And you can see that we have only
seven verses this evening, and yet there's a
lot of wonderful truth in these seven verses.
You remember last week we had a revelation
of the Lord and saw the magnificence of
the Master, our Lord in the midst of
the churches, measuring every motive and searching
every servant and weighing every work.
And that's where we are this evening, with
the Lord standing in the midst of the
churches.
And he's going to send this letter to
the church in Ephesus.
And this is the last letter the Lord
wrote to that church.
These seven letters to the seven churches are
the seven last letters of our Lord.
In fact they're the only unabridged messages we
have.
Every word is here, what he wanted to
say, what he meant to say.
And he's sending this letter to the church
in Ephesus.
I think we should think just for a
moment about the city of Ephesus.
If you don't know, it was the chief
city of Asia at that time.
It was the metropolis of religious thinking.
The great temple of the goddess of Diana
was there.
You remember Paul coming to Ephesus in the
Acts of the Apostles.
And this great temple was one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world.
I think we should get that into our
minds.
It was a masterpiece.
It was 418 feet long.
It was a masterpiece.
And it was 239 feet wide.
It had 100 exterior columns rising 69
feet into the air.
And 39 of these were the most beautiful
hand-carved columns ever seen.
It was reckoned to be one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world.
And I'm telling you all that not because
it's very important, but that you can contrast
the little church of believers in Ephesus with
this great temple of Diana.
Diana was a goddess that was worshipped by
millions.
The word means the goddess of fertility.
It's an abominable thing.
If you look in Thessaloniki sometime, you will
find a picture of the goddess of Diana.
It's a female with a great number of
breasts.
And I'll say no more.
It's called the goddess of fertility.
And countless thousands went to worship before this
abominable thing.
But in a dark street somewhere, and probably
with no building of their own, there were
the true believers of Christ.
The real born-again bloodbath people.
Remember when we talk about the church in
Ephesus, we're not talking about a building in
Ephesus.
We're talking about God's people gathering together, maybe
in an upper room in a back street.
And I think that we should correct what's
here before us.
In the first phrase it says, unto the
angel of the church of Ephesus write.
And I'm sure that dear old Darby, who
was a great, great scholar, was perfectly right
when he changed it.
Because it should read, unto the angel of
the church in Ephesus.
The church of Ephesus might be a title
for some folks.
But the church in Ephesus would direct you
to the believers who were gathered together in
some little insignificant spot, probably in a back
street.
But although the city was the great metropolis,
and although the temple was one of the
wonders of the world, yet the Lord of
glory had his eye and his heart was
towards these few scattered sheep in the back
street.
He was thinking about them.
But that shows you that you're very important
to the Lord.
And I want to get this bit over
as we begin.
You see, we're going to look at these
seven churches and these living letters, these last
letters of our wonderful Lord to them.
And I want you to think that these
churches were actual, literal, and I should say,
persons and places.
They were the persons born again in Ephesus.
Let's remember this, that the Lord is speaking
to a local church.
Don't let's forget that.
There was not the chaotic state then, but
there is now.
And the believers gathered together, or the Lord
gathered them together on the first day of
the week that they might remember him.
But we want to get the actual, literal
place and people into our minds.
They were there all right.
It was the church in Ephesus.
You see, everything that our Lord does and
did, and forever will do, everything that he
did was wonderful.
His name, of course, is wonderful.
And everything that he said was wonderful.
Never mind speak like this now.
And everything that he did was wonderful.
And everything that he wrote was wonderful.
And this is his letter.
This is a letter from the Lord.
It's his own letter.
He worded it.
He sent it.
And you see, there is something wonderful in
it, because while firstly it is sent to
this actual, literal place, yet there's a dot
in it.
Because when you examine it in its depth,
it is not only actual and literal to
a place and people.
It may well be prophetical and historical.
It may be outlining for us a period
of the whole church history.
And I think it is.
