Restoring the First Love — Revelation 1-3

0:00 Father God, we we would seek to glorify you and honor our precious Lord Jesus Christ and turn our focus towards him, and and he he is surely is our living hope. And so we pray that you'd bless the meeting this morning and help help us to do that. Turn turn your eyes upon Jesus, and that's that's our heart's desire, lord. So we pray for your help in this. In Jesus name, amen.

0:27 Well, as it's the seventh chapter of Ephesians, we have to kind of chuckle at calling it the seventh chapter. I prefer to call it the second epistle of Ephesians. So, in Paul's ministry to Ephesians, I believe, I I know you may hear some different dates that float around, but I believe that he first went around fifty two AD, something like that. And and and and it was at the end of his of his second missionary journey, and and when he went there, he had Aquila and Priscilla with them, and they stayed in Ephesus and ministered during that time when Paul was gone. He didn't stay very long, but they stayed, and I believe that they were planting those first seeds for that church there in Ephesus.

1:30 Paul returned maybe one to two years later. Priscilla and Aquila were still there, and Paul ministered for close to two and a half years in Ephesus and laid that foundation for the church in Ephesus. It was probably five to six years after that, and Paul's in prison in Rome, and he writes the epistle, the first epistle, to the Ephesians. And it's beautiful. We've been spending a lot of time on heavenly the last few months, but it's so beautiful and so full of uplifting truth.

2:17 You would get the sense that, and Ephesus was a very thriving assembly and much blessing going on in Ephesus. And even after that, while Paul was in prison, possibly many think he was let loose and then was imprisoned again. Tradition says that back in Rome. And at that time he writes second Timothy and he speaks about having sent Tychicus to the Ephesians. So that's another piece of data.

2:56 Now after that, we don't, I don't think we hear much about Ephesus for a while now tradition tells us, this is not in the scriptures themselves, but tradition tells us that John, the apostle John, stayed in Jerusalem for a long time. Say almost to seventy AD when Jerusalem was destroyed. But then according to church tradition, John went into Asia and there he started some new local churches there and his center of operation was Ephesus. That's what tradition says. And it was from there that he was imprisoned and taken captive to the Island Of Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation, including the second epistle to the Ephesians.

4:12 Irenaeus, he was a church father dating in the second century. Irenaeus says that the book of Revelation was written sometime near the end of the reign of Domitian. Now Domitian died in ninety six AD, so we would assume that Revelation was probably written ninety four, ninety five AD, if you just follow those dates back to when Paul was establishing the church in Ephesus, you would see that at the time that this second epistle to Ephesus, to the Ephesians was written was about forty years after Paul first showed up in Ephesus. Okay, we're not looking at a church that was just established. We're talking church that's been around a while and maybe a little bit fixed in its ways.

5:24 And so I was kind of pondering my mind, so maybe that's a little bit like Westlake, Didn't we, not too long ago, celebrate our fiftieth anniversary here of the church in Westlake? And so maybe, as we read about this letter, read this letter to Ephesus, maybe we could take it as a letter to Westlake. Maybe that would be a good healthy way of looking at it. So let's turn to Revelation chapter two. I'm going to read a couple of verses from Revelation chapter one.

6:43 And then I'm gonna skip down to sixteenth verse. He had in his right hand seven stars. Then, I'm gonna skip down to the twentieth verse. The mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.

7:05 The seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. So we obviously have a vision, a symbolic vision here in which God would have us view the churches, the seven churches. I'm gonna say they're representative of maybe any local church. The seven churches in Asia. Let me make this remark first.

7:35 The seven churches were actual churches. These letters were actual letters that are written to them. But we're living, whatever, two thousand, nineteen hundred years later, we're living here and it's still applicable to us. That's why I'm trying to word it like I'm saying it. So, seven churches were lampstands.

8:04 In the old King James, says candlesticks. I kinda like the candlesticks. It's kind of a cool way of seeing them. But the lampstands are light givers, right? And so the implication is that as God has placed us wherever he's placed us, we're lights in this world, aren't we?

