Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] If you are involved in marriage counseling with one of the pastors or some of our leaders in our church who do marriage counseling, or you're involved in premarital counseling, one of the things that we require of anyone who's meeting with us is this plan to make marriage a priority. We've talked about that at our marriage workshops.
[00:00:22] We've talked about that at our men's gatherings.
[00:00:26] Ladies, your husband has this plan. He needs to be carrying it out.
[00:00:30] And so, yeah, so we talk about this a lot. And the plan is simply this.
[00:00:36] That you would pray with your spouse every day for 15 minutes.
[00:00:41] That once a week you would have a 30 minute conversation about your marriage.
[00:00:47] That once a month you would go on a date without kids.
[00:00:54] That once a year you would take a trip without your kids. That's it. It's not rocket science. This is the plan to make marriage a priority. And I can honestly say, as we've started doing this and really requiring it, holding folks accountable.
[00:01:12] Most marriages are immediately helped if they stay the course with just those things that you do weekly, that you do monthly, that you do once a year. And you will just stay the course and do them. And one of the reasons we require that, first of all, it proves you will work at your marriage.
[00:01:31] A lot of folks come to us and they just want us to fix it. They want us to give some sort of magical pill to make things better. And we don't have that. It takes work. Loving one another takes work. Marriage takes work. And. But even in this plan, you'll notice the work isn't complicated.
[00:01:52] It may be hard, but it's not complicated.
[00:01:56] And this plan simply begins with reorienting your life to the priority of your marriage.
[00:02:04] That in your home, your marriage is first and foremost the priority.
[00:02:10] Your kids aren't the priority.
[00:02:13] It's not good for them to think they are the priority. Your job isn't the priority. The stuff isn't the priority. Your marriage is your priority. If you're married. And what's so often the case in marriages, most marriages, is it's not bad things that take the place of the priority.
[00:02:38] It's a lot of things that are good, we might even say are right. Things that we have to do, things that we must do, but they become priority.
[00:02:50] They become first.
[00:02:52] And the marriage sort of fades to the background. And then you become business partners who pay the same bills and roommates with the same kids.
[00:03:01] And then when there's conflict, there's a coldness there.
[00:03:05] And you begin to handle conflict as enemies.
[00:03:09] Not as those who are trying to uphold marriage, the marriage covenant, which should be a priority.
[00:03:17] Well, as we see in our text today, the church in Ephesus has allowed a lot of good things to clutter.
[00:03:24] The main thing, the priority and their witness is at stake.
[00:03:31] Their witness in the world.
[00:03:33] Even as they do mostly good things for the Lord Jesus Christ, they have forgotten the main thing.
[00:03:43] I'll remind you that Revelation was written to seven churches, seven local churches who represent the universal church throughout the world and also throughout history.
[00:03:57] God writes specifically to churches to show them what it means to witness the gospel even in times of difficulty and persecution.
[00:04:09] And this revelation, which is a consummation of human history, is given to his church.
[00:04:17] Understand that if you don't get that right from the beginning, you're not going to understand. This book, it is written to the church. It's not written to an individual.
[00:04:31] We are to receive the book personally. There's personal application, but it's in the context of the church.
[00:04:41] It's not written to a nation, a government, an institution, but to the blood bought church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:04:50] Here through this specific church, in a specific context, the Lord Jesus calls us to some things for the sake of our witness. He writes first of all to the church in Ephesus. Now, the order addressed in Revelation is the order of churches is in order to which the mail carrier would have delivered this letter. It's one letter. Seven churches would read it one at a time. As they would read, there would be application from this church over here that we need to apply. But it's written specifically in a context to specific churches and Ephesus is first on the list.
[00:05:29] Ephesus was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire.
[00:05:33] 250,000 people crammed into this place.
[00:05:38] It was a seaport city full of commerce and industry and culture.
[00:05:44] It was a hub for philosophy and lots of spirituality.
[00:05:50] Magic, superstition was prevalent in Ephesus.
[00:05:56] One of the temples where citizens were required to worship. The emperor was in Ephesus. Remember, this was required by law to say Caesar is Lord. And you would travel to one of these cities where there is a temple and and you would throw incense on the fire to declare Caesar as Lord. This was required by law. And this is primarily why the churches are being persecuted. They will not say Caesar is Lord.