I think that underneath the literal writing to
the actual people who were the Lords in
Ephesus, I think that we're getting a picture
of the first hundred years of church history.
And you'll find that when we get each
church, while they are actual, literal places, they
are periods.
And we'll come down the whole church period.
And when we come to the last one,
which is the Laodicean church, that is the
period that the church is in now.
We're at the very last days.
So there's something wonderful there.
It's not only actual and literal.
It is also prophetical and historical.
And here's something that's in every one of
these seven letters.
Not only actual and literal.
Not only prophetical and historical.
But each one of them ends with a
personal, individual promise.
The Lord speaks to individuals.
In a moment we're going to see that
he's speaking to John and asking John to
write to the angel of the church in
Ephesus.
But the letter was not for this messenger
in the church.
In fact, every time you hear this word
in the heart of the letter, he got
half ears to hear.
Because it was for the whole church.
But every time as we come to the
end of these letters, see verse seven tonight,
he got half an ear.
Let them hear what the Spirit said unto
the churches.
To him, and we're to a person now,
because this is personal.
To him that overcometh will I give to
each of the tree of life, which is
in the midst of the paradise of God.
And we'll have to look at that very
carefully when we come to it.
All I'm underlining now is that there is
a personal and an individual promise to the
person who will overcome it.
And so I want you to keep that
in mind as we go to all the
other letters, if the Lord will.
We must see them as actual literal places.
We must see the depth that's here of
the prophetical and historical period that they represent.
And at the same time we must never
miss the personal and the individual promise that's
there for you and I to make our
own.
And so we're ready for starting now.
We need to take a moment with this
word angel.
Verse one, phrase one.
Unto the angel of the church in Ephesus
writes, It is our Lord that's speaking of
course.
As he's speaking to John on the Isle
of Patmos and saying to him, Unto the
angel.
And I think that everybody here would be
intelligent enough to know that our wonderful Lord
was not directing John to write a letter
to a shining angel in heaven.
That would be nonsensical.
Nonsensically the translators didn't use another word.
It's an old Greek word that's there.
And it can rightly be translated angel.
And it can just as rightly be translated
messenger.
Because the angels of course are messengers.
And you see the Lord had a special
messenger in the church.
This is a very difficult little phrase for
church gatherings to get over.
And they don't want me to say it
you know.
Because there was a pastor in the church
in Ephesus.
He's like a robot now.
And I'll tell you there are seven churches
and I'll tell you there are seven messengers.
Wonder who he was now.
That would be more difficult wouldn't it.
Yet I believe you know I could put
my finger on the person.
Let's turn back to Paul's letter to Timothy.
And we're at 1 Timothy.
And we're at chapter 1 please.
1 Timothy chapter 1.
Paul's the writer here.
You can see that he commences with the
word Paul.
No ecclesiastical nonsense about him.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the
commandment of God our Saviour.
And it's a great thing to know that
the gifts given to the church are commanded
by God our Saviour.
And the Lord Jesus Christ which is our
hope.
On to Timothy.
My own son in the faith.
Paul in legend to Christ.
Great mercy and peace from God our Father
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus.
You know Paul left from there when I
went into Macedonia.
That thou mightest charge some that they teach
no other doctrine.
You know he was left there of the
pastor of the church at Ephesus.
And I think that if you measure back
to when John wrote the letter, the revelation.
And to this place here I have a
feeling that Timothy was the angel of the
church at Ephesus.
I'm sure of that.
You needn't swallow that unless you want to.
But that's what I believe.
And if it wasn't Timothy, I shall also
say to you that it was a person
who was the messenger.
You see it was somebody who was responsible
to receive the message of the Lord for
the church.
And not only responsible to receive the message
of the Lord, but responsible to make it
plain to the church.
And not only to receive it and make
it plain and pass it on, but pass
it on.
You know by now that Dr. Ironside was
a very great help for me.
