There is no doubt in my mind that I got the better end of the
deal and being able to come here than you did for having me, for
so many reasons, so many reasons.
I didn't necessarily say this to Brother Shifflett yesterday.
I found it difficult to say to him.
Maybe I should have, but he, he has become one of my favorite
preachers and I listen to him. He ministers to me all the time.
And sometimes I'll text him and let him know.
But just to be able to rub shoulders with him and
fellowship with him was a tremendous blessing and and an
honor. And Pastor Almanza and his
family, dear friends and for many years and very dear to my
heart. And he knows that.
And I appreciate his friendship and Pastor Boots and his family,
the example they've been over the years to see how the Lord
has used him and his family and friends that I can call on and
know that they'll tell me the right thing.
They'll give me the help that I need.
And just so rare today you find those kind of friends.
Don't let them go. Don't let them go and appreciate
this church. And I also appreciate the area
of the country, like Pastor mentioned, I, I do love history
and I, I just revel in the things that I've been able to
see. And, and then all of the good
food we've eaten together And, and just man, we've, we've,
we've eaten some good food. What was the name of that, that
sub place we went to that steak place, Charlie's.
Yeah, get 3. There's different, three
different sizes and give me the big one and just gone.
Just just a blessing and appreciate the Salonims.
For many years I've known them and they watch me as a teenager
coming to Bible college and invested in my life in ways that
they'll never know just by their godly example and raising Sarah
and C, Brian and brother Johnny coming down to Chicago.
I could go on and on and on. It's a honor and honor, and I
mean that from the bottom of my heart.
Take your Bible and turn with me to Revelation chapter 2.
Revelation chapter 2. Brother Amanza and I got
together and he asked me what I was going to preach on.
And I told him and he said that it it really just would fit so
well together. And now I understand exactly
what you were saying. I don't know how to put this,
but I'm going to preach. His was a much more pleasant and
cheerful and, and, and, and joyful message that I needed.
God dealt with my heart. And I mean that by the time he
was done preaching, I just wanted to get to the altar.
God dealt with my heart. But the message that I have to
bring tonight is what happens if you don't heed the message that
he just preached. And it's a scary message.
It's it's a message that that the text strikes fear in my
heart and I hope it does for you too in such a way that will lead
you to obey the text. The title of the message is
Candlestick removed. Candlestick removed.
It's a scary thought to me that we can have all of our doctrine
right in our church and still be rejected by God and have our
Candlestick removed, all because we don't love Jesus like we
should. It's a scary thought and it
strikes fear in my heart and makes me want to heed this text
to the best of my ability. God helping me.
Revelation chapter 2. Let's look at verse #4
Revelation 2 for Scripture. Nevertheless, I have somewhat
against thee, because thou has left thy first love.
Remember therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent and
do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly.
That's what scares me quickly. And will remove thy Candlestick
out of his place, except thou repent.
Candlestick removed. Let's pray.
Our heavenly Father, would you help me to preach?
Would you help me to relay a burden on my heart?
Would you give me the words the the, the mind, the spirit, the
unction? And then for your dear hearers,
I pray that there would be a listening heart that we would
all listen tonight to what the Spirit has to say to the church.
And I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
In Revelation chapter 2 and three, there are 7 messages
addressed to seven different churches.
The messages were given by Christ to the Apostle John for
the sake of relaying those messages directly.
To each church. John was the last living
apostle. He lived to about age 90 as
these letters were coming to him in one letter to the churches.
I'm certainly not standing here saying.
That I can decipher every jot and title for you in the Book of
Revelation, but each church would get a personalized message
from the risen Savior. Just like the State of the Union
address is given by the president.
It's supposed to bring us up to date on the affairs and the
status of our nation. These letters to the churches
were given as state of the church addresses to each
individual church by President Jesus Christ.
John is having a real vision of Christ concerning the end times.
He is hearing the voice of the resurrected Savior.
And when John heard the voice of Christ, he turned aside to see
what he could see. And the Bible says he saw 7
golden candlesticks. Look at verse chapter one verse
#12 chapter one, verse 12. And I turned to see the voice
that spake with me, and being turned, I saw 7 golden
candlesticks. And in the middle of those
candlesticks was the Lord Jesus Christ in all his glory.
Look at verse #13. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothe with the
garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with the
golden, don't miss that word, golden girdle His head.