[00:06:24] There was also the temple of Diana in Ephesus, the goddess of fertility. And this temple was massive and it was beautiful. It was considered one of the seven wonders of the world.
[00:06:38] But then all around the city there would have Been, I'll say, inappropriate. Idols fashioned after Diana or Artemis, the goddess of fertility. These idols were sold, folks made a profit off of them.
[00:06:54] And then there would have been immoral acts as form of worship in her name all throughout the city. This was an immoral city, but full of paganism and superstition and idolatry. And then we read in Acts chapter 8, chapters 18 and 19, Priscilla and Aquila, they go into this city and they establish the Gospel.
[00:07:17] And then Paul comes to Ephesus. And for two years, I'm going to say this just two years, Paul reasons in the synagogue and teaches throughout the city.
[00:07:30] To the point though that In Acts chapter 19, verse 10, we read these words so that all the residents of Asia heard the word.
[00:07:39] In two years, a population of 250,000. It would be said of the apostles ministry that all of Asia heard the word of God, Paul willing to be spent in this city for the sake of the Gospel.
[00:07:56] And there was such a move of God that the Ephesians began to burn their magic books.
[00:08:06] They began to throw their idols in the trash.
[00:08:12] In repentance and turning to Christ.
[00:08:16] There's such a move of God. Can you imagine in our culture, such a move of the Spirit of God.
[00:08:25] We long for that.
[00:08:27] But you know what happened in Ephesus when the Spirit of God began to move and people started repenting of their sin.
[00:08:33] The economy was disrupted because sin makes money.
[00:08:40] Can you imagine in our context if there was such repentance in what we like to call revival.
[00:08:48] The economy was disrupted.
[00:08:52] The stores and places and things of immorality that make people money were going out of business.
[00:09:01] Can you imagine such a move of God? It's what we long for, it's what we want. But maybe, like the Apostle Paul, we need to get to work witnessing the gospel.
[00:09:11] And so in the context of Ephesus, there is this church, the church of the Ephesians.
[00:09:19] And they are a product of this move of God.
[00:09:23] And they have bought in to what God is doing and what the Apostle Paul calls them to do. And they are working really, really hard.
[00:09:32] And they are serving faithfully.
[00:09:35] They are holding to the Gospel.
[00:09:37] But Jesus has some problems with them.
[00:09:41] Just in saying that doesn't make sense, right?
[00:09:44] They're doing all these great things, but Jesus has a problem with them.
[00:09:49] We're going to see what that problem is. But first of all we must see he calls them to remember the Christ.
[00:09:56] Notice verse one of Revelation chapter two. To the angel of the church of Ephesus, write the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand.
[00:10:08] Now, this word holds. It is an intense word. It means to seize or grab or hold firm.
[00:10:18] And notice he says the seven stars in his right hand. And we see this mention of the angel of the church in Ephesus and these seven stars. And we talked about last week that these angels or stars represent.
[00:10:33] It could be the pastors of the church.
[00:10:36] Maybe it's just those who are delivering the Word to the church, or it could be guardian angels who protect the church.
[00:10:44] But the point here, as we talked about in Revelation chapter one, this vision of Christ last week, the one who holds the galaxies in his hand, the one who holds these stars in his hand, is ordering his church through the messengers, through whoever is responsible for protecting the church. Ultimately, Christ is holding them. Remember, Christ is in charge. He's sovereign over the galaxy. So he is sovereign over the churches. And this is the one who speaks to the church in Ephesus very specifically. Notice the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands. We said last week that these lampstands are the seven churches.
[00:11:30] And last week in chapter one, we see this, this awe inspiring vision of Christ who is a priest, this cosmic vision of Christ that is given to John, this one who is full of glory and wisdom and power to the point that John falls before him as dead.
[00:11:51] This terrifying vision of Christ points to the fact that he is a high priest among the seven golden lampstands, which means he is a priest. Notice walking among his churches. He is the Church's priest.
[00:12:07] But what was the priest doing among the lampstands?
