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Ephesus When Love Grows Cold (Revelation 21–7) John MacArthur · THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together

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Speaker 1: Tonight we embark upon the adventure of the letters to
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Speaker 1: the seven churches in Revelation chapter 2 and 3. So
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Speaker 1: you may now take your Bible and look with me
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Speaker 1: to the second chapter of the great apocalypsis, the revelation
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Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. And we're going to consider the first
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Speaker 1: of these seven letters to the seven churches, verses 1
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Speaker 1: through 7, the letter to the church in Ephesus. You
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Speaker 1: are well aware of the fact that this letter is
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Speaker 1: known for the very singular statement that is made in
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Speaker 1: verse 4, but I have this against you that you
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Speaker 1: have left your first love. And so we can fairly
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Speaker 1: call this church the church that left its first love.
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Speaker 1: Not necessarily in total, but certainly in part so much
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Speaker 1: so that it was characterized in that way. As we
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Speaker 1: read this letter, we're going to come to grips with
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Speaker 1: the matter of love growing cold in the lives of believers.
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Speaker 1: And that leads me to say as a basic introduction
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Speaker 1: that the reality of loving the Lord Jesus Christ is
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Speaker 1: at the very core of a saving relationship to Him.
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Speaker 1: We cannot spend as much time as I would like
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Speaker 1: on that singular theme, but if we were to collect
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Speaker 1: all that has been said from this pulpit in the
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Speaker 1: last 20 plus years, it would fill several volumes with
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Speaker 1: regard to the matter of Christians loving the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: Just to touch base with that great reality, Matthew chapter
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Speaker 1: 10 says, Verse 37 and 38 put it in perspective.
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Speaker 1: He who loves father or mother more than me, Jesus said,
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Speaker 1: is not worthy of me. And he who loves son
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Speaker 1: or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
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Speaker 1: And he who does not take his cross and follow
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Speaker 1: after me is not worthy of me. In other words,
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Speaker 1: being worthy of Christ means loving Him to the point
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Speaker 1: where you are willing to take up your cross, which
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Speaker 1: means to die if need be because of the demands
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Speaker 1: and the compulsions of that love. In John chapter 8
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Speaker 1: and verse 42, Jesus said, If God were your Father,
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Speaker 1: you would love Me. No more definitive statement is made
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Speaker 1: in the New Testament than that. If God is your Father,
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Speaker 1: you would love Me. For I proceeded forth and have
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Speaker 1: come from God. Knowing God and being a Christian involves
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Speaker 1: loving the Lord Jesus Christ. Again in John chapter 14...
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Speaker 1: Verse 21 says, Jesus is speaking again here, He who
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Speaker 1: has My commandments and keeps them, He it is who
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Speaker 1: loves Me, and he who loves Me shall be loved
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Speaker 1: by My Father, and I will love him and will
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Speaker 1: disclose Myself to him. There, the whole of the Christian
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Speaker 1: relationship is summed up. God loves us, we love God,
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Speaker 1: and therefore we keep Him. His commandments. Verse 23 similarly says,
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Speaker 1: if anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word and
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Speaker 1: My Father will love him and we will come to
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Speaker 1: him and make our abode with him. If we were
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Speaker 1: to turn that verse around and read it backwards, when
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Speaker 1: God takes up His abode with us, He loves us
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Speaker 1: and we keep His Word because we love Him. Jesus,
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Speaker 1: wanting to identify the spiritual condition of Peter in John 21,
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Speaker 1: asked him three times the same question, Peter, do you what?
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Speaker 1: Love me. Therein is the substance of spiritual identity manifest.
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Speaker 1: Those who are Christians love the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact,
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Speaker 1: in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 22 says, It says,
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Speaker 1: if anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed.
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Speaker 1: People who love Christ are the saved and the blessed.
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Speaker 1: People who do not love Christ are the accursed, the damned.
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Speaker 1: Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 1.8 that we love
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Speaker 1: Him even though we've never seen Him. So that love
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Speaker 1: for the Lord Jesus Christ is present in all Christians,
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Speaker 1: but it is subject to fluctuation. as to intensity. All
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Speaker 1: Christians love the Lord Jesus Christ. All Christians do not
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Speaker 1: love the Lord Jesus Christ with all their heart, soul, mind,
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Speaker 1: and strength as they ought to. There is unquestionably a
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Speaker 1: fluctuation potential in that love relationship. And no better illustration
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Speaker 1: of the seriousness of a waning intensity of love than
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Speaker 1: this letter to the church at Ephesus. Let me read
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Speaker 1: it to you. To the angel of the church in
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Speaker 1: Ephesus write, the one who holds the seven stars in
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Speaker 1: his right hand, the one who walks among the seven
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Speaker 1: golden lampstands, says this, I know your deeds and your
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Speaker 1: toil and perseverance. and that you cannot endure evil men,
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Speaker 1: and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles,
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Speaker 1: and they are not, and you found them to be false,
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Speaker 1: and you have perseverance, and have endured for my name's sake,
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Speaker 1: and have not grown weary. But I have this against you,
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Speaker 1: that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from
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Speaker 1: where you have fallen, and repent, and do the deeds
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Speaker 1: you did at first, or else I am coming to you,
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Speaker 1: and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless
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Speaker 1: you repent. Yet this you do have, that you hate
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Speaker 1: the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He
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Speaker 1: who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
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Speaker 1: says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will
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Speaker 1: grant to eat of the tree of life, which is
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Speaker 1: in the paradise of God. Now let me remind you
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Speaker 1: that this is a letter to a church, a real
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Speaker 1: church in a real city called Ephesus in Asia Minor.
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Speaker 1: I want you to remember... that when we deal with
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Speaker 1: these churches in these two chapters of Revelation, we're dealing
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Speaker 1: with real churches, historical churches. And the Lord is writing
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Speaker 1: a letter that applies at that period of time to
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Speaker 1: that church. But also, these are not only historical churches,
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Speaker 1: they are perennial churches in the sense that each of
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Speaker 1: these churches is a little bit different type church, has
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Speaker 1: a little bit different characteristic, is a little bit unique
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Speaker 1: from all the others. And so they represent the types
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Speaker 1: of churches that perennially exist throughout the church age. We
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Speaker 1: are dealing then with a real historical church, but we
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Speaker 1: are also dealing with a perennial problem in churches, and
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Speaker 1: that is in the case of the Ephesian church, there
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Speaker 1: are plenty of churches throughout all of church history that
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Speaker 1: could be characterized as those who had grown cold in
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Speaker 1: the matter of their love for Christ. We also mentioned
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Speaker 1: to you last time that these churches, for the most part,
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Speaker 1: at least five out of seven of them have evil
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Speaker 1: mixed with good. It is not uncommon for churches to
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Speaker 1: have those kinds of characteristics. There will be a mixture
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Speaker 1: of good and evil. And we also noted that as
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Speaker 1: you flow through the seven letters, with the exception of
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Speaker 1: the two churches where there is no evil mentioned, the
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Speaker 1: church in Smyrna and the church in Philadelphia, which seem
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Speaker 1: to be good churches on a total level. With the
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Speaker 1: exception of that, the five churches that have the mixture
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Speaker 1: of good and evil are on a descending scale. In
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Speaker 1: other words, they become progressively worse. So you have here
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Speaker 1: historical churches which had problems that needed to be dealt with,
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Speaker 1: that are perennial illustrations of types of churches in all
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Speaker 1: periods of time, that also illustrate that churches can be
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Speaker 1: a mixture of good and evil, and we also see
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Speaker 1: a descending kind of disastrous scale as you move from
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Speaker 1: the first church to the last church. The first having
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Speaker 1: grown cold with love, the last being totally apostate. So
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Speaker 1: what we learn here then is relevant to all churches
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Speaker 1: in all times. And frankly, any church in any age
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Speaker 1: of the church could have a mixture of these problems
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Speaker 1: characterizing it. We're going to look at these letters one
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Speaker 1: at a time, and I believe the Holy Spirit has
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Speaker 1: put them here because they are so perennially relevant. They
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Speaker 1: can speak to churches today that have these characteristics, and
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Speaker 1: they can warn all of us about the potential of
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Speaker 1: these characteristics in our own church. Now the first church
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Speaker 1: then to which a letter is addressed is Ephesus. It
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Speaker 1: is one of seven churches in the province of Asia Minor.
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Speaker 1: Today you know that as modern Turkey. That's the area.
