Ephesus

I've made mention on a number of occasions that attitude is the father of action. Attitudes are mental blueprints, if you will. Our actions come about as a result of building upon those blueprints. Let's take a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

Here in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, we see something that's very important for our discussion here today. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 5. Paul writes, "...casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." Every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

God wants our mental blueprints to be well-ordered. He wants them to be lawful and proper and according to the Scriptures. But that's just the beginning, making sure we've got the proper attitudes. Let's turn our attention now to the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10. Ephesians 2, 10. "...For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." So we take those blueprints and we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. We are to take those blueprints and turn them into positive, lawful, God-fearing action. We are to walk according to those blueprints. Therefore, brethren, building proper attitudes is so very key for us.

Christ-like attitudes. Where do you and I go in the Scriptures to find Christ-like attitudes that we can use to build our life upon, chart a course through life, and do these works that Christ tells us we need to be doing? Well, obviously we've got to be attitudes. Mr. Willis has been going through some of those with us, doing a very nice job with that.

Certainly we can go there, the beautiful attitudes, the be attitudes. But there's someplace else we can go to take a look at attitudes that Christ would have us to have and work with. And that is the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation. Jesus Christ wrote a message to each of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. In each of those cases, Christ, as he was writing a personal letter to the church, gave each church some spiritual food for thought, gave each church an attitude that they needed to build upon, to use as a foundation for proper conduct.

And of course, our teaching over the years regarding Revelation 2 and 3, the seven churches, is that historically, we believe that those were historical eras of the church. But we also believe that in any one of those eras, you can have representatives of any one of the churches, any one of the seven churches. For example, whatever era we happen to be today, some feel we are Laodiceans, and I don't know that I would disagree with that.

That in our era today, we can have Ephesians by attitude, Sardinians by attitude, by attitude, Smirnans and so forth. So it's important for us to take a look at all the messages to all seven churches and to learn from them. Now, as you know, we will be going through the Book of Isaiah in the near future.

But before we go to the Book of Isaiah, I want to go through these messages to the seven churches. I don't know how many I'll be going through today. I'm thinking just one today, just the message to the church at Ephesus. I may take a couple the next two or three times, three times for the seven in total. But I think this is a good preparation before we launch off into a large study of the Book of Isaiah.

The Book of Revelation, much like Daniel, much like Isaiah, has a great deal of Christian living material. And that's one of the things I always want to emphasize as you're going through prophecy. The only point for prophecy is making sure that we not only understand the future and what's going to be happening in the future, but what we do about it, what application is there for us. And so as we take a look at Revelation, and we take a look at these chapters, and if you would, please turn to chapter 2 of Revelation.

We want to see the attitudes that Christ counsels his church, counsels you and I, counsels you and me. I always tend to get that wrong. You know, years ago, we used to, at the feast, all the ministers would critique one another. And I remember Mr. Faye. Two things I remember him saying to me about my speaking. Randy, wear a white shirt. Two, Randy, you get the I and me thing wrong almost all the time. And you know what?

He's right. I'm still getting it wrong. So we'll work on that. And I am wearing the white shirt, so I'm halfway there. Brethren, if you're taking notes for your ease of note-taking, here's the theme for the sermon today. It'll actually be the theme for all four sermons I give. I'm hoping only four. Christ counsels His church to develop seven foundational attitudes. Christ counsels His church to develop seven foundational attitudes. First church we're going to look at is the Church of Ephesus.

I'm going to give you a rough dating of that church era. And please remember, this is a rough dating. We don't set our salvation on dates. But a rough date for this church area would be from 31 AD to 135 AD. As we go through each year, I'll give you those dates. And again, these, I guess, scholars could probably argue about these, but this is at least a benchmark sort of a thing, or an approximation. 31 to 135 AD. By the way, before I gave this, as I was preparing for the sermon today, I went back and listened to Mr.