[00:12:10] Making the people of God pure.
[00:12:13] And that is what Jesus is doing for his church.
[00:12:17] For the Church. He is making us pure. That is his sovereign role, is that we would be made pure witnesses in the world. The lampstands which show light, we are to show the light of Christ to the world as witnesses. But Jesus must make sure we are a pure witness.
[00:12:38] So he is purging us of our sin, this sovereign priest, king in the church.
[00:12:46] And then we see that he gives this church commendation. He wants them to know they're doing some things well, what are those things? Notice he says, I know your works. This is just general ministry.
[00:12:59] I know what you're doing in your city. You're preaching the gospel. You're proclaiming the gospel. People are believing the gospel. You're doing a good job.
[00:13:07] I know your toil. The word toil means to the point of exhaustion.
[00:13:12] You are exhausting yourself for the sake of the Gospel and your patient endurance.
[00:13:20] This refers to the fact that you are witnessing the gospel and it's among.
[00:13:24] You're doing it in persecution, you're suffering for it, but you are bearing with it, you are enduring it. The word long suffering. You're willing to suffer for a long time for the sake of the Gospel. He even says, and you cannot bear with those who are evil.
[00:13:43] You remove people from your church who are wicked.
[00:13:47] So you're willing to suffer, put up with suffering, but you will not put up with wickedness.
[00:13:54] Notice who these evil, wicked people are.
[00:13:58] Notice, he says, you have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false.
[00:14:07] And so in the church in Ephesus, they're working hard for the sake of the gospel. They're sharing the gospel to the point of exhaustion. They're willing to endure suffering for the sake of the gospel, their church, disciplining the wicked.
[00:14:19] And then they are removing false teachers. This is all great stuff, right?
[00:14:26] They compare the claims of these false apostles to the claims of Paul and the apostles who established the church.
[00:14:34] And those who have false teaching, who abuse the church, lead others astray, distract and divide, they remove from the church.
[00:14:44] We see in Acts, chapter 20, When Paul Met with the elders of the Ephesian church, he warned them of savage wolves that they would have to remove.
[00:14:56] When he wrote to Timothy, who was a pastor in Ephesus, he told him very clearly to guard the Gospel and watch his life and doctrine.
[00:15:07] You will have to remove false teachers from the church, he told Timothy. There's going to come a day where folks will have itching ears. They only want to hear what they want to hear.
[00:15:17] Don't scratch the itch. Kick them out if they cause division. Drive out the false teachers.
[00:15:26] He says you're doing this. He even adds verse three, just kind of comes back around. I know you're enduring patience, but before I tell you what I have against you one more time, I know you're enduring patiently. You're bearing up for my sake. All these things are for the glory of Christ and you haven't grown weary.
[00:15:44] The truth is, if we were looking for a church and we got on this church's website or saw their social media posts, saw their reels, we would go here.
[00:15:55] This is the church I'm attending, joining First Sunday because I see all these great things, all these biblical things, a church that's willing to spend and be spent and protect the gospel.
[00:16:10] And we have to remember Jesus praises the church for all that. He doesn't look past it.
[00:16:16] You're working Hard you're witnessing no matter what, you're keeping your doctrine pure. Don't you want to be a part of a church like this?
[00:16:26] We should say yes.
[00:16:28] A church that's willing to do whatever for the sake of the Gospel, where pastors preach the Word and protect the flock. A flock who is accountable.
[00:16:38] What we say, what we teach, how we counsel.
[00:16:41] We all come back to the word of God.
[00:16:44] We want to be true to the Scriptures.
[00:16:47] All of this is good.
[00:16:49] When we get to verse four, we see rebuke. He commends them for being faithful, but here he rebukes them for no love.
[00:16:56] Notice verse four. I have this against you.
[00:16:59] Against you here is intense. And it means to oppose as an enemy.
[00:17:04] Think about this. You're doing all of these great things in my name, but on this one thing, you're my enemy.
[00:17:13] I am against you.
[00:17:15] And I will purge this from the church. Or else, what is this that you have abandoned? The word abandoned is also intense. You left. You have forsaken the love that you had at first.
[00:17:31] Now this is an interesting phrase, love you had at first.