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Speaker 1: The Ephesian church was perhaps the most prominent one since
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Speaker 1: all the other six were founded as daughter churches out
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Speaker 1: of the Ephesian church. And the Ephesian church was founded
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Speaker 1: really by the extensive ministry of the Apostle Paul which
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Speaker 1: lasted something around three years or more. Forty years before
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Speaker 1: this letter was written, Paul had written the letter of Ephesians,
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Speaker 1: which of course reached them among other churches. Forty years later,
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Speaker 1: you have the Holy Spirit giving to John this letter,
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Speaker 1: which reveals the very words of Jesus Christ to that
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Speaker 1: same church. So we could say that the church in
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Speaker 1: Ephesus receives two letters, the letter of Ephesians from Paul
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Speaker 1: and the letter here from the Lord Jesus Christ through
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Speaker 1: the pen of the apostle John. Now as we look
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Speaker 1: at these letters, we're going to see some pretty typical
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Speaker 1: features in all of them, and the outline will flow
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Speaker 1: pretty much the same as we look through them. First
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Speaker 1: of all, let's look at the correspondent. The correspondent. Who
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Speaker 1: is the writer? Who is the writer? He is not
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Speaker 1: named by name, but it is very evident who he is.
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Speaker 1: This letter is sent to the angel of the church
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Speaker 1: in Ephesus. Just to note, the angel refers to the
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Speaker 1: leader of the church. We have no reason to assume
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Speaker 1: that it refers to an actual angel, although that is
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Speaker 1: a possibility. The weight of evidence for that viewpoint is
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Speaker 1: that every other mention of angels is in the book
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Speaker 1: of Revelation refers to actual angels. The word angelos can
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Speaker 1: also mean messenger. So there are some who would say
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Speaker 1: that this is a letter given to a certain angel
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Speaker 1: who is associated with each of these churches. The problem
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Speaker 1: with that is we have no such teaching about angels
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Speaker 1: being associated with churches, and we have no word of
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Speaker 1: Scripture ever given to angels. They are always given to men,
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Speaker 1: and the word can mean leader. And since we don't
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Speaker 1: get to the futuristic part of the book until the
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Speaker 1: third chapter, there is every reason to assume that the
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Speaker 1: word angelos here means simply messenger, which would be a
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Speaker 1: representative from the Ephesian church, one of its leaders who
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Speaker 1: had come to be with John perhaps on the Isle
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Speaker 1: of Patmos and was bearing this very letter back on
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Speaker 1: behalf of John and the Lord Himself to the church
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Speaker 1: in Ephesus. But the one who writes the letter is
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Speaker 1: really not John. He may be the amanuensis, the one
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Speaker 1: whose pen moves, as it were, on the scroll. But
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Speaker 1: the one who writes, verse 1 says, is the one
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Speaker 1: who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the
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Speaker 1: one who walks among the seven golden lampstands. He is
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Speaker 1: the one who says this. And we know from our
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Speaker 1: study of chapter 1 and the vision that flows down
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Speaker 1: through the chapter from verse 9 on that this is
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who holds
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Speaker 1: the seven stars in His right hand. And he is
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Speaker 1: the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Verse
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Speaker 1: 20 of chapter 1 says the seven golden lampstands are
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Speaker 1: the churches and the seven stars are the messengers of
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Speaker 1: those churches. So it is the Lord who controls the leadership.
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Speaker 1: It is the Lord who controls and cares for and
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Speaker 1: ministers to and moves among the churches who is saying this.
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Speaker 1: And it is a fascinating thing to note that if
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Speaker 1: you'll study the vision in chapter 1 from verse 12 on,
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Speaker 1: you will see the characteristics of Christ in that vision
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Speaker 1: are used to identify the writer of these letters. Here
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Speaker 1: you can see He is spoken of in chapter 1
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Speaker 1: verse 20 as the one who has the stars and
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Speaker 1: who moves among the lampstands, and that's the way He's
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Speaker 1: identified to Ephesus. Look at verse 8 just to see
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Speaker 1: how this flows. In verse 8 it says, here is
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Speaker 1: the second letter to the church in Smyrna, and the
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Speaker 1: writer is the first and the last who was dead
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Speaker 1: and has come to life. And that is the designation
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Speaker 1: of Christ in chapter 1, verse 18. If you go
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Speaker 1: down to verse 12, to the church at Pergamos or Pergamum,
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Speaker 1: the one writing is the one who has the sharp
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Speaker 1: two-edged sword. And again, that is the description of Christ
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Speaker 1: in chapter 1, verse 16. If you go down to
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Speaker 1: chapter 2 verse 18, the Son of God who has
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Speaker 1: eyes like a flame of fire, His feet are like
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Speaker 1: burnished bronze, says this, and that is the description of
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Speaker 1: Christ in chapter 1 verse 15. You go to chapter
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Speaker 1: 3 verse 1, and He is the one who has
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Speaker 1: the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, and
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Speaker 1: again He is noted in that way in the vision
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Speaker 1: in chapter 1 verse 16, holding the seven stars. And
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Speaker 1: so you see that the description of Christ in chapter
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Speaker 1: 1 is carried out through these letters for the purpose
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Speaker 1: of identifying the very one described in chapter 1 as
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Speaker 1: the one who moves through the church. Also, even in
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Speaker 1: reference to the church at Philadelphia, he is noted as
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Speaker 1: the one who has the key of David, who opens
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Speaker 1: and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
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Speaker 1: And again, he is noted as one who has different keys,
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Speaker 1: chapter 1, verse 18, the keys of death and hell.
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Speaker 1: But you can be sure that on his belt hang
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Speaker 1: all the keys. And so, the identification of the writer
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Speaker 1: is simply to reiterate the very one described in the vision.
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Speaker 1: of chapter 1, the Lord Jesus Christ. These are letters
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Speaker 1: directly from Christ to the churches. He walks among the
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Speaker 1: golden lampstands. What does it mean? Scrutinizing, examining, looking, seeing, assessing, evaluating,
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Speaker 1: and then He puts down, as it were, the pen
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Speaker 1: of John and begins to dictate the message to every
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Speaker 1: church based upon what He sees as He listens to
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Speaker 1: them and as He watches them. So the one in
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Speaker 1: charge of the church is about to write. Our head,
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the correspondent. He is
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Speaker 1: the one who actually writes the letter. Secondly, we want
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Speaker 1: to note the church. The correspondent and then the church.
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Speaker 1: And again, I remind you in verse 1, it says,
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Speaker 1: to the leader, the messenger of the church in Ephesus.
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Speaker 1: I don't want to spend a lot of time dealing
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Speaker 1: with the details of the founding of the church. You
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Speaker 1: can go back in the book of Acts and read
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Speaker 1: it yourself. But this was a spiritually strong church founded
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Speaker 1: and taught, of course, by the Apostle Paul and other
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Speaker 1: apostles who followed him, located in the unique city of Ephesus.
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Speaker 1: It is probably true that even before Paul did the
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Speaker 1: yeoman work of giving form to the church, that Aquila
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Speaker 1: and Priscilla, who had been left there by Paul, did
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Speaker 1: some preliminary foundation work. You find that in Acts 18.21. So,
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Speaker 1: they were initially under the influence of Aquila and Priscilla,
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Speaker 1: also influenced by that powerful Old Testament preacher by the
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Speaker 1: name of Apollos, who came there to Ephesus from Alexandria.
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Speaker 1: When he got there, the only thing he knew was
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Speaker 1: the baptism of John, John the Baptist. He didn't yet
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Speaker 1: know about the Messiah Christ, and so Aquila and Priscilla,
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Speaker 1: you remember, according to Acts 18, 25 and 26, taught
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Speaker 1: him more perfectly the gospel. And so he must then
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Speaker 1: have articulated with his great gifts the meaning of Old
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Speaker 1: Testament truth and the light of the gospel which he
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Speaker 1: had learned. So before Paul even really did the work himself, Aquila, Priscilla,
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Speaker 1: and Apollos had had some influence on that church. Paul,
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Speaker 1: first of all, met people from Ephesus, you remember? When
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Speaker 1: he met on his third journey a group of believers
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Speaker 1: in John the Baptist who had only known the baptism
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Speaker 1: of John, Acts 19, he gave them the gospel, baptized
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Speaker 1: them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in
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Speaker 1: Acts 19, 5. And that really began Paul's direct work
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Speaker 1: in building the Ephesian church. And he was there for
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Speaker 1: three years according to Acts 20, 31. So they had
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Speaker 1: some very strong beginnings with some very wonderful and godly
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Speaker 1: and powerful people. Paul not only was there for the
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Speaker 1: period of time three years, but he also came back
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Speaker 1: at a later time and was instrumental on his way
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Speaker 1: to Jerusalem in stopping there to give a final course
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Speaker 1: in church management to the elders recorded in Acts chapter 20.
