The Fallen Church at Ephesus

Take your Bible, turn to Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2 will be in verses 1 to 7. I'm going to reference a couple of the verses like I normally do, usually do, and you can jot those down and look at those a little later on. Now, last week we had a little bit of an introductory message, but we got started in our series through the seven churches here in the book of Revelation, and I am titling this series, "What Does Jesus Say About the Seven Churches of Revelation?" What does Jesus say about the seven churches of Revelation?

We're going to revisit that question at the end of this message, and when we get through studying all these churches, we're going to come back to that question. We're going to combine all of this, condense it all, and hopefully the Lord will drive it all home to our hearts and in our minds, and help us to hold on to it in a great way. Now, in the introduction to last week's message, we looked at two facts to prepare us for this study. First, the fact that what a church is and what a church should be and do, those things have been reduced, they've been redefined, they've even been ruined by many in our day and time of the day.

Of course, that's always taken place in church history, and we have the responsibility to reclaim and recover what a church is supposed to be and what a church is supposed to do. Even though we may not be making the mistakes that so many make, that does not mean that we're doing everything right. Let's don't fall into that trap. Let's don't think we're doing everything right. As a matter of fact, we may be more at fault than we know. So we certainly need to find out what God says a church is supposed to be and what a church is supposed to do. And the way we do that is to look at what God says about his church.

I'm not against conferences and I'm not against books, but we don't have to go to a conference. We don't have to buy a book. All we have to do is look in the book. And that leads us to the second thing that we looked at last week that prepares us for this study. The fact that the church is his, it's not ours. Although we can say that the church is our church in a good way, in a healthy way, I think we should. When God plants us in a church and we know God's got us there and we begin to be connected with brothers and sisters and use our spiritual gifts and serve, it becomes our church in a healthy way.

And we should say those things, but we must always remember that the church is first and foremost God's church. We know this verse. Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, "I will build my church, my church." So the church belongs to God. Acts 20 verse 28 says that Christ purchased the church with his own blood. And sadly, we live in a day and time where the church has been reduced. It has been redefined and even in certain circumstances, it's been ruined. So we need to make sure that we understand what God says his church should be and do because he has made us stewards. We're stewards. We're responsible for his church and we will give an account.

Now, before we get back into the Ephesian church, I want us to look at some background information about the city and the church itself. This can have a bearing and it should on how we view the totality of these things. First, the city. The city of Ephesus was the most important city in Asia Minor. Scholars tell us its population in New Testament times is estimated to have been between 250 and 500,000 people. So Ephesus was a large city. It's interesting. It's in complete ruins today. No longer exists. Then Ephesus was a major city also for several reasons besides just population and size. First, the city was a major port city.

It was located on the Castor River about three miles up river from where it flowed into the sea. And it's interesting. They always fought the port being silted in from the river. And ultimately, it was which led to the economic downfall of the city. Second, it was a major city for religious reasons. The temple dedicated to the worship of Artemis or sometimes it's called the goddess Diana was located there in Ephesus. The temple was a very important landmark in the city and it was important for religious and financial reasons.

As a matter of fact, a great portion of the city's economy was based on the income derived from the temple and the worship there. And then third, the city hosted athletic games. And this might surprise some of you. The games there in Ephesus rivaled those ancient Olympic games that were so popular. Scholars and historians tell us that the athletic games were very, very important to the Ephesian people. And then fourth, Ephesus was a free city because Roman troops were not stationed in the city. Now, there's a lot more that we could study about the city. I think this is enough to help us understand the important thing that we need to see here.

And that is this. At the time of this letter, Ephesus was a major city, a very influential city, and it was a prominent city. Now let's turn to the church there in Ephesus. The church in Ephesus was very prominent and it had a very rich heritage. We covered a little of this last week. You may not know it, but the church was not founded by Paul. The gospel was taken to Ephesus by some of Paul's close friends and ministry partners. A husband and wife team were a part of that group, Priscilla and Aquila, and a very well-known, well-respected, capable minister and preacher, the man Apollos.

