On Revelation 2:1 addresses the church at Ephesus, highlighting its commendable works, labor, patience, and discernment against false apostles, yet rebuking it for losing its "first love." The message traces the historical development of the early church, emphasizing the foundational role of godly couples like Aquila and Priscilla, and the subsequent ministries of Apollos, Paul, Timothy, and John. It critiques the loss of initial fervor, faith, hope, and love, contrasting it with the church's outward activity and its ability to discern evil. The sermon concludes by urging repentance and a return to that first love, which is presented as the core of true Christianity and the key to overcoming and accessing the tree of life.
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So read from the book of Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapter two. And we'll read from verse one. On to the angel of the church at Ephesus writes, These things that he that hold of the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candles. I know thy works, and thy labors, and thy patience, and how thou canst not fare them that are evil, and I have tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and has found them liars. And is born, and has patience, and for my name shape hath lived, and hath not fended.
Nevertheless I have against thee, because I have fled thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first work. Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except our repentance. But it thou hast that our hitherto thieves of the Nicolaesans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. To him that overcome it will I give to each of the tree of light, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. This morning we intimate as if what we want to do during this week or tonight and the incoming nights of this week is to speak of the seven churches in Revelation two and three.
We give a little introduction this morning and we were pointing out that what we find in Revelation chapter one is an introduction to the next two chapters. The Apostle John, an old man about a hundred years of age, is on the island of Patna. He's an exile, and there he's suffering on account of his testimony. And the Lord, to encourage his heart, gives him a marvelous vision. The vision that he saw was a vision of the risen Christ, the exalted Lord. And he's walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstand. And the Lord Jesus that appears to John, we get a tenfold glory.
I would love to have taken time this morning. to speak about the ten items of glory of the Lord Jesus. As we find in chapter one, we just have to read that to your own personal study. Every one of those items is taken from two passages of the Old Testament scripture. First of all, from Exodus twenty-eight, where we find the seven garments of the high priest. And then secondly, from Daniel chapter seven, where we get a wonderful description of the ancient of days. On the various items of glory that we find of the Lord Jesus, in exaltation, in resurrection, in chapter one are taken from those two passages. Now what I want to do tonight is first of all to speak for a little while about the seven churches, the overall picture that we get often.
And then I want for a little while to take the first church, that is Ephesus, and point out that in it we get several items here that give us a perfect description of early primitive Christianity. It was a commission of the church at emphasis at the end of the first century. Until I want to take the lessons that we find here, and I want to apply them individually to our hearts tonight. Now, I think that today many things that have been taught for many, many years are being called in question. The day in which we live is an age of skepticism. and even among Christians. Many things that have been taught for years are being questioned today.
And I think that when we open up any passage of Scripture, we need to be very careful that we have absolute Scripture authority for anything that we say. I personally believe that in the two chapters, chapters two and three in the seven churches, we get a threefold interpretation. Now, it is, first of all, perfectly evident. that there were seven churches that existed at this time in the Roman province of Asia. I want to point out that it's not the Asia that we know today, the continent of Asia. Neither is it Asia Minor, as it sometimes says. But what we get here is a Roman province, a comparatively small place.
It was the Roman province of Asia. And it's what is comprised today and what we know as modern Turkey. Under this area that was evangelized by the Apostle Paul, we get the historical account of it in Acts chapter nineteen. On Paul's third missionary journey, he spent about two and a half years in this area. He did a remarkable work, and from he left there he left certain New Testament assemblies behind. Now altogether there were ten. There were ten assemblies in this area. And I want you to notice that there's a selection here. There are certain churches that are not mentioned at all. But seven of them are picked up. And they're called golden lampstands.
They're shining in the night. And the Lord Jesus in his resurrection glory. He looks into each one of these individual churches. And he reviews the conditions in that church. And then he shows the remedy for those conditions. Now, I think that it's perfectly evident that, first of all, the first interpretation is what you might call the practical interpretation. There were seven real New Testament historical assemblies at this time in this Roman province of Asia. And the Lord Jesus, with his eyes as a flame of fire, is looking into them as his passing judgment on the conditions there, and then he shows us the glorious remedy for those conditions. Now, secondly, I think that's what we might call the practical application.