And his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow.
And His eyes were as a flame of fire, And his feet like unto
fine brass, as if they burn in a furnace.
And His voice as the sound of many waters.
The right hand of Jesus held seven stars.
Look at the beginning of verse #20 the mystery of the seven
stars which thou sawest in my right hand.
So we have 7 stars in the right hand of Jesus Christ.
What are they? What do they represent?
Each * Each Candlestick is the church that's being addressed,
and Jesus is in the mist. Look at verse #20 the mystery of
the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the
seven golden candlesticks. Here it is.
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the
seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
So the angels were given as a gift to those seven churches.
Now the word Angel simply means messenger.
Messenger. Who is the messenger called to a
church designated to a church? But it's pastor.
The pastor. So the seven stars are the seven
literal pastors of these churches.
And the Lord is starting with who?
He's starting with the leadership.
He's starting with the stars. He's starting with the pastors.
The candlesticks are the churches themselves.
Look at the end of verse #20 and the seven candlesticks which
thou sawest are the seven churches.
Every church that exists today, that is one of Christ's church,
that Christ could say this is my church is one of His
candlesticks. They're golden to represent His
purity and the purity that He wants in those churches.
Now what's a Candlestick for? Brother Almanza just preached it
for us. It's the shine forth the light
in this Dark World. We are as churches, true
churches, to be his Candlestick. The Bible says in Luke chapter 8
verse #16 no man when he has lighted a candle covereth it
with a vessel or putteth it under a bed, but setteth it on a
Candlestick that they which enter in may see the light.
Our goal is to help people see the light and that is why we do
our best to try to win souls so that people who can't see the
light now can have the light shined upon them.
And that's why as churches we, we do everything we can.
We we rack our our brains to do anything that's right, to try to
bring people to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We'll use technology in a right
way. We won't compromise the Word of
God, though. We want people brought not to an
institution, not a corporation, but to the light.
And that's why we'll preach standards.
We want them brought to the right thing, to the light
shining in His golden holiness. That's why we try to raise a
godly seed that they might grow up beside and get in the battle
with us to bring more people to the light.
That's why we seek to have godly marriages, because that marriage
is a picture of Christ and the Church.
And we want to shine forth as light.
Mount Victory Baptist Church is his Candlestick.
It's very obvious to see that. Didn't have to be here long to
know that by the time that the workers meeting was done on
Saturday, it was very evident that this was the church going
in the right direction. Yeah, even a Candlestick of our
Lord. Keep your place here in
Revelation, but turn with me to Philippians chapter 2.
Philippians Chapter. 2 Even though our true candlesticks are
in place, let's not strut around like independent fundamental
Baptist Peacocks let's walk in humility so that these churches
can remain candlesticks. Philippians chapter 2 it was
already quoted look at verse #15 the Bible says that ye may be
blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the
midst of a crooked and. Perverse Nation.
Among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
Jesus wants us to shine as lights.
But we must remember we are not that true light.
Turn to John chapter 1. John chapter 1.
Jesus is the light of the world. That's right.
But the Candlestick which is US is to hold forth that light.
John chapter one verse #8 The Bible says he was not that
light, but was sent to bear witness of that light, capital
L. You'll notice it's talking about
a person that was the true light, which lighteth every man
that cometh into the world. And so in Revelation we see
Christ, the light of the world, walking among his candlesticks,
holding the seven pastors in his right hand.
That's a good place to be right now as one of his pastors in the
right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We were St. preaching on the corner a week ago.
And as I was preaching the gospel on the street corner, a
man came to me walking around the corner with his sodomite
partner right next to him. He held up the horns and he
screamed Hell, Satan, Hell Satan.
And, and I, I, I, I was like, somebody said to him, what did
he say? And he heard them ask that
question. And he said it again, Hell,
Satan. And in a world that is as wicked
as that, that is, I'm standing on the corner preaching the
gospel. Someone would dare scream that
in my face. It's a comforting thing to know
that his pastors are secure in his right hand.
That's right. But he starts with the pastors.
Why is Jesus walking among the candlesticks?
What is the imagery there for? Jesus is walking among the
candlesticks because he's inspecting them.
He's working on them. He's trimming, he's making sure
that the oil is there, the power of his Holy Spirit.
