Participants: Pr. Kenneth Cox
Series Code: RJC
Program Code: RJC000002
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00:20 Good evening and welcome to the second presentation
00:25 on The Revelation of Jesus Christ 00:28 which is a chapter by chapter 00:31 study of the book of Revelation. 00:34 So we're very happy to welcome 00:36 all of you that are here tonight, 00:38 those of you that are joining us by television 00:41 or on the radio or by the Internet. 00:45 We're very happy to welcome you again this evening. 00:48 If you're joining us tonight for the first time, 00:51 this is a study of the book of Revelation 00:56 and therefore we would like to invite you to get your Bible. 01:00 If you don't have your Bible 01:03 and you're home, go get it. 01:05 Come back, sit down, bring a highlighter 01:08 and a note pad so you can take some notes 01:11 as we go through and study the book of Revelation. 01:15 Tonight we are studying the first church of the seven. 01:21 This particular section that we're going to be studying 01:24 is on the seven churches of Revelation. 01:27 Seven churches in Asia Minor, 01:30 and we're looking at the very first one called Ephesus. 01:34 And so we hope that as we go through it 01:37 it will give you a little insight into what took place 01:41 then - the church - and what the Lord had to say about it. 01:45 These are extremely important. 01:48 The reason they're important is these are personal 01:53 letters from Jesus Christ. 01:56 That's what they are... they're personal letters 01:59 from Jesus Christ. 02:00 And so they're very important as we study 02:03 and take a look at them. 02:05 And we hope it will help you in your study of it. 02:10 Now our next presentation tomorrow... 02:13 Our next presentation will be on the church of Smyrna. 02:20 This was the second one in the list. 02:24 This is a church that there is no rebuke 02:29 in this church. 02:31 You don't find one thing God says that was wrong with them. 02:36 So it's a very, very important one to look at. 02:40 We're going to be looking at that one tomorrow night 02:43 on the church of Smyrna. 02:45 But tonight we're looking at Ephesus. 02:48 I think you'll find it to be encouraging. 02:52 Helps us understand what God wants us to do. 02:57 This is - as far as I'm concerned - 02:59 of the seven churches, this was the best one 03:02 of all the seven 03:04 was the church of Ephesus. 03:07 So follow carefully as we look at God's Word. 03:11 We'll be doing this each evening at 7 o'clock central time, 03:16 and so be sure and join us wherever you are. 03:20 Uh, check the time. Join us as we study the book of Revelation. 03:25 And we thank you for tuning in and being with us. 03:29 During this section we have the privilege 03:34 of having Joe Pearles with us. 03:37 Joe is a very, very close friend. 03:41 Been a great, great blessing to us singing for us 03:45 in our different meetings and we always enjoy Joe. 03:49 He's going to sing for you a song that 03:52 is very popular - many, many people enjoy - 03:55 entitled Son, Go Bring My Children Home. 03:58 But each night before we have the music 04:01 we're going to read to you all the verses 04:06 that we're going to be looking at tonight. 04:08 So each night Chuck Allgaier 04:11 will come and read those verses to you. 04:14 And so you can follow in your Bibles or 04:17 you can watch it on the screen. It will be both places 04:20 and we hope you'll be blessed. 04:22 So Chuck, read to us what the Word of God has to say 04:26 about the church of Ephesus. 04:34 Ephesus... the church of Ephesus. 04:39 What is the message of God to the church of Ephesus? 04:44 Turn to Revelation chapter 2. 04:49 Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 through 7. 04:54 And we read: 06:05 May God bless the message to the church of Ephesus tonight. 06:29 I have heard 06:33 a distant cry, 06:38 shouting out 06:43 "the time is nigh. " 06:47 As the Father 06:52 tells His Son, 06:57 "work on earth 07:00 this day is done. " 07:06 "Son, go bring 07:10 My children home 07:15 for I want them gathered 07:20 round My throne. 07:24 It's time to reap the harvest 07:29 You have sown. 07:33 Son, go bring 07:37 My children home. " 07:44 What a joy 07:47 to see His face, 07:52 and in His arms 07:56 we will embrace. 08:01 Nevermore 08:05 we'll have to roam 08:11 for we finally 08:15 make it home. 08:20 "Son, go bring 08:24 My children home 08:29 for I want them gathered 08:34 round My throne. 08:38 It's time to reap the harvest 08:44 You have sown. 08:48 Son, go bring 08:52 My children home. " 08:56 "It's time to reap 09:00 the harvest You have sown. 09:06 Son, go bring 09:10 My children home. " 09:15 "Son, go bring 09:20 My children home. " 09:43 Father in Heaven, 09:46 tonight as we look at this first letter 09:50 that You personally wrote to the church of Ephesus, 09:55 we pray that the Holy Spirit 09:57 may be present. That it will give us understanding 10:03 that we might see, that we might understand 10:08 Your leading and Your guiding 10:10 and how they walked with You... 10:12 and how we should walk with You. 10:16 Bless us tonight. 