I want to speak to us today about
a great danger. I'm speaking especially to God's
children today, to those who know Christ as their Lord and
Savior. A great danger. Revelation 2,
let's read the message to the church at Ephesus. Unto 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 is born, and has patience,
and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted. Nevertheless,
I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first
love. Remember therefore from whence
thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else
I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick
out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, 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
I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst
of the paradise of God. The last book in the Bible begins
with these words. This is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. This is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. It is addressed to seven churches,
which existed at that time in Asia Minor. The number seven,
of course, in the scripture is a number which signifies completeness. or perfection, and it's used
over and over in the book of Revelation. We have seven trumpets,
seven bowls, seven plagues. Seven is used many times in this
book of Revelation. It is a book of many symbols,
much symbolism. The Lord Jesus told his disciples
the night before he went to the cross in the world, you shall
have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world." Now he's presented to us here in chapter
one in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The candlesticks,
of course, represent churches, the seven churches. And the picture
is that throughout this age, throughout this time, from when
the Lord Jesus Christ ascended back to the Father, where he
is now at his right hand, making intercession for his people,
that is when he comes again. There's a time period. So far
it's lasted over 2,000 years. It may last 2,000 more years. It may last two years longer. No man knows that time when the
Lord comes again. But during this time, in these
seven letters to the seven churches, we see things that will exist
And there's warnings against these things. Someone said there's
six things that are mentioned in all of these seven letters.
And they're things that we must always be aware of and be alert
to. Throughout this time, the Lord
Jesus Christ has promised his presence. He said, lo, I'm with
you always, even until the end of the ages. And that's the reason
we see him here amidst the seven candlesticks, the seven churches. That shows his deity. That shows
his deity, if nothing else, because only God can be at all places
at the same time. Remember, he promised before
this in the book of Matthew, the gospel according to Matthew,
where two or three gather in my name. That's us here this
morning, isn't it? Aren't we gathered here this
morning in the name of Christ? We've come here to worship him. And his word is where two or
three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst. And the Lord is here just like
John saw him in this vision walking among the seven golden candlesticks. So the Lord is here. His presence
is here. God the Holy Spirit is here in
our midst this morning. Worship. Worship is so important. Why? Because we come to worship
God. Because we come and I know God
is everywhere. He's omnipresent, I understand
that. But yet, there are some places
where he is especially. And among his children, when
we gather together, his promise is that he would be here in our
midst. I would hate to think that we
would come together to worship and God not be here. Wouldn't
you? that we do not come into the
special presence of God, just like heaven. I said last week,
heaven, the third heaven is a place where he especially lives and
reigns at that city called heaven. But we know he's everywhere,
but he's here in our midst today. And in our midst, He holds the
stars, the scripture here says. He's presented to us as holding
the stars, and the stars represent the angels. The word angel means
messenger, and so to the preachers of the various churches, we are
to recognize we are in the hand of God. And just like the Lord
Jesus Christ said to Paul when he went to Ephesus, not to be
afraid, be not afraid, but speak. and hold not thy peace, for I
am with thee. And every man that God calls
and puts into the ministry should hear these words, be not afraid. We have a message, we have the
word of God, and sometimes it cuts, and sometimes it offends,
but be not afraid. Speak the word, speak the truth. We come together to hear the
word of God proclaimed. And like I said, sometimes it
offends people. But the preacher, he must be
faithful unto God. Preach the word, preach the word.
Now, I want to begin this morning with these two facts about these
seven letters. In six of the letters, the churches,
the Lord recommended something. In six of these seven churches,
he recommended something in those six churches, but one church
he did not recommend anything. And it was the last church, the
Church of Laodicea. That's fact number one. And fact
number two, I wanted to start off with these two facts. Fact
number two, that In five of the churches, he condemned something
with two exceptions. In five of the churches, he condemned
something with two exceptions. Smyrna and Philadelphia were
the exceptions. Reading these letters recently,
I was impressed thinking about this as covering the whole town
that these seven letters cover of the church age or church history. The very first warning that he gave in this
first letter in verse number four, if you notice, nevertheless,
I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first
love. A great danger, a great danger. Thou hast left thy first love. That's what I want us to think
about this morning. A child of God, a believer, you,
me, leaving our first love. There's a warning, there's a
danger. The church at Ephesus, a church where the Lord has saved
many people. We know that from Acts chapter,
I believe it's chapter 18. God told Paul, I have much people
and in this city. But I want us to look at this
by asking these four questions. First of all, what is a Christian's
first love? This church he rebuked because
they had left their first love. What is a child of God's first
love? Well, the word first doesn't
refer to time. Because our first love, if we're
talking about time, we came into this world and first we love
self and we love this world. Those things should be left.
