Turn to the book of Revelation, the second chapter, and we are going to begin today to talk about those seven churches, or seven assemblies in Asia Minor. So please take your Bibles and turn to the second chapter, and I'm going to only read today the first seven verses of that second chapter, because verses one to seven really deals with the first local assembly, the first church at Ephesus. Revelation chapter two, and I'm reading from verse one. And look what the Lord is saying to John to write, Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou can not bear them which are evil. And thou hast tried them which say that they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars, and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.

Nevertheless, I have against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from when thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and I will remove thy candlestick or thy lampstand out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. And I stop here with the reading for today in the second chapter of the book of the Revelation. Let me, beloved brothers and sisters, just refresh your mind a little bit by way of introduction as we are going into these seven verses.

John was taken to the island that is called Patmos, present-day Greece, by the emperor Domitian, and he was placed on this island because of the word of the Lord and because of the testimony that he gave to the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. And as he was there on this island, the Lord revealed himself unto John and gave him a revelation that you and I hold in our hands today.

It's called the revelation of Yeshua the Messiah. One revelation which is unfolding and unfolding before us the person of Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah. God want the people of God, the believers of this present day to be occupied with the Messiah, with Yeshua. And so he gave him the whole book of the revelation, but he also showed him what would apply to the church and what would apply to the nation of Israel and what would apply to the nation of this world. He gave him the division of the book of the revelation in verse 19 of chapter 1. And let me reread for you verse 19 of chapter 1, where he's saying to him, write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.

He gave the three divisions of the book of Revelation. The things which you have seen, chapter one, the vision of the glorified Messiah. Don't forget that while we love this meek Jesus of Nazareth, Yeshua of Nazareth, who loved us and died for us on the tree, he is not only as a lamb that was once slain, but he is also a king that one day is going to judge this world in righteousness. And so what does he do? He is showing to us in chapter one, he is showing to us the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah.

His head is white as wool, his eyes as the flame of fire, his feet as brass, his voice as thundering as of many waters. He is showing to us in this book that he is not only once he was a lamb who died for us on the tree, but he is also this king who is one day is going to judge this world in righteousness. Going to judge.

Not only that he's one day gonna judge the world, but he's also judging us believers. Now I know we sometimes think once we became believers, well Jesus died for me and therefore I'm not gonna be examined or judged or being evaluated. And he's going to judge the world. Me, I am a child of God, he will not need to judge me. Well, listen, in this particular book of the Revelation, chapter 2 and chapter 3, we see him examining the church of Jesus the Messiah. He's examining us. He's examining the believers, those who are already saved and forgiven and belong to him, but he's examining us. And don't you agree with me, beloved brothers and sisters? If not somebody else examine you, just you, just look into your heart before the word, before the Lord, and you will say, Lord, I have to confess before thee that how many things are not right in my relationship with you.

So he gave to John these letters of the revelation that he wanted him to give to those seven churches in Asia Minor. Mind you, like I said before, there were more than seven local churches in Asia Minor, present-day Turkey. Colossian was one of the church that is existing in Asia Minor, but they did not receive that letter per se, it was not addressed to them, but it was addressed really to the seven local assemblies which are really representing all the church of Jesus the Messiah, the one church, the worldwide church of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. So chapter Two, in chapter three, are devoted to those seven local assemblies in Asia Minor that existed two thousand years ago.

And as you know, we just came back from Asia Minor, we just had a tour of thirty four people, we visited all the seven churches, every local assembly in Asia Minor, plus we took a boat ride to this island that is called Patmos, there where the Apostle John received that revelation. And it was a refreshing, real encouragement to us to study the book of the Revelation and to see how important the letters that the Lord himself wrote to these particular churches.

We are going to deal today with the first local church, Ephesus, but I want to give you some introduction to these seven churches. I want you to make some notes, some basic facts about those seven letters to those seven churches. The first thing that we have to observe, and I take this outline from somebody else that have already had this, but I think to make it interesting for us, I have to give you these basic facts. First of all, in this particular seven letters, chapter two and chapter three, it's really the last words that the Lord Jesus spoke to the Church of Jesus the Messiah through the Apostle John. In fact, the book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible.

And these are the last words that he gave to the worldwide church, but he had given it, this is the last words that Yeshua spoken, as we have it in the canon of Scripture. What we have in the Word of God is what God had given to us. These seven letters are the last words of Yeshua the Messiah to those that belong to him. That's the first thing that we learn here from these letters. Secondly, when he's speaking, He's speaking to the visible church rather than to the invisible church. What's the difference? See, the visible assembly is what we see. The invisible assembly is what we don't see. What I mean by that is simply this. You see, we have a company of people right now here in this room, but we do not know the hearts of everyone here.

