[0:00] Before we open the book of Revelation, I'd like to just thank you for the warm welcome today. We're just grateful to be here with you and excited to serve with you and to open God's Word together. So let's do this.
[0:11] Let's go to Revelation chapter number two. And I'd like to share with you as we get started the story, a little backstory on the hymn, Come Thou Fount. And I think it's going to become evident why this song, to me, it just relates so well to Revelation chapter number two.
[0:27] You all are probably familiar with that song, and probably my favorite line is where it says, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Can anyone else relate to that?
[0:38] Right? There's times when it's like, man, things are, I'm really close to God and I'm walking with Him and I'm excited about going to church or reading my Bible or praying or sharing Jesus.
[0:48] But then there's other times where it's like, man, something just feels off on the inside. And what do we do during those times? What do we do? You know, the story behind that song, there was a gentleman named Robert.
[1:02] Let me get his name for you. Robert. I got it on the last page here. Robert Robinson. This guy was raised in London during the 18th century without a father. And so he ended up growing up on the streets in gangs.
[1:16] And it wasn't until he was 20 years old, excuse me, 17 years old, he heard George Whitefield preach. And God really began to get a hold of his heart. Now, he went to that church service where he heard George Whitefield preach.
[1:30] And he was planning on going and causing a ruckus because he and his buddies from the gang, they were going and they were just going to cause problems. They were not really there to hear or want to know anything about God.
[1:41] They were just there to cause problems. But he goes in there and God begins to get a hold of his heart. And three years later, he gets saved. A few years after that, he begins to serve in ministry.
[1:53] And he's pastoring a church. And he writes this song, Come Thou Fount. He writes those words. And he ended up pastoring for decades in one church.
[2:03] This was Stoneyard Baptist Church in Cambridge. He was the pastor there for 30 years. And then all of a sudden, he sort of fell, just fell away from God.
[2:15] And he just without any real reason, he became sort of unstable, unhappy. He got out of the ministry. And he was just kind of off to the wayside for years and years and years.
[2:26] And it's amazing to me that that type of thing would happen, right? Because we would all expect that, hey, if I'm faithful to God, I'm serving God, and I'm excited about God, and I'm here at church on Sunday night, then surely for years and years and years, I'm going to be close to God.
[2:45] I'm going to be walking with him. But the fact of the matter is, that's not always the case. And I'll tell you at the end what happens in his case, because that wasn't the end of the story. It's a pretty amazing conclusion.
[2:56] But there was a time when he was living those words, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. And this also happens with people in the Bible. There are people in the Bible that wandered a little bit.
[3:08] And we're going to talk about the Ephesian church tonight, and how they wandered, and how God, he calls them back and says, listen, come back to your first love. And I think there's some encouragement here for us tonight. So if you would, let's read Revelation chapter 2.
[3:21] We'll start out in verse number 1. Read down to verse number 7. The scripture says this, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, Now let's pause there for a second.
[3:57] And you notice all the good things that Jesus says. He says, I know you, and I know your labor, and all the things that you've done. I know all the good characteristics about you.
[4:09] Now read verse number 4 with me. Look what it says. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Is that a little bit, I don't know what the right word is.
[4:22] That's strong, that's shocking, that's kind of blunt, that Jesus would say, listen, you've got all of these good things going for you. You've labored, and you have tried those who teach bad doctrine.
[4:33] You've done well. You've done good. But I've got a problem. And here's the problem. You've left your first love. Hmm. Your first love. We're going to talk a little bit more about that, what that means in just a second.
[4:46] Let's continue reading down there in verse 5. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
[5:01] But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
[5:12] To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Would you bow with me for a moment? Let's pray and ask God to teach us as we open his word tonight.
[5:23] Father, we come to you, and we're just so grateful to gather, to sing praise to your name. And Lord, we want to ask you this evening, as we come to your word, that you would help us be ready when we might face times in our lives, when it seems like our love grows cold.
[5:43] Lord, you're inviting us back into a close, warm, intimate relationship with you. And Lord, I pray that if there's one here tonight, that perhaps they're maybe wandering a little bit in their heart.
[5:57] They're here. Their feet are here. Their body's here. And God, we thank you for that. But God, deep down, there's maybe some doubts, some fears, some worries, some struggles, some wondering whether or not you love them, whether or not this Christian life is even worth it.