8:28 And this particularly is speaking about fellowship of believers that are, as a group, being a light in this world. In that local church, there would be those that are responsible. This could be the elders, but I don't think I would limit it to the elders. I was kind of playing with the idea of what would the angels be, because they were not angel angels. They were, it's footnoted messengers in my margin here.

9:07 They were the ones that were sent with, message was being sent for them, they were messengers. So they were to deliver that message. So maybe I'm a messenger, maybe I'm an angel. Well, is that stretching a little bit? It's not stretching the idea, I don't think.

9:30 The idea is that there would be those that would speak to the church and try to bring God's message there. And it's my hope that as I read this letter to the Ephesians that you and I will take it to heart and say, Yeah, that's good for me. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. Notice that the idea is that he has authority over those lampstands, and he's making his proclamations here to them. He walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.

11:03 That's authority, isn't it? His authority. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has ears, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. To him that overcomes, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

11:27 Seems to be pointing almost back to the wonderful condition in the Garden Of Eden as man was first made. Some way we're going to return to something for that, aren't we? Okay, so he starts off as the writers often did with complimentary. And so I like the way he does this you you might say, well, Ephesus is really in bad shape, aren't they? And yet there was that about Ephesus that he complimented very, very sincerely and it was very good.

12:14 So let's see what the compliment is. I know your works and your labor. Works and labor. The desire to serve the Lord was there in Ephesus. I know your works and your labor, your patience, footnotes it, perseverance, your patience, and you cannot bear those that are evil.

12:38 And he sort of gets onto this, you've tested those who are apostles and are not, and I've found them liars. And I'm just gonna refer you to the sixth verse, which is kind of part of it. But this I say, you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. So the determination that there would be purity of doctrine, that they'd be separate from evil, maybe perhaps that is speak of moral evil, that there would be a proper holy testimony for the Lord in this gathering. Third verse, you persevered.

13:18 You have patience. You've labored for my name's sake and not become weary. So I would look at that and I kind of say, wow, that sounds like a pretty healthy assembly, doesn't it? And in many respects, I think it was. But of course, we know from the next verse that there was a problem.

13:42 And we know that it wasn't like an obvious problem. It was a problem more with the heart. And that's what he's digging at in this letter. This is where he's going with this letter. He says, Nevertheless, I have this against you that you've left your first love.

14:05 You've left your first love. I'll go ahead and read the next verse, but I wanna talk about the fourth verse. Remember therefore from where you've 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. Okay, so nevertheless, I have this against you that you've left your first love. So what is first love?

14:31 What are we talking about here? Well, I think if remember we for ourselves, you know, I have to admit this, I was saved as a little child and it's been more than seventy years ago that the Lord saved me. Seventy years ago, and I don't know how well I remember that. I was only about four or five years old, something like that. And yet, I believe I really trusted in the Lord Jesus.

15:10 And I can remember a sense of peace. That's what I sort of remember from that time. But first love is that attraction of your heart where you first trusted in Jesus and you have such relief from the conviction of sin that was with you. Even as a little boy, I had a conviction of sin. My mother was pretty good at bringing that about.

15:42 I had been naughty the day that I got saved. And the Lord used that to my conversion. But I had peace after I had gotten down on my knees beside my mother and asked the Lord Jesus to please be my savior. I had real peace in my soul. And it was a time of happiness.

16:09 I wonder perhaps if some who've gotten saved when they were older, they have a little bit different experience. And sometimes it's stronger. But there's something about that first, when you're first saved, the Lord is just so precious to you. Now, in the Old Testament, it illustrated this as the attraction of lovers together. And the Lord used this as an illustration.

17:05 Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem saying, Thus says the Lord, I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal when you went after me in the wilderness in a lamb not sown. The Lord speaking here, Israel was holiness to the Lord, the first fruit of His increase. All that devour Him will offend, disaster will come upon them, says the Lord. So the Lord is comparing their love for Him to the love of a bride. And then, obviously, they had the same problem that Ephesus had because the Lord brings a rebuke to them.