Fay's sermon on this topic. And I would encourage you, as we're going through this, for you to do the same thing. He imparts a great deal of awareness into the Scriptures. And I thought it was very helpful for me to go through and to look at what he had to say about this particular passage. The Church in Ephesus.

Now, here's some background before we actually get into Revelation itself. And this is going to take a few minutes. The Church in Ephesus is the most mentioned church in the New Testament. Most mentioned church in the New Testament. Whenever you want to take a look at a book of the Bible, like Ephesus, Ephesians, or Galatians, or whatever, where possible, you want to go to the book of Acts and see what the background is.

And if you go to the book of Acts, you'll find a background for the Church in Ephesus, starting in Acts 18, verse 19. And going through Acts 20, verse 38. Acts 18-19, through Acts 20, verse 38. The Church in Ephesus was a church well-grounded in the faith, well-grounded in the truth. They had a series of very fine ministers who served them. You had the Apostle Paul, who founded the church. You had Apollos, who did some work in the church.

Later on in his life, Paul sent young Timothy to be a part of their congregation to help them. And late in life, very late in life, it is thought that the Apostle John, after he had finished writing his books on the Isle of Patmos, in the mid to late 90s A.D., that the Apostle John moved to Ephesus. There is some speculation that Mary, the mother of Jesus, also lived there, but that's just a speculation. On Paul's first visit to Ephesus, this is related in Acts 18, verses 19-21, he began his work by dealing with the disputes of the Jews in that area. It was at that point that Apollos, who was helped by Priscilla and Aquila, entered into the situation. Later on, the Apostle Paul, on his second visit, remained in Ephesus for three years. You see that in Acts 20, verse 31. As the Jameson Fawcett and Brown commentary says, and I want to read a quote here, at his second visit, Paul remained at Ephesus three years, so that the founding and rearing of the church occupied an unusual large portion of his time and care, whence his language shows a warmth of feeling, a free outpouring of thought, and a union in spiritual privileges and hope between him and them, such as are natural for one so long and so intimately associated with those whom he addresses. So Paul had a very, you know, for all the various places he went to, he had a real mark upon the church there in Ephesus. The church in Ephesus is made up of converts of partly of Jews and partly of Gentiles. It was a mixed group of people. As I made mention, Timothy was sent there later. John, apparently, was there after leaving the Isle of Patmos. Ephesus itself was a very large city. It is thought that it was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire of its time, having about a quarter million people. That's a large city for back in those days. Now, one of the other reference books I used extensively in preparation for today, and we'll be using it throughout the course of going through all seven of these churches, is a book entitled, The Seven Epistles of Christ. The Seven Epistles of Christ by Taylor G. Bunch. I almost hesitate quoting that because I know as soon as I quote that, people who've got their computers are going to start looking for it. Now, as you are looking for it, don't go out and buy it. Earlier in the week, I downloaded it. It's a free download.

Taylor, T-A-Y-L-O-R, Taylor G. Bunch. The Seven Epistles of Christ. Free download. I downloaded it myself earlier in the week. Interesting book. I'm just going to quote a portion here and there. But interesting portions. It's only about 90 pages. I don't know whether the book is available in print or not. I didn't look for that. But I want to quote now from The Seven Epistles of Christ by Taylor Bunch, and I quote, and this will be a fairly lengthy quote, so please bear with me. The word Ephesus means desirable. It is also said to carry the meaning of having relaxed or let go. Let me pause in my reading. The reason I'm going through this is as we read through this, I want you to pay attention. You don't have to take notes on it, but pay attention to what is being said about the city of Ephesus itself. Because Christ, as we go into the Scriptures, Christ is going to address the various things we're seeing, talking about the makeup of the city, talking about the geography of the city, what happened to the city. Christ addresses this in terms that the people who lived there would understand. So there's a reason why I'm going through this. So at the beginning, as I said, the word Ephesus means desirable. It is also said to carry the meaning of having relaxed or let go. It was considered the most desirable city of the province of Asia Minor, of Turkey.