10:18 May our eyes be open and our ears open 10:22 that we may see and hear Your Spirit. 10:26 For this we pray in Christ's name, Amen. 10:34 Well, to come out and kneel here... 10:39 This is the altar of incense 10:45 that was in the sanctuary. 10:46 And this is a replica of it 10:51 as far as size and all is concerned. 10:53 But I knelt on the right side. 10:59 Do you know why? 11:03 Because that was the side of favor. 11:07 I knelt on the right side of it because that is a place 11:11 of favor with God and all. 11:14 So you find that there's a lot of symbolism 11:17 that we're going to be looking at 11:18 as we go through these churches. 11:20 That it mentions different ones, and we hope it will help you 11:24 in your understanding of God's Word. 11:26 This is the church of Ephesus. 11:29 Christ is walking among the seven candlesticks, 11:33 and the church of Ephesus is the first letter 11:38 that He has written to that church. 11:41 Now since this is Christ writing to the churches 11:46 you expect Him to be - How should I put it? 11:50 I do, at least - you expect Him to be 11:53 organized. You expect Him to do it in a special way 11:58 because He is God... and therefore you'll find 12:03 that everything takes place in order. 12:06 And so when it comes to writing to these churches 12:10 everything IS in order. 12:14 And He writes the same format, the same order, 12:20 to all seven churches. 12:22 There are seven parts of it. 12:25 The church of Ephesus meant desirable. 12:29 And as we talk about the city and all this evening, 12:34 you'll see it was a very desirable place to live. 12:36 The climate was very, very nice. 12:39 The city was actually one of the nicest around. 12:44 It had many, many beautiful things about it. 12:46 And the word Ephesus just meant desirable. 12:50 It was a place to be. 12:51 And as far as spiritually is concerned, 12:54 there was much about the church that was desirable. 13:00 Here is the epistle - letter, if you please - 13:05 from Christ to the seven churches 13:07 and it is broken up into exactly seven parts. 13:11 Why seven parts? 13:14 Because seven is a number that represents 13:19 perfection... perfect. 13:22 So in that epistle and in every one of those epistles 13:28 it will follow this very same order. 13:31 There will be the greeting. And after the greeting 13:36 then you're going to find that Christ will be 13:38 identifying Himself. 13:40 And He identifies Himself 13:43 in relationship to the need of that church. 13:47 That's how He identifies Himself 13:49 and we'll look at that. After identification, 13:51 He's going to tell the condition. 13:53 What is the condition of the church? 13:56 What is happening there? What's their condition? 13:59 And then after that, He talks about their problem. 14:04 What is their problem? What are they faced with? 14:07 What do they need to look at? 14:09 And then He gives a counsel to them 14:12 or if you please the solution to their problem. 14:15 He tells them "this is what you need to do 14:17 to solve your problem and all. " 14:20 And then after that He gives a promise 14:23 and then the closing. 14:25 Sometimes you'll find that the closing and the promise 14:30 are turned around and He gives the closing first 14:33 and then the promise. 14:34 Tonight is one of those cases 14:36 where He gives the closing first and then the promise after 14:40 because I guess they needed to be encouraged specially. 14:44 But that format it will follow all the way through 14:49 as we look at these seven different epistles 14:52 that Christ wrote to the churches. 14:54 So, it says as a greeting: 15:01 That's what He says: "To the angel of the church 15:04 of Ephesus, " this is what He is going to say. 15:07 He's greeting the church at Ephesus. 15:10 Then goes on and says that this is a special place. 15:14 This is Ephesus, folks. 15:16 Ephesus was right on the... 15:19 basically on the Aegean Sea. 15:22 As you can see - if you can see it, I think you can - 15:26 there was a river that came right by it, 15:28 and that's the Caster River. 15:31 And this is where the city sat. 15:36 They had probably one of the best known and the nicest 15:41 ports of any place in Asia Minor. 15:45 It was beautifully... 15:47 Ships came in there from all over the world. 15:51 This is where they came, all of the then-known world. 15:54 And they came to Ephesus and they came to this port. 15:58 In fact, this was so nice... by imperial decree 16:04 it was decreed that if somebody, particularly a dignitary 16:08 or somebody from another nation that was visiting, 16:12 they were required to bring them to the port at Ephesus 16:16 to enter Asia. That was required 16:18 because it was such a beautiful place and beautiful port. 16:22 And so many, many ships came there and all. 16:26 The area was very, very lovely. 