We might have people who are attending meetings who may have never ever came to know the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, as the Lord and Savior. Maybe they can come to meetings, they go to church meetings like we have today all over. People fill up the pews, but never make a personal decision for the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. They sing the song, they even recite the prayer, they even serve in the local group of people, but they have themselves never made a commitment to Yeshua, the Messiah. And may have never become believers. They are just as lost as the person in the bar or somewhere there in the world who have never put his foot in a building where believers are gathered. And so we know this, there are people who feel today church buildings who have never come to know Yeshua the Messiah as their Lord and Savior. And so when those letters are written, you will notice that it is spoken not only to the true believers, even though the vast majority were true believers, but including in those letters, you will see some hints to people that may have never been part of the family of God.

And how sad it is for somebody to go to a church meeting and to hear the song, to hear the prayers, to hear the word of God preached, but never come to the Lord and say, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. What a sad thing would that be for those who have come to the church, congregational meetings, and have never became believers in Yeshua the Messiah. So these messages are written not to the invisible only, because the invisible church is only true believers, but visible one what seem to appear. You remember what Yeshua said in Matthew? Many will come unto me in this day and says, Lord, Lord, haven't we done this in your name? And you remember what you're gonna tell them? I never knew you. He doesn't say to them, I don't know you now, but I have never ever knew you. You never came to a relationship with me in the first place.

You might have made all kind of miracles and all kind of things that you have been by who knows what power you have done those things, but you have never never knew me. Matthew chapter seven, you read it for yourself, how he said this, many will come unto me in that day and will say, Lord, Lord, haven't we done this in your name? And he say, I never knew you. Thirdly, what we learn about those particular letters to those seven churches in Asia Minor is that he has some things to say almost against every church.

There's only two churches that he didn't say anything against them. And those are the suffering church, the church of Smyrna, and the one before the last church where he was writing to, at the end of chapter three, this is the church of Philadelphia. He didn't write, this is the missionary church who sent missionaries to the world. The suffering church and the missionary church, to them he didn't have anything to say against them, because when those were suffering, That they have suffered for the name of Yeshua, he didn't have anything to say against them. And those that are sending the missionaries, had a burden for the world, for the lost, to them he didn't say anything against this local assembly, but he did have to say, the other five local churches he had something to say against those churches. Then you notice that he has also something good to say about every church.

Every church has something good to say about that local assembly except one, and that one church is the last church, the Laodicean church. There is nothing good that he said about this church. Six of them, from Ephesus all the way to Philadelphia, he has some good things to say about them, but the last church, there was nothing good to say. This is the apostate church, who have left that which they have been exposed to and been known. This is the apostate church to them, there was nothing good that he says about this particular church. Then there are, you notice that as we are going to study that, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, there are certain things that every letter to those churches are being said, four things that he says to every church. First of all, there is a description of the person of the Lord in every letter.

Secondly, to every church he's saying, I know, I know, you know what, he knows everything about every local assembly. I know your works, I know where you are at, I know everything about you. Every church, he's telling them that he knows everything about them. Then he's saying to every church, he says, he that overcometh, even though the condition may be pretty poor in a certain local assembly, that those that are overcomers, the believers who also make a decision to continue on in spite of the bad condition of this particular local assembly.

And then finally, he is appealing in every letter of those seven churches, he is appealing, he that hath an ear, let him hear. You know, we have two ears, and often time we don't listen. We don't hear what God has to say. And so he's appealing to this local assembly, he says, do you have an ear? Do you Listen to what I'm telling you. Are you going to respond to me? He is appealing to every church that they will respond to him, to what he is charging them and what he is challenging those particular churches in the issues that existed there in that local assembly. Now, this is just by way of introduction. Two more things before we are going to go actually into this second chapter, the first verses of chapter two. I want to mention that, you know, it is interesting, and I think in the study of this, I've been encouraged to understand that chapter two and chapter three of, of this book of the Revelation is following an historical setting.

Every local church represent an age in a period of the church age. In these two thousand years of church age, from the apostolic church up till today, every one of these seven churches represent a certain period of time in church history. Beginning with the apostolic time, where the shlichim, the followers of Yeshua, the Messiah, in the beginning of the church, all the way to the present day. Every one of those churches represent a certain period of time in church history.

And by the way, you know that you and I live right now in the last period of the Church Age. In fact, we are part of what is known to be as the Laodicean Age, the condition of the last church, and that's where you and I fit today in this present day in 2007. Also, those seven letters that were written, they were written to a local assembly, you know, like we have today a church in Toronto, a church in Hamilton, a church in Burlington, a church in Niagara-on-the-Lake, a church in Jerusalem. Wherever you have, there is a local assembly. So there's a literal local assembly that existed 2,000 years ago. They were there. They were literally in this city, a company of believers that gathered together, both professing and confessing, those that were gathering together. There was a local assembly in every area. It was literal local churches that existed at that time. But every church had a different condition.

