{"id":18955,"date":"2018-07-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-15T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-007-misplaced-priorities\/"},"modified":"2018-07-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-15T05:00:00","slug":"revelation-007-misplaced-priorities","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-007-misplaced-priorities\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 007 – Misplaced Priorities"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18955","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 007 - Misplaced Priorities","sermon_date":"20180715","sermon_month":"7","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5916,"sermon_slides":5918,"sermon_mp3":5920,"sermon_id":"71518129562","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"2:4-7","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nMisplaced Priorities\u00a0 7-15-18\n\nRevelation 2:4-7\n\nLesson 7\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 2, God willing looking at verses 4-7 this morning, finishing up as the Lord allows it our study of the church at Ephesus as Jesus addresses that church.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is Misplaced Priorities. And if you\u2019re tracking along with us through the Book of Revelation you know that we began this series by sort of introducing the book to you, who wrote it, where it was written from, etc.\u00a0 We have gone through what\u2019s called the prologue or the intro\u00adduction of the book, verses 1-8.\u00a0 And then we entered the first major section of the book where John is told to write down the things that he has seen.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where John, the apostle, on Patmos in the first century gives us a tremendous description of the glorified Christ, chapter 1.\n\nAnd from there, beginning last week I think it was we moved into part two of the book where John is told to write down the things that are and that would consist of chapters 2 and 3 as John is addressing the seven letters to the seven churches.\u00a0 Jesus, writing a letter to each church.\u00a0 There are seven churches represented and each letter, as I\u2019ll be showing you, is going to follow this eight-part pattern.\u00a0 We talked about that eight part pattern last week but we began with the first letter, the letter to the church at Ephesus.\n\nHere is sort of the outline that we\u2019re following as we examine what Jesus said to that first century church.\u00a0 First of all you have the destination, the church, of course is Ephesus.\u00a0 Some of the most well-known churches of the first century, most likely it was until Rome really got its footing, the most influential church, a church that Paul himself had started and established on his third missionary journey.\n\nAnd from there we got a description of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Jesus Christ describes Himself as the one who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks amongst the seven golden lampstands who are the churches.\u00a0 And from there Jesus to every church gives a word of commendation.\u00a0 In other words, He explains to each church what they are doing correctly before He brings a word of rebuke.\u00a0 And the commendation to the church at Ephesus is in verses 2 and 3, and then we\u2019ll skip verses 4 and 5 and look at verse 6.\u00a0 And then after we\u2019re in verse 6 we\u2019ll go back to verses 4 and 5.\u00a0 How\u2019s that for confusing.\n\nBut when you take verses 2 and 3 and verse 6 and you put them together Jesus commends this church for four things.\u00a0 Number one, their deeds.\u00a0 Number two, their discernment.\u00a0 They put to the test those that claim to be apostles and found them to be false teachers and liars.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus never gets upset at this church for doing that.\u00a0 In fact, that\u2019s basic biblical discernment that all Christians are expected to do regularly.\u00a0 We are called upon to screen all things we hear, including words from this pulpit, through the lens of God\u2019s Word to determine truth from error.\u00a0 In fact, John, in his other book, 1 John 4:1 will say this: \u201cBeloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God,\u201d why? \u201cbecause many false prophets have gone out into the world.\u201d\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of a verse that\u2019s more appropriate for our times than that one.\n\nThe Scripture is complete, the Scripture cannot lie to you so if someone contradicts the Scripture they have to not be speaking from God.\u00a0 And so this was a discerning church.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t open to everything and certain of nothing as so many people today are.\u00a0 \u00a0And you\u2019ll notice that Jesus commends them for it, verse 2.\u00a0 He also commends them for their perseverance.\u00a0 These were people toiling away for the cause of Christ.\u00a0 These were people who were giving their lives away for the cause of Christ, verse 3; toil and perseverance. \u00a0[Verse 2, \u201cBy this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;\u00a0 [3] and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.\u201d]\n\nJesus commends them that, and notice, if you will verse 6, this may surprise you as it surprised me the first time I saw this; Jesus commends them for a fourth thing which is their holy hatred.\u00a0 They hated the things that God hated.\u00a0 And notice, if you will, what Jesus says to this church in verse 6, \u201cYet this you do\u00a0 have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Now who are these Nicolaitans?\u00a0 In fact, when you study commentaries on the Book of Revelation what you\u2019ll discover on this is everybody has an opinion but there\u2019s not a lot of proof that they use to back up their opinion.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think with any certainty we can know who the Nicolaitans are; some have speculated that this was a group of people that sort of began with one of the deacons named Nicholas.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find his name mentioned in Acts 6:5 and people will say well, this is a group of people that started off with good teaching but sort of disintegrated into licentiousness.\u00a0 [Acts 6:5, \u201cThe statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s an interesting theory but nobody really knows that\u2019s true, it\u2019s just someone\u2019s speculation.\u00a0 \u00a0So we really don\u2019t know exactly who the Nicolaitans are.\u00a0 So who do I think they are?\u00a0 Well, I think the best way to understand who the Nicolaitans are is to actually look at the etymology or the meaning of the word Nicolaitan.\u00a0 Nicolaitan is a compound word which means two words making up one word.\u00a0 The word \u201cNico\u201d means victory, as in Nike, as in the shoe company.