[00:17:35] You could translate it. First love.
[00:17:38] The emphasis really is priority.
[00:17:42] And you could say, when you first embraced the love of Christ, when you first understood the love of God in the gospel for you, and there was awakened within you a love for Christ.
[00:17:56] Oh, that he would die for my sins. I want to serve him. And he becomes your priority.
[00:18:04] You have forsaken what was once priority. Which was what? That you loved Christ as your priority.
[00:18:13] You remember those days in your life when you first believed the gospel and you could not believe it was true.
[00:18:22] And all you wanted to do is be with other Christians, go to church, study the word of God.
[00:18:31] You talked about Jesus a lot.
[00:18:34] Jesus was your priority.
[00:18:37] And he says to this church, think about that move of God. The city is just on its head because of the Gospel.
[00:18:46] He said, do you remember those days?
[00:18:49] Oh, you have forsaken your first love.
[00:18:53] You don't love it anymore, you're just doing it.
[00:18:58] And I would summarize what he means by love here. First of all, a love for Jesus which leads to a love for one another, which is the church which overflows in a love for the lost, which John always includes, loving your enemies.
[00:19:17] So it's all encompassing love, but the. The root of it is Jesus loves you and you love him so radically that you love others, including your enemies. This is the love that you have forsaken. You have become bitter.
[00:19:31] It seems as though in Ephesus, their intense hatred for Heresy stole their love for Christ.
[00:19:38] Consider what that means. Their intense hatred of false teachers stole their love for Christ.
[00:19:46] Now why do we protect against false doctrine?
[00:19:50] Because we love Christ.
[00:19:53] They forgot why.
[00:19:55] The reality is you can't love the right Christ without the right doctrine.
[00:20:01] You don't believe the right gospel without the right doctrine.
[00:20:07] Our statement of faith is very, very important.
[00:20:10] We require every member to affirm it and not teach against it.
[00:20:18] We're at pains to have the right doctrine around here. We scrutinize our teaching and sermons. We want to make sure we have the right doctrine.
[00:20:29] You also can't love others rightly without good doctrine.
[00:20:34] They don't know who the right Christ is.
[00:20:38] And think about that. With all the confusion in the world today, all the access to resources also means there's a lot of access to false teaching.
[00:20:47] We have to be at pains to have the right doctrine because we want to love Christ, the right Christ rightly, and tell others about the right Christ.
[00:20:58] But in their fight for the right Christ, they have lost their love for Christ.
[00:21:06] And just as a warning to us today I see this happening all over the place with churches and individuals.
[00:21:16] How they can begin to fight for things and forget Christ.
[00:21:21] Sort of a pattern I've noticed is when secondary loves become your first love, when a certain spiritual discipline becomes an idol to you, or a point of theology, or a version of theology becomes first. That's all you think about and that's all you talk about. And that's all you defend.
[00:21:42] A political view, an ideology, counseling, education, versions of how we're going to raise and train our kids. Those things become priority, not Christ. We forget why. Remember those things are good and right and everybody in here should have strong opinions about all of those things.
[00:22:03] But you can't forget why.
[00:22:06] Ultimately, it's about Christ.
[00:22:09] You love Christ.
[00:22:11] But I've seen people where those things become the priority. And then they insulate themselves with just people who agree with them.
[00:22:18] They only go to churches that everybody is in this neat, tidy way, says it the way I say it all the time.
[00:22:28] And then on social media they get in these little echo chambers and that's all they hear. They only hang out with people who feel as strongly the way they do about these things.
[00:22:38] And then the next step is they make their enemies. Anonymous. You ever talk to those people?
[00:22:45] They're in these little groups and you begin to talk to them. And they always talk about they.
[00:22:51] They do this, they do this. They're talking about this mysterious. All these other churches, all these other people. And I Always say, who is they?
[00:22:59] Well, you know, they who are. And I realized they've never looked at anybody in the eyes in a long time and talked about these things.
[00:23:09] Their enemies are anonymous. They're abstract and they're mad and they're frustrated all the time.
[00:23:16] And then they begin to resent others who don't feel as strongly as they do.
[00:23:21] Say it the way I say it.