16:29 The city was lovely; the climate was nice. 16:32 The soil was fertile; it was a wonderful place to live 16:36 was at Ephesus. 16:39 You remember that in the city of Ephesus 16:43 they worshiped a goddess by the name of Diana. 16:49 Yeah, Diana. 16:51 Diana of the Ephesians... a great goddess. 16:56 And you remember this is where Paul and the silversmith 17:00 got into a problem because through Paul's preaching 17:04 and the others' preaching, the trade for idols 17:09 of Diana was falling off and they were unhappy 17:12 about their trade dropping off in sales 17:14 and a great conflict developed between them. 17:18 Let me tell you a little bit about Diana... this goddess. 17:23 They believed that she came from heaven. 17:26 They worshiped her as a goddess of fertility. 17:32 And as you can see from the picture, 17:35 she was a many-breast goddess, 17:40 and this all had to do with her fertility 17:44 that they particularly worshiped. 17:46 And kind of a cult went along with that 17:49 which was very, very immoral... 17:52 which was not too uncommon among paganism 17:56 for that to happen... and they worshiped her. 18:00 They built a temple to Diana 18:03 and they worshiped her in that temple. 18:06 In fact, there were two temples built. 18:09 The first temple was destroyed. In 356 AD it burned... 18:15 burned to the ground. 18:16 It burned to the ground on the very day 18:20 that Alexander the Great was born. 18:23 And later, when he came to age and power, 18:27 he offered to rebuild the temple of Diana... 18:31 but they turned him down; they refused him. 18:34 Said: "No, they would build it themselves. " 18:37 And they rebuilt the temple of Diana. 18:40 This temple, folks, was huge. 18:42 I mean, not a little place. 18:43 It was 442 ft. long. 18:48 225 ft. wide. 18:52 It had 171 pillars in it... 18:56 66 ft. high and 7 ft. in diameter 19:02 was the size of those pillars. 19:04 It was a marvelous temple made out of marble 19:09 that was yellow, red, blue, and white. 19:13 And some historians say that the mortar they used 19:17 was gold to put it together. 19:20 So this temple when they said "Great is the goddess Diana 19:24 of the Ephesians" and they worshiped her, 19:26 there was lots of worship there. 19:29 They believed that she was the mother of God 19:35 and they worshiped her as the mother of God. 19:38 And as Christianity 19:42 became infiltrated by paganism, 19:46 in 451 AD at the Council of Ephesus 19:52 they declared the virgin Mary to be the mother of God 19:58 hoping there would be some relationship there 20:04 to draw paganism into it. 20:07 And that is where we get the Madonna today... 20:12 comes from that background. 20:15 But this was Diana, and they worshiped her there. 20:19 The temple of Diana was destroyed in 265 AD 20:24 by the Goths and has never been rebuilt. 20:27 So this was a little bit of the goddess... of Diana 20:31 that they worshiped. And you remember 20:33 because of this they became upset - Demetrius did - 20:37 and it says: 20:46 And so they worshiped her as a goddess 20:52 in a special way. You're looking... you're looking at a 20:56 theatre... this was the theatre in Ephesus. 20:59 This theatre was capable of seating 25,000 people. 21:05 And as you can see, the road going down to it 21:08 was wide. And these things, folks, in that day 21:14 and age when they existed... were gorgeous. 21:17 They were beautiful, and we only get a faint idea. 21:22 This was the Celsus Library in Ephesus... the ruins of it. 21:26 Give you an idea of what it looked like. 21:29 Also, this was the temple of Hadrian in Ephesus. 21:36 So it gives you a little idea of some of the ruins there 21:40 that exist today. 21:42 Today folks, as we study through you're going to notice 21:46 it'll say that "if you don't change, I'll move your 21:49 candlestick out of its place. " 21:51 There's no port there today. 21:54 That... it is completely all filled in. 21:58 The whole city is about 6 miles away from where it was. 22:03 He certainly moved their candlestick out of its place 22:07 as God said that He would. 22:09 All right, this gives a little idea of what it was like. 22:13 Actually, the work in Ephesus, folks, was 22:18 attended by wonderful people. 22:21 And if you go back and study in your Bible 22:23 you'll find that Priscilla and Aquila were two of the 22:27 first ones to work in Ephesus. 22:30 And you remember while they were there 22:32 they met another man there that they worked with. 22:35 Do you remember what his name was? 22:37 Apollos... and they worked with him. Actually, 22:42 taught him things of the scripture. 