Like today, for example, we live in Toronto, there are about hundreds if not thousands of professing churches here in Toronto. Every church will represent a different condition. In some, there is a good teaching of the Word of God, in others, there is a lot of love and affection between the believers, in others, there is a looseness and everything goes, in others, there is all kind of confusion. Every church had a condition, just like you and I. We have a condition of heart. And if our heart condition before the Lord is good, whenever we come to our little fellowship here, we are going to be a blessing to each other. If our heart condition is not good, if we are far away from the Lord, how can we bless others spiritually?

How can we help somebody else when we ourselves are far away from the Lord? Well, conditions are very important. If my condition, if your condition spiritually is close to the Lord, when you are meeting with believers, you are going to be a blessing to them. When you are meeting and you seeing unbelievers, you're going to seek to tell them about Yeshua, the Messiah. Every one of us have a condition. Every one of these churches had a condition as well, and you will see that as we are studying these particular passages. Now, finally, one more thing before we're going to go into the actual chapter and verses themselves. Every one of these seven churches' condition exists today in this present day.

You will look at those seven conditions, seven churches, and you will travel around the city here or any place else, and you will look and you will see that particular local assembly represent that church. That particular local assembly represent Ephesus. The other group of believers, they represent the Taya Tyra. Another group of believers, another local assembly, they represent Laodicea. You will see that those seven churches condition exist today in this present day. You may find them all over the world. Seven condition of churches that exist today in this present day. And we are today going to deal with that one local assembly that call Ephesus, the Ephesians. Now please go the book of the Revelation and let's go verse by verse and you will see how interesting these verses are. First of all is the letter to the church of Ephesus, Revelation 2 verses 1 to 7.

The first thing that we learn in verse 1 that the letter was written to the people at Ephesus. It says in verse 1, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus. In some of my studies that I have done on this particular expression, unto the angel, the Hebrew word for angel is also malach. It's very similar to the word of the prophet malachi, malachi.

And, all kind of thoughts about what does that mean that John was supposed to write unto the angel of the church. Does he write to a literal angel? Who does he write this letter to? Now, because the word is singular, angel, some do suggest that when he is writing unto the angel, he does mean literal angel that God have assigned to every local assembly, because in the Scripture you never find a one-man leadership in the Bible, in the Church of Jesus the Messiah. I know there are many places we have one pastor that he lead the church, but in the Bible, you have always plurality of leadership. That's why you will notice that I do not like to be alone up here doing everything.

That's why I like the brethren that are responsible to take part in the meeting, even though I do the teaching, and may the Lord open others' heart to also do teaching, but I do not see in the Bible one-man leadership. It is not found in Scripture. In the local assembly it's always a plurality of leadership. And that's why you find elders and spiritual leaders, not the titles that is important, but their function and the service that they do as they serve the people of God. So you find even though it was written to the leadership of the local assembly, some suggest that it may have been specifically assigned to one angel that is responsible over the local assembly, but also to the leadership of the local assembly. You see, the leadership of the local church is responsible to the condition of the church whom they lead.

If we have godly leaders, we're going to have a godly company of believers. They will influence the company. They will be a blessing to them. They will lead them to learn from the word of God. They will Teach them the Bible, they will teach them to walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, but if you have an ungodly group of leaders, then watch it, we are in big trouble. And while some suggest that he's writing to the angel and being assigned to the local assembly, but it is also to the leadership of the local assembly. They are responsible to the condition of the local church.

So he's writing unto the angel of the church, and remember, when we use the word church, we do not ever mean a building. We always mean called out ones. We mean the believers that gather together in this locality, they are the church. We are the local church, the local assembly, by virtue of our being saved, being part of the family of God. And so he's writing unto the angel or the messenger, whether you call it to the angel who is responsible of a local assembly, or whether it is through him to the leadership of the local assembly, it is to them that the Lord Jesus write that particular letter. They are responsible to take the lead. They are responsible to meet the needs of the people of God. They are responsible to be teaching the word and being a faithful example.

And when you think about this in many local churches today, how sad that often time we who are in a leadership responsibility have failed to be an example to the sheep, to the people of God, by the way we behave, by the things we do, by the words we say, how important the leadership of a local assembly to recognize that the Lord is setting them there responsible to be faithful and to lead the local assembly in a right way. But notice, he says in verse one, this is the destination, this is the place to whom he was writing, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus writes. Now the word Ephesus means desirable. And right here, by reading that word Ephesus, it shows us that in general, the condition of this local assembly was desirable. It seemed to be with a healthy condition. It was something that the Lord could desire to see. The condition of this church was desirable condition.

And you notice, he's saying unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, write. And so he's writing to those who are responsible. And by the way, when it's come to the period of time in church history, the church of Ephesus represent the first 100 years of church history. Everything began very nice. You remember after about 30 AD, Jesus the Messiah was crucified, he died on the tree by the Romans. After he died, he was buried and he rose again and he has gone to heaven and in Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit of God came down and formed the body of Messiah. And when the body of Messiah was formed, we have what we say the apostolic age, the beginning. And you know everything in the beginning start very nice, very solid. So things started very good, and really the Ephesus church is a representation of the first hundred years of the church age. From the time of Yeshua ascension to heaven after his resurrection, up till the time of about 100 AD.