\u00a0 It gets its name from Nike, Nico victory and the word Laitan means laity of the people, victory over the people; superiority over the people.\n\nSo who were the Nicolaitans?\u00a0 I think the Nicolaitans were is a group of people who set themselves up as a priesthood between the people and God, and they began to tell the people that you really can\u2019t\u00a0 understand God and you can\u2019t understand God\u2019s Word without us because we have the secret knowledge that\u2019s not accessible to everyone.\u00a0 You might even call the Nicolaitans sort of an early Gnosticism.\u00a0 Gnostic means the secret knowledge, you\u2019ve got to go through us and our system to get through.\u00a0 That\u2019s who the Nicolaitans were.\n\nThat\u2019s not just my opinion.\u00a0 I found this quote from Grant R. Jeffrey in his book the Apocalypse, and he says, \u201cThere is a lot of disagreement about who these Nicolaitans were... Christ created a universal \u2018holy priesthood\u2019 (1 Peter 2:5) where every believer is a priest. The\u00a0Nicolaitans\u00a0attempted to re-create the hierarchy of the Old Testament priesthood. They sought to establish a priestly authority over laymen.\u201d The laity. \u201cThe Greek word is derived from Nike<\/em> meaning \u2018victory\u2019 and Laos<\/em> meaning \u2018people.\u2019 It suggests a group of people who seek to elevate themselves into a special class of priesthood over other Christians. Jesus told us in 1 Timothy 2:5: \u2018For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.\u2019 Such men sought the sole right to interpret the Scriptures for other Christians. Centuries later, after Emperor Constantine\u2018s conversion, this\u00a0Nicolaitan\u00a0heresy produced the Babylonian hierarchy of priests, leading to the spiritual \u201cdark ages\u201c of the medieval period.\u201d\u00a0 [Apocalypse: The Coming Judgment of the Nations, <\/em>p. 72-73.]\n\nYou have to understand this that prior to the Protestant Reformation in the 16th<\/sup> century most of Christendom was captured by this philosophy.\u00a0 In fact, the Bible was not even accessible to the common person.\u00a0 We just heard a testimony of translating the Bible into the language of the common man.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t even a goal prior to the Protestant Reformation.\u00a0 The priests looked at themselves as the sole interpreters of the Word of God; the people had no access to the Bible so how could the words of the priest even be tested and why did this situation arise?\u00a0 Most\u00a0 likely because of what was happening here at Ephesus called the \u201cdeeds of the Nicolaitans.\u201d\n\nIn fact, you might be surprised to discover that you are already a priest.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 You don\u2019t need a priest because you are a priest.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 We saw that earlier in the Book of Revelation, chapter 1, verse 6, \u201cand He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father\u2014[to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 Chapter 5, verse 10, which we\u2019ll get to eventually, \u201cYou have made them to be a kingdom and priests\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 You already have access to God through Jesus Christ.\u00a0 You need not go through some sort of manmade system to get to God.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet the Nicolaitans denied this.\n\nIn fact, the Nicolaitans tried to, the best I can tell, reconstruct the Old Testament system.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, in the prior age, the prior dispensation, not all of Israel was a priest.\u00a0 If you were a priest you had to come from which tribe?\u00a0 Levi.\u00a0 And you had to descend from whose lineage?\u00a0 Aaron\u2019s.\u00a0 So a priest was a particular group within the nation.\u00a0 How different it is in our day where we are all priests.\u00a0 And so consequently over in 1 John 2:27, John\u2019s other book, it says, \u201c\u2026you have no need for anyone to teach you. but His anointing teaches you all things.\u201d\u00a0 Here at Sugar Land Bible Church I am not a priest; I am in my own personal life but I am not your priest.\u00a0 The elders believe that I have the gift of pastor-teacher which simply means the ability to explain what God has already said in a way you can understand it.\u00a0 But I\u2019m not here giving you new truths; perhaps new insights into what God has already said but not new truths.\u00a0 I don\u2019t represent myself as a priest.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to come through me to get to God.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting how few Christians really understand this.\u00a0 Many times people call the office and they say I want Andy to pray for such and such, as if I have some kind of channel that no one else has.\u00a0 Or sometimes we\u2019re sitting around at meal time and nobody wants to pray; well, we\u2019ll have Andy pray, he\u2019s the priest.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is I may have a spiritual gift you don\u2019t have but that doesn\u2019t give me a special channel or any special access to God.\u00a0 You are already a priest.\u00a0 The Protestant Reformers calls this the priesthood of who? All believers. The Nicolaitans denied that.\u00a0 Roman Catholicism denies that.\u00a0 What was happening in the Middle Ages denied that.\n\nAnd Jesus here commends the church at Ephesus because they hated, watch this very carefully, not the Nicolaitans themselves but the deeds of the Nicolaitans.\u00a0 God says I hate their deeds.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s right there in verse 6.\u00a0 [Revelation 2:6, \u201c'Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.\u201d]\u00a0 Now the deeds of Ephesus He loves, verse 2. \u00a0[Verse 2, \u201cI know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be<\/em> false;\u201d]\u00a0 The world of the people God loves, \u201cFor God so loved the\u201d what? \u201cthe world.\u201d God doesn\u2019t hate people. What He hates is the ideas and the sins related to those ideas that enslave the masses.\u00a0 Jesus says I hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans.\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear here.\n\nAnd I think we\u2019ve developed such, kind of a cozy view of Jesus that we forget that Jesus hates certain things.\u00a0 Read Matthew 23 some time, the whole chapter.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to see a side of Jesus that you probably will never see in other parts of the Bible.\u00a0 He\u2019s not exactly the meek and mild Jesus there; the whole thing is a diatribe where He\u2019s going after the teachings of the Pharisees.