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Speaker 1: It is also true that Timothy served that church and
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Speaker 1: a very well-known person to the Colossians, Tychicus, served there also.
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Speaker 1: And I want to happily add, so did the apostle John.
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Speaker 1: John was no doubt the leading elder in the church
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Speaker 1: at Ephesus when he was arrested by Domitian and exiled
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Speaker 1: 60 miles away from there to the Isle of Patmos,
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Speaker 1: that rock in the middle of the Mediterranean, where he
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Speaker 1: was when the Spirit of God revealed all of this
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Speaker 1: to him. So you talk about a church that had
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Speaker 1: some powerful influence, you're talking about the Ephesian church. The
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Speaker 1: list of the greatest had been through there to influence
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Speaker 1: that church. The beginnings of that church in terms of
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Speaker 1: its identity as a church really are brought to us
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Speaker 1: in Acts 19. And I don't want to belabor the point,
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Speaker 1: but you need to understand that if you read Acts 19,
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Speaker 1: you're going to see some wonderful and remarkable things happen
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Speaker 1: as God begins to put that church together. For example,
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Speaker 1: in chapter 19, verse 8, Paul entered the synagogue, continued
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Speaker 1: speaking boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about
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Speaker 1: the kingdom of God. And when some were becoming hardened
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Speaker 1: and disobedient, speaking evil of the way before the multitude,
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Speaker 1: he withdrew from them and took away the disciples' reasoning
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Speaker 1: daily in the school of Tyrannus. This took place for
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Speaker 1: two years so that all who lived in Asia heard
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Speaker 1: the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. I mean,
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Speaker 1: this thing was so effective, it went out of Ephesus,
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Speaker 1: spread all over Asia during those two years, and resulted
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Speaker 1: in the founding of the other churches of Asia Minor
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Speaker 1: to which the letters in Revelation 2 and 3 are
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Speaker 1: also addressed. Verse 11, God was performing extraordinary miracles by
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Speaker 1: the hands of Paul. The handkerchiefs and aprons were carried
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Speaker 1: from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them,
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Speaker 1: and the evil spirits went out. There were some Jewish
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Speaker 1: exorcists who went around from place to place attempting to
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Speaker 1: name over those who had the evil spirits the name
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Speaker 1: of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus
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Speaker 1: whom Paul preaches. And seven sons of one Sceva, a
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Speaker 1: Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit
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Speaker 1: answered and said to them, I recognize Jesus, and I
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Speaker 1: know about Paul, but who are you guys? In other words,
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Speaker 1: what are you doing using the name of Jesus? Even
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Speaker 1: the demons know. who belongs in the kingdom and who doesn't.
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Speaker 1: So there were some pretty dramatic things happening in this
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Speaker 1: beginning time of the Ephesian church. We find in verse 18,
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Speaker 1: many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing
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Speaker 1: and disclosing their practices, their evil practices, demonic practices, their
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Speaker 1: occultic practices. Many of those who practiced magic, verse 19,
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Speaker 1: brought their books together and began burning them in the
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Speaker 1: sight of all, and they counted up the price of
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Speaker 1: them and found it 50,000 pieces of silver. Listen, there
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Speaker 1: are accountants in every audience, and they'll count. And they
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Speaker 1: were counting, $ 50, 000 worth of books are going up in
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Speaker 1: smoke because these people are turning from magic to Christ. This,
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Speaker 1: of course, threw the entire city into chaos because the
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Speaker 1: city was deeply involved in idol worship. Verse 23 says,
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Speaker 1: about that time there arose no small disturbance concerning the way. Why?
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Speaker 1: Because it was hurting the business of the idol makers.
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Speaker 1: And so the city, verse 29, was filled with confusion.
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Speaker 1: They rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging Gaius
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Speaker 1: and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions, from Macedonia. And so it goes.
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Speaker 1: A riot ensued. You can read it yourself. This church
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Speaker 1: was born in an unbelievable time. Miracles, powerful preaching, the
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Speaker 1: word spread, other churches were founded. People turning from idols,
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Speaker 1: turning from the occult, magic, evil practices, burning their magic
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Speaker 1: books at a tremendous price, putting the idol makers who
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Speaker 1: made the silver gods out of business, creating a riot
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Speaker 1: in the city when the union of idol workers found
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Speaker 1: out about it. This is a remarkable place. And so
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Speaker 1: this church was born in a great revival. But by
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Speaker 1: now Paul is gone. In fact, it's been about 40
21:40
Speaker 1: years since he wrote the letter to the Ephesians. And
21:45
Speaker 1: there's a new letter coming to him. And the one
21:47
Speaker 1: who brings it, really, is John. The one who writes
21:51
Speaker 1: it is Christ. Thirdly, we come to the city. And
21:57
Speaker 1: we need to say a word about Ephesus. It's quite
21:59
Speaker 1: a place. Pergamos was the official capital of the province
22:03
Speaker 1: of Asia Minor. And we'll find out about Pergamos in
22:06
Speaker 1: a week, I think, next two weeks actually. Two weeks
22:10
Speaker 1: from now we'll look at that letter. Pergamos was the
22:13
Speaker 1: actual capital city, but Ephesus was by far the greatest city.
22:18
Speaker 1: In fact, a Roman writer called it Lumen Asia, the
22:22
Speaker 1: light of Asia. It was prominent for a number of reasons,
22:26
Speaker 1: and I want to run them by you briefly just
22:27
Speaker 1: to give you a feeling. You don't have to remember
22:29
Speaker 1: every detail. It had the greatest harbor in Asia Minor.
22:32
Speaker 1: And any time a city had a harbor, that was
22:34
Speaker 1: the influx and the outgo. That was the trade center.
22:37
Speaker 1: That was the metropolis. It stood not only on the sea,
22:42
Speaker 1: but it stood at the mouth of the Caster River.
22:46
Speaker 1: And the Caster River flooded into this harbor. It was
22:53
Speaker 1: sort of an An inland city about three miles from
22:57
Speaker 1: the sea, actually, but the broad mouth of the river
23:00
Speaker 1: allowed access. Even now, when John is writing, however, the
23:04
Speaker 1: silt from the Keister River is beginning to stop up
23:08
Speaker 1: the harbor. And they've had to leave some lanes where
23:12
Speaker 1: the ships can come and go. If you go there
23:14
Speaker 1: now and see the ruins of Ephesus, it is six
23:17
Speaker 1: miles from any water from the sea because the silt
23:20
Speaker 1: deposit of the Keister River literally filled it up completely.
23:25
Speaker 1: But in those days, there was still access, and it
23:28
Speaker 1: was the primary harbor for Asia Minor. Ships would come
23:32
Speaker 1: up that river through a man-made canal into a turning basin,
23:37
Speaker 1: dock within the city, turn around, and go back out.
23:41
Speaker 1: There were also four great roads that went into Ephesus.
23:44
Speaker 1: One came from the north from Pergamos and Smyrna. One
23:47
Speaker 1: came from the northeast from Sardis, Galatia, Phrygia. One came
23:51
Speaker 1: from the southeast, the great trade route from the Euphrates
23:54
Speaker 1: through Colossae and Laodicea into Ephesus. Another came from the
23:58
Speaker 1: south from the rich Meander Valley. Consequently, Ephesus became known
24:02
Speaker 1: as the marketplace of Asia or the gateway to Asia.
24:06
Speaker 1: It was a very, very important place. In later times,
24:10
Speaker 1: when the martyrs were brought from Asia to be thrown
24:13
Speaker 1: to the lions in the arena in Rome, they would
24:16
Speaker 1: come through Ephesus on the highway, and it became known
24:19
Speaker 1: as the Highway of the Martyrs. Its position made it
24:24
Speaker 1: sort of a vanity fair for the ancient world. Politically,
24:29
Speaker 1: it was a free city. That is, it was self-governing.
24:32
Speaker 1: Rome gave Ephesus the right of self-governing. No Roman troops
24:35
Speaker 1: were stationed there at all. Great games were conducted there,
24:39
Speaker 1: the Ephesian games, and they rivaled the Olympic games. Some
24:43
Speaker 1: writers say the whole pageant of Greco-Roman life could be
24:46
Speaker 1: seen in its most brilliant colors in the city of Ephesus.
