The sermon by Paul Carrington focuses on the message to the church of Ephesus from Revelation 2:1-7. It begins by acknowledging the church's commendable deeds, labor, and perseverance, but highlights a critical flaw—they have left their first love for Christ. The historical and religious context of Ephesus is elaborated, depicting a city steeped in idolatry and emperor worship, yet also a significant hub for early Christian activity. The church is praised for its doctrinal precision and endurance in the face of persecution. However, the sermon emphasizes the importance of love for Christ as the foundation of all deeds, warning against the dangers of neglecting this love. The speaker urges the congregation to remember their initial passion for Christ, repent of their neglect, and renew their devotion to Him. The ultimate promise for those who overcome is to eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God. The sermon concludes with a call to introspection and revival of love for Christ.

This is Revelation chapter 2 and verses 1 through 7. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things say, says, He who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

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. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Let's pray. Father, this is your word.

Father, this is Your word. Sometimes it cuts. Lord, give us ears to hear. Lord, the Spirit is saying something to us. Lord, let this not be our church.

Lord, let us not forget our first love, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to overcome. Lord, we look forward to eating from the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God. Lord, help our preacher today. Lord, we don't want to hear from our preacher.

Lord, we want to hear from you. Lord, speak words to us that we can understand. Help us to listen and to do your works. Amen. To do your works.

Amen. We've come to a portion of Scripture where we're beginning a new series as it were looking at the seven churches of Asia Minor, this group of churches that were scattered actually very closely to each other but on the western coast of Turkey, modern-day Turkey. These are real churches but they're also representative churches, churches that can speak to churches at all places and at all times. That's really what we find before us today. You know, you'll find as we go through these different churches that they'll be striking, striking similarities to churches in the 21st century.

And even though we're here in North Carolina, we're 5, 500 miles and 2, 000 years away from this church in Ephesus, there are things that not only we can learn, but things that we must learn as we take a look at this church. And this letter that we're going to be looking at today is really just the first seven verses of chapter two, as it was read. And this letter is kind of contained within a broader letter. The entire book of Revelation is John's writings to all of these seven churches. But here he specifically targets and speaks to this church here in Ephesus.

And it's actually not the words of John himself, but of the Savior, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And This entire book is really a book that's meant to inspire comfort. It's a book that's meant to encourage the saints. And you could imagine living in a time much like this time was. There were so many oppositions.

There was much difficulty. There was all sorts of threats, persecution, discouragement. You could think of an entire list of reasons to be discouraged living in the midst of this time. But all of this, it's really helpful and instructive for us because what often happens, and you can look around here even with modern-day America, And it looks as though a lot of times Satan is raging. He's unrestrained.

He has free course to do whatever he will. But it's not so. This is what the book of Revelation is about, that Jesus Christ reigns. He is sitting on His throne. There is none that can overthrow Him.

There is none that can thwart His will. And even though the eyes of man can't quite make sense a lot of times of what's going on, the entire book of Revelation is to say that at the end of it all, He reigns supreme, and there's none like Him. And so, this is what I want to have in your minds. Just if you can even imagine behind me this picture of a glorious Christ. It was read earlier in chapter one, but this is what I want to frame everything that we're doing today.

It's those last few verses of chapter one, this glorious vision of Jesus Christ. This is what it says, Then I turned to see the voice of him that spoke with me, and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow and his eyes as a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars out of his mouth when a sharp two-edged sword in his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength and when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead But he laid his right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last.

I am he who lives and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death. This is the glorious Christ that I want to put forth today, this one that when we go back to the end verses of Revelation chapter 21-22, we see that there's no need of the Son because it says that the glory of the Father and of Jesus Christ are the glory of that new city, this new Jerusalem. And what this does, this totally destroys the caricature of this insecure, limp-wristed, do-i Jesus that is just hoping that we'll look his way.

Look at the description of what we see here of Jesus Christ. And so, we're going to be taking a journey to the city of Ephesus today. And I want to describe just a little bit about this port city that, as I said, was on the western coast of Turkey, modern-day Turkey. It was actually Asia Minor's largest city. There was about a population of 250, 000 people, which is a massive city back in those days.

And a lot of times, you know, some dispensationalists will try to figure out, not all, but some, and say, you know, the order of the churches, you know from Ephesus to Smyrna to Pergamos are representative of church ages. But really all this is as you go from Ephesus to Smyrna to Pergamos and you end off in Laodicea, All it is is the Roman Railroad. That's the way that male would actually travel from the beginning, the port city being Ephesus, to all the other cities. It's not all that mysterious at all. And so this is an actual church and the name Ephesus, the city of Ephesus, its nickname was actually the boast or the light of Asia.

That's what it was called, the light of Asia. It had a renowned medical school, it had a library by the name of Celsus which was one of the most amazing libraries of antiquity. It had a theater. We actually had an opportunity to sit in this theater a few months ago in Ephesus that houses 25, 000 people. It's amazing, this broad theater.