He sort of took a liking to me
when I was just a young believer.
And he may have seen long before I
did or anybody else that maybe the Lord
had given me a gift.
I don't know.
But he used to come to see me
in the mornings and ask me questions.
And I can tell you in those days
he tied me up in a knot very
often.
And I can remember once he entered into
the room and he said to me, Hello,
do you know the difference between God's truth
and God's message?
And I always found when I was talking
to the doctor that the best thing that
I could do was to be honest.
In fact it's the best thing you can
do when you're talking to anybody.
And I said to him, no sir, I
don't know.
Is there any difference?
He said supposing I came to the morning
meeting next Sunday morning and I stood up
to preach to the assembly and I preached
about the Lord's coming again.
Would that be the Lord's truth?
I said it would.
Yes, the Lord's coming again, sir.
That would be the Lord's truth.
He said, would that be the Lord's message
for that particular morning meeting?
I said, it might not, sir.
He said, now you're finding out that the
Lord's truth is not always the Lord's message.
So he said, I instruct you.
If you're ever going to be the ruler
in a big assembly or a small one,
that you have to pay great attention all
week long and get along with the Lord
and receive the Lord's message for the saints
on Sunday morning.
Because the Lord might want to come to
the assembly to say something.
And if you're just wasting your time and
filling Sunday morning up with some doctrine that
you know, it may be the Lord's truth,
my boy.
But it may not be the Lord's message.
That's one of the great tasks of a
ruler in the assembly, especially the ruler that
labors in words and doctrine.
I must get along.
I must wait.
I must pray.
I must listen.
I must tune in.
I must be the Lord's messenger with the
Lord's message for the Lord's people on Sunday
morning.
And how often it has happened to be
true in this assembly.
Scores of you come to me and say,
Pastor, that was the Lord's word for me
this morning.
I would like it to be so.
Yes, I think this is something that we
must get a hold of.
I think I should finish this and do
this.
Dr. Ironside said to me, Now you know,
Willie, you know now that the Lord's truth
is not always the Lord's message.
Is that right?
I said, yes.
He said, I'll tell you, we see.
If you get on your knees and get
the Lord's message, you'll suddenly find out it's
the Lord's truth.
That's very good.
The Lord's truth is not always the Lord's
message.
But the Lord's message is always the Lord's
truth.
And so there was a messenger here, and
he was responsible.
He was responsible for the spiritual conditioning of
the church at Ephesus.
He had to receive this message.
He had to make it plain.
He had to pass it on.
He had to press it home.
And having looked at the messenger, let's look
at this next phrase.
Unto the angel of the church in Ephesus
write, These things saith he that holdeth the
seven stars in his right hand.
You see, this is the manager of the
messengers.
Because the seven stars were the seven messengers.
And I try to tell all our young
men who go preaching, that unless you're in
the Lord's hands, you're no use.
You just want to swank it with sermons
and headings and imitating somebody.
You're not going to be much use to
the Lord.
You know, you're wiggling about on your own.
You seek to be in the Lord's hands.
It means the Lord has control of you.
It means the Lord may set you aside.
And I came up here at seven this
evening.
There was only the one lady in.
She's in the back seat.
And I nearly fell, and I could hardly
get down the steps, and she couldn't help
me very well, and she cried, bless her.
And I thought, you know, while I was
holding on to the seat, and descended me
away tonight, while I'm ready to go.
Because I'm in his hands.
And then I've got to take my time
and be sure of what he wants me
to do.
And even though I could scarcely crawl here,
I felt I should come.
And now I'm absolutely sure about it.
You see, you must be in the Lord's
hands.
He must be able to move you, or
remove you, or put you back, or bring
you forward.
Some months ago, this whole assembly was on
its knees because I'd got a call to
a very big church in Belfast.
And I had to be in the Lord's
hands then.
If he wants me to go, I must
go.
If he wants me to stay, I must
stay.
