It is not enough to just study and analyze. There should be.
Some indication that there's a fire burning inside of you that's personal. and this is the love that was missing from them. They successfully defended their church against the savages. but at the cost of love. Jesus said, because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
They'll get worn down, they're so busy fighting the lawlessness. that they fight it without love eventually. You're listening to Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now, here's Pastor Rick with his continuing message called Ephesus: Love Lost in Revelation chapter 2. Peter said this, and he said this about those who gave us the scripture. He said, That These men removed, holy men of God spoke, moved by the Holy Spirit.
Well, God didn't just do that now and no longer does that. He still does move in the hearts of those who speak. The word of God, who deliver his message. And a messenger he delivers He communicates what someone else has authored. That's what a messenger does: he delivers the message.
He didn't author it. Pastors ought to deliver A message. This was not only the case of Not only the case of New Testament pastors, this was the way it was in the Old Testament also. If the natural man is to receive spiritual things from God, he will do it through God's people as a rule. And God's people, as a rule, have a shepherd.
And the shepherd's role is vital. to the church's survival. And this is who God is saying. I want to address this to the pastor because he's going to be the one that speaks to the people, and they're all going to get it. Malachi chapter two Now, this is an Old Testament priest that's being spoken of here, not to be confused with all these other types of priests that exist throughout the ages.
To Malachi in chapter 2, God says, for the lips of a priest should keep knowledge. and people should seek the law from his mouth. For he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts.
So, it's not a new theory, it's in scripture. There's precedence, and that's important to learning what's going on here.
Now there are many good commentators. They don't agree with this. Look, it's their prerogative to be wrong. I'm, you know. But there are many others.
So, a lot of these areas, you know, they don't match exactly, and I'll hit some of them with pleasure from time to time. I expected a little chuckle at the with pleasure. Mm-hmm. This church in Ephesus As I mentioned, gifted. In her beginnings Apollos preached there.
Aquila and Priscilla Pulled him aside and said, Listen, you're a little off on your message about the gospel. And he responded. He didn't. Push against them. which is a testimony to his character also.
Timothy and Tychicus, they ministered there. Paul spent three years ministering in Ephesus, and John, according to church history, ended his years on earth there in Ephesus and was buried in that city. The only church that we have in the scripture that has two significant letters addressed to it. by two different people. We have two letters to the Corinthians, but Paul's the author of both in Thessalonica, same thing.
But we have to the Ephesians a church from Paul. And then this letter from Christ. These things, says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand.
Now, we covered that last chapter in verse 20, speaking of the pastors. We're told that. And to hold the stars is to hold the power. Christ has the power. And if you have no love, where's your power coming from?
power to do what God wants. Who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands?
Well, it tells us also in the same verse in the last chapter that these are the churches. But that he moves in the midst of the golden lampstands means he's present and he is active. The dominant emblem of Christianity is the cross of Christ. The dominant emblem of the church is the lampstand. to bring the light to the world.
And he holds the pastors and moves without restriction in the midst of his churches. His assemblies. He's here right now. In verse 2, 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 they are apostles and are not. and found them liars. You gotta love that direct language. They're liars. They're not mistaken, they might be that too.
But a mistake is not always intentional, whereas a lie is.
Someone can be wrong about something doesn't mean they're lying. But a liar is Of course, wrong because they're not telling the truth. The truth gets in the way of Satan. and his people.
Well, Christ always knows what's going on in the church and The movement between the lampstands is not for nothing. May we not waste it. When he mentions your labors, well they put effort into their faith.
Now, this word labors, well, he says, I know your works, I know your labors. Which is Here a Greek word that we get our English word agony from. Ergon in the Greek And he says, I know your work. And the agony. The hard work, the toil.
Your patience. That's that inner resolve to put up with other drivers. I mean, put up with. Yeah. Delays, yes.
Uh and uh setbacks. In other words, they did not quit. They work hard. And they kept at it. These three words, works, labor, and patience, are found together in Paul's Thessalonian letter, which is very informative for us as Christians.
Any lazy Christians here, raise your hand. No, don't. But Maybe you are offended at the thought of lazy. You would know why you would be offended if that offends you. It's not meant.
by me to offend you. But That's the adaj. goes if the shoe fits. Wear it. And maybe um Try to fix it.
Anyway, coming back to this Thessalonian quote. Paul wrote to them, remembering without ceasing your work. of faith, labor of love. And patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our God and Father, Now, what's remarkable about that is that that church in Thessalonica was remarkable. One of the excellent churches in the New Testament.
They're good and bad, and this is one of the great ones. He says here He continues Jesus speaking. And that you cannot bear those who are evil.
Well, Ignatius, one of the ancient church fathers, wrote a letter to the Ephesians also. It's not considered scripture, it's okay reading. And he mentions these things about Ephesus also. He also ends his letter while he has it in there that this was a great church. being that it was written after John wrote This revelation is an indication that they got their act together.
at least for a while. They're intolerant of evil people. properly close-minded to sanctimonious impersonators. He says, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not.