22:44 And while Apollos was there they taught him. 22:47 And it says that Paul, later, coming there through 22:52 the coast and all, came to Ephesus 22:54 "and found certain disciples" is what it says. 22:59 And you remember he talked to them and said: 23:02 "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? " 23:04 And they said: "Well, we don't even know what you're 23:07 talking about. " And he talked to them about the Holy Spirit. 23:11 You remember Paul prayed for them... 23:13 they received the Holy Spirit. 23:14 This is the beginning of the church in Ephesus 23:19 'cause from that Paul stayed there and worked in Ephesus 23:24 for how long? 23:26 Do you have any idea? 23:28 For three years 23:31 stayed and worked in Ephesus. And under him 23:34 it grew tremendously as he preached and worked there 23:40 in Ephesus. 23:41 Uh, when Paul left, another time you'll find 23:45 that Timothy came back and pastored the church 23:49 in Ephesus... cared for it. 23:51 He pastored it. And in his old age 23:56 John took care of the church in Ephesus. 24:00 He pastored. So very illustrious people 24:04 were pastors here... worked here. 24:07 And you remember Jesus did something. 24:09 He committed His mother to John, and so we find that 24:14 Mary lived in Ephesus. 24:17 And so these are some of the people that are all 24:19 connected with this church in Ephesus 24:22 and the work that they did there. 24:24 And the church grew in a very strong way. 24:40 Folks, history tells us... 24:45 other books... that the church in Ephesus 24:49 by the end of that first century 24:53 was 50,000 believers. 24:57 Just in Ephesus. 25:00 By the end of the century it says here 25:03 "so that all who dwell in Asia heard, " 25:06 by the end of that first century 7,000,000 people 25:11 had accepted Jesus Christ and were Christians. 25:14 So this is a time when the gospel 25:16 moved and went unbelievable across the country 25:21 and hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people 25:24 reached out and accepted Jesus Christ 25:27 as their personal Savior. 25:29 OK, what does this message - this epistle that Christ wrote 25:34 to the church in Ephesus - what's involved in it? 25:37 1. It's an epistle to the local church. 25:40 That's who's addressed here. 25:43 It's written to them... the local church. 25:45 And so it was to be read to the church there in Ephesus 25:48 and from that they were to take encouragement 25:51 and to follow what it said. 25:53 But secondly it was a message to you and to me. 25:59 Now I've read some things where some theologians 26:02 want to disagree with that. 26:04 They say "Well that was just for the church at Ephesus. 26:07 Doesn't have any reference to us. " 26:08 I don't understand that. 26:10 The reason I don't understand it 26:12 is Paul... Paul wrote thirteen epistles. 26:16 Thirteen letters. 26:19 Of those 13 epistles that Paul wrote 26:22 four of them are to individuals. 26:25 Nine of them are to churches. 26:29 And you and I read the epistles of Paul 26:34 to find guidance and direction in our lives. 26:37 If I'm going to read the epistle of Paul, 26:38 why shouldn't I read the epistle of Christ 26:41 for guidance and direction in my life? 26:44 And so I'm saying: "Yes, those letters 26:47 in Revelation apply to you and to me just the same 26:51 as they did back then. " 26:53 And then thirdly it applies to a particular age 26:58 in the church. What I mean by that... 27:01 a particular time - a period of time - in the church. 27:06 You'll find as we go through it 27:07 it applies to it in a very special way. 27:09 The Early Church Age covers the period of time 27:13 from about 31 AD to 100 AD 27:18 is this period of time that the church of Ephesus covers. 27:22 Now I'm giving you some dates... 31 AD to 100 AD... 27:26 Don't tie those down to the point. 27:31 It's just when you talk about a church age 27:34 it represents that period of time. But 100 AD may not be 27:39 the exact turn off for it. I don't know... 27:42 but it does apply to a church age. 27:50 Get your Bible out as we start here. 27:53 Take a look at His message to the church at Ephesus. 27:57 Identification. He's going to identify Himself. 28:01 And He says: 28:09 Well we found out in our study last night 28:13 when it says that Jesus walks among the 7 golden candlesticks 28:18 He made clear who He's talking about 28:21 because He said: 28:38 So we find that these seven lampstands that were there 28:43 those represent the churches. And the stars 28:45 represent His messengers - or, if you please - His ministers. 28:51 That's who's represented there. 28:53 And they carry a very special work with Christ. 28:58 I should mention that Christ here 29:03 is dressed different than the priest. 29:09 He has a golden band around His chest here 29:14 which also represented that He was not only a priest 29:18 but He was a king. 29:21 You see, Christ is not after the Levitical priesthood. 