First of all, the primary, the primary application. And then secondly, the practical application. I believe that what we find in these seven churches, we find at any period in the church's history. as we look over the pavement a day, and we see the various New Testament assembly that we find here, I think we could take these seven churches and apply them practically to these different assemblies in the pavement earlier today. That might be what you would call the practical application. But thirdly, I think there is a prophetic interpretation. What we get in these seven churches, I believe, is a divine church history. Stretching from Pentecost...
right down to the twentieth century, to the end of the church period. When the church is taken up from this earth at the rapture, I believe that in the seven churches we get an outline from the divine standpoint of the whole of church history, commencing with Pentecost and ending with the rapture of the church. And this is something that's being denied the day. Some little time ago in an entirely different area of the country, I happened to mention that fact. So in Revelation two and three, we get a divine chronology, a divine church history, giving seven different periods of the church here upon earth. After the meeting was over, there was a young man in his early twenties.
He came to him and did two dishes with me. He was rather bold about it. And he came to him and he said, There's nothing, any evidence whatever. He said, But to take these churches and apply them in a prophetic way, he said, That's just your imagination. And I felt rather hurt when he said that. I try to keep my self-control. And I said, My dear brother, I would like you to sit down here with me just for a little while. And he did. And we spent a little while over the Word of God. And I gave him seven reasons why I believe that we get the divine church history here. Now, it's perfectly evident tonight that we want the time to look at those seven readings. But I think if we have time, I think I could show that we have scriptural authority for saying that we do get a divine church history in these seven churches.
Now, time wouldn't suffice to go into this in any detail. But I just want to point out one or two little things in passage. One reason why I believe that we get a divine chronology here of the Church is the fact that this is a principle that we find in practically every section of the Word of God. You take, for instance, Leviticus XXIII. Do you remember the seventh feast of Jehovah in Leviticus XXIII, commencing with the Sabbath, going on to the Passover? On them that the feast of first fruit... and the Feast of its Own, the Feast of Tabernacles and so on, I am absolutely convinced that what we get in Leviticus twenty-three is a divine chronology. I think we get there a history of the Jewish people and the various items that we find in those seven feet.
Give us in a symbolic way a chronology, an outline of Jewish history. And I think that when we look at it we can find some things that would be a hell. Now we get it also in the book of Daniel. You remember Daniel seventy weeks. And again, that would take a long time to go into it here tonight, and I'm certainly not going to do it. But in those seventy weeks in the book of Daniel, I am absolutely convinced we have a divine chronology. It's given in a symbolic way, it's true. But God gives it a blueprint of history connected with the Gentile nations in the book of Daniel. We turn over to the Gospel according to Matthew, on the passage that we were talking about coming to the meeting tonight.
In Matthew chapter thirteen, we get seven parables. They're called parables of the kingdom of heaven. And again, I am absolutely convinced that in these seven parables of the kingdom of heaven, we get a defined blueprint of what is called Christendom today. I'm also here in Revelation two and three. These seven churches, I believe, give us a divine chronology, a divine outline, a blueprint, a church history. From God's standpoint, various items connected with the church in seven different periods. Now this is the idea that we have before us during this week. I'm not going to talk over anybody's head. I want to address myself even to the youngest in the meeting.
And I'm not going to talk about anything complicated at all. I want to try to make these meetings as interesting as I possibly can, and at the same time very practical. We're not going to address ourselves particularly to people's intellect. or intelligence, but what I'd like to do is direct myself to your heart. I'd like to reach your affection, and I'd also like to reach your conscience. I believe at any address, always should have this threefold aspect to it. It should be directed to the mind. I don't believe at all in anybody getting up and having a hodgepodge of an address with a top and a tail to it. I think it should at least be intelligent that we can understand what we're talking about.
But secondly, I believe it should be addressed through the heart, through the affection. If our affections are not reached, I believe that it can go over our head, it can go into our head and pop us up, but it should reach our heart. And thirdly, it should reach our conscience, so that our lives may be affected practically by any teaching that we seek to give. And certainly this is the idea that I have before my mind during this week. Now there are these seven churches, if more particularly the prophetic art line that I want to speak about. Now first of all we get Ephesus. In Ephesus this golden lamp stand this church. I suppose that reached the highest peak of teaching in the New Testament, we want to look at its history just in a moment or two.
What we get here is a divine estimate of the Apostolic Church, those early days of Church testimony, and I want to point out some things that characterize it and also some weakness and failure connected with it. I want you to notice that there's a fall here. We're introduced to a fall. Remember at the very commencement of church history, we read, at the very commencement of human history, we find a fall in Genesis chapter three. Adam fell. We also read about Israel, but they fell. And here we find that this first church here we find a fall. Remember from whence our fallen.
And then at the end, again we're introduced to the Garden of Eden, and we're told that the overcomer here would have access to the Tree of Light. So it's quite evident that here we get primarily part of the history of the church. Unconnected with it, we get a fall, and we also get access to that tree of life to the one that it able to overcome. Now in the second church at Smyrna, we get a period here characterized by persecution. God willing to modernize, we want to look at it. There were about three hundred years when hundreds of thousands of God's dear people lost their lives. Some years ago I was over in Rome, in Italy. I was coming back from Africa.
On one place I did want to see in the city of Rome was a Colosseum. We were never that large arena. I suppose it would seat between Sergei and forty thousand people. It's still in existence today. The very seat on which the Roman Emperor sat is still in existence. When we went into that building, the lady who was conducting it said, Gentlemen, remove your hat. It said, Almost feel like saying, Take your shoes off. The ground in which you are standing is saturated with human blood. And he said, Archaeologists have told us that fifty feet below the surface of the Alena in the Colosseum in Rome, there are traces of human blood. hundreds of thousands of God's dear children were thrown to the lion, and they lost their lives in those public practicals in the Colosseum and Rome.
Now that is the days of Smyrna. God willing, tomorrow night we want to look at that and give a little outline of those days of severe persecution through which the church passed. The third one is Parliament, and what we find here is the world infiltrating into the church. a Roman emperor whose name was Constantine, and three hundred and thirteen made a public confession of being a Christian. I don't believe it was real. He only became a nominal Christian. He saw a vision, and he told people that across the sky he saw a cross emblazoned in the sky. And underneath that cross he saw these words, in this sign, conquer.
Now, instead of a dream or a vision, I think it was a nightmare that he had. I don't believe that the man had any real true right of Christianity about him at all. I don't believe he was ever born again. But at least he became a nominal believer. And the church, instead of being persecuted, instead of being thrown to the lions, it became a popular thing to be a Christian. and people were driven to baptism by the sword, for formerly they had been driven out of the world entirely and driven on the ground. They were driven to baptism on the head of a common Christian owing to an imperial command. And the result was that the church gradually went down, down, down. There was a long period characterized here in this church of Pergamus when the teaching of Balaam, that is, worldliness, started infiltrating into the church.
The church became whirling, and the world became a little churchy. And the result was that that mixture of the two, it meant that the testimony of the church just went down, down, down. We want to look at this on the next night, that is on Tuesday night, and we want to see the bus pergamous. Now the third is Thyatira. And on Thyatira we find the worst woman in Holy Scripture, we find her teaching. If anybody were to ask me tonight, who do you think is the most beautiful character in the Bible? I wouldn't have any difficulty at all in saying it was merely a fascinating, lovely, lovely character. And if anybody were to ask me who is the worst person in the Bible, again, I wouldn't have any hesitation at all in saying it was Jezebel.
And we find her teaching in the church of Psyatairus. What we get characteristically in Psyatairus is a church of the dark Middle Ages. For one thousand years... That is, from AD five hundred till about fifteen hundred AD, the light of the gospel, the pure gospel of God's grace. And the testimony that was maintained for many, many centuries, gradually was extinguished. And we find in those dark middle ages every form of evil infiltrating into the church. We want to look at that on Wednesday night. And we want to talk for a little while about the dark middle ages and the things that characterize it. Then in Sardis we find her the Bible.