It was located in the mouth of the Kaster River on the slopes of the hills overlooking the Aegean Sea. Its beautiful location, together with the fertile soil and excellent climate, made it a very desirable place to live. During its early history, Ephesus had one of the finest harbors in the world, which was protected by hills and a narrow channel easily guarded from enemy shipping. The ships of all nations visited the harbor, and Ephesus became one of the chief commercial centers of the west coast of Asia by imperial edict, which was made the gateway to the province of Asia for Roman officials. Stamped on the coins found in the ruins of Ephesus are the titles first of all the greatest and the first and greatest metropolis of Asia. The city was known as the light of Asia, the first city of Asia. Ephesus was the meeting place of several important Roman highways. The book will go through those. I'll not go through all that.

The city was consecrated in the minds of the people by many myths and legends of gods and goddesses, making it one of the sacred cities of the pagan world. The temple of Diana alone made the city famous. This temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The temple was built of white, red, blue, and yellow marble of the finest quality. And it is thought, it is said, that instead of mortar, gold was used as joints of the marble blocks.

One more short section here. I'll be done with this.

The city of Ephesus was known as the city of change. The message to the Church of Ephesus and its subsequent history of the city indicate that the desirable city would become a city of change and decay. Let me interject. This is why we want to pay attention. God wrote all these books, all these seven letters, seven epistles. Christ wrote these, inspired these, to teach His whole church at all times. And so as I'm looking at this, as you're looking at this, we want to ask ourselves, if we are Ephesian in nature, what do we personally learn? What is the application for us? Okay, going back. The message to the Church of Ephesus and its subsequent history of the city indicate that the desirable city would become a city of change and decay. The declining city. After the destruction of the temple in the third century and the filling up of the harbor with sediment from the Caster River, Ephesus rapidly declined. Efforts to hold water back and deepen the harbor were made by making narrow the channel between the harbor and the sea, but this only seemed to hasten the infilling process. All dredging operations proved unavailing. Today, the site of the once proud and prosperous Ephesus is six miles from the sea, and what was once the entrance to its spacious harbor is a shallow, sandy beach, unapproachable by ships. The harbor was abandoned in the fourth century, and its wide expanse is now a pestilential morass, covered with mud and rushes, or windswept plains overgrown with weeds. The city soon suffered the cruel fate of the temple and harbor, and is now a part of the desert waste. So, bottom line is, the city of Ephesus, which started out so grand, didn't end up that way. And there were some issues with the church. More positive things were written, or as many positive things, as any church. One particular church had nothing positive written about it. But Ephesus was a church that had a lot going for it, but in time, just as the city itself, the church had some very severe issues. Now, I may mention that Christ counsels this church to develop seven foundational attitudes.

The attitude with the Ephesian era, the Ephesian church that we want to be cognizant of, is this.

Godly zeal must be reinforced with godly love. Godly zeal must be reinforced with godly love.

Over the course of the time you've been in God's church, you've seen many zealous people. You've seen people who've been very busy, people who do all sorts of things. They're at everything. They're always in services. They always go to the feast. They serve and they do all sorts of wonderful things. And there's nothing wrong with that. Those are good things. But if that's not combined with godly love, then there is an issue. And that's what we're going to see with this church. That's what we're going to see with this church. Godly zeal must be reinforced with godly love. So let's start with chapter 2 of Revelation, verse 1. To the angel of the church of Ephesus, write, these things says, He who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. So, what's the major idea here in verse 1? Well, if we go back to the previous verse, chapter 1 and verse 20, the Bible's going to interpret itself.

The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and this is all in red lettering, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. So what we have here, brethren, the main point we derive from verse 1, is that Jesus Christ is actively and intimately involved in his church.

He's actively and intimately involved with you, with me, with all of us.

Notice in verse 1, the middle part of the verse, these things says, He who holds the seven stars.

The word hold here has the meaning of a firm grip, a secure grip, an unshakable grip.

