Hope From the Word

Guest (Male): The church at Ephesus was not a fair weather church. Pastor Bill Lubkeman says today's Christian can learn from them.

Bill Luebkemann: They didn't just serve the Lord when it was convenient. They didn't just get involved when there was nothing else to do. Well, okay, I'll help out over there. I'm free that week. I'll check my Outlook calendar to see if there's anything on it for that day. They they endured hardships for him. They didn't give up, but they endured and they pushed through and they were there and they were committed. They were willing to be put out for God. They were willing to be inconvenienced for him.

Guest (Male): It's time for another installment of Hope from the Word with Bill Lubkeman, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Marlton. If you were with us yesterday, you know that we launched a new study in the book of Revelation which starts off with seven letters to seven churches. These letters were dictated to the Apostle John by Jesus Christ. Our text is Revelation chapter two and it's there that we pick up today with part two of our look at the letter to the church at Ephesus. Here's Pastor Bill now to get us started.

Bill Luebkemann: Jesus goes on to introduce himself here to the angel of the church in Ephesus right. Look, we looked at who the angel was. We looked at a little bit about Ephesus. Right this is what the Lord says. These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands. That ties back into the last verse of chapter one. In fact, if you go back to one verse 12, John wrote, I turned when I turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands and among the lamp stands was someone like a son of man dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet.

And then we see in verse 16, in his right hand he held seven stars. And now down in verse 20, he tells us, Jesus tells us, the mystery of the seven stars that you saw on my right hand are the seven golden lamp stands is this. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches. We see here Jesus saying he's in the midst of the churches. The lamp stands representing the churches and here he is in the midst of them. You know where two or more are gathered, there he is with you.

He's here today with us. When you're home, when you're at work, when you're in your car, he's there with you. And he was among the churches and holding them in his hand, it seems. We can see the Lord's authority over the churches when it says he's holding them in his hand, that you see authority there, authority over the churches. And when you see him standing among the lamp stands, you see his presence in the churches. So, look, we're looking at his presence in and authority over the churches here. And so this is who he is.

He says, these are the ones who is present among you and has these are the words rather of of him who is present among you and has authority over you. It's not just some Tom, Dick, or Harry going around telling you what to do. This is the Lord God himself who's speaking here. These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the lamp stands, the seven golden lamp stands. Verse two, I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men.

They you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false. The bottom line is here, he's among us. He has authority over us and he knows what's going on. There's no secrets. He knows our ups and downs, the good and bad, the right and the wrong, like we said before, the good, bad, and the ugly. What's going on in your heart? He's like an open book to him. He knows every detail of everything that happens and what we spend our time on and our energy on and what drives us, he knows all about it.

He knows why we do what we do, even better than we do. This church here, this church in Ephesus, it was known for its good deeds. It was known for its hard work. It was known for its perseverance. These were all good things. They were worthy things. They were notable. Spurgeon once said, there are also working Christians who do not approach to laboring. A lifetime of such work as theirs would not exhaust a butterfly. Now, when a man works for Christ, he should work with all his might. And he knows it. He knows what we're doing for him.

He knows what makes us tick. And he's telling them, I know your deeds and I know your hard work and I know your perseverance. These are good things. Not complaining about them. We should be serving him with all of our being. We should be serving him with all the energy that we have, with everything we've got in us. And these folks were doing a great job of it. Look, you know, I don't exactly know what their good deeds were. He says, I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance, but they we know they were spreading the gospel because we saw an accent that went out to all area around around Asia Minor.

It went out to the entire area from here. So, we know part of their good deeds, how to involve spreading the gospel. And no doubt they persevered and came upon obstacles as they did that. No doubt at times they didn't have enough to eat. At times they were under attack. At times life might have not seemed worth living to them. Sometimes they made a wonder if anybody cared what they were doing. Maybe they had a good Sunday school program. Maybe they had a good nursery school there. Maybe they ran vacation Bible school in the summertime.

All these things are good things and they were doing good deeds and I you know, we do a lot of good deeds in our church as well. And it's it is hard work and it is perseverance and the Lord is commending that kind of thing. Perseverance is a word that means steadfast endurance. So, in doing all these things, the church would not be moved. They'd be like the rock of Gibraltar, you know, solid, firm, unyielding, not moving, just steadfast in putting it out in in doing the things that spread the kingdom of God. Whether it's spreading the gospel through Asia Minor or putting it out on an FM radio station so that everybody can hear it.