\u00a0 And let\u2019s not forget that it was the meek and mild Jesus who went into the temple and saw how it had been sort of recreated to a place of merchandising, which misrepresented God, and how He over\u00ad\u00ad-turned the tables of the money changers.\u00a0 In fact, if I\u2019m reading my Bible right Jesus did that twice, once at the beginning of His ministry and once at the end.\u00a0 Kind of a nice bracketing, if you will, of what Jesus Christ was all about.\n\nLet\u2019s not develop such a cozy cushy view of God and Jesus to the point where we forget that God Almighty hates\u2026 NOT people, but certain things.\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear, He says I also hate them and\u00a0 you know what, Ephesus, you hate it as well.\u00a0 He never corrects them for this, He never condemns them for this, in fact, He commends it.\u00a0 In fact, in God\u2026 did you know this, that you have permission to hate certain things?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how a person can drive by\u2026 for example, planned parenthood, we have one of the greatest abortion mills, probably in the whole country, right here in Houston called (misguidedly) Planned Parenthood, baby killing around the clock, tax funded by the way.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how a person can drive by that and understand it and not hate what\u2019s happening there.\u00a0 Not the people, not the people that are being victimized by all the false information, not these young women that are being told a bunch of lies but the actual deed itself.\u00a0 How could a child of God understand that and not hate it.\u00a0 I would say that such a person is not being responsive to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.\n\nPaul himself hated certain things.\u00a0 Acts 17:16 says, \u201cNow while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.\u201d\u00a0 Does anything provoke\u00a0 you today?\u00a0 Does anything that\u2019s taking place in our world, does it bother you?\u00a0 Is there some sort of internal consternation that happens.\u00a0 Don\u2019t neglect that, don\u2019t deny that, that\u2019s the ministry of the Holy Spirit.\n\nOr how about David?\u00a0 You know David hated certain things.\u00a0 He said, \u201cFor who is this uncircum\u00adcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?\u201d\u00a0 [1 Samuel 17:26]\u00a0 David hated, not Goliath himself but what Goliath represented.\u00a0 Psalm 119:104 says, \u201cFrom Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.\u201d\u00a0 What does your Bible say?\u00a0 It says \u201cbe angry and do not sin.\u201d\u00a0 [Ephesians 4:26, \u201c\"Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.\u201d\u00a0 Well how can anger turn into sin?\u00a0 It turns into sin when the animosity you may feel against a sin is directed towards a person.\u00a0 That\u2019s the problem.\u00a0 But as long as anger itself is directed towards things that rail against the knowledge of God, as a child of God it is a biblical expectation that we would hate such things.\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019ll tell you what you love based on what you hate.\u00a0 If you love life and its sanctity then you automatically hate what is called the abortion mill around the clock here in the United States.\u00a0 And I could give many, many examples of this.\n\nAnd so many of us are so calm and cool and reflective and are always smiling; I wonder if we\u2019re really being sensitive to the ministry of the Holy Spirit because if something challenges what you love which should be the representations of God and His Word, then what should rise up within you is a holy hatred.\u00a0 And what did Jesus say to those at Ephesus?\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t condemn them for it, He commends them for that.\u00a0 Their heart broke for the things that break God\u2019s heart.\u00a0 He commends them for their deeds, for their discernment, for their perseverance, for their holy hatred.\n\nBut then He goes on and He begins to reveal to them something that\u2019s not working within the church, something that\u2019s very severe.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where we back up from verse 6 back to verse 4 and we get the rebuke.\u00a0 Notice if you will, Revelation chapter 2 and verse 4, notice what it says here.\u00a0 \u201cBut I have this against you, that you have left your first love.\u201d\u00a0 So all of the good things were happening.\u00a0 On the surface we would probably step back and call Ephesus a successful church.\u00a0 But Jesus says, \u201cI know\u201d remember what He says there back in verse 2, \u201cI know,\u201d I know the good and I know the bad and there\u2019s something in this body that is destructive.\n\nThere is a virus there and the virus is of such a degree that I can\u2019t simply ignore the virus because of all of the other good things that are taking place in Ephesus.\u00a0 So I have something \u201cagainst you.\u201d\u00a0 And what is it?\u00a0 They have left, not just their love but notice what it says, verse 4, the adjective \u201cfirst\u201d proton<\/em>, their first love.\u00a0 The verb \u201cleft\u201d kind of gives you the impression that this was not accidental but this is something that deliberately happened on their part.\u00a0 It was what we would call a slow leak. How do I know that?\u00a0 Because the church at Ephesus has quite a paper trail.\u00a0 In fact, thirty-five years later there was a book written to this church, called The Book of Ephesians, and these is no sign thirty-five years earlier, when Paul wrote that letter, that there was anything wrong in Ephesus.\u00a0 In fact, Paul had commended them, Ephesians 1:15, \u201cFor this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints,\u201d no love problem in Ephesus thirty-five years earlier.\n\nBut you see, sort of like a tire that\u2019s punctured by a nail and yet the air doesn\u2019t escape right away, you gradually over time start to recognize a problem.\u00a0 These folks had left their first love.\u00a0 What does that even mean, leaving your first love?\u00a0 Probably the best example I can think of is marriage.\u00a0 You know, you meet your life partner, you go down the road of dating, engagement, and the only thing you can think about is that other person.\u00a0 You can\u2019t wait to be with that person; you can\u2019t wait to be together,\u00a0 you spend every waking moment thinking about that person.\u00a0 Then you get married and life starts to happen, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Children are born, mortgage payments are due, careers take off, etc. etc. etc.\u00a0 etc. etc.\u00a0 And somehow the business of life has eclipsed the former intimacy that you had with your marital partner.\n\nI think that\u2019s what happened to the church at Ephesus.\u00a0 I think they became so preoccupied with the good things they were doing, there were at least four, that somehow in the process the cord was snipped in the area of intimacy; activity replaced intimacy.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you what an easy path that is to fall into, not only in marriage but in the Christian life.\u00a0 And what is Jesus Christ all about?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is the first love?\u00a0 What are the first things?\u00a0 It\u2019s about a relationship.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have a relationship with God it doesn\u2019t matter what you do for God.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t Jesus say that in Matthew 7:22-23 of who I think are unbelievers pleading their self-righteousness before God.\u00a0 \u201c[Many will say to me in that day] \u201cLord, Lord, did we not prophecy in Your name and cast out demons and in Your name perform many miracles.?\u201d What would Jesus say, \u201cI will declare to them, \u2018I never knew you; [depart from Me,\u00a0 you who practice lawlessness.]\u201d\u00a0 You never had a relationship with \u00a0Me and that is what I value over all things.\u00a0 Aren\u2019t we the bride and He is the groom?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that the most intimate human relationship analogized to our relationship to the Lord?\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting how that can be eclipsed so fast through activities that on the surface are very good and deserve commendation but they\u2019ve eclipsed the first thing, the first love.\n\nWhat did Ephesus forget?\u00a0 The \u201cfirst love.\u201d\u00a0 What did Ephesus forget?\u00a0 They forgot that being precedes doing.\u00a0 Being with God is more significant than doing things for God.\u00a0 In fact, John, in his other book, records the words of Christ in John 15:1-8 where Jesus in the Upper Room begins to talk about the vine and the branches.\u00a0 What does the branch do?\u00a0 The branch \u201cabides,\u201d the Greek word men<\/em>.<\/em>\n\n[John 15:1-8 \u201cI am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. [2] \u201cEvery branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch<\/em> that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. [3] \u201cYou are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. \u00a0[4] \u201cAbide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can<\/em> you unless you abide in Me. [5] \u201cI am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. [6] \u201cIf anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. [7] \u201cIf you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. [8] \u201cMy Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so<\/em> prove to be My disciples.\u201d]\n\nWhat does the branch do?\u00a0 The branch \u201cabides,\u201d the Greek word men<\/em>\u014d<\/em>, <\/em>abides in the vine and what happens is the fruit comes naturally, doesn\u2019t it.\u00a0 It comes spontaneously, it comes organically.\u00a0 Producing the fruit was never the goal.\u00a0 What was the goal was the abiding.\u00a0 But isn\u2019t it interesting how fast our eyes are taken off the first things of abiding, we get our eyes on the fruit and if you\u2019re not careful what you\u2019ll find yourself doing in the Christian life is you\u2019re doing a bunch of stuff for God but you\u2019re no longer abiding.\u00a0 Activity has replaced intimacy.\u00a0 And believe me folks, the Bible is pro good works but good works are always to flow out of the abundance of our relationship with God. They were never designed to eclipse our relationship with God and anything we place before God, even something as benign as good works becomes a what?\u00a0 It becomes an idol.\n\nAnd what happens if you start trying to produce fruit for God over time, not immediately but suddenly you find\u00a0 yourself doing it through your own strength.\u00a0 You do it through your own power.\u00a0 You try to get your flesh to try harder.\u00a0 And Jesus says you\u2019ve got\u00a0 your priorities out of order.\u00a0 I never called you to produce fruit.\u00a0 I called you to bear fruit; bearing fruit and producing fruit are two completely different things.\u00a0 Bearing fruit comes from the priority of intimacy with God; the fruit comes naturally.\u00a0 So many of us, and I have gone down this road many times in my Christian life where the focus is on production, not Jesus.\u00a0 And although there were some good things happening here in Ephesus, likely the most influential church of the first century, Jesus says this is not right, I have something against you.\n\nIn other words, verses 2 and 3 and 6, those four things, deeds, discernment, perseverance, holy hatred, had eclipsed verse 4, intimacy with Christ.\u00a0 And so what follows is number five on our outline, an exhortation to change.\u00a0 Jesus never pulls the plug on any church without giving them a specific warning.\u00a0 And notice what He says there at the beginning of verse 5, \u2018Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first;\u201d He gives them here three verbs which are in the imperative mood meaning these are commands.\u00a0 Something to do, three things, you want to correct the ship then do these three things.\n\nNumber one, first verb is remember, \u201cremember from where you have fallen,\u201d go back to the honeymoon period, recollect, reflect what it was first like when you fell in love with Christ.\u00a0 I mean, all of these wonderful activities, that\u2019s not what you need right now; what you need is to go back to first things, before the stresses of life drove a wedge between you and Jesus Christ.\u00a0 You need to go back to that before this tire started to leak.\u00a0 And this is the significance of\u00a0 journaling, keeping a diary, keeping photographs, anything it takes to recollect what it was once like.\n\nYou know, Dr. Jim McGowan and myself, on one of our recent pastor\u2019s points of view did a study of American history, the Christian origins of America and how important a study is like that because unless you compare that to where we are now you have no incentive to repent.\u00a0 National repentance takes place through a national recollection of history.\u00a0 That\u2019s how it always works in God, that\u2019s how it works in your personal life.\u00a0 \u201cRemember from where you have fallen.\u201d\n\nVerb number 2 is to repent.\u00a0 Now there\u2019s a word, to quote\u00a0 OB1 Ben Canova, that I haven\u2019t heard for a long, long, long time, I just saw that movie, by the way I\u2019m not promoting it, a long, long time.\u00a0 What does that word \u201crepent\u201d even mean?\u00a0 The people that use it today, most of them don\u2019t even know what it means.\u00a0 What does it mean to repent?\u00a0 It\u2019s the noun metanoia<\/em>, it\u2019s the verb metanoe\u014d<\/em>, it\u2019s a compound word meaning two words making up one word.