Candlesticks are often have problems and they they need
repair. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is
walking among the candlesticks. The seven letters would have
been delivered to those churches and most likely read to the
churches by that pastor. It starts with the leadership,
and that's why you want to pray for your pastor, that he has
God's wisdom and God's power and God's direction.
Hey, turning a country upside down for right won't start with
the government. Now the government might be
affected by it, but it doesn't. It never starts with the
government. It doesn't start with the media.
It doesn't start with with education.
As was preached, when Christ comes, he's looking for the ones
that He. Called to be in charge of his
candlesticks starts right there. And so the first church dealt
with here is the church at Ephesus, established by Paul
with Aquila and Priscilla. In Acts chapter 18, And so this
church is that church which gave us the book of Ephesians, same
church. By the time we come to
Revelation chapter 2, the church at Ephesus is about 45 years
old. And it's as if this church that
has these decades behind them has let things slip.
And we see that in the passage often times when, when, when a
bad car accident happens, that there, there, there have been
times when they have tried to recreate the accident to try to
find out exactly what happened. And, and, and I would like to
just kind of recreate tonight this church at Ephesus, what
took place, what was going wrong?
Christ's message to the church at Ephesus was a blistering
warning that they were about to have their Candlestick removed.
Now look with me. Chapter 2 of Revelation verse #1
The Bible says unto the Angel, that is the pastor, as we've
stated unto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, Right these
things sayeth he that holdeth the seven stars in his right
hand. Those are the pastors who
walketh in the midst of the 7 golden candlesticks, The
churches I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and
how thou canst not bear them which are evil.
And thou has tried them which say they are apostles and are
not, and has found them liars, and has born, and has patience,
and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted.
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou has
left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence
thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works, or else I
will come unto thee quickly. And this, this, this part should
concern you as a church member. It concerns me as a pastor.
Jesus said, I'll come unto thee quickly, and we'll remove thy
Candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
If the church at Ephesus was in danger of having their
Candlestick removed, then any church is in danger of having
their Candlestick removed. You can have your church
removed. Now what does that mean?
Hey, what? What does that exactly mean?
A removal of Christ's gospel, A removal of his hand?
A removal of his true ordinances?
A removal of His true preaching, of His true power, of His true
presence. The Lord Jesus Christ can
literally look down upon a church that was a Candlestick
and say effectively, I unchart you.
I see some things here #1A group may call themselves a church and
not be a Candlestick of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Understand that a real church is not a church because they have a
building and call themselves a building.
They may have special music. The special music here has been
glorious. Let me stop and say that a
church may have special music. They may have offerings.
They may have special meetings, a sermon, a website.
They may have a beautiful sign out front that says so and so
church. But if their Candlestick has
been removed. None of those things matter.
We may as well hold the funeral of the church.
Now. The church at Ephesus, the Bible
tells us, was doctrinally sound. Could they be in danger of
having their Candlestick removed?
Yes. Yes, the church at Ephesus
doctrinally was a good church. But Jesus said they had fallen.
Look at chapter 2, verse #5 Remember, therefore, from whence
thou art fallen. The church at Ephesus had
standards and convictions equal or better to any good
independent fundamental Baptist Church.
Today they might be what we would call a great church at
home. I have in my basement boxes of
old sort of the Lord magazines that were given to me.
I mean from back when John R Rice started that that magazine.
You open them up and some of them just crumble into powder.
They're so old. And I'll look in there and I'll
see that it is true What I was told that in about every state
of the union way back then, the, the, the, the, the largest and
the most vibrant churches of every state almost in the union
was a church just like this, an independent Baptist Church.
But what happens? Pride gets into a church and
people in that church begin to draw a circle around themselves.
And they'll say everything that's inside of this circle is
right and good and everything outside of this circle is not
What's wrong with everyone else? Your church can have a doctrinal
statement that is bulletproof and still be removed as a
Candlestick. The church at Ephesus proves
that to us. They were against the things
that we are against. They were for the things that we
are for. I preach against the homosexual
crowd because my Bible dictates that I do that.
I preach against abortion and against tongues.
I preach for the King James Version of the Bible, but what
the Bible is saying to us tonight is you can do all of
those things and have your Candlestick removed.
The church at Ephesus had the bragging rights to be able to
say we were founded by the apostle Paul.