I personally believe that in Sardis we get the Reformation. On the thirty-first of October of fifteen, seventeen, there was a man called Martin Luther. Mind you, I believe today we need men like him to become rather popular today to say on kind and critical things about Martin Luther. Some people say he was on crisp. And it was a kind of a man that said things that he shouldn't have said, under all kinds of apologies being made today for Martin Luther on what he did and what he said. I believe that we should turn a deaf ear to that kind of thing. If ever there was a day when men of the caliber and stamp of Martin Luther were acquired, it's in the day in which we lived.
A man with the courage of his conviction, and on the thirty-first of October, He took his ninety-nine seizes, and he hammered them to the door of the church in Wittenberg in Germany on the Reformation started. It's an amazing thing to me that Martin Luther died on his bed. I wonder why he wasn't burned at the stake, just as John Huss and many other of God's dear sins had suffered at that time. But Martin Luther was preserved, and a wonderful revival took place at that time called the Reformation. My God willing, I want to speak about the Reformation on Thursday night. The things that characterize it. These Great Reformation truths that were recovered at that time on how the God wrought a marvelous revival throughout Christendom.
I believe there we get started. And then in Philadelphia, on Friday night, I want to look at the city of brotherly love. And a third great revival. I think we get a revival in Smyrna, the days of persecution. We get a revival again in Sardis, the day of the Reformation. And then, in the city of brotherly love in Philadelphia, we get a three-fold revival. It was evangelical. Not only was it evangelical, but it was ecclesiastical. And great truths that have been buried under heaps of ecclesiastical tradition for centuries were recovered once again. And then finally, we get the revival of the great truth of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then at the end of the meeting on Friday night, I want to finish up what I have to say by showing that at the end of the picture we get Leo to see it. but very, very dismal picture. We're up at the beginning. We have the Lord Jesus walking in the midst of the seven golden man's time in complete control. At the end of the picture, he's standing outside a closed door on his knocking for admittance. We sometimes use this in the gospel, but I want to point out, and I want to emphasize that it's not a gospel picture at all. What we get there is a church, Laodicea, the self-compliant, pleasant church. absolutely full of their own importance and a school of conceit, as they can possibly be. But the Lord Jesus is standing outside that closed door and is asking for admittance, and it is this.
If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in and will sit with him. What is that? That is fellowship. And then he with me, what is that? That's the Lord's ship. The one who opens the door and allows him to come in, he will come in, and he will have fellowship with those that open the door. But as soon as he comes in, he takes his original place at the head of the table. He will occupy no other place. He must be the host. He must be the one who presides at the table, and he with me. And at the end of the picture we get the lordship of Christ emphasized once again. I just want a little while tonight, and we'll have a bit of bridegroom about it.
I want to speak of the early days of Christianity as we find it here in Ephesus. You know, the word itself, Ephesus, it means desirable. It's a word that's used of a bridegroom for his bride. And you know, the thing that's emphasized here again and again in the letter here to Ephesus is a great subject of love. There's a tremendous failure here. The Lord has to remind them of it. I have against thee that thou hast led thy first love. Love was missing. And the word itself here, emphasis, it means desirable. The word that a bridegroom uses for his bride. And it knows the way that the Lord Jesus is presented to this church.
These things, says he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, the seven golden lampstand. Here he holds the seven stars in his right hand. It would be interesting tonight to turn over to the historical picture in Acts chapter nineteen, where we get the foundation of the church of Ephesus. You know, there are six names connected with it. Six outstanding names. Here we get seven stars, and as we were pointing out this morning, it speaks here of Holy Ghost ministry. Under six individuals mentioned in connection with the foundation of the Church at Ephesus. I think that is what is referred to here, and emphasized. Now, I'm only thankful that right at the beginning, in this Church at Ephesus, those that were responsible were a godly couple, but we never hear preaching in the Bible.
Aquila and Priscilla, they formed the beach heads. in the foundation of the church at Ephesus, Aquila and Priscilla. The prince will be liberated in Africa for thirty eight years among the Ombuds speaking people who had about two hundred and fifty New Testament companies of God's people. And somebody might say, well now over the years how did this word develop? Somebody said, was it the evangelist? Was it the pastor? Was it the teacher? Who was responsible for developing this work? Two hundred and fifty companies of believers in one tribe. They're in Angola. I want to tell you that the most of the work was done by a godly couple.