Now, Paul did stop briefly in Ephesus near the end of his second missionary journey, but the bulk of his ministry in Ephesus took place on his third missionary journey. It was during this time that Paul stayed in Ephesus for three years. It was during that time that the church at Ephesus exploded in growth. I would encourage you to go study Acts chapter 19, and you can see how it exploded in growth, and you'll understand how what God did there at Ephesus really did impact the region. Paul's son in the faith and protege in the ministry was the pastor there at Ephesus. Of course, that was Timothy.

And it was while Timothy was pastoring in Ephesus at the Ephesian church that Paul wrote first and second Timothy to Timothy while he was there at the church. And according to early church teaching and tradition, the apostle John spent his last years of his life there at Ephesus. It is suspected and speculated that he wrote first, second, and third John while he was there at Ephesus. Paul's belief that when John was there at Ephesus, he was arrested and exiled to the island of Patmos, which is where he wrote this book, the book of Revelation.

Now there's a lot more we could say about the Ephesian church as well, but I think that helps us understand the important thing here. And the important thing for us to see is that the church at Ephesus was the most prominent and influential church in the region. As a matter of fact, I said this earlier, all of the churches in the area had their beginnings from the work there in Ephesus. So the city of Ephesus was a prominent, very influential city, and the church in Ephesus was a prominent and very influential church. So we have the prominent church at Ephesus, the prominent church at Ephesus. That could be the title of the message.

And Jesus, through John, the Apostle John, he was and is writing this letter to this church, the prominent church at Ephesus. Now I want us to read verses 1-7, and we'll come back to these verses throughout the message because there are times we need to put our eyes on certain phrases and words really over and over because that helps it sink into our hearts. So let's read verses 1-7.

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, "The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands, I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bear up for my namesake and have not grown weary, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first.

If not, I will come to you and will remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent." Notice two times repent. Verse 6. "Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has in ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat the tree of life which is in the paradise of God." Now, we're going to look at six things, make six observations out of these verses. Some of these are a little longer, some of these are a little shorter. We'll be able to cover them all tonight. Again, we touched on some of this last week. First they're communication in verse 1.

Second they're deeds in verses 2 to 3 in verse 6. Third they're condition in verse 4. Then they're instruction beginning of verse 5. Then they're warning at the end of verse 5 and then sixth they're counsel in verse 7. So let's look at the communication, this communication in verse 1. Now here in verse 1 we see the beginning of the letter, "Thy's obvious," which is the letter to the church at Ephesus. That's clear from the verse. But more specifically in this communication we see the one being addressed and the one doing the addressing.

We see the one receiving the letter, the one writing the letter, and there's a little more here than we may realize. Again, we touched on some of this last week. First we see those receiving the letter. This of course would be the Ephesian church, but notice that the letter is specifically addressed to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This leads us to a question we asked and we answered last week. Who is this angel? In the original this word here literally means a messenger, one who is sent, a messenger from God. That's what an angel is, a messenger from God. But what does this mean in the letter here?

The angel here in verse 1 is the messenger from God assigned to this church. This would be the pastor of the church, the one who was called of God to pastor and to be the messenger there to the church. Great example, Timothy. If you read those letters from Paul, 1 and 2 Timothy, understanding the context that he's pastoring at Ephesus, you can see that it's clear that Timothy was the angel or the pastor at that particular time in that church. But notice who else is receiving the letter. First this letter was addressed to the Ephesian church, those Ephesian believers. Then second, this was written to all of those churches.

We see pluralistic language. Chapter 2 verse 7, chapter 2 verse 11, verse 29, chapter 3 verse 6, verse 22. All of the churches plural. Verse 7, "He who has a near let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." So we see that this letter was addressed to the pastor of the church, to the church specific, then those specific believers, and then to all of the other churches as well. I mentioned this before. Scholars tell us this was called a circular letter, a circular letter. That meant it was meant to be circulated among the churches. Now what that means for us is this, we are a part of this circulation.