And the condition was desirable, it started very well. And so the Lord is telling John, you write to this local assembly at Ephesus, desirable condition, and look who is the one who is writing to them. Here we have a description of the Messiahship of Yeshua. Look, it says in verse 1b, a description of the Mashiach. He that hold the seven stars in his right hand. Who walk in the middle of the seven golden lampstands. Look who is the one who writes. The one that writes is the one that have or hold the seven stars in his right hand. You remember what we said about those seven stars? If you go back please to chapter one, and you notice what it says in verse twenty. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.

The one who hold those seven stars in his hand represented the seven angels of those particular churches, he's the one that holding them in his hand. And whichever way you want to look at it, if it's speaking about literal angels, or if it's speaking about the leadership of the local assemblies, he holding them in his right hand. He's in full control. He's the one that is controlling, is in charge of those seven angels, of those seven leaderships of the local assembly. He's in charge. They are at his right hand. In other words, he can see them, he can view them, he can lead them. They are at his right hand, and he is giving them a charge, a responsibility to do his business in a way that is pleasing to him.

He says, I'm the one holding them in my hand. You know, he has full control over the leadership. He can do what he want, and the leadership is responsible to submit to the authority of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And what he's saying, he is the one that holding the seven stars in his right hand, but notice, he continue, he also walking in the midst of the seven lampstands. And you remember what I said? The seven lampstands only bearing the light. The lampstand itself is not the light. The lampstand is that which bear the light. You see, He has set us responsible to bear light for Him in this world. And those seven churches, they're the one that He's in the middle of them, and He's walking around, and He's looking at every lampstand that's supposed to bear light.

He's in the midst. You know how many times we read in the Bible Jesus in the midst? When they lifted up on the cross, they put two malefactors, you remember? Luke chapter 23, and the Lord Jesus, they placed Him in the midst. They lifted Him up in the midst between heaven and earth when they placed Him on that tree. When he was with the disciples, he said to them in Matthew 18 20, where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst.

He's in the midst of his people. He doesn't want me or you to be the center. He want to be the center in the midst of his people. And here we find him again in the midst. He's in the midst of those seven lamps, and then he's walking around, and we observe what kind of light do we bear for him. Ephesian, desirable condition, are you shedding light for me? He's in the midst. He's holding the leadership in his hand, and he says, I am the one that's writing to you this letter. And beloved, just like he's writing to you and I today, while he's writing to the local church then, he's also writing to individuals like you and I, and he says, listen, I hold you in my hand. I walk and I see everything that's going on in your life and in your heart. I know you.

Are you bearing light for me? Are you shining light for me? Are you giving a testimony for me here in this world? Well, now notice what he's saying. Remember I said that every letter he tells them what he knows about them. And after in verse one we see the destination, the place that he wrote to is Ephesus, the meaning is desirable. Then we have a description of how the Messiah, who is the one that is writing, the Messiah himself, he's holding the seven stars in his hand, the leadership, the angels in his right hand, and he's in the middle of the seven lamps and watching and observing the condition of every local assembly. Then in verse two and verse three we have a commendation. He commend them. He is giving an approval about certain things that they have been doing. And actually it's verse two and verse three and also in verse six. Look a few things he telling them in verse two.

I know your works and your labor and thy patience and how thou canst bear them which are evil and thou hast tried them which say that they are apostles and are not and hast found them liars and hast borne and hast patience and for my name's sake hast labored and hast not fainted. You see, he's writing and he's commending them. And you know, it is always nice that the Lord is doing things in a proper way. You know, he might have something to say to you and me that is not pleasant. Maybe there are things in our lives that need to be corrected, but he doesn't begin there. He's always beginning with the positive. He's always beginning with to say, there's things that I want to commend you for. You know how, if you have something to say about somebody, first we'll cut him down, and after we discourage him and set him far away, and he's also down and out and so on, then we might remember some things that they have done that were right and were nice.

We are very good in those things, but the Lord is the opposite. The first thing he does, he gives us commendation. And you know, there's always something to commend about individuals. And you notice, first of all, he says, I know thy works. The works has to do with service. Apparently, this particular Ephesian church had been doing a lot of works for the Lord. Now remember, beloved, that works are not in order to be saved. You remember we read, we have not by works of righteousness which we have done, Titus tells us, but according to His mercy we have been saved. It's not the works that save us, but the works come after we have been saved. After we have come to know the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah as our Lord and Savior, we have responsibility to the works.

And he says, I know your works. Apparently this local assembly have been doing all kind of works for the glory of the Lord. Maybe they were sharing the gospel. Maybe they were helping the needy. Maybe they were opening their homes to invite people to come to encourage them. Maybe they were meeting the needs of people and so on. Their service for the Lord Jesus was very important for them. They want to serve the Lord. And so Service is beautiful and important, and then he said, I know your works, I know what you do, I know everything you do in the name of the Lord Jesus, in my name, I know that service that you are doing.

