Gooding, David: 3 - Christ's Appraisal of His Churches

Let us now begin to read in the book of the Revelation in chapter twenty, uh, chapter two. Chapter two. The book of the Revelation, chapter two, Beginning there in verse one. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, these things says he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, he that walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. I know thy works. Verse eight of chapter 2. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, these things saith the first and the last, which was dead and lived again. I know thy tribulation and thy poverty. Verse twelve of that same chapter. And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, these things saith he that hath the sharp two-edged sword. I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne is. And thou holdest fast my name and didst not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you where Satan dwelleth. And then verse eighteen of this chapter two. To the angel of the church in Thyatira write, these things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like unto burnished brass. I know thy works, and thy love, and thy faith, and ministry, and patience, and that thy last works are more than the first. Chapter three and verse one. To the angel of the church in Sardis write, these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead. Verse seven of chapter three. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee a door opened which none can shut, that thou hast a little power and didst keep my word and didst not deny my name. And finally, for the moment, in verse fourteen: And To the angel of the church in Laodicea write, these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or hot, so because thou art lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth. So some 2,000 years ago did our blessed risen Lord, in all the majesty of his glories, purity, and power, speak to his seven churches in Asia Minor. And tonight we come to listen to the messages that were dictated by him through John, assured as we listen to those messages to those churches, that we are meant to listen in and apply those lessons to ourselves, or towards the end of each letter, the command is given, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So seven churches, no less, are those to whom our Lord wrote his letters, and which we must in some sense comprehend this evening. It is obvious, isn't it not, that I shall not be able to cover anywhere near the whole detail of each of these seven letters. We are constrained by the necessity of the timetable. Therefore, what it I have decided to do is rather to deal with some of the basic principles that are common to all these seven churches, to deal with some of the terms, the basic terms that need to be interpreted, and then to dwell on some of the differences between the churches and some of their similarities, and in all to seek to learn practical lessons that we may apply from ourselves to ourselves, both from the virtues that these churches showed and from their faults. So first of all, we shall notice that all these churches to whom our Lord spoke were in many respects exactly the same. We may begin with the symbols that are used by our blessed Lord Jesus to describe these churches. We are given them at the end of chapter one in verses twenty, uh, in verse twenty. First, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are seven churches. Two symbols, therefore, used in connection with these seven churches, one that of lampstands and the other of stars. Let's take the lampstands first. We are told that these seven lampstands represented seven churches, and I suppose that is the easier one of the two to comprehend. They were not, of course, seven-branched candlesticks, lampstands, as stood in the holy place in the ancient tabernacle and temple. These were single-stemmed lampstands with one lamp upon the top, or perhaps with a number of different spouts around the circle of the top of it, in which spout each lay a wick, which was soaked with olive oil, and therefore each wick gave its light. But they were one basic lamp on one basic lampstand, each one of them. And therefore we think of them as light holders. Not so much standing in the holy place, shining before the Lord God Almighty, but there on the Isle of Patmos he saw them standing in the open, lampstands bearing their witness and their light and their testimony to the risen Lord. What more magnificent task and privilege could be given to any church on earth? The task of standing there, aflame with light, witnessing in a dark world to the blessed glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. They who are given to symbolism and type will want to suggest that the oil with which those wicks, wicks were filled and by which they emitted their light was the light of the Holy Spirit. Whether you like typology or not is ne- nevertheless beside the point. For, of course, John chapter sixteen it is that records the words law, uh, the Lord's words to us, that unless he went away, the Holy Spirit would not come. But when the Lord had gone away, the Holy Spirit would come, and he would be the responsible one to witness of the Lord. He shall witness of me, said the Lord Jesus, and then added by his grace, and you also shall witness, empowered by that same Holy Spirit then to witness to our glorious resurrected Lord. Remarkable, perhaps, is the fact that they are all described as golden lampstands. Perhaps that didn't surprise you. You think that in your assembly that would be a suitable metal to describe you, I suppose, and your performance. Well, well, well, yes, yes, let's keep up your hopes. Our Lord so describes them. That's a bit more remarkable, isn't it? Mercifully, at this moment, John