Welcome to the Liberty Baptist sermon archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty, Baptist
Church in Eastern Massachusetts. You can find out more about us
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message from God's word will be a blessing to you.
I was at Shaw's today, and I needed to grab something on the
way here in the morning. And I saw a worker who was
outside and he had a vest on, but the same time, he had a
t-shirt that was, I guess provided to him by Shaw's.
And the T-shirt said this, on the back, it said, ask me how to
save, ask me, how to say. And I have a, my mind works in
very odd ways, and I just really wanted to walk up to him and
say, How do I save? How do I save?
And I know what the answer was. Because I saw his face, it would
have been this either. I don't know what you're talking
about or probably get lost. One of the two was probably what
he was going to ask, but they asked me how to say that.
That's what it said on the back. And I thought I'm not going to
ask you how to say because I just looked at your countenance.
I looked at the way that he was, and I thought, wow, I don't
think a conversation with him other than, being able to say,
do you know, Jesus Christ your savior.
Your was really the only conversation that he needed at
that very moment. And listen, I don't know what he
was going through at that moment.
I don't know. I mean, look, he was getting
carts outside, you just didn't seem to have a lot of Joy, but
just the idea he was asking people, the shirt.
It was at least, hey, talk to me.
I want to tell you about this and there was obviously, from
just the countenance that was not a conversation that he
wanted to have. Well actually see a connection
here in Revelation chapter number 2 because in Revelation
chapter number 2 Revelation chapter number 3, we're talking
about the things that are the churches that were open alive
and present. During the time of John the
Revelator, having this Revelation from God, on the Isle
of Patmos. And the first one is the church
at Ephesus, it's familiar to us because we have a whole epistle
that is about Chapter 2 beginning in verse
number one, where it says, this unto the angel of the Church of
Ephesus, write these things saith.
He that holdeth the Seven Stars in his right hand, who walketh
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks that we found out
in chapter one, a couple weeks ago, that's Jesus Christ.
So he is the one who upholds the churches verse 2.
I Know, Thy works and thy Labour, and thy patience.
And how thou canst? Not bear them, which are evil.
And now, it's tried them, which say they are Apostles.
Fossils and are not and Hast found them.
Liars, and has born and has patience, and for my name's sake
Hast, laboured and Hast not fainted.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou Hast
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 will remove thy Candlestick,
out of his place except thou repent.
But this thou Hast that, thou hatest the Deeds of the
Nicolaitans, which I Also hate he that hath an ear.
Let him hear what the spirit says, unto the churches to him,
that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which
is in the midst of the paradise of God.
So before we get into what's going on in Ephesus, we really
need to consider the seven churches in general, that we're
going to find in Revelation Chapter 2, Revelation chapter
number 3, because these seven churches are going to be what
we're going to cover in the seven messages that are
upcoming. Church a city, a sermon and it's
important for us to understand this section that goes over the
things which are and I think Revelation chapter number 2 in
Revelation. Chapter number 3 are important
because it shows us that God not only cared about the message but
he also cared about the people who were going to hear the
message. Because remember Revelation was
written to these seven churches. And so it's not just that he
cares about the message itself. He cares about the people who
hear the message and that still True today.
And these are seven literal churches that were in several or
seven literal cities in Asia Minor, which is what we would
call turkey today. They represent a variety of
peoples of economies and of situations.
Each of these places historically were quite
different from one another. They was not a lot of
similarities between these seven churches and it's kind of the
same way with churches in general today.
Even like-minded churches that are preaching, right?
And they're doing right. You know, our church has a very
different feel than Lighthouse Baptist Church in Holbrook, and
if you were to go to Lifeline Baptist Church in Haverhill,
you'd find, it's a little bit different there as well.
Now, same God, Same Spirit, but it's just a little bit different
because, you know, we have different places, Easton's a
much different place than Holbrook, and overlooks, a much
different place than Haverhill. And so, because of that, there
are some differences and it's the same with these churches,
same God, God, the same word of God, but there are some
differences. And we're going to explore some
of that in Chapter 2 and chapter number 3 and the structure of
the letter or the, the message to each church.