24:50
Speaker 1: Athletic contests, drama. In fact, there's a massive theater in
24:54
Speaker 1: the ruins there from the harbor. This great promenade ran
24:57
Speaker 1: right to that theater. They were big in drama, pageantry.
25:00
Speaker 1: There were sacrifices given there as well in a religious fashion.
25:05
Speaker 1: In fact, it may well be when Paul says in
25:07
Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 16, 8 that he doesn't want to leave Ephesus.
25:10
Speaker 1: There's a great door and effectual open and a wonderful
25:13
Speaker 1: opportunity and he's going to remain in Ephesus. It may
25:15
Speaker 1: well be because he was waiting for the month of May.
25:18
Speaker 1: In the month of May, the Ephesian games took place
25:21
Speaker 1: and pilgrims from all over the ancient world would descend
25:25
Speaker 1: into Ephesus and it would be the greatest evangelistic outreach
25:29
Speaker 1: opportunity of the year. That may have been the reason
25:32
Speaker 1: he said he wanted to stay there because of that opportunity.
25:35
Speaker 1: although we have no indication that He actually was able
25:38
Speaker 1: to remain that long. Most importantly, perhaps for us, is
25:42
Speaker 1: the religious aspect of it. It was the center of
25:45
Speaker 1: the worship of Artemis, Artemis being a Greek name, the
25:49
Speaker 1: Roman name Diana. It again indicates this confusion because Artemis
25:55
Speaker 1: appears to be a male kind of name and even
25:58
Speaker 1: a sometimes male figure and Diana a more decidedly female figure.
26:03
Speaker 1: But you find in ancient ritualistic religions and occult kind
26:07
Speaker 1: of religions, Babylonian mystery cults, the male-female identity of gods
26:11
Speaker 1: is switched all the time as a part of Satan's
26:14
Speaker 1: ploy to mingle and confuse sexual identities. But the place
26:19
Speaker 1: of the worship of Diana was one of the seven
26:22
Speaker 1: wonders of the ancient world. I doubt if I gave
26:24
Speaker 1: you a quiz that you've heard about them, but you
26:26
Speaker 1: could name them all, so let me run them by you.
26:29
Speaker 1: One of them was in Alexandria, the Pharaoh's lighthouse. Another
26:32
Speaker 1: was near Cairo, the pyramids. Another was in Babylon, the
26:36
Speaker 1: hanging gardens. Another was in Halakonassus, the tomb of King Mausolus.
26:42
Speaker 1: Another was the Colossus at Rhodes. Another was the statue
26:45
Speaker 1: of Zeus at Mount Olympus. And the seventh of them
26:48
Speaker 1: was this amazing temple in Ephesus to Diana. It was
26:53
Speaker 1: made of glittering Persian marble, according to archaeologists, 425 feet long,
26:59
Speaker 1: which would be about one and a half blocks, 260
27:02
Speaker 1: feet wide, columns stood 60 feet high, 130 columns, 37
27:06
Speaker 1: embellished with gold and jewels that had been given by
27:09
Speaker 1: kings and embedded in the marble. The altar was beautiful
27:12
Speaker 1: beyond words, carved by Praxiteles, who was the famous Greek sculptor.
27:17
Speaker 1: This temple was a museum, collections from all over the world.
27:20
Speaker 1: It was a sanctuary for criminals. All the criminals who
27:23
Speaker 1: wanted to escape and cross their fingers and say, King Zex,
27:25
Speaker 1: you can't touch me, got in this temple. So you
27:27
Speaker 1: can imagine the kind of riffraff that lived there. It
27:31
Speaker 1: was the bank of the Mediterranean, which makes it convenient
27:34
Speaker 1: for the criminals. The wealthy kept their treasures there in
27:37
Speaker 1: the inner shrine. Supposedly no one was allowed to violate it,
27:40
Speaker 1: but it was a place of unbelievable graft and confusion
27:43
Speaker 1: and chaos. It was big business also. They sold little gods.
27:48
Speaker 1: They sold gods for your neck. This is the first
27:50
Speaker 1: place we find little idols to put on the front
27:52
Speaker 1: of your chariot. Roman Catholic Church, by the way, and
28:01
Speaker 1: you need to know this historically, the Roman Catholic Church
28:04
Speaker 1: has taken its forms of worship, not from historic Christianity,
28:08
Speaker 1: but from historic idolatrous worship out of the Roman world.
28:13
Speaker 1: That's where they get their... holy days, their pilgrimages, their
28:18
Speaker 1: temples with craftsmen selling images, their medallions. That's all taken
28:22
Speaker 1: from the pagan world, much like was going on in Ephesus.
28:26
Speaker 1: That's where the gods and goddesses were that they now
28:29
Speaker 1: call saints. The worship of Diana itself was frankly beyond description.
28:35
Speaker 1: The very idol itself was a big, ugly, black, cow-like,
28:40
Speaker 1: buffalo-shaped thing with paps hanging down from it, not some
28:43
Speaker 1: beautiful goddess Diana that you might assume looks like a
28:46
Speaker 1: contemporary model or movie star. Not at all. This was
28:50
Speaker 1: an ugly beast who was supposed to suckle people and
28:53
Speaker 1: give them spiritual life. But the worship itself was beyond description.
28:58
Speaker 1: There were scores of eunuchs who had been castrated for
29:01
Speaker 1: the purposes of serving this god or goddess. There were
29:04
Speaker 1: thousands of priestesses who were nothing but prostitutes who believed
29:08
Speaker 1: that in sexual orgies they could lift the worshiper up
29:12
Speaker 1: into the presence of the deities. There were unnumbered heralds,
29:17
Speaker 1: those who proclaimed. There were singers. There were flutists. There
29:20
Speaker 1: were dancers. And just you can imagine the chaos in
29:23
Speaker 1: this temple. People doing banking, criminals trying to find asylum,
29:27
Speaker 1: people trying to look at the museum pieces, worship going on, prostitution, music, feasts, festivals.
29:34
Speaker 1: And the whole hysteria became a frenzy of shameless sexual
29:39
Speaker 1: mutilation everywhere. Heraclitus says, the morals of the temple were
29:43
Speaker 1: worse than the morals of animals, for even dogs do
29:46
Speaker 1: not mutilate each other. And he said, the people there
29:50
Speaker 1: were fit only to be drowned. Now this is a
29:56
Speaker 1: messy town with a messy centerpiece. Huddled in the middle
30:01
Speaker 1: of this is a church, a church. And you can
30:07
Speaker 1: understand when the church was born in the middle of
30:09
Speaker 1: all of that why it became a very, very significant
30:14
Speaker 1: sore spot and why persecution broke out. The preaching of
30:20
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ by Paul had affected the worship of Diana,
30:24
Speaker 1: affected the idol sales. It dropped off so seriously that
30:27
Speaker 1: that precipitated the riot of Acts 19. This is the
30:31
Speaker 1: beginning of the little flock at Ephesus. No wonder God
30:35
Speaker 1: gave them Aquila, Priscilla, Apollos, Paul. No wonder God gave
30:39
Speaker 1: them Tychicus, Timothy. No wonder God now even gave them John.
30:47
Speaker 1: This was a very, very wicked city. That brings us
30:52
Speaker 1: to a fourth consideration and takes us actually into the letter,
30:55
Speaker 1: the commendation. The commendation. It is the pattern of these
31:00
Speaker 1: letters that Christ first of all gives a commendation, then
31:05
Speaker 1: a condemnation. It's almost as if He sets them up
31:10
Speaker 1: and then sort of knocks them off. Verse 2, I
31:16
Speaker 1: know your deeds and your toil and perseverance. I know
31:22
Speaker 1: your deeds, He says, a general statement which includes all
31:26
Speaker 1: that follows. And he recites them. Your toil, perseverance. You
31:31
Speaker 1: can't endure evil men. You put to the test those
31:33
Speaker 1: who call themselves apostles and they are not and you
31:35
Speaker 1: found them to be false. Your perseverance. You've endured for
31:38
Speaker 1: my namesake. You haven't grown weary. Then verse 6. This
31:44
Speaker 1: you do have. You hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans
31:46
Speaker 1: which I also hate. There is the commendation. First of all,
31:51
Speaker 1: notice he says, I know your deeds or your work,
31:54
Speaker 1: your labor. The risen Christ is praising them for kapos,
31:57
Speaker 1: which means labor to the point of sweat and exhaustion.
32:02
Speaker 1: You work hard. You labor to the point of weariness.