29:27 Christ is after the priesthood of Melchizedek 29:30 which was a priest king. That's what His order is after 29:35 and that's why He's dressed as He is... 29:38 because it's represented as a priest king. 29:41 The church here - the candlesticks - I mentioned 29:44 to you last night - and as I just read to you 29:46 represents the church. 29:50 But these are candlesticks... 29:53 they are not candles. 29:56 Therefore, they do not have light of their own. 30:02 So the church does not have light of its own self. 30:08 You and I are to be lights. 30:12 That's what God calls us to be... we are to be the lights. 30:16 And God is waiting, willing, 30:20 to pour the oil of the Holy Spirit into our lives 30:24 that we might light the people around us 30:28 concerning Jesus Christ. 30:30 That's what He has called us to do. 30:33 OK, let's take a look at the condition... 30:37 the condition of the church of Ephesus. 30:58 I mean there is nothing wrong here. 31:00 He said: "I know your works. " 31:02 And by the way, folks, in every one of the seven churches 31:07 He says: "I know your works. " 31:11 Every last one of them He says that to them: 31:14 "I know your works. " Not all of them have good works, 31:18 but, of course, this church does. 31:20 "I know your works, your labor, your patience, 31:24 that you cannot bear those who are evil. " 31:27 It meant that they labored for the Lord. 31:31 They worked at it. 31:33 I wish today that people labored for the Lord. 31:41 I wish people today 31:45 would schedule 31:49 time when they would say "this is the time 31:54 I'm going to give to the Lord to work for Him. " 31:59 But we work at our job, we do all this... 32:01 but we don't set a time and say 32:04 "this is time I'm going to work for the Lord. 32:06 I'm going to go out here every week and take this time, 32:10 these hours, and do nothing but work for the Lord. " 32:14 And pray and ask the Lord to guide and direct you 32:17 as to what He wants you to do. 32:19 Man, what a difference it would make 32:21 if we would just set aside. These people 32:25 no question about it He said: "I know your works. 32:28 I know what you do; I know your labor... your patience. " 32:34 And by the way, if you're going to work for the Lord, 32:38 you might as well understand that it takes patience 32:41 because God's timing isn't always our timing. 32:47 He does things on His schedule, not on yours or mine. 32:51 And we just have to learn to wait on the Lord. 32:55 Evidently there were people - which there is today - 33:00 claiming to be followers of the Lord... 33:04 apostles, if you please... 33:06 that are not. 33:10 What do you do? 33:12 If you have someone who is claiming to be an apostle, 33:17 claiming to be a follower of the Lord, 33:19 how do you know if they are or they're not? 33:24 How do you know that I'm not? 33:27 How do you know that? 33:32 Well, there's only a couple ways you can know, folks. 33:35 You know, one way is you've got to make sure 33:38 it's in agreement with God's Word. 33:40 You see, if you don't spend time in the Word 33:45 and you know whether this is what God's Word says, 33:49 then you're open for deception. 33:52 These people... they understood God's Word well enough 33:56 that when these people said they were apostles 33:58 they knew whether they were or whether they weren't 34:01 because they knew what God's Word said. 34:05 And I must check it. 34:07 I abide the Word of God and know what it says. 34:10 And then the other way that you and I can know 34:12 whether they are of God - an apostle or not - 34:16 is by their fruits. 34:17 "By their fruits ye shall know them. " 34:20 That's simply the way you find out. 34:23 And so we need to take God's Word... make sure... 34:26 It goes on and says: 34:35 Very, very important that you and I 34:40 labor for the Lord. Oh, yes, 34:44 there'll be times when you'll get tired. 34:48 There'll be times, dear friend, 34:51 when you don't feel like you can 34:52 get one foot in front of the other. 34:56 But God says 34:58 "I know your labor. " 35:00 Said: "Don't get weary 35:03 of serving the Lord. " 35:05 Serve Him, walk with Him, follow Him. 35:09 What a difference it will make. 35:11 He said: "I know all this about you. " 35:13 This is the condition of the church in Ephesus. 35:18 Paul - who had spent three years there working, 35:22 establishing that church - understood that something 35:26 was going to happen. And so as he was talking 35:30 to the church of Ephesus... and here in Acts 20 35:33 that's exactly who he's talking to... 35:35 He said: 35:44 He said: "After I'm gone 35:47 savage wolves are going to come in among you. 35:51 They won't spare the flock. " 36:17 Paul understood that when he was gone 36:21 there would be people that would come 36:23 that would try to lead the church away. 36:28 Said: "That's going to happen. " 36:30 I want you to remember this 36:32 because I'm going to come back to it in just a moment 36:34 because it's extremely important what happens here 36:37 and what takes place. Because this happens 36:39 over and over and over in churches throughout the world. 