I have to get my heart into the
place where I'm prepared to go to attend
hut in the country with the Lord, if
he wants to.
You know, it's a tremendous study for you
young men and young women to go through
the Scriptures and see the things that he
had in his hands at times.
You know, to start you off, I couldn't
exhaust it because it's too long.
You remember Jairus' daughter?
You remember she was dead?
My daughter is even now dead, said Jairus.
And you follow the Lord right into the
room?
And he took her hand in his.
She was a little girl, she was only
twelve.
Her hand must have been small.
I think it was tiny.
Must have been a white little hand, a
weak little hand.
It's now a dead hand.
It's cold.
It's lifeless.
But it's in his hands.
And the moment that he took that tiny,
lifeless, cold, dead, useless little hand in his
and squeezed it, she got life.
You see, the Master is life.
This is life.
You remember this?
That after Passover supper he took the bread
in his hands and he break it.
It was unleavened bread.
And he break it.
And after the same manner also he took
the cup.
Took it in his hands.
And you know what he said, don't you?
He said, as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup you do so
the Lord's will.
Yes.
You see, when he took the little hand
in his the Master was life.
When he took the bread and the wine
the Master was the Lamb.
Yes, he was letting them see the atoning
work of the Lamb.
And here the Master is the Lord.
He's got the creatures in his hands.
Now you follow it up and you'll find
there are about a dozen more but I
can't take the time to do them for
you.
I'm only starting you up.
But you can see the messenger here and
you can see the manager of the messengers.
And then there's something more here.
Unto the messenger of the church in Ephesus,
right?
These things saith he that holdeth the seven
stars in his right hand could walketh in
the midst of the seven gold and candlesticks.
You know, he's the Master.
He just walks through the churches.
Sometimes we see our beloved Queen inspecting the
gardens.
And she walks down one row and down
another one.
And these great big men stand so stressed
because she's their Sovereign.
And she looks at their boots and looks
at their buttons and looks at their bugbeats.
And she's inspecting them.
She's the, she's the Sovereign.
And so I think that you can see
the Master of the messengers here and the
manager of the messengers.
The Master of the church or churches and
the manager of the messengers.
This is who is saying these things.
These things saith he.
So it's the Lord that's sending this letter
to the church at Ephesus.
Now I want you to notice the Master's
remarks for a moment.
He says, I know thy works.
He'd been watching this little local church.
He says, I know your works.
And I think he was thinking there about
practical things.
Good works became, of course, after salvation.
Because we don't do good works to be
saved, you know.
We do good works because we are saved.
It's not good works that saves us.
It's not at works, salvation.
But we're saved unto good works.
And I think it's their practicality that it
is.
He says, I know thy practicality.
And then he says, I know thy labor.
You see, there's a special figure of speech
here in the Greek New Testament and you
mightn't just notice it.
But I'll do it like this for you
and you'll notice it.
I know thy works and thy labor and
thy patience and how thou canst not bear
them which are evil and thou hast tried
them which they are apostles and are not
and hast found them like and hast borne
and hast patient and for my name's sake
hast labor and hast not paid.
It's a special figure of speech and each
one must be emphasized.
That's why it's there.
It's a special figure of speech for emphasizing
each deity.
And he's saying to them, I know your
practicality.
I know your works.
And then he says, I'm thy labor.
I know your activities.
I know where you take the gospel to.
I know the places you go around to
take your spam.
I know about your prayer meetings.
I know everything that goes on.
I know your practicality and I know your
activity.
And then he said, I'm thy patience.
Well you know that patience is a quality
and it's a God-given quality.
Yes.
And these people have this God-given quality
and I'm sure we need a lot of
it in these days.
He says, I know thy practicality and I
know thy activity and I know thy quality.
You see the Lord's very honest about everything.
And then he said this, and how thou
canst not bear them which are evil.
You see, this is competitive.
These people just wouldn't bluff their way along,
you know.
Nor if an old modernist came into this
church, I'm afraid.
And I will have to talk to him.
And I'm afraid that if ever a modernist
appears without us knowing, creeping in on the
words in this platform and I'm behind him,
he will only get a few phrases.
And then I shall stop him.
Because we can't bear it.
And we're not bearing it.
Some preachers will bear everything now.
Preacher can say whatever he likes.
Heard about a preacher not far from here
the other night saying that when the minister
puts the drop of water on the baby's
brow, grace enters.
That's from hell.
You don't get saved like that.
That's potpourri.
Because some of the believers just nod their
head.
Oh well, we one can't bear that sort
of thing.
And so he's saying to the church, you
know, I know all about your practicality, and
I know your activity, and I know your
quality, and I know your sincerity.
And at the end of verse two, and
thou hast tried them which say they are
apostles and are not understand the laws.
You always get boys coming around saying there's
something, you know.
And in the early days there were boys
visited even these little local churches the way
at Ephesus and tried to put it over
that they were apostles.
But this church, Martin Justice, after all that,
has tried them.
And found them liars.
Of course you remember that people in the
early church had the spirit of protection.
And when Ananias and Sapphira tried to put
something over, Peter knew they were liars.
And this is what you call solidity.
Which is I know all about your practicality.
And I know about your activity.
And I know about your quality.
And I know about your sincerity.
And I know about your solidity.
You're solid.
You won't let anybody bluff you.
And then in verse three he said I'm
half born.
You know the storm had blown in this
little church a time or two.
And they were persecuted in those days.
He says I know all about your dependability.
I know when they taunt you.
And when they persecute you.
And when they slander you that you're not
born.
That's their dependability.
And then he comes back again you see
to their quality and to their practicality or
their activity.
And then he said lastly in verse three
I'm half not fainted.
He says I know all about your immovability.
Very easy to faint when you're not well.
And if ever I had the chance of
fainting it was tonight.
I could have cleared out righteously tonight.
Maybe that's what the devil would have liked
me to do.
But I've been on the canvas before.
And before it comes to him I always
get up.
Yes I want you to notice this.
This is the master's remarks.
I know your practicality.
I know your activity.
I know your quality.
I know your sincerity.
I know your solidity.
I know your dependability.
I know your immovability.
Now tell me this.
This was a great big church.
Yes indeed it was.
Well the Lord is commending them for all
that.
And yet although there are so many things
that the master can commend them for it
has to stop at verse four and say
nevertheless.
Although you're doing well boys nevertheless I have
somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy
first love.
That's tremendous you know if you take time
to take it in.
You know you can have a whole lot
of activity and a whole lot of qualities
and a whole lot of sincerity and a
whole lot of dependability and immovability and not
be in love with the Lord at all.
Do you get that?
Because that's exactly what he said.
Yes this is something that we need to
take time with.
You see it's possible, it's possible for me
to love the message and not love the
master.
It's possible for the singers and the great
singers and Sunday night and John's there.
And it's possible for the singers to love
the song and not love the Savior.
And it's possible for you to love the
crowd and not love the Christ.
And it's possible for you to love the
place and not love the person.
And it's possible for you to love the
meeting and not love the master.
You know after all this is what Christ
wants.
He wants your love.
He said I know, I know all about
your activity now.
And I know you'll stand up and I
know you're solid and I know you're sincere
but I'll tell you this.
I want you to love me.
What he's actually saying, that's one of the
translations isn't it?
It's the correct one.
He said look I have something against you.
You don't love me the way you used
to do.
It's the first love he's thinking about.
I wonder could he say that to any
of us or to most of us this
evening.
You don't love me the way you used
to do.
Now this is what I call the master's
rebuke.
And then you can see the master's request.
And it's the word remember.
Remember therefore from whence thou art brought.
I wonder have you got away from loving
him.
I wonder do you just go to church
because it's the thing to do.