A young man and his wife that went into a new place and formed a beachhead and started a gospel testimony. The first of all started a work among children. to gather the children together and every morning and every evening they have a little meeting for the children and then after a while the adults they started to get interested and they came along and before you knew the older people they started to get interested too but it always started Practically every time was a young couple, a man and his wife that went into a new place and pioneered and formed of each head. Now that was the way Ephesus, the way the church was started there, and it's the way I believe that God worked in many parts of the world today and doing pioneer work.
So while they were at Ephesus, there was a young man came along and his name was Apollos. And he's the only man in the Bible who's called an eloquent man. He's what you might call a young people's man. But you know, Apollos, he fell very far short. When he got up in the synagogue and started to speak, the only thing he knew was the baptism of John the Baptist. And he started to preach what he knew. Now, I can think I can see that godly couple, a full-interest fellow sitting in the synagogue, and when this young fellow gets up to preach. Well, I suppose some people would want to criticize, some people would want to club him. Some people would want to get a hold of him after the synagogue service is over and give him a good lecture of the mistakes that he had made.
No, they didn't do that. But what did they do? They recognized there was something wrong, there was something missing. It was a question that he was preaching what he knew, but all he knew was the preaching of John the Baptist. And after the service was over, they took them home. And possibly sitting at the dinner table, and I think that the lady, I think that the wife was a prominent person here, instead of Aquila, it was probably Priscilla that did the most of the teaching and the most of the talking. She seems to have the outstanding character in this chair. And sitting at the table in their own home, they straightened them out. And Aquila, after he had heard the simple gospel of the grace of God, he became a wonderful help here at Ephesus.
You know, there are many things about this that I'd love to talk about tonight, but I do want to emphasize the fact that it emphasizes the commencement of the testimony, the commencement of the golden candlestick. It commenced with a godly couple that never did any preaching as far as we know. And then after, you remember the Apostle came, and he found a group of believers, and he recognized there was something wrong. And he said, Did you receive the Holy Ghost when you believe? He said, We haven't so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. They had been listening to the preaching of Apollos. He didn't know anything about the death and burial and resurrection of Christ at that time. The Apostle recognized. There was something wrong. They have been baptized. by John's baptism.
The Apostle said, did you receive the Holy Ghost when you believed? He said, we haven't so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And the Apostle, he preached from the simple gospel of God's grace, the past, the burial, the resurrection of Christ, the one who's at God's right hand, who can receive the sinner, and who can give him forgiveness, and they were saved. They believed on the Lord Jesus, and then they were baptized. Notice they were baptized the second time. They were first of all baptized according to John's baptism, but when they believed in the Lord Jesus, they were baptized, and this is the nucleus of the assembly of Ephesus. the first chapter of the epistle of the Ephesians, it speaks about it. Upon believing, upon believing, when ye heard the word of truth, and upon believing, ye were sealed with the Holy Ghost, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the day of the redemption of the purchased possession.
So here we find the commencement of the assembly. Now the Apostle Paul, he lived there for quite a considerable time. And then Timothy. Oh, that dear man, the helper of the Apostle, he remained there for some time. And finally, the Apostle John himself. I think this is the reason why. Right here at the commencement of this epistle to the Ephesians, we read about the seven stars in the right hand of the Ascended Christ. It was that ministry that they were privileged to listen to from these outstanding men of God. They had all ministry, and then they had written ministry as well. Now here, thirty years has passed. On the Lord Jesus, I'm addressing the church on Ephesus.
I want you to know there's something here. There's something missing. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy station. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy station. Now there's a lot of activity here, but there's something missing. If we would turn over to the first epistle of the Thessalonians, we would read these three words again. And there are three lovely things associated with it. Now these are the words in First Thessalonians chapter one. Read there about a work of faith. And read about a labor of love. And read about a passion of hope. Now there were three things missing here. Thirty years later in the Church of Ephesus. And that was faith and hope and love.
