Turning to Bible, if you will, this morning to Revelation chapter 2 in our continued study on the book of Revelation. As I said before, we're going to take a lot of time on the book of Revelation a lot of time in Revelation chapter 1. We saw that Jesus Christ is in the midst of the seven churches. These are not what we consider pulp churches. These are literal new testament churches found it on the simple gospel. believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, just because he's in the midst doesn't mean everybody in the church is saved. There are people in every church who are not saved, but he's still in the midst because of the gospel. We're gonna point out probably maybe six or seven important things found in Revelation chapter 2 verse 1 through 7 concerning the church at Ephesus. The same church as a matter of fact that Paul wrote to called the Ephesians church, the same church, looking chapter 1 if you will. And we just want to point out a few things before we go on. We're going to take a look at the church at Ephesus. But we We notice in chapter 1 verse 13 that Jesus Christ is clothed about the papst with a golden girdle. That's because he went to the cross, is glorified, went into heaven, anointed the mercy seed in heaven with his blood, and now he is girded about with the papst because he has become our high priest. At the Old Testament, the priest went in once a year, girded about the papst with a golden because he was the high priest once a year. His head and his air, verse 14, white like wool, his feet like brass, and verse 15, and a voice like the sound of many waters. And he had his right hand seven stars. These are the messengers of the seven churches that you by the way. And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. That's his word. And his countenance was so forth as the sun and shining. and then on down. I am He that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore amen and have the keys of hell and of death. If anyone ever ask you the question who has the keys of hell, Hades and death, it's Jesus Christ because He said so. And then in verse 19 we have the outline of the book of Revelation, right? the things which thou hast seen the past, chapter 1, and the things which are the church age, chapters 2 and 3, and the things which thou be hereafter, that's the rapture and afterwards. The mystery of the seven stars was thou sauce, and he goes on to tell us that the seven golden candlesticks are the seven churches. The seven stars are the angels all the seven churches, the word angels is the Greek word, angolos, and it means messenger, very simply messenger. The seven churches were seven literal churches at the time. They also represent seven types of church doctrine which we see today, and they also represent seven periods throughout church history, the first period being the church at Ephesus. Here too, Revelation, let's begin to read, if you will, unto the angel of the church at Ephesus' right, these things say to thee that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, lampstands, the churches. I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience, by the way you can't hide from Jesus Christ. You might not see him, but he knows everything. He's God. He's the Almighty God. The Mormons in the Jehovah Witness say that he's not Almighty God, but if you look in chapter 1 verse 8, you'll realize that it says he is the Almighty God. He is God. He's Jesus Christ, God and flesh. He knows everything. I know thy worst and thy labor and thy patience. And how that can not bear them who are evil, and thou hast tried them who say they are apostles and are not, and has found them liars, and we are going to go back and go over all this thing once again by the way, but I want to point out something, the word evil. Evil is sin on steroids. Evil is sin in high gear, overdrive. affects everybody's sin affects your relationship with God personally. It doesn't always affect people around you, but evil affects everybody. It comes from the Greek word porneros and it means evil by influence. They hated evil. You should hate evil. You should realize that you are a sinner, but evil is another thing all together. Evil is sin on steroids and has born and has patients and for my namesake has labored and has not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast slipped thy first love. What we're gonna take a look at their first love and try to figure out what that was as a matter of fact. Remember therefore from where there are fallen and repent. Turned from sin right? Yes, turn from sin. Repent. Turn from sin. My name is Pastor Dan, and I don't sin anymore. And repent and do the first verse or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove the candlestick out of its place except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hast is the deed to the neglectance, which I also hate. You know somebody said, God is love. Does God hate anything? He just said he did, didn't he? He said, I hate the deeds of the negligence. And we're going to point out why shortly. He that had an ear let him hear what the Spirit said unto the churches. To him that overcome it, that stopped sending by the way. To him that overcome it, will I get to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God? Now, I've known preachers over the years who've taken these verses and perverted them. And they claim that the only way you can overcome is to overcome your sin. Well, that's not what that verse means at all. So we're going to explain that. So let's go back, if you will, and cover everything that we wrote. The first thing we want to point out, number one, is Jesus Christ is in the midst. He's in the midst of this church by the way. Every time his word is spoken in truth, Jesus Christ is there. The Holy spirit is