We were founded by, I mean, if they had Founders Week like
Moody does, they've compromised long time ago.
But if they had Founders Week, they could say we were founded
by Paul. The Lord Jesus Christ is saying
that doesn't matter to me, I'll unchurch you.
We're not sure who the Angel of the church was at this time, but
the church was a sound church. And I want to stress that this
church would make the good churches of today look liberal.
When you read the passage in Revelation, they are commended
#1 for being a working church. Look at verse #2 chapter 2.
Verse #2 I know thy. Works and thy labor.
The church at Ephesus, they weren't a bunch of slouches.
They were the type of people that when the pastor said, hey,
there's a new ministry to be started, they're going to get
right behind that thing. They're going to roll up their
sleeves and work hard. We should never complain about
fulfilling the Great Commission. His last command should be our
first priority. The stations were man at the
church at Ephesus. They took care of business.
They were a laboring church and and and I see that here and I
believe in that and I love that the church and I pastor, we
praise God by his grace. We're a working church up no
room today for cream puff Christians.
We ought to want to do the work of God and when we call for soul
winning, people ought to show up and then we ought to have the as
pastors just keep on ordering tracks because you people and us
pastors keep passing them out. And we should labor work for the
night is coming. And when we attend funerals, we
ought to look at that hearse and say one day we're going to ride
in that thing if the Lord Jesus doesn't come back first.
And if there's anything we're going to do for the Savior,
let's get it done. Now the church at Ephesus not
only worked, but get this, they worked with the right motive.
Verse #3 and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted.
They weren't laboring to make the pastor happy.
They weren't laboring. Because they were afraid of what
would be said if they didn't show up.
Their motive was right. The Bible says for thy name's
sake. In their mind they were working
for Christ and that's exactly the way it ought to be.
This church was about to be rebuked even though they were a
hard working. Church and the point I'm making
is being a hard working church won't keep you a Candlestick #2
they were a patient church. Two times they're called patient
in verses 2 and three. Look at verse #2 I know thy
works and thy labor and thy patience, and has born verse 3
and has patience. It's not enough to be hard
working in the work of God, we must also be patient.
And Ephesus would have been the temple of Diana.
All kinds of wickedness, prostitution to the idols, and
all of the wickedness that goes with it.
The temple of Diana was destroyed and rebuilt, constant
idolatry and new believers coming to the Lord.
The Ephesian church had to be patient with those outside of
the walls of the church. And so should we.
And then when they come inside of the walls of the church, we
need to preach hard and preach with conviction and preach
without compromise. But we also need to be patient
with our new believers and bring them along just the way the Lord
Jesus Christ brought his disciples along.
We need to be patient. Ephesus had that.
They had patience. One of the most difficult
virtues to obtain is patience. And if I were to ask, I'm not
going to do it tonight for a raise of hands of how many of
you would say I need more patience?
I think the vast majority of us would put our hands up.
They had it. They had what I don't have.
And they were still in danger of having their Candlestick
removed. They were a hard working church.
They were a patient church. Third, they were a zealous
church. Would you look at verse #2 where
it says, and how thou canst not bear them, which are evil.
What do we see from that? The church at Ephesus wasn't
afraid to practice church discipline.
They could not bear them, which were evil.
Several times over the course of the 18 years that I've been
passed through at Cornerstone Baptist Church Church, we
started in 2008, we've had to practice church discipline.
We've had to do this in cases where we found out that there
were members that were involved in homosexual behavior, members
who were working at gambling casinos that would not quit
their job, members that were gossiping, members that refused.
To have a repentant attitude toward public sin which which
brought disgrace upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Church discipline is biblical and Ephesus did it.
The church at Ephesus would have invited Pastor Shifflett and
David Cloud to come and preach A2 week conference.
They were rock ribbed. They were a zealous church.
They believed in doctrinal purity and ecclesiastical
separation from the world. Look at verse 2.
And thou has tried them which say they are apostles and are
not, and has found them liars. They didn't tolerate false
doctrine and they were commended for it.
And there's a place for that. We need to be zealous like the
Ephesian church. I'm not taking anything away
from what they were. Why?
Because there's places out there that call themselves churches
today that are are ordaining homosexuals to the pulpit to
preach. The Presbyterian Church in the
United States and others ordains open homosexuals to be their
preachers. I tell you that is not a
Candlestick. No way the Evangelical Lutheran
Church will ordain a homosexual if they're in a committed
relationship. That's not a Candlestick.