didn't realize, uh, what they were or which churches they were, as he might have been inclined to alter the metal. But, uh, no, no, all seven of them were golden lampstands. Isn't our Lord positively generous? Because when we get round to reading the letters, oh dear, oh dear. Some of them were commended for their witness, but some had to face the most serious and grave criticisms of our Lord. Some of them, you might have supposed, were decidedly off the gold standard. But as the blessed Lord pictures them, his ideal, all of them and each one of them equally golden lampstands. And as we read these letters, we shall find courage to think that we too hold that same glorious privileged task from the risen Lord to be his lampstands, chosen of him, that we should go forth and bear fruit and witness to his name, and he sees us as his ideal witnesses, golden lampstands each assembly. The other symbol is a little bit more difficult to understand, isn't it? And gracious and learned and devoted servants of God understand it somewhat differently. Seven lampstands are, uh, seven churches represented by seven lampstands. But then John saw in the right hand of our Lord seven stars, and he is told that the stars represent the angels of the churches. Now here is a little problem. Bear with me while I'll outline it, and you'll at once see the answer, I'm sure. It's a bit difficult. You'll see, put before your mind two categories of things. That's easy enough, isn't it? On the one side, there are symbols, and on the other side is the reality. Have you got those two? Like two boxes, you see? One is symbol, and the other is reality. Let's take the churches themselves. The symbol is the lampstand. That's the symbol. The reality is a church. So the symbol is not to be taken literally, but the church is, isn't it? The lampstand is a symbol. The reality is the church. Now do it with the next symbol. Next symbol are stars. That's the symbol. And now we've got to fill in the box that says reality, you'll see. What is the reality represented by the stars? Our Lord says it. He says these stars represent the angels of the churches. But there's the beginning of our problem. In what sense angels? You've got an angel in your church here at Carrie Duff, or yours, ma'am, wherever you come from. What are angels of the churches? So a little lesson in Greek. The word for angel in Greek is mercifully like the English angelos, and basically it has two meanings. It can, in ordinary day language, mean a messenger. So we read in the Gospels of the messengers who came from John the Baptist to the Lord Jesus, conveying a message from John to Jesus. Messengers. The other meaning, of course, is angels, heavenly spirit beings who serve the Lord in various capacities. Spirit beings. Which of those two possible meanings shall we assign here to the stars? If the stars are the angels of the churches, in what sense shall we understand angels? You say you could start, sir, by t- t- taking them literally as angels, you know, the ordinary Greek word, messengers. Well, let's have a go at it. They were messengers. What messengers? Oh, say some, that's easy. For John, uh, the apostle, as he was on Patmos having this vini- vision, was surely not just alone by himself. Around him perhaps could have been messengers that had been sent from these seven churches in Asia Minor, perhaps to bring him sustenance or food or clothing, or to support him in the privations he suffered, uh, as his wit- in in his witness for Christ. And that therefore, these were the messengers of the churches that now were to receive the letters from the Lord through John, and as messengers take them back to their different churches. Sounds simple answer, that doesn't it? What do you, do do you vote for that one? But wait a minute, there's a snag, isn't there? Because as we read these letters, our Lord addresses himself each time to the angel of the church and says, or to the messenger of the church, and says, now look you here, messenger, I'm holding you personally responsible. You have in your church that woman Jezebel, for instance, and you are guilty of having allowed her to perpetrate and teach these false doctrines to my people. If you don't repent, she'll come and war against you. That's stern language, that isn't addressed to the angel of the church of Thyatira. Would our Lord so speak to men who were simply messengers conveying a letter to the churches? How could he hold these mere messengers responsible for the health and the practice of the church? And that's why most people have given up the idea that they were literal messengers convey- who conveyed these letters from Patmos to their churches. Well, shall we try the other meaning of the term angels, literal angels, you'll see. Uh, how could that be, you ask? Well, some people have the notion that every single person has a guardian angel, and if individuals have guardian angels, which is a very doubtful concept anyway, but if they do, why not have churches? Why don't churches have a guardian? Israel had a special angel that used to fight their battles. His name was Michael. So should we think that angels there are, each one, uh, has a different church to control and guard? There could be just a little, I suppose, truth in it, couldn't there? Because the Epistle to the Hebrews says that the angels are sent forth to minister to those that shall be heirs of salvation. And thank God we do too for their ministry. Who knows, my brother, when you were crossing the street today, but what some angel kept you, whereas you might have put your, uh, head under a, a lorry or something. Even when our Lord was in the Garden of Gethsemane, it says, after his prayers and agony, there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him. But then not to join in the spiritual