Something has gone out of their testimony. Plenty of activity. Working, working, working, working. But faith and hope and love were missing. Some years ago I was over in England. I met a brother there called Frank Holmes. That brother formerly was an Episcopalian minister. He came to a little place called Barnes Civil in England. And there he started a work in a large Episcopalian church. He was constantly hearing the name of a man called Robert C. Chapman. Robert B. Chapman was a man probably like the Apostle John, lived until he was a hundred years of age, and he was known in Barnstable as the Apostle of Love.
Now Mr. Holmes, who was the minister of that large church, he became interested in Robert C. Chapman, did some investigation and finally decided to write his biography. Now, if you look in the evangelical bookstores today, you'll find a copy of it. It's called A Brother Indeed. That's one of the most beautiful biographies I've ever read. It was written by Frank Holmes. Now, Mr. Holmes told me this. He said, When I was writing that book, he said, I became interested in those that are known as brethren. He said, when I found out a little bit about Robert C. Chapman and what he stood for, the great truths that he propagated and that he stood for, he said, I was him so interested that I decided to write a biography.
But while he was writing it, he became more and more concerned about a ecclesiastical position. And after all, he said to himself, well, the Lord is blessing me here. The Lord is blessing my testimony. He told her being said, and why should I leave my position? And he said to him, well, after all, it's not a command. But one Lord's day he was sitting, preparing two sermons for the morning and the evening. And he was reading First Corinthians chapter fourteen. And when he came to the end of the chapter, he read these words, If any man among you think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto thee are the commandments of the Lord.
It hit him right between the two eyes. And he put one hand on top of his Bible, and the other hand on top of that. And he said, Lord, as this is a command, I am through. He preached his two sermons that Lord's day. And on the Monday morning, he wrote his resignation to the bishop. And with his children by the hand, he left a large palatial mass on that large church. And in simple faith and trust in God, he stepped up as God's servant, leading wherever he would lead. He's still there. God is wonderfully blessed, my dear man. He is a graduate of Cambridge University, a thoroughly educated and cultured man. But he has read the Word of God. On the last observation, and today, just as a simple servant of God, he's moving around preaching the gospel on God's lesson.
But this is what he told me. He said, in writing Mr. Chapman's biography, he said, I found out that at the commencement of what is called the Brethren Movement, there were three outstanding men. I said the first one was J.N. Darby, John Nelson Darby. The second one, he said, was George Miller. And the third one was Robert B. Chapman. And he said, As I studied the lives of these men, I found out that Darby was the man who was principally responsible for the recovery of the truth of the Lord's coming. The difference between the secret coming for the church. on this public appearing with the church seven years later, Garvey was the man who was responsible for that.
And I said, over his head, he said, I'd like to write the word hope. And I said, George Mueller was a man who, in simple faith in God and trust in God, he kept two thousand orphans over in the city of Bridgeport. He determined that he would never ask anybody for a penny. He would make no appeals whatever for fun to any human being. And for fifty years, George Mueller, he kept an orphanage there with two thousand children. And every day he was completely dependent upon God for the next week. But God never let him down. They never missed the week. And it said, over George Mueller's head, he said, I'd like to write the word fifth. Darby Pope.
And Mueller said, but it said the third man it was Robert C. Chapman. Just like the Apostle John, he used to move in and out among the believers. And he used to say, little children, love one another. Little children love one another. Little children love one another. Now I said, I wish he said that those three men, faith and hope and love, have stuck together. But I said, you know, the United Testament only lasted for ten years. That was all. God was working at that time on a marvelous way in revival blessing among his people. And of the three men had only remained together. What a wonderful blessing it would have been to the Church of God. But you know the devil was working too.
And he introduced his way between hope and faith. And he took a sledgehammer and he smashed it home. And aloha, Robert B. Chapman, he put out his two arms and tried to hold the two brethren together, two giants. Two great spiritual giants trying to hold them together. Unfortunately, he says, for the result that we all know today. Now this is what we get in Ephesus. Faith and hope and love are missing here. We certainly get the labor. We get the works. We get the patience. But faith and hope and love is missing. And right at the very commencement here, we get the root of the trouble. It's keeping at the root of the trouble in what we get here in Ephesus.