Our Lord said, except a man deny himself, he cannot be my disciple. And James said, to be a friend
of this world is to be an enemy to God. So the word first here
doesn't have reference to time, but it does refer to importance. Our first love. Our love of first
importance, our greatest love. What is this love? This first
love in the text here is love of Christ. Love of Christ, that
is the believer's first love. And it is wrought, it is worked
in the heart of every believer by God the Holy Spirit in the
new birth. This love for Christ does not
grow naturally in the hearts of men. The word of God teaches
us that the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all
things. I'm talking about the heart with
which we are born. This heart that is given in the
new birth is a heart that loves Christ, that loves the Lord. Man doesn't have that by nature. I know a lot of people think,
well, I've always loved the Lord. No, you haven't. Not according
to the word of God at one time. You were enmity with God. I was enmity with God. And it's
only when God works a work of grace in our hearts and causes
us to turn from our evil ways and look to Christ that we have
this new love, this first love for the Lord Jesus Christ. One
of the writers said it is a fire This first love, think about
this, it is a fire which is kindled by the breath of the Lord, whose
essence is love. And when I read that, I thought
about the fact in the tabernacle, the fire in the altar was to
never go out. It was to never go out. And the
same may be said here about our first love. We should never leave
our first love. This love is a grace, which as
I said, it never grew in the heart of a natural heart, a natural
person, apart from the work of God, the Holy Spirit. I want
you to look back, keep your place here, but look back to Matthew
chapter 10. What is a Christian's first love? It is love of Christ. Matthew
chapter 10, and let me begin reading in verse 34. These are
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think not that I am come to send
peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I'm come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And
a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross
and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth
his life shall lose it. He that loseth his life for my
sake shall find it. The Christian's first love is
his love for Christ. This love must be greater. Now,
I believe one of the gospel narratives speaks about hating father and
mother, but we know that's not in a literal way that we are
to hate anyone. We're to love even our enemies. But in comparison, in comparison,
Of the love that a believer has for Christ and has for others,
it is as though we love him and hate others. As I said, we're
not hating anyone. We're to love everyone, even
our enemies. Understand that. But the love
that a believer has for Christ is greater It's his first love,
first in importance. It's greater than any other love
that we have. That's the reason he said that
he didn't come to send peace upon the earth, but a sword.
People have a problem with that, don't they? Especially coming
close to Christmas time, we see these Christmas cards, peace
on earth, goodwill among men. People say, well, he's the prince
of peace, and he is. But you see, when the Lord saves
an individual, many times there's a conflict between that person
and his mother, maybe his father, maybe his wife, maybe her husband. There's a conflict unless both
are saved. The two cannot walk together
except they be agreed. That's what we read in the book
of Amos. And so this love that a believer
has for Christ is greater than he or she has for anyone else
or anything else, I might say. He that loveth mother more than
me is not worthy of me, Christ said. That's what is meant here. The Lord rebuked this church
at Ephesus because they had left their first love in preaching
the gospel. As a preacher of the gospel,
I and every other preacher, we emphasize the importance of faith. And we do so, and we should,
with good reason. Because the message is, whosoever
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Whosoever believeth
not shall be damned. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. But it is important for us to
point out and for all of us to know that the faith that we're
talking about, according to the Apostle Paul, is a faith which
worketh by love. A faith which worketh by love,
not by constraint. We don't preach the law. like
a whip to whip people and crack that whip over people's head
to get people to do what we think is right. No, people serve the
Lord because they love the Lord. They're constrained to serve
Him because of love, because of their love of Christ. Faith
is all important, no doubt about it. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. And I say to every one of us
here this morning, except we believe, except you believe that
Jesus is the Christ, you will die in your sins. Yes, but this
faith that God works in the heart of his people is a faith which
works by love. And I would just remind us of
what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, the whole chapter is about
love. And he said this, Though I have
all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love,
I am nothing. Yeah, faith is important, but
so is love. Here's my second question. Why
do Christians love Christ? What is this first love? It's love for Christ. But why
do Christians love Christ? Look with me in 1 Peter just
a moment. If you will, turn to 1 Peter
1. Verses eight and nine. I'm sorry, verse, yes, verse
eight. 1 Peter 1, verse eight. Whom having not seen. Now he's
writing, if we had read all the verses up to verse eight, we
would find that he's writing to God's elect who had been saved
by the grace of God. And in verse eight he says, whom
having not seen you love. In whom, though now you see him
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation
of your souls. Peter wrote this letter to people
just like you and just like myself. We have never seen Christ with
these eyes of flesh. We've never seen him. Yet, what
Peter says, you love him, you believe in him, you rejoice in
him, and you receive salvation in him, though you've never seen
him with these eyes of flesh. Yet, through hearing the word
of God, hearing the message, the gospel preached By this work
of God, the Holy Spirit and the new birth, you've come to believe
in him. You've not seen him. You've seen
many presidents of the United States, but you've never seen
Christ with these eyes. But you believe in him. And not
only believe in him, but you love him. And you rejoice in
him. Can you imagine that rejoicing
in someone that you've never seen? And you receive salvation
in him or through him. Why do Christians love Christ? Well, I've thought about this,
and here's four reasons I want to give us this morning. Why?