This letter is addressed to me, this letter is addressed to you, this letter is addressed to us. And second, we see the one sending this letter. At the end of verse 1 we see clearly the one who is sending the letter to the angel of the church at Ephesus, right? The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. This is a question that many people will pose without first going into chapter 1, which we did last week. Who is it that holds these stars in his right hand? Who is it that walks among the seven golden lampstands? What's all this?

Well, the answer to those questions is found in verses 9 to 20 of chapter 1. Here we see who this is, what's taking place. The seven stars of the angels of the past. The seven stars of the angels, the pastors of those seven churches. The lampstands of the seven churches. And the one who walks among the seven churches is none other than Jesus, the Son of God. So the one sending the letter was and is Jesus. But actually, physically, we know who wrote the letter, the Apostle John. Chapter 1 tells us that John was in the spirit on the Lord's Day and he was commanded by Jesus to write down what he saw and those things that were to take place.

So here we have the great mystery of who wrote this letter. If someone says, "Did Jesus write it?" Or "Did John write it?" The answer is yes, because Jesus wrote it through John. So here we see the communication of the letter. John shows us that Jesus literally walked among these churches and he held those pastors in his right hand and through his chosen Apostle, the Lord Jesus penned these words, these instructions and the correction where it was needed. Now an application, we see our Lord Jesus in two places. He has ascended to the throne and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

We learned that in Hebrews, but he's walking among his churches all at the same time. And he is walking among his churches to see what's right, what's wrong, what's good and what's bad. Now the question, does he still do that today? We should see that he does. He's not just seated at the right hand of the Father, he is, but he's walking among his churches to see what is right, wrong, good and bad and everything in between. There is another great factor lesson. Here in these other churches, we see a pattern, we see a standard. Our Lord teaches, he corrects his churches through those angels who are in his right hand. And look, this humbles me.

You should be praying for me because I have the job. My primary job is to teach and to preach God's Word and God's raising up other men in the life of the church who can preach and to teach God's Word. And so we see God appoint certain men in the life of the church. Ultimately there's a pastor, you could call me the preaching pastor, much like Timothy was. And my job and any man who feels this pulpit, their job is to teach what God's Word says. So this communication teaches us a lot. Number two, their works. We see this in verses two to three. In verse six, now notice the progression, he moves from a nice greeting to exposing.

And notice that Jesus starts by exposing their deeds, their works. And as we will see, he points out quite a lot. Again, we touched on this last week. Let's read verses two to six and then we're taking them out of order. But verse six, verse two to three and then verse six because verse six goes with verses two to three. He says, "I know your works, your toil, your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles." Notice that's little a apostles. I'll speak to that here in a minute. "But they are not and found them to be false.

I know that you are enduring patiently and bear up for my namesake and you have not grown weary. Yet this you have. You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate." Now let's take these deeds one at a time. It's a long list, but we need to see it. First, his knowledge of them. Immediately in verse two, Christ Jesus says, "He knows them." This word is very, very important to understand in the original. This means to have full knowledge as opposed to knowledge which is acquired or developed. It means to have full and complete and perfect knowledge so Jesus knew them fully.

So this tells us that his testimony concerning this church was accurate, it was perfect, it was true, it was complete. It was a full and an accurate knowledge of them. Second the toil. English Standard reads toil. The New American reads deeds. The King James reads works. It all says the same thing. In the original, this word here speaks of work to the point of exhaustion. And this is such a devotion to a work that it takes all of the person and all of their efforts. This is not a half-hearted work at all. Third, their perseverance. The New American Standard says perseverance. The English Standard says patient endurance.