It was a major center of Commerce as well, but it was also a destination of of religious pilgrimage people would make their way here Because though paganism reigned in the entire area There was one who was queen overall and her name this goddess Her name was Artemis in the Greek or Diana Otherwise known as she was the fertility goddess and her worship involved unspeakable evil I won't even get into what went into worshipping this woman But her tentacles as this goddess her tentacles kind of wove their way into every facet of life in Ephesus, so that if you were to be employed and have a trade, you would be a part of a guild that would be associated with the temple. All of the banking was done at the temple of Artemis or the temple of Diana. And it was one of the seven wonders, this temple, glorious temple, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There was a historian at the time by the name of Phylon of Byzantium, he says this, I've seen the walls and hanging gardens of ancient Babylon, the statue of Olympian Zeus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the mighty work of the high pyramids and the tomb of Mosulis, But when I saw the temple at Ephesus rising to the clouds, all these other wonders were put in the shade.

You can imagine just people pouring into this place to just see this wonder of the ancient world. But as if this wasn't a bad enough environment enough, this rampant idolatry. On top of this, what you had was an emperor, a bloodthirsty emperor by the name of Domitian, who was there at the time he was reigning in Rome, but he was conducting a reign of terror that anyone who did not refer to him as Lord and God was subject to all sorts of persecution. So not only do you have intense debauchery and evil on the one side, but this horrible persecution. And it was a capital offense to be associated with Jesus Christ.

It was an affront to the Emperor. It could result in loss of property, it could result in financial ruin, It could involve being ostracized from the broader community. It could even involve a trip from Ephesus to the Roman arena at the whim of the emperor. This is the time that this church was found. You could think of it almost like a vanity fair of all types of things going on in this place.

It's hard to imagine a more unfriendly climate to Christianity. You know, you could even be tempted to say, could anything good come out of Ephesus? Well, this church in Ephesus, we know more about it than any other church in the New Testament. And this was the ground of some of the most dramatic warfare, spiritual warfare and fighting that even took place in the entire book of Acts. You know, it had a pedigree like like no other church, an amazing reputation.

And if you go back to its very beginnings you can remember that Priscilla and Aquila were there and they found a young man by the name of Apollos who was preaching and they corrected him on the preaching of Jesus Christ that he's actually come. He was preaching the baptism of John And a little group was formed and the Apostle Paul comes here not long after and he begins ministering to this group of people. So you have Apollos and then you have Paul and what happened, this was Paul's third missionary journey. He spent two years in this city and he rented the Hall of Tyrannus, this hall that must have been there, like a place that he could have lectured in. Every single day from 11 a.m.

To 4 p.m. The Apostle Paul would teach the word of God. It was an amazing time you could imagine and many of the people there were brought to life in Christ and this passion for Christ it didn't just stay in Ephesus but it spilled out to the surrounding region and so the scripture says this all as a result of what happened in Ephesus, all that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, both Jews and Greeks. And you can imagine this spreading. You read in Acts this bonfire that took place Where all the people that came to know Christ brought all of their silver all of their all of their witchcraft and all these things And they burned it there was a bonfire you could imagine being there seeing smoke rising if you were a citizen of that city What is going on and you run there and you see that these people, there's this massive mound of goods and people are burning all of their idols and artifacts, all of their witchcraft paraphernalia.

50, 000 pieces of silver worth. Well that didn't go over all that well and on the heels of that you have a guildsman a member of the silver guild this man by the name of Demetrius who comes and he says this can't be tolerated don't you see the economic collapse that Christianity is bringing to our region imagine that That Christianity was bringing economic collapse where the idle business was being affected. He says we can't have this and so a riot breaks forth. You know they go marching around for two hours, they're screaming at the top of their lungs, great is Diana of the Ephesians. Well Paul is forced to leave this place.

He can't go back, but he calls the elders and gives them dire warnings on the one side and great encouragements as well. And we know just based on church history, and it seems like when you read 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy it seems like Timothy went there as well and of course you know historically John the Apostle he would end his days here. Well imagine now fast-forwarding 40 years from the days of Acts, 30 years from the time that Paul wrote this epistle. And the Ephesian church gathers for worship much like we gathered here this morning. And you could imagine the elders, or one of the elders gets up and he says brothers, sisters, children.

We have a letter here from our beloved brother John and you could imagine well people would perk up because all of them know where John is. John has been sent to Patmos about 50 miles off the coast of Ephesus. It's this desolate island that's a rugged marble mine. That's what they did there. No place for a 90-year-old man to be, but he had been sent there for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

You can imagine, is he okay? What news do we have from John? And the pastor would continue, actually. John penned it, but it is from the very lips of our Lord Jesus Christ to us. Today, we, your elders, would like to share it with you.

It includes tremendous hope. It also includes an evaluation of our spiritual progress, including our strengths and a specific area of sin that we must repent of. Please lend us your ears. Please hear us. You know, what would the attention have been like that morning as the saints gathered?

Well, that first verse that the elder would have read is in verse 1, it says this, to the angel of the church of Ephesus, write, These things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand Who walks in the midst of the golden lampstands and that word angel it means messenger It was likely just the Lord was referring to the elder or elders of these different churches And he says these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand. And we found out in chapter one that these seven stars or these seven stars are the seven church elderships or or leaderships at these different churches. And they're in the right hand. There's this authority that Christ has over these men. They're not just men that do their own thing, but they're working and operating under the authority of Jesus Christ.