But the Lord commands him for it. I know thy works, labor, patience. On how thou canst not bear them which are evil, thou try them which say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars, hath borne and hath patience, and for thy namesake is labored, and hast not fainted. Now leave her early church condition. But remember this, this, a worm at the root. And the world that was at the root here, the faith and hope and love are missing. Plenty of activity, but the basic things were not there. And therefore, we can see what's happening. Again, I would love to talk about the commendation that the Lord gives, how they were able to deal with three forms of evil that were infiltrating into the church at that time.
First of all, evil man. What does that stand for? Well, it stands for what is called in early church history. Antonomianism. Now, that's a great big word. And I said to myself, not to talk over anybody's head. But just what does that mean? It meant that there were some people who believed you could be born again and do whatever you like. You could be a Christian and behave whatever way you like, but otherwise you can't. If anybody tells me today that there are born-again believers and still carrying on the old life and engage in evil wicked practices with no insane in their life and carrying it on, there's something seriously wrong. Now that is antonomianism. On these evil men, we find them in the early days of church history.
Those who said, you can do evil, but good may come. We find them at Corinth, these evil men, and then false apostles. They were able to try then. We read that they weren't able to bear the evil men. And then they had discernment. They were able to try the false apostles. And they found that they weren't true and loyal to Christ at all. And all today, as we look at Christendom, I don't know who I'm talking to here tonight. But, beloved friend, I want to remind you that the day in which we live, the great fundamentals of Christianity are being denied everywhere. and men who have pledged themselves to the loyal and faithful and true to the holy scripture and to the person of christ for anything but the day in which we live is the denial of fundamental teaching every bread of day we get the false apostle along with the evil men and then at the end of the picture we get the nicoletanism the nicoletans who were they i was right going into argument about it i believe it's a metaphorical term and what we get here is the distinction between clergy that were introduced at the end of the first century.
Now, everywhere we go in Christendom today, we find this distinction. That is, the people of God divided into two classes. You certainly don't get that on apostolic days. You don't get it on the day of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus said, One is your master. One is your master, and ye are glad in it. Now we do find church government. We find elders among the people of God and leaders and guides. But those that take a position today of distinction from the ordinate, rank and file of the people of God, you certainly don't get this in the early days of Christianity. You know, as we look today and see, the hierarchy that they get in Christendom, we're not going to take time again tonight to go into this in any detail, but certainly it's very, very far removed from what we get in the Word of God.
Nicolaitan, that means the conquerors of the people, a distinction between clergy and glare. That's something that they don't find in the New Testament at all. It's completely foreign. It's a foreign element in the New Testament, and here we get it in a different form. Here it's being introduced, and God says he hates it. That is a very, very strong term that's used in connection with it. So these are the three things that we find here that we're able to deal with. Now, the fifth thing that the Lord deals with here is this. I have against thee that thou hast let thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first work, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick out of its place except thou the first love.
You know the great thing in any true believer today, the great test is, do I have the love of Christ in my heart? Have I let my first love? This morning I mentioned the fact that I was, I've been a believer now for forty-eight years. I was saved when I was quite young. I was a teenage. And you know, I did things in those days that I don't do today. I confess it with shame. The very first thing that I did when I became... That's fine, but I did fine. Every penny that I had at the time, I invested in the best Bible that I could buy. And by the way, after forty-eight years, I still have it.
It was a large two-version wide margin bio. And over a period of forty-eight years, I tried to put some annotations in the margin. It's the most priced possession that I have today. But the first thing I did, I bought on the learn clock, and I bought the best Bible that I could. Now, I want to tell you this. In those days, there was no such thing as a forty-hour week. or even a forty-eight hour week. I started work at five, at six o'clock in the morning, and I had to get up out of bed, but I wanted to study my Bible around half past four. I had half an hour to walk to work, and I started work at six o'clock in the morning. And by the way, in case you get ideas, I want to tell you I started work when I was thirteen years of age.