And that's important. I mean, we need to have works. We don't only need to talk, but we need to do things in action. You know how people often say, what you say and what you do is two different things. Your actions speak much louder than what you talk and what you say. And so the works of these Ephesians, local assembly, he says, I know them, he commending them for their works. The second thing that he's commending them for is found also in verse two, I know your works, but I know your labor. You know, every time when I think of labor, labor has to do with pain. You know, when a woman is in labor and she bear a child, it is connected with pain. It's connected with sacrifice. To bring a child into this world and to take care of this child means a lot of sacrifice.

Well, apparently these local assembly had been sacrificing. They were working and serving the Lord but were self-sacrificed and it cost them to do something for the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, something for Jesus. And so labor, it connected with suffering and connected with sacrifice. How important it is that when we serve the Lord, it's sacrificially. And this is essential, this is very important in the believer's life when we do something, that it will be sacrificially, it will cost us if we're going to do something for the Lord.

If we're going to do something here in our own midst, if we're going to come early, if we're going to set up the chairs, it's going to prepare things for other people to come to enjoy the meeting, it's going to take you time, it's going to take you energy, it's going to take some of the time that you could do other things for yourself, but you do it for somebody else, it is sacrifice. It can be with money, it can be with time, it can be with talent, it can be with anything that the Lord has given to us. Here is a local assembly that were not only that they had service for the Lord, but also it was sacrificial service.

But then he continue in verse 2, not only I know thy works and thy labor, but you notice he also talking about patience. Patience is endurance under trial. Now how do we learn patience? You know, we talked about it in our Bible class in the book of Romans. Tribulation work as patience. Patience does not come, we don't press a button and God send us patience.

We get patience and they had patience because patience come as they endure trials. We can see this. So they apparently have also had some sufferings and trials in their lives. But the Lord Jesus, the Messiah said, I know that. I know your works. I know your service. I know your labor. I know your patience. He's commanding them for those things. And he will command us when we also have this type of attitude and service and labor for him in our life. But then he continued in verse 2. There's a few more things in verse 2. He says, and you cannot bear them which are evil. You see what he's saying here? Those that are living a life of evil. He says, you could not bear them. They set them out. They didn't allow evil in their midst.

He says, he commending them, he know them. He says, you could not bear those that live an evil type of life, they have an evil type of attitude. He says, no, you don't want them in their midst. They set them aside. Either they talk to them and change their ways by speaking with them, or they completely couldn't have them in their midst. And then he's saying to them, you cannot bear them. Apparently, there were more than one or two, there were plurality of those who were actually evil in their manners, in their behavior, in their conduct, in their influence.

He said you could not bear those that were evil. You could not bear them, and then you notice that the next year they'd come and you has tried them which say that they are apostles, and are not, and has found them liars. You see what he's saying to this particular Ephesian local assembly in Asia Minor? Apparently there were people who coming to this local assembly and tell them, you know, we are apostles. We have been sent by God. And we have come to tell you some things that God have told us.

Jesus, the Messiah, the Lord, glorified Messiah said, not only that you could not bear them that do evil, but you also tried or tested them which say that they are apostles, that they are messengers of God, and are not, and you found them liars. Now brothers and sisters, why do we teach the Bible here every Saturday, every Shabbat meeting? Why not come here to the meeting and have some kind of a club where we can just gather together and have some nice time together and we're all gonna rub shoulders and say how lovely we all are, and then go home and come the next week and do this the same.

No, you know why? We are coming here to teach and to learn from the word of God that we will try those that claim that they teach the word and that they serve the Lord and that we will know how to answer them in due time. That's what he's saying here. You see, you notice the expression, you tried them which say that they are apostles. By the way, the word shaliach, apostle, apostle is one that is being sent. And apparently, many people came to this Ephesian church and says, you know, the Lord sent me.

I have something to teach you and something to tell you and I tell you this is timely for us today because we live in a time where there's all kind of teaching that is going on you just open the television and open the radio and open your computer and you will see all kind of things that have been done and been taught in the name of Jesus the Lord and all kind of things that if you not test them and see is it found in the scripture is it in the word of God is that what the Lord would want me to learn and that's what the things that I need to learn from these particular individuals who claim that they are apostles and they are teachers and they've been sent by the Lord Jesus the Messiah What happened, that particular local assembly was not an assembly that was not informed from the Word of God.

The Ephesians assembly, this apostolic assembly, they have studied the Scriptures to know, is that the Word of God? And when somebody came in their midst and tell them, Jesus sent me, they said to him, you are a liar, if they didn't find it in the Scripture. You know what John said elsewhere? Test the spirits, if they are of God. For many false prophets have come into the world. Test Try it. You know, the Bereans, we read in the book of Acts, they learned, they studied the Scriptures daily to see if those things were so. Don't take it what I say, don't take it what somebody else only say, take the Word of God, see it for yourself. Ask the Lord to give you guidance and counsel. Is it from Scripture or is it not?