Here we see that God is holding the church in his powerful, loving hands. That God is holding you specifically in his powerful, loving hands.

We go on to read where it says, Who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. Who walks.

Jameson Fawcett and Brown talks about the word walk, and they make this comment on it. An unwearied activity.

Jesus Christ has unwearied activity within his church.

He doesn't wear out. He doesn't get tired. He walks among us. He walks with us as our elder brother, as our Savior, as our intercessor, as our Advocate.

In your notes, you might want to turn to Daniel chapter 3 and verse 25. Let me read that for you. Daniel 3 and verse 25. You know the story.

Look, He answered, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the furnace, and they are not hurt, and the former the fourth is like the Son of God. So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, thrown into the burning fiery furnace, you see Jesus Christ walking in their midst. This is what He does. He walks with us. He walks with His church. He loves us. He loves being around us and with us and fellowshiping with us. And that's why we enjoy coming to services, so we can fellowship with others of like mind, like faith. Fellowshipping with others who have God's Spirit in them. Our Spirit. Fellowshipping with the Spirit they have, all being God's Spirit.

Now, we made mention from the Seven Epistles of Christ book that stamped on some of the coins. Some of the coins read first of all the greatest, the first and greatest metropolis in Asia, the light of Asia, all that sort of thing. They really felt very highly about themselves. Let's take a look at Ephesians. Put a marker here in Revelation. Let's go back to the book of Ephesians, chapter 1.

Mr. Bradford is doing a really fine study on this prior to services. If you've not made it a point to be at those, you'd be well to do that. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 15 and 16.

Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. So, just as the city of Ephesus was known to be a great city, a powerful city, a beautiful city, here at the beginning of the church in the early 60s AD, we believe the book of Ephesians was written probably somewhere between 60 and 62 AD, at the very beginning of the outset, these people were known for their faith. They were known for their love. But would it remain that way as the years would progress? Let's go back now to Revelation chapter 2. Here we're going to see in verses 2 and 3 of Revelation chapter 2, tremendous commendation by Jesus Christ. Tremendous commendation. And you know, brethren, as a principle, we look into the Bible not only for what it says explicitly, but we see so many different principles. We see a principle here we use in Spokesman's Club all the time. When our fellows are giving a speech in Club, we're asked to evaluate what do we do. First thing we do is we say something positive about the speaker, maybe a number of positive things about the speaker, telling him what we appreciated, how much it meant to us, and so forth. Then after that, we'll hit a point for correction or a point that needs some work. Same thing holds true here. Jesus Christ sets the example. First thing he's going to do is give a lot of positive commentary here in verses 2 and 3. Verse 2, Revelation 2.2, I know your works and your labor.

The church in Ephesus was a church of workers, not shirkers. They were hardworking people. They were zealous church. They were not lazy. They weren't people who would just sit along the sidelines and hope somebody else would do something. They were proactive people. They were patient people. You know, they were steadfast in the faith. We saw that when we were reading Ephesians chapter 1, verses 15 and 16. They were steadfast in the faith. Paul was able to use them as an example to the world in which he wrote. And that you cannot bear those who are evil. Bear those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. And have found them liars. So, you know, there is something here we want to turn to. Let's go over to the book of Acts. Put a marker here. Go over to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 20. Here we've got some of that background I was mentioning earlier. Paul wanted to speak to the elders there who helped in the church at Ephesus. But he didn't want to actually go to Ephesus. So he called them to come to him for a change. So we want to start this in Acts chapter 20 verse 16. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so he would not have to spend time in Asia. For he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on a day of Pentecost. So again, here we see God's people keeping the Holy Days.

From Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them, You know from the first day that I came to Asia what manner I lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. So here Paul is going to go through and kind of catalog some of the issues he had had to face. How I kept nothing back that was helpful but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house. Now, does this tell us that we need to, as Christians, go from house to house, as some church people do in the world? No, remember who he's talking to. He's talking to the ministry. The ministry went from house to house.

Teaching the members. They weren't going publicly to every house. Testifying, firstly, unto the Jews and also the Greeks, repentance toward God. Why is repentance toward God? Because we break His Ten Commandments. We break His law. Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Why is faith toward Christ? Because we have faith in what He did for us. In His life He lived, the way He died, the way He was resurrected, and He is now our High Priest. Verse 22, See, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things which will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying, chains and tribulations await me. So here's a brave man. He knows some difficult times are coming, but he's going to head right into it. Because he's bolstered by the Spirit of God.

So just as Jesus Christ, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, Paul, for the joy that was set before Him, endured what he knew he was going to be facing. And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the Gospel of God, will see my face no more. See my face no more. There was a time in Mr. Armstrong's life where he wanted at one last meeting with his men. And he was told by some advisors, please don't do that. You're sick. You're not in the best shape. If you catch a bug from one of them, it could be disastrous. But I remember hearing Mr. Helgi talk about how Mr. Armstrong wanted to see his men one last time.

So these people probably thought the same thing about the Apostle Paul. Verse 26, And to those of us who speak, whether we give sermonettes or sermons, this is admonition to us. It's not good enough for us just to be preaching about what's comfortable for us. We need to make sure, whether we're pastor or elder or whoever, as we speak, people who give sermonettes, that we proclaim the whole counsel of God. We get into all the Bible. Some parts are much more interesting than others.

But just as Paul did, we need to do as well.

Verse 28. Now this is where we get back to what was talked about there in Revelation.

Therefore, watch, remember that for three years, for three years, I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

So we go back now to Revelation 2.

And we see that in verse 2, that they tested those who were apostles and who were not and have found them liars. So they very much listened to the words of the Apostle Paul. Paul gave them instruction as to what to look for in men of God, ministers of God, teachers sent from God, and what would be those who would not fulfill those criteria.

And so the people in Ephesus were very good about that. They took that counsel and they really ran with that.

Now, I missed a section here in verse 2, just above that, where it says that you cannot bear those who are evil.

You cannot bear those that are evil.

Jesus Christ did not say, well, you know, you guys are all self-righteous.

He commended them on this point, that they could not bear those who were evil.

Now, let's go over and put a marker here again. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians 5.

1 Corinthians 5, starting in verse 1.

It's a good thing I decided to go through one church today.

As I look at my watch, my watch must be wrong.

It must have stopped at this time 24 hours ago.

1 Corinthians 5, verse 1. It is actually reported there is sexual immorality among you, and as such, sexual immorality is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father's wife.

Much different scenario in Corinth than in Ephesus.

Verse 2. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

They thought they were being merciful.

They weren't being merciful. They were being permissive.

For indeed, as absent in the body, but present in the spirit, I have already judged, as though I were present, him who has done this thing.

We are to discriminate between right and wrong. We are to be able to call wrong, wrong. In our society today, that is a lost way of thinking.

I'm perpetually grieved in spirit, and so are you as we watch things on the news as to what goes on today for supposed righteousness in our society.

We are in Sodom and Gomorrah, and it's only going to get worse.

Verse 4, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such one to Satan.

Strong words! What's that mean?

It means the person is going to be disfellowshipped. The person is going to be asked to no longer come to services.

It means that when you are asked to no longer come to services, you don't have all the rights and privileges of God taking care of you.

Am I saying that God is going to walk away from you totally? No, God loves you. Christ loves you.

But to the degree we want to keep on sinning and not repent over it, we put a wall between us and God. When there's a wall between us and God, Satan is going to move in. Deliver such one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Now, a quick addition here. One of the reasons we've got the book of 2 Corinthians is because this man repented. He felt the sting of not being in God's church with God's people.

He felt the sting of being alienated. He did something about that. He came back. And Paul writes to the church in Corinth to make sure you love him as he comes back.

Verse 6, Your glory is not good. You not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

Therefore purge out the old leaven, purge out the sin, that you may be a new lump, since you are truly unleavened, for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the wickedness, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

So we go back now to Revelation 2.