Well, they were intolerant of frauds.
So far, so good. I'm liking this church. I want to attend this church so far. With more Christians And more churches behave this way. But you look at some of the people that are out there.
That have so many advocates, and you just scratch your head. How could any Christian attend that church? You'll say that how could any Christian vote for certain people? This is what gets us in trouble. When strong people allow weak people to get away with doing wrong.
Everybody suffers more. Life's hard enough when you get it all right.
Well, anyway. Talking about Discernment and acting on the discernment. It's not enough to say, that guy is false in his teachings. It'll go skipping down the road. 1 John 4, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Well, the faithful are unable to stomach heretics. They just can't. That's what happened with Laodicea. When the Lord says, You know, I'm going to spit you out of my mouth. I can't stomach this.
They said no, this church in Ephesus, to the onslaught of pagan demands. Whereas Progamus and Thyatira They caved. Unbelievers Always trying to get us to stop behaving like believers. Not every single time.
Some just, you know, fine, do as you want, but then there are others that are active. And they would accuse us of being hypocrites for yielding to the very temptations they threw in our way. We're going to tempt you with something, and if you cave in, you're a hypocrite. No, if I cave in, I might just be weak. Caving in is different from Well, no, let me back that up.
Being weak is different from being an active hypocrite. And I'll come back to that one. And found them liars.
Well, they were likely claiming that I'm sent from the church. Probably or possibly. But not likely claiming I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ because We're some 60 years away from the crucifixion.
So the claim of, so there are two types of apostles in the church: the ones who are sent out by the church and the 11 handpicked by Jesus Christ. And uh I don't think that they were claiming that. Who knows, though? You know, when you get a fraud, They're not bound by decency. Charlatans still nest in pulpits.
Not this one, I hope. And silly people enable, finance, and defend them. to this day. Paul prophesied again 40 years ago when he was meeting with the elders of this church. about the wolves that they would face.
Coming from within, Acts 20, verse 29, I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Acts twenty verse thirty-one Therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. with passion. Passion is a part of our faith. Miss I know some are more, you know, emotional than others, but even those that are very analytical should have somewhere in there walk passionate expression of the faith.
It is not enough to just study and analyze. There should be.
Some indication that there's a fire burning inside of you that's personal. and this is the love that was missing from them. They successfully defended their church against the savages. But at the cost of love. Jesus said, Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
They'll get worn down. They're so busy fighting the lawlessness. that they fight it without love eventually. And that is not What we're to do, and that is what. this church is being called out on.
that they're upholding Many doctrines But the doctrine of love With which, if you go forward without You have nothing. It's going to end up working against everything. And so we have to make Distinctions between theological differences and heresy. And for example, Heresy goes against scripture, denies essential doctrines of our faith, and there's no way to reconcile them. Uh they are Irreconcilable.
A heretic denies the Christ, his deity, for example. And he is used as Satan, often they become apostates.
However, That's heresy. There are doctrinal differences, charismatic gifts.
Some might say, well, the tongues ended with the apostles. And some say, no, they're still ongoing.
Well, that doesn't make you a heretic to take one side or the other. Eternal security, once saved, always saved, for example. If you don't believe that, If you say, well, I can lose my salvation or I can't lose it, neither one of those makes you a heretic. The rapture of the church. If you say, well, I don't believe the church is going to be, you may be wrong in some of these, but it doesn't mean you're a heretic.
You could be. But it would be because of other reasons.
So, we have to make those distinctions: theology, heresy, and then there's a third category. Conviction.
Someone may feel Convicted or convinced that they have to wear a suit to church on a Sunday.
Well, there's no sin in that. It's not heresy. That's their conviction. But If they try to make it law of God, Now it's no longer their conviction. It's creeping into bad doctrine, perhaps even at some point heresy, when you begin to say you can't be saved because you're not wearing a suit the church.
Now I've never come across anybody like that, but it helped makes my point. I've come to some close ones though.
So verse 3, and you have persevered. And have patience. and have labored for my name's sake, and have not become weary.
Well, they were still going strong in the faith. And again, they don't know that their love is damaged. And that if they don't fix it, it will eventually overtake them. They will die on the vine. Love is that source, that direct source to Christ, agape love is.
comes from God, like the fire that came down on the altar from God to Moses, the Jewish first altar, that fire that came from heaven.
Well, that's agape love also.
So Failing, coming back to hypocrisy, failing to be strong is not hypocrisy. Choosing to lie about what you criticize others for is hypocrisy. If you say that I don't do this, And you are a sinner because you do it. But you do do it. And you don't care that you do it.
Now you've coming into Hypocrisy. and have become weary. Pardon me, have not become weary. Plenty of energy in that flock. Outwardly everything that should be there was visible.
As except the love that only Jesus could really discern for us that it was absent.
So as far as the world could see, they were devoted to their religion. as far as a Christian could see. This was a remarkable church, and these commendations that Christ is giving them, they're remarkable. But then verse 4 comes. Nevertheless, what a it's like a clap of thunder.