[00:23:24] Do it the way I do it.
[00:23:27] And these are secondary issues that have become primary.
[00:23:33] And what happens is hate grows.
[00:23:37] Hate, disdain, irritation.
[00:23:42] And that's what's going on with the church in Ephesus.
[00:23:48] In First Corinthians, chapter 13, verses 1 through 3, Paul says, you can sing like an angel.
[00:23:55] He says, you can talk like an angel.
[00:23:58] You can have prophetic power and move mountains with your faith and give everything away. Think about this and think about the church in Ephesus and think about you. You can give everything away. You can even deliver your body up to be burned. You can be a martyr. But if you don't have love, you gain nothing.
[00:24:17] Let that be a warning.
[00:24:19] What are the things in your life that are causing you to disdain others?
[00:24:24] Is it Jesus that's causing you to stand ferociously against falsehood?
[00:24:31] Or is it just this little pet issue over here? And by the way, I'm talking about folks on the right and left because a lot of people in the room are looking the other way right now. No, look in the mirror.
[00:24:43] Look in the mirror.
[00:24:46] Do you have love? Let me ask you some serious questions. Is your love for Christ priority?
[00:24:54] Is your love for Christ growing?
[00:24:57] Is your love for Christ causing you to love other people?
[00:25:01] Is causing you to love the church more, share the gospel more?
[00:25:06] Or have you allowed anything to become the priority over Christ?
[00:25:10] And there are a lot of other things that can distract us. Sinful distractions, sinful distractions, wickedness that can distract you from Christ.
[00:25:23] But here, do the things that you passionately believe.
[00:25:26] Here's a test for you. Those things you love and you're passionate about, when you get through being passionate about them, are you in more awe of God?
[00:25:36] Where you just stand back and say, God is amazing and I want other people to know about him. This truth that I love so much, I'm going to fight for these things that I want to order my family around.
[00:25:51] I love them and they're right and they're good, but they're for Christ.
[00:25:57] Then when I talk about them, I love Jesus more and I love others more.
[00:26:02] I don't walk away angry and seething and irritated.
[00:26:07] Are you growing in awe of God or self righteousness?
[00:26:11] Do you pray for your enemies?
[00:26:13] You share the gospel with the least likely.
[00:26:19] Let me ask you this, this sums it all up for me.
[00:26:24] Would you share the gospel with you before you became a Christian?
[00:26:30] Where you are right now in life, look back on that person pre Christ.
[00:26:38] And if you saw them on campus, you saw them at the coffee shop, you worked alongside you before you became a Christian, before you were here at this church, a part of this group in fellowship. If you ran into you before Christ, would you invest? Would you share the gospel or would you look down your nose on you.
[00:27:03] That says a lot about Are we growing in love?
[00:27:07] We grow to love the type of people we once were. Why? Because God saved who I once was and I love Jesus for it.
[00:27:17] And I want to witness to who I once was.
[00:27:21] Are you growing in love for Christ or self righteousness? If not, what do you do? Very simple. Verse 5, repent again. The plan is not complicated.
[00:27:35] If you see those things in your life.
[00:27:37] I see those things in my life and I'm preaching the sermon, so I have to repent.
[00:27:46] This is for me first and foremost.
[00:27:50] Notice.
[00:27:52] Remember therefore from where you've fallen. Remember when Jesus was your priority, you gathered you fellowship, you read the word of God, you shared, you served.
[00:28:00] Where are you today?
[00:28:02] Are you growing with more information, discipline, or are you increasing in love? Remember his commendation to the church, all the great things they are doing. So among all the great things you are doing, are you growing in love?
[00:28:14] Do you love Jesus more and others more? If not notice, repent.
[00:28:21] This word is all over the Bible, by the way, to turn.
[00:28:25] And it's a decisive turn from sinful actions to Christ. That's what repentance is.
[00:28:33] Repent. Turn from those things that are causing you to to love Christ less and love others less. Turn from them and turn to Christ.
[00:28:43] Turn from sinful distractions, good things that can become idols, division, cynicism, being irritated. Turn from those behaviors and notice this. This is so important right here. Notice this phrase and do the works.