That's right. Joel Osteen pastors Lakewood
Church, he said. I don't try to make the services
at Lakewood super religious. He decided one year to come to
my city, Chicago, and fill up the stadium where the Chicago
White Sox play, and he called it a church service.
Listen to me, brother. You can fill a stadium without
filling heaven. That's right.
It's like a family that has 15 adopted children.
They've got a lot of children, but no births.
And you can have a lot of people in a building and have no one
getting born again friend. Many of these mega churches drop
the word Baptist from their name.
They do it, but out of convenience so that they won't
appear as on edge and offensive in their approach to preaching.
They'll just drop the word Baptist from their name,
embarrassed by the clear connotation of those that would
follow the line of Christ by being baptized by immersion
after salvation. The church that Rick Warren used
to pastor? Saddleback Church.
Humanistic to the core, self-centered philosophy.
But he wrote a book, he became famous, he filled a building
with people and, and, and he used the the, the, the the
tactics and the strategies of the world to do it.
He started the church by knocking on doors and asking
unsaved people why they didn't go to church and what they would
want in a church. Took a survey and then he
patterned his church after what unsaved people said they wanted
in a church and his son committed suicide.
I don't care what anybody says. God doesn't give us children a
raise so that they can blow their brains out for somebody
else to have to clean off the wall.
That is not a Candlestick. Churches pastored by women are
not a Candlestick. That is a blatant disrespect to
the word of God. The Roman Catholic Church is not
a Candlestick. Not only is the Roman Catholic
Church apostate in their beliefs, and we could be here
all night discussing that, but they have joined hands with
those in Africa that practice voodoo, saying we need to give
attention to the traditional practices as well.
That's not a Candlestick. Churches that correct the Bible
are not a Candlestick. You see, they wouldn't, they
wouldn't appreciate somebody get up here like Pastor Shifflett
and just preach Pastor Almonds with all of that zeal.
What are you? What are you getting so excited
for? You know, just.
Stand behind the lectern, the clear acrylic lectern with your
blue jeans, your Diet Coke, and just and just and just share the
word. No, no, no, no.
Lift up thy voice like a trumpet.
The Bible says, cry aloud. They would call us
fundamentalist, quote, literalistic, Amen,
overconfident, reactionary. They criticize preachers quote
who pepper their presentations with so many Bible verses that
their messages. Appear to be straight out of the
scripture. Hello, thank you for the
compliment. For God told Paul to tell
Timothy preach the word. But that's where we are today.
Under the new order of service produced by the Scottish
Episcopal Church. God should not be referred to
with male terminology, should not be called Father, should not
be called Son or Man. They are not a Candlestick, and
you don't have to be ashamed to say that they're not a
Candlestick. A church in Flint Township, MI
called The Bridge opened up a licensed tattoo parlor inside of
their church building. They called it Serenity Tattoo.
On the church grounds, church members can leave services and
get tattoos on their arms, their necks, their legs and their
backs. The pastor of the church said
we're about doing church a different way.
No, no, no, you're not a Candlestick, friend.
You're not a Candlestick. A church in San Jose, CA called
Urban Life provided beer for attendees after the service.
The pastor, Bill Jenkins, said that he's made urban life as
unchurch like as possible. There's a short message.
And and then it's a little bit of group discussion and then on
your way out, you can grab yourself a brood again.
They call themselves churches. But please, friend, I say it
broken hearted almost. Those are not candlesticks.
God does want us to be militant for the truth.
The militancy of our fundamental movement is just about gone.
You know, we're fundamentalists with emphasis on the fun.
And I like having fun. But listen when we get behind
the pulpit, when it's time to stand for truth, we ought not to
be ashamed, and we ought to be firm in what we know to be
right. The church at Ephesus were they
were working church. They were a patient church.
They were a zealous church. Would put us to shame.
But they were still in danger of having their Candlestick
removed. The churches today that have all
of these big problems that I just listed, the church at
Ephesus didn't have any of those problems.
None of those. Problems, but they were still in
danger of having their Candlestick removed.
Point #2 The church at Ephesus was a good church that left its
first love. The church at Ephesus was a good
church that left its first love. After all of these compliments
and accolades, Jesus rebukes the church.