It's a deceiving word potentially because it sounds like it's all, but like it's not going to be a big thing. Nevertheless, you know You have a horrible wardrobe. No, that that would have been harmless enough, but it's much more powerful. Nevertheless, I have this against you. that you have left your first love.
devastating pronouncement. Here is the sickness. The next verse will give the remedy. Works labors, patience, and tolerance of evil. Discernment Enforcement.
So many good things that a lot of churches lacked. were very pronounced in this church. Can you imagine? The shock and the horror that blanketed. That passed his heart when he was told he was failing the Lord and therefore failing the flock.
If he was a man of God and this was the critique on his church, it would have been hard. He's probably saying, Man, I put so much into this ministry, so much of me, I don't even know who I am anymore. And then Yeah well you're failing. Uh I don't mind if you criticize other churches. Don't criticize this one.
I have this against you.
So God is opposed to him now. But that church.
Solid Bible study. had failed in its application. You can learn the scripture, you can quote the scripture, you can argue the scripture. and still fail If you're not doing it out of love. You know, some of those Christians that just want to argue Christian points to show you how smart they want you to think they are, and there's no love coming from them.
Their points may be right to some degree, But they're dying on the vine. This one charge against them was so significant that the Lord threatened to disown them. That is how serious it was. I'm going to take your lampstand from you. You won't be a church anymore.
You might be a community center. You might be a crowd. But you won't be the Ecclesia. Under my lordship. You have left your first love.
This wasn't the fault of God they left. This was not Paul's generation incidentally. That 40 years ago that Paul ministered there, most of them are dead and gone. This is that next generation, which is a challenge to the younger Christians. Right now, you're in a church with a lot of people love on the Lord.
Where are you going to be forty years from now? Are you gonna be loving on the Lord? You're going to be loveless? You're going to be an apostate? By leaving their first love, they left their best love.
Loving Jesus became white noise to them. You know, white noise is like you know, y the refrigerator making a noise in your home. You don't even hear it anymore. It's just a common noise in the background. It does not draw any attention.
That was love. They could preach on it. But it lost its vitality. Its presence was diminished. The foreground became the background.
They had it backwards. Paul was writing about some. widows in the church younger widows, females. who had grown wanton. And he said, having condemnation because they have cast off their first love.
Which is Christ. There's nothing if you have no love for Christ. Did you get you how can you be a Christian? Paul said, if they do not love the Lord, let them be anathema. Pretty serious deal.
Peter? Do you love me?
Well A love Peter thought he had. found out that he did not have it. But he gained it after Pentecost and he never lost it after that. Busy Martha works without adoration. Luke chapter 10.
This is, of course, Mary. Mary, the crowd comes over to her house, the Lord is teaching. Mary says, I'll go hungry. I just want to hear this word. And Martha says, no, we've got company.
We've got to do this. This is the etiquette. This is what we all do. We'll be shamed. Mary says, Okay, I'll be over here.
So Martha, Martha, when she appealed to Christ, make my sister come help. And he says, Martha, Martha, you know. You are worried and troubled about many things. Church of Ephesus. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her.
So they kept the leaven out. With the love too. This has me examining myself. I read about this church. Am I losing my love for you, Lord?
Maybe I'm not emotional about it as before. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm losing my love. Ephesus could be us. To repeat. If we're not careful.
Now they had not drifted into apostasy. They stayed away from it.
Well, having lost a love, they were not going to drift back into that love. They had to take action. It had to be deliberate. It was necessary. They had their role to play.
and staying passionate about Christ. That's why, when you see someone who's been a Christian in a short period of time and they want to teach and all this, it's like, you know, come talk to me 15 years from now. When life has slapped you around the room a few times, you then come back and tell me about Scripture and divorces and marriages and death and all the other things that go with life as a Christian. How about singing without feeling? Is that always an indication of lovelessness?
Not at all.
Now we gotta be a little careful here. The fact that you're concerned, I don't feel like I used to feel when I sing, is an indication you do love the Lord, you do care. Keith Green, my eyes are dry, my faith is old. My heart is hard, my prayers are cold. Powerful song.
and I know how I ought to be. alive to you and dead to me. What can be done for an old heart-like mind?
Soften it up. with oil and wine. You have to do something about it. And it doesn't necessarily mean you're doing something about it's going to bring you instant results, but that sure is a lot better than being satisfied with being numb when it comes to worshiping your Lord. I encourage some, you know, it's something.
There's something beautiful about learning how to worship in song. The time we Christians get to throw some emotion into what we're doing. Is when we worship the Lord in song. It is a good thing to hold the hands up, not out and slap the guy in the face next to you. Which might be called for, but not in the sense of, you know, when we worship like that, what we want to be careful is that we don't draw attention to ourselves and therefore away from Christ.
Yeah. This has been Cross-Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston. This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreferenceradio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings.
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Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello.