And remember, it really to each pastor of each church is the
same. There's a little bit of
deviation depending on the church, but it's basically the
same no matter what, Jesus always gives a commendation to
the church. He always gives a complaint to
the church and then he gives him a charge.
Basically says this, here's what's going.
Well, here's what's not going well and this is what you need
to fix. Now, there's a little bit of
deviation. Like I said, depending on the
church at times. But basically, this is what
you're going to see with each church, and it's the outline.
We're going to use seven times in a row over the next seven
messages, a commendation, what's right?
A complaint, what's wrong and then the charge, how to make it
right? So, knowing all that and
understanding all that, we understand there with brings us
to Ephesus tonight. And this is where we are in our
text looking at the church. That is in Ephesus, and I will
say it would be really interesting and it would be
really Interesting in a way to be able to go through each City
and do a deep historical dive on what Ephesus was like and what
kind of City it was and to go through because there's so much
historical information on Ephesus and on Smyrna and on
thyatira laodicea and the rest. However that's not what we're
going to do during the series. Now I'm going to give you enough
background about each City to be able to give us some context
about what Jesus is saying to the church.
However, These are lessons that are college, you know, Seminary
type lectures about what Ephesus was like or what Philadelphia
was like. That's really not what we're
trying to get across. We're trying to get across
something that's less academic and something that's more
heartfelt. That's really what preaching is,
isn't it goes right to the heart?
It we're going to teach you what was going on in those cities.
But really, we want you to understand that what was going
on, those cities could really help us understand better.
ER What's Happening Here in our text because the text is what's
most important. Listen, if you understand about
Ephesus or not in the future as a city historically, that's not
the end of the world. But what I do want you to
understand is what's here in Revelation, Chapter 2 verses 1
through 7 tonight. That is my most important goal.
And while the other can help us, give a little bit of color and
understanding to what it is. This the word of God must what
shine through now. What do we know about the church
at Ephesus? I just mentioned a few moments
ago, its first men, In the book of Acts in Acts chapter 19 in
Acts chapter 20, Paul went to Ephesus on the third missionary
journey. Now, on the third missionary
journey, it ended up that he was there in Ephesus for three and a
half years. It was really the place that he
stayed the longest, as far as we can tell upon any of his
missionary Journeys. He was there during the third
missionary journey at the beginning, and it was one of his
final stops. At the end of the third
missionary journey in Acts chapter 20, when he gives that
really heart-wrenching. Well to the elders the pastor's
that were there at the church of Ephesus because he knows he's
going to Jerusalem and he knows that there's going to be
difficulties that are waiting in there in Jerusalem and he knows
he's never going to see these people at Ephesus again this
side of heaven. And so we have this glimpse of
Ephesus in Acts chapter 19 Acts chapter 20.
We also get some understanding about Ephesus from the book of
Ephesians because the book of Ephesians was written to the
people of Ephesus by Paul. So while we're not going, Polly
into the background of Ephesus. There are some things that would
be helpful to you, understand. First of all, it was a very
prestigious City. It was a prestigious City.
It was considered the Jewel of the Eastern, Roman Empire
meeting in the Asian quarters of the Roman Empire.
It was called the first and greatest Metropolis of Asia,
it's great Harbor, brought a Cosmopolitan atmosphere to the
city as it became a gateway to the east, it's great, Harbor
allowed ships to come in and bring goods and it's roads
branched out many times from Ephesus to the East and so
Merchants would be able to bring things from the East to Ephesus
where they would get imported to Europe and vice versa.
So, in many ways it was a very prestigious City more so really
than any of the other seven churches cities that will follow
or the six that will follow it was a very political City for
its service to the Empire. It was considered to be a quote
unquote free. Now that means this that they
were able even though they were under the Roman government to
have some level of self autonomy, they were able to
govern themselves. In fact, the Roman army was not
garrisoned with in Ephesus because they were a free City,
there's an important point because in Acts chapter 19, you
remember, they had this great gathering together because
everyone was upset that Paul was preaching and people getting
saved and they thought that people weren't going to worship
the god. It is Diana anymore and they
thought their economy was going to Crater because of that.