there. You're going to take a look later on down in a few weeks at the Church of Leo Decia, which will be the last church on the earth when the Lord Jesus Christ comes for his church. It was lukewarm. At that church, Jesus Christ, even though he was in the midst, he said, you've locked me out of the door. I'm outside. You've locked me out. We're going to take a look at that. But anyway, he's in the midst of the churches. Whenever his truth is spoken, his word, he's always in the midst. And then I want you to notice that he said in verse 2, I know of thy works. There you can't hide from the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember the seven spirits? We looked at those. The seven spirits represent the fact that you cannot hide from God and he judges with righteousness. I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience. So the church emphasis, they had good works, they labored, they had patience, and they can't not bear them who are evil. They had a lot of good things and Ephesus didn't they? But they forgot their first love. They forgot their first love. And we're going to get back to that too. Yeah, they did. That Christ. Yeah. And you got remember that emphasis represents the first stage of the church age. You know, it didn't take long for the church age to begin in the book of Acts. Before long, it wasn't long. Right after the church started, there were those people who followed the apostles and they followed the Philip and they followed all these witnesses and they would say, no, no, no, that's not true. Oh, I know Jesus died on the cross for you, but that's not enough. You got to do this and you got to do that and you got It's a perversion of the gospel. It never ends. Does it? It never ends. All you have to do is watch television. Ask Jesus into your heart. That's a lie. Make Jesus the Lord of your life. That's a lie. Confess to some priest. That's a lie. Pray to the Virgin Mary. That's a lie. The Mormons believe Christ isn't God. That's a lie. The job of witnesses believe He's not God. That is a lie. It's never ending. Walk down the aisle to be saved. That is a lie. That is a works that will not save you if you believe that saved you You are not saved period What saved you is faith believe in trust and the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior He died on the cross with buried in bros again for the forgiveness of sin believe that That's it I have a book by Oliver B. Green He says, whatever happened to the old fashioned mourners bench salvation, give me a great call. And I'm sure that Oliver has changed his mind about his old fashioned mourners bench. Come up here and get on your knees and weeping whale and screaming ball. My Bible didn't say anything like that at all. It didn't take long. But anyway, they tried the apostles, those who said they were apostles and they're not and found them. How did they try them? They went to the Word of God. You know how you try false religion? Falk you go to the Word of God. My Bible says in Matthew chapter 19, and the next to the last chapter in the book of Revelation, that there are only 12 apostles who will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And that is all for the apostolic church, by the way, a group of people who they, it is an apostolic church. And they think they are apostles. And then you have the Mormon church that claims that the high ranking members are apostles. That is a flat out lie. The 12 apostles will be Jews, won't it? The 12 apostles that Christ chose, including Paul the Apostle, it was not Matthias. In Acts chapter one and two, they chose Matthias. He was not one of the apostles. They chose him, God didn't. And they made a mistake, Peter made a mistake. You say, oh, we passed through, you can't say that about Peter, I didn't the Bible did. Peter made a mistake. But anyway, notice back the verse two here, if you will, who say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars by the Word of God. You see, when you take the Word of God and compare it to what a preacher said, can take the Bible and compare it to what I say. I'm telling you, don't take my word for anything. I'm just a man. I can follow up. of the Bible. If I make a statement, go to the Bible and prove whether I'm right or wrong. Go home and open your Bible. While I know what the preacher said, I just don't agree with that. Go to the Bible and prove it. Verse 3. The first thing Christ is in the midst, the second thing they had worked, labor, patience, they hated evil, they tried them according to the Word of God. That's how you determine if it's false or the truth. And then the third thing they labored for Christ for His namesake. Notice in verse 3, and has born and has patience, and for my namesake has labored. Let me tell you something. When was the last time you told somebody that Christ died on the cross for them? For His namesake comes in. His namesake, mention His name. When was the last time you mentioned His name to somebody? Jesus Christ, He died on the cross for me. My name same sake you have labored. On down if you will, that's Paul said, or John said I'm sorry, I have somewhat against thee, this is the only thing he really had against them. Because thou hast left thy first love. Question, what is the first love? Let's prove that if you will. Let's go back to the second John chapter 1. The epistle of or the letter of second John, third to the second John, through four, if you will. A lot of plays we do the first John, second John, third John, but all we want to do is prove our point. The elder, the apostle John, undo the elect lady and her children who might love in the truth, in the truth, but also all day that have known the truth. For the truth's sake, which dwells in up and jobbing with us forever. Grace be with you, mercy and peace