32:08
Speaker 1: This is the kind of toil which takes everything of
32:11
Speaker 1: mind and muscle that a man or a woman can
32:13
Speaker 1: put into it. Their labor for Christ was with major effort.
32:19
Speaker 1: They were toilers. He said, I know that. I know
32:24
Speaker 1: you're busy toiling for Christ. They weren't the kind of
32:27
Speaker 1: Christians who wanted the box seats. They weren't the kind
32:30
Speaker 1: of Christians who wanted to be entertained. They wanted to
32:33
Speaker 1: be involved. They didn't want to just eat the fruit
32:36
Speaker 1: of the harvest. They were willing to plow, plant, and
32:39
Speaker 1: do the harvest. They were teaching, sharing Christ, planning, helping
32:45
Speaker 1: people in need. They were aggressive. They were active. Secondly,
32:49
Speaker 1: he says, I know your perseverance. Again, that word hupomone,
32:53
Speaker 1: I know your endurance. I know your patience. Not a
32:57
Speaker 1: grim resignation, but again, that courageous gallantry which accepts hardship, suffering, loss,
33:03
Speaker 1: and turns it into grace and glory. You're sticking with it.
33:06
Speaker 1: You're staying with it. You're persisting. Even though they were
33:11
Speaker 1: chewed up and beaten down and cast out, they endured it.
33:13
Speaker 1: They remained faithful. They hung on. Thirdly, he says... I
33:19
Speaker 1: know you cannot endure evil men. I know your suppression
33:22
Speaker 1: of evil. You are intolerant of sin. That's what he's saying.
33:28
Speaker 1: You still have a holy standard. They were characterized by service, steadfastness,
33:33
Speaker 1: and sanctification, we could say. They had not lost their
33:38
Speaker 1: sensitivity to sin. You cannot endure evil men. They were
33:43
Speaker 1: probably engaged in church discipline. Paul had told them when
33:50
Speaker 1: he wrote his letter in Ephesians 4, 27, neither give
33:53
Speaker 1: place to the devil. And they hadn't. They really hadn't.
33:58
Speaker 1: They resented evil. And they resented evildoers. Please notice, he
34:05
Speaker 1: doesn't say you can't endure evil. He says you can't
34:09
Speaker 1: endure evil men. And I remind you that neither can God.
34:15
Speaker 1: Sometimes you hear people in a well-meaning fashion say something like,
34:20
Speaker 1: God hates the sin but loves what? The sinner. Well,
34:25
Speaker 1: you have to be careful about that because in Psalm
34:28
Speaker 1: 5 5 it says, Thou dost hate all who do iniquity.
34:34
Speaker 1: God not only hates the sin, but God hates the sinner.
34:38
Speaker 1: Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. And this
34:45
Speaker 1: church not only hated the sin, but they had a
34:48
Speaker 1: holy aversion to the sinner, for he is inextricably bound
34:53
Speaker 1: up in his sin. God, of course, also loves the sinner,
34:59
Speaker 1: and that's the wondrous balance of it. They hated all
35:04
Speaker 1: that was morally bad. They hated the people that were
35:08
Speaker 1: morally bad with a holy, righteous hatred. And they knew
35:14
Speaker 1: that a little leaven would leaven the whole lump. And so, obviously,
35:18
Speaker 1: their hatred of evil men caused them to keep evil
35:20
Speaker 1: men out. You remember, Paul once warned them about this.
35:27
Speaker 1: On that trip to Jerusalem when he stopped to meet
35:30
Speaker 1: the elders, he gave them a warning. He said to
35:34
Speaker 1: them in Acts 20, and this warning, I suppose, could
35:38
Speaker 1: have been given to any church in in the New
35:42
Speaker 1: Testament or any church today. But he says to them
35:45
Speaker 1: this in Acts chapter 20, verse 29, after my departure,
35:51
Speaker 1: savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
35:54
Speaker 1: And from among your own selves, men will arise speaking
35:57
Speaker 1: perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore,
36:00
Speaker 1: be on the alert. And he said, for three years,
36:03
Speaker 1: night and day with tears, I've been warning you. That
36:05
Speaker 1: didn't go without warning. good results. Three years of warning
36:09
Speaker 1: night and day. You're going to get it. They're going
36:11
Speaker 1: to come from inside. You're going to come from outside.
36:13
Speaker 1: Evil men, perverse men seducing you. And here we are
36:16
Speaker 1: 40 years later and they are still hanging in there
36:20
Speaker 1: and they're still hating evil and evil men. They took
36:24
Speaker 1: their word from Paul and they applied it. And here
36:27
Speaker 1: is a whole new generation still faithful to that kind
36:30
Speaker 1: of aversion to evil. Fourthly, they had another component. They
36:37
Speaker 1: were characterized by spiritual discernment. You put to the test
36:42
Speaker 1: those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and
36:46
Speaker 1: you found them to be false. You put them to
36:48
Speaker 1: a test and the test must have been the right
36:50
Speaker 1: test because it gave the right conclusion. You have known
36:57
Speaker 1: by your doctrine how to evaluate somebody who says he's
37:00
Speaker 1: a teacher. Many an evil man has come into a
37:05
Speaker 1: little congregation and sown error, and that error has ripped
37:11
Speaker 1: and torn a church to shreds. Jesus warned about false prophets.
37:16
Speaker 1: As I just read in Acts 20, Paul warned about them.
37:21
Speaker 1: And here is this church forty years later and it
37:23
Speaker 1: still has solid doctrine and it still knows how to
37:26
Speaker 1: evaluate a teacher and how to put him to the test.
37:31
Speaker 1: Surely they got all kinds of evil men coming in
37:33
Speaker 1: and teaching falsely. Surely they got all kinds of false apostles,
37:39
Speaker 1: as they are called here, who came in emissaries of
37:42
Speaker 1: legalism or emissaries of libertinism or emissaries of ritualism or
37:50
Speaker 1: emissaries of professionalism. But they had the standard of sound doctrine,
37:57
Speaker 1: and they measured them, and their measurements were correct, and
38:00
Speaker 1: so they made the right evaluation. Only those teachers were
38:06
Speaker 1: welcome who were faithful and true to the Word of God.
38:11
Speaker 1: That's the way it has to be. The Ephesians knew it,
38:14
Speaker 1: and they lived by it. They put to the test
38:17
Speaker 1: those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and
38:21
Speaker 1: you found them to be false. They were dealing with
38:23
Speaker 1: some heavy-duty folks. They were literally claiming to be apostles,
38:28
Speaker 1: and they were false. And the church today must measure
38:33
Speaker 1: people who make such claims with the same standard Ephesus
38:36
Speaker 1: did to come to the same result. Verse 3, He
38:41
Speaker 1: further adds, and you have perseverance and have endured for
38:45
Speaker 1: My name's sake and have not grown weary. Through all
38:48
Speaker 1: of this, through your service, through the difficulties... through the
38:54
Speaker 1: evil and sin, through the false apostles that have come
38:57
Speaker 1: and gone, you have remained faithful. You have endured it all.
39:02
Speaker 1: And look, please, you have endured it for the right reason,
39:05
Speaker 1: for my name's sake. You've done it for me. Here is, beloved,
39:10
Speaker 1: still a pure motive. You've done it for me. You
39:16
Speaker 1: are spiritual marathoners. For all these years, At least 40,
39:22
Speaker 1: you've fought the battle. You've stayed true. And you've done
39:28
Speaker 1: it for me. And I love this at the end
39:29
Speaker 1: of verse... 3, and have not grown weary. Remember Galatians 6,
39:34
Speaker 1: 9 where Paul reminds the Galatians, do not grow weary
39:37
Speaker 1: in well-doing. You can, you know. from disappointment, ingratitude, criticism, rebellion,
39:46
Speaker 1: lack of response, but they hadn't. Faithful to the Word,
39:50
Speaker 1: faithful to the work, faithful to the Lord, faithful to
39:54
Speaker 1: the criteria by which you judge people, and in it all,
39:57
Speaker 1: through the spiritual discernment, through the trouble, through all of it,
40:01
Speaker 1: they had never grown weary, and always with the right motive,
40:06
Speaker 1: for thy name's sake. That means for your glory, for
40:09
Speaker 1: your honor, for your name, for your reputation, not ours.
40:15
Speaker 1: This is a marvelous church. This is a great church.
