SPEAKER_02: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: Well, a very good morning to all of you.
SPEAKER_01: If you would open your Bibles at Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: To the angel of the Church of Ephesus, write the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
SPEAKER_01: I know your works, your toil, your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have found them false.
SPEAKER_01: I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
SPEAKER_01: But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first.
SPEAKER_01: If not I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
SPEAKER_01: Yet this I have yet this you have.
SPEAKER_01: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
SPEAKER_01: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
SPEAKER_01: To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of trees, up in Northern California where we lived, there was a beautiful orchid right next to close to our home.
SPEAKER_01: And it was about this time of the year that we started seeing the blossoms, the pink and white blossoms coming out.
SPEAKER_01: A pretty sight.
SPEAKER_01: And we would always drive past it and make a comment.
SPEAKER_01: And a few days later, we got there and all the trees were bulldozed over.
SPEAKER_01: Roots ripped out of the soil.
SPEAKER_01: I was very bothered about this, so I started asking.
SPEAKER_01: And so I went to ask one of the farmers, why would somebody rip out all these trees?
SPEAKER_01: And so the guy said to me, Look, uh, this orchard has become a liability to me.
SPEAKER_01: The input costs is more than the crop yields.
SPEAKER_01: So I had to rip it out and plant new trees.
SPEAKER_01: It seems very interesting that something that seems so alive and well was actