Ephesians 7? - [Revelation 2:1-7]

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Pastor Mike preaches Ephesians 7? - [Revelation 2:1-7]

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the
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Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.
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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her
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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. As you know, last week was Resurrection Sunday, but prior to that we had 12 sermons in the book of Ephesians, kind of a little foretaste of Ephesians so that you might want to study it more on your own.
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Two sermons per chapter, and we finished Ephesians in 12 weeks.
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My flesh wants to say, I told you I could do it. But today
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I'd like to preach something else, and I've entitled the sermon, Ephesians 7 question mark.
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I've already received some emails from some of you quoting Revelation 22 about adding to the book. Thank you for that.
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I preach to an astute congregation. And so today isn't strictly speaking
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Ephesians 7 because there's no such thing. But something else was written to the church at Ephesus.
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Of course, Paul preached there for three years. Timothy was there. John was there. Paul himself, of course, was there preaching.
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Ephesians 1 to 6 is important, yes, but there's a follow up to Ephesians. There's a PS to Ephesians, and I think you know where that is now.
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Where is it? Found? Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 to 7. And so today we're going to look at this representative church, the church at Ephesus, the lost love church of Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 to 7.
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Revelation 2 and 3 have letters from Jesus to local churches.
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It is literally like Jesus would see our church. He would see you. He would see me and write us a letter.
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He would commend and he would also talk about rebuking when necessary.
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And I wonder, as of course, every pastor who preaches this says to the congregation of himself, if Jesus were to write a letter to Bethlehem Bible Church 2022, what would he say about us?
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What would the strengths be? What would the weaknesses be? As a matter of fact, we'll learn from this passage in Revelation 2,
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Jesus is fully aware of the church. He knows exactly what's going on. It's his church.
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He's died for this church. He's building this church. The Spirit of God is sanctifying this church.
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And he knows. And we come to the book of Revelation because I wanted to follow up with the church at Ephesus because in many ways, dear congregation, she's just like us.
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There are seven letters in chapters 2 and 3, and they're representative churches.
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You could look at these churches throughout all time, not just for them in particular in 90 AD, although that's true.
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But if you just back up a little bit, you'll see throughout the centuries, oh, I see that in that church and I see this strength in that church, representative churches.
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This is a book that reveals Jesus Christ and of course, Jesus is concerned about his bride, the church.
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Later on this book, we'll talk about Jesus as the Son of God, the holy and true one, the amen, the faithful and true witness, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the lamb in heaven, the lamb on the throne, the
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Messiah that will rule forever, the word of God, the king of kings and Lord of lords, the bright and the bright morning star and the root and offspring of David.
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This is a book, if you look at chapter 1 verse 1, that reveals Jesus, that uncovers him, that shows us who he is.
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The revelation or the uncovering or the apocalypse of the Lord Jesus.
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People either love this book or they hate it. They love it, especially when they first get saved and they realize, here's who this
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Jesus is and I'm glad I'm safe when he returns. But other people read it who aren't
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Christians and they're frightened by the book, rightfully so. Genesis starts off with a lot of sorrow and death, does it not, in chapter 3 and pain and sin and tears and revelation ends with God wiping tears away, dealing with sin, giving it the ultimate death blow.
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So what we're going to do today is we're going to have a little bit of intro in Revelation 1 and then we're going to work through Ephesians 2, sorry,
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I knew I would do that. Ephesians 7, Revelation 2, 1 to 7.
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One of the great things about this church is we have a crack editing team for the live stream. I appreciate that.
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We should be on like a five second delay or something. We're going to go over Revelation 2, 1 to 7, this representative church, and I think there's much for us to learn because I think our strengths line up with some of their strengths and our potential weakness lines up with their weakness.
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But first Revelation 1, 1. The revelation or uncovering of Jesus Christ, which
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God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.
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He made it known by sending his angel to the servant, John. This is the uncovering.
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This is the revealing. This is so that you get a clear view of what's going to happen about Jesus and of course in the future.
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I wear glasses and without them I don't have 20 -20 vision. I'm looking at the Old Testament with lots of types and shadows and illusions about Jesus' second coming.
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And now when I put the glasses on of Revelation, it's much more clear. That's the purpose of the book. The revelation of the
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Lord Jesus. Not a sealed book like Daniel talked about, having the book sealed, but this is a book that must not be sealed up,
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Revelation 22, because the time is near. The New Testament over and over and over was anticipating this great time of the book of Revelation.