I'm not ashamed of that. Don't misunderstand me here. I'm not bragging about it, but I'm not ashamed of it. I had to do that through certain circumstances. And when I was quite young, I started work at six o'clock in the morning, and I got my alarm clock, and I said it at half past four, and I tumbled out of bed, and before I went to my work, I had about half an hour with my Bible. Somebody says, do you do that today? I'm awfully sorry, I don't. I don't. I'm not throwing this at anybody at all, but I would like to throw it up myself. Have you lost your first love? Do you do today what you did, don't you do today what you did in those early days? I must confess, I don't.
Another thing, somebody might say, where did you get your early training and preaching? Preaching at a street corner. Every week. Two nights in the week I used to stand with four other young men and preach the gospel on the street corner in the open air. Now we don't do that kind of thing today. I was very shy in those days and diffident and sensitive. But twice a week we used to stand at the street corner and enjoy ourselves shouting as hard as we could and preaching the gospel. And you know, it was the most foolish, ridiculous thing that ever you saw. There was one Wednesday night. I remember it was raining. We had a little prayer meeting. And before we went out to preach, we had the little prayer meeting.
And when we put our face outside the door, it was raining. And we wondered whether we should go out or not. But the people were walking up and down the street. So each of us we got a flicker. And we went out into the street corner, and we spent an hour in the rain preaching on the street corner of the Gospel of God's Prayer. Now we had an audience of one man, and he looked as if he was drunk. And he had a bank up against the place that we used to call a pub. We call it in this country a tavern or a saloon. He looked as if he was drunk. And it is back up against the wall, and it is kept cool down over his eyes. And the four of us, four young sailors, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves having a good preach at that time.
And we had an audience of one person. At least the most foolish, ridiculous thing that ever you saw. But at least we enjoyed ourselves. And I suppose we got some practice on training and the preaching of the gospel. Now after it was over, we went home. On twenty-one years later, I was back again in that city and walking along the street, a man stopped me. He said, Is your name so-and-so? I said, Yes. He said, Do you remember twenty-one years ago? He said, Preaching at a street corner in a certain place. Or I said, I do. We used to preach there twice a week. He said, do you remember one night at this meeting and there was only one man for an audience? And he looked as if he was drunk. I said, I remember that night very well. That brings a goose from threatening my back when I think about it.
Well, I said, friend, I want to tell you, he says that I was that man. And he said, God saved me that night and I am in a certain assembly that I know very well in that city where I was born and brought up. It wasn't foolish at all. It wasn't ridiculous. I tell you what it was. It was first love. It was first love. I know I'd like to take this and express it to my own bosom here tonight. I have a density that thou hast blessed thy first love. I don't get up today at half-past four in the morning. I don't set the alarm clock to study God's words, and I feel sorry that I don't. But as life has gone on, is it one thing that has impressed me more than anything else? Beloved friend, it's love to Christ. and love to God, dear people.
This is the important thing. You can be as orthodox, as you like. You can have all the great doctrines of Holy Scripture all lined out in your mind, and be as orthodox as any ecclesiastic could be. But at the same time, if love is missing, the hearts and the core and basis and foundation of Christianity has gone out of it, Christ said, I have against thee, because thou hast led thy first love. And then he said, Repent. Get back to the first word. And if you do, then you have access to the tree of life. And there we can find substance and help for our daily life. Our time is more than gone. And I don't want to abuse my privilege tonight, but just in closing. Oh, let's test ourselves, each one of us here tonight.
Do we have that love, that first love, in our heart? Does it brightly burn? Well, if it doesn't, may God help us tonight to get back again to the early days. When love was bright and warm, and when we really did love the Lord and love his dear people. This is the foundation of all practical Christianity today. And does the Lord help us to get there and to stay there until he shall come for his next day? And a little word of prayer. Our God and Father, we draw an eye to thee now in the name of the Lord Jesus, and we thank thee for thy word. We do thank thee once again for these practical, simple things in connection with thy peace. And our Father, we have to confess before thee and how very much we fail.
But we do pray that thou wilt help us in all simplicity and sincerity to seek to carry out thy will, and to get back again to these real basic things that were so prominent in our early Christian life. And we pray that up until the time that Jesus shall come, we pray, our Father, that unto be loyal and faithful and true to thee, and to thy precious word. We ask that in the name of the Lord Jesus.