40:21
Speaker 1: Go now to verse 6 where we pick up the
40:24
Speaker 1: final note about the commendation. He says,' Yet this you
40:30
Speaker 1: do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans,
40:33
Speaker 1: which I also hate.' after having indicted them a bit
40:38
Speaker 1: in verses 4 and 5 seriously, he now comes back
40:42
Speaker 1: to commend them again as if to in some way
40:45
Speaker 1: acknowledge to them that what he has just said is
40:48
Speaker 1: not an indication that they are wholesale in a disastrous condition.
40:53
Speaker 1: So he circles back here and picks up another thing
40:55
Speaker 1: for which they are to be commended. They hate the
40:58
Speaker 1: deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Now this
41:03
Speaker 1: poses to us a problem, and I'm not going to
41:05
Speaker 1: try to forever and always solve the problem, but help
41:08
Speaker 1: you to understand it. There is no way that we
41:12
Speaker 1: can dogmatically identify the Nicolaitans. We can make some assumptions,
41:18
Speaker 1: and I'll try to make some that might help you.
41:21
Speaker 1: We want to ask, what is the deeds of the Nicolaitans?
41:27
Speaker 1: What are the deeds of the Nicolaitans? What were they doing?
41:30
Speaker 1: What was their doctrine? What was their error? What were
41:33
Speaker 1: they all about? There are a number of possibilities. But
41:41
Speaker 1: we find this heresy in another location. The letter to
41:44
Speaker 1: the church at Pergamos, down in chapter 2, verse 12.
41:50
Speaker 1: We find it again. Verse 15. Please notice verse 15.
41:54
Speaker 1: Thus you also have some who in the same way
41:59
Speaker 1: hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. That's hard to say.
42:03
Speaker 1: What do you mean the same way? Go back to
42:04
Speaker 1: verse 14. I have a few things against you because
42:07
Speaker 1: you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam.
42:10
Speaker 1: who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before
42:12
Speaker 1: the sons of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols
42:15
Speaker 1: and to commit acts of immorality. Balaam we understand, right?
42:18
Speaker 1: Back to Numbers 22 and following. Balaam came along and
42:21
Speaker 1: seduced God's people into idolatry. Seduced God's people into immorality.
42:28
Speaker 1: He posed as a prophet, which he was, and he
42:31
Speaker 1: came along and instead of leading people to godliness, he
42:34
Speaker 1: led them to sin, to idolatry, and to immorality. That's
42:39
Speaker 1: what Balaam did. Verse 15 then, thus you also have
42:43
Speaker 1: some who in the same way hold the teaching of
42:46
Speaker 1: the Nicolaitans. Seems to me that whatever Balaam did, the
42:49
Speaker 1: same thing was being done by the Nicolaitans. Let me
42:54
Speaker 1: take it a step further. The word Nikolas comes from
43:03
Speaker 1: two Greek words, Nike, from which you get the word
43:07
Speaker 1: today Nike, which means to conquer. And the word laos, nikos,
43:13
Speaker 1: to conquer, laos, people. The word means conqueror of the people.
43:21
Speaker 1: One who conquers the people. Listen to this. The Hebrew
43:26
Speaker 1: word Balaam means destroyer of the people. The Hebrew word
43:31
Speaker 1: Balaam means destroyer of the people. What you have here
43:35
Speaker 1: with Nicholas in the New Testament appears to be the
43:38
Speaker 1: same as you had with Balaam in the Old Testament.
43:41
Speaker 1: This is someone who by false teaching leads people into
43:46
Speaker 1: destructive sin. How in the world this could ever be
43:54
Speaker 1: allowed in the church as it was in Pergamos is
43:59
Speaker 1: shocking But here in Ephesus it was not allowed. They
44:03
Speaker 1: could spot a Nicolaitan because they could test the false.
44:08
Speaker 1: Their criteria was still intact. Furthermore, one of the deacons
44:14
Speaker 1: named in Acts 6 is Nicholas. Some early church writers,
44:21
Speaker 1: namely Irenaeus, say that it is this Nicholas who appeared
44:27
Speaker 1: early in the church. was made a deacon, but who
44:31
Speaker 1: was a false believer, went bad, became an apostate, but
44:38
Speaker 1: because of his credential as a one-time deacon, was allowed
44:43
Speaker 1: to come in and lead the church astray, and he
44:46
Speaker 1: was no different than a Balaam. He was a destroyer
44:49
Speaker 1: of the people just like Balaam was, and he led
44:51
Speaker 1: them into immorality and wickedness. So that's probably the best
44:59
Speaker 1: guess at who these people were. For sure we know
45:03
Speaker 1: that those who followed Nicholas were involved in immorality and uncleanness,
45:10
Speaker 1: and they plied the church with sensual temptations. Clement of
45:16
Speaker 1: Alexander says, they abandoned themselves to pleasure like goats leading
45:22
Speaker 1: a life of self-indulgence. They were involved in immorality, loose living,
45:28
Speaker 1: Liberty was replaced with license. They were involved in teaching
45:32
Speaker 1: perverted grace. They were probably a pre-gnostic group, thinking that
45:37
Speaker 1: through their sexual activity and their superior knowledge, they had
45:40
Speaker 1: ascended to the deities. They may even have perpetrated on
45:46
Speaker 1: the church a classical hierarchical structure, which found its final
45:52
Speaker 1: form in Catholicism. But whatever, verse 6 says, Christ hates them.
45:59
Speaker 1: I hate what they do, and so do you. Now,
46:03
Speaker 1: the sum of all this commendation is this is a
46:07
Speaker 1: noble bunch, and I don't want you to underestimate that.
46:10
Speaker 1: This is a great church. I don't want to be
46:12
Speaker 1: so bold as to say this for certain, but of
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Speaker 1: all the churches in these two chapters, this one seems
46:20
Speaker 1: to me most like ours. Hardworking, toiling for the persevering
46:28
Speaker 1: through difficulty, unable to endure evil men and acting in
46:32
Speaker 1: behalf of holiness and virtue and righteousness and putting church
46:37
Speaker 1: discipline into action, able to recognize false apostles, not being
46:43
Speaker 1: victimized by those who come along no matter who they
46:46
Speaker 1: are and advocate ungodly, licentious, wicked, evil living. A church
46:55
Speaker 1: of great character Fifthly, we come to the concern. What
47:01
Speaker 1: could be wrong in a church like this? Verse 4,'
47:06
Speaker 1: But I have this against you, that you have left
47:11
Speaker 1: your first love.' Let me tell you something, folks. I
47:18
Speaker 1: don't mind some people having something against our church, but
47:21
Speaker 1: when the Lord has something against your church, that's serious.
47:25
Speaker 1: That's serious. When it's the Lord who says, I have
47:29
Speaker 1: something against you, it's time to shake. Such beautiful commendations.
47:38
Speaker 1: But they missed the most important thing. Jesus said to
47:41
Speaker 1: Peter three times, do you what? Love me. The most
47:47
Speaker 1: important thing. And when they read this, I believe when
47:51
Speaker 1: they read this in Ephesus, it probably hit them like
47:53
Speaker 1: a thunderbolt. It probably shocked them Because all those congratulations
48:01
Speaker 1: and then they are blasted with this and I doubt
48:04
Speaker 1: that they ever even realized it. What had happened? This
48:13
Speaker 1: is one of the best churches, if not the best church.
48:16
Speaker 1: Yet the clear, penetrating, spiritual laser vision of Christ found
48:25
Speaker 1: a fatal fault. that probably nobody else saw. Their hot hearts,
48:32
Speaker 1: that labor of passion and fervor was becoming the cold
48:36
Speaker 1: Orthodox function. That was deadly, dangerous. The service had started
48:48
Speaker 1: to become mechanical. Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 2. The word
48:56
Speaker 1: of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Go and proclaim in
48:59
Speaker 1: the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the Lord, I
49:02
Speaker 1: remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, the love
49:07
Speaker 1: of your betrothals, your following after me in the wilderness
49:12
Speaker 1: through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord,
49:17
Speaker 1: the first of his harvest. I remember, God says, I
49:22
Speaker 1: remember the way it used to be. But then the
49:27
Speaker 1: Lord says, what injustice did your fathers find in me
49:31
Speaker 1: that they went far from me? I remember how it
49:35
Speaker 1: used to be. And it isn't that way anymore. This
49:39
Speaker 1: is nothing new. This happened to Israel. In Ezekiel 16,
49:44
Speaker 1: a powerful scripture. Ezekiel 16, verse 8. God speaking to Israel.