You understand a church can have just as many wrong things about
it as good things. And the Lord Jesus Christ
doesn't put aside the bad things because they're outweighed by
the good things. He tells this church where
they're failing. The same Lord that can commend
can also rebuke. He's not a partial judge.
And the sin that Christ charged this church with was the leaving
of their first love. This is not the leaving of your
first love in the sense of leaving the first woman that you
ever loved. And so you had this crush in
kindergarten and you consider that your first love and then
you got transferred to a different school and you left
your first love. No, the leaving of the first
love here means Portia Lewis, my wife not loving me the way she
did on August the 7th, 11, 2004, the day we were married.
It is the the the losing of the level of your love for that
individual. The sin here is not to love.
Jesus Christ, the way you did the day you got saved, and to
continue in that way, it is a lessening of the level of your
love. It is the leaving of the love
you had for God. When you were first aware of his
saving grace? When you were first aware of the
change that he could make in your life?
When, when, when that I'm going to go into it.
But when? When everything was fresh and
new and you your. Love for Him was strong, and
that level was high. But then you start to leave that
When you first got saved, your thoughts of Jesus were in heaven
and the Bible were warm like mama's apple pie.
But but apple pies can cool off, can't they?
They can, and that cooling effect is the leaving of the
love you had at first or leaving your first love.
It's letting our love level drop.
All of us have to watch our love level, and I'm not going to ask
tonight. How many of us have ever run out
of gas in our automobiles? There be some hands raised.
Listen to me. And because of that, you've
learned to watch that needle. You've learned to watch that
gauge so that you know where you're at.
And what I'm saying is when our when our love for Jesus level
starts to leave full and starts to go down, hey, we're in danger
of having our Candlestick removed as a church and we need
to be careful. The Scriptures are telling us
that Christ is grieved to see his people grow cold toward Him.
So grieved that if repentance doesn't take place, the entire
church can be drugged down and have their Candlestick removed.
And with all of those good things that they were and that
they were doing, and we can get all up in arms about urban life
providing beer. We can get irate about the
bridge passing out tattoos, We can scream and yell about a
church that would call God the Father, God the Mother, and we
can get we can get passionate about Catholics holding hands
with voodoo pagans. But the church at Ephesus didn't
have any of those problems. They were simply a bunch of
fundamental Christians who were cold hearted in their love for
the Son of God. Perfect doctrinal statement, a
model church, but. They're love for Jesus.
What I'm saying to you tonight is it, is it just a bunch of
rules? You know, I'm human and, and
there's something about my makeup.
I get worked up for a cause. And it doesn't take a lot, OK,
if I think it's right, I want to champion for it.
I want to I want to be on the right side of history.
Amen. But but listen to me.
I want to do it not because I'm compelled to do it because I
just want to take a stand, but I want to love Jesus more.
When you wake up in the morning, is your mind on the Savior?
When you when you when you pull it into that parking lot and you
get out of your car and you grab your Bible to come into this
service, is it about Jesus, your love for him?
That's what makes a church slide in those other areas that I just
preached. They grow cold in their love for
Jesus. That's why a pastor can raise
wicked, ungodly rebels and stay in the pulpit in spite of what
the qualifications in the Bible say.
He loves the praise of man and the pulpit more than he loves
Jesus Christ. That's why a Christian can skip
a service here and there, a midweek service here and there
and and give an excuse to the pastor love for Jesus.
That's why women can be immodest when they know better.
The problem isn't that that the truth hasn't been presented.
It's a love for Jesus Christ. That passage in the Bible that
speaks of modesty speaks of lifting up the men, lifting up
holy hands unto God, and like manner also that women adorn
themselves in modest apparel. How can our men come into the
churches of today and lift up holy hands when the women are
are on the pulpit immodest? That's why some women can mouth
their husbands and ignore the clear command to reverence their
husband and listen. Have have a home that's out of
order for the sake of carnality, unwholesome strife in the
church, bitterness, conflict. Even the face of some Christians
you can't even stand to see, just sight of them just starts
to produce feelings in your heart that are contrary to the
word of God. But it's it all goes back to a
love for Jesus. That's why your Bible reading is
as dry as a bone. No love for Jesus.
That's why Christians can start to rob God.