Believers love Christ. First of all, Christians love
Christ because of His love. Pay attention now. I know it's
easy to get sidetracked. This is too important. Why do Christians love Christ? First of all, Christians love
Christ because of His love. We love him, John tells us, because
he first loved us. The word freely, without a cause,
is used several times in speaking of the love of Christ. The Lord
said, I will love them freely. There never was anything in you,
never will be anything in you, that would cause God to love
you or cause him to love me. His love is free. That's what
the scriptures reveal. Now, we may not have known this
when the Lord saved us. We had a conversion experience.
We may not have known this in the beginning, but we come to
learn that his love for you, his love for me, It's not only
compassionate, but it is eternal. It is unchangeable, His love. There never has been a time before
the world began. There never will be a time during
your life, at the end of your life, or after your life in this
world that God does not love you. Why do Christians love Christ? Because He first loved us. Loved us with an everlasting
love. Our minds are not capable, I
understand that, of really understanding what that means. But that's what
the Word of God tells us and teaches us. before there ever
was a star shining in the heavens. God has set his love upon you
and that will never change. Never change, never ever change. No sirree. His love for his people
is infinite like himself and therefore it is beyond our comprehension. I understand that. And Paul the
Apostle, he called this love, that which passeth knowledge. Brother Shanks, Brother Jack
Shanks, some of you said under his ministry, he used to talk
about this peanut brain that we've got. You remember that?
And that's the truth. Think about the size of your
head if it was all filled with brain. But God is infinite. How in the world is it possible? It's not to fully comprehend
the truth about God. He's infinite and his love for
his children, for his chosen is infinite, unchangeable. Yes, he loves his people in life,
he loves us in death. That's verse in John chapter
13, before the Lord washed his disciples' feet, it says, having
loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end. And the truth is, there is no
end to his love for his people. Why do Christians love Christ?
Because he first. loved us. Second, Christians
love Christ because of His loveliness. When we think about Him, when
we contemplate His person, the fact that He is both God and
man in one person, fully God and fully man in one person. The loveliness of His person,
the only true and living God who inhabits eternity, that He
came into this world in the fullness of the time, made of a woman,
made under the law, that He might redeem His people from the curse
of the law. Yes, the loveliness of His person. We read through the Gospels and
we see Him as he had compassion and pity on all those that came
to him with a need. No matter what the need was,
a leper, a leper, a cast out from his family and his friends
and everyone came and said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. Everything about him, about his
person, about his ministry, the loveliness. You know, in the
Song of Solomon, it's an allegory. There's one called the Beloved
that represents Christ, of course, and then the Bride represents
believers of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bride
was asked this question. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved? In other words, what's the difference?