[6:14] God, I pray that tonight they would draw close to you, that they would say, God, I just love you. Thank you for loving me. God, I pray we'd head back to our first love, that our love would not grow cold for you.
[6:27] We praise things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So if you want to take notes tonight, here's just a couple things that I'd like to share with you as we walk through this passage. Here's the first thing that I see.
[6:38] I see that God, He values your works. God values your works. This is one of the things that's kind of amazing. In a passage that's kind of maybe shocking or bold, right?
[6:48] Because He says, you've got a lot of good going on, but we've also got some things that we need to address. He doesn't leave off the first part where He values their works and what this church had done.
[7:02] Would you look back with me there at verse number one and let's notice some of the things that He says. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
[7:16] That's Jesus. He says, I know thy works. I know thy labor. I know thy patience. And how thou canst not bear with them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars.
[7:32] Look at some of those things. What does He call them? He says, you're a serving church. You're a group of people that is giving of yourselves. You're laboring. You're pouring your life out for the good of others.
[7:45] And is that not a noble thing to do? Is it not? It's a right thing to do to serve? Yeah, it is. But even with that, He says, you've done this and this is good.
[7:57] Now we've got to talk about something else. But that doesn't mean that to serve is a bad thing or a worthless thing. He says, I know your service. And that's good.
[8:07] It's an encouragement. He's encouraging them. It's also a sacrificing church. When it says they've labored, the idea there is they've toiled, they've worked to the point of exhaustion.
[8:18] They've just laid it all out on the line. They've laid it on the field saying, I love Jesus. I want to give and give and give and give and give. They've given to the point of exhaustion. They were sacrificing.
[8:29] They were steadfast. Here's a couple of other things. They were steadfast. Did you notice how He says that they stood firm when they were faced with those who were evil or who were false apostles?
[8:41] He says that in verse 2. How thou canst not bear them which are evil. That's a good thing. That if there are those that would come into the assembly promoting evil, bringing evil, He says we can't bear with that.
[8:55] We can't allow that. They were steadfast on the truth. And they were separated people. They were constantly watching for error. But here's the problem. Those are all good things.
[9:07] And God values all of those things. However, somewhere along the way, all the things that they were doing, they had lost their love. They lost the motivation.
[9:18] It was kind of like they were doing the same things, and they had gotten to the habit and the routine and the ritual of doing the right stuff and saying the right stuff. But somewhere along the way, the heart was gone.
[9:31] Do you see that? He says you're doing this, and you've done this, and you've labored, and you've sacrificed, and you've served, and you're separated, and you do all these things, and that's good. But friends, verse 4 comes in, and he says, Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
[9:48] Here's the second thing you may want to write down that really struck me. He says, you know, God values our works. He values our service to Him. No question about that. But most importantly, what does God want?
[9:59] God wants your heart. God wants your heart. He wants you. He wants a relationship with you. And that's one of the things that, to me, is just mind-blowing about the Bible, right?
[10:09] You have a God who has created all things. He knows all things. He is infinite. He's powerful. He doesn't need us, but He loves us, and He wants to know us, and He does know us, and He wants us to know Him.
[10:24] It's just an amazing thing that we can have a relationship with God. And He says, you've done all these things. Good. But I want your heart. I want your heart. Don't leave your first love.
[10:35] And who was their first love? That was Jesus, right? They had gotten saved under Paul's preaching. They had faced persecution, like our brother talked about tonight, where there were those in their city.
[10:48] Remember, in Ephesus, there were those that they made statues and shrines to their goddess, Diana. And there ended up being a riot and this whole uproar in the city, because Paul had come and he had preached that those silver shrines, they're not gods.
[11:03] There's only one true God. He's invisible, and He's over all, and He is to be worshipped. And they faced persecution because of that. But they had loved Jesus, and they had known Jesus, but somewhere along the way, they got off track.
[11:15] Now, here's maybe an example of how this happens. Maybe you've seen this in your own life. I know I've seen times in my life when my motivations have kind of gotten off track, gotten off focus.
[11:28] I think this reminds me of Martha. Remember that account, Mary and Martha? Let's turn back to Luke chapter number 10, and we'll read a few verses here as we look at this. Luke chapter number 10 speaks about a meal, a meeting, when Mary and Martha are there with Jesus.