I know your deeds, the Lord says, and I know your hard work and I know you're working hard to get the deeds done and I know your perseverance. I know you're steadfast and you're unchanging and you're unyielding and you're standing firm there. Furthermore, he says, I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false. I want to turn back to Acts again real quick because there seems like there's a connecting passage in there. I can't remember why I wrote it down, but we'll find out in a minute.

Verse 29 of Acts 20. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So, be on your guard. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. There I read part of that earlier. Paul had told them back here when he wrote Acts that he knew that after he left, other people were going to come in. He described them as savage wolves that would come in and would tear apart the flock.

Wolves in sheep's clothing perhaps at times and maybe sometimes they weren't in sheep's clothing. And even some of them were from their own number. They they weren't always other men that came in from outside. He says in verse 30 here, even from your own number, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. And that's the way that things happen in the church even to this day when you read about church splits and this group goes this way and that group goes that way and then then this group splits and to that group and the other group and then this one splits.

And often times when you read it, it's about men that are drawing away disciples unto themselves. We have a better way to do it. Let's all go over here and do it my way. And Paul said, be on the lookout for this kind of stuff. And apparently they were. They must have been doing that because over here and back in Revelation he said, I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men. But that you but you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false. They were in the lookout for these type of folks.

They gave them the boot when needed, the left foot of fellowship we call it. Their hunger was uh for God and for his word and they had no time for the wicked. And they vigorously checked into anyone who claimed to be an apostle. They were perhaps like the Bereans. If remember them back in Acts chapter 17 verse 11, it says, now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians. Why? For they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. That was the Bereans and that why that term has come to mean today someone who studies the word of God because the Bereans were eager to hear what Paul told them and then they went back to their scriptures and they studied it.

Well, he said this and he said that and let's see if we can find it in here. Let's find out if it's true. The Bereans checked out whatever was told them against the scriptures. And that's exactly what each of you should be doing. When you hear me up here spouting off, when you listen to the radio and you hear somebody talk, check it out in here to find out if it's true. Don't take it for granted. Don't believe it just cuz I said so or cuz someone else said so. When you stand before God someday, you're going to have an accounting for what you did based on what this says, not you can't say, well, Pastor Bill told me.

So, that that's not going to cut it. Pastor Bill makes mistakes. Pastor Bill will give an accounting for himself on judgment day and so will each of us based on what the word of God says. It seems like today there's lots of churches and preachers that are spouting out a lot of stuff that's not in here. And there's a lot of people that believe it hook, line, and sinker. They just go for all of it. Another thing Spurgeon said about these Ephesians was this, quote, this was grand of them. It showed a backbone of truth.

I wish some of the churches of this age had a little of this holy decision about them. For nowadays, if a man is clever, he can preach the vilest lie that was ever vomited from the mouth of hell and it will go down with some. Some people just drink it up like milk and honey, not even knowing that it 's a lie. But not these people. They checked out things for themselves. They knew what the scriptures said. They knew what applied to their own lives. They weren't having anything to do with the prosperity gospel, the name it and claim it, the blab it and grab it stuff.

They weren't believing people who came by and claimed to be apostles but really weren't apostles. They had a lot of good doctrine in this church, verse three. They knew what the Bible said, you know. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary. They persevered, it says. They kept it up. We see that steadfast endurance again. They didn't give up. They didn't toss in the towel. They didn't go home. They kept trudging away at it day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. They didn't say, I'm old.

I'm tired of this. Been doing this a long time. It's not making any difference. You know, let's cash in our chips. I don't feel like, you know, going to the Bible study this week. Uh we got something else to do. Can't make it to church. Uh something more important came up. You don't find folks like this in too many places today. It's far too common for Christians to toss in the towel and give up when something comes along that they can't handle, that they don't like. And they they had this steadfast endurance. Not only that, they endured hardships, it says.