A very fearful place to be. And he introduces himself as this, he says, he who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. So I read that first section earlier of this glorious Christ, but he's not an absentee ruler. He's not a deistic God who just set things in motion and then just leaves it to go, but he's right there. There's this intimacy and nearness that's with the church.

You know, I wonder, when we came here this morning, you know, did we come with this mindset that Christ is in the midst of us walking. Do we have that mindset when we gather on a regular basis? Is that even in our minds? Or is it something that's kind of far removed? The fact that he's truly present and he's aware of everything that's going on, not only on the surface, but also in the hearts of every single one of us.

And he walks in our midst. And oftentimes, you know, we can have this picture of the Lord, especially here, almost like him being a traffic cop. You know, he kind of walks along, he's looking for infractions, He's looking for things that are wrong. But I think the better picture that we want to have of our Lord here is more like a gardener, someone who's very interested in the health, in the vitality of the garden that he's planted. He's inspecting.

He's looking under the leaves to see if there's mildew or blight. Are there invasive species that are destroying from within because he cares. He's not just pulling you over to rebuke you, but it's for your best interest that he's walking in and out in the midst. He's scrutinizing and inspecting each one of us. And what I love about this is in chapter one it talked about the idea that he has these burning eyes, eyes like a flame of fire that that pierced through like the Word of God through all the thoughts and the intents of the heart and it gets right down right down to the marrow of who we actually are and it's wonderful you know the scripture says this it calls it these lampstands golden and as I was looking at this you know what a way that Christ thinks about His church, this value, you know, not brass lampstands like it's normal, but golden lampstands.

This is how Christ regards his bride. It's wonderful to think in these terms when you think of these former idolaters who were polluted in their sins. Christ comes and he saves them and then he labels them as golden. It's a beautiful picture of the love of Christ for his church and these lampstands are not Meant to be hidden are they but a lampstand is elevated so that it might give light to all the surrounding region This is what God wants is that the church be a light to a darkened world and could you get more dark than the city of Ephesus? Well Christ invades the city of Ephesus where the goddess Diana reigns and he says I am Lord all power has been given to me both in heaven and earth and he he plants this church and so what we see is this Glorious Christ on the one side but also this intimate Christ close Walking in the midst of his church being with them in every way And he goes on in chapter verse 2 and 3 he starts off with that introduction, but now he goes on to a commendation He gives these wonderful commendations He says I know your works your labor your patience and that you cannot bear those who are evil and you have tested those who say that they are apostles and are not and have found them liars, and you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary." These eyes can inspect and see everything.

And the very first thing he says, not only to Ephesus, but to every church after he introduces himself, is he says, I know your works. I know your deeds. I know what you do, as well as the spirit in which you do them, as well. And this word labor, he says, I know your labor this word is is kind of like like callous causing labor this isn't just kind of when it's convenient this is the idea of sleep-depriving work it's It's the idea of toil to the point of exhaustion. This is what these people were involved in.

He says, I know your labor. This is the description of what he says. And he says, your patience. It's now 40 years since this church has been planted and they're still going. They're still preaching the Word of God.

They're not drawing back. If you were to kind of lift the lid of this church, you would find a beehive of activity, things going on underneath the hood of this church. It was amazing to consider. And so he looks at this. These people weren't serving God based on convenience.

They weren't people that would check the forecast to see whether or not today would be a good day to come to church. They weren't people that were looking to serve God when it was conducive and convenient to them. That's not this church at all. And then he goes on to say you cannot bear those who are evil. You know, these people they would have practiced church membership, they would have practiced even church discipline.

You can't bear those who are evil. When there was evil taking place in the church, they were so concerned for the purity of the church That they would not tolerate it. This is this is something that Christ commends in our day It's looked down upon to be you know, too narrow or whatever, but these people were commended Because of the fact that they could not bear those who were evil They were They were very concerned to maintain that moral purity of the church. And we'll see that in a second what they did with the Nicolaitans. And then he says this, And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars.

And you know, you could picture this church being a confessional church. They knew what they believed. They had this, they took to heart what Paul said when he left When he warned him he says even of your own self shall men arise speaking perverse things to lead men after themselves They took that back home and they said may it never be on our watch and so they made doctrine central which is good they had this solid doctrine right the way through they were not biblical illiterate so they'd come out of paganism pure paganism they understood the gospel you know and you think about our modern day here in America, every couple of years, Ligonier, they produce something called the state of theology. And they just came out, I think it was last week, and it starts with this question, you know, what do Americans think about God, Jesus Christ, sin, and eternity. And it's a survey, very broad, comprehensive survey, and they go through the line of asking all of these questions.

Well, when you forget Americans for a moment, and just look at what do evangelicals think, they break it out. If you're an evangelical Christian, what do you think about God? What do you think about Jesus Christ? And what do you think about eternity? Look at some of these results with me in the line of this church of Ephesus who knew what they believed think about modern-day Christianity it says this 55% of evangelicals agree that everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.

71% of evangelicals, not Americans, but evangelicals agree Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God. They don't have a sense that Jesus is from eternity, but he was somehow created by God. 71% don't understand who Christ is. Of evangelicals, it goes on to say 51% agree that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. 81% agree.

Biblical accounts of the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate. This event actually occurred which means 19% of people believe it's just helpful, maybe mythology, but the fact that 81% of evangelicals don't act, 19% of evangelicals don't believe Christ rose from the dead should be concerning. But you would not find this in the church of Ephesus. They understood what they believed because they had been taught the Word of God. He goes on to say in verse 3, and you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my namesake and have not become weary.

This idea of perseverance that in the face of difficulty, even though the work had been hard, even though they had been ostracized, even though they were being chased down, even though they had to meet sometimes secretly, they had persevered. And remember, This is not just idle commendation, but John the one who's been used to pen this where is he? He's been sent to a forced labor camp in the middle of the Mediterranean Because of what the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. So this is not just simply hey you guys are doing good here And he says this you have labored for my namesake and have not become weary and you could imagine that Considering all the present darkness humanly speaking. There was every reason to pack it in.

It's just it's just too hard, you know, but so far from that this group of people is saying where does the kingdom of God need to be advanced? Count us in. We will be there. It's amazing that when you look at this church, this element of tenacious faith, they just simply would not let go of the faith even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances all the way through. They still had their hands on the plow.

You couldn't pry their hands off of the plow, even with all of these difficulties. And in verse six, we'll just jump down there because it's another commendation. He says, but this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. And we'll get into this when we get further down the line to Pergamos which is later on in chapter 2. I won't get into too much detail.

There's a lot of speculation around who are the Nicolaitans, you know, what did they believe. They seem to be some sort of antinomian cult that believed that by sinning grace would abound more, you know, that you could just live however you want, and in fact, by doing evil, it would draw and bring Christ more into your presence, a totally messed up situation. They show up in Ephesus, they can't even get a foothold, they can't even get any foot at all, and notice how it says that Christ also hates their deeds other things that Christ hates absolutely he hates their deeds so these people were upholding a standard of holiness and they're commended for it all the way through this would been the model church to pattern after. They were marked by doctrinal precision, discernment, tireless toil and labor, consistency in the advancement of the kingdom of God in the face of such severe opposition. And so you could imagine that right here in Ephesus there was this fire burning.

It was like nowhere else in the ancient world, right here in the city that we're talking about. And this church grows to be the most influential church in the region. In fact, it was the church responsible for the planting of almost all the other churches that are going to be addressed here in Revelation 2 and 3, and even other churches as well. All kind of stemmed and, you know, did Satan would come? He would try to stamp out the fire here and all that would happen is that embers would fly to another city and catch light there and then he would try to do it and Pergamos would now become Tyatira, Laodicea, all this all this attempts of the devil to undermine and destroy the work of the church could not prevail at all.

You could say that no other church had a better start than this church here. But you can start well, can't you? But what of the flame today? Where did it stand today? Well, the Lord comes with this word in verse 4, and he says, nevertheless, consider all that we've just gone through, the beginnings of Ephesus, all that they were commended for.

But across the passage of time something was wrong. Things weren't quite what they were. You know, it wasn't apparent on the surface. Probably the leaders of the church were as oblivious to this as the members in the church. But remember, it was the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who looks underneath the leaves, who can inspect and understands things, who isn't swayed by fear of man, Who isn't swayed by wanting to make everyone happy?

No. But what he wants ultimately is the health and prosperity of his work and his church in the world. So he comes and he speaks to them the truth. It's one thing for a person to come to church and say, you know what, I don't like your church, or there's something wrong with your church. But it's another thing altogether when the Lord says, I have something that I need to bring to your attention.

It's an utterly altogether different thing. This word nevertheless, it means notwithstanding, notwithstanding everything that I just said, all that is commendable and that I want you to continue doing You know, there's a temptation as we look at this To jettison and throw out all that we just heard and say all God wants us to do is love. He's not saying that. But nevertheless, even though all that I just said is commendable, I found something that is a fatal flaw that I need to bring to your attention. And there's much wisdom, too.

You notice how he cries? This is something even that, by the way, we can learn just as an aside when we talk to people Notice how he starts off with commendation and then he brings the concern And you notice that that's the pattern all the way through these seven churches except for two that didn't receive any condemnation at all But there's a wisdom there that we could probably learn as husbands and wives or just even as we interact with each other here. And this is the context of the bride groom and his groom, the bridegroom and his bride. And he says this, I have this against you that you have left your first love. And I would imagine sitting there that day the shock, maybe even a ripple as this went through the congregation.

Is it possible he has the wrong church? Is there a mix-up maybe with the letters? What would have been the first thoughts that would have been in these people's minds because they were doing so much, but this word left isn't just simply a matter of losing, that they lost something. But it's a word that means they've sent away. It's active.

They've abandoned. They've bid to go away. And this is the danger that can happen. Somewhere in the midst, we don't know when, and we can't pinpoint an exact time but there was some sort of departure in the heart with these people it's like you remember the story the account of the Lord Jesus when they all went down to Jerusalem and He was a young boy about 12 years old. And his parents, they go back home.

And it's not until a day later, they're like, where's Jesus? Is he around? They were so caught up in the throng, the busyness, the excitement. You know, it's such a joyous time that they forgot that Jesus wasn't even there with them. But unlike them, the Church of Ephesus would have continued.