[11:47] You have Lazarus. They are friends of Jesus. They've gathered together. They're hosting Jesus in their house, and there comes up a little bit of an issue, a little bit of a sibling rivalry, if you will, where Mary and Martha, they have two totally different approaches to this situation.
[12:08] You see, Mary, she just wanted to be with Jesus and hear the words of Jesus, and so she was sitting at Jesus' feet, and Martha, well, she was busy, and she was serving.
[12:19] And listen to what happens. She ends up becoming so frustrated that she comes to Jesus, and she has some choice words to share. This is just a really mind-blowing passage that this kind of conversation would happen, but I think it teaches us something about this idea of our first love being Jesus.
[12:39] Would you look with me there at verse number 38? It says this, Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
[12:52] And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. So imagine this. Imagine a living room. In modern times, living room.
[13:03] You got a couch. You got some armchairs. And maybe Jesus is sitting there in the corner, and he's talking, and he's teaching, and he's answering questions, and he's posing questions, and he's just speaking the truth of God.
[13:14] And Martha's there. You may be sitting somewhere on one of the couches, or maybe she had an ottoman. She's just sitting there and just listening. She's just soaking up every word that Jesus said.
[13:25] Now, Martha comes by, and she sees her sister, and she sees that she's just sitting there listening to Jesus. And to her, that is a problem.
[13:35] That is the problem. Why are you sitting there just listening to Jesus? Look at what she says. Verse number 40. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, does thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
[13:54] Bid her, therefore, that she help me. She comes to Jesus, and she sees a problem. I'm serving. I'm working. I'm getting food, and I'm taking drinks out to people, and I'm taking care of all of the things, taking the trash out, and washing the dishes, and doing all of this stuff.
[14:08] And my sister is just sitting there listening to Jesus talk, which is kind of funny to say. Isn't it funny when you say that out loud? Like, why would anybody be mad about somebody listening to Jesus?
[14:20] Isn't it good that people would listen to Jesus? Yes or no? Yeah, it is, right? It's good that people listen to Jesus. But Martha is ticked off, and she says, Jesus, don't you care that I'm serving, that I'm doing all this?
[14:35] I've got all this stuff going on, and she's just doing this. Tell her to get busy. And Jesus has an answer for her. And he very, it's like he rebukes her, but it's in a very gentle way.
[14:45] And he points out something that we've got to get a hold of. Look at this. In verse 41, And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.
[14:58] But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Think about what Jesus says. It says, Martha, listen, Martha, you have got so much on your mind.
[15:12] You're thinking about a lot of things. You have many cares. You're troubled. You're worried. You're stressed out. But listen, there's one thing that is needful. There's one thing that we need here in this situation, and that is for people to listen to the truth of God's word.
[15:29] People to listen to Jesus. And he says, what Mary has chosen, that's good. That's good for her to sit, to stop, and to listen. That's good, and it will not be taken away from her.
[15:40] That's pretty strong, isn't it? I'm not going to tell her to get up. I'm not going to tell her to go help you, because she has picked something good. Can I ask you this?
[15:51] Maybe as a little bit of a heart check, gut check, would those words, careful and troubled, describe your life? I know sometimes they describe mine, where it's like, I'm just going and going and going, and there's so many things that need to be done, so many things that need to be taken care of.
[16:09] I've got to worry about this. I've got to worry about that. And I wonder if sometimes, some days, Jesus might look at us and say, listen, you're careful, you're troubled about many things, but really, you know what matters right now?
[16:23] Is that you, and others around you, would just simply sit, and listen to Jesus. That you'd simply sit and hear.
[16:34] Now that's really hard for us, right? To just stop, to put the phone away, to quit texting people, to quit checking our email, to quit looking on Facebook, or all these different things that are going on, to just put that all aside, and say, there's one thing that matters.
[16:49] I want to hear and know Jesus. It's kind of a rebuke. Does that kind of sound like what the Ephesians had going on? They're serving, they're laboring, they're doing everything right, they're worried about their congregation, they're making sure everything's taken care of.
[17:03] But he says, you've left your first love. I see that in Martha. She's busy with all these different things, and she missed the most important thing, which was to hear and to love Jesus.
[17:15] Now eventually, I think she gets it right, because later on in the book of Luke, maybe you would jot this down, later on in, did I? I don't think I had that verse in there, I apologize.