That's what we need to do. That's what the Ephesian church have been. And I want to tell you, beloved, look, if you just turn back with me to the book of Acts, chapter 20, I want you to see, about 30 years before, 30, 35 years before, the Apostle Paul also have been at the church of Ephesus, in chapter 19 of the book of Acts. By the time we get to chapter 20, look what the Apostle Paul was telling the leaders of the local assembly of the Ephesians.

Acts chapter 20, and I'm reading from verse 17. And from Miltus, he, this is Paul, sent to Ephesus, and he called the elders of the church, the leadership of the church. And when they were coming to him, he said unto them, Ye know from the first day that I came unto Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons. I serve the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the laying of the weight of the Jews. Apparently there were Jewish people like him, he was a Jew, who opposed what Paul was teaching, they opposed the gospel.

And so he says, you know what I have done, I have come to you, and I have labored with you, and I have come in humility. He was talking to the Ephesians when he was calling them to come to Miltus. And now look what he telling them if you go down in verse twenty six he says to them wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God take heed therefore unto yourself and unto all the flock over which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers to listen to feed the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood in making the elders take heed he says you are responsible to feed the flock the church the believers which God had purchased with the Messiah had purchased with his own blood but then he tells them in verse twenty nine for I know Paul knew that.

I know this, that after my departing, shall grievous wolves will enter among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Verse thirty one. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn every one night and day with tears.

And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are set apart. And you notice that how precious Paul is warning the Ephesians elders. He said to them, listen, for three years I labored. And I can just imagine Apostle Paul, for three years, day and night, teaching them from house to house and from believer to another believer, teaching them, instructing them, and telling them the whole counsel of God about the church age, about Israel and the future of Israel, about the world and its future. He taught them the whole counsel of God, but he told them, listen, I know. But after I'm going to leave, a grievous wolves will enter among you, and they will not spare the flock. What does a wolf does? He come to devour, to lead after him others, to draw disciples, as he said to them, even from your own self, he says in verse 30, shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

And hasn't this happened in church history? It sure happened. We know it by experience as well. And I tell you, beloved brothers and sisters, that's the way it is. We have to be sensitive to what the Lord is saying, to watch. Notice verse 31, watch and remember. And then he says in verse 32, now brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace. He commending them to God.

And that's what happened. The Ephesians were wise. When people came to claim that they are sent by God, they told them where to go. They told them that's not from the word of God. They called them liars, and they placed them where they belong, and they don't allow them to influence. You know, it makes me so sad sometimes. We can teach, and we can teach, and we can teach, and it seems like it's coming into one ear, going in the other ear, and all the Teaching, we haven't learned anything. We are not different.

And why is it? Because we have allowed influence, unbiblical influence to come into our lives and allowed others to be influenced by this and what happened we eventually find ourselves not careful and like the tree in the wind, when the wind is blowing, we are going to the right, we are going to the left, not steady, secure in what we believe, not continuing steady in what we have been taught from the word of God. And that was something that the Lord have commend the Ephesians in that letter. He said to them, I know your works and I know your labor and I know your patience and how that could not bear them which do evil and has tried them which say that they are passers and are not and you have found them liars.

Now you know it reminds me of a verse in the prophet Jeremiah when God said to Israel, to those false prophets in Jeremiah chapter 14 and verses 14 and 15, he says, Then the Lord said, the prophets are lying in my name, I send them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them, they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their hearts.

Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I send them not. Yet they say, sword and famine shall not be in this land. By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. You know, just the same like God speaking to the church in the church age, God spoke to Israel in the history of the nation of our own people, because there were people who came to our own nation, to Israel, and they were not sent by God. And they have led the people in the wrong direction.

And that's why God said to them, He said, I have not sent And you at all, he said, yet you went and you gave false information to my people. And he says the very information that you say that you gave to them, you're going to be judged by the very same thing. And God have judged those prophets who were not sent at all by him. And here we see here, those Ephesians believers knew that, discerned it, and called them liars and did not allow them to influence them. And this is something we need to learn from that.

And so, beloved, look at the commendation. So far we find five things, your works, your labor, your patience, you don't bear them to do evil, and you called liars to those who claim that they have been sent by God. Now if you just go to verse three now, you notice he continue, and he says, thou has borne and has patience. In other words, they bore and had a lot of patience. As I said earlier, the patience coming in doings under a trial, they have bore with it, they have continued on, they pressed on, they guided, they watched over doctrine and teaching, and they bore with it, they maintained the things that was honoring and pleasing to the Lord. And he continued in verse three, and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted. You see, for the name of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, they did not faint, and they did not stop to labor.