battle, to strengthen him physically, surely, perhaps emotionally, but not spiritually. For angels are not represented in scripture as expounding scripture to us or teaching us, are they? Nor is it anywhere made plain when the apostles write their letters to the churches, inspired by the Holy Spirit though they are, they don't write to the saints who are in Philippi with the bishops, deacons, and angels, do they? No. No, of course not. There is the added difficulty. If these letters were to be sent to literal angels, where would you post them? No, surely they can't be literal angels, can they? So some have said, well, could they be angel in another sense? For instance, in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter twelve, when Peter had been let out of prison, he came knocking on the door of the house, do you see, where the believers were gathered for prayer. And Rhoda was so startled to hear Peter outside that she forgot to open the door and went back and told the dear believers it was Peter. They said that couldn't be. They thought he'd been executed long since or was still in prison. They said it must be his angel. By which they would have meant his disembodied spirit. But that can't be what the Lord means here, can it? Some disembodied spirit of some apostle or something to receive this letter from the church. Of course not. Let's dismiss that then. Well, what? Well, some have imagined or said, hold seriously, and maybe they are true, that the angel of the church is meant to be the inner attitude, spirit of the church. So that you could say a church has a certain attitude. You can sense it when you go in the church and when you get to know them. There's a personality about the church. They say this is what is meant by the term angel of the church. And why are they then represented as stars? Well, some suggest because in that spiritual sense, the believers are already seated in the heavenlies with Christ in glory, and this is how they appear before the throne of God, so to speak, who looks not merely at their external, uh, features, but looks at their inner spirit, their personality, what they are as realities in the spiritual realm, and have weight and are known in the presence of God. And maybe that is true. But then you would mean that these two symbols are two aspects of the same thing. The lamp stands the church in its, um, witness to the world, what is external, the angel, the inner personality of the church known to God. I personally find a little difficulty with that thing as well. And therefore, let me give you my humble opinion, for what it's worth. I speak as to wise men and women, you judge what I say. Perhaps we're right to take the word as we began, angelos, meaning messenger. Not the messengers who may have acted postmen to take the letters from John to the various churches, but they in the churches who were the messengers of God, carrying the message of God and of the risen Lord to the people. In other words, the teachers and the elders. Now, before you say, no, that's impossible, sir, just a minute. Epistle to Jude happens to talk in one place about the false teachers that have crept in into the church, teaching false and perverse doctrines and deceiving the people and leading them into immorality and vice. And Jude, in his vigorous metaphors, describes him, amongst other things, as stars, as wandering stars. You'll see. He's using a very good metaphor, isn't he? Because the book of Genesis tells us that when God made the physical stars in the universe, he gave them to mankind for signs and seasons. Stars have been used by mariners galore all down the centuries, as well as by farmers. The mariners have sailed their ships by the guidance of the stars, right from the very early ages. And the farmers use the stars and their different settings and risings to determine the time of, uh, plowing, of seed time, and then eventually of harvest. So that the idea of stars being guides for us is both biblical and is used in the epistle to, uh, of Jude of the teachers in the church, who are false teachers, wandering stars, what we nowadays would call planets. You'll see, you can't guide yourself, man, if you're a seafarer by the planets because they seem to drizzle all over the sky, you'll see. We nowadays know why, but they were unreliable as guides. Jude calls false teachers in the church wandering stars. If people follow them in their guidance, they will be led to disaster. We'll say, yes, but, uh, once a minute there's a snag with your viewpoint, Mr. Preacher, you'll see, and that is that the stars are said to be the angel of the ch- angels of the churches, and each church is addressed in this term and to the angel, singular. Well, there have been those that have said that the angel is the diocesan bishop. I don't think there were such things in John's day, so that seems to be ruled out. Is it any grave difficulty that it's singular? I wouldn't have thought so. The lampstand, if you think about it for a moment, represents a church. In other words, it represents a plurality of people, doesn't it? Each church being made up of many. And I don't see why a star shouldn't be a plurality as well and represent the body of the elders and teachers of the church. For the fact remains, my brothers, you who are elders and teachers, whether my interpretation be right or not, you will be held, won't you, by the risen Lord, accountable to him for the state of the assembly in which you are an elder. That is why should we should respect our elders. What an awesome task that is. They look after your souls, says the epistle to the Hebrews, as those that must give account. We lesser lights ought to pray for our elders, don't we? And we who are teachers ought to hear the word of James coming with all its power. My brothers, don't be