49:56
Speaker 1: You were ripe for love, so I spread my skirt
50:00
Speaker 1: over you and covered your nakedness. I swore to you
50:03
Speaker 1: and entered into a covenant with you so that you
50:05
Speaker 1: became mine. What is he saying? I married you. You
50:09
Speaker 1: were in a season of love and I found you
50:11
Speaker 1: and I took you and I embraced you and I
50:14
Speaker 1: married you. And I bathed you with water, and I
50:17
Speaker 1: washed off your blood from you, anointed you with oil,
50:20
Speaker 1: and I clothed you with embroidered cloth, and put sandals
50:24
Speaker 1: of porpoise skin on your feet. And I wrapped you
50:27
Speaker 1: with fine linen, and covered you with silk. And I
50:29
Speaker 1: adorned you with ornaments, and put bracelets on your hands,
50:32
Speaker 1: and a necklace around your neck. And I put a
50:34
Speaker 1: ring in your nostril, and earrings in your ears, and
50:37
Speaker 1: a crown, a beautiful crown on your head. And thus
50:39
Speaker 1: you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress
50:43
Speaker 1: was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate
50:46
Speaker 1: fine flour, honey, and oil, so you were exceedingly beautiful
50:50
Speaker 1: and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among
50:56
Speaker 1: the nations on account of your beauty, for it was
50:59
Speaker 1: perfect because of my splendor, which I bestowed on you,
51:03
Speaker 1: declares the Lord God. Listen to this. But you trusted
51:09
Speaker 1: in your beauty and played the harlot. I remember the
51:16
Speaker 1: time of your beauty. I remember the time of your love.
51:21
Speaker 1: I remember the time of your betrothal. I remember, God
51:25
Speaker 1: said to Israel. This is exactly what he's saying here.
51:31
Speaker 1: The honeymoon ended in Israel. The honeymoon ended in Ephesus.
51:37
Speaker 1: You don't love me like you once loved me. Your
51:41
Speaker 1: love is cooled. That, beloved, is the forerunner of spiritual apathy.
51:45
Speaker 1: That is the forerunner of indifference. And that is the
51:48
Speaker 1: greatest fear that I have for this church, for that
51:51
Speaker 1: is step one that moves you through the rest of
51:54
Speaker 1: the steps that you see in these churches into a
51:57
Speaker 1: love for the world, compromise with evil, corruption, death, and judgment. Doctrinal? Yes, solid.
52:07
Speaker 1: Morally pure, yes. Zealous, yes. Disciplined, yes. Hardworking, yes. Born
52:13
Speaker 1: in an incredible way out of powerful pagan idolatry with
52:17
Speaker 1: the best spiritual leadership. Fanatical start and now grown cold.
52:26
Speaker 1: How would you like it, ladies, if your husband came
52:29
Speaker 1: to you sometime and said, I don't love you anymore,
52:36
Speaker 1: but nothing will change. Is that enough? I'll still earn
52:42
Speaker 1: a living. I'll still eat with you, sleep with you,
52:47
Speaker 1: drive with you. I'll still father the children and be
52:52
Speaker 1: your husband. Nothing will change. I just don't love you. Devastating.
53:00
Speaker 1: How would you feel if your wife came to you
53:02
Speaker 1: and said, I don't love you, but nothing will change?
53:12
Speaker 1: In a sense, we couldn't imagine saying that to the Lord. Lord,
53:19
Speaker 1: I don't love you like I once did. That's gone.
53:24
Speaker 1: But I just want you to know I'll still come.
53:26
Speaker 1: I'll still work. I'll still sing. I'll still give. I'll
53:32
Speaker 1: still even believe the truth. I just don't love you.
53:38
Speaker 1: We wouldn't say that. But the Lord knows if it's true.
53:44
Speaker 1: The correspondent, the church, the city, the commendation, the concern. Sixthly,
53:48
Speaker 1: the command. The command, verse 5. Remember, therefore, from where
53:59
Speaker 1: you have fallen. You've got to go back and remember.
54:02
Speaker 1: Want to know something? One of the reasons I'm revealing
54:07
Speaker 1: an inside secret here. One of the reasons we have
54:10
Speaker 1: baptism services in this church every Sunday night. is so
54:16
Speaker 1: you will not easily forget how it was when you
54:20
Speaker 1: were first saved? How do you remember? By hearing again
54:27
Speaker 1: and again and again and again the exhilarating joy and
54:31
Speaker 1: testimony of transformation. We don't do this just for the
54:38
Speaker 1: sake of these folks. That is not all God had
54:40
Speaker 1: in mind when He designed it. We do it for
54:43
Speaker 1: the sake of you folks who having moved a long
54:45
Speaker 1: way in time from your conversion could perhaps easily forget
54:48
Speaker 1: the first love but are brought Sunday after Sunday after
54:51
Speaker 1: Sunday after Sunday face to face again with first love.
54:56
Speaker 1: You need to remember that. And it needs to remind
55:00
Speaker 1: you of how it was with you when you first
55:02
Speaker 1: passed out of darkness into light. Remember from where you
55:09
Speaker 1: have fallen. Go back and remember how it used to be.
55:15
Speaker 1: So often, spiritual declension comes from forgetting. This is a
55:23
Speaker 1: new generation in Ephesus. The first generation, for the most part,
55:26
Speaker 1: is gone. They still had the strong tradition, but not
55:31
Speaker 1: the intense love. That's why I have said so many
55:37
Speaker 1: times that a church, if it's going to stay vital
55:40
Speaker 1: in its love for Christ, has to be a maternity
55:43
Speaker 1: ward where there's the constant cry of newborn babes in Christ. Why?
55:47
Speaker 1: Because they continually bring us into touch with first love.
55:55
Speaker 1: That's absolutely crucial. You always want to have a large
56:01
Speaker 1: first generation of believers in your church. Remember. That's where
56:07
Speaker 1: it starts. Remember. Secondly, repent. Because to lose your first
56:16
Speaker 1: love is sin. The decreasing intensity of your love for
56:20
Speaker 1: Christ is sin. Lack of loving Him with all your heart, soul, mind,
56:26
Speaker 1: and strength is sin. Repent. Get on your knees before
56:34
Speaker 1: God and ask Him to forgive you for that weakening love. Remember, repent.
56:46
Speaker 1: Third word, repeat. Do the deeds you did at first.
56:51
Speaker 1: I was talking to Mel Hankinson last night after the
56:59
Speaker 1: basketball game. We were talking about the Scripture, and he
57:03
Speaker 1: was telling me how that when he became a Christian,
57:06
Speaker 1: he said, I committed my life to Jesus Christ, and
57:09
Speaker 1: he said, I started to read the Bible, and I
57:12
Speaker 1: read the whole Bible in a month. And I read
57:14
Speaker 1: it again, and I read it again, and I kept
57:16
Speaker 1: reading it, and I kept reading it. And people would
57:19
Speaker 1: say to me, what's wrong with you? What's gotten into you?
57:25
Speaker 1: And he was describing that passion, that hunger for the
57:29
Speaker 1: Word of God. And then it was such a wonderful
57:33
Speaker 1: thing he said to me, and I want you to
57:34
Speaker 1: know that I'm going through the book of Romans with
57:37
Speaker 1: you right now, years later in my Christian life, and
57:40
Speaker 1: I listen to 10 tapes a week over and over
57:42
Speaker 1: until I comprehend the truth. And he said, I've listened
57:46
Speaker 1: to 50 so far, and you're only in chapter 8.
57:49
Speaker 1: And you know what my heart was saying? I rejoiced.
57:55
Speaker 1: The first love is there. That's how it was when
57:59
Speaker 1: you first fell in love. And you see people who
58:01
Speaker 1: come to Christ, fall in love with Christ as it were,
58:04
Speaker 1: and they want to serve and they want to tell
58:06
Speaker 1: their friends and they want to teach. They want to
58:08
Speaker 1: pass on what they know. They want to sing. They
58:10
Speaker 1: want to pray. Those are the first things. Go back.
58:16
Speaker 1: If you once taught but you don't teach. If you
58:18
Speaker 1: once prayed with folks but you don't pray. If you
58:21
Speaker 1: always used to come on Sunday nights and now you
58:23
Speaker 1: come very rarely. If you always went to Bible study
58:26
Speaker 1: and were a part of a fellowship group and you
58:29
Speaker 1: went to every opportunity to be trained, but you don't
58:31
Speaker 1: do that anymore, that's an evidence of the loss of
58:34
Speaker 1: first love. That's a sin. Remember how it was. Repent
58:39
Speaker 1: before God and repeat the things you used to do.