And so beautiful, isn't it? What a beautiful commendation that the Lord has to say about those particular believers in the Ephesian local assembly, in the city of Ephesus. And then I'm jumping down verses four and five, and I also want to read verse six, because he continue with this commendation. Look at what he says to them in verse 6, but this you have, he's commanding them, that you hate us the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. There's another thing that he's saying to these Ephesians, the Church of Ephesus, he says you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. Now, that word Nicolaitans, or this group called the Nicolaitans, we really do not know who necessarily they were, but the name, the meaning of the name Nicolaitans is the one who conquered the people.

The meaning of the name Nicolaitan, laity is the people, and the Nicol is those who conquer, who rule, the rulers of the people. By the way, already in the first century, there was developing in the assemblies, in the church, a group of people who wanted to make a distinction between the clergy and the laity, the priests and the ordinary people. And you see what happened, they have thrown out the window the truth of the priesthood of all believers.

And what happened here in already in this particular time, in the early church, already a group of people came in and said, you see, we are more spiritual and therefore we are the priests and we are the one who are the elders, we are conquering, we are controlling the people. And so what you find that already sects and classes of groups have already began to be established in the early church, the clergy and the laity.

The ordinary people who are not as much as important, and the special class of people who you gotta come through them in order to get to God, to get to the Lord Jesus. And you notice what the Lord is saying to these Ephesians. He said, you have this, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, the rulers of the people, you hate their action, their deeds.

Now it is awful, where you have to go to a place, where you have to come to a certain priest, and tell him what he is going to be able to say to God, because you, according to them, cannot go straight to God, you gotta go through him. And he puts you perhaps in a box, and you have to tell him all your issues, instead of going and telling it directly to our blessed Lord Jesus the Messiah, who is interceding on our behalf at the right hand of God the Father. And so he's saying to the believers there, you hate it, and I hate it as well.

He hates this, you know, he hates this. He hates the thought that one would say, you cannot come to God, you gotta come through me, otherwise you are simply unable to come to your Lord and Savior unless you come through me or through a certain class of individual. And may God preserve us from these beloved brothers and sisters. That's why the Lord Jesus says, when the disciples were there together, he said, don't call yourself father or rabbi, you're brethren. Even the thought of pastor, pastor is not a title, it's a function. Even the word rabbi in Hebrew, rabbi, rabbi is not the title, it's the job that he does. He teaches. A pastor, he shepherd. All the titles that we can have. One time I received a letter to me home, it says, Reverend Gideon Levittam. Reverend Gideon Levittam, if they only knew my heart, they will never call me reverend. There's only one that is called reverend in the Bible, and his name is God.

All these names and titles that are not found in Scripture. In Scripture, he gave gift. Some are pastors, it's a gift, it's not a title. Some are teachers, some are evangelists. That's what God teaches us in his word, and that's why we learn here that he said they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitanes. We find them in another place, in another church that I mentioned. But already there, beloved, there was those that claimed that they are elite class, and the other ones just ordinary.

If you want to come to God, you're going to come to God through the conqueror of the people, the one who lord over them. You remember again, let me just remind you one more time, allow me, what the Lord Yeshua said in Acts 20, like we just read it earlier, when he called those leaders, he says to them, Take heed therefore to yourself and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit had made you overseers to feed the church of God which he had purchased with his own blood. The responsibility of the leadership of the overseers is to feed and not to lord themselves over, to teach and not to conquer, to be an example and not to control. Even though we do learn from other passages from Timothy that those that teach and those that lead should deserve double honor.

We read it in Scripture, but we have to be careful that it's not a control, but simply the respect which they deserve to receive, because God had given them that place of responsibility. But they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which the Lord Jesus Himself also hates. So, the letter was written to Ephesus, desirable condition. There is a description of the Messiah, He is the one that is holding the seven stars, the seven angels in His hand, and He is in the middle of the seven local assembly, the seven lamps, then watching to see what's going on.

There we have He commending them in verses two and three, and also verse six, He give them commendation, and He tell them that which is positive, that I know your works, I know your patience, I know your labor, I know that you not bear them that do evil, I know that you tried them that say that they are messengers of the apostles, and you found them liars. And then He says, you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. He commending them, and he commending them, but there was one thing that still was missing at that local assembly. And you see, beloved, we can be so right in doctrine, we can be so sound in the word of God, we can do a lot of good deeds and works and do a lot of activity, all this is fine and important, but we can do those things without the fresh love towards the Lord Jesus our Messiah.

And I don't know about you, I can speak for myself, in my life, in my short life as a believer, that the more I have known from the scripture, the more I became more responsible in teaching and preaching and so on, many time I must confess that my heart is not as warm in affection and love towards the Lord Jesus my Messiah as it was in the first time when I became a believer. And I can assure that you will say to me, I feel in my heart the very same thing. And you notice what he's telling now, the condemnation that he has against this local assembly. In chapter two and verse four, he says, but I have something against you. He's saying to them in verse four, nevertheless, in spite of all these things that you have been doing, and I commend you for that. Nevertheless, he says, I have against you something.