That's why soul winning efforts can be curtailed and, and cut
back. And you don't get out there and
and, and and and, and put that literature out and knock on
those doors and talk to those coworkers like you once did.
The problem isn't socialism, it's not communism, it's not
Catholicism, it's not liberalism or modernism.
It's cold dead fundamentalism, friend.
And we need to love the Lord Jesus like we did at the 1st you
if. You, if you met the Savior I met
there was something in here warm and you loved him and it was
fervent. It was real and not just a
feeling, but it was it was backed up by action.
We're in danger of having our Candlestick removed when we
won't aim to get back there. Friend, turn to Matthew, chapter
24. Keep your place.
In Revelation chapter 2, Christ prophesied that this would
happen. And we we certainly see the
beginning of this in our own lifetime.
We see it all around us. And I do believe there's a
further fulfillment that will be seen in the future, but we see
this right now. Look at Matthew chapter 24,
verse #12 Matthew 2412, The Bible says.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
wax cold. The good thing is that Jesus
still speaks to his churches through his messengers.
And the rebuke we need is simply to get back to loving Jesus like
we used to. And our doctrine won't change,
but our practice will. It'll change.
It'll be more in line with what the Lord wants us to be.
So point #3 how does a church get back to their first love?
Praise God, we can get it back. I love that old song for revival
can happen, it can happen. Jesus gave the church at Ephesus
some advice. Get this some advice in the form
of a command. OK, I'm giving you some advice,
but you better do it. Look at Revelation, chapter 2,
verse #5 Revelation chapter 2, verse #5 The Bible says,
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and
do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and
will remove thy Candlestick out of his place, except thou
repent. Here it is they were to
remember. Repent.
And repeat, remember, repent, repeat.
A good church, a sound church, a zealous church, rock rib, but
ready to have their Candlestick removed.
Remember, repent, repeat number one, remember, remember,
remember what therefore from whence thou art fallen.
That is the first step to revival.
God is saying in His Word that He wants you to remember what it
was like before when you were on fire.
The prodigal son, the Bible tells us, remembered.
He thought. He thought about what it was
like back home when he could eat.
The food was good, it was good. Remember when the food was good
at church and you weren't mad at what the preacher was saying,
but you ate it and you assimilated it and it made you
better? Wasn't it better when the
preaching of the Word of God thrilled your soul and broke
through that pride and that preaching you that that that
preaching brought peace and joy and strength and purity?
Wasn't it? But didn't you sleep better at
night? When you?
Remember those days back when
you were really right with God? How much cheerful did you wake
up in the morning? Remember what it was like to be
really right with God? Remember how sweet it is to sit
at the feet of Jesus like Mary did.
It must be easier to think of of death to come and and the valley
of the shadow of death when you can remember eternity in heaven
and you love Jesus. We have to remember.
Remember #2 repent, repent. Verse #5 Remember therefore,
from whence thou art call fallen, and repent.
Sin used to grieve us. Repentance is a godly sorrow for
sin that leads us to forsake sin.
Isaiah preached it. He said, Seek ye the Lord while
he may be found, Call ye upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have
mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Repent, repent A sorrow for our sin.
It used to grieve us. Remember.
Yes, Ezekiel cried it out in his day.
Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions.
So iniquity shall not be your ruin.
Cast away from you all your transgressions.
Why? Whereby ye have transgressed and
make you a new heart and a new spirit.
Churches today know more about repentant recreation than they
do repentance. And I'm just saying, go back in
your mind's eye and remember when sin used to grieve you.
We need to be grieved about our backsliding.
Grieve to the point where we look back to God.
Stop blaming people. Yeah.
Come. On.
Blame the one in the mirror. We're the ones who've grown
cold. We're the ones who've been
backslidden. Repent, be humble and sincere.
Then last repeat verse #5 says do the first works show the
Savior the same love you did when you gave him your life.
First thing I think when I think about the 1st works as prayer,
remember when you went into your prayer closet and there was a
real awareness of the presence of God?
You remember that I believe we're so much concerned today
about our churches being air conditioned in prayer
conditioned and we don't give the emphasis to prayer.
And one of the things I get to do is preach at the Pacific
Garden Mission where Unshackle is recorded.
And I'll go now preach to 2 or 300 or 400 homeless guests
there. And I remember when I was a bus
kid and my youth pastor would take me there.