One man is like another man. Oh, no. Oh, no. She begins to
describe her beloved, and she ends up by just saying this,
he is altogether lovely. Now, wives. I know you love your
husbands, and you can say a lot of good things about him, no
doubt. Deservedly. But no woman has ever been married
to a man who could say he's all together. All together, love. All together perfect. But Christ
is. He is. The Lord God from heaven even
spoke twice that we know of during his earthly ministry when he
said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. A third reason Christians love
Christ because of their need of him. The work of the Holy Spirit and
convincing man of Sin results in the knowledge that a person
has, I need Christ. I need him. I'm lost. I'm lost. And only Christ can
save me. My conscience is wounded. I feel
the weight of my sins. I'm not innocent. I'm guilty. And only Christ can heal my broken
conscience. The fear of death, the fear of
the wrath of God is before me and only Christ can deliver me
from that wrath. And we feel our continued need
of Christ day by day. I listened to a woman recently
give her testimony and she said she started
off in a religion where she had to go to the priest and confess
her sins. And so she decided she was gonna
be a saint. And she started writing down
her sins. And she said it wasn't long before
she figured out she couldn't be a saint. She just wrote and
wrote, and the more she wrote, the more she had to write about
her sins. Only Christ can forgive a person
their sins. And we have a continued need
of his forgiveness, day by day, as we go through this world. And number four, Christians love
Christ for all he is to them. There's so many things that Christ
is, so many relationships that we read in the word of God that
he is. He's our Redeemer. We needed to be redeemed from
the curse of the law and only the blood of Christ could redeem
us. He's our Redeemer. He's our pastor,
our shepherd. We're like sheep and sheep go
astray. We need him. He's our husband,
according to the word of God, and we need him. He's our high
priest who ever lives to make intercession for us, and we need
him. And he is our friend. I heard someone just over a week
ago, I believe it was, say about another person, they do not have
a friend in this world. And I thought, how sad, how sad
for anyone to be in this world and not have one friend. Believers, we always have a friend,
a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He is our friend. And I could go on. But why do
believers love Christ? Because he first loved us? because
of His loveliness, because of our need of Him, and because
for all that He is to us. My third question, how do Christians
leave their first love? Now it's important, don't miss
this, it's important to see that the Lord did not say, thou hast
lost thy first love. That's an impossibility. Christ
said, I give unto my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish. Losing our first love is not
possible, but obviously leaving it is. Thou hast left thy first
love. This is a great danger. It is
a great danger for every Christian. It's a great danger for you,
for me, those of us here today who are believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is a great danger. It wasn't
peculiar only to the people in the church at Ephesus. It's a
great danger for all of God's children in all ages and all
places. How does it happen? I want to
say this first of all, it's usually a gradual thing. Usually a person
doesn't get up one morning and find out he's left his first
love. It's something that gradually takes place, allowing our eyes
to be taken off Christ, allowing our priorities to gradually change. When we first Experience this
love to Christ, he's everything to us. But as time goes by, we
allow our priorities to gradually change. Spending more time in
worldly pleasures, and especially I thought of myself and other
preachers and Christians, allowing ourselves to grow weary in the
work. Preachers never grow weary of
the work, never. But yes, grow weary in the work. You say, well, how do we keep
this from happening? We must refresh ourselves in
the Lord continually. You say, how do you do that?
Well, the only way I know of is, first of all, spend time
along with God. You say, I can't do it. I don't
have enough time. Think about this. The Lord Jesus
Christ, when it was at the end of his ministry in this world,
prayed to his father and he said, Father, I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. Will God ever give us more work
than we have time to finish? Maybe some of what we don't have
time for, we could do without. Our priorities, finishing the
work that he gives us to do. Maybe if we spent less time in
other activities, we would have more time that we could be along
with the Lord. That we could, as our Lord said,
enter into thy closet and shut the door. Shut the door. It's hard to shut all this commotion
and everything that's going on around us. It's hard to shut
it out, isn't it? Takes a little while to do that
sometimes. Spend time alone with the Lord.
And not only time in prayer, but time in his word. And meditating
upon the word of God. Not only just reading it, but
meditating upon what we read. Well, my last question. Did the
Lord give them a remedy? Thou hast left thy first love.
Well, what are we to do? Well, notice what he said in
the next verse. Remember from whence thou art
fallen. Remember from whence thou art
fallen. Was there a time when your love
for Christ was greater than it is now? Was there a time when
your love for Christ was warmer? Your devotion to Christ was greater
than it is now? Remember. Remember that time. Number two, repent, which simply
means to turn, doesn't it? Turn. And number three, do thy
first works. Thy first works. Our Lord in
John 14 said, he that loveth me is he that hath my commandments
and keepeth them. You say, well, what are his commandments? Well, he's given them to us in
the word of God. Two of his commandments, one
commandment is baptism. That's his commandment, not mine.
Not the churches. If you believe in Christ, if
you trust in Christ, this is his commandment, be baptized
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
confessing Christ publicly. Another commandment of his is
do this in remembrance of me, the Lord's table, when we have
the Lord's supper. It's important. He that hath my commandments
and keepeth them. And then, of course, all of those
moral commandments that we find in the word of God. Thou shalt
not lie. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet. These are
his commandments, aren't they? We are to keep them by the grace
of God. What a charge, what a charge. Thou hast left thy first love.
What a danger. May God deliver us. We're going
to sing a hymn, number 256.