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2 Thessalonians 1, to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the
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Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, when in fact this will take place in the future, the
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Lord Jesus coming back. And he wants us to know. Do you see? To show his bondservants.
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So we've got from God the Father to Christ to angels to us. To show his bondservants the things which must shortly take place.
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By the way, when these things start happening, they take place quickly. Things that must soon take place.
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The idea isn't necessarily it could be tomorrow, although it could be. The idea is once this starts happening, it's rapid.
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It's where we get the word tachy, tachycardia, where it's the heart isn't going to start beating soon, it's going to start beating what?
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Rapidly. So once these end times start, they're going to happen very, very, very fast.
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Verse 2, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
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So we see from God to Christ to angels to John now to us. And we get this beatitude in verse 3, a wonderful beatitude, one of seven in the book of Revelation.
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You think with all the Lord Jesus coming back and the fire and the brimstone and everything else, is there a curse only to be found?
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No, seven blessings. Here's the first one. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near.
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Later the book of Revelation will talk about blessing this way. Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on.
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Behold, I'm coming like a thief. Blessed are those who invited to the marriage supper of the lamb.
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Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.
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And he starts off with this great blessing. And then we come to the great triune salutation in verses 4, 5, and 6.
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John to the seven churches that are in Asia. Grace to you. There's your Greek greeting.
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Peace or shalom. There's the Hebrew greeting from him who is and who was and who is to come.
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From this eternal God and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, the Holy Spirit and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and to the rulers, excuse me, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priest to his
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God and father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Here John is writing, yes, of course, if people aren't going to trust in Jesus, they shouldn't be afraid.
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But he's also writing to encourage and to comfort his saints. The people back in the day when this was happening and in our day too, overseas especially,
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Christians are getting persecuted. Christians are getting general persecution and literal persecution, specific persecution.
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And he wants to encourage them. From where does he write this? Verse 9, if you'll skip down to there,
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I, John, your brother and partner, in the tribulation and the kingdom and patient endurance that are in Jesus, I mean,
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Jesus knows exactly what it's like to go through tribulation and to endure, was on the island called
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Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Remember instead of getting killed for his testimony about the
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Lord Jesus, John is exiled to this place that's essentially the size of the Sea of Galilee, this island.
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Have you been to Patmos before? Some of us have been to Patmos. I remember going there and I went to St. John's Church, St.
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John of the Revelations Church, and I was told not to videotape anything. So, of course,
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I understand what law does. I got the phone out, I turned video on, I just went through the entire tour like this because I thought,
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John, the book of Revelation was the uncovering or the unveiling, so nothing should be hidden. Rocky island, barren island, desert island almost, that's where you put prisoners.
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Verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, Sunday, the day that Jesus was raised, the day that Jesus was ascended, and I heard behind me a voice like a trumpet, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches.
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Closest big place would be Ephesus from Patmos, and then you just follow these cities through Turkey, it would be like a postal route.
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This was like driving up 495, and first you hit Lowell, and then you hit etc.,
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etc., working your way all the way up. Write what you see in a book, send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, to Philadelphia, and Laodicea, and he's going to be writing about verse 18, and the living one,
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Jesus said, I died, and behold, I'm alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades.
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Without Jesus' resurrection, none of this matters. How is he going to come back to Revelation if he's still dead in a grave?
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So, we come to chapter 2, verses 1 through 7 in the book of Revelation, that's talking about the church at Ephesus.
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So, here's kind of what's going on timeline -wise. Paul gets saved on the
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Damascus Road, about 25 years later, he writes to the Ephesian church,
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Ephesians 1 through 6, and now about three or four decades later, probably closer to four decades later,
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John writes a letter to Ephesus. They've been instructed well by Paul, he's been there,
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Timothy's been there, been a lot of good pastors there, can you imagine having the last three pastors you had,
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David Martin Lloyd -Jones, S. Lewis Johnson, and James Montgomery Boyce. Something like that, and you think, well taught, they understand.
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And so, 40 years after Paul writes the book of Ephesians, they get this letter from the Lord Jesus, and with most of these letters in chapters 2 and 3, they kind of follow the same pattern.
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There's some things to be praised, in most there's something to work on, some sin, and then some promise.
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And this one does that exact same thing. This representative church, which would tell us even a lot today.
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Representative church 1, Ephesus, Maelstop 1, verse 1, to the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands, and he's writing to this place called
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Ephesus. Did you know Ephesus used to be called the Vanity Fair of Asia?