[00:28:57] Some of us, we have fond memories. We think the application here is remember on the retreat when you first heard the gospel and you believed and you respond. Remember all those emotions.
[00:29:09] Remember those things that overwhelmed you and have fond memories. That's not what he's telling us to do. He's not calling us to fond memories, he's calling us. Notice. Do the works. This isn't sentimentality.
[00:29:24] Do the things you did at first and notice. I want you to notice this Too. He doesn't call us to do nothing.
[00:29:33] Some of us, we serve Jesus. Serve Jesus. And then we say, we use this phrase, burnout.
[00:29:40] That can happen.
[00:29:42] And there are things we need to do, but we don't do nothing.
[00:29:46] Notice we do the works we once did.
[00:29:49] We turn back to those things we once loved.
[00:29:53] The time when you thought, there's no way I could burn out serving Jesus. Well, go back to those things.
[00:29:59] What are they?
[00:30:01] Love for Christ and love for others.
[00:30:06] It's simple.
[00:30:07] Do the things that you started out doing. Love Jesus and love others. A good place to start, Love the church. You can't love Jesus without loving the church. It's a two for one there. You love the church. You love Jesus.
[00:30:21] Give yourself over to the church. Love the church.
[00:30:25] Do the things you did at first notice. If not, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.
[00:30:32] This is chilling.
[00:30:35] Imagine Jesus saying to us, if you don't start loving, I'm going to remove your witness from the city.
[00:30:47] I met someone the other day.
[00:30:49] I don't remember the guy's name.
[00:30:52] I think I had an Ashland shirt on. Which, by the way, you can get Ashland Apparel. There's a QR code. I know you're wondering how to do that.
[00:31:00] And he goes, man, you have a good church.
[00:31:06] I don't even know who he is.
[00:31:09] You have a good church.
[00:31:11] I don't even know how he knows about our church.
[00:31:14] What if Jesus stood up here today and said, if y' all don't start loving each other, nobody's gonna know who you are anymore.
[00:31:22] That's what's going on here.
[00:31:24] I will remove your lampstand, which is their witness, their light in the world. And we've seen this happen with churches who still exist.
[00:31:33] They get caught up in an agenda or a fad and they become absolutely useless for Jesus. They don't talk about Jesus. Their mission is something other than Jesus, and they're useless.
[00:31:46] Jesus says, if you don't start loving me and others, that's what's going to happen. But what are the things we do? Well, again, remember. Remember the things you did when you first believed the gospel.
[00:31:58] You read your Bible, you prayed, you gathered, you shared the gospel, you served. It's not complicated, but maybe you want a little bit more. Today, I'm going to give you a little bit more. What are some things to do to remind you of the priority, your first love, to cultivate this love for Christ and others. First of all, every day, preach the gospel to yourself.
[00:32:20] Now Notice I didn't say remember the Gospel.
[00:32:24] Don't forget the gospel.
[00:32:27] In moments like this in my life, I often look in the rear view mirror of my truck and start talking about the gospel to myself.
[00:32:38] You realize you were created in the image of God and yet you've done whatever you want it to. You've lived as a rebel, but God sent his son to die for you.
[00:32:50] Look yourself in the eye.
[00:32:52] Jesus died for you. A sinner, ungodly rebel.
[00:32:56] He lived a perfect life for you so that when you believe in him, his righteousness is credit to your account before God. Do you believe that? Believe it. It's true.
[00:33:06] Look to Christ.
[00:33:09] His resurrection promises that you will be blasted from your casket on the last day and given a kingdom. Look yourself in the eye and preach the gospel. And you know what happens. You grow in awe and wonder of God's love and mercy and grace for you. And you know what you do? You want to serve him.
[00:33:32] When you think about the mercy and grace and love of Christ for you, you just press it into your skull and your heart.
[00:33:41] Guess what that does in your life?
[00:33:43] Jesus, how can I serve you today?
[00:33:46] Preach the gospel to yourself.
[00:33:51] I would invite you to read a gospel. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
[00:33:56] And just make a list of all the ways in which Jesus is worthy. Just make a list.