17:54 Fourth verse, Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord, what injustice have your fathers found in me, God speaking, that they have gone far from me, have followed idols. They've become idolaters. Neither did they say, 'Where is the Lord who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed and where no one dwelt. So the Lord is saying to them, Why are you turning away from me?

18:37 Why are you turning to idols? Why are you doing that? Is there something I've done? Of course, God is asking that question to try to prick their own consciences. Interesting, isn't it, that God would use that as the illustration?

18:53 Now, I'm gonna just jump to the thirteenth verse because it might give us a little bit of help. For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and they have hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Two things. First of all, their hearts had turned away from the Lord.

19:27 And second, they had tried to find other sources of soul pleasure. And the Lord is rebuking them for that. Now, if God could use the illustration of a bride and a bridegroom, if he could use that from the Old Testament, how much more so in the New Testament when the Church is looked out as the bride of Christ and the Lord say, Can't you love me in that way? The freshness of first love, the thing, He really loves me. He really loves me.

20:08 He loves me enough that He did that. And that is kind of the picture. We might get that idea if we read, I'm not gonna read it now, but in Ephesians five, where it speaks about the man and his wife and how they're a picture of Christ in the church. Now, picture to try to illustrate the first love is found in Luke chapter, I think it's Luke chapter 10, yes. Luke chapter 10, if you wanna turn to Luke chapter 10.

20:45 Luke chapter 10 and verse 38. Now it happened as they went that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary who sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha was distracted with much serving and she approached him, Jesus, and said, Lord, do you not care that my sisters left me to serve alone? Never tell her to help me.

21:16 And Jesus answered and said, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. So what was it that Mary did? Well, it says that she sat at Jesus' feet and she heard his word. And perhaps the idea would be this, that she just, her heart's desire was towards Jesus, the great Savior.

21:52 Her heart's desire was toward him. She sat at his feet, that is perhaps a worshipful listening position, and she heard his words. She was listening to him. His words were precious to Mary, and God calls it the good part. And God just says to Martha, Martha, just too worried about these other things.

22:17 This is the way I want you to be. I want you to be sitting at my feet listening to my word. Well, maybe we could use that as an example that would help us to realize how we might recover first love. Are we going to sit at his feet and listen to his words? Are we gonna put him first in our hearts and in our lives?

23:09 For the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus that if one died for all, then all died, and he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. Do we have in mind in our lives, do we have in mind that this savior has died for me. Is that something we keep in mind as we go about our lives? He's died for me, and he's risen again from the dead, and I just want to be occupied with him. Well, is what God says.

23:58 He says, The love of Christ compels us. The love of Christ compels us. It's an energizing force to bring us along in our pathway of following God. I'd like to offer three helpful hints as to how we might be able to live in first love in our home. My first suggestion would be that we be faithful in having our daily quiet times with the Lord.

24:41 Now, I can recall this, and I think you'll say, What a blessing for me. I can recall this that my parents, my dad used to go to work oftentimes before I got up, so I'm speaking more of my mother. My mother is very faithful, not only to read the Bible herself every morning, but also to read it to us. Matter of fact, that's what actually led to my salvation, I believe. Daily quiet times, meditating upon the love of the Lord.

25:20 Now, I'm just gonna quote this for the sake of time. In Romans 12, we're exhorted to make our lives a living, giving yourselves a living sacrifice unto the Lord. And then, in Romans twelve:two, it says, I said it, I'm not gonna turn to it, but my quarter just went out on me. Romans twelve:two, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And I believe that those quiet times that we have in our daily Bible readings or whatever we want to call them, those quiet times when we sit and meditate on God's word and concerning the Savior, they have that transforming effect on our spiritual lives.