from God. The Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth. I rejoice greatly that I found out by children walking in truth. I don't know about you, but do you know what my first love was? First love, because when I heard the truth, I put my faith in trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice verse three once again. grace be unto you mercy and peace from God the Father. So pay attention while I'm going to say pay attention. Peace from God the Father. How do you get peace from God the Father? Through the Lord Jesus Christ. Through faith and the Lord Jesus Christ you have peace with God. Romans chapter 5. Peace from God the Father. Through and And from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love, my first love is the truth. It wasn't until I learned the truth that I put my faith in the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ is my Savior. That's my first love, the truth. When I first heard the truth and I didn't go to the mourners bench, I rejoiced. That man I'm going to heaven now, Christ died for my sins. He paid for my sins. I'm not going to weep and wail and ball and scream like a pig, I'm going to rejoice. Amen. I just heard the truth. Max D. Yantz. And I knew some preachers who never told the truth. I knew preachers have made you get down on your knees and say the center is prayer and people got up. I seen it happen. They get up off of their knees. They were just as lost as they were before they got on. Not the truth. It's just some man self-righteous garbage. Okay, the first love, the truth, back to Revelation, left their first love, the truth, faith, and Jesus Christ, they left it. And then in verse 5, and we're going to point something out here. Therefore, remember, remember, therefore, from where thou art foe and repent, change your mind, and do the first words, reach the truth, or else I will come under the quickly and remove that I candle sick out of his place except that we can't change your mind. Ephesus had begin to teach a false message. They had fallen. I want you to hold your place there, but we're going to remember a word, fallen, come from a Greek word, ectepto, it's driven, of course. I want you to go to Galatians chapter 5 and we'll come right back to Revelation, but we're going to be running out of time shortly here. I go to Galatians chapter 5, chapter 5, if you will, verse 4, if you will. I remember looking up here for just a minute, get a grip on Galatians. The church of Galatians was the worst church other than versus the Corinthian church in the Bible. They had a terrible testimony. They had gotten to the point where Paul had to atmonish them and look in chapter 5 of Galatians verse 4. Notice what he says here, Christ has become of no effect unto you. Pay attention, little words. Christ has become of no effect. No effect. In other words, his death girl and resurrection is no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. You are fallen from grace. It's the same Greek word, epipto, and it means to you're driven off course. No effect, not justifiable. In other words, if you're fallen from grace because you have not just simply trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. You're not saved. You're off course. You're taking the wrong direction. It's an old sailing term. It means to, I don't know about you, but I've been a boater most of my life and I used to go out into the lake 25, 30 miles and I couldn't see land. And oftentimes before they came up with this new GPS thing, I didn't know where I was at. So when I came back home, I'd just go south. And oftentimes I'd wind up, I want to be in Geneva, I'd wind up in Astagula, Fairport, Peru, I'd go south, but I'd always wind off course and that's what happens if you put your faith in anything but the Lord Jesus Christ you'll always wind up when you're dead and leave this world your wind up off course you won't make it you're only justified by faith in Christ not by some law not by anything other than faith in Christ it's fallen driven off course the wrong way okay back the revelation if you will We'll try to cover this before I run out of time. So the fifth thing we've looked at is they were driven off course they failed. Next thing we're going to take a look at, and by the way it means to lose, drop away, become inefficient, take no effect, whatever. But look in verse 6, but this now has that now hate us. The deeds of the nucleotus, which I also hate, probably has hated the deeds of the Nicolaytons. Why? Well, the first one. We're going to complain. You may have a skill field Bible with notes on the Nicolaytons, but it's not nearly what you need. The word Nicolaytons comes from two words in the Greek and Nicol, which means to overcome and latens, which means the people, the lady. The overcomers of the people, the Nicolaytons. He said, I I hate that. Why? Because people go to hell when they are overcome by false religion. Let me give you an example. Turn just back here to the third John, a little bit of third John, if you will. The danger of the overcomers of the people, the Nicolayotans. I just want to give you an example of an overcomer of the people. John is talking about him, Revelation chapter 2. Look in the third epistle of John, verse 9. John said, I wrote unto the church. In other words, we have a letter missing. We have first, second, and third John, but we have a letter missing. I wrote unto the church, but after fees, who love us to have the preeminence among them, them, receive us, us not. I'd take it, the dioprophies destroyed the letter. He didn't want to let it read it. The dioprophies was a type of an overcomer of the people on the Galatians. And in verse 10, Paul said, remember, he had preeminence. He was the overcomer. He wouldn't receive John and the letters. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds, and I don't know if he did or not, but I hope he did. I hope John beat Dioctrophies over the head with a ball bat, because that's what I would do. If anybody comes into my church and begins teaching a lie, look out your name for Trump, 65 pounds. But if I needed something to get even, blow on a Dioctrophies. Therefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he'd do with. They own the Goliath and overcomer of the people, Praying against stress with malicious words, and not content with that. This guy's rotten, isn't he? And not content with that, neither does he himself receive the brethren. And forbid that them that would and cast them out of the church. Who is this guy? I remember being in a church one time that had a deacon. ran the church. The pastor didn't. The Deacon told the pastor what to teach. You ever think about telling me what to teach? I'm out of here. You're going to find another pastor because I'm tired. The only one person who tells me what to teach and that's Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit. Not something to eat. But anyway, he was a diopathy. He ran the church. He wanted to be looked up to. He wanted the preeminence. This guy diopathy wouldn't even receive the brother and cast them out of the church. What kind of a church was that? Like it works. Yeah, it was bad. And in verse 11, Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil has not seen God. Remember what we said about the word evil? It is sin on steroids. Sin and I gear. Sin is one thing, but evil is something else. You know what the real evil, the God, has more than any evil that exists, false doctrine, to revelation, we're running out of time here, quickly, thing we want to cover, verse, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said unto the churches. Do him that overcome us, will I get to eat of the triad life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God? What does the word overcome me? I know many of you have had the answer. What does the word overcome mean? Does that mean that I, if I overcome sin, I'll leave it to the tree of life? Or? What? Victory in Christ to all others. Victory in Christ. We're going to give you the answer. Yes, that's true. And first, John, chapter 5, and then we'll close. We're going to give you the answer. I remember having a class out in Rome when I had to church out there and I had a young fellow come. His name was Mike, that's all I want to tell you. He was out of a church of God I think it was. I was teaching on this subject to overcome it in the class and he thought overcoming meant to overcome sin. I said, that's not true. And when I showed him what overcome meant, he couldn't believe it. He said, I always thought I meant, I said, no, no. It means what the Bible said. So turning to your Bible, the first John chapter We're going to take a look at what you do to overcome. The word overcome means to subduve, to win the battle. In 1st John, chapter 5, verse 4, for whatever is born of God overcome the world, isn't that simple? How do you get born of God by putting your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Didn't he tell you that when you did that, you would be born again? Whoever is born of God, overcome with the world, and this is the victory that overcome with the world, even our faith. Isn't the answer simple? You know when you go to the Bible and compare the Bible with the Bible, the Bible always answers the Bible, it's simple, isn't it? Who is He that overcome with the world, but He that believeth that Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the Son of God. What do you do to overcome faith and the Lord Jesus Christ? Isn't that simple? It's so simple you had to be pretty darn stupid not to believe it, isn't it? It's simple. You're closing. It's weak with the next church and revelation. But the Bible says that I'm a sinner. Now you've probably heard this once before maybe. I don't know if you've ever heard this before. No, no, no. Okay, Bible says I'm a sinner. This hand represents me, my sin. I can go to hell on paper, or I can come down this. I don't leave my sins on the altar, and then I'll go to heaven. No, that's a lie. The only way to get to heaven is by believing that Jesus Christ, died on the cross, was buried, and rose again for the forgiveness of sin. The Bible says, as soon as I believe that, he takes my sin, marked him, paid, put some to his account, The blood that he shed that he put on the altar and had all in his blood covers my sin. I'm forgiven. Simple faith. When I do that, I overcome. If I continue to do that, then I will not fall. Take their own sail, their own route, sail their own way. If I believe Christ died on a cross for me, my sins are paid. It's that anything else is a lie. Of course, you don't have to do that, but Kell is a pretty hot place, isn't it? We had some young kids here for our movie night and I did that, showed them that, one of the young boys said, I like that. Well, I said, well, so do I. I don't know if he thought he was going to get it or not. But anyway, yeah. Anyway, if you're here this morning and you don't know you're going to have them when you die just before we close, just between you and the Lord say, Lord, I believe you died on a cross for my sins. And then just thank you personally between you and him. You don't have to do anything out loud It's just between you and Lord Jesus Christ isn't that simple It sure is but that word for it will close Dear Lord, we thank you for Jesus Christ. We thank you for his word. It's amazing It's interesting and dear Lord We thank you for your death very own resurrection provided eternal life Simple by simple faith and dear Lord we thank for it, bless those who are here this morning, give them a good week, and press neck.