[00:34:04] Oh, he's the Son of God who took on flesh, how the kingdom is at hand. He is worthy. He is worthy. Read through a gospel and make a list of all the reasons he is worthy. As we read through Revelation. Remember, this is the point of Revelation.
[00:34:20] Heaven would be opened up. We would see the worth of Christ and we would worship him.
[00:34:25] That is the point of Revelation. You start drifting elsewhere with this book. You miss. Listen, let's not miss Jesus in Revelation.
[00:34:34] It's not to win all the arguments. It's to worship Jesus.
[00:34:39] So read Revelation and be in awe of the Lamb who was slain, who controls the world and is unfolding his plan for human history.
[00:34:49] And worship him.
[00:34:51] Love him.
[00:34:53] There's some books that I always go back to that just kind of open my heart up to the awe and wonder of God. It's the Holiness of God by R.C. sproul, the Pleasures of God by John Piper, and Knowing God by J.I. packer.
[00:35:08] People say, what are the theologians that you trust? Mostly dead one.
[00:35:15] Piper's on his way.
[00:35:18] He's fine with that. I promise.
[00:35:23] I go back to those books and I remember when I first read them and my mind was blown with the holiness of God. Who's not like Me, and that's good news.
[00:35:35] And I fall more in love with God, with the Christ. Those are things you can do, but they always overflow. And witness. This is how we love others. And we can't get away from this. We worship and then we witness.
[00:35:50] So as you worship, make sure you are witnessing. Let's apply this book. Let's be more faithful to sharing the gospel than ever as a church.
[00:36:02] As we move through this book, witness Jesus is Lord.
[00:36:06] This book shows us. Now we get after it and we witness. Point others to Christ.
[00:36:11] Remember when you first believed the gospel and how you couldn't shut up about Jesus?
[00:36:16] I remember when I first started Bible college. I was learning all these things and my friends asked me to go to a party one weekend. I was back home.
[00:36:23] I said, sure, why not? They needed someone to drive, just to be honest with you.
[00:36:29] And I remember sitting around a fire at the party the whole time and talking about Jesus. And one by one my friends getting up and leaving.
[00:36:38] And they told me, you absolutely ruined the party because you wouldn't shut up about Jesus.
[00:36:45] I was never invited back to any of their stuff. I don't know if I've even talked to those friends since then.
[00:36:51] You remember those moments in your own life where you couldn't stop talking about Jesus to your parents, your kids, your family.
[00:36:59] Oh, cultivate that love for Jesus again. And then love others through sharing the gospel.
[00:37:05] And then Jesus adds this yet I have. This yet this you have. Here's another good thing. You hate the work of the nicolation. So understanding loving truth means hating the things Jesus hates. That's okay.
[00:37:19] Just because you hate false doctrine doesn't mean you're mean.
[00:37:23] It means you love Jesus. We want to get that right, but we can't stop loving Jesus.
[00:37:28] But the nicolations combine Christianity with pagan immorality. And we're going to talk about that more in the day in just a few weeks.
[00:37:36] But notice at verse seven he reminds them of the reward.
[00:37:40] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
[00:37:44] Now that phrase he who has an ear is the same phrase that Jesus used so often when he was telling a parable. Remember, he would be speaking to his disciples and he would not want the Pharisees to understand what he was saying.
[00:38:00] And he would tell a parable and he would say, he who has an ear, let him hear.
[00:38:06] Here he says that to the church in Ephesus. And one of the reasons the book of revelation is so crazy with the imagery is so only the church could understand it consider this mail carrier with the letter going from church to church. And a Roman official opens up the letter and they read about the locusts and all this crazy stuff and they're just like, blah kooky Christians, go on your way.
[00:38:35] But he who hasn't hear, notice what the Spirit says to the churches. There is the understanding that the Spirit of God is going to use this letter to change the church.
[00:38:45] And what's he going to call the church to notice the one who conquers throughout Revelation. Overcome, persevere. Remember a few weeks ago, keeps what is written.
[00:38:55] The point of the book is to do what it says, which is worship and witness. So the one who worships Jesus doesn't stop, even when you suffer, continues to witness. He will overcome and conquer. This is the way we conquer, by the blood of the Lamb, through preaching the Gospel. And notice if you persevere, I will grant you to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. And we're going to see this at the end of the book, where the presence of God comes down and the garden is consummated, where we are once again the presence of God and life of God. And we will be with Jesus forever.