And they gathered together and in this great Arena and they
said, great is Diana of the Ephesians great is the Diana of
the Ephesians over and over and over again.
They said this and it was unlawful assembly and and the
city manager, if you will came in and said this, listen, our
status is going to be called into question if we don't
disperse and what they were talking about is their status as
a Re City because they were such an important city.
They had this wonderful status as a political free City, but
they were prestigious, they were political, but here's probably
what's most important. They were Pagan.
They were a pagan City. Its pagan worship was well
document. I just talked about Diana.
A lot of times if you do study on the city of Ephesus, you'll
also read of Artemis. Artemis is the Greek name is
synonymous with Diana. The the Roman name for the
goddess of fertility? She was everything in Ephesus.
Her Temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
So you can imagine how much of life in Ephesus gathered around.
In fact, they had a whole month of holidays, just to celebrate
the fertility goddess of Artemis or Diana.
It Was Written of Is greek temple or this Roman Temple
rather to Diana to Artemis consider this antipater of sidon
wrote this. I have set eyes on the wall of
lofty babbling on which is a road for chariots and the statue
of Zeus by the healthiest and the Hanging Gardens and the
Colossus of the sun and the huge labor of the high pyramids and
the vast Tomb of the mausolus. But when I saw the house of
Artemis, that mounted to the clouds, Those other Marvels lost
their brilliancy and I said low apart from Olympus.
The Sun never looked on anything so Grand, I don't know about
you. But when I think of the
pyramids, I think of something that's pretty great, when you
consider the labor, that it would have taken the expertise
that would have taken to be able to complete its construction.
And here is antipater, the one who compiled the list of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
And he said this, I mean the pyramids are great. 8, but the
temple, to Artemis, the temple to Diana is unparalleled other
than Mount Olympus and grease. That's an amazing thing.
And so when we understand that, this was a very Pagan city that
was overflowing with false worship.
Here's why this is important, and I want to get this tonight
in the midst of all. This a church was born.
In the midst of all. This a church thrived and that's
a helpful to me tonight to remember that because we live in
a pretty Pagan world today. I mean, we live in a pretty
difficult situation today for it.
I mean, my mind's about to explode, some of the things that
I look at and see an effect, I wish I didn't see it but you
kind of have to see it because you have to know what's going
on. I just saw it today.
The that Lego came out with 26 letters.
Learn the PCS of the lgbtq movement from Lego.
Targeted at children to teach them about words, like
transitioning and queer and non-binary.
And I see things like that. And I'll be honestly, there's a
part of me that says How do churches grow anymore?
Who's going to, listen to The Gospel anymore?
And listen, that's just one example of about 100 that I
could give you that. Do I need to give you an example
because you live in the same environment that I do.
But here's what I know in an environment, very similar and
Ephesus, a church was planted in environment.
Very similar in Ephesus, a church grew and a church
flourished and it still can happen today.
Because To a lost and Dying World.
So, under all these conditions, here's the church at Ephesus,
and they get a letter from God, encouraging them.
And this pastor this Angel, it says, of the Church of Ephesus
encouraging them to move ahead. So, let's look at these three
things quickly tonight. The first is this, the
Commendation number one, the commendation.
Look at verse number to look at the good things.
Jesus Christ has to say about this pastor in this church.
I Know Thy works and thy Labour. What is that saying they were
doing something? There's a lot of churches that
are like the old preacher used to say, they're not Standing on
the Promises. They're just sitting on the
premises, they're not really doing a whole lot, and it says,
this, they are having work, and they're having labor.
So that's a commendation right there.
I Know, Thy patience. Wow.
How many of us can say we have patients from the Lord, you
know, you know, where patience comes from trials and testing.
James chapter one, how many of us want to have Patience.
We want it. We want it.
Now, the problem is that we don't always have it as we
should, but they had patients and that thou canst not bear
them, which are evil, and not to get deep into that phrase and
the wording there, they kept now canst not bear them.
The idea of this. I think, when we think of that,
it's almost like, oh, I can't even bear it.