In the original here, this word, it means an acceptance of suffering and hardship. It means to accept difficult circumstances. How? A courage, determination, and then a courage and a determination to endure those circumstances. That's why the English Standard says patient endurance. Fourth, their intolerance of evil men. The verse says they cannot endure or bear with evil men. This means they were very sensitive to sin and sinfulness and sinful people. Some say this means they were attentive to church discipline. I don't think it's wrong to say that. One of the Bible commentators I have in my study of Revelation is John Phillips.

He says of this intolerance, "No man who was unscrupulous in business, impure in his conversation, known to be living in immorality, habitually intoxicated, given to fits of rage, unfaithful to his pledges," that would be his word, "or convicted of lying, would have lasted in the Ephesian Fellowship." See that standard of Christian living, that standard of Christian living, for some it may seem unattainable, but the text says they could not bear with those who were evil or sinful. Fifth, their examination of teachers. Here all of the modern translations say they tested those who claimed to be teachers.

Now it says, "Apostles little a," we see big A apostles, that would have been the chosen, but those other men who were not the chosen apostles were sometimes called little a apostles, they didn't have the office. And this is what was happening. As traveling teachers came into their fellowship, some claimed to be apostles. Teachers sit by God. Well, they tested them and they thoroughly examined their lives, their teaching, and their claims. One of the early church fathers named Ignatius, Ignatius, he was one of the early church leaders who lived just after the Apostle John. Now think about that timeline.

He wrote that the Ephesians were thorough in testing teachers as teachers came into their fellowship. Sixth, their faithfulness to his name, this simply means they were faithful, they persevered, they had not grown weary or tired, they were faithful and preserved and persevered in all of these things and more. Notice they persevered in what? His name, in the honor of his name, in the glory of his name. That speaks of their motivation. Seventh, their hatred of false doctrine in verse 6. We touched on this last week, but there is a bit of a debate as to who these Nicolaitans were and what they taught.

Some have taught that they were disciples of Nicholas, who was one of the first seven appointed to distribute food in Acts 6. There are two sources that help us with understanding this teaching that Jesus hated. First in the letter to Pergamum, the language compares the sin of the Nicolaitans to the sin brought onto the Israelites by Balaam. Balaam led the people of Israel to intermingle with the Moabite women, thus taking them into idolatry and immorality. And then second, there's church history. There's church history. Historians wrote that the Nicolaitans lived an unrestrained, indulgent life.

Clement of Alexandria wrote, "They abandoned themselves to pleasure like goats, living a life of self-indulgence." But notice the point is that the Nicolaitans were false believers and false teachers with sinful lifestyles, and Christ hated their works. Christ hated what they taught, what they believed, what they stood for, who they were, and the Ephesian believers in church did as well. Now take a step back. I've gone through this rather quickly. But simply what we have here is a fabulous list, a wonderful list of good deeds in corporate Christian living. Think about it.

This was and is a wonderful list of good deeds of corporate Christian living. Now how should we relate to this? First, we should be this kind of a people. We should be this type of a church. When our Lord examines us, He should see these seven characteristics or marks of maturity in us. And how should we relate to this? First, we should pray that we are this kind of people in this kind of church. We should strive to be this kind of people in this kind of church. But notice, this requires the leaders of the church to raise this standard higher and higher before you.

The leaders are to expect these kind of standards in the life of the church in the pew in the membership. You see? The pew will never rise any higher than the pulpit. And it's the pulpit that raises these standards. And notice, I don't raise the standards to my standards. I raise the standards to God's standards. And so we should have these kind of characteristics and works within us. As a matter of fact, if you think about it, it'll blow you away how relevant that list is. Then number three, their condition in verse four. You've seen their great list of good works or all that they did that was so right.

And we would naturally assume that the hearts behind all of these good works were good hearts. But the one Jesus who knew them fully, truthfully and perfectly, he was writing the letter. So his understanding and his description of who they were and what they were was truly perfect. Let's look at verse four. But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Now here we see two facts out of this short verse, verse four. John MacArthur calls verse four the concern. But I think it's much worse than that. I think to call it a concern is just too weak. Jesus says that he had something against them. This isn't a concern.