[00:39:36] Now what's the point here?
[00:39:38] He wants the Ephesians to know.
[00:39:40] Persevering to the end is continuing to love Christ and others.
[00:39:46] Go back to the beginning and keep doing those things.
[00:39:51] Keep doing the things you're doing.
[00:39:54] Preaching the gospel, protecting. You can't stop doing those things.
[00:39:58] Church discipline, ordering the church according to true teaching, casting out fault. You got to do those things.
[00:40:07] But you will not persevere if you stop loving Christ and others. That's a warning. It's to shake us.
[00:40:15] Notice he doesn't say, times are tough. You're doing great. Keep it up.
[00:40:21] No, because he understands in doing all of the good things, the good things can become the main thing.
[00:40:28] And you better not forget what it's about. It's about Christ loving Christ loving, worshiping, witnessing.
[00:40:36] And here's the thing. The tension is going to prove who you really are.
[00:40:43] Are you just going through the motions of. Or do you really love Jesus? Because when persecution comes, you're just going through the motions. You're going to run and hide.
[00:40:56] Do you love others?
[00:40:58] The things that you stand for, Is it out of love for others? Because when persecution comes, you're just going to grow more resentful of your enemies.
[00:41:06] You need to love your enemies for the sake of the gospel. Keep telling them the truth.
[00:41:12] Tension is going to prove who you really are. Will you leave Christ?
[00:41:16] And will you hate others?
[00:41:18] And it's chilling because in first John, chapter four, verse eight says, anyone who does not, doesn't love, doesn't know God.
[00:41:30] Anyone who doesn't love, doesn't know God.
[00:41:34] Why?
[00:41:37] Because God is love.
[00:41:39] Remember, John writes first, second, third John to similar churches in Asia. It must have been a real problem.
[00:41:48] They didn't love their brothers, they didn't love the church, they didn't love the lost.
[00:41:54] I want to be clear. You're not saved by love.
[00:42:00] But if you've experienced the love of God and God is your first love, you're going to love.
[00:42:10] So go back, repent and love.
[00:42:15] The reality is this reminder is to drive us as far away from cynicism and disdain of others.
[00:42:22] I know in my heart, just straight up honest with you, I spend most days looking at the rest of the world going, idiots, just idiots.
[00:42:33] Don't have much time for you.
[00:42:37] That's scary.
[00:42:40] Look in the mirror.
[00:42:43] Are you growing in love for Christ and others?
[00:42:46] Why is this important? We are to be a compelling witness of a bride, a bride who is loved by her groom, who gave his life for her.
[00:43:00] And the church right now is witnessing to the world around us. We are the most loved people.
[00:43:06] Jesus gave his life for us. And guess what he's doing right now? He's gathering us. Won't you be gathered with us forever?
[00:43:16] And we are being gathered to him who loves us the most to know his love forever, where we will be free from sin. And guess what? In Heaven, we will love him most.
[00:43:31] This is convicting. But if you're a Christian, you got heaven to look forward to. And one of the glorious things about heaven is my sin will not be there.
[00:43:41] My hate and disdain for others. And just the fact that I just get irritated with other people a lot.
[00:43:49] I won't wake up in heaven the morning and just be. I don't know why. I'm just irritated today. I want to be around you.
[00:44:01] Those feelings won't be there. Those actions won't be there.
[00:44:06] Because we will love him the most and we will see him and be like him in love like Him.
[00:44:12] And by the way, love is not just this warm, fluffy feeling.
[00:44:16] It's actually doing things for others. So this week, what are you going to do?
[00:44:20] Do the things. Sacrifice, serve.
[00:44:24] It's not complicated.
[00:44:26] Just do the things that you first did.
[00:44:32] And here's the good news.
[00:44:33] Our love wanes.
[00:44:36] But Jesus doesn't need a plan to make his marriage a priority.
[00:44:40] He loves his church. No matter what.
[00:44:43] Do you love him?
[00:44:45] Will you love others?