[17:26] Later on in the book of Luke, you're going to see Martha in the same type of situation, hosting Jesus, having a meal, and there's a simple comment, Martha served. And I believe in that instance, she had gotten it down, I'm serving out of love.
[17:40] I'm not serving just because it has to be done, or out of duty, I'm just serving out of love. So, God wants our heart, God wants our heart, that we would choose the good part of hearing and loving Jesus.
[17:54] Now, let's move on a little bit further, because Jesus gives us the road back to love. Follow God's road back to love, that's kind of the last thing. We start out, and we know that God values what we do, but we have to realize that most of all, God wants your heart.
[18:10] So, what do we need to do when we find ourselves, our motivations have slid, have drifted, kind of like come thou fount said, hey, he said, prone to wander, Lord, I feel. Maybe we've wandered a little bit, we're serving out of duty, and not out of love for Jesus, simple love, just because we want to honor him.
[18:27] What do we do? We follow God's road back to love, and what does that look like? Let's go back there, to Revelation 2, and in verse number 5, is where Jesus gives three things, that he simply, he just simply lays out, and says, hey, this is where you're at, and this is how you get back, to simply loving, and knowing Jesus.
[18:48] Verse 5, remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick, out of his place, except thou repent.
[19:00] Did you notice the three things he says? Let's read that one more time, and let's pick them out, there's three verbs there. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works. Those three words stick out to me.
[19:11] Remember, repent, and do. Remember, repent, and do. Remembering, what's that about? That's about just getting back to the basics, right? We come to, sometimes you might come to a place in your life, where it's easy to forget, where you began in your Christian life.
[19:30] You know, we hear the story about somebody getting saved, and about their life being turned upside down, and radically changed. And I shared a little bit of my testimony this morning, when I was 15 years old. That's when that happened in my life.
[19:43] You know, there's something about that time, that just stands out to me. I remember going to church, and going to church was just fun. It was just exciting. And I couldn't wait to hear what the preacher was going to say from God's word.
[19:55] And I just wanted to be there, and to hear, and to know. I just wanted to soak it up. And then somewhere along the way, you get busy doing other things, and it's like, okay, coming to church, now this is sort of like a chore, because I got to make sure I talk to this person, and do this thing, and have this lesson prepared, and do all this other stuff.
[20:10] But there was something about that first, first few years, just wanting to know, and to love, and to follow Jesus. What was that like in your life? Think back to when you got saved.
[20:22] What was it like when the lights came on, and you understood that God loved you, and He sent His Son to die on the cross, and He paid it all for you? What was that like? How did you feel?
[20:33] What did you think? What was the focus? What was coming to church like? Was it drudgery, or was it exciting? You know, everything's new. It's kind of like this honeymoon phase, if you will, where it's like, man, I just want to know.
[20:46] I just want to get into it, and soak it all up, because it's so good. If you've come to a place where it's like, yeah, yeah, this is good. You know, studying the Bible is great, but man, I could just use a nap, right?
[21:02] And I could just, I just want a break, right? Maybe we might need to come back to a place, and say, why is this so good? Why do we come to church on Sunday night?
[21:12] Why do we come to church on a Thursday night? Why don't we do something else? Why do we spend all this time in talking about the Word of God? Why do we? Maybe you and I need to answer that for ourselves, and remember where we started.
[21:27] Remember what that is like. And then repent. Repent. When he says repent, that's, you know, changing our mind, changing a course of action, saying, I'm going this way, and I'm living out of duty, and I'm living because, I'm doing these things because I have to, instead of out of simple love for Jesus.
[21:46] Maybe we need to course correct and say, man, my motivations, God, my motivations have been wrong. I've just been thinking about this like something I have to do, and this is my ritual, this is my routine, but I need to go back and say, man, all of this, it's just motivated out of love because, God, I love you.
[22:03] Can I ask you that question? When's the last time you've simply come to God in prayer and said, God, I love you. God, I love you. Thank you for loving me. Repent.
[22:14] And he says, do the first works. Do the first works. What are the first works? Well, it's the stuff in the beginning. It's, it's motive, the first works, those first things that we, we did for Jesus, we just did them because it was a joy, and it was a privilege and an honor to, to serve Jesus.