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Did you know there was this goddess there, her name was Diana, and they had all these pillars.
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It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Do you know it was a seaport?
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What happens with seaport towns? You can just imagine. Everything that the world offered, with all its negative aspects, was here at Ephesus.
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How can a church live in a place that's just full of sin, saturated with just sleaziness in every way, occult arts going on?
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You think if a church was there, they better be ready to have spiritual discernment and understand what's happening.
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This place was wicked. This place was vile. And John is writing to them by the ministry of the
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Spirit, and 40 years later, they're still a church. They've survived that long. I mean, it wouldn't take very long to see this gross statue of Diana.
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I won't even describe her because she's so gross. Just think fertility goddess.
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It is said when the sailors from the Aegean Sea looked at it from a distance, they could see this temple goddess from their boats.
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They felt secure. Oh, she's there. She's alive. She's going to take care of us, the sailors.
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And so we're going to see warning. We're going to see comfort. We're going to see commendation. We're going to see criticism.
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And then we're going to see a promise. I want you to notice what he praises,
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Jesus praises this church for. But first let me tell you what he's not praising the church for. He's not praising the church for a rocking worship band.
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It's just not there. He's not praising them for cool blue lights and fog machines. Not there.
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Great PowerPoint sermons, pastor. Great theater. Great drama.
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Tongue in cheek, yes, I'm saying that, but I want you to notice what he's not commending them for, but what he is.
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When you read the Bible, say to yourself, what is being said and what is not being said? What would commend
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Ephesians church to their head and their savior, the Lord Jesus?
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Here comes the praise. What if Jesus praised us in this way, Bethlehem Bible Church? Here's what he said,
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Ephesus verse two, and the outline simple today, praise prodding and promise.
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I know your works, your toil and your patience or your patient endurance and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false.
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The first thing I want you to recognize there, Jesus knows what's the text say? I know your works.
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Of course, Jesus's body is in heaven. His humanity is at the right hand of the father.
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His deity is omnipresent and he knows he's not a far away
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God. He's close. He knows. I could say it for Bethlehem Bible Church, Jesus Christ knows exactly what's going on at Bethlehem Bible Church should make us pause.
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It should make us on one side, be very, very careful with what we do on the other side, be very, very encouraged that he knows earlier, it talked about Jesus with eyes of like flaming fire in chapter one, those laser like eyes, those x -ray like eyes.
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He knows what's happening in a local church, complete knowledge, not like I learned something new.
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No, I understand completely. And he says quite a few positive things. Does he not?
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I know your works toil, patient endurance, not bearing with evil and testing false apostles.
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Are those good things? Would you like to get a letter from Jesus saying way to go church? I'd love to get that kind of letter.
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Nothing escapes the eyes of Jesus. He understands motives, understands deeds.
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Am I just doing it externally with duty or is it from the heart? He knows it all. And the first thing he says, praise you,
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Ephesus for, and of course these would be all the results of grace. We know that, but still they're done by the people and God, the son encourages them for their deeds or for their works.
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Not just a work. That's just work once in a while, but for your works. Does this not remind you of Ephesians two for we are his what workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works.
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And that's exactly what's happened. And God has ordained good works for every Christian to do. And this church is walking in them and the
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Lord commends them. Not only that toil, this word toil means to work so hard.
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You sweat. If you ever worked at Bethlehem Bible church so hard that you had to sweat, I mean outside the nursery, by the way, thank you nursery workers.
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I could not do what I do without you. So thank you very much. And by the way, parents, when you drop off your children,
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I hope you say thank you for watching my children in preschool and in nursery.
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Also there's perseverance, there's persecution, there's difficulty.
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It's not easy to be a Christian in Ephesus or any other place, but they've been enduring their, their, their decade after decade after decade persevering.
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They've been faithful to the Lord Jesus. They have not said like Sardis, we're dead. We don't care. No, they're doing good works.
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They have ministries, every member of ministry, they're doing things. And not only that, they're good discerners.
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And you put to the test those who call themselves apostles. There are false teachers everywhere.
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There are false teachers in four of these seven churches in chapters two and three of the book of Revelation. And some people are running around saying they're apostles.
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I've met people that have called themselves apostles. Now to be an apostle, capital A, you, you have to have seen the risen
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Jesus. He's breathed out his Holy spirit on them. But you know what? It would be very, very wonderful if someone thought they had the ability to be apostle because they would think to themselves with that comes authority, right?
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If I'm an apostle, I mean, Elder Schmelder, pastor, I mean, big deal.