The amplified says, "But I have this charge against you." And as we will see, Jesus brought a charge of serious sin. Second Jesus revealed that they had fallen. The English standard says you have abandoned the love you had at first. The New American, the legacy standard, the King James all say the same thing. But they use the word left. They use the word left. In the original, this verb here, it means to send away or to dismiss. But what does this actually mean? What's going on here? Simply these believers in this church that was sacrificial in their service, sanctified in their standing in the world, had heart problems.

They had abandoned their love for the Lord. Listen to what Warren Wiersby says. He asks, and I'm quoting, "What is first love? It is the devotion to Christ that so often characterizes the new believer." John Phillips uses accounting language. He says the Lord says that one large debit consumed all of their credit. One large debit consumed all of their credit. Phillips goes on to say, "It is possible to serve the Lord for a variety of motives, for the praise of men, for prestige or position, for the sake of reputation, because it is simply the thing to do because of a sense of duty.

If service for God is not born of a devotion, of a devoted passion for the Lord Jesus, it is worthless." So what we have here is this. Outwardly, they did everything right. Everything, everything right. But inwardly, the one thing that they had wrong was the main thing. And the main thing they had wrong ruined all of the good, outward things that they did so right. So the lesson for us is really simple. We have to always be on guard to never abandon our first love. Would we ever abandon our spouse? Would we know what it looks like when someone abandons their spouse?

But what does it look like when someone abandons their first love in Christ Jesus? Maybe comparing those two should be something that we do. Number four, their instruction, verse five. The beginning of verse five, look at the verse, "Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first." Now here we see more of the person of the Lord Jesus. Not only did he describe their good works and the heart of their problem, he then gave them thorough instruction which would have enabled them to fix what was wrong. So let's look at the fix. It's a spiritual fix.

He said, "Remember, remember therefore from where you have fallen." Now all the translations use the same language here and in the original it reads, "Continue on remembering," or "Continue to be mindful of these things." This is not "remember" and then "move on." This is a continual remembering. He said, "Repent from where you are." To repent here, it means to change one's mind and thinking which turns into changed behavior. This is a disciplined, deliberate, and instant change of thinking which changes the behavior. He said, "Return to what you used to do." Now this returning is proof of the repentance.

To repent means to turn from sin and sinful behavior, but the completion of that repentance is to return to correct thinking and correct behavior. So the instruction was simple. Our Lord called this church and these believers to remember and keep on remembering from where they had fallen. Then they were to change their mind and their behavior which is repentance. And then they were to return to where they used to be. Well where did they used to be? With Christ. With Christ as their first love. In a loving relationship with Christ, they were to return to Christ and to Christ as their first love.

Again, if we have abandoned our first love and our spouse, what would that look like? If we repented and returned to our first love and our spouse, what would that look like? I've met with men before who have left their wives and I begged them to go back home. I begged them to go back home. We understand that physical language. Go back to your home, go back to your house, to your wife, and to your children. Why? Because they had abandoned their first love which was their wife. And I was begging them not just to go physically back home, but to go back home in their heart, to their wife, and their home, and their children.

You understand that language. So if we have abandoned our first love and our love to the Lord, what does that look like? And if we repent and return to our first love and our Lord, what does that look like? And then number five, the warning, second part of verse five. "Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent." Dear Jesus revealed so much. He revealed the clear and present danger that this church faced. He revealed the seriousness of their situation.

He revealed what they should do to get out of this clear and present danger. And he does this by giving them a warning. First he gives them an ultimatum. The New American says, "Or else." I like that. The English Standard says, "If not." I think "Or else" is a little firmer. And this was very strong language. Jesus tells them that if they do not remember from where they have fallen, repent and return, then certain things will happen. He draws a light in the sand. He gives them an ultimatum. Second he warns them of a visitation. Now of course we know that our Lord was in his throne. And he was in his walking among the lampstands.