I wonder do you just come to the
class because there's certain things you like.
Can you remember now a day when you
loved him better than you do now.
Those first days when your shackles fell off.
When you were born again.
When the thrill of God's deliverance filled and
flooded your very soul.
When you knew nothing about anything and yet
you were in love with Christ.
Did you love him better then than you
do now.
He says remember.
And then he went on to say this.
Repent.
And then he went on to say this.
And do the first works.
Remember, repent, restart.
Let the restart over again.
My dear friends this is what he wants.
He wants you to put your arms around
him.
He wants you to look into his face.
He wants you to do things for him.
Not just for a meeting.
Not just for a party.
Oh no dear.
For him.
He wants you to do that.
That's what he says.
Now that's the master's request.
He wants you to look at this.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and
repent and do the first works.
Or else.
Mind you when the Lord says or else.
That's what the terrorists say now when they
put a gun to your head.
Your wallet.
Or else.
The Lord just saying this to you.
He was saying this to the church.
I think we need to get that into
perspective.
You see this little church in Ephesus.
Three saints in this back street.
They were doing very well.
But they were getting so churchy.
That they were not the same as they
used to be at all.
They didn't love the master the way they
used to do.
He said that's what I want now.
Or else.
Watch it.
Or else I will come unto thee quickly
and will remove thy candlestick out of its
place.
You know the Lord can do without this
church.
He's not tied to Windsor Avenue you know.
Not for a moment.
You know you can look a way down
through church history.
And while you might not want to think
about denominations.
You can go down into church history and
you can find denominations.
That were really on fire for God.
And who did wonderful things.
And who brought Christ to the country and
turned the country upside down.
And then they got away from the Lord.
And to make the candlestick removed.
They called countenance.
And I can tell you you can go
back to Ephesus tonight.
And for fifty miles around us.
There is no church of Jesus Christ.
Not a one.
The Lord removed the candlestick.
He can remove the denominational candlestick.
He can remove the local candlestick.
And he can remove the personal candlestick.
The candlestick.
The denominational candlestick.
He can remove the local candlestick.
And he can remove the personal candlestick.
You can become a castaway.
Oh I'm not talking about you being lost
again.
I'm talking about you being put out of
usefulness.
The Lord just puts you on the shelf.
Not using you anymore.
You're just going to do as you like.
You've got the bits between your teeth.
You're neither going to remember or repent or
restart.
Well he can remove you.
It's not tied to you you know.
That's exactly what he's saying.
And now he comes back again.
I wanted to put this in with their
activities and all the rest of it.
And I think it should be verse 6.
But this thou must, see not of this,
that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans
which I also hate.
Now this is something that Christ hated.
And it must be something awful when Christ
hates it.
There have been many debates about this.
I think of this as a compound word.
It's two words.
It is the word Nicola.
And the word Nicola means to conquer.
And the ends at the end of it,
just like Christianity, it's a people.
And these Nicolaitans were people who got up
into the church and they wanted to conquer.
And they wanted to rule over the other
believers.
This is what you call potpourri.
Oh I know that the Roman church wasn't
there then.
It was Protestant potpourri as well as Roman
potpourri.
You know I went out preaching many years
ago and the Lord blessed me and we
had little revivals across the country.
And one of the presidents of the Baptist
Union of Ireland came to me once and
said to me, if you write me a
letter I'll recognize you as one of our
preachers.
I said, I hope you know who you
are.
Do you know who you are?
He was a draper at the draper shop
this time.
I said, you sell clothes, don't you?
You're a sort of glorified ragman.
I can't see a glorified ragman coming round
to me to ask me to ask him
to be recognized as a servant of the
Lord.
That's what you call Baptist potpourri.
That's what it is.
And let me tell you, I hate it.
I have no blush on my face when
I say it either.
I hate it.
And I've always hated it and I always
will.
Now what a fellow thinks of himself coming
round standing tough and nonsense like that.