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But if I was an apostle, I would have all the authority of Jesus Christ to tell you things. I could speak the word and that word would even be revelation or having the same power as revelation.
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And so there are people, they want to get a following instead of pointing them to the all caps, apostle Jesus, the ultimate set one, instead of having the entire ministry saying it's all about Jesus.
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It's all about Jesus. We're sinful yet justified, but it's all about Jesus. People are saying, no, no, I'm the apostle.
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And they would show up at Ephesus. Here's another boat that shows up and people walk out and they're like, how can
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I extract money from people and control them? You call yourself an apostle. By the way, if I meet apostles,
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I sometimes wonder to myself, maybe I'll ask them a really hard theological question because most people that call themselves apostles are theologically illiterate.
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And so they should know the answer to this question, but they can't even answer it. How could I answer the question and they could not?
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But that's the second, that's a side note. They understood leadership.
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They had Timothy at their church, 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy written by Paul. Here's what a leader should look like.
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Here's qualifications for a godly elder, certainly not perfect, but you can see the grace of God in their life and the elders are leading the church, the plurality of people leading the church.
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And when somebody comes and says, oh no, I'm an apostle, I have that authority. They said, no, no, that's not true at all.
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By the way, so far, I'm not just thinking about Ephesus, I'm thinking about Bethlehem Bible Church.
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Nobody could walk in here saying they're an apostle. I will be gone next weekend if Pastor Steve gets up and he says he's an apostle,
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I want you to throw things at him. Not those little flimsy song sheets a hymnal will do.
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Some people say to me, I've never been to a church with a hymnal. Well, there are reasons for hymnals. I think this church, this is not flattery, but at least many of you, some don't have a ministry and I hope you're convicted.
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If you're a member of this church and you have no ministry, Jesus would write a different letter to you. But overall,
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I think of people here at this church that serve hard, works, not just a little work but works to the point of sweat and toil, persevering through all kinds of problems, family problems, trials, health issues, family issues, and they're persevering.
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And they test people according to Scripture, is this guy a false teacher or not? Is he an apostle or is he not?
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This sounds like to me Bethlehem Bible Church, does it not? This could be written to us and I as a pastor commend you for your hard work unto the
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Lord. They don't endure false teachers.
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What's this text say? They do not bear with those who are evil, have tested those who call themselves apostles.
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I mean, Paul had warned them back in Acts chapter 20, I know that after my departure,
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Ephesus, savage wolves will come among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves men will rise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples.
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After them, therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years
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I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. They're going to come, be careful.
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They came and Ephesus was careful and Jesus commends them, especially in a day, just think about it, a pluralistic day just like today.
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Lots of ways to heaven, lots of stuff about religiosity, lots of things about spirituality. These churches were something that the world hates.
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They were intolerant to false teachers. They were intolerant to people that said,
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I'm an apostle. So the first thing
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I noticed, Jesus comes and he commends the church. He's not coming with some magnifying glass and some kind of,
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I don't know, a police officer that knows they have to write some ticket, I'm going to write a ticket no matter what.
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Once I was in a boat with the children, our 16 foot boat that we used to have, and it was snowing outside, but the lake hadn't frozen.
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So I had all the kids put on their life jackets, coats on top and then we were wakeboarding over here in Sterling and it was snow on the ground, but we were wakeboarding.
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We were having a great time, you remember that, my feet still remember that. And so someone was with binoculars at the boat ramp and it was an officer and we drive back up finally after our one hour out there and he said, sorry sir,
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I've been told that your children have no life jacket on, that's a violation. I said, officer, the good thing is they do have things on, life jackets on, they're just coats are over them.
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Well, he had spent probably an hour or two waiting to give me a ticket, so then I thought to, he's going to try to find something else.
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Do you have an anchor? Yes. Do you have lights on your boat? Yes. Do they work? Do you have an oar?
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Yes. And then he got me. Do you have a whistle? No, I mean, he was just looking for something to write me a ticket.
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And so I said, no, sir, I don't have a whistle. All my kids are just watching everything that's going on. And I said,
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I'm sorry, excuse is not an excuse.
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I mean, ignorance is an excuse. I didn't have a whistle. I'll go get a whistle. I'm sorry, kids. I should have obeyed the rules and looked ahead of time.
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And then he said, well, since you've been so kind and nice, I'll only give you a warning. Great.
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I said, kids, see, sometimes vinegar, sometimes not. He was looking right down the list.