But here we see that he promises a special visitation for a specific reason. And this reason would have been judgment. Third he threatens them of a removal. We know that the lampstand represents the church in Ephesus. Get that. The lampstand represents the church. And here Christ is saying that he would come in judgment against the church. If they did not remember, repent and return. And what was this judgment? The removal of their lampstand which was the removal of what was at the center of what made them a church. Simply his presence. And the meaning is quite simple.

The removal of the lampstand meant the removal of that which made them a church in the first place. Think about all the things which we say make up a true and healthy church. Good things. If we were to start making a list of the marks of a true and healthy church, well we would say a church that preaches a true gospel. We would say a church that adheres to the ordinances as we see in the scripture. We would say a church that strives to have a regenerate church membership. That strives to practice loving, healthy church discipline.

We would say that a true church is a church that strives for what we would call good, healthy, balanced, small group ministry. We could point to scripture there. We would say a lot of things about what a healthy church looks like and the marks and characteristics of that healthy church. But here we see a supreme love for Christ is at the heart of what makes up a true church. And if we get all those other things right and miss this, we miss the whole thing. Fourth, he gives them a reminder. Now this is the second time this church was commanded to repent. Simply Jesus is repeating the warning that they must repent.

This repetition makes clear the necessity that they needed to repent and they needed to repent quickly and fully from departing from their first love. So here we see this stiff, this serious warning. Jesus warns of a swift, insured judgment. If they did not remember from where they had fallen, repent and return. Simply they would lose that which made them a church. Let that sink in. They would have literally been cut off from Christ, his presence, true kingdom work and worse that which made them a church. I like some things that John Phillips says here that will help us in application.

He says, "No love, no light is the rule." No love, no light is the rule. He says, "If there is no real love for the Lord Jesus, the reason for the assembly's existence has vanished. The local church that is functioning without love for the Lord is worse than useless. It gives a wrong impression of what Christianity is all about and it is best removed." We live in a day when churches are leaving sound, foundational doctrine like it's no big deal.

The nominations in churches are just ignoring clear scripture and saying it's okay for homosexuals to marry and it's okay for homosexuals to have positions in the church and it's okay to have women ministers. We could point to clear scripture. Those are grievous sins, but how do those sins relate to what we see here? Again, what does Phillips say? "If there is no real love for the Lord Jesus, the reason for the assembly's existence has vanished. A local church that is functioning without the love for the Lord is worse than useless.

It gives a wrong impression of what Christianity is all about and it is best removed." I think if you ponder over what we're learning here and we're not through, we may see that a church that has terrible doctrine but they love the Lord is more healthy than a church with good doctrine that doesn't love the Lord. For us, we must see a few things here. First, we must take this warning serious. It doesn't get any more serious than this for a church. Second, we must take this warning personal. If it happened to the Ephesian church, it can happen to us. Look at how prominent the Ephesian church was.

I mean the Apostle Paul stayed there three years. Timothy was the pastor there. Some scholars say that the Apostle John pastored there. They're the only church that ever received two letters from apostles. Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesian church. John wrote a letter to the Ephesian church. If God owed anything, it would have been the Ephesian church. But He doesn't cut them any slack. So we must take this warning personal. If this can happen to them, it can happen to us. Third, we must take this warning as what is best. It's not our church. We don't get to determine what is best. It's His church.

And you know, a naysayer could say, "Well, you know, Lord, I don't know if you need to judge the Ephesian church. They have such a big impact and a major influence on all of those other churches." Now, we don't get to bend the rules. It's His church. Fourth, we must take this teaching as truth. Simply there are more churches operating today that have no lampstand. I give them a new name. The First Baptist Church of Oz. Anybody ever watch the Wizard of Oz? What happens when they finally get to Oz? Well, they meet the great and wonderful and terrifying wizard. But because of the little actions of Toto, what did they find behind the curtain?