36:47 And then He says: "Here's your problem. " 36:52 "That's your condition... here's your problem. " 37:06 "Worse than all this is you've left your first love. " 37:12 Folks, I have seen this happen 37:15 time, time, and time again. 37:20 I've seen churches... churches that 37:26 set out to do something for the Lord 37:28 and caught on fire. And I mean went out and worked for the Lord 37:33 and people came in. They had baptisms and 37:37 people coming in and joining the church 37:39 and the church was growing. 37:41 And then the devil... every time I'll assure you 37:47 it does not fail... the devil will come in 37:50 and cause something to happen 37:53 and will turn their attention away from what they are doing 37:58 and they'll start doing something else. 38:01 And then along comes somebody in the church 38:04 or even the minister and they'll say: 38:07 "Ah, evangelism doesn't do any good. 38:10 They go out the back door 38:11 as fast as they come in the front door. 38:14 We don't believe in doing evangelism any more. " 38:17 Let me tell you something... 38:20 the moment that happens 38:23 that church has lost its first love. 38:28 "After I'm gone, " Paul said, 38:31 grievous wolves are going to come in. " 38:34 And that's exactly what they do. 38:37 They come in and they do that type of thing 38:39 over and over and over again 38:42 and the church loses all the things that she was trying to do 38:46 and forgets what she's there for. 38:49 Nothing can be worse than losing the first love. 38:55 Do you understand 38:57 when He says: "You've lost your first love? " 39:00 The church, folks, is the bride. 39:04 Are you putting it together? 39:07 The church is the bride. 39:09 I can tell you right now, if the bride 39:12 has lost her love 39:16 there's nothing left in the church. 39:18 There's nothing left of the marriage. 39:20 She can say all she wants to 39:23 about their relationship, but if she's lost her love 39:29 for her husband, it's over! 39:32 It's ruined. And that's what it's saying here. 39:36 "You've lost your first love. " 39:37 The bride's lost her love. 39:39 It's a terrible condition. 39:42 So He's telling them: "This is your problem: 39:45 you've lost your love. " 40:01 Said: "Do the first works. Unless you do that... 40:05 You've got to repent from where you've fallen. " 40:11 God isn't asking here, folks, 40:14 How should I put it? 40:17 He's not asking for you to have that first love. 40:24 Very, very hard to get that first love back 40:29 if you've lost it and it's been 30 or 40 years. 40:37 What He's saying to you is "If you want to get love back 40:41 then do the first works. " 40:45 That's the way you get it back is doing the first works. 40:50 "And unless you're willing to do that, " He said: 40:52 "I'm going to move your candlestick out of its place. " 40:56 Said: "You must repent; you must come back 40:59 and do what I have called you to do. " 41:03 Do you remember? 41:06 Do you remember when you gave your heart to the Lord? 41:10 Do you remember that experience? 41:12 Oh, it may have been beside your mother's knee. 41:16 Or it may have been in church. 41:20 Or it may have been somebody who was talking to you 41:24 about giving your heart to the Lord. 41:26 Or it may have been at an evangelistic meeting 41:30 where you responded and gave your heart to Jesus Christ. 41:34 Do you remember the joy that came into your life 41:37 when you knew your sins were forgiven and, you know, 41:40 that everything was right between you and the Lord? 41:43 And the love that filled your heart and your soul? 41:47 This is... this is the first works. 41:50 This is what He's asking you and I to do. 41:53 Do you remember when you were baptized? 41:57 You remember when you came up out of the water 42:00 and oh the joy that was there 42:04 as you were baptized and you knew that all your sins 42:08 had been washed away? 42:10 That you were clean in Jesus Christ. 42:13 The joy that filled your life... this is what He's talking about. 42:18 That you and I must come back to that experience 42:21 and do the first works to understand the joy that 42:26 Christ brings into our hearts and into our lives. 42:30 Do you remember how that it just simply filled your soul? 42:37 And how you shared it with everybody 42:39 you came into contact with. 42:41 You talked to them about the message. 42:43 You told them how Jesus... what Jesus had done for you. 42:47 You told them about the message that you learned. 42:49 You witnessed to everybody around you about Jesus Christ. 42:53 Do you remember that? 42:54 Because it was the first love! 42:57 Something that filled your life and you wanted to do 43:01 and you couldn't keep quiet. 43:06 That is what brings about 43:10 the love in your heart. 