Oh, I can't even stand it. I can't put up with evil, but
that's not really what it's saying.
And I think that's important because verse number 3 uses the
same word, And it gives a better understanding the context to
Bear something, is to carry it to Bear.
Something means to lift it and to take it.
And so what are they doing? Thou canst.
Not bear them, which are evil. What are they not doing?
They are not picking up carrying dispersing evil, they lived evil
ever. They had an evil everywhere
around them. They couldn't get away from it.
You couldn't get away from it by living in Ephesus.
Do you feel like that today? We can't get away from the evil.
You go to the grocery store. There's evil you go.
Walmart. There's evil inside because
Walmart although anyway, right, we we met you at Walmart, so
that's good. Alright, so yeah, that's it.
That's the best story I've ever heard from Walmart.
When were there we met? Jamie at Walmart.
So see, good things can happen at Walmart.
Otherwise Evil. All right, but listen, anywhere
you turn on the television, there's evil turn on the radio.
There's evil your phone evil. It's everywhere, you can't get
away from it, but here's what they said, you're not carrying
it with you, you're not taking it along.
You're not, it's not a barn. Kalon the whole of your life.
And I think that's the way evil can be sometimes.
That's why we need things like Revival.
That's why we need to just confess our sins before the
Lord. It's scraping that evil off the
Barnacle, the whole of our life. And so you're not bearing that
work that they didn't put up with these things.
That's a blessing now has tried them which say they are Apostles
and are not and Hast found them Liars.
So there were some they came to the Church of Ephesus and said
this, we're just like poll Now he deals with this in Ephesians
and really Paul dealt with this pretty much anywhere.
He went As he left, other people would swoop in and say, you
don't really listen to Paul. We are the enlightened ones.
Listen that happened after the first missionary journey.
That's why they had to go to Jerusalem.
And the church Council took place there.
And so the Ephesians had these false teachers come in who said
they were Apostles and they said this.
All right, you're an apostle. Let's talk to you a little bit
about the word, but let's talk to you a little bit about the
things that are right. And they tried them, that didn't
mean they put them on trial. But they took their words and
they proved them, they saved them.
That's the really, the definition of the word meaning
to see if it was truthful or not and it goes back to the Book of
Daniel, where it was said of belt to shazzer thou Hast been
weighed in the balances and found wanting.
They found that these false Apostles came in and you know
what they did with the false Apostles.
When they came in they checked him out.
They check their Doctrine out and you know what they said you
can't stay here. You got to go.
By the way, those false teachers are still out there today, those
false teachers still have a desire even to come into smaller
Ministries in a smaller churches and to teach false Doctrine,
they take people off to the side.
They invite people to private home Bible studies and they try
to teach their false Doctrine into pedal, these different
things. I'm not saying there's anything
wrong with a home Bible study, not in the least what I'm saying
is what they often try to do is to separate people from the
flock and then once they're separated, that's when they
attack. And they said, we don't put up
with this, we don't want You know what God says this, I
commend you for that. I commend you for checking the
doctrine of those who come in. By the way.
This isn't really what the text is saying is probably not
something good to say before you say something in the Pulpit but
I think the application is true. You need to check what I'm
saying. It's important there have been
times and Seasons. I've had someone within the last
month. That's come up to me and said
pastor. You've said this before church,
I've heard you say it twice. Can you explain to me why it is?
Because it doesn't sound right to me.
And you know what I had to do some study, you know what I
found out? I was not correct and the person
I think that was talking to me or the person that was talking
to me is correct. And so I'm going to address that
within the next couple of weeks because it's something that I
said that was wrong. And someone said this, I'm
weighing this in the balance and it just doesn't make sense cut.
When this person came up to me, they were a little bit nervous.
They didn't want to sell it and they came with a good spirit.
They didn't come Um, in Anger, they didn't come in, it came to
good spirit. I said, listen, don't be nervous
because in the end I want to be, right?
I don't want to be right because it's me I want to be right
because of what the Lord says. If I'm saying something wrong, I
want to know. So I can say it the right way
because I want you to know, when you come to Liberty Baptist
Church that I'm doing my dead level best to say, what the Lord
says, that's a blessing. This is what they did.