58:42
Speaker 1: This is pretty serious. Look back at verse 5. Or else.
58:50
Speaker 1: Or else what? Or else I'm coming to you. Well,
58:55
Speaker 1: you say, that'll be fine. I'm waiting for the second coming. No,
58:59
Speaker 1: this isn't the coming you're waiting for. He says, or
59:04
Speaker 1: else I'm coming to you and I'll remove your lampstand
59:06
Speaker 1: out of its place unless you repent. I'll come and I'll...
59:10
Speaker 1: take away your lampstand. That's what He says to Ephesus.
59:15
Speaker 1: You're a great church. You have a great reputation. You
59:19
Speaker 1: have a great ministry. If you don't change, you're going
59:22
Speaker 1: to have nothing. You're going to have nothing. I'm going
59:25
Speaker 1: to come and it's over. Oof. Unless you repent. I'm
59:33
Speaker 1: going to remove the lampstand. The lampstand represents the church.
59:36
Speaker 1: I'm going to take the church right out. Your church
59:39
Speaker 1: will be gone. Your church will be terminated. Did it happen? Yes.
59:48
Speaker 1: That's the sad part. Yes. Today, there's no city. There's
59:54
Speaker 1: no church. Ephesus is a bleak reminder. A bleak reminder
1:00:01
Speaker 1: of a church that didn't heed the letter. And the
1:00:07
Speaker 1: light went somewhere else. And then, one final note, the counsel.
1:00:19
Speaker 1: Each letter closes with some counsel. Verse 7 is that counsel.
1:00:25
Speaker 1: The counsel takes shape in two ways. First an invitation
1:00:29
Speaker 1: and then a promise. The invitation, he who has an ear,
1:00:33
Speaker 1: let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches,
1:00:35
Speaker 1: which is God's way of saying you better listen. And
1:00:39
Speaker 1: by the way, you will find that at the end
1:00:41
Speaker 1: of each letter, all seven. You better listen. I'm not kidding.
1:00:45
Speaker 1: This is serious. Please listen. I'm looking at your church.
1:00:53
Speaker 1: I'm analyzing it. I'm telling you what its problem is.
1:00:56
Speaker 1: I'm telling you what the solution is. Please listen. That's
1:01:03
Speaker 1: the invitation. And then the promise. To him who overcomes,
1:01:09
Speaker 1: I will grant to eat of the tree of life
1:01:12
Speaker 1: which is in the paradise of God. That's the promise.
1:01:19
Speaker 1: To whom is this addressed? To Him who overcomes. You're
1:01:22
Speaker 1: going to find that phrase repeatedly through these letters. To
1:01:26
Speaker 1: Him who overcomes. You see it in verse 11. You
1:01:28
Speaker 1: see it in verse 17. To Him who overcomes, common,
1:01:33
Speaker 1: down in verse 26. And it always refers to the
1:01:37
Speaker 1: same person. You know who it is? Believers. It's just
1:01:40
Speaker 1: a reference to believers. People have done all kinds of
1:01:44
Speaker 1: gymnastics to try to figure out what this means. It
1:01:46
Speaker 1: just means Christians. You say, how do you know that?
1:01:48
Speaker 1: 1 John 5. First John 5, same writer, John, for
1:01:55
Speaker 1: whatever is born of God overcomes. Whatever is born of
1:01:58
Speaker 1: God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that
1:02:02
Speaker 1: has overcome the world, our faith. And who is the
1:02:05
Speaker 1: one who overcomes the world? He who believes that Jesus
1:02:09
Speaker 1: is the Son of God. That's John's own definition of
1:02:12
Speaker 1: his own term that he writes on behalf of Christ.
1:02:17
Speaker 1: An overcomer is a Christian. To you true believers, he says.
1:02:22
Speaker 1: To you true Christians. I want to give you a promise.
1:02:26
Speaker 1: Isn't it wonderful? He's committed them in the beginning. He's
1:02:30
Speaker 1: hit them with a bullseye, a jolt about their sin.
1:02:34
Speaker 1: He's told them to listen. And he closes by saying,
1:02:38
Speaker 1: because they are true Christians, let me leave with a promise.
1:02:41
Speaker 1: It's like signing the letter with a whole lot of hope.
1:02:47
Speaker 1: To you overcomers, you true believers, I will grant to
1:02:53
Speaker 1: eat of the tree of life which is in the
1:02:56
Speaker 1: paradise of God. That's another way of saying, I promise
1:02:59
Speaker 1: you what? Heaven. I promise you heaven. The overcomer in
1:03:09
Speaker 1: the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3 is contrasted
1:03:12
Speaker 1: with the cowardly, In chapter 2, 10 and 13. The
1:03:17
Speaker 1: overcomer is contrasted with the sexually immoral. Chapter 2, verses
1:03:21
Speaker 1: 14 and 20. The overcomer is contrasted with the idolaters
1:03:25
Speaker 1: of chapter 2, verse 14 and 20. The liars of
1:03:28
Speaker 1: chapter 2, verses 2 and 9 and 20. Chapter 3,
1:03:33
Speaker 1: verse 9. The overcomer is the true believer. In chapter
1:03:40
Speaker 1: 21 of Revelation, verse 8. For the cowardly and unbelieving
1:03:45
Speaker 1: and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and
1:03:49
Speaker 1: idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the
1:03:52
Speaker 1: lake that burns with fire and brimstone. Those people that
1:03:55
Speaker 1: are identified in chapters 2 and 3 are assigned to
1:03:58
Speaker 1: hell in chapter 8 and they are in contrast to
1:04:01
Speaker 1: the overcomer who has the promise of heaven. There's no
1:04:06
Speaker 1: question who the overcomer is. It's not some second-level kind
1:04:10
Speaker 1: of Christianity. This is a definition of a true Christian.
1:04:15
Speaker 1: To this person I will grant to eat of the
1:04:18
Speaker 1: tree of life. The tree of life is first mentioned
1:04:20
Speaker 1: in Genesis 2, 9, the source of life God put
1:04:23
Speaker 1: in the garden. It is mentioned lastly in Revelation 22,
1:04:27
Speaker 1: verse 19, right at the very end. The Lord is
1:04:32
Speaker 1: going to give us the tree of life and not
1:04:35
Speaker 1: Take it away, but He will take it away from
1:04:38
Speaker 1: those who tamper with His truth. The tree of life
1:04:43
Speaker 1: in the garden was on earth. The tree of life
1:04:47
Speaker 1: in the book of Revelation is that eternal, glorious tree
1:04:51
Speaker 1: that speaks of life in heaven. In fact, you could
1:04:56
Speaker 1: see in Revelation 22, verse 2, a description of that tree.
1:05:01
Speaker 1: It had twelve kinds of fruit. yielding its fruit every month,
1:05:05
Speaker 1: and the leaves of the tree were for the health
1:05:08
Speaker 1: of the nations. Not because we're sick, but it speaks
1:05:11
Speaker 1: of vigor and wholeness and prosperity and eternal health. And
1:05:17
Speaker 1: where is it? In the paradise of God, which is
1:05:20
Speaker 1: John's way of speaking about heaven. So he ends with
1:05:24
Speaker 1: a promise. Now, what should we learn from this lesson? One,
1:05:27
Speaker 1: be certain you're a true Christian and an overcomer headed
1:05:30
Speaker 1: for heaven. Two, be certain you maintain your first love.
1:05:39
Speaker 1: Very practical. Father, thank You for our time tonight in
1:05:42
Speaker 1: Your Word. We thank You, Father, that we're a church
1:05:46
Speaker 1: that has known Your blessing. And Lord, we would never
1:05:50
Speaker 1: want to leave our first love. We don't ever want
1:05:52
Speaker 1: to say to You, I don't love You like I did,
1:05:57
Speaker 1: but nothing will change, and then carry out mechanical functions. Lord,
1:06:02
Speaker 1: make us faithful to love. For Christ's sake, amen. You've
1:06:09
Speaker 1: been listening to John MacArthur, Bible teacher with Grace To You.
1:06:13
Speaker 1: For free access to all of John's lessons and a
1:06:15
Speaker 1: listing of study Bibles and books available for sale, visit
1:06:19
Speaker 1: Grace To You's website at gty.org. John MacArthur and Grace
1:06:25
Speaker 1: To You reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our
1:06:29
Speaker 1: copyright policy is available at gty.org, and it includes instructions
1:06:35
Speaker 1: for and limitations on duplicating this digital file.