They didn't just serve the Lord when it was convenient. They didn't just get involved when there was nothing else to do. Well, okay, I'll help out over there. I'm free that week. I'll check my Outlook calendar to see if there's anything on it for that day. They they endured hardships for him. They didn't give up, but they endured and they pushed through and they were there and they were committed. They were willing to be put out for God. They were willing to be inconvenienced for him. And the work was hard and it was time consuming and it was tiring.

They didn't have air conditioning. They didn't get in their car and turn the key and you know, take off down the highway wherever they wanted to go. Be able to go 5 10 They didn't just go to the grocery store and help themselves to whatever was there. We can complain about the prices, but these people their life was way harder than anything we could imagine. They were like the Energizer Bunny, you know. They kept going and going and going and in all this they didn't grow weary, it says. You would think that, well, okay, you know, maybe they could maybe they were going and going and going and maybe they never gave up, but at least they were tired, right?

At least they were weary. They were, you know, they got up every day and said, well, we're going to somehow suffer through another day. But no, it just says that. They did not grow weary. You persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary. They were an amazing church. I can only imagine what they look like to an outsider who went for a visit. You walk in, you get a visitor packet man. They show you to a seat. They tell you all about everything they got going on and you think, man, this church has it all together.

They have every kind of ministry here. Aren't they hopping? Isn't that something? Look how well they do everything. It's really we call it the church of what's happening now. And they were good at that. Just about everybody with half a brain would like to be part of such a church, but nevertheless they had a big problem in verse four. Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love. In spite of all that good stuff, major problem here. And all that good stuff, that's good stuff. That's good. We're not saying it's bad. All this stuff was good so far, but it doesn't cancel cancel out the major problem on the other side.

They look like such a great church to someone walking by, but they're really way off base because they forgot what it was all about. They forsook their first love, it says. They put aside the most important thing and they're spending their time on all the minor things. Their love for the Lord has grown cold. They were going through the motions, but that fire just wasn't burning very brightly in their heart. Maybe they were focusing on what was pressing instead of what was important. They might have been trying to make things so perfect that they didn't have time for the one for whom they were supposed to be living.

That fire just wasn't there anymore. You know, it says here, you have forsaken your first love. Look, you can remember if you're married here and you've been married for a while, you can remember when you were dating your honey and how exciting it was and how you would do things you never did before, like maybe take a shower every day. You know, or or buy new clothes that you maybe never bought before. And everything was about him or her, you know. What do you want to do today? Oh, anything that you want to do, honey.

No, I insist whatever you want to do. There's something about that excitement. And that's like what it's like when someone first gets saved often times. You see somebody that's a new believer and the Lord's really worked in their life. Maybe they went forward at the Harvest Crusade. Maybe they got saved in church somewhere else and they're on fire for the Lord and they are just telling everybody about the Lord and you can't shut them up. They walk into a room. They don't know anything. They hardly know the Bible at all. They're just excited and they share their faith.

They stumble through it. I can remember reading the stories from when Calvary Chapel started back in the 60s and 70s out in California and how hippies were getting saved and they had nowhere to stay. So, they got some houses and the hippies would live in these houses. And there'd be like 30 hippies living in a house sleeping on the floor. And the most senior guy there, he was the one that had been saved for three weeks, he would be teaching the Bible study to the ones who just got saved that week. And then a little while later they would kick out the ones who had been there four weeks and they'd say, you know what?

You know, it's time for you to go out and do something for the Lord. We need room in here for the ones that were just saved. No sitting around. Get out and do something. And so many of them went out of course and started churches. But you can see a a new a newly saved person is always doing something. Go and do a Bible study. Can't get enough Bible studies. Once they talk about the Bible, call you up on the phone. Hey, what do you think this means in the Bible? What do you think that means in the Bible?

And there's a good parallel there to what you were like when you were dating your wife or your husband and how different you were than you ever had been before and probably how you ever been since. Now, you should take a shower more often and change your clothes more often. And these people here, he says, look, you have forsaken your first love. Forsaken, that is left it. He didn't say they lost their first love. Says they left their first love here. There's a difference there. You know, when you when you lose something, that's accidental. When you leave it, that's deliberate.