\n\nThe first part of it is me<\/em>ta, you recognize the word meta<\/em>, it means to change, doesn\u2019t it, as in metamorphosis, metabolism, change your diet, you\u2019re eating something it\u2019s changing within your body, sadly people get the bad news that their cancer has metastasized, in other words it\u2019s changed from one part of the body to another. Meta means to change and it\u2019s connected to the word noaio<\/em> where we get the word notion or idea.\u00a0 Ideas come from where?\u00a0 The mind.\u00a0 In fact, from that word, noaio we get the noun nous <\/em>in Greek which means mind or understanding.\n\nAnd you put those two words together and what it means is to change your mind.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t even mean to feel bad; in fact in Greek there\u2019s a completely different word for feeling bad, it\u2019s called metamelomai, you recognize the word mellow as in telling kids you need to mellow out.\u00a0 Metamelomai is what Judas experienced through remorse.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find a reference to that, he felt remorse when he betrayed Christ, Matthew 27:3.\u00a0 [Matthew 27:3, \u201cThen when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.\u201d]\n\nBut feeling bad is not the same thing as repenting.\u00a0 Judas felt really bad about what happened but \u00a0he never repented.\u00a0 A lot of people feel bad because they\u2019re caught but that\u2019s not repentance. Repentance is an authentic change of mind.\u00a0 And folks, unless you\u2019ve repented or changed your mind about Jesus you\u2019re not even a Christian.\u00a0 The great Lewis Sperry Chafer said \u201crepentance is a synonym\u201d different word, same meaning, \u201cfor the word believe.\u201d\n\nWhen I was sixteen I heard the gospel, I quit trusting in myself and I trusted in Christ, which is what believe is, to trust, and simultaneously I repented, my mind changed.\u00a0 It changed from trust in self and works and religion to Christ.\u00a0 People say well should we believe or should we repent?\u00a0 Or should we repent or should we believe?\u00a0 The answer is\u00a0 yes.\u00a0 There cannot be authentic faith without repentance and if that\u2019s never happened in a person\u2019s life they\u2019re not even a Christian.\n\nBut isn\u2019t it interesting how the Lord loves us as we are but loves us too much to leave us as we are, where after a person is saved and the Holy Spirit comes inside of them then the Lord moves us from justification to sanctification.\u00a0 That\u2019s our growth in Christ.\u00a0 And here you discover a lifestyle of repentance, not to get saved, that\u2019s already happened, but to grow.\u00a0 You come to a Bible teaching church like this and the Holy Spirit uses it in the life of the believer and you walk out of these doors saying no, this part of my life is not right, that part of my life is not right, that part of my life is not right, I\u2019m going to change my mind about those things and I\u2019m going to ask the Lord this week to help me with these problems.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have the strength in myself but the Holy Spirit is inside of me.\n\nYou don\u2019t just repent to get saved; the Christian life is continual repentance because we drag a bunch of poor thought patterns and poor lifestyle choices and lifestyles with us from the unsaved life into the saved life.\u00a0 He\u2019s not telling Ephesus to get saved; this was the greatest church of the first century.\u00a0 He\u2019s dealing with them in the middle tense of their salvation, progressive sanctification.\u00a0 By the way, your growth as a Christian is determined on whether you\u2019re going to have a lifestyle of repentance or not.\u00a0 Some Christians make great progress in this; others do not.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what the Bema Seat Judgment of rewards is there to determine.\n\nAnd by the way,\u00a0 your growth in Christ is not automatic.\u00a0 The Reformed Calvinist camp will tell you that, it\u2019s their doctrine of the perseverance of the saints; if you\u2019re in Christ you\u2019re automatic persevere.\u00a0 I\u2019m here to tell you that that is a bunch of nonsense that has been foisted on the body of Christ.\u00a0 If your sanctification or your growth in Christ was automatic why would Jesus tell this church to repent?\u00a0 It would just be a done deal, right, their growth?\u00a0 So as Christians we are called to believe in Christ for salvation but to grow in Christ is not just a single act of repentance or trust but it\u2019s a continual lifestyle.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus tells five of these seven churches you need to repent or what? You\u2019re going to lose something.\u00a0 What are you going to lose?\u00a0 Not\u00a0 your salvation but something valuable.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of things that can be lost that are of value, that don\u2019t necessarily relate to our arrival in heaven and the church at Ephesus is about to lose one.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to discover what that is in just a moment.\n\nVerb number one, remember.\u00a0 Verb number two, repent.\u00a0 Verb number three, repeat.\u00a0 Now it doesn\u2019t say \u201crepeat\u201d but I just summed it up, it says do the things you did at first.\u00a0 That\u2019s another way of saying repeat.\u00a0 These are action items.\u00a0 Go back to the first deeds.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting how interested Jesus is in deeds; He commends Ephesus for their deeds, verse 2.\u00a0 He condemns Ephesus for hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans, verse 6.\u00a0 Then he tells them in repentance you\u2019ve got to go back to the first deeds, verse 5.\u00a0 What first deeds is he talking about?\u00a0 How could you explain this?\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know if I have an answer to this.\u00a0 What first deeds is it that they\u2019re supposed to go back to?\u00a0 I do have a theory though.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s the Lord\u2019s table.\u00a0 What does the Lord\u2019s table do?\u00a0 What did Jesus say concerning the Lord\u2019s table?\u00a0 Do this \u201cin remembrance of Me.\u201d\n\nWhat is the Lord\u2019s table?\u00a0 Why do we do this once a month here at Sugar Land Bible Church?\u00a0 Is it just another empty ritual within Christendom?\u00a0 No, the Lord\u2019s table, as you well know, is designed to trigger your memory of what Jesus did.\u00a0 The sacrifice that He made for you and for me, the bread represents His body that was sacrificed in our behalf, the cup represents His blood that was spilled on our behalf and what does that whole ritual do?\u00a0 It\u2019s for the believer.