And what's the thing that you have against them, Lord? What do you have against the Ephesian church? Look at that. They have been keeping your word. They have set aside those who claim to be teachers and messengers of your time, and they call them a liar. They have opened the word of God. They have been laboring and serving and doing the right thing. Lord, what do you have against them?

He says, because I have something against you, nevertheless, I have against you, because you have left your first love. Now you notice, beloved brothers and sisters, thank God he doesn't say you have lost it, but he says you have left it. You see, sometimes you can do everything right, everything in a very particular way, very organized, very correct. We are going through the motion of serving the Lord, and doing all kind of things, reading our Bible, and going to church meeting or congregational meeting, and doing everything in the right way, very careful, and what people teach us, and very observant, and very committed to the Bible class. In the ministry meeting and to the service of the Lord, have patience with all kind of things that come, but what happened is that our hearts have left that love relationship to the Lord Jesus our Messiah, which we had when we first became believers.

He says you have left it. In other words, you have moved out from where it was. He says you remember the time, he says, when I saved you and I led you to myself and I forgave your sin. You remember the freshness of your heart towards me. You appreciated what I have done for you. You couldn't stop for a moment to talk to people about this Jesus, this Yeshua, what he have done for me.

The fresh love that we had towards the Lord. And you know what, when I think of, again I'm speaking for myself, I remember those days. I remember them so vividly in my life. I Remember that there couldn't be a day that I would not get up early in the morning and I wanted to read the Bible and I wanted to hear somebody talk about this wonderful Savior, the Messiah of Israel, my Savior, my Lord. And I remember the tears that had been shed when I was thinking of the price that He paid for my sins.

Wow, what a days those were. And I'm sure you would remember those when you had such a love towards Yeshua, the Messiah. And it's similar, we have said it many times, between husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, when you first met the girl that you fall in love with, and you used to write her letters, and you used to send all kind of messages for her, and send flowers for her, and did all kind of things because you fell in love with her, or she fell in love with you, and what there was the freshness, the desire to be together, the desire to just spend time. Time and talk and share the things that we have on our hearts together, well, that is exactly what the Lord wants from each and every one that belong to Him. He says, I have this against you. Oh yes, you're doing things right. Oh yes, you serve me.

But many time our service becomes so dull because our service is not being done out of a heart affection towards our blessed Lord Yeshua the Messiah. I have somewhat against you because you have left your first love, the Lord Yeshua is saying to the church of Ephesus. Now I remember a verse in the beginning of the prophet Jeremiah, what God said about Israel in Jeremiah chapter two, in the first three verses. God says to Israel, and look what he's telling our own people Israel when they first were captured by the love of the God of Israel towards them. He says in chapter 2, Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee in the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousal, when thou went after me in the wilderness, in the land that was not sown.

Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of his increase, all that devour him shall offend. Evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord. God said to Israel, I remember the time when you followed after me. In the wilderness when I led you out of Egypt and I brought you to the promised land, I remember, he says, I remember the love of your espousal when you became like my wife, like my bride, when you loved me and you followed after me. That's what the Lord Jesus is saying to the local assembly at Ephesus, he says, you have left your first love. And beloved, leaving the first love never mean to lose it. You take your heart, you check your heart and you ask yourself the question, do you have today the same joy that you had when you first became a believer? Some of the signs that we have left our first love is the lack of joy that we have in our lives.

It's not the same thing like when I was 25 years ago when I became a believer in Yeshua. Where is the joy? The joy of the Lord that was my strength. What about the loss of the ability to love other people? See how we know that we are no longer having that same first love that we have had before is that we don't love other people as much as we used to love them. We're very critical. Oh, he's not the way he should be, and she's not the way she should be, and they do this wrong, and I'm the only one who is right. Critical spirit. I don't know about you. Sometime when I'm complaining and I see somebody else or I, my heart is not occupied with the Lord, I begin to be occupied with somebody else, and I'm very quickly able to criticize what he or she or they are doing. The loss of joy and the loss the ability of loving somebody else.

What about losing the purpose and the outlook on life? Instead of focusing on the coming day when the Lord will come and I'm going to be with Him, we start to focus on all kind of other things and we are no longer serving the Lord with a true heart. It become like a a mundane thing. It become something that I do routinely.

And then finally, the loss of collective service and being with believers. You know, we find ourselves, we said, I've been to the meetings already so many times. Why do I need to go there anymore? Gosh, I'm tired of listening to the same old thing, the same old songs, the same old this, you know. We're starting to deviate and go away and stay further and further from the place where the believers gather together around the Lord. That's what happened to us. That's what can happen to you and to me. They left the first love, the affection that they had towards the Lord. They have left it.

And they have set it aside. But they have done a lot of other activities. Everything was regimental. Things were in order when it's come to doctrine, but the heart was not right in love and affection toward Yeshua the Messiah. We cannot just look at others. We have to say, Lord, where do I fit into this? Help me, Lord, to be the one that have love towards our blessed Lord Jesus the Messiah, so I can serve him and live for him in a way that it is pleasing to him.