It was just a man back there pulling levers, lights, and smoke, right? So what we see with so many churches is we've got lots of light, lots of smoke, lots of action, lots of things to get our attention, but when the curtain is pulled back, there's no lampstand. And you know in America, we can have all the bells and whistles because we've got the money. We can have buildings, organization, steeples, plans, people, staff, all those things. And there's nothing wrong with them. I heard the story of the Chinese Christian.

When communism fell, it got to come to America and he goes back home and the Chinese Christian is asking, "What did he learn about the American church?" And he said, "I learned all the great things that they can do without God." So we see their warning. It seeks their counsel. Verse 7, let's look at verse 7. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit, capital S, says to the churches, to the one who conquers, I will grant to eat the tree of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. After this stern and much needed warning, Jesus ends his letter to the Ephesians with an exhortation, encouragement." And notice what we have here.

Here we have the heart of Jesus for his church. His heart was not just for correction. His heart was for correction and then for positive counsel and encouragement as well. Let's look at this counsel. First, this was counsel to the individuals. The wording at the beginning of verse 7 makes it clear that Jesus was recognizing the individuals who were reading the letter or hearing the letter. He says, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying." Simply these churches were comprised of people. And those individuals needed to take notice of God's instruction on a personal level. Second, this was counsel to the churches plural.

Again, notice that the word churches at the end of the first sentence of verse 7 is in the plural. This makes it clear that all of these letters were to be distributed among the churches. These individual letters to these specific churches were for all of them and they are for us too. And then third, he mentions a reward. Look at the second sentence of verse 7. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Those are references to heaven. Here there is a promise for those individual believers and those churches who persevere through their circumstances.

Simply in overcoming or persevering, they will inherit eternal life. Now this is not that their actions earn them eternal life. No. Their perseverance or overcoming proves that they are true Christians, therefore they receive the rewards of eternal life. So the last thing that Jesus says to the Ephesian church and these believers was positive counsel that was tied to their obedience. He said those who hear and obey, they were the ones who prove that they were true believers. Now a couple of rhetorical questions here. Let's get into our little time machine and our minds and let's ask this question.

What will the Lord say about us as individuals and as a church in 30 years? Think about that. Think about how old your children will be. People tell us that this letter was written to the Ephesian church, they were second generation Christians. What will we be like as a church in 30 years? What will they say? What will people say about our church in 30 years? But more important, what will our Lord say about our church in 30 years? What does our Lord say about our church now? Now I'm going to go ahead and tell you folks, these messages all build up until one final message. What does the Lord say about our church now?

Now as I close, remember something that I said in the introduction. We have the prominent church of Ephesus, but we also have so much more than the prominent church of Ephesus. We have the hardworking church of Ephesus. Verse 2, "I know your works, deeds. I know your works, your toil." So we have the hardworking church of Ephesus. We have the persevering church of Ephesus. I know your works, your toil, your patient endurance. We have the sanctified, the pure church of Ephesus. I know your works, your toil, your patient endurance. How you cannot bear those who are evil. They wouldn't let them come into fellowship, folks. They were sanctified.

They were pure. We have the solid teaching church of Ephesus. How you cannot bear those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and who are not. Finding them out to be false. So they were a solid teaching church. So they were hardworking, persevering. They were sanctified. They were pure. They were solid in their teaching and solid in their teachers. But although they did everything right, they had forsaken their first love. They had fallen away from their first love. And they faced the clear and present danger that they could lose it all if they did not repent and become the Jesus loving church at Ephesus.

So the series title, What Does Jesus Say About the Seven Churches of Revelation? We're starting to see with this one. Now I'll leave you with some instruction. You go back and you study, you take your notes and you take that question and say, "What does the Lord say about this church?" Put it in your own words, in your own understanding. Get a grip on that where you don't just say, "Good message, pastor. Can't wait to the next one." So what does Jesus say about the seven churches of revelation? And specifically, we have the fallen church at Ephesus. although they could be called so many other things.