[22:32] And I remember shortly after I got saved, you know, I just was amazed at anything they would let me do. You know, if they let me do the sound booth or the sound closet, I should say, that was awesome.
[22:45] If I got to take out the trash, that was great. Just to be entrusted with anything to help the gospel go forward. It was wonderful. But somewhere along the way, we start to grade these things.
[22:57] And it's like, well, this maybe is not worth my time, but this thing is. And, you know, I really want to do that. And I don't really want to do that. I think the first works are, I'm just here to love Jesus. I'm just here to serve Jesus.
[23:08] And it really doesn't matter what it is. I'm just happy to be a part because he loves me. I love him. I love you. I love the church family. And man, let's just do this thing together. Do the first works.
[23:21] Now, can I share with you the rest of that story? What happens with Mr. Robert, Robert Robinson? So at that time, when he had, after he had pastored for all these years, and after all of this had taken place in his life, and he began to drift away from God, he was riding a stagecoach.
[23:41] And he was the only other occupant, the only other rider in the stagecoach was a young lady. And she was humming, Come Thou Fount, the song that he had written all those years before.
[23:53] And she was wanting to talk to him and say, Yeah, I want to tell you about this song. It encouraged me so much. And, you know, God's used this in my life. And she's saying all of these things. And he's trying to change the subjects.
[24:04] As the story goes, he's trying to change the subject and say, Listen, can we talk about anything other than that song? And she finally just kind of corners and says, What do you think about this song? What do you think about this hymn?
[24:15] I love it. What do you think about it? And he says this. This is the quote. This blew my mind. He says, Madam, I am the poor, unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago.
[24:26] And I would give a thousand worlds if I had them to enjoy the feelings I had then. I would give anything to get back to that point, to get back to that place.
[24:38] But he just felt like too far gone. This guy, this guy was a preacher. This guy knew the Bible. But somewhere along the way, sounds like he had kind of left his first love.
[24:49] And this is what the young lady replied. This is just, man, this is amazing. Gently, she replied, Sir, the streams of mercy are still flowing. The streams of mercy are still flowing.
[25:01] Now, I don't know about you, but that's one of those things when somebody takes your words and kind of puts them back at you. Thankfully, he didn't get angry with her. He didn't jump out the stagecoach.
[25:13] As history records, God really got a hold of his heart once again. And he got right with God. And he began doing those first works.
[25:24] And God used him the rest of his life. That's the story of Robert Robinson. To me, it sounds like somebody who left their first love. They were doing all the right things, but somewhere along the way, they left their first love.
[25:35] And then, they came back. And friends, here's the thing that I want to ask you. One more thing I want to ask you before we close. How does Jesus, how did Jesus feel about this church in Ephesus?
[25:47] Right? Because he had some things to say. I see your works. I know your works. I value them. But I want your heart. But I want your heart. When Jesus says that, you've left your first love, is that condemning?
[25:58] Or is that calling? I think it's calling. I think he's reaching out and saying, come back. Come back. I want your heart. Would you read verse number seven with me one more time? Listen to these words.
[26:10] He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
[26:22] I don't know about you, but to me, that sounds like an invitation. If you will, would you listen? Would you hear? Would you come? I'll give you everything you need. Just come back to me.
[26:33] Would you bow with me as we close? It may be tonight that you would be honest that somewhere along the way things have kind of grown cold.
[26:45] They've grown stale. Maybe you're not quite motivated the same way that you once were. One time everything was new and it was fresh and it was exciting and it was just like, man, I want to love Jesus. But today, maybe it's not that way.
[26:58] Maybe tonight, as I pray, you would say something like this to God. Dear God, forgive me for leaving my first love. I love you. Thank you for sending your son to die for me.
[27:10] I'm running back to you tonight to go back to loving you first and foremost above all. Heavenly Father, we come to you tonight. We thank you for this time to open your word together.
[27:22] God, I want to pray for each person that deep down in their heart and soul that there would be a burning love for you, a passion for you and you alone, that we would serve you and we would give and we would, everything we do would simply be motivated by love.
[27:39] Father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather. We pray that if there's anyone here that's not saved, that tonight they would discover their first love, Jesus, the one who died for them, was buried and rose again.
[27:52] And you give us eternal life. God, we just love you so much. And we can't thank you enough for all that you've done. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.