many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. To have told others what to do, and then not to do it. To set standards for other people, and not to live them out oneself. That is a serious defect, isn't it? So then our Lord each time will write to the le- to the churches and talk to the elders and teachers in those churches. The, uh, churches then were all the same in another sense. They were all churches. Why do I stress that? Well, let me use another term. They were all assemblies, weren't they? You know, some of them were very bad, as we might think it. Christ still calls them assemblies. We should be careful in our modern day, lest we confuse ourselves with the different terms that are used in English to translate the same Greek word. Greek word is ekklesia. In some Bibles, it's translated church. In other Bibles, assemblies. In other Bibles, like Tyndale's, congregations. But all these different translations represent the same Greek word. So you may call all these seven churches churches, but equally rightly, you would call all of them assemblies. There is a little danger sometimes, perhaps I exaggerate it, that sometimes we tend to use the word church when we're describing groups of believers that we don't approve of. But those we do approve of, we call assemblies. But that is to deceive ourselves with the use of terms, isn't it? They are all churches, all assemblies. You say, but wait a moment, are you saying that people like that woman, Jezebel in Thyatira, was in an assembly? Well, according to our Lord's term, she was. You say, are you saying that you should countenance such a thing inside an assembly? No, our Lord didn't. He told the elders to deal with it, calling on them to repent. And if assemblies did not repent when our Lord Jesus told them, and supposing the faults were serious, then he had his own way of disciplining them. And sometimes his discipline would be severe. To Ephesus, he warned them that if they continued unrepentant, he would remove their candlestick out of its place. And at the last church, the last assembly, he said, if you don't repent, I will spew you out of my mouth. All assemblies then. And then they were all the same in a much more happy thing. They all stood in direct relationship to the Lord Jesus. You noticed, didn't you, in the letter we, letters we read, how that our Lord addressed himself to each one of those churches directly. He stood in a direct personal relationship to the Lord Jesus. Of course, the messages came dictated by the Apostle John, but as many have noticed, no church was told to interfere in the affairs of another church. That wasn't their business. Each was addressed directly to the Lord Jesus, and each was to make their response directly to the Lord Jesus. Oh, that is a vastly important principle, isn't it? It's a wonderful thing. As each church gathers, the blessed Lord who walked amidst those candlesticks of olden time walked amidst his churches. The blessed Lord draws near and speaks to each individual church, and more than speaks. Did you notice that whatever their troubles, whatever their virtues, whatever their faults, whatever their struggles, the Lord, when he first addresses them, presents them with something of himself. These things, saith he that holds the golden stars, this, these things saith they are men, the beginning of the creation of God, and so forth. As he comes to each church, he's something special to say about himself as he presents himself to each individual church. Oh, what a glorious thing that is. For this isn't symbol, my brothers, my sisters. This is reality. Do we not believe that when we are gathered together in his name, there the Lord Jesus is in the midst and comes to us? I like the word that he spoke to his apostles before he left in the gospel by John. I will not leave you orphans, I come to you. Yes, one day he will come again in great glory, but multitudes of times in between, the risen Lord comes to us, comes to us as churches and causes us to hear his voice, comes to us to present something glorious about himself, which, if we grasp it, will meet the need of our present moment. Comes to us individually in our personal difficulties, trials, doubts, and fears and perplexities, knowing our works and ministers to us. They were all the same in this too, is it not in the form of the letter? As he comes, he says, I know your works. I commend you for what I can commend. And oh, how generous his commendations are. Then as equally faithfully, he criticizes what he must criticize, and then he calls upon them to repent and holds out the wonderful fruits of victory for those that should overcome. That being so, I want now first to talk about what it means to overcome. For in all these churches, except save one, there are difficulties and faults, some of them glaring, and each church is called upon, and each individual in each church is called upon to overcome. What does it mean then to overcome? We shall need to get that quite straight in our mind, else our expositions could go a little bit astray. So first of all, let us look to the word overcome in its absolute sense. And for that purpose, I read Revelation twenty one and verse 7. He that overcometh shall inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. So that the word overcome in the book of the Revelation is here in this chapter twenty one verse seven used in the absolute sense. You say, what do you mean by the absolute sense? Well, notice here there are only two categories. He that overcometh shall inherit all these things, that is God's glorious heaven. But for the fearful, that's the only other category, the fearful and abominable and murderers and fornicators and sor- sorcerers and suchlike, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is a second death. You are either a overcomer and inherit the glories of heaven, or you fail to overcome, and the eternal result is perdition. You say, does, uh, scripture anywhere else indicate that overcoming has this absolute sense? Yes. First epistle by John and chapter five. First epistle by John, chapter five. And let's read here, first of all, verse five. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, therefore, is by that means an overcomer. And look at the previous verses three and four. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world. John is saying, by definition, what is uh uh uh born of God, what is begotten of God, by definition, overcomes the world. And therefore, if we have been born of God and we have the very life of God within us, by definition, that is a life that overcomes the world. John is talking in the absolute sense. Believers in the Lord Jesus are overcomers. What has been begotten of God overcomes the world. Overcoming in the absolute sense, therefore. Does that mean that all believers are always equally successful and never get defeated by any temptation or difficulty. Of course, it doesn't, does it? Even the Apostle John would remind us, if we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves. If we say we've not no sin, that is foolish. In all things we offend. The mark of a believer is that if we sin, then we confess our sin. Someone who can go on throughout life sinning and not caring about it is not a believer, is he, or she? Yes, it is true we can fall very gravely. Did not Peter in the high priest's court, was he not defeated for the while by his lack of courage? And denied the Lord Jesus three times. And God has had it recorded for our encouragement. Even the Apostle Peter fell and failed. The good thing is, isn't it, that the Lord Jesus prayed for him, and eventually through his intercessions and ministry, Peter was brought back. Yes, it is the mark of a believer that when we fail and fall, we are true believers. On our side, we shall repent eventually. On our Lord's side, he, by his intercessions and ministry, will bring us back. As a believer, professed believer, who falls, fails, sins, and carries on carelessly. What do we say? They raise a doubt, don't they, whether they are believers, whether they are overcomers. But I say again, as we think of those solemn things, how blessed is our Lord Jesus, as he comes with his eyes like flames of fire to investigate our hearts and our inner motives. He searches not merely our actions, he says, I'd like the churches all to know, I am he that searches the kidneys, the reins, the innermost motives. And sometimes how contradictious our motives are from what we actually do, and from what we do, how contradictious to the inner motives. Our blessed Lord knows the outer works, and he knows the inner motives and assesses them. And assessing them says, I know that with every one church he offers himself as the cure of their troubles. There is enough in him, enough to meet our need. Oh, why should ransoms hearts be not glad there is enough in Christ to meet the need? We do re- need to repent and listen to him and learn from him what the issues at stake are. For on the side of the overcomer, every letter tells us and spells out some glorious fruits of overcoming, some glorious fruits of being a true believer and learning to live as such. If they be some of the basic terminology, let's come now in our final moments. They're not going to be quite so few final moments tonight, as sometimes they are, but let's come and look at what was wrong with the churches. Do see now on page two? I have listed for you, as you may see if you care to look, I have listed the two groups of facts. At the top of the page, there is Old Testament allusions, and then the second half of the page, features of the seven churches. And when we look more closely at those seven churches, we shall find an interesting thing. Take, for instance, Ephesus. They are blamed, they're commended for their hate, blamed for letting go their first love. You'll see. They hated, but they didn't love. Now look at the third church. This is the church, uh, that, uh, is com- at the fourth church, sorry, the fourth church commended for their love. In the better manuscripts of the New Testament, this is the only church commended for its love. The trouble with them, they didn't hate. You say they were unbalanced then. Yeah, they were. Very unbalanced. And what about the last church? Well, they are blamed for being neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. So the first church is unbalanced. It's gone to one extreme. It hates, but it doesn't love. Has become grotesquely unbalanced. The fourth church is the other extreme. It loves, it's commended for its loves, but it doesn't hate what it should hate and allows that false Jezebel to teach doctrines that are, uh, blasphemous to the name of the Lord Jesus. So Ephesus at one extreme, Thyatira to the other extreme. And Laodicea? What's its trouble? Its ex-trouble is it isn't at any extreme. I know you, says the Lord, you're neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one of the two, says Christ. But you're not one extreme or the other, are you? You're nicely in the middle, and it's so enauseating I could spew you out of my mouth. Yes, let's think about those things for a moment, shall we? Let's take Ephesus and Thyatira, churches whose troubles were that they had gone to extremes on the one side or the other. That very often afflicts us, don't you think? We're like pendulums on a clock. Now we go to avoid one error and go to one extreme that side, and presently the old pendulum swings back and trying to avoid another error, we go to the extreme, the other side. Difficult, is it not, in individual life, difficult in church life, to keep an even balance and not go to one extreme or the other. But it's important. Ephesus were at an extreme. You hate the things I hate, says Christ. There was nothing wrong in their hate. We mustn't put up with sentimental so-called Christianity that would say we should hate nothing. You hate the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate, says Christ. Ten out of ten for that to the Ephesians. They hated what Christ hated. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, says God of his Messiah. And if our Lord hates, uh, iniquity, so are we to hate it. We are to hate all doctrines that would disparage and besmirch the blessed reputation and character of our Lord. But they had so got on this style of hating that all unintentionally, maybe they had left, they'd let go, so to speak, their first love. However they come to do it. Well, I could understand them if I might be their advocate for a moment. They would have remembered how Paul called them down to meet him when he was passing by the seaside, thinking to see them for the last time, and commended them to God and to his grace and to his word, and implored the elders of that church to guard the church of God, to guard it from wolves from the outside, predators, false teachers that would come in to destroy the flock, charged them to guard the flock from men from the inside who would seek to draw away the disciples after them. Perhaps they're the more dangerous of the two lots, you see. You can recognize wolves from the outside, perhaps, but the men inside that have their pet doctrines and their pet schemes and will push them and push them and push them until they split a church. Their motives very often are questionable. They are drawing away the disciples after them. They can do great damage in a church. And Paul had pleaded with the elders to protect the church from those two groups. And when la- later he wrote to Timothy, he pleaded with Timothy to fulfill his charge and guard the churches from all the kind of evil teaching that there was around, and evil practice at the time. They doubtless were men that had taken it to the heart. They began, they loved the Lord, they loved his people. They therefore sought to, to, to discern those who said they were, uh, uh, uh, true apostles and were not, and were spreading false teaching. And they examined them and found them liars and dealt with them accordingly. But little by little. So concerned to judge what was wrong, to detect false teaching, and hating what the Lord hated. Perhaps even as they went about that arduous task, always looking for something wrong, always criticizing, always hating. But all unintentionally, maybe, they let go at first. And the first love in a believer's life, in the life of a church, well, is of course the love of g- that responds to the message of God in the gospel, isn't it? How that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. While we were enemies, he died for us. While we were ungodful, godly, while we were weak, God commended his love towards us, for God so loved the world. All my brothers, my sisters, seeing we are all sinners and all do constantly come short. Oh, how we should never forget that first wonderful joy, the first love of the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It isn't a joy that's first because you have it when you first get converted, and then that's should suffice you and you lose it. We should live every day of the week, the joy of our first love, shouldn't we? What stands first? Our love to Christ. Every single day we bow in the presence of God, and at the end of every day we come into the presence of God. What is your plea to the Lord? Lord, I have done very well today. Bless me, please. No, of course not. Every single day we live and we kneel our, our knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have to say, Lord, I've not done what I should have done, and what I have done, thanks for the help, but I didn't do it a hundred percent. We are unprofitable servants still, and oh, blessed Lord, thank you, you love me in spite of it. Isn't that true? He loves us in spite of it. All the wonder of it. So then we must preserve a balance, mustn't we? To hate what the Lord hates, but not let it so chill our hearts that we let go that first love that is the response to the grace of God. To him that overcomes, says our Lord, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. But if you don't repent, I will remove your lampstand out of its place. The very allusions remind us of Genesis, don't they? In the Garden of Eden, there were two trees. There was the tree of life, and there was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the Garden of Eden in Greek is paradise, of course. Yes. Isn't it funny how Adam and Eve got fascinated? Which tree would you have gone for? I think the one that would have tempted me most would be the tree of life. I would have gorged myself on that till I couldn't eat any more, I think. Yes. I got fascinated with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of course, since then, we have to face good and evil and need to be discerning of it. Of course we do. We must be aware we can't live in innocence. We must be aware of evil and discern it and avoid it and protect God's people from it. But there is a danger, isn't there, that we so concentrate on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that we forget to feed constantly, daily, ever freshly on the tree of life. Become cold and hard and censorious and narrow. All the Lord help us. To him that overcometh, I'll give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. You say, do I have to wait till I get home to heaven before I start eating? No, you can eat right now, do you know? Because our Lord is not merely the source of life, is he? He gives us life when we come to him, but he