26:31 So we're transformed by the renewing of the mind. We've spent some time thinking and meditating on what the Lord has done. I do not think anybody will flourish in their Christian life unless they make some sort of a habit of daily. I have to chuckle just a little bit because I was at one point, was I was really, getting on to my son Nathan for not having his quiet time. And he said to me, he says, Oh, dad, you don't understand.

27:05 When I first get up, I just, I can't think about anything. I had to kind of chuckle because each one of us is different, right? Well, he said, But dad, he says, I really do. When I take my breaks at whatever school or work, wherever it was, when I take my breaks, I do really take time to read a little bit and pray. Alright, alright, you don't have to do it my way, but it's good to have your daily quiet time with the Lord.

27:30 So I have to say, it doesn't have to be... I've heard of some people that get up. I think this is Bob actually. He tells, Don't you get up at 06:00 in the morning or is it five? See, don't even have a half where there really is.

27:52 Bob, that's very good. I'm a poor sleepy head and I don't get up until 07:00. You know, it is so important that we do that. Okay, the next hint is that the Lord has provided for us a weekly meeting where we can sit down and remember the Lord Jesus and his death, his suffering for us. We call it the breaking of bread or some people call it the communion meeting.

28:57 One Corinthians 11. This is the Apostle Paul saying, This is what the Lord told me. Apostle Paul says, eleven twenty three, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread. And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take heed. This is My body which is broken for you.

29:25 This do in remembrance of Me.' In the same manner, He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament, New Covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So the Lord Jesus, I noticed the cups are still sitting here on the table here. But the Lord Jesus had taken the time, at the time of the last summary, taken the time to sit down with the, in this particular case, with the 12 disciples and he took the bread and he broke it and he said, Remember how my body was broken for you. This is my body which is broken for you.

30:19 So we have a remembrance and we stop and we consider what the Lord has done. And then the second one was the cup. We take that and drink it. And he said, This is my blood which is shed for you. Now, I think it's important that we try to think of what significance is.

30:47 So here in the bread we have the idea of the Lord's sufferings, how he was broken for us, we get the deepness of what he went through. And that's important for us to remember, he did that for us. The second thing is emblem, the cup. And that's a little bit different nature of a remembrance because it has to do with redemption, has to do with the work of Christ. So we sit down and in taking that cup, we remember that His blood was shed for us and it is the redemption for our sins.

31:27 It's the remembrance to us of what the Lord Jesus has done for us. What a precious remembrance that he's given to us. Now, one of the neat things about the breaking of bread, the way that we do it here, we sit, you sit, and various ones can participate in thoughts during the breaking of bread. One of the neat things about that is we all have our ups and downs in life. And sometimes we had a bad week and sometimes we had a pretty good week.

31:58 And sometimes we had really close fellowship with the Lord, other times not quite so close. And so when we get together, I may have had a bad week, but you might have had some really, really precious times in your quiet times that you had appreciated the Lord and so you come to breaking bread and your basket's full. So I don't have too much to share. My basket's not very full, but you've been really enjoying the Lord. And so I get to benefit from your full basket.

32:43 The Lord has granted us this way that when we come, we all do it together. It's a communion. We do it together and God help me that there's someone always has a full basket that can share of God's Word. And so, it is, we're told to do it. The Lord commanded that, to do it.

33:30 I'll see if my quote is still working. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

34:03 The Lord stated to us that this is going to happen and are we in expectation? Am I living in the expectation of it? Now, I'm gonna make these available afterwards. I've made about 19 copies, I think, here. But perhaps today.

34:24 And I did it for myself. And then I made some copies. And if anybody would like to have this to kinda help remind yourselves that is imminent, his coming is imminent, it could be today. It wouldn't have to be tomorrow, it could be today. And it could be even more soon than that.

34:48 It could be before I finish this message. The Lord help us to have the expectation of the Lord Jesus' return. In Revelation twenty-two 20, he says, Jesus says, Behold, I am coming quickly. And in Revelation twenty-two 20, there's a response. He says, Amen.

