen as a sinner at the feet of Christ. He's telling them
to remember that. Remember where you fell from.
And shalt return, verse 2, unto the Lord thy God. and shall obey
his voice according to all that I command thee this day. Thou,
my children, with all thine heart and with all thy soul." So here
we see in verse 2, repent and do the first works. Return unto
thy first love. That's what we're to do. We're to return to Christ. And
it says right here, return unto the Lord thy God. And the remedy
for a backslidden believer He's not trying to work it out, not
try to rekindle the emotions, not try anything except to return
to Christ, return to him in faith. And he will return to you, as
we see in verse three, that then the Lord thy God will turn thy
captivity and have compassion upon thee and will return and
gather thee from all the nations where the Lord thy God has scattered
thee. He will return to you and have
compassion on you. Now, notice he won't return until
you return to him. And I know that it's still by
His grace that we return to Him, but that's the order. You return
to Him, He will return to you and He will restore that love.
Verse 4, If any of thine be driven out into the utmost parts of
heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and
from thence will He fetch thee. And the Lord thy God will bring
thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt
possess it. And he will do thee good and
multiply thee above thy fathers. We see in the end of verse 3
that it's the Lord thy God that scattered thee. But he's the
one that will also gather thee in verses 4 and 5. And verse
6 will end up here. And the Lord thy God will circumcise
thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy
God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest
live. Well, here's how you're restored.
You can't restore love that you never produced in the first place. You can't restore it, but he
can. He will circumcise the heart. He will restore this heart of
love and faith in him. You return to him and ask him,
return to him in faith, and you return to the author of your
faith, the creator of this love. He will circumcise thine heart
and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all
thine heart. And that's, you know, that's
how we do this. We remember, we repent, and we
return to Christ. I want to conclude in Song of
Solomon. Chapter 1. Right in front of Isaiah. So we've been talking about remembering
from where you've fallen, repenting and returning and doing the first
works, trusting Christ. If you've let your first love
return to Christ, that's that's the work you have to do. Song
of Solomon, chapter one, I'm going to read the first. Four
verses. The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth that I love is better
than wine. Because of the savor of thy good
ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth. Therefore do the
virgins love thee. Draw me. We will run after thee. The king hath brought me into
his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in
thee. We will remember thy love more than wine. The upright love
thee." Here's how we return. Verse 4, he draws us. drawing
grace. If you've left Him, He's going
to draw you back if you're one of His. So, you know, don't despair. If you're feeling, you know,
forsaken by Him, He won't last. He's going to draw you back,
and you'll return to Him. And He's going to cause you to
remember, towards the end of verse 4, remember thy love. We're
to remember His love. Not our love, His love. His love
that elected me. His love that redeemed me, and
called me, and sanctified me, and justified me. His love. And when I remember His great
love for me, I'll surely love Him. If you've ever seen Him
and the beauty of what He's done for you, not the physical beauty,
but the spiritual beauty of His life and death that He gave for
His people. If you ever see the beauty of
that, He will be lovely to you. And you will love Him. And I
do love Him for what He's done. And in this remembering of His
love, He says here, That's looking to him in faith. When you love
to hear what he's done, and you look to him, and you're looking
to him in faith, and looking to him in faith, you're united
to him, or you're made one with him. And this union with Christ,
then, as he's holy and righteous, therefore I am. And so at the
end of verse four, the upright love thee. Well, I'm upright.
Every believer's upright. in Christ, in His righteousness
and His shed blood. And even though you may not feel
you love Him, and it goes up and down every day and in and
out every week, the Scripture says here you do love Him. And
if you're a believer, one of His, you love Him, because right
here the upright love Thee. And if you don't have a first
love to return to, Well, trust Him. Go to Him in faith. Trust
Him as your salvation. And He will show you His beauty. He will reveal who He is and
what He's done. And you will fall in love with
Him because He will give you that love. He gives you that
love as a fruit of the Spirit. And if you've left your first
love, return to Him. Do as His Word says. Remember
from where you've fallen. You're nothing but a sinner saved
by grace. Repent and do the first work to return to him in faith,
and he will restore that love to you. I want to look at one
more verse and I'll be done. Psalms 27. Psalm 27. Verse four. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the Lord, and to inquire in His temple, and how beautiful He
is, how truly beautiful. I pray He gives everyone here
a heart of faith to behold Him, and to see how beautiful He really
is for what He's done for His people. Thank you.