43:13 Oh, I can remember... I can remember 43:17 talking to everybody about it. 43:19 I can also remember being in evangelistic meetings 43:24 and how I longed to just get by myself 43:27 and talk to the Lord. 43:30 How... what it did for me. 43:33 Do you remember how... how you couldn't... 43:35 you couldn't get enough of the Word of God? 43:37 Do you remember that? 43:39 You remember when you got... You know, you just couldn't 43:41 hardly wait to get into the scripture and see what it 43:44 had to say. And as you read it you saw new things 43:47 and it filled your heart and your soul 43:49 and you learned things. You said "I never knew that before! " 43:52 Marvelous! I can remember how it just brought 43:57 so much joy to my life 44:00 as I learned the things that God had to say in the scripture. 44:05 This was part of what happened 44:08 because there was a first love there. 44:12 Do you remember spending time in prayer? 44:16 Hmm? Talking to the Lord... praying to Him? 44:23 Actually, time just seemed 44:29 to not be a factor. 44:31 Have you ever, you know, back then when the first love 44:34 was in your life found yourself talking to the Lord 44:37 and first thing you know you'd been talking to Him for an hour? 44:41 Just, you know, it's just there; burned within your heart, 44:45 within your soul. 44:47 This is what God is talking about. 44:52 Fervor that fills your life: 44:57 this is the first love. 45:01 He says: "Do the first works. " 45:05 Now folks, it doesn't come 45:09 by feeling. 45:12 That isn't the way it comes. 45:15 It comes by getting back into the Word of God. 45:20 It comes by spending time in prayer with Him. 45:23 It comes by spending time with the Lord. 45:27 And as you begin to do those first works 45:31 then the love will come back and with that will come feeling. 45:35 Don't try to look for it another way. 45:39 It comes in that order. 45:42 You spend time with Him. What a difference it will make 45:45 in your life and in mine when you come back 45:49 to that first love. 45:51 Well, what counsel does He give us? 45:55 What does He tell us to do? 46:07 That's what He's saying: "remember where you've fallen. " 46:12 I think one of the things the church... or I should say 46:17 the people in the church - Christians today - 46:20 need to do, particularly here in the United States, 46:23 is they need to take a good, hard look 46:28 at themselves and understand where they have fallen. 46:33 They really do... 46:35 because there is so much commercialism, 46:39 there is so much of the things of this life 46:41 and cares of this life that most Christians today 46:44 don't have the slightest idea of what their condition is. 46:49 And they can't... they can't change 46:52 and they can't turn around and they can't do the first works 46:56 until they wake up to what their condition is. 47:00 Need to understand "from where you have fallen. " 47:05 Come before the Lord, repent, 47:10 and THEN do the first works. 47:13 Talk to the Lord about it, 47:15 and He will change your life and make you different. 47:19 This is what He does and this is what that church needed. 47:23 And dear friend, I'm sorry to say that today 47:27 we need is desperately 47:30 because most of us... sorry... 47:36 are lukewarm. 47:39 Lukewarm. 47:41 Certainly not on fire. 47:44 So we need to realize from where we have fallen... 47:48 what takes place. 47:59 Nicolatians... who were they? 48:03 These were the followers of the deacon Nicolas. 48:08 Nicolas was one of the first deacons that was ordained. 48:15 Nicolas came to the place that he believed... 48:18 he believed that your spiritual condition had nothing to do 48:24 with your physical. 48:28 Therefore he believed that you could do anything you wanted to 48:33 physically... that it had no relationship 48:38 to your spiritual condition... 48:40 and that fornication, adultery, 48:45 and all that had nothing to do with your spiritual condition. 48:48 Also this went along very much with what was coming out of 48:54 places like Alexandria and Rome 48:59 in which they were teaching Gnosticism. 49:03 Gnosticism simply did the same thing... that it took 49:07 the Word of God, lessened it, and applied it to it. 49:12 It took... it took the teachings of Paul 49:16 that taught Christian liberty 49:20 and they took his teachings and turned it into a license 49:25 to live contrary to God's law. 49:28 This is what basically was happening here. 49:31 And these were these people that followed Nicolas 49:34 or the Nicolatians. 49:35 Uh, do we face that today? Yes! 49:39 This is a belief that you find out there called antinomianism. 49:44 Antinomianism teaches that you can 49:49 accept Christ and it has nothing to do 49:55 with how you live after that. 49:58 You can accept Christ and live like the devil 50:01 and still be saved. 50:03 That's basically what it's teaching. 