They were true bereans in that sense.
Look at verse number 3 and has borne.
There's that word again and has born now that phrase By itself,
may seem kind of on you have born now.
Remember although we look at this as Jesus Christ, talking to
the church has specifically talking to the pastor of the
church is the angels of the churches.
He's saying this, you Pastor have born.
Now the definition that word born to bear or to carry What is
something that a pastor is supposed to do?
To bear or carry the burdens of others.
Now. Am I the chief burden Bearer?
I'm not just like, I'm not the chief Shepherd, come The Under
Shepherd, I'm the under burden Bearer, but it is true that
there are burdens that sometimes I have to carry as a pastor.
And I must do it in a way that's honoring and pleasing to the
Lord, their repair request. Some of you have that no one
else in the church knows, but me.
And that can be a burden at times.
But you know what? God says, if you bear that
properly, I'll bless you for it. I commend you for it.
And by the way, there are times you have to do that as well.
Maybe for something in your family or situation you're going
through, God will bless you for that.
You has born and I think this Bears it out the next and has
patience. What I love about that is that
this is mentioned twice, it was mentioned in the previous verses
mentioned in verse. Number 3, has board as patient
for my sake, namesake has labored And not fainted.
There it is again, laboured and not fainted, there's many who
labor and then they stop. Listen.
If we could tell you about all the people who labor even at
Liberty Baptist Church and I and I'm not casting any kind of
remark on just anyone who's left here because people have left
for lots of different reasons. But there are some who just got
really excited and then after a while in the, in the work of the
Lord, they just got tired. They got weary and they quit
some, don't go to church anymore.
Some so some have just decided that it's not worth it to serve
the Lord. What a Sad thing that is, listen
every day, we've got to decide for ourselves.
I'm going to labor again for the Lord today and not faint.
How do we not faint? Well, here's how we do it by not
drawing Upon Our Own Strength. If I labor for the Lord in My
Own Strength, I will faint. But if I labor for the Lord in
the strength that the Lord has given me, I will always have
power. it's so it says you have labored and not faint it, and
then go down to verse number 6, where it says this, but this
thou Hast that, thou hatest the Deeds of the Nicolaitans, which
I also hate, but that was hey, When I get through this tonight,
all right, but this thou Hast that thou hatest the Deeds of
the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
There's a commendation. God says, here's something I
hate and you hate it too, that's good.
Now that might sound kind of odd to us today, but can I remind
you that God hates sin. Sometimes we just need a
reminder that God hates sin. What should we do?
He hates him. We should hate sin.
It says Thou hatest the Deeds of the Nicolaitans.
I do find it. Interesting here that doesn't
say that they hate and they collations they the Deeds of the
Nicolaitans. I think there is an important
distinction to make why? Because they were to love them
with the love of Christ, in the sense that they are Desiring
them to be saved but he looks at the Deeds of the Nicolaitans and
said, I hate what they do. I want no part of what they do.
Now here's the question. Who are the new collections?
Who are they? Well, I've got some bad news for
you tonight. I don't know.
You hear that every once in a while.
The Book of Revelation, I don't know, I would rather just tell
you, I don't know, there's a lot of conjecture on who the nickel
ations are, but the nickel Asians are gonna be mentioned
again, here in chapter number three or later in chapter number
two, rather talking about pergamus, but I don't know
exactly who they are. Here's what I do.
Know, the nickel ations if you were to break down the etymology
of that word, what does it mean? The word Nick?
A 0 in Greek means to conquer. And The word layoffs, in Greek
means the people. So it's very likely that the
nickel ations were a group of people that wanted to conquer
other people within the church. Now, let's put a few connections
here, together, third, John verses, 9, and 10.
Say this, I wrote Under the church.
But diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them?
Receiveth us? Not wherefore if I Come.
I will remember his deeds which he doeth prating against us,
with malicious words and not content therewith.
Neither doth he himself received the Brethren and forbiddeth them
that wood and cast. It them out of the church.
In third, John John is dealing with this man died atrophies,
who has decided that he is going to take the authority in the
church over John, and he has taken it and not just taking the
authority over John, but he has assumed an authority.