They may not even have known that Christ was not a priority. His parents, they make a mad dash back to Jerusalem. They end up finding him after three days. But this is the kind of situation, even though everything was going on well, Jesus was somehow left and abandoned and sent away. This is the situation.

And here's the challenge that we have that's different than every other religion. Our religion is a heart religion. The cry of our religion is, my son, give me your heart. That's the cry of our religion. Lose love, lose all, says Charles Spurgeon.

Orthodoxy becomes a corpse when love dies. And here's the thing, even pay attention to this, because even in our church right here, it is so easy to fall in love with the fruit, the culture of our church, the fellowship, all these wonderful things, you know, the safety of the culture and the system that we have here, that A fading love for Christ can be almost unnoticeable and imperceptible. It's not that we came to worship God, but we came to meet together or, you know what I mean, there's something that can happen where the primary thing has now fallen away as we put other things in its place. And what happened? What happened to Ephesus?

Well, what the lion of persecution couldn't achieve? What the dragon of social conformity could not break down. What the serpent of false doctrine could not bewitch like it did the Galatians. The little termites of neglect had gotten in and done their work almost totally unmolested. One bite at a time, the once solid structure was now weakened from within and from the surface everything looks good.

Everything looked great on the surface. Ephesus was a booming place, a beehive of activity, but something was wrong. There was this neglect, this drift in their hearts that was taking place. And drift or neglect is a sin of omission. It was something that they weren't doing, that they didn't have at their core, that Christ is condemning them for, correcting them for here.

And think of it through the lens of a marriage for a moment, right? Like a marriage, love to our bridegroom sustains everything. Love is the thing that holds a marriage together. That's why we don't get involved in a contract like they say today, husband and wife sign a contract, but it's a covenant and the basis of that is love. But there's a danger even in our Christianity, right?

We can behold the battle. I think this is what was happening in Ephesus. They were beholding all the challenges and the opportunities for advancement, but they weren't beholding the Lord Jesus Christ. They had lost sight of the one that John described earlier in Chapter 1. They were overwhelmed, they were tired, maybe even the joy had gone out, but they just kept, I'm going to keep prodding along, I'm going to keep doing the thing I know to do.

It's like a wife who still dutifully does the cooking, folds the laundry, does the cleaning. It's like a husband who faithfully brings home a paycheck. He mows the grass and fixes the car. You confront him about his love and he says, what do you mean? I read my Bible.

I pray. I give support to the church and when the doors are open, don't you see me? I even witnessed the other day. You know? In other words, it's a difficulty.

It's hard to pinpoint because you can cover it over with activity But but something's wrong due to neglect and consider yourself examine yourself Due to neglect there was a drift that was taking place in the heart other things had maybe crept in and it was causing distance and space just like it can in a marriage and this is so dangerous the ardor that flame the burning affection the intensity of heart devotion was gone from the Church of Ephesus. It was a lot of light but no heat. When you went up to go and touch it, thinking it would burn you, that's strange. It's cold. Something was wrong.

This is an anomaly. Something is not natural that is happening here because here's the thing just like in a marriage Love has to be nurtured and it has to be maintained It doesn't just you know people have this worldly view you just fall in love and you fall out of love and all these That's not biblical love whatsoever, but biblical love is a love that's a nurturing love that grows and develops because of investment quality time quantity time of Wanting to get to know the other person and without nurturing just like in a marriage Your relationship with with Christ will wither. This is what's happening. You say, well, how do you know? Well, we're looking at an example of how that can happen.

Right here, the flowers just begin to wilt, and there's no more real life coming through anymore. There was this general cooling that takes place, just like in a marriage, where you get to what you call the new normal. I guess this is just the way things are. Days, weeks, and months pass without any meaningful communion. This is what can happen in a relationship with Christ, the bridegroom and his bride or husband and wife.

This is what was happening here. And I want to talk just a little bit about What are some of the symptoms of a dying love? Just to help us, just to help us to see, hey, are these areas that if you can recognize the symptoms, you can begin to make some adjustments and changes. Is the flame dim or gone out? Is the hearth cold?

Well, I want to just talk about seven symptoms of a fading or dying love. And you can examine yourself by these. The first one is Christ Himself. And I love this quote here from Charles Spurgeon. He says it like this.

He says, the great fault, and young people, think about this, those who were second-generation Christians, but also those who are laboring and striving to serve God. He says, the great fault of many professors, meaning people who profess Christ, is that Christ is to them a character upon paper, certainly more than a myth, but yet a person of the dim past, an historical personage who lived many years ago and did most admirable deeds by the which we are saved, but who is far from being a living, present, bright reality. So the first area to examine is how do you see Christ? How do you see Christ? Well the second area that we would want to take a look at is others.

You know, someone could say, well, you know, I love Christ, that's not my problem, but I'm just not all that fond of the people in the church. Here's a question, does Christianity allow for a love for Christ that does not include a love for the saints? You won't find that in Scripture. In fact, you'll find the exact opposite. That's why John writes in 1st John, he says that if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar." I don't know how else you could say that.