So we see that this church is a very hardworking church, a persevering church. They're steadfast in the faith. They understand what sin is. They want no part of that, at least the things they can perceive as sin. They examine people as to whether they're really in the faith. And then we're talking about the elders. Not that they're trying to be overly critical, but just as we had to do back in the mid-90s, we had to make a discrimination. We had to make a choice, didn't we? People were telling us all sorts of things from the pulpit that you and I knew were important.

They weren't biblical. And so they had, just as they had to do, we had to do as well. We had to make a decision among whether those people were now God's ministers or not. Verse 3, Revelation 2.3, And you persevered and have patience, and have labored for my name's sake, and have not become weary. So, you know, these people really, again, they worked hard. Hardworking, zealous people. They weren't becoming weary.

Let's ask ourselves, you ask you, I'll ask me. Not I'll ask I, you ask I'll ask me. Do you know people in the past, in the church, who've been very busy, done all sorts of seemingly wonderful things, then after a while they're gone? Or, maybe being very busy, doing all sorts of wonderful things, not saying that these aren't not wonderful things. But maybe there are some in the room who think, you know, I'm not what I once was. I know my heart isn't in it like it once was.

That's what we're going to find with this church. Good works is wonderful, but it's got to be reinforced with godly love.

Reinforced with godly love. These were mature Christians in Ephesus, but just because you're a mature Christian doesn't mean that every part of your life is mature. Doesn't mean that every part of your life is what it should be, or my life, what it should be. Now we get to, you know, we talked about the good, now we're going to get to something where they need to work. Verse 4, Revelation 2.4.

Well, they're very zealous people. They're doing a lot of, you know, a lot of activity. You know, if they had a magazine program, they would be doing that. If they had all sorts of things to do for the church, they'd be doing that. So, must not be talking about that kind of love. You know, Brother, many times when we want to understand something more thoroughly, it's good for us to go to other trans-human places.

I've got two I want to quote for you here. The English Standard Version, English Standard Version, ESV. Revelation 2.4 says this, But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. You have abandoned the love you had at first. The Weymouth translation, I think, really brings it home. Weymouth says this, Revelation 2.4, Yet I have this against you, that you no longer love me as you did at first. That you no longer love me as you did at first. And this is where each and every one of us need to ask ourselves, Where are we on that continuum of love toward God the Father and Jesus Christ?

We could be hardworking, dedicated, zealous, mature in so many ways. But if we don't have love, then we're reading in a few moments what that means. Love, brethren, gives zeal a heart. Love gives zeal a heart. Without love, zeal can be machine-like, robotic, mechanical, cold. We don't want to be that way. Now, let's go back to what we read from Bunch's book, The Seven Epistles of Christ.

Remember that the city there at Ephesus had a tremendous harbor. At the beginning, the Ephesians were very loving, very faithful people. But in time, the harbor began to fill up. Fill up with dirt. Fill up with sediment. If we are not as loving toward God as we once were, then what's filling in our harbor? What's filling in our heart? What's filling in our mind? Their harbor became shallow. Their harbor became unapproachable. Through a lack of proper kind of love for God, are we not as approachable as we once were? That harbor became overgrown with weeds as more and more fill took place. You've probably seen that as you've driven around. I know back when I was still living in Michigan, I used to like to drive past all the various little lakes.

You know, Michigan has 10,000 lakes. I'd be driving past lakes in some years when the water levels were really low. You can see where the water had receded in some cases, even along Lake Michigan, when I was on that side of the state. The water can be like 100 yards or more away from the shore.

You'd see all these big boulders and you'd see various weeds propping up. While that was taking place there in Ephesus, the harbor was becoming overgrown with weeds. We've got a scriptural reference for that, don't we? Talking about the cares of the world. Without love, we like the Ephesian harbor become narrow in our focus.