is the means of life. He's the tree of life who keeps us alive. You say, but do I still have to go on constantly eating? I don't, do I? I mean, I came to Christ when I was thirty four and a half, and I trusted him, and I ate the living bread, and I'm going to live forever. Oh, yes, you will. Are you saying that you don't have to keep on eating? That can't be right, can it? You can't say to the blessed Lord Jesus, Lord, you know, when I got converted, I came to you and I fed upon the living bread, and you gave me eternal life. Thank you very much, Lord. I got eternal life, and I, I shan't need to come to you anymore now. Meet you in heaven when I get there. What? And when you get home to heaven, my brother and sister, what do you think you do? You say, I shan't need a tree of life then, I shall be in heaven, you see. You won't. Then you say, one bite is enough, and I'm in heaven, I shan't need the Lord. Won't need the Lord anymore. Of course you will. This is life to know him, constantly to feed on him. And oh, what an abundant fruit there is of that tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Already here we have eternal life and may feed ourselves on him. God give us the wisdom so constantly to do, lest we become unbalanced. Sahithara, hmm, the other extreme. You'll notice they had, um, terrible heresies and profanities in that church. You'll see. They were teaching some to s- uh, eat things offered to idols and to commit fornication. Yet, what may surprise us is that the Lord Jesus has seen their heart of love. Yes? I know your works and your love. You know, some persona- personalities differ, don't they? And some personalities are tending to go to one extreme and some to the other. And some personalities that like to be really just and mathematical and exact, uh, emphasize doctrine and so on, they come, become, uh, you know, hard. And you wouldn't think they had much affection left. Hm. Can happen to academics, eh, do they? The other extreme, people with loving, warm hearts. Oh, yeah, well, they don't care too much about doctrine. They love the Lord, they love everybody. They come near to loving the devil himself. But, you know, they're they're so full of love. Then the d- danger is they don't hold fast to the truth, and they compromise with things that are hurting the very heart of Christ. That can't be right, can it? By this we know that we love God when we love him and keep his commandments. So they loved in Thyatira, but so uncontrolled was their love and so undiscerning, that they allowed this woman, Jezebel, to teach these gross, terrible doctrines in their midst, that our Lord had solemnly to rebuke the elders of the church for allowing it. What were those difficulties? Well, the scholars seem to agree on this, that in their particular town, their city, Thyatira, there were many trade guilds. For in those days, if you wanted to be a, a carpet maker, you, you normally belonged to the guild of the carpet makers. And if you were a, a, you say a silversmith, you belonged to the guild of the silversmiths. They all had their trade guilds. And it was indeed difficult sometimes if you wanted to prosecute a trade, if you didn't belong to the guild, that could be very difficult. But now, if you belong to the guild, you were expected to go along to the dinners held by the guild, you see. And these people, before they got converted, were happy to go. I mean, that's part of business, isn't it, gentlemen? I mean, you have to mix socially with the right people if you want business. Of course you are. And you can't say I'm only going to mix with believers, else you had to go out of this world, says Paul. Yes, but wait a moment. In these guilds, they would have a supper. And there, of course, at the beginning and throughout, there would be a sacrifice made to the patron god of the guild. It was a religious thing, as well as a commercial. And in addition, there would be women there, but they wouldn't be the wives of the businessmen. It would end in debauchery. Should a believer go? Well, I don't go, has my business gone down the drain? Train. Can you take part in religious service that offer sacrifices to, to false gods? That is number one prohibition of the Lord, isn't it? Thou shall have no other gods but me. How far we'll be prepared to go, to stand loyal to Christ in our business affairs. I needn't tell you businessmen that in the West, for many centuries now, there have been secret societies. They're there, so they say, for good works and charitable causes. But in those secret societies, in their ceremonies behind closed doors, they engage in all sorts of rituals that are downright idolatrous and utterly blasphemous against Christ, for they mix the name of Christ with the sun god and Osiris and bull and Baal and all the rest of them. And it's supposed to be Christian, but it mixes the lovely name of Christ with all sorts of pagan religion. You mustn't do it, says Christ. And no excuse, oh, but this is the loving thing to do, and you mustn't be critical. That cannot save us, if we do that, from our Lord's grave criticism. You must repent. One day, says Christ to the overcomer, I shall give you authority over the nations, and you shall rule them with a rod of iron, and like a potter's vessel, they will be dashed to pieces. You say, that's tough language, isn't it? Oh yes. But that was just what's wrong with that church. They were so loved that they'd gone soft. They needed some steel to be put in their character, didn't they? Some iron in their backbones, they could stand, cost what it may, in the daily affairs of life and business for the Lord. Then, if uh, Ephesus was at one extreme and Thyatira was at the other, Laodicea, what was its trouble? Its trouble was it wasn't at any extreme. I know your works, you're neither hot nor