50:05 God's Word does not teach that. 50:08 And this was the problem. He said "I hate this. " 50:11 Christ said: "I hate this doctrine of Nicolatians. " 50:15 God gave us His law. 50:21 Those laws are ten eternal principles 50:24 that are to guide and direct our lives. 50:28 And by my... by my surrender 50:34 to the working of the Holy Spirit in my life 50:37 I am to live in accordance with God's law. 50:42 He says here: 50:52 Jesus said: "I didn't come to do away with the law. 50:55 I came to live a perfect life in accordance to the law. " 51:00 That's what fulfill means. 51:02 He means I fulfilled every aspect of the law. 51:06 "I didn't do away with it; I fulfilled it. " 51:20 So He said the law is eternal. 51:22 It's not going to change, 51:24 and you and I must simply 51:30 put our lives in the hands of the Lord and trust Him 51:33 that He will live in us... help us to walk 51:39 according to Him. 51:40 And then He comes to the closing 51:42 and He says this: 51:49 He said: "Open up your ears. 51:51 Listen to what I'm telling you because it's very important 51:55 that you understand what I have to say. " 51:58 And in this case, He gives this closing 52:02 before He gives the promise. 52:04 And now He gives the promise. 52:06 The promise is simply this: 52:18 Every one of the seven epistles of Christ 52:23 He says: "I know your works. " 52:27 But every one of those seven epistles He also says 52:31 "to him who overcomes. " 52:35 Every one of them says that. 52:36 I must bring my life into conformity to God's will 52:42 through the working of the Holy Spirit in my life. 52:46 Have to day by day grow in grace 52:50 and the knowledge of the Son of God. 52:52 And He says: "to that person who does overcome, " 52:55 He said, "then I will let him eat of the Tree of Life. " 53:05 You and I have the privilege - follow me - 53:09 you have the privilege of eating of the Tree of Life today. 53:15 Did you know that? 53:17 Yeah, you have that privilege. 53:27 This... this... 53:33 is the Word of Life. This is the Tree of Life 53:35 to you and I today. 53:37 The same energy that created this world 53:42 is the same energy that's contained in this book. 53:46 And if you and I will spend time in it, 53:49 it can be the Tree of Life to you and to me. 54:06 This is what God wants to do. 54:17 All God's people are going to come. 54:19 They are going to gather there. 54:20 They are going to eat of the Tree of Life. 54:33 This was the message of God to the church of Ephesus. 54:39 Our next presentation will be His message 54:42 to the church of Smyrna. 54:45 Let's pray. 54:47 Father in Heaven, 54:49 we thank you for your counsel. 54:52 We pray that we might take these words into our lives, 54:55 into our heart, that we each 54:58 might follow Thee and walk with Thee 55:01 and that the first love would burn in our lives. 55:04 We pray in Christ's name, Amen. 55:07 May God bless you. Have a great evening. 55:10 We'll look forward to seeing you on our next presentation. 55:15 Hello, folks. 55:16 One of my favorite things to do in the springtime 55:19 is to take a walk and look at all the new growth. 55:23 The earth seems so fresh, 55:24 and each tree bursts forth with buds and flowers. 55:28 That reminds me of a parable that Jesus told His followers 55:32 in Luke 21. 55:33 You see, He had just described the events which will happen 55:37 immediately before His second coming. 55:53 But in verse 29 Jesus turns their attention 55:57 to the fig tree. 55:58 And ever since then, budding trees have served as a permanent 56:02 reminder that our time here is very short 56:06 and the second coming is very near. 56:23 Folks, many of these signs are already upon us. 56:27 The earth groans from the greed of those who have 56:30 exploited her resources, ravaged her land 56:34 and destroyed plants and animals and atmosphere alike 56:37 in a selfish pursuit of wealth. 56:40 Have you seen the signs? 56:42 Have you seen men's hearts failing with fear? 56:45 If you haven't, then I'm afraid you're not watching 56:48 very closely. However, the Holy Spirit is hard at work 56:52 and so are many Christians who long for an end to sin 56:56 and look forward to their soon-coming Savior. 56:59 That's why we continue to preach the gospel 57:02 to as many as we can through any means that we can 57:06 as often as we can. 57:08 Our ministry team is supported solely 57:10 by your contributions... and we thank you for your 57:14 faithful prayers and financial support. 57:17 May God richly bless you. 57:20 Please consider what you can do for those who still don't know 57:23 about Jesus. As the Holy Spirit impresses, 57:26 please send your tax-deductible gifts to: 57:40 Thank you for helping us spread the light of God's Word 57:43 through television and radio. 57:45 Your gifts help bring the blessed hope of salvation 57:47 to millions around the world. |
Revised 2014-12-17