\u00a0 It\u2019s a remembrance of what Jesus has done for us. \u00a0And I tell you, you live a life thinking about that, which is what the Lord\u2019s Table is designed to produce in us and inculcate in us memory wise and you\u2019re going to have a different week, I guarantee you, Monday through Saturday if the Lord\u2019s Supper is a priority in your life on Sunday.\u00a0 That\u2019s what brings you back to your first love, not going to another ritual, understanding intellectually what Jesus has done.\u00a0 That will cause you to fall in love with Jesus all over again.\u00a0 I mean, isn\u2019t that what sacrifice does.\u00a0 I think of a lot of sacrifices my wife has made for me, and there\u2019s been a lot, believe me.\u00a0 Thinking about that, reflecting upon that, what does that do?\u00a0 It causes me to love her all the more.\u00a0 It is His kindness, Romans 2, that leads us to repentance.\n\nSometimes what we need is not another help, fire, damnation sermon; sometimes what we need is just a simple reflection on the love of God.\u00a0 Romans 5:8, \u201cGod demonstrates His love for us, that while we were yet sinners Christ\u201d what? \u201cdied for us.\u201d\u00a0 How can a person understand that and be calloused to it.\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible.\u00a0 So go back to those things, go back to the first order of things that remind you of that first love.\u00a0 Number one, remember; number two, repent; number three, repeat or else what?\u00a0 Or else there\u2019s a consequence.\u00a0 What\u2019s the consequence?\u00a0 It\u2019s the end of verse 5, \u201cor else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place\u2014unless you repent.\u201d\n\nWhat does he say here in verse 5?\u00a0 I\u2019m coming!\u00a0 Now is that the Second Coming, Revelation 19?\u00a0 That\u2019s not the Second Coming in my opinion; that\u2019s a personal private coming to this church in discipline.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m coming\u201d He says, and what does it mean when He says I am coming to \u201cremove your lampstand out of its place,\u201d a lot of people say they\u2019re going to lose their salvation.\u00a0 How could that be when John, in his other book, chapter 10, verses 27-29 tells us that we are in Christ\u2019s hand, we are in the Father\u2019s hand, we are in the double grip of grace and nothing can take us out.\u00a0 [John 10:27-28, \u201cMy sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; [28] and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.\u201d]\n\nHow could somebody compare that verse to this verse and say well, these folks are going to lose their salvation.\u00a0 Salvation is secure at initial repentance or changing one\u2019s mind or believing in Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s never going to be revoked.\u00a0 But they can lose something of value, not necessarily related to salvation.\u00a0 And keep in mind who these lampstands are; they\u2019re the churches, the seven churches, we saw that last week in chapter 1 verse 20.\u00a0 The Bible interprets itself.\u00a0 [Revelation 1:20, \u201c\u2026the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.\u201d]\u00a0 I\u2019m going to remove your lampstand from its place, I\u2019m going to remove your church from its place.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Jesus say that we are \u201cthe light of the world\u201d?\n\nMatthew 5:14-16, \u201cYou are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;\u00a0 [15] nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.\u00a0 [16] Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.\u201d]\n\nIf all of that is true what does He mean when He says I\u2019m coming to remove your lampstand from its place?\u00a0 I\u2019m coming to the church and I\u2019m taking away your sphere of influence.\u00a0 I\u2019m taking away your lighthouse capacity.\u00a0 Keep in mind these words are written to Ephesus, the most influential church, most likely, of that whole era.\u00a0 And Jesus says I\u2019m coming and I\u2019m going to shut the whole thing down.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to take away your individual salvation but the witness that this church has been, the influence that this church has been, the light is about to be extinguished.\n\nBut doesn\u2019t the good things they were doing outweigh the bad?\u00a0 Not in this case because God is relational; the first priority in God is a relationship to God.\u00a0 And if that gets jeopardized you lose your capacity to be the light bearer that God has called them to be.\u00a0 You know folks, there are Christians all over this country that God has taken and He hasn\u2019t removed their names from the Book of Life but they\u2019ve been put on the bench.\u00a0 And I know about being put on the bench as an ex-basketball player.\u00a0 You\u2019re not in the starting five any more, you\u2019re on the bench.\u00a0 You\u2019re on the shelf.\u00a0 Yeah, you\u2019re living a life, you\u2019re going through the motions but you\u2019re not going to be used in any meaningful capacity because you left your first love.\n\nI made the point last week that all over Europe the light has gone out; the light is out in Europe.\u00a0 Oh, there\u2019s little pockets of it that you can point to of faithful people but Europe was the cradle of the Protestant Reformation. Where would Christendom be without Europe.\u00a0 Look at the architecture in Europe.\u00a0 And yet tell me the condition of Christianity today in Europe.\u00a0 Christianity is probably less than 1% of the population.\u00a0 You say well that can\u2019t happen in the United States can it?\u00a0 Folks, beloved, I\u2019m not a prophet of doom and gloom but the light is already going out; it\u2019s not a matter of it will go out, it\u2019s being extinguished as we speak.\n\nYou say well, you\u2019re pretty hopeless here.\u00a0 No I\u2019m not because if you look at verse 5, \u201cor else I am coming and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent.\u201d\u00a0 Now here the verb \u201crepent\u201d switches into the subjunctive mood. We\u2019ve moved from the imperative a command, to a subjunctive.\u00a0 You say well who cares?\u00a0 Subjunctive is the mood of possibility.\u00a0 In other words, maybe they\u2019re going to repent, maybe they\u2019re not.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the verb tense and mood demands in the second use of repentance there in verse 5.\u00a0 In other words, there was still hope. The ship could be righted.\u00a0 And sadly what happened?\u00a0 You want to take a trip today to the church at Ephesus?\u00a0 What are you going to find?\u00a0 A pile of rocks in a predominantly Islamic part of the world.\n\nThis church, as much truth as it had, as great as it was, as many quality spiritual leaders were leading this church, the Lord pulled the plug.\u00a0 Did these people go to hell?\u00a0 No they did not!\u00a0 But the lighthouse got dimmed and believe me, it is DIM today.