cold, says our Lord. You see, we shouldn't be extreme in anything, except one thing. When it comes to zeal for Christ, then nothing but extreme will satisfy you. Ha, would you work cold? That extreme. Or hot? I cannot stand, says Christ, people that try to take a middle position. Well, I'm not all that keen about the church. I'm not keen about the gospel. I'm mad not keen on it. I'm not against it. Uh. Says Christ, I wish you were cold, ice cold. Not pretending to be a believer with a heart as cold as ice or only tepid, lukewarm stuff. Prefer you to be ice cold. That would be honest, wouldn't it? Or else. Burning boiling. But this in the middle, neither hot nor cold. I cannot stand it, says Christ. For the mark of a believer is what? If you don't repent, says Christ, I will spew you out of my mouth. I shall not now comment on the other churches. I have put them there on the paper for you to prompt you to some study in these lines yourself. You will notice, won't you, how Smyrna is the opposite of Philadelphia. Smyrna about to be put in prison and suffer persecution and hear the prison door clang shut behind them, and to have tribulation ten days. Whereas Philadelphia, the other story completely. I set before you an open door, an open door of missionary potential, encouraged to go through it and exploit it to the full. They wouldn't have tribulation. They are precisely promised that they will be kept out of the hour of temptation that is to come upon all people. So you may care to study them. Just one final note about, uh, the, uh, top group on page two. Sometimes teachers suggest that when you look at the seven churches, you can interpret them dispensationally. If you think of the line of history starting at Pentecost, and you come right down to the time when the Lord Jesus comes again, they say, well, those seven churches will be, so to speak, a foreshadowing of all the different spiritual stages in the life of Christendom from Pentecost until the Lord come. Some hold that view and say, well, you can't take it quite like that, because you'll see not all churches nowadays are Laodicean. You take the believers that have been persecuted for their faith, they're surely not Laodiceans. And will not there be some still right to the end who will be persecuted for their faith? So they say, ah yes, yes, but it's the last four that have the phrase, carry on until I come. So there's the first three, and then there's the four at the end, all simultaneously going on all four conditions until the Lord come. And many find that, uh, way of looking at things helpful. I think I would have one or two questions. I would want to say, as I've said, what about, um, the church at Smyrna? That was only the second. It had to endure persecution. Are there not many believers enduring grievous persecution still, and will do to the end? So yes, it's a very helpful and fruitful idea, but we must look at it with caution. One thing I can po- point out that is true, I'm just going to point it out and leave you to carry the implications. The Old Testament allusions. I've grouped them at the beginning of page two. And you'll notice that in Ephesus the allusion is, I will give you to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. Paradise is Greek for Garden of Eden. And here is a reference, an allusion to Eden's garden. When Adam and Eve fell, they were removed out of the garden. If you don't repent, says our Lord, I'll move your candlestick out of its place. I am not prepared to maintain a church forever that is such a caricature that has lost its love and is simply embodied hate. Smyrna, you will see then, is a reference to what our Lord pro- prophesied to Abraham when he prophesied that his kin would go through the afflictions of Egypt and be afflicted so many years for a precise time and then come out. And number three, Pergamum. We read of the teaching of Balaam that comes in the days of the wilderness, in Thyatira, Jezebel, who came in the days of the kings, and so forth to the end. I needn't trouble you now. As we close, I just mentioned these things to you that you might like to care to investigate them in scripture. The fact is that these allusions follow the Old Testament from Genesis right to the time of the exile, when the land spewed Israel out. So the last church comes to the point when the risen Lord will spew Laodicea out of his mouth. But that isn't the end of the story, is it? Because after the exile, Israel returned, and all those glorious promises given through the prophets that one day they would be restored began to be fulfilled. And the rest of the book of the Revelation is the story how God will yet fulfill those promises of restoration till all shall be restored, and there shall dawn the new Jerusalem, the dwelling place of God. And now shall we pray? Now, Lord, we thank thee for thy word. We thank thee for its immense wealth. We thank thee for the clear evidence of thy great understanding. There is not a detail that misses thy holy eye, but with it we bless thee for thy sympathy and thy encouragement. And Lord, as we have listened to thee this evening, we pray that thou wilt help us absorb what thou hast had to say. Put in us a heart to come back and again many times to this part of thy word, to the end that we might live lives of increasing holiness, giving increasing pleasure to thee. And Lord, help us, we do pray, who have believed thee a son of God, and therefore in that sense have overcome the world, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, that in a practical sense we may more constantly overcome the difficulties and failings of this life and live ever more pleasing to thee until the day dawn when thou shalt come and take us home to thy glory. So part us with thy blessing, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.