I said, they'll put you in a box
one of these days and throw soil on
you.
And you won't be talked to like that.
Not for a moment.
Let me tell you that there is not
only Baptist potpourri, there is Brethren potpourri.
Oh yes, we get pokes among the Brethren
too, big jims of poke.
Now great poke he was too.
Made a mess of it.
Nearly as wicked as the rest of them.
Oh yes, but if you don't bow and
say Amen, the way they say it, they'll
rule over you.
The Lord gets it.
So do I.
And against it I shall always preach.
Without any hesitation.
I have no trouble speaking out against that,
no matter who it offends.
Some of the Baptists quiver in their shoes.
They're quivering here.
I hate it.
The Lord says this.
He says thou hast one being.
But thou hast this.
Which I also hate.
Friends, you know some of my friends here
tonight.
The Fathermoon community, where I was in the
country.
They come in through the door.
If you're behind them some night, don't worry
yourself.
He says to me, how do you like
it?
And they call him one.
And I say, how do you like it?
There's no pokery about that, is there?
Bless God for them.
Bless.
We don't swank it around here.
It doesn't mean more good, you know.
Just to hear them say, how do you
like it?
Otto.
Yes, you've got me, secondly.
I want you to get the hold of
this.
You see, that's what I would call their
notability.
You see, they have practicality.
And activity.
And quality.
And sincerity.
And solidity.
And dependability.
And immovability.
And this is notability.
The Lord noted this.
They were noted for this.
I hated every shape and form of pokery.
And why wouldn't they?
It has pushed the churches.
Oh, let's see each other as sinners saved
by grace.
And God has given some of us gifts.
And what we have got, we have to
receive.
And we're just all finally saved by grace,
you know.
Let's keep it like that.
Now, this individual promise is a very wonderful
one.
Verse seven.
Let them hear what the Spirit says unto
the churches.
Now, here's the individual promise here.
For him that overcometh.
And you've got to overcome this pokery.
That's one thing.
And you've got to overcome this getting away
from your first love.
And you've got to overcome this loving the
message and not loving the message.
He says to him that overcometh.
Will I give to each of the tree
of life which is in the midst of
the paradise of God.
Well, that's a mighty saying, isn't it?
I wonder why he said it just like
that.
Well, I think it's really amazing that the
Lord should say that.
You know, I think that this is one
of the great sayings of my Master.
Will I give to each of the tree
of life.
You know, the Master had many super sayings.
I know that everything that he said was
tremendous, never mind speak like this man.
But he said last week, I have the
keys of hell and of death.
Do you know anybody else who would ever
dare to say it?
He'd be a real fool.
No man ever came round yet that I
know says I've got the keys of death.
And there's no man that I've ever met
who would say I am the Father.
I won't.
They wouldn't dare, these are super sayings.
And surely this is a super saying when
he says to these overcomers, to him that
overcometh, will I give to each of the
tree of life which is in the midst
of the paradise of God.
Now, the great thing is why did he
say it?
Now, what does it make you think about
first of all?
Let's get round it like that.
Well, you see, it makes me think about
Adam and Eve.
And it's perfectly true.
It's your way to Adam and Eve.
I suppose you know a lot of things
about this.
Some people question that, you know, the modernists,
they question it.
They say it's symbolic and just nothing at
all.
Let's have a look at this carefully for
a moment.
We're at 2 Corinthians and at chapter 11.
2 Corinthians chapter 11.
And Paul writing here to these believers said,
verse 2, For I am jealous over you
with godly jealousy.
For I have espoused you to one husband
that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, is
one of the things he fears, as the
serpent beguile Eve through his subtlety.
Now, I can tell you that Paul believed
this Genesis story.
He believed that the serpent beguile Eve through
his subtlety.
He believed that.
So do I too.
Modernists may not believe that.
I can tell you that this passage is
inspired by the Spirit of God.