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I don't want you to think that your savior, the Lord Jesus, your elder brother, the ultimate apostle is just walking around trying to find some infraction to say, got you.
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Of course, when there is some sin, it will be dealt with. It will be exposed not to kick you out of the family, but because you're in the family.
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I always tell my children, I don't discipline. I don't spank children down the street. I only spank you.
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Why? Well, lots of reasons. One, if I don't spank you, God will spank me. I don't like that. But also because I love you.
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So this is all in love. This is all commendation. This is all praising. This is not somebody that's got some quota for a ticket.
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He says in verse three, I know he knows for certain and he understands, especially through the incarnation experientially, how hard this is to endure patiently, how hard it is to bear up, how hard it is not to grow weary.
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And so he commends them. You've endured patiently bearing up for my namesake, and you have not grown weary.
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The fruit of the Holy Spirit is in your life. Bethlehem Bible Church, I see the fruit of the
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Spirit in your lives. Well, we go from the praise to the problem.
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But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
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The way we would translate the word order would be your first love you have left. Now, I think here's what's basically happening, and then we'll look at it in more detail.
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When you're first married, you're in love, the emotions and the in love stage and everything else, excited, enthusiastic, everything is wonderful.
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The honey runs out, honeymoon, right, to get a big jar. We should give big jars to the people getting married here.
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And then things can turn mechanical. You're not going crazy, but you're just doing them by duty only, by rote.
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I know what I'm supposed to do, so I do it. And of course, we know what the Lord wants.
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He wants duty. He's just commended duty. He wants hard work. He's just commended hard work.
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He wants spiritual discernment. He's just commended spiritual discernment. But what has been lost here is that motivation, the reason, the love for the
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Lord Jesus, because he's loved us and given himself for us. That's why we do it. It's lost.
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Forty years later, they're doing the right thing, but they're doing it mechanically. You get married for the right reasons, and pretty soon, no preventative maintenance.
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You're just on autopilot. Men are probably worse at that than ladies. And it's just like, okay.
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And then it just turns into duty alone. And so he says,
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I don't want that. Thankfully, we have even an example, not just even of the Lord Jesus, the ultimate example, but Paul.
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Paul gets saved on the Damascus Road. Twenty -five years later, he writes Ephesians. And what's he doing with this burst of praise?
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
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He's chose us in him. The sons died for us. His spirit seals us. And Paul, twenty -five years later, after he got saved, he's doing good works, but it's not mechanical.
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It's from the heart because of God's love for him and his love to the Lord. Now we move twenty -five, no, forty years later after Ephesus receives
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Ephesians one to six, and now they're doing the right things, but for the wrong reasons. I've been to Ephesus before, and you used to be able to walk from the edge of town, the city proper, and there would be the sea.
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But there was a lot of silt coming down over the years. And now that city is six miles from the sea.
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It takes a long time to get there. And some commentators have thought, you know, the silt that has come down through Ephesus, spiritual silt has come down into Ephesus with a river of worldliness and wrong priorities and forgetting about the
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Lord Jesus. And I know I'm supposed to do the right things, but why do I do those? Doesn't this remind you of two ladies?
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There's a lady named Martha and a lady named Mary. Now, as they went their way,
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Jesus entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house, Jesus. She had a sister called
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Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she went up to him and said,
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Lord, do you not care? My sister has left me to serve alone. Tell her then to help me. The Lord answered her,
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Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.
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Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
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The church worked hard. The church did what they're supposed to do. But they forgot to whom they were doing it.
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They forgot the motivation of love. And so Jesus says, that's not the right thing.
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I think that what has also happened, the love to the Lord has diminished and become mechanical.
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And I think implied in many scholars would agree with me that their love for other Christians in the church has also become mechanical.
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And their love for the lost, while they know they have to evangelize, but their love for the lost has diminished.
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Because the three are related. When you lose the admiration and the thanksgiving, and that I cannot believe.
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Remember when you were first saved? I cannot believe that this God who knows all the skeletons in my closet, and he still saved me.
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The Father sent his best, the Lord Jesus, to die for me. Why? Because I'm lovely?
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No, because he loved me. That's just the character of God. He rescued me at his own cost. He sought me and bought me with his redeeming love.
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Then related to that is, well, to other people, I love them. If Jesus loves sinners,
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I do too. And related to that is the lost. If Jesus loves the lost, I do too. And so Jesus says, you've lost your first love.