When you lose it, you know, you don't know where to find it. When you left it, you do know where to find it. It's right where you left it. You just not going back there. You know, someone coming by this church might say, it's a really happening place, you know. They might even comment on how good the preacher was, you know, and how the church made a stand for truth without compromise and how they knew the word of God there. But the problem was that their love for Christ was gone. Which makes me think the love for one another wasn't far behind.

And their work for Jesus was taking away with their relationship with him. Their relationship with the Lord, it was suffering because they were too busy serving him. They're too busy doing things. They don't have enough time to read his word and to pray and to do those things that improve your relationship with him. They were doctrinally pure in some ways, but in other ways they were spiritually dead, perhaps. Someone might say they were dead right and that and that might be a good description of this. You have forsaken your first love. That's their problem here.

The most important thing had been forgotten, had been overlooked, had been put aside. Fortunately, there's a cure. Verse five has the cure. Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place. Fortunately, there is a cure here and it begins with something that's very very simple and that is this, remembering where you came from. Remembering. If you're saved and you know, you're just not really walking with the Lord like you used to and the fire is just not as bright.

Look, you need to remember where you came from. You remember in the parable of the lost son, how the one son said, dad, give me my money. Give me my share of the inheritance. I'm going to go and I'm going to go now and I'll see you later. It's in Luke 15. And this this younger son took all the money that he was entitled to and he went off and he squandered it. It says after he had spent everything, there was a severe famine and he began to be in need. So, he went out and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.

He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. Here is a guy that had taken his inheritance. He had squandered it. Look, we're not going to do the whole the whole parable here. It's a good one, but he had squandered it. And he was out there now feeding pigs. His father was a rich man and here he was feeding pigs desperately hungry. And what did he do that brought him back to his senses? He remembered. Verse 17. When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired men have food to spare?

And here I am starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired men. So, he got up and went to his father. Here was a son that was lost and then was found and it began with him remembering where he had come from. In the case of the Ephesians here, Jesus is calling them to remember from where they had fallen. In your case, maybe you need to examine yourself and see if any of this applies to you.

I know it's a struggle for myself every day with all the things to do in life, making a living, getting everything done, taking care of the house and and the car. Why is it the cars always need something done to them? And driving back and forth to school and everything else, it's very easy for the Lord to get crowded out of that. I'm sorry, Lord. I don't have time to pray today. I'm too busy going out doing something for you. Once you remember from where you came, then uh once you call to mind the problem and you know it applies to you, the next step is also clear.

He says here, repent. Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent. That is change your direction. Repent doesn't just mean, you know, feeling sorry for yourself. It means you're going to do something about it. You're going to turn yourself around and go the opposite way. You're going to make a change in your life, a course correction. And even the slightest direction can have a big difference. You know, if you're on a rocket heading to the moon and your course is off by just one degree, when you get out there, you'll be thousands of miles from where you need to be.

And when the NASA launches these satellites to these other planets and they're traveling through space, they do course corrections from time to time. And just a tiny firing of a rocket just a few seconds can change the course a little bit and put it on target rather than be off of target. And some of us maybe we need a course correction in our life. Someone defined repentance as this, an urgent appeal for instant change of attitude and conduct before it's too late, before time runs out. You have to implement this in your life. You need to make a change and part of making the change, it says, is doing the things you did at first.

Repent and do the things you did at first in literal words, the first works. Repent and do the first works. In other words, get back to the basics.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope from the Word. We're currently in Pastor Bill Lubkeman's Through the Bible series. If you'd like to hear this message again, you have several options. Visit our website at ccmarlton.org and download the Hope FM app to your smartphone or tablet or look for us wherever you find your podcasts. You can also request a CD copy by calling 856 983 1662. Again, that's 856 983 1662. If you've been thinking about visiting Calvary Chapel of Marlton where Bill serves as pastor, we'd love to have you. Our service times are on Sunday mornings at 10:00.

We also meet midweek on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. You can also live stream from home when you visit our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel of Marlton. For more information, go to ccmarlton.org. We hope to see you soon. Before the day is done, we'd like to connect with you, share a praise report, prayer request, or what you're learning from this series. You can easily email us from our website, ccmarlton.org or just call us at 856 983 1662. There's more to come from Bills Through the Bible series and we'll have that for you next time on Hope from the Word with Pastor Bill Lubkeman.

This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel of Marlton.