35:16 Even so, come, Lord Jesus. And may that be the response of our hearts. God help us. Okay, back to our portion in Revelation two. I'll try to get through here in the next five minutes, okay?

35:31 I'll try. Okay, Revelation two, the warning. This verse, Remember therefore from where you've fallen, repent and do the first work. So I'm just gonna say, what is the solution to this? To repent.

35:49 Have a change of mind. Turn your heart towards the Lord. Have a change of mind. Or else he says, I'll come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place. The loss of testimony, no longer able to be the testimony to the Lord.

36:08 That's not what we want, is it? Well, what started in Ephesus as leaving your first love ends up in Laodicea with a spiritual disaster. Now, we're gonna turn for a minute to Laodicea, and I'm gonna just try to just read the next chapter, the third chapter, the fifteenth verse. The same Son of Man who stood in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, the Lord Jesus, he speaks. He's talking to the Laodicean church.

36:52 I know your works, He's talking to Laodicean Church. Isn't that? It doesn't say I'll spit you out of my mouth. It's like there's just an automatic response that can't be controlled almost, so to speak. I'll vomit you out of my mouth.

37:19 I think it's staggering, actually. I will vomit you out of my mouth because you say, I'm rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Quite a characterization, isn't it? Wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. The disaster of Laodicea.

37:55 The counsel, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with eyesalve that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent. Repent is this message again, isn't it? Be zealous and repent.

39:02 White garments, undefiled garments, holy righteous living perhaps? He's saying, Hey, put on righteous garments here. And finally, anoint your eyes with eye salve. That's perhaps would be, we're talking about spiritual insight, I think. Have we become blind perhaps to what God is saying to us?

39:31 He says, Anoint your eyes with eyesal. Perhaps seeing eyes could be gotten through God's Holy Spirit convicting us of sin through His word, through His holy word, anoint your eyes with I salve. Get into the word, let it work. Okay, in the next verse of the chapter, we're offered a solution. Well, first of all, it says repent.

40:01 And so in connection with repentance, we're offered a solution in the twentieth verse. So here's the same son of man who just gave this terrible warning. He makes a provision for them. He says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me.

40:34 He says, You're infected here in Laodicea by this lukewarmness and it's led to all kinds of undesirable traits in your lives and real sin in your lives. And so he says, You need to repent. And it's as though he said, I wanna encourage you. I wanna encourage you because I'm standing at the door of your heart, I suppose. And that knock is for a purpose.

41:12 It's that we might wake up and open the door and let him in. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I'll come in to him, and I will dine with him and he with me. So the Lord help us that we might hear the knock and open the door. Okay, one last thing, I said I would, five minutes, and I just finished five, but I wanna make one last point back in Revelation two, and this is my point.

41:50 This ends in talking about the overcomer. So Revelation two:seven. Now, please, I believe that part of the point would be that it is individual. That if there's going to be a work within the church, it's gotta start with every one of us individually. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.

42:24 And then the promise to the overcomer, the one that's repented, the one that's opened the door, the knocking of the door, he's opened the door and he's dining with God. What is that like? To him that overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. And that is so sort of symbolic that I was trying to think, what does it really mean? Well, I'm gonna just give you what I wanna think it means, okay?

43:03 That the tree of life would be Jesus himself. The tree of life would be Jesus himself. Are we willing to repent of the coldness of our hearts? Are we willing to repent? And if we do, God is saying, you know, I'll feed you with something that'll satisfy your soul.

43:30 I'll feed you with something that'll truly satisfy your soul. May God may we come to him in that. I thought about it's in the midst of the paradise of God. And I thought, well, it must be symbolic in a sense. And I thought, perhaps it even means that the terrible condition of man because of sin in the garden, that God's provided a way that you and I can...

44:37 And Lord, if I'm praying it for myself, I wanna pray it for each one here that we, we, would each one of us have the Lord Jesus as the priority and and and the object of our hearts and our lives. Satisfied with thee, Lord Jesus, we we are blessed. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you loved us and gave yourself for us, and we pray in your holy name. Amen.