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Thessalonica hadn't done that. 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul writes, constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our
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Lord Jesus and the presence of God our Father. One writer said, take husband and wife.
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A wife may take care of the house, fulfill all her duties as to leave nothing undone for which her husband could find fault.
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But if her love for him is diminished, will all her service satisfy him? And the exact same thing can go true for the husband.
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Instead of a vitality, it's become routine. Instead of from the heart, it's because I just formally have to do it.
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What's the solution to this? Is it try harder? Is it how could you?
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Is it call in the consultants? Teach less doctrine? That would do it. This church is so high up on doctrine.
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We're not good for anything. Is that the solution? Jesus tells us the solution.
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And he says it is the leader of the church and one who loves this church. First thing he says is verse five.
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Remember, he's going to say, repent. But first he says, remember, therefore, from where you've fallen, the language is keep remembering, keep remembering like you to just sit down one day, go take a walk, go down to the old stone church and just remember how great your sins were and how great the
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Savior is. I was going to recall the past. Where would I be without the Lord? Where would I be ultimately without the
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Lord? Just to remember. Memory is important for the Christian.
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We are so forgetful. Once a month we have here something called the Lord's Supper, a memorial feast to remember this church at Ephesus.
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History tells us quit being a church in the 11th century. What they needed was.
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Well, let's just not talk doctrine anymore, that would not be wise, but let's remember the person and work of Jesus.
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If you go back to chapter one, verse five, has not John actually been doing that from the get go? I'd like to remind everyone here if you're struggling with first love lost, been a
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Christian for a long time, used to be excited. By the way, I'm not saying our love doesn't mature. It does, but it still should be from the flames of the heart where you think, oh, this is the
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Lord Jesus. Look at how John extols Jesus. Let me remind you.
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Let me refresh your memory. Let us remember together. Jesus, even in Revelation one. I read it before, but we have
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Revelation one, five, the faithful witness. This is the one that's been faithful.
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Other people are unfaithful in my life. Jesus is faithful, even in the midst of persecution. Firstborn from the dead out of all the people raised from the dead,
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Lazarus and everyone. There's one that has preeminence. It's the Lord Jesus. He's not a ruler of the church.
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He's ruler of every enemy. He's the ruler of kings on the earth. So I think that's the
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Jesus that I worship. Yes, the United States, Russia, Ukraine. You just go right on down the list.
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Who's the ruler of it all? Oh, the sovereign savior. And he just starts praising Christ. He hasn't lost his first love.
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John hasn't because he now goes into this praise. He mentioned Jesus, and now he says to him who loves us.
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That's one of the few places in all the Bible where it says Jesus present tense loves you. He loved me at the cross.
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That's certain. He loved me in eternity past. That's certain. He is loving you right now.
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That's amazing. And what did he do? What did that love accomplish? Released us from our sins.
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I no longer have to pay for one of my sins. Dear Christian, not one sin will you have to pay for on judgment day.
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Not one. Not sins committed when you were an unbeliever or a believer. You think if anybody would love me like that,
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I don't want to serve them. He's made us what? What Israel used to be.
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Now we are. The nations are. We're freed from Jesus's from debt because of Jesus's blood.
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Now what Israel did, we do. Made us a kingdom. Priests. Verse seven.
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By the way, this Jesus, he's going to keep his word. He's coming back. Behold, he's coming with the clouds. Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him.
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And all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen. Here's this
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Jesus. This victorious king. I used to read the Bible and think, hmm, kind of like what the Jews did.
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Jesus is going to be this victorious king. He shows up on earth incarnation and he's the suffering servant.
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How do these two go together? Well, he's a warrior king and he's a suffering servant. He's already suffered, but he's coming back.
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Not in humiliation next time. Verse eight. I'm the Alpha and the Omega. Words reserved for God, the father all only.
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Unless the Godhead is triune and it is. Therefore, God, the father is called exactly what the son is called.
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I am the Alpha and Omega. The one who was and who is to come and who is the almighty.
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You start rehearsing. Here's who Jesus is. I've told you many stories about my mother.
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She was having chemo and she would be sick and couldn't think right. And she would just start rehearsing things about God alphabetically.
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26 English letters. And she would just start off trying to think about Jesus. What do I know of Jesus? It starts with a.
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He's almighty. He's the Alpha. He's all knowing. He's all powerful.
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And then you get to be. And by the way, by the time you get to X or Q, you're set. Because you don't even need it anymore.
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You've already preached yourself quite a few letters. I just use the X maybe as cross. How's that? Here's who this
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God is. And he's speaking verse 12 in the midst of the lampstands. One verse 13, like the son of man.