And before the preaching services, the, the preachers
would get together and they would pray and they would get a
hold of God and they would ask for God's power.
And, and, and they don't, they don't do that anymore.
It, it's just the show. And they've got the charismatic
music that they, we don't allow that when we go there.
We take over the service, but they use all of that stuff and
it's gone by the wayside and they don't have the prayer
meetings before the preaching. And I'm just saying we have to
get back to the first works and make prayer real.
Big friend, soul winning. If some of you witnessed like
you did when you first got saved, you'd be such a nuisance
for the devil and God would use you to bring sons and daughters
to glory. Cults can give their all and
true Christians cannot. That same day we were on the
street corner and, and the guys came by.
Hail Satan. Some Mormons came by on their
bikes. OK, you know, these, these these
young guys on bikes and white shirts and, and Elvis this and
that and they screamed out Jesus.
They kept on, right? I'm thinking, you know, what was
that? But they're talking about a
false Jesus. But they're not.
Ashamed of it. And we who know the real Christ
remember a time in our life when we were compelled to give out a
tract. Now it's an inconvenience that
old zeal can be regained. For when we lose Holy Ghost
power and Holy Ghost fire, men go to hell fire.
We must intensify our soul winning efforts.
Third, the first works love for soul.
Hot preaching. Soul hot preaching this is just
about gone and God gave you some this week by by a brother
Shifflin. You know what that was that was
soul hot preaching. If you didn't love that,
something's wrong with you. Friend and pastor all minds us
just preaching his heart out and we can just.
Sit there like. OK, you try to shake me, you try
to move me when you lose your love for soul.
Hot preaching, my friend. You're a Candlestick about to be
removed. We now have a love for snack bar
preaching, that preaching that'll just tie us over.
What does a snack for? It just ties us over not not
really fill us up. You can tell a lot about a
Christian by what kind of preaching they like.
It's simple. The first works.
What good things were you doing that you don't do anymore?
And you get back to that He that hath an ear, let them hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches.
We're losing so many candlesticks in this hour.
And what do we do when a church's Candlestick is is
evidently removed? And what do you do?
I think you close the doors down and reopen it as a new church.
Keep the building, but but a new church and and trying to jump
start a church that the candlesticks already been
removed. Maybe it's almost time to start
all over friend. Perhaps your church is sound
like the church at Ephesus and I believe it is to to the to the
glory of God, to the credit of a hard working, soul loving pastor
and his wife and family. We're we're looking at a sound
church. It's very evident this church is
has matured in the year that I have been gone and it come back
and you've grown numerically but more than that I see maturity in
this church and this is a sound church going in the right
direction sound but that doesn't mean that it's safe can have all
that in order you lose that love and this is the thing that
scares me quickly. Jesus says quickly.
Remember, Sampson didn't even know that this that his strength
was gone. Quickly he'll come and remove
thy Candlestick, except thou repent, pastor.
Heads bowed and eyes closed. Because I want you to think of
something, and I don't want you to be thinking of anything else.
We're looking at anybody else when I ask you this question.
Because this is the thought that kept going through my mind when
he was preaching. If everyone in this church was
just like you, would our Candlestick be removed?
If everyone in this church was exactly where you are when it
comes to being on fire for God, When it comes to having your
first love. When it comes to doing the
things that he preached about tonight, if everyone in this
church was just like you, where would our Candlestick be?
Would he have to remove it? Because the truth is, you are
the church. You are the church.
You can have all the things that he mentioned.
You can have a pastor that leads in the right direction.
You can have people around you that are doing some of the
things that are right. But if the whole church is not
moving in that direction, that's the Candlestick.
That's the Candlestick that's removed is the church.
And does God remove it when there's one or two or five left?
I don't know. But I don't want to get to the
point where we have to find out if everybody was just like you,
would we have a Candlestick or would he have to remove it?
Father, I thank you for the message.
Thank you for the reminder that it is.
Even in a, in a good church, even in a place where things are
happening, even in a place where there's a lot of emotion and a
lot of busyness, our Candlestick can be removed.
God, may it never be said about Mount Victory Baptist Church
that you had to come and take the Candlestick away because we
were a church in name only. We didn't have the power.
We left our first love. May you help us.
Thank you for all you do in Jesus name, Amen.
As the piano plays. If God spoke to your heart
tonight, you come.