The Holy Spirit is limited because we are not showing the proper love toward God. God's always going to show love toward us, but we are strangling the love because we are not doing the things we should be doing in terms of fully following God. Now again, the Ephesians had a great deal of zeal. Just as the people in Ephesus tried to dredge out that channel so more water would come in and fill up the harbor, they were busy. We can be busy, but being busy by itself, oven by itself, doesn't always produce fruit. We've got to be busy the way God tells us to be busy.

We've got to be busy with the tools God gives us. The Ephesian harbor was choked by dirt. Dirt was taking the place of the water. Now let's turn to 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13. You know, in your notes, you might want to jot down February the 17th. I gave a sermon when we had our Young Adults' Weekend on this chapter.

I just want to talk about these first three verses here. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, like the Ephesians were missing, at least to some degree, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. Words were hollow. Words were not as meaningful. They didn't have as much impact. There wasn't as much fruit in those words. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, you're the go-to guy for Bible trivia.

And though I have all faith so I can remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. What do we do with all those tools God gives us? But if we don't use those tools with love, we're nothing but robots. We're machine-like. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, wonderful things, good things of them by themselves in many ways, but have not love, it profits me nothing. So again, without love, zeal is shallow. So again, the lesson we want to learn is that Godly zeal must be reinforced with Godly love. Let's take a good look at an example of that. Let's go to Romans 9. Romans 9. Verse 1.

I tell the truth in Christ I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ, from my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh. Here the Apostle Paul says, you know, if it were possible, if I could exchange places, and they would receive eternal life, I would do it for them. Now that's a level of conversion I don't know that I have achieved.

I don't know about you. You can answer that question in your own heart. But Paul was there. I'm hoping someday I will be there. You're hoping someday if you're not there already, that you'll be there. But it shows a tremendous amount of love here. A tremendous amount of love. Okay, we go back now to chapter 2 of Revelation. So Christ in verse 1 talks about how He's with the people. He enjoys them. He wants to be with them. He loves them. Verses 2 and 3, we've got commendations. A lot of positive things being said.

Verse 4, we have, you know, one thing that is brought out. You know, you've left your first love. Now, verse 5, Christ gives His church a spiritual formula. He doesn't just say, you know, you've done some good things, but you've got this nasty thing. You've got to get rid of it. He gives them a formula. What do we do to change? And it's right here in verse 5. Verse 5, Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Three-step process here in verse 5.

Step 1, Remember. Step 1 is to Remember. Remember from where you have fallen. Think back to where you were, back in a day. Let's go to John 14. I'm going to be keeping you over just a little bit. John 14. Not too terribly long. John 14. In verse 26, again, all in my Bible, all in red lettering. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things I have said to you.

So let's, you know, if we find ourselves in an Ephesian situation, this is talking to us. We go back to this verse, and we get on our knees and go to the Father and say, Father, help me to remember. Help me remember all those Bible studies that I did as I was sitting at my dining room table and going through the Scriptures. And as I listened to sermons and services and listened to sermons at home and listened to sermons in the car and away to and from work, as I studied the literature.

But mostly, as I read your word, Father, help me to remember the things I need to remember. The first thing Christ said is, Remember. God's Holy Spirit will help you with that. If you want to truly change, if I want to truly change, God is more than happy to help us with these points.

So point number one, first step, remember. Step number two is to repent. Let's go over to 2 Corinthians 7. Once again, I gave a sermon on this not too long ago, during the Days of Unleavened Bread. 2 Corinthians 7. Verse 11. Because here we've got seven different fruits of repentance. How do we know if we're repentant? Well, we don't have to guess. We don't have to wonder. God spells it out for us. 2 Corinthians 7.11. For observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner.

And brethren, we can go through all these points, but there are certain things here that perhaps are a little more applicable than others. For this particular point that we're looking at for the church in Ephesus, it says, What diligence! The church in Ephesus was not diligent to maintain its love of Christ like it should. We have to ask ourselves, have we been diligent along those lines?