I mean that's pretty plain. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? It's a rhetorical question. It's a question that has the answer in it. It's totally incompatible to love God and yet not love your brother.

So another area to consider is your love. Are you pulling away? You know, often times the first signs when someone leaves the church, there's a pulling away in the heart. There's a judging of one another. There's this thinking poorly of others.

And you're not thinking the best of that person anymore. Faults take center stage. Have you ever had that happen in your life where you've even misjudged someone? I've done that before, where you misjudged someone. I remember years ago, this is back in Canada, I dropped some people off from church at the at the subway station and I'm gonna stop on the way home to grab a coffee.

And there's this new coffee shop that was there. And so I pull in through the drive-thru and I'm waiting at the... Make my order just at the place where you can see the menu and all of that. And I'm looking and I'm waiting. And hello?

Is anyone there? Hello? I waited another minute or two. And all these thoughts that are going through my mind Don't these people understand how to run a operation of business? Like if they want my business All this stuff is going through my mind and I waited probably about three four minutes Which is a long time just to be sitting waiting for someone to take your order as you're there and you could just imagine I keep increasingly getting angry and Thinking all these different thoughts of these people that don't know how to operate a simple coffee business.

And by at some point I just get fed up I'm gonna just drive around to the window and give them a piece and tell them you guys need to upgrade and fix yourself. Well I got up to the window and it says coming soon. The coffee shop was still under construction and I had written off these people I had castigated I've done everything but have you done that have you misjudged someone for something I? Have And it's not a good thing is it when we when we look at people Through this lens and they weren't even guilty of the crime that we're holding them accountable for May God help us and may may this love for each other grow now. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying a passive love where we don't correct and help one another.

I'm not saying that, but there should be a love that is the bond between us. Just like there's a bond because it's flowing from our bond with Christ. And we go on, family, I want to ask you a question. How would your wife, How would your husband, how would the people that love you and know you best Characterize your affection for Jesus Christ. Would you be afraid to ask your wife?

Honey, how would you characterize my affection for Christ Or how about the children who maybe aren't even safe but they can tell? Does dad or mom love Christ? It's a good question to ask yourselves. How about this? Number four, symptoms of a dying love.

How do you regard the dying world that's all around us. Are you unmoved? Are you unmoved by the thought of men and women not worshipping and serving God? Is it just, yeah, that's not nice. That's not great.

I don't, you know, Does it move you beyond theory that there is a place called hell and that people will spend eternity there? Does that move you? Does that ever jar you when you think of even a loved one or someone who doesn't know Christ, and you know you can't save them, but does it infiltrate and infect your prayers? Really worth thinking about. Does it bother you?

Well, a sign of a dying love is, you know, yeah, it's terrible. And we discuss the theory of hell, but we don't believe the truth and the depth of the doctrine. When we think of missions, it's interesting, but we don't recognize the fact that Jesus Christ is not Worshipped as he ought to be as the king of kings and lord of lords. It just doesn't move us anymore It's a symptom of a dying love Tenderness is replaced by an air of moral superiority even when you do engage with the world and I've done this by the way Sadly to my shame you joyfully decimate your opponent's character using apologetics, but it wasn't done in a spirit of love. It's a symptom of a dying.

You win. You preach Christ. But it wasn't done right. Didn't represent the Lord Jesus Christ. How about eternity?

Is eternity as captivating as it once was? How about your conversation? Here's one for us to consider. What are your go-to conversation pieces? What's the natural soil that you get most excited about?

And young people think about this for yourself. What are the things that that wake you up when you when you have a conversation going at a table what are the things most engaging and intriguing to you it's really worth thinking about is it the midterms coming up is that really the thing that's most exciting is it cars is it clothes see none of these things are bad It's not bad to discuss these things. But it can be excessive. It can be dominating. And this is what John Flavell says.

He wrote a beautiful book on keeping the heart. Awesome book. And this is what we're talking about today. He says this why is their discourse so light and Unprofitable when they meet but because their hearts are earthly and vain May God help us in our conversations. May God give us a warmth of heart that Christ is at the center Not again that we can't don't get me wrong.

Oh, we can't talk about these. Please don't hear that But what are the go-to things? What are the things that impassioned you the most Is it Christ? How about the means of grace? You know, has relishing the Scripture become a chore?

Were your prayers, are they no longer fervent when you're by yourself? I'm not talking even just publicly, but on your face before the Lord. Here's another question. Is the knowledge that you're acquiring in your head accompanied with an increasing and growing love for Jesus Christ? I know you're getting information, but is it accompanied with a growing love for Him?

Now that you know him a lot more, do you love him a lot more? Those two don't always go together, do they? And so this was a problem. And so I want to ask you, does the coolness of your heart concern you? Does it concern you at all?

Well, this verse four, believe it or not, this was the best thing that had ever happened to the church in Ephesus. Because think about the alternative of continuing in a place of depleted, weak, emaciated love to Christ. Think about that. That toil, you know, you've kind of sling that bag, get up in the morning. It's almost like going back to the city of destruction.

That's how they were laboring. The joy had been sucked in. How can you have joy when you don't have love to the object that you're laboring for? You can't. It doesn't exist.