\u00a0 How many people today, in our world, are enslaved to Islamic doctrine in that part of the world, in complete and total spiritual darkness because these people, 2,000 years ago did not do what the Lord said.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t remember, they didn\u2019t repent, and they didn\u2019t repeat.\u00a0 And that\u2019s true folks, not just for the church at Ephesus, that\u2019s true for any church in the United States of America, it\u2019s true for your personal life, it\u2019s true for my personal life.\u00a0 God help us, it\u2019s true even at Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0\u00a0 This is serious business here, folks; we\u2019re not playing church.\n\nAnd that\u2019s why you have number 7, the exhortation to listen.\u00a0 Look at verse 7, \u201cHe who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.\u201d\u00a0 How frequently do you find the exhortation to listen in the Bible.\u00a0 I would be afraid to even find out.\u00a0 You know, the word \u201clisten\u201d or \u201chear\u201d is the Hebrew word Shammah, it\u2019s where we get the Hebrew word Shammah as a reference to Deuteronomy 6:4-7, a tremendous passage on the rearing of children.\u00a0 How does that passage begin? \u201cHear, O Israel.\u201d\n\n[Deuteronomy 6:4-7, \u201cHear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! [5] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. [6] These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. [7]You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s interesting how frequently we are challenged to be listeners in the Word of God.\u00a0 James 1:19 says, \u201cThis you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;\u201d\u00a0 now I hate that verse\u2026. [laughter]\u00a0 because I\u2019m always the last to listen, the first to speak, and the first to get upset.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost like James, the Lord\u2019s brother, knew what the sinful impulses in people were.\u00a0 You remember the story of Mary and Martha?\u00a0 The busy sister, Luke 10:38-42, Martha was distracted by all the preparations; she got so upset that her sister was not helping, she was listening to Christ, Lord, make her help me!\u00a0 And what does the Lord say?\u00a0 Mary has chosen the better way.\n\n[Luke 10:38-42, \u201cNow as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.\u00a0 [39] She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord\u2019s feet, listening to His word. [40] But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him<\/em> and said, \u201cLord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.\u201d [41] But the Lord answered and said to her, \u201cMartha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; [42]but only<\/em> one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.\u201d]\n\nNotice the word \u201cchosen.\u201d\u00a0 The two of you had a choice.\u00a0 You could either be a busy Christian or an [can't understand word] Christian.\u00a0 Or better\u00a0 yet, you can be a Christian that\u2019s intimate with Christ and your works, John 15:1-8, are produced with great business because\u00a0 you were first intimate with Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we ought to be doing; it\u2019s not busy versus intimate, it\u2019s intimate first which leads to right motivated business.\u00a0 She\u2019s chosen the better way that will not be taken from her.\n\n[John 15:1-8, \u201c\u201cI am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. [2] Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch<\/em> that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. [3] You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. [4] Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can<\/em> you unless you abide in Me. [5] I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. [6] If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. [7] If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. [8]My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so<\/em> prove to be My disciples.\u201d]\n\nYou know, one of the things that I\u2019m afraid of as the pastor of this church is that this church would become a busy church. And we\u2019ve got a lot of stuff going on here and a lot of it\u2019s great but quite frankly if that becomes a substitute for listening and hearing the Word of God you don\u2019t have church any more.\u00a0 If you are not in an environment where the Word of God is being taught faithfully, consistently verse by verse and being applied to a person\u2019s life it doesn\u2019t matter how many activities you have.\u00a0 That\u2019s not even a church any more.\n\nPeople kind of get mad at us, you know, because we put signs out front that say please keep it quiet during the worship service, things like that.\u00a0 Why do we do that?\u00a0 I mean, what kind of legalists are we?\u00a0 Because you have to have a place like this, for example, to hear the Word of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s so important.\u00a0 How important it is to have a place come and simply to receive from God.\u00a0 No obligations are placed on you other than what you want to do out of the abundance of your relationship to God.\u00a0 And how that needs to be protected because your mind is under Satanic assault the rest of the week.\u00a0 Do you think that six straight days of a satanic assault on your mind can be erased through a twenty minute sermon with three points and a poem, where the pastor doesn\u2019t get deep in the shallow water?\u00a0 How are you going to grow in that environment?\n\n\u201cHe who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.\u201d [Revelation 2:7]\u00a0 As my mother used to say, and still does, \u201cGod gave you one mouth and two ears, use them in proportion.\u201d\n\nAnd finally, this letter concludes with an exhortation to the overcomers.\u00a0 Look at the second half of verse 7, \u201cTo him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Now you might recall from last week who the overcomers are.\u00a0 Is this people that strive and strain and prove themselves holy?\u00a0 Not at all, in fact, every Christian is an over\u00ad-comer already.\u00a0 That\u2019s your identity. \u00a0The Book of Revelation is set up so that we would interpret phrases in the last Book of the Bible based on how those phrases are not explained in Revelation but explained elsewhere.\u00a0 John wrote another book, didn\u2019t he?\u00a0 And he says, \u201cFor whatever is born of God\u201d what? \u201covercomes the world.\u201d\u00a0 [1 John 5:4, \u201cFor whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-- our faith.\u201d]\n\nAnd then he goes on, verse 5, and he says, \u201cWho is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?\u201d\u00a0 If you are \u201cin Christ\u201d according to John\u2019s own definition you\u2019re already an overcomer.\u00a0 You\u2019re on a fast track to glory.