It talks about here in verse 11 about fear, fearing God, a proper respect and awe, an understanding of who He is and the beauty of who God is.

It talks about a desire. If we desire it, we have that as an attitude, we'll follow through with an action.

It talks about, you know, here in verse 11, it talks about what vindication, and I may mention that the King James says, What revenge! And I may mention, I think that's a better translation. We want to turn our back on the things that have driven us away from God and Jesus Christ. We want to turn our back whatever is infilling our harbor, filling it with dirt, getting choked with weeds. We want to make sure we're taking care of all that.

Third step, it says there in Revelation 2 and verse 5, is that we need to do. Remember, repent and do.

Do.

I'm not going to turn there, but in your notes, you can write down the rest of 1 Corinthians 13, verses 4 through 7.

Do those loving things. And again, we went through that on February 17th here.

So we go back now to Revelation. We're starting to come to the conclusion here. Revelation chapter 2, Revelation chapter 2, verse 6.

But this you have that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Now, there's not a lot known about these people. It's mentioned again in verses 14 and 15. We do get some interesting thought here, Revelation chapter 2, verse 14. But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold a doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to be a stumbling block, therefore, before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.

Thus, you also have those who hold a doctrine of Nicolaitans, which they also hate.

So it's connected to Balaam worship.

Balaam worship, or what was doing with Israel.

I'd like to read you from Vincent's word studies of the New Testament.

A short little paragraph here. Regarding a name as symbolic and Nicholas as the Greek rendering of Balaam, whose name signifies destroyer or corruptor of the people.

There was a time in our church history where there were those who wanted to corrupt us doctrinally.

You, by the grace of God, by the power of God's Spirit working in, you saw better than that. You walked away from that, and you were to be commended for that.

Going back to Vincent's, it says, Listen to this from Vincent's word studies of the New Testament.

These people drifted from the way of worship God gave and followed corrupt Christianity. From the time God first worked with Israel, he warned them against the temptation to incorporate other ways of worship into what he revealed as the way he wanted them to worship. God forbids people from mixing man-made religion with his... God forbids people from mixing man-made religion with his. Strange as it might seem.

Many of the current worship practices, including Christmas and Easter... wow!

In fact, reflect the pagan religions which Balaam corrupted Israel with. Apparently, Nicholas's group fell into the same trap. It is a common human failing to tinker with God's instructions.

Interesting from Vincent's word studies of the New Testament.

So basically, we have people that came from the inside wanting to corrupt the people. Barkley's daily study Bible says this about that section, verse 6 of Revelation 2. We may note that this danger is coming not from the outside of the church, but from the inside. The claim these heretics was that they were not destroying Christianity, but presenting an improved version.

Didn't we hear that X number of years ago? This is a new, improved deal we've got here. Well, it wasn't new and it wasn't improved. You know, people talk about the new truth. Well, it wasn't new and it wasn't truth, as all of you know.

Galatians chapter 1.

Galatians chapter 1 verse 6. Paul writing to the church here, verse 6, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you into the grace of Christ to a different gospel, a different grace, which is not another, which is not another grace. It was licentiousness, and it happened in our age, and we witnessed it. Which is not another, but there are some who trouble you wanting to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we've said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Double curse. Walk away from that false grace.

Okay, let's go back one last time to Revelation 2. We need to read verse 7. And for those who want to quit on time, we're almost going to do it. Not quite, but almost. Revelation 2.7. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I'll give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. He who has an ear, let him hear. This was something Christ said on a regular basis. In other words, we have a personal challenge as Christians to listen to the Word of God, to read it, to listen to what God is saying to us as we read it, and to do something with it. To do something with it. Jesus Christ is giving counsel to his seven churches. You and I as Christians need to pay careful attention to each one of these seven churches and what Christ is saying. Because it pretty much talks to each and every one of us in one way, shape, or form, or another. These are heartfelt discussions Christ had with his church. Let us make sure that we are taking our ears and that we are spiritually listening.