And so here's what I want to say. If you have found your heart cooling, take heart. Because Christ is faithful. What he's gonna do next is he's gonna call them back to fellowship with him. He doesn't just say here's your problem, you guys solve it, I'll be back.

He's not like that. He's not faithless. He actually says here's your greatest problem. The thing that if you just ignore, you will perish. But then he gives them the prescription and the remedy.

This is a great shepherd, isn't it? I mean, think about this. He doesn't leave them. He doesn't, He loves them too much to allow the declension to continue. He doesn't want to just indulge them and say it's a kind of a, you know, it's a little bit of a problem.

He doesn't do that and he doesn't make a suggestion. What we see next is a command and I just want to pause here for a second. There's a man that all of us know of. I would argue probably the most impactful man in our generation or one of the most impactful, most zealous men that I have ever heard preach and you have ever heard preach. I'm not going to say his name.

If you don't know it, that's fine, but I just don't feel comfortable saying his name. But this man preached, preaches the gospel fervently in different countries all over the world. And one day his wife came to him and she said, who's chasing you? Three words, Who is chasing you? Why do you do the things that you're doing?

And it was the best thing that ever happened to him, because it caused him to ask himself, I'm active in the work of God, but the heart has gone out of it. The passion and the care for Christ isn't what it was. And it forced him to turn around that simple question, three words, Who's chasing you? Why do you do the things that you do as it pertains to Christ? And you know the best thing that ever happened to David, what was it?

You are the man because it gave him an opportunity to repent. What was the best thing that ever happened to Peter? Peter, do you love me more than these? Three times to the point where he broke down he says, Lord you know that I love you. May God help us.

Who's chasing you? Why are you doing the things that you're doing? Well Christ, he gives us ultimatum and what he wants, this is what he wants them to do. He says, remember from where therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent. Here is our application at the end of the sermon I'm not going to give an application because Christ gives the application in verse five.

He says remember from where you're fallen. He says I'm not interested in business as usual. I don't want you to just keep going doing the things that you've always done and that's brought you to this place. I'm not interested in kingdom expansion if it's not done with the heart that you had at the first. And so he gives them three steps and there is no other way, pay attention to this because there's no other way for a church or person to recover their first love except by doing these three things that he says here.

And the very first thing he says is he says remember and this is he says remember from where you've fallen remember you remember you remember how it was when you first passed from death to life Do you remember that I remember that? Do you remember that what it was like? He's calling them back to fellowship with him He says do you Remember the fire that burned in the beginning when you sat at the foot of the cross. You read in Ezekiel of Israel and the Lord is speaking to them and he asks them to remember, he says this, when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, live. Yes, I said to you, live in your blood.

I made you thrive like a plant in the field. And you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. He's calling them back to something. Do you remember that bonfire in Ephesus when you weren't afraid to part with your idols? He's asking them, do you remember these things?

You know, one of the secrets of not forgetting is George Whitefield. It's amazing. You think of a man like George Whitefield during the great awakening of the 740s. I look at this man I say how did he retain his heat? In the light and the heat how did he retain his love here was a man he was involved in some of the greatest successes as well as some of the greatest trials.

One day he finished preaching and he wrote, I was honored with having stones, dirt, rotten eggs, and pieces of dead cat thrown at me today. He was attacked by formal clergy. He would be crisscrossing the ocean back and forth as he would go to England and preach then come back to England and preach but there was a lesser-known awakening that was happening in Wales at the time. Amazing things were happening with men like Daniel Rowland and Howell Harris and there was this one man Howell Harris who was this fiery Welsh Calvinistic preacher and he would preach and preach and he met Whitfield one day and Years later. He's writing a letter To John Wesley after having met George Whitfield listen to what he says and think about this for a moment after meeting George Whitfield he says the very first words out of George Whitfield's mouth do you know that your sins are forgiven you?

George Whitefield wasn't interested in tell me the latest on what's happening and well he was interested he took him all the way back to the cross. Do you know that your sins are forgiving you? That's all that matters. How did George Whitfield retain the heat? He never got far from the cross.

How does the Apostle Paul when he's writing to Timothy we heard last week, I Finished my course I fought a good fight from this point henceforth There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me At that day, how did he retain the heat? He never got far from the cross That's my, if you remember nothing else, go back to the cross. Remember these things. And this man, Howell Harris, said, this question astonished me, having never heard the like before. He goes on to say this, he says, repent.

Remember, repent. And what he's challenging them to do is he says, you need an inward heart change. This is what you need most of all. Repent is not just saying you're sorry and continuing. What you need is a heart change, repentance, which will result in an outward change.

But you can't make the outward change, okay, I'm just going to double my efforts and preach twice as hard. No, repent. This is an inward work that has to take place Don't be sad and say oh, yeah, let's not all lick our wounds after but repent turn back to God Don't you see his arms extended? What a Savior? He's saying repent turn back to me and you'll find me waiting for you.

This is awesome. And then he goes on to say this, renew, he says, and do the first works. Remember, repent and renew or do the first works and there's some something here about simplicity you know you remember that simple life that you had with God those first works that were accompanied by love it was it was everything that you were doing he says go back and do those works those early works with the early spirit now that you've repented, now that you've remembered, go back to those things and do them again. And you will find true life. Because they weren't happy, were they?