\u00a0 You can\u2019t get much more of an overcomer than that.\u00a0 And beyond that you have all of the riches in Christ and the resources in Christ and everything necessary to live the kind of life that God would call us to live in this world.\n\nSo when you see the word \u201covercomer\u201d in the Book of Revelation just substitute word \u201ca born again Christian.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cTo him who overcomes\u2026 will eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.\u201d\u00a0 You see what Jesus is doing in the midst of their struggle?\u00a0 He\u2019s comforting them with a prophecy of their future.\u00a0 He\u2019s dragging in, bringing in if you will, information from Revelation 21 and 22, the eternal state, when sin exits the world and he\u2019s comforting them in the present with an awareness of their future.\u00a0 And life can be lived if there\u2019s hope.\u00a0 Scientists have looked at this and studied this, if a human being runs out of hope they run out of life.\u00a0 Animals are like that as well.\u00a0 And animal will fight longer and struggle more and let\u2019s say in an environment where they\u2019re drowning, if they have the hope of an immediate release or rescue.\n\nBut if hope disappears productivity in life itself disappears.\u00a0 That\u2019s why a lot of people are telling me, Andy, you need to tone it down in this prophecy stuff.\u00a0 Tone it down!\u00a0 Well, the last time I checked Titus 2:13 says the rapture is \u201cthe blessed hope\u201d of the church.\u00a0 [Titus 2:13, \u201clooking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.\u201d] Why would I tone that down?\u00a0 Quite frankly I think we need to tone it up because there are many people that are running out of hope in our world.\n\nOur hope, according to 2 Peter 3:11 is the new heavens and a new earth.\u00a0 [2 Peter 3:11, \u201cSince all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.\u201d] \u00a0\u00a0Think about that!\u00a0 Do you struggle with traffic?\u00a0 Think about living in a world that\u2019s perfect.\u00a0 That\u2019s your hope.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Jesus is doing and He reminds them that when they are in the eternal state they will eat freely from the tree of life.\u00a0 Now, after the fall of man, Genesis 3, you can study it for yourself, Genesis 3:22-24, man was barred from the tree of life because God said I\u2019m going to station angels preventing you as a fallen human being from re-entering Eden to eat from the tree of life.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the tree of life is what gave people the capacity to live forever.\n\n[Genesis 3:22-24, \u201cAnd the Lord God said, \u2018The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.\u2019 [23] So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. [24] After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.\u201d]\n\nAnd by being barred from the tree of life God is saying that death is a certainty.\u00a0 The mortality rate is still 100%.\u00a0 If the rapture doesn\u2019t come first death is going to take every one of us.\u00a0 And yet access to the tree of life is another way of saying you\u2019re coming into a world where death will no longer be a reality.\u00a0 In fact, every tear will be wiped from\u00a0 your eyes; there will no longer be any death, mourning, crying, pain, for the first things have passed away.\n\nThink of a world where there\u2019s no tears.\u00a0 I mean, there\u2019s not even a Kleenex box.\u00a0 Where death has gone, mourning is gone, crying is gone, pain is gone.\u00a0 The first order of things has passed away.\u00a0 That\u2019s your destiny!\u00a0 This life is just like mist that appears for a little while and then it\u2019s gone.\u00a0 You live your life this week with that perspective you can handle\u00a0 your trials.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got help.\u00a0 You can struggle longer, you can fight harder because you know that what you\u2019re going through, whatever it is, it\u2019s just a blip on the radar screen.\n\nPaul, the apostle, would say our present struggles don\u2019t even compare to the glories that await us in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 So a tremendous word to this church, the destination, the description of Christ, the commendation, the rebuke, the exhortation to change, the consequence, the exhortation to listen and the word to be overcomers.\u00a0 Next week as God allows it we\u2019ll be taking a look at the second church, the message to the church at Smyrna, the persecuted church, having dealt with the loveless church, moving to the persecuted church.\n\nAnd how we, at Sugar Land Bible Church want this to be more than a study for the Christian. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the what?\u00a0 The Word.\u00a0 Some of you may have heard something, even as an\u00a0 unbeliever, even listening online, where you recognize that the gospel is your answer; not the world\u2019s answer, your answer specifically.\u00a0 The gospel, of course, is Jesus did it all.\u00a0 He died on a cross, He paid the penalty for our sins, He rose from the dead to authenticate who He was and He leaves the world with its message, don\u2019t trust in yourself, trust in what I\u2019ve done\u2026 faith!\u00a0 Change your mind about who I am, trust IN a person.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a matter of having knowledge of what Jesus historically did.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of people in this world that will tell you a lot of information about Jesus and if they were to die today they would go straight to hell, because the difference between heaven and hell is the difference between the head to the heart.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just an intellectual assent; it\u2019s trust IN a person for the safe keeping of one\u2019s soul.\u00a0 That\u2019s salvation.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s never happened in a person\u2019s life our exhortation right now, even as I\u2019m speaking, as the Holy Spirit convicts is to trust in Christ and Christ alone for salvation.\u00a0 The initial act of repentance, changing one\u2019s mind about Christ and then God loves us as we are but He loves us too much to leave us as we are.\u00a0 He says there\u2019s some things in your life that need to change or you\u2019re going to forfeit, NOT salvation but temporal consequences.\u00a0 This needs to change.\u00a0 That needs to change.\u00a0 And that\u2019s called growth in Christ.\u00a0 And I hope that\u2019s a trajectory that we\u2019re all on.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we are grateful for Your truth and Your Word, how it speaks to our lives. I pray that we would be good stewards of these truths this week as we walk with You.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t