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Verse 14. Do you remember, dear friends? This is your God, the
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Savior loved you. The hairs of his head were white, like wool, like snow. Pure, clean.
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His eyes were like flame of fire. So holy, so infinite, so divine.
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So wise, so understanding. His feet were like burnished bronze.
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Ready to pulverize any kind of opposition. And he should have pulverized me.
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But I'm his son now, or daughter. Refined in a furnace. And his voice was like the roar of many waters.
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John falls on his feet. Fear not, I'm the first and the last. And the living one, I died. And behold,
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I'm alive forevermore. Back to Revelation 2. The response to lukewarm, or better said, lost first love.
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No, forsaking first love. It's the Lord Jesus. Sinclair Ferguson said, the ability to focus our gaze, fill our minds, and devote our hearts to Jesus Christ is a basic element in real
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Christian growth. Inability to do so is a sign of immaturity. Did you know that's why every single
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Sunday, whoever stands in this pulpit's gonna talk to you about the Lord Jesus? Sinclair Ferguson went on to do a conference for some youth.
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And it was to be a two -day student's conference. Conference. And he was confronted.
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I think I've told you this story before. And the leaders confronted him after his first two sermons. How'd you like it?
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Sinclair comes, I've tried to get him to come. I don't know if he'll ever come here to preach. But after he gets done with two messages, Steve and I pull him into the office.
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And this is what they said. You have addressed us for two hours, and yet you have not told us one single thing to do.
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Ferguson, impatience to be doing. Hid the impatience with the apostolic principle that is only in knowing
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Christ that we can do anything. Or so Ferguson said it seemed to me at the time.
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No wonder everybody you listen to as they write in church history, if they were credible, they'd say things like John Owen.
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While by faith, we contemplate the glory of Christ as revealed in the gospel. All grace will thrive and flourish in us towards a perfect conformity unto him.
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You see what he's saying? It's good to work and to sweat and to toil and do duty, but duty divorced from the reason you're doing it.
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And to the Lord's glory, it doesn't mean anything. People say to me, you know, Mike, isn't duty important? Yes, but it is worth nothing if it's detached from the first love
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Jesus. It's only legal holiness.
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It's only external. Horatious Bonar, the secret of a believer's holy life is his continual recurrence to the blood of the surety
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Jesus Christ. Adoniram Judson, brethren, look to Jesus. This sight will fill you with the greatest consolation and delight.
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Look to him on the cross. So great is his love that if he had a thousand lives, he would lay them all down for your redemption.
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You, dear Christian, for you. You think, oh, I'm motivated. I'm motivated to serve a
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God who's more willing to embrace me than I am him. What else does he say? Verse five, not just remember, but repent.
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Change your mind. Think differently. Joel Beeky said repentance grieves over and hates sin.
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Dear Lord, maybe many of us should say now I understand what you're saying. And I think I have lost my first love.
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It's not a complete rejection, but it's there. I've abandoned the love and I'm sorry.
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Please forgive me. I'm to do the right thing, but with the right attitudes and motives of loving you with my heart, soul, mind and strength.
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Then loving my neighbor. And I want to repent. I'm sorry for that. I'm grieving over that.
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I want to think rightly. You're holy. Yes, you're my father, but you're holy. And I don't want to dishonor your name.
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I hate it when I do that. If anybody here is a Christian and doesn't hate that their love for the Lord might be diminishing, then we have to probably question, are we really saved?
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What does repentance do? These are the specific things I've done. It wasn't like, you know,
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I just haven't really been doing much right lately. No, no. I know when
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I go to the nursery and I go to the youth room and I go to the usher room and I go to get up and preach and I go do everything in between.
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I'm doing it because I know it's right and good, but it's not from the heart. So Lord, I confess specifically, like with David in Psalm 51,
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I have sinned. That's what repentance does. And the fruits of repentance return from that.
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We run from it. We see ourselves getting close to it. And we say, no, we don't want any of that at all. What else does repentance do?
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Beeky said, repentance, Christ for mercy. Lord, I've sinned against you. I don't want to do that. Would you be merciful?
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Would you help me? Would you stoke the coals of my heart again so I do the right thing, but with the right reasons?
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And not only in my marriage and parenting, but here at the local church, when I read my Bible, I just read it because of duty.
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And I want to remember when I first got saved, why I would read the Bible. And I think, you know, my wife would just get bugged at me practically because I'm like, did you see this?