For God was directing Paul here.
Now, you'll notice this very carefully, that the
serpent beguiled Eve.
Not Adam.
Not just Eve.
Adam was never beguiled.
Don't you get that into your head.
Have a look at Paul writing again, so
you see.
This is 1st Timothy, and it's the 2nd
chapter.
1st Timothy, chapter 2.
Verse 13.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
Well, that's very wonderful, isn't it?
Because that's just exactly what we believe.
That God created them male and female in
the day that he created them.
You know, when I was in Mount Athos,
a fellow came to see me one evening,
one of these clever clouts.
And he said to me, will you talk
about Genesis 1, you talk about these days
as if they were literal days.
I said, that's right, that's what I believe.
He said, you know, these days were not
literal days.
These were periods.
Periods of how long?
Well, he said, I don't know, maybe millions
of years in each one of these periods.
Well, I said, put a figure on it,
just for the argument.
He put a figure on it.
He said, well, each day would be a
million years.
So that we have seven million years in
there in those days.
Is that right?
Yes.
What day was Adam created on?
The sixth day, he said, the sixth.
Life is the one below.
Yes.
Is it a million?
Yes.
So that Adam lived right through that day.
So he's got a million years up when
we come to the end of the chapter,
is that right?
I'll tell you, sir, that when you come
into the sixth chapter of Genesis and you
read how many days Adam lived, it says
so many years.
Just hundreds of years.
It should say one million so many hundred
years.
Stands and looks at me, you know, like
a fish out of water.
And I would like to tell you what
I said to him, but I can't do
it very well, because I was a bit
rough on him.
I said, you're that gloom and stupid, you
can't read.
And that's just what I thought about him,
a big man, common royal swank.
And he's as stupid as can be.
You know, periods, and of course.
I want you to get the whole of
this.
See where we are, we're at verse 16.
For Adam was first formed any, and Adam
was not deceived.
Did you get that?
Is that what it says there?
Adam was not deceived.
I can tell you he wasn't.
You know, the old serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety.
And Eve was deceived.
But the woman being deceived was in the
transgression.
Adam was never deceived.
And what made him go wrong?
He wasn't beguiled.
And he wasn't deceived.
I'll tell you what made him go wrong.
He left his first love for Eve.
That's what made him go wrong.
He knew that she had done this thing.
That she had gone into sin.
And he went in with her.
He left his first love and lost everything.
Lost everything.
For that other God.
And let me tell you that when you
leave your first love, you may keep up
the activity, and the solidity, and the so
-called sincerity, and the immovability, and all the
rest of the jargon.
But I'll tell you, you're losing out.
You're losing out.
And I'll tell you that when you repent,
and get back and love the Lord, you'll
get everything you lost.
You'll be back into the paradise of God
again.
You see, he lost his love for Jehovah.
He lost his service truly for God.
He lost the fellowship and the friendship.
He lost so much.
Ah, well, when you love Christ, with all
your heart, and all your soul, and all
your mind, you get back everything you lost.
Isn't it a great word for a church
like this?
He says, whom that overcometh.
I will give.
Next week, we're going to go into the,
you see, to last.
We're going into the next church.
It's mine.
And I'll thank the Lord for getting through.
Let's just give the Lord a word of
thanks.
Lord, we give thee thanks for answering prayer
and undertaking for thy servants.
And now, our Father, we pray that thou
will undertake for us to have heard thy
holy word.
Our God and Father, we pray that we
may be able to sing and sing sincerely
from these hearts of ours.
If ever I love thee, my Jesus, tis
now.
And Lord, if there be anything intervening that
would prevent us from saying that, wilt thou
graciously deal with it and cause us to
repent and restart.
We pray, Lord, that thou will bless us
as we separate one from another.
May thy grace and mercy and peace be
the potion of my sins here and in
every place till Jesus comes and glory dawns
for his name's sake we ask it.
Amen.