How could they be happy? Doing the toil and labor that they were doing when Christ wasn't the primary mover in their hearts It's impossible and mom when you're homeschooling or dad when you're laboring or when you're out preaching whatever it is make sure Christ is at the center of even the most mundane things. Well, how serious is this? He says, or else, or else. This is not a suggestion.

This is not advice. He says, if you don't do this, or else, I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent." Now, now we can't be unelected, we know that, we can't be unadopted, you can't, that can't happen. You know, Christ, he saves and you're saved, But what's happening is that if the termites of neglect are allowed to continue their work, the church itself will be snuffed out, taken away. Ichabod, the glory of the Lord has departed, will be written over the door, spiritually speaking. You might be whatever you want to be out on the front, on the sign, but in the eyes of God, The glory of the Lord has departed.

It's a terrifying prospect to consider the shuttering of the church again Not that the building isn't there not that the people aren't gathering not that they think they're having lively services and awesome preaching But Christ is no longer there Did that happen here? Where's the church of Ephesus today? History says that after getting this letter, they rose up in their love for Christ. It was unbelievable the change that happened, but over the course of another few years, it dissipated again. And Ephesus is not only no longer a church It's no longer even a city you go to Ephesus and all you do is you walk among the ruins There's really nothing there at all, but he ends with this in verse 7.

He says with the consolation So we've heard his commendation, we've heard his condemnation, now we see his consolation. He who has an ear, Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. This is an echo from the Gospels. You remember when the Lord Jesus would preach, you remember that?

Oftentimes he would end it with he who has an ear to hear, let him hear. This is how he would often preach. These are the words of Christ. And in this verse, this verse is different from 1 to 6. In that verse, 1 to 6 is speaking to the church of Ephesus.

But then he goes on not to just speak to the Church of Ephesus. He's speaking now to everyone who will read these letters to these churches. Individual believers, not even just individual churches, but he says those who have soft hearts that is evidenced by hearing. Ears to hear, that's who he wants to speak to. He says, him that overcomes, he that did remember, he that did repent, He that did renew those works, it's to you, to him that overcomes.

And there's so much confusion about this, you know, somehow there's some sort of classes of Christians, and there's overcomer Christians, and just regular Christians. No, there's no higher life. It's just simply Christians to him that overcomes. True Christians. He says, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

He says, I've come to undo the curse and to lift it and to accomplish that task. I've already accomplished it. The work has been done and there's coming a day when I will lift the curse and make everything new. That's what I want to reset you on today is eternity, but not just eternity in the midst of the paradise of God. This presence, the war is won, and you have this inheritance that's given to each of us.

What else is there at the end of the day? This is, remember the thing that when Christian was running through the city of destruction, what was he shouting? Do you remember what he was shouting? Life. Life.

Eternal life. And he would have his fingers in his ears as people were trying to discourage him from pursuing this course and This is what Christ resets them on life look to life And this is the problem as our human race all we've ever eaten is from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil But now he's extending the tree of life to those who will continue in the way. It's an awesome thing. So how do we end all of this? You could imagine that pastor that day saying, I think that's all I'm gonna read and roll up the scroll.

What would have been the feeling in the church? You know, how is it with you today, brother or sister or child, young man, young lady, those of you who know the Lord? See, the last thing I want you to say is, boy, those poor Ephesians. That would be an utter tragedy without considering where do we stand in relation to our love, our love for Christ. And it's not too late, that's what Christ is saying, it's not too late to turn in repentance to Him.

Because what's the most burdensome thing in the world is laboring without love. It's constantly filling up leaky cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Don't do that anymore. But go to Christ, sit at His feet like Mary. Meditate upon the things of God.

Because the stream that flows from love to Christ that will affect every other area of your life will affect your marriage It will affect your evangelism. It will affect your work. It will affect missions It will affect everything but without the love for Christ all those other things Or utter bankruptcy and mean absolutely nothing. That's what Paul was saying when he talked about the more excellent way, though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels and have not love. And so that's my advice, is the advice of Christ.

Remember, repent, renew. There's tremendous hope and fellowship awaiting those of us. And I just want to read in closing these last words of the song we sang earlier. Wondrous King, all glorious, Sovereign Lord Victorious, O receive our praise with favor, From Thee we'll God's kindness, though we in our blindness strayed from thee our blessed Savior strengthen now help us now let our tongues be singing thee our praise is bringing brother and sister do you know that your sins are forgiven you? God help us.

Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you that you are the one who pursues us, Lord, when we had strayed, when we were even as believers, Father, depleting our love for you, leaving it behind in our pursuit of other things, even good things. We ask you now to revive us, help us, oh Lord. I pray that you would not allow us to just leave unconcerned, but oh Lord, that you would revive us again. Oh, that we would remember that first love when you found us in our own blood Lord and you said live Live oh God.

May you please put that in us and make it all in all to us May it fuel everything that we're about in this world Love to Christ. Thank you Lord that your love is constant that you never forsake us that that it never wavered for a minute though we waver and stumble wax and wane oh Lord may you just be glorified in our midst We pray in Christ's name, amen. Amen.