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Did you know that? Did you see? That was not planned in the sermon, by the way.
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Lord, I haven't been thinking rightly. I have lost my first love. Would you please forgive me?
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Would you give me mercy? That's repentance. That's what you should say to your wife. That's what you should say to your husband.
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Something specific like that. And then what does he say? And do the deed you did at first.
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He wants deeds. He wants actions. I want you to be faithful to your spouse. I want you to do things that wives and husbands should do and parents should do, but with the right motive.
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Doesn't bother me at all. Lord, I know you know my heart.
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Please. Or else, verse 5, I'm coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent.
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Yet, and here comes more commendation as a PS, yet you have this. You hate the works of the
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Nicolaitans, which I also hate. To hate what Jesus hates is a very good thing.
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To love what Jesus loves is a very good thing. They left their first love, but they had their hates right.
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And I don't mean that in a bad way. We don't know exactly what the
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Nicolaitans did, but it's probably related to Balaam and it's probably related to all kinds of fornication, sexual immorality, worldliness and hedonism.
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I mean, it's hard to really be devoted in a love life to your spouse if you have an online relationship or a physical relationship.
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Similarly with the Lord Jesus, when you have all the worldly slut and everything else going around and silt, it's hard to love him like we should.
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Verse 7. What does the Lord of the church do? Oh, he has some promises. Yes, he does.
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And here's one. He who has an ear, this means pay attention, sounds just like parable. Let him hear what the
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Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, that means a Christian. Christians are conquerors, 1
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John 5 says. To the Christian, the conqueror, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.
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What does he do? He doesn't just have the stick to drive. He encourages. If you have an ear to hear, dear
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Christian, and you're an overcomer, then listen. Is it all worth it?
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What I'm having to do to say no to sin and mortify flesh and say yes to righteousness and do all these deeds with a good attitude?
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You want to know what your future is? Dear Christian, what's your future? In words that probably are full of a zip drive, full of the glories throughout all eternity, but only these words are told to us.
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You get to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. I've been to quite a few places overseas and people would say, this is paradise.
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You're on the beach. In Bahamas, paradise. You're walking around Rome, eating gelato and espresso.
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What we would do is we'd do espresso, then gelato, then espresso, then gelato. And so it'd be like five each and who needs pizza after that?
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This is paradise. Well, whatever you think paradise is, this is paradise.
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The best that your mind and your feelings and your senses can imagine, what's the paradise?
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What's God's paradise? You eat this tree, never die,
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Genesis 3, the connection between the Old Testament tree of life and Adam unfallen state, but now
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Jesus the last Adam and his perfect obedience. No threats here, only promise.
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No law here, only gospel. It was said that Diana of Artemis in Ephesians would give dates to people and there was images of dates on her.
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Because things were so good to eat from that tree of Diana. Dennis Johnson said, but Jesus excels
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Artemis for he promises to those who overcome through truth expressed in love access to a tree that yields endless delight and eternal life.
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Whatever the world to come in God's presence offered, that's what a Christian gets. That's what you get.
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Then an angel showed to me the river of the water of life, brightest crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street.
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Also on the other side of the tree, the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month.
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The leaves of the tree were the healings of the nations. No longer will it be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the
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Lamb will be in it and his servants will worship him and they shall see his face and his name will be on their foreheads and night will be no more.
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They will need no light or sun or lamp for the Lord will be their light and they will reign forever and ever. Charles Hodge said, the vagueness surrounding the promise of the tree of life is an example of the deliberate inexplicitness of the rewards which are mentioned.
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In other words, it's beyond your wildest dream. I wonder if the
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Lord wrote us a letter what he might say. Bow with me, please. Father in heaven, I think this letter is for us, for me.
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I praise you for the work you've done in the people's lives here for service and ministry. I also praise you for, like a good father, exposing where we might be caught up in things where we could be doing better.
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Sins of losing our first love, abandoning our first love. Would you be merciful to us?
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Would you stoke those coals again? Maybe in marriages and in parenting and relationships at the church, but ultimately and primarily for you and unto you.
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We need you. And what you did by loving us and sending your love to us and how he became obedient, obedient to a point of death.
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We can't even imagine. But we just know that out of all the people that have ever loved us, you have loved us with an everlasting love.
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And we would like to respond by loving neighbor with evangelism and loving one another here in the body.
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Help us. I pray in Jesus name. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Bethlehem Bible Church is a
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Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.
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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.
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You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.