That was not given to him over the people.
So if I was to make an assumption here, and this is the
best that I can tell you here tonight and I think, there are
others who also would believe this as well.
The nickel ations very well Could be the very beginning, the
seeds, if you will, of the division between the clergy and
the laity, the idea that there were different classes within
the church. Listen, I'm a pastor but I'm
still one of the people, the church just like you.
I am not of a different class than the rest of you.
It's why I hate the term motive. I don't like being called
reverend because the psalm say, holy and Reverend is his name,
and I'm not to be revered and Someone says it to me, I don't
correct them. I don't give them a, you know, a
real argument about why, but I am like you are I have been
given Authority by the Lord to lead this church, but at the
same time, I am not in a different class of people than
you are. Well, it's starting around 90,
100 AD between diotrephes. And now the Nick Elations, it
very well, could be that there is this class of clergy from
laity, which will end up being over the next 200 years.
Sore. So the doctrine of what is
called, Priestly assumption. The doctrine of.
Now, there is a priesthood that is exerting itself over the
people. Now, there are people.
You don't confess to God, you have no right to do that.
You have to go to the priest to confess.
Do you see where it starts? It starts from maybe a nickel
ation or nickel ation Spirit. Conquering the people and it's
that Spirit from three hundred or so, a d that will continue on
for some time in grow and fester.
And I believe this is a stark warning to avoid that.
And what? Is God say what does Jesus
Christ? Say to the Ephesians, you saw
that and you routed it out. You saw it.
And you realized we want no part of it.
By the way, that's still true today.
That's still true today. Some of you came from a
religious tradition that was similar to that, whether it was
the Catholic Church itself or Catholic Light Church, a
Protestant church like a Lutheran Church like I did, we
came from a place where sins were confessed to another man.
But listen, I have to confess my sins to God, you don't want to
confess to me, but we see that the Ephesians say, no, we're not
having any part of this. In fact, we hate this and it's a
reminder, it maybe this is where we'll stop tonight because well,
I'm not going to rush through it for the sake of rushing through.
There's just so much here. We need to love what God loves
and hate. What God hates.
And I'm afraid far too many times is Believers.
It's the opposite. There's things that God cannot
abide and we can't get enough of And I wonder if those things
that makes God heartbreak that are shown on television that we
end up ingesting ourselves, what that does to the heart of God.
Those things that end up being downloaded on computers, or on
two phones. That breaks God's heart things
that he hates because he knows what it does to his people.
And he knows that it draws people who are not saved even
farther from him, but we ingest it.
By the download we ingested by the GB.
What does that do to the heart of God?
But here's a church that was commended, this is a doctrine
that God hated and they hated it too.
They worked. They labored.
They were patient. There was a lot of good things
at the church of Ephesus did there was something that they
didn't do as well. That has to do with that guy.
With Shaw's that we'll talk about next week, I'll have to
leave. You hanging wondering what the
application is. I'll see if I can find him and
talk to him about the Lord between now and next week.
But the meantime let's be like the church at Ephesus and love
what God loves and hate what God hates.
Let's make sure that when we see those doctrines, those things,
those fallacies that are being taught to our children, to
ourselves that we say, we don't want any part of that.
Oh, but shouldn't you be open-minded when it comes to
sin? I'm pretty close minded.
When it comes to saying I'm just as closed-minded as can be and
when I'm open-minded to sin, it gets me into a lot of trouble
and it can cause me to end up leading other people into wrong
directions as well. So let's be Ephesians in the
sense that they had wonderful discernment.
They worked. They didn't bear evil.
They wouldn't carry it around with them and they didn't want
to disseminate to other people. They just wanted it away from
them so that they could do them in.
Mystery of the work of the Lord. Thank you for listening to this
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at info.
At my Liberty Baptist dot org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at eight hundred Washington Street and East and
Massachusetts may the Lord bless you as you grow in his word.
Thank you for listening to this sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info. At my Liberty Baptist dot org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at eight hundred Washington
Street and East and Massachusetts may the Lord bless
you as you grow in his word.