Church at Ephesus - Revelation 2:1-7
Revelation 2:1-7 · Kurt Katzorke · Feb 1, 2009
Revelation (2009), No. 05
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492612255127

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

And it's Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 through 7. And what we'll start off with is a little bit of background to the city of Ephesus. And in your handout there, the city of Ephesus was a major port city in the western coast of Asia Minor. And it's a center for seaborne trade and a hub for the region's road system. So, you know, all roads lead to Ephesus in some manner in Asia Minor.

It was a thriving urban community of right around a quarter million people. Some scholars have estimated that it was twice that size. Probably somewhere between a quarter million and 300,000 was the population of the city. By the late first century AD, it was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire. So big, big city for the world at that point in time.

And the Romans had made Ephesus an administrative center for the province of Asia. So as far as government was concerned, government was big in Ephesus. It had world-renowned religious shrines, spacious theater, a stadium, elegant public buildings. All gave Ephesus an integral place in the cultural life of the entire region. So Ephesus was a big cultural government, big hub for pretty much everything in Asia Minor. The culture in Ephesus.

Ephesus was rampant with paganism, including worship, manufacture, and sale of fertility idols of the goddess of Artemis. And it's kind of a disturbing little thing that they had there. I don't know if Vern's ever showed you guys pictures of that. I don't have slides, but just really weird, weird thing that they worshiped. These gross idols were everywhere in Ephesus and had a huge volume of occultic arts and practices.

In Ephesians 4.9, Paul actually talks about the unbelievers in Ephesus having given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity and greediness.

In Ephesians 5.3, he warned the believers about this. The Temple of Artemis was actually one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. And it was the largest religious shrine in the entire world at that point in time. And some of the things that went on inside of that, there were four kinds of different female prostitutes.

We won't look at the details because that's not important. But men, both married and unmarried, they were expected to take part in these prostitutes, make use of them, however you want to phrase that. The prostitution in the temple was rampant and the men of the time period, both married and unmarried, were just expected to partake in that.

Marriage was a very easy thing to get in and out of, so it wasn't held highly at all. Pretty much the value of a woman was held very low as well. They were just there for bearing and raising children and you did with them what you wanted to and got rid of them and who cares about their feelings. Real low value for women.

Another thing about the city of Ephesus was that it had like a safe zone for criminals. Basically, if you committed a crime, And if you made it to a temple, I forget which temple it was, it may have been Artemis, but if you made it to a temple prior to being caught, the crime was like it never happened. So if you could commit a crime, and if you got to the temple before anybody could catch you, so I could go over to your house and steal something, and if I make it back to the temple before you can grab me, never happened. So...

We didn't have to stay there for any particular reason. You just had to get to the temple and, you know, this is base. I'm safe. Can't do anything now. So crime was really a big problem in Ephesus, which is, I don't know who in the world would want to come up with something like that, but that's what they did. Let's see.

There were lots of shrines to Rome and to the Roman emperors. The Roman emperor at that point in time, he was viewed as a god, and you had to give him that homage as a god. So Ephesus definitely as a governmental hub and things of that order made sure that they did that. The culture in Ephesus was not good. Not a place where you go, wow, Christianity is going to thrive there. Just be aware of that with the culture. Yet Christianity did thrive in Ephesus. Ephesus enjoyed the ministries of Aquila and Priscilla, Paul, Timothy, Apollos, and John, the last living apostle.

These ministries extended from about 50 AD to 96 AD, so a period of roughly 46 years there. By the time John wrote Revelation, there were old enough second-generation Christians to understand what was going on, and that's obviously some very young third-generation Christians there as well. Most of the New Testament actually has some relation to Ephesus in one manner or another. Obviously, Paul wrote the letter of Ephesians to Ephesus, and there were also several letters that were written from Ephesus. So, really big impact on the New Testament writings and the people of that point in time. Ephesus received its first letter about 40 years before this passage that John wrote here in Revelation 2 was given to them.

So 40 year time period between Paul writing, roughly 40 years, 40 year time period between Paul writing the book of Ephesians and them receiving this letter from John. Alright, so that's some background about the church at Ephesus and now we'll jump into the passages.

What we'll do before we actually jump into them is read them all at once. So if you guys want to turn to Revelation chapter 2. And I'm at base, so somebody else has to read. No, that's not how it works. But if somebody else would read, I would appreciate it. Chapter 2, verses 1-7. Through the angel of the church in Ephesus writes the word that holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

I know your work, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my namesake. and you have not grown weary.

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have, you hate the works. So the approach this morning will be to look at these verse by verse.

So the first verse there, Revelation 2.1.

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands, say this. So when we look at this verse, what we really see is the same description of Christ from chapter 1. We see some of the things that we had already talked about in chapter 1. Some of the big things that he is aware of what's going on in Ephesus. He's walking among the lampstands. He knows what's going on there.

And then having the seven stars in his right hand, obviously he has the stars, as Revelation 1.20 tells us, are the angels, and the lampstands are the churches. So he holds the angels in his right hand, a place of power, blessing, and authority. And it's also, I mean, when you think about this description, is there anybody else that this description fits? Does this fit anyone other than Christ? Not really. Not at all. A couple of things in that passage.

The word translated angel is the Greek word angelos, which in its most literal form means messenger. These are angels that each church has over them. And then a couple of cultural things for Ephesus. The main street in Ephesus that ran from the harbor into the heart of the city was just lined with lampstands. I mean, the whole thing, lampstand, lampstand, lampstand, all the way up. And at night, obviously, this is how they would walk up from the harbor into the city or vice versa. So the lampstand would have had, and for all the ancient cities, it really would have had an obvious meaning that these things are A lampstand is something that lights the way.

And some easy comparisons to draw there. One would be John 8-12. Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. In a further comparison, in the letter to Ephesus in Ephesians 5.8, Paul tells the Ephesians, For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Light in the Lord is their eternal position, having trusted in Christ for their salvation. Walk as children of light, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, do not participate in unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them, for it is disgraceful even to speak of things which are done by them in secret.

But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light." So, I mean, you have two things there. Paul is, he points out their eternal position, but you are now light in the Lord. But he also kind of gives some insight into their condition, talking about the disgraceful things that are going on in Ephesus, the things that would be tempting for these people, because they've come out of them.

And what they're called to be through this, on the lampstand is good imagery of it, they're called to be a light of the Lord. And if you're a believer, and you're in Christ, you're resting in Him, you are a light to the Lord. you know, an individual lamp stand if you want to look at it that way.

On this thing where he said, to the angel write these things, why would you write to an angel? That just seems kind of strange. You know, I don't know that I have an answer for that. Many authors believe that the messenger refers to the pastor of the church. And that's something that Vern and I had talked about, and he had previously had a view that it was maybe better to interpret it messenger.

But more recently, the more that he's looked at it, and I don't have all the reasons why, but the more that he's looked at it, the more he's really thought, you know, there are angels residing over these churches. Now as to why you would write to the angel, I don't know. How does that fit with the idea that he's talking to the angel here allegedly? He's reminding them that they need to repent, they need to do this sort of thing. Seems like that would be, it would make no sense to address that to an angel.

Well, yeah, but if the angel is, I mean, you can, that word means messenger and throughout scripture whenever an angel is used, they're used as a messenger. So, I mean, to write it to the angel of the Church of Ephesus is basically saying, I'm writing this to you and it's your job to pass it along to them. So if we break it down in that manner, I guess that would be the logical way to look at it. Throughout scripture, angels are used as messengers. God uses them as messengers to people. And so to write to the angel, this is what I'm writing to you, I want you to pass it along to these people. Could this be like an assignment? Like it's your job to make sure this gets delivered? With all the power of an angel, this message will be delivered.

Right. Yeah I mean I guess you can look at it that way. I really haven't, I didn't dig into that as much as maybe I should have, but I think the bottom line is Obviously, the message is important. God does want to get it to them. And the fact that, I mean, if we think about the seven stars in his right hand, he has these things.

They're his messengers. And he has them in a place of power, authority, and blessing. So, I mean, that's where these messengers are. They're in Christ's right hand. And he's using them with his power, with his authority, and giving them blessing through these messages. So there might be multiple conclusions that you can draw from that.

I think it goes back also to verse 1 where it says, and he sent and communicated it by his angel to his bondservant John. So again, angel, whether it's heavenly or earthly, is a messenger. We interpret that as an angel in heaven, obviously, because it's a message that is coming from Jesus to John. So why couldn't we do the same thing and say, there's earthly messengers as well, which is what they were saying.

So it's basically the word that means sent, or messenger, or to take this to someone else. But it's interesting that he uses it in verse 1 also, in the same context. Well, and I think the other thing, I mean, he opens it up to every church that way. To the angel of the church of Smyrna, right? To the angel of the church of Pergamon. Right. So, I mean, it's definitely how he opens up every single verse.

So we'll definitely have more time to look at that in depth, I think. I don't know if I want to focus on this week because I think we're all Well, for me certainly, I would just be speculating, and that's never really a good thing to do with the Bible.

Plus Vern was saying that the syncopated action of Revelations, which is up and down, up and down, up and down. So you have the heavenly, you have the earthly, and they're kind of intermixed. So, yeah. Why don't we move on from the angel? And that's something definitely we can look at more in depth in coming weeks. But what we really see there, the same description of Christ that was used in Chapter 1, part of the overall description focuses on Christ's involvement in the life at the Church of Ephesus.

Obviously, He's walking among them. And when we look at that, there's Leviticus, actually 26, 11, and 12. The Lord tells the Jews, I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul will not reject you. I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. So, you know, there's definitely some obvious comparisons to draw there between Christ walking among them and his 2611 and 12.

And I mean, by walking among them, he's the one who knows them, he's daily and intimately concerned about them, and he's the one who is able to act according to his good pleasure. So he's going to do what's right for this church at Ephesus. So I mean, it may seem like a simple verse where we're restating something we've already heard, but really there's a lot to view about Christ in that verse. There's a lot to view about bringing more out of that lampstand imagery where the people, the believers, the church itself is supposed to be a light of the Lord.

So if we move on to the next verse there, Revelation 2.2, I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and that you put to test those that call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you have found them to be false. I know is a phrase that Jesus uses with all seven churches, and it shows his intimate and continuing concern for each of the churches. It also demonstrates his omissions. He knows all there is to know, that he is the head of the church, and his love for the church. So this verse really focuses on three things. Christ knowing their deeds, toil and perseverance. And when we look at those, the church at Ephesus apparently had much to count among their deeds. So their deeds were good, they were strong, they were powerful.

And they were working at them. The word toil translated deeds. It means to work to a point of utter exhaustion. So their work, their toil in these deeds was not... I'm kind of putting a little something towards that. This is like, we're really focused on these deeds and we're making sure they're getting done and we're working to the point of utter exhaustion to make sure that they happen.

So you really couldn't fault them for doing enough. And when we draw the way that that culture was, the gross immorality and things that were going on there, they maintained their deeds in the midst of that. So the deeds of the city were not things that were righteous, but these people were really working hard and making sure that they're doing the right thing.

And Christ is commending them here. He's saying these are good things. And then the second thing that it's going to look at is Christ is then going to commend them for not tolerating evil men. So you have to remember our safe zone with the temple and the amount of criminals that were going on there. These people in Ephesus are not tolerating that. the believers there. The Greek word for evil men is actually those who are innately and intrinsically evil. It is their basic nature. Who would that be true of? All of us, really, until there's Christ.

A verse that John had used in 3 John chapter 11. I don't think that's right. There's not 11 chapters in 3 John. But, Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. The one who does good is of God and the one who does evil has not seen God. So the one who does good is of God and the one who has The one who does evil has not even seen him. He doesn't know him. He's intrinsically evil until that place where God changes him. Third John, what? You know, I wrote it down wrong. But it's Third John. It is in Third John.

And then the third thing that I was going to look at is testing those who call themselves apostles. This was actually a big problem in churches of that time, because people would come in and they claim apostolic authority, and basically nobody can challenge them.

I mean, the difference between those with apostolic authority and an elder at a local church, an elder at a local church pretty much had the answer to the people. The apostles themselves, I mean, they had authority over all those churches. They had authority over multiple churches.

So for somebody to come in and claim apostleship, you better test them because they're claiming some pretty amazing stuff. And you know what's kind of crazy is people still, right now, claim apostleship. And there's actually five things that that are true of an apostle, at a minimum. Apostle received his gift and office by sovereign decision of God. An apostle had been an eyewitness of the resurrected Lord. So when you think about, obviously, the apostles that were there at his first resurrection, and then Paul, he appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus.

I don't think too many people can claim that one now. Or if they do, they might be cuckoo. An apostle was endowed with power to perform signs, miracles, and wonders. So, like an axe, when the apostles were performing those things, they didn't walk up and, you know, like this morning, we prayed for Lydian, we prayed for Everly. That's our position, is to pray and ask God. The apostles had the power to fix, perform signs, miracles, and wonders before those people, which is also something that is not happening anymore.

And then another requirement is that an apostle had success in evangelism, and an apostle had the capacity to suffer patiently, to persevere. So those are five of the five qualifications for an apostle. And so these people in Ephesus, they had the books of the New Testament at that point in time. They could understand the position that an apostle was in, and they were testing them.

And those who weren't the apostles, they were making sure that they tested them as false and didn't listen to them, which is pretty important. And it's something that's important for us to do now, to test to test things against the Word of God, which is what the Ephesians were doing at that point in time, and Christ commends them for doing that.

An example of the The issue with the false apostles in 2 Corinthians 11-15, Paul writes, and I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut ground from under those who want the opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things that they boast about. For such men are false apostles. And this is the same word, Paul uses the same word for false apostles here in this verse as is used in Revelation. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. Is it not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness, and their end will be what their actions deserve? So, I mean, this is the issue, and I love it where Paul says, is it not surprising then if his servants masquerade as angels, or as, excuse me, not angels, as servants of righteousness? But Satan himself does it, so why wouldn't those who are his servants do it?

Some of the things we talked about, apostles had authority over a number of churches. They could come into a city and instantly have authority and power, whereas elders, like we talked about, were locally controlled. Nobody could claim to be an elder. It was a position that the people put them in.

So discernment in things is essential, and that's basically what Christ is commending them for, is their discernment in these things. So basically, you have three things there that Christ is really saying, you guys are doing really good. You do these deeds in spite of the culture that you live in, your deeds and your toil. You've worked very hard to do what is right. He tolerates them for not He commends them for not tolerating the evil men of the time and he also commends them for testing the false apostles. So lots of good things going on here in Ephesus as far as their deeds and their knowledge are concerned.

And then Revelation chapter 2 verse 3. And you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake and have not grown weary. The word perseverance is the same one that's used in verse 2. And basically what you see here is kind of a restatement of what was said in verse 2. And as we've really come to see through Verne pointing that out over time, that's our Hebrew poetry pattern of rhyming meanings.

This phrase here, endured for my name's sake. The New Testament has a theme of enduring for Christ's sake, and I've listed multiple verses there that you're welcome to take a look at. The one that really stood out to me was 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 10. Therefore I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distress, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

You know, the Apostle Paul, that verse there in Acts 9.16 is where basically God says, I will show him how much he has to suffer for me. You know, so this is This endurance and suffering for Christ's sake is something that is definitely a theme throughout the New Testament. And this is another, you know, where he's commending the Ephesians for doing this. Are we to take from that, though, that not all believers do that? Are we to take from that that not all believers do that?

I think absolutely. I mean, you could have You could not endure. There are some believers that don't endure. Well, and what's a big misconception with Christianity is that I'm a Christian now, and from now on it's peaches and cream. Life is going to be great. But that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches you're a Christian now, and as Christ endured the cross, you're going to endure as well.

Or at least that whether you like it or not, actually. These things are going to happen. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 really talks about that. If you turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, it seems like I've been teaching for a while, and every class that I teach I end up in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 for some reason. I really love the verses.

7 through 11 he talks about, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power of God... I'm sorry, let me start over. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power... will be of God and not from ourselves. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not despairing. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed.

Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in the body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our flesh. And that's where the whether you like it or not comes in. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake.

It's not peaches and cream. Rather, you're going to go through these things so that my life, so that Christ's life can be shown in you. So, the persecutions, the perseverance through those things is, you know, the Christian life is not, I'm a Christian and everything's great. It's, you're going to go through these things. In fact, I'm going to make sure that you go through these things so that my life can be made evident in you. And so when you go through trials, that's what it's about. It's not trying to run away from them, but it's God has me in this for a reason, and it's to make his life evident through me.

I'm not sure that I agree that that's the major belief in the church. No, I agree. I guess I wouldn't say that I disagree, that I see a lot of times isn't so much that people would say, well, if you become a Christian, if you put your faith in Christ, then life is going to be smooth sailing from here on out. That's not what I usually hear argued.

What I usually hear argued is that to us that are believers, we will ultimately endure to the end, persevere in our faith. And if we don't, then we're not really Christians. And that implies, then, that there are no failures, and that Christians don't fall away, and that Christians can't, you know, that we can't fail.

Major failure. I see what you're saying. Yeah, it seems like major failure is possible in the Christian life. Absolutely. Yeah, because it is a decision. You're going to face trials, but what you do with them is... it's up to you. You make the decision to... I think that's what separates us from a lot of other churches, is that we know we have eternal life, even if people do that. Even if people fall away, their eternal positions. If you could lose eternal life because you didn't endure, then it wasn't really eternal. It's got its own name. It's not really eternal.

It's conditional upon my performance. Then you're basically playing the Catholic game with just different names. Right. And that's actually something that we will look at this morning in these verses. That overcomers thing. Where if you don't overcome, does that mean that you don't get to eat from the tree of life? Well, in James, chapter 1, verse 2, it says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. It's how, when we are afflicted, or whatever, it's how we handle it. If we, you know, we can count it as joy and say, how can you use me to do this work? Right. How can you be glorified through this?

And you know the thing that, I mean, because what we have here is Christ is commending the Ephesians and he's commending them and saying you're doing these things great, but the next verse, you know, verse 4, he says, but I have this against you, you have left your first love.

And so, when you run into these trials, when you run into these things that you're going to deal with, do you look at it like you're talking about in James there, and rest in Christ through it, and your love for Him is what gets you through it, or do you do deeds, which is what a lot of churches will say is the thing to do as well. It's not about your relationship with Christ, it's about making sure that you do the right thing. What the Bible teaches is make sure you do the right thing by loving Christ. And so that's really what he does with the Ephesian believers, is they kind of become a religious church.

They're doing the deeds, they're testing the apostles, they know all the right things, they're doing all the right things, but they've left their first love. So knowing and doing yourself is not what God wants. God wants you to love Him, and through that, you know and do.

Now, they're certainly not growing through their trials and tribulations. And that's the thing that we're to do, is to grow through these. I know some of the worst things that's happened in my life. I look back on it and it's like, wow. If that hadn't happened, I wouldn't have grown in you, Lord, like I do. You didn't want me to. You weren't put here to glorify Him. In all things. I agree. Absolutely.

In 2 Corinthians 4, if you go to verse 18, that's kind of the reason that he's saying all the previous things, and that is to develop faith. Because it says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Which goes back to the Hebrew's definition of faith.

So when we go through all this, the goal of it, supposedly, is to increase our faith, develop our faith, and you can't please God without faith, right? And to grow to a spiritual maturity, absolutely. And I think what you were talking about, George, if you face those trials and you fail, that doesn't mean that you're not a Christian, but your spiritual maturity is definitely not going anywhere.

Absolutely. That's not something that's demonstrated by the text. And when we get into the last verse with the overcomers and what they will be granted if they overcome, when we look at that, it's not something new. It's not, if you overcome, I'm going to give you something new. It's motivation. overcome because I've already granted you the right to eat from the tree of life and paradise. It's already true of you. We're jumping ahead of some verses here, but we can come back to them. Let me find my verse.

1 John 5.5 Who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? So you've overcome in your belief. So when we look at these verses where he says the overcomers will get this, the overcomers already have it. It's motivation to overcome. It's motivation for what we'll look at in this next verse. Let's see.

The next verse there, Revelation 2.5, Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first, or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. So basically you have three R's here.

Remember, repent, and repeat. And so when the gift or the thing that is given to the overcomers is brought up in these verses, it's not something new that if you overcome, I will give it to you. It's motivation to overcome. It's motivation to remember, repent, and repeat for these Ephesian believers.

So remember, recall from where you have fallen, recognize the height you are at and the low place of your love today. And what he wants is you to return to him as your first love. Repent, a change of mind, perspective, understanding, priorities, values, with a consequent new direction.

And the deeds you did at first, I mean basically the deeds you did at first was you believed. That's your deed. You believed and you loved God. Godly deeds come from a life of Christ and not our own self-effort. It was not more deeds that Christ was looking for, rather a return to the deeds that were founded on an intimate love for Him in response to His love. And then we see the consequence for not remembering, repenting, and repeating the deeds of the first love are severe. Basically, the church at Ephesus would no longer be a light of the Lord and would not lead others to the light of life. So that lampstand imagery comes back.

He's not taking away their salvation. He's just saying that you're not going to be useful to me unless you're loving me first. You're not revealing who I am. You're not being a light to me if you're not loving me first. And I think we can definitely draw some conclusions to other churches where, I mean like you brought up the Catholic Church, it's all about deeds. But I don't believe that it's a good reflection of who Christ is. It's not a good light to who Christ is. Christ is not seeking to have you do things and have you eat fish on Friday and have you this, that, and the other thing. He wants a relationship with you. He wants intimate love and relationship with you, not deeds, not works. The works will come from the intimate love and relationship. So the consequence was removal of the lampstand.

So the Ephesians, they might remain a church and name an organization. They might even hold some pretty sound doctrine. They might even have more people show up. They might even increase attendance. But they would have no testimony for Christ, no light. as important as doctrinal and moral purity are. And that's what the Ephesians had in a very un-moral area, and in a time where sound doctrine wasn't always there. So they had sound doctrine and moral purity. And as important as those things are, they are no substitute for the love of Christ, which will show itself in our lives for one another.

And it's important that, another thing, the Lord's not looking for an opportunity to take away their lampstand. That's not what He's doing. He's not, I'm looking, these guys aren't doing the right thing, I'm going to take away their lampstand. He was looking for them to repent so they wouldn't have to take the lampstand away. His goal was spiritual restoration. Not to do away with them, but to spiritually restore them. So it's love, not judgment. Or loving judgment, if you want to look at it that way.

Verse 6, and we'll kind of zip through this because I think we're running out of time. Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. So these Nicolaitans were basically men mentored by the apostles. So men that had been mentored by the Apostles, it was a chain that had come down from them. I had their names written down and I didn't know how to say them, so I just say men that, we'll leave it at that. Men mentored by the Apostles said that Nicolaitan, or that Nicholas was a deacon, Acts 6, 5, who went apostate and founded a Gnostic sect of idolatry and immorality.

So, It's good, you hate these deeds, you hate the works of these people who have founded something that is not of me. And it's important, a couple things, Christ hated their works, he didn't hate them. And in fact, the opportunity for the Nicolaitans is there to remember, repent, and repeat. And so he's again commending the Ephesians for hating the works of these people who are not of sound doctrine.

And we sort of already talked about Revelation 2-7, but we'll look at it real quick. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the seven churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.

And like we've already talked about, John 5.5, who is the one who overcomes the world? But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. So the overcomer is the believer. If you're a believer, you've already overcome the world. It's just this need for spiritual restoration. And the eating from the tree of life in God's paradise is motivation. for spiritual restoration. Not a consequence of not overcoming, because if you believe, you've already overcome.

The word for paradise is actually the same word that Jesus uses when he's on the cross with a thief next to him. He tells him, today you will be with me in paradise. Same word. The other thing that obviously we talked about last week with these verses was the phrase, to he who has an ear, let him hear, opening up for applying these verses to your life.

And I personally think that the problems that the churches at Ephesus have would be something that I've definitely dealt with in my life and I deal with from time to time, of trying to do things yourself. You want to do it yourself. There's lots of people in this room that are self-sufficient in the world and they're skilled. You guys are all self-sufficient as far as the world is concerned. You know, the desire to do it yourself is always there. And that's definitely something that I think that I can struggle with. The religious deeds, that doesn't really get me so much, but the desire to do it myself is always there. But that's not what God wants from us. He wants us to love Him first.

Anybody have comments or anything? They talked about Balaam, or however you pronounce that. Are they referring only to the Old Testament passages that refer to that, or do you think that there actually was a teaching like the Nicolations that actually came from the Old Testament references to Balaam?

Well, that's something that one of the other churches deals with specifically, is the teachings of Balaam. And basically, The Nicolaitans and the teachings of Balaam have some similarities. And I didn't go over it because we were running out of time, but the names almost mean the same thing. Nicholas is conquer the people, and Balaam means lord of the people. So there are some similarities between the two. But as far as if there was a teaching of that at that point in time, I think the verses, there's a church that, is accepting the teachings of Balaam.

Yeah, absolutely. But the teachings of Balaam are more of a man is in control sort of teaching. Man has the power, the authority. So it's like manipulating and managing people, which is almost what the Gnostics did as well. Yeah, and those teachings, Nicolaitans and Balaam, the key theme there is that man is in control of things. And that's what, in the Old Testament, man was in control of everything. And obviously that's not the case. So the teachings of Balaam may simply refer to a teaching where man has the ultimate authority. Did the Nicolaitans still claim Christ as Savior?

We don't know a whole ton about them. What we do know about them is what's revealed here in Revelation, and that's that their teachings were similar to that of Balaam. And the extra-biblical sources, the men that were disciples by the apostles, tell us that they were people who had developed a Gnostic sect on sound teaching. We don't know loads about them now.

Thanks for being here this morning. We'll close up in prayer. Lord, we thank you again for our time together this morning. Pray that it's so easy to fall into putting things ahead of you, putting self or even things that may seem good that don't belong ahead of you, like things that we believe are going to glorify your name, deeds that show that we care, or even the family. There are many things that we could put before you, but the bottom line here is you want, and you have always wanted, our first love to be you. Anytime we put anything in front of you, it's not what you're asking us to do. It's not what you want from us. As we live our lives, just a focus on you, a priority, that you're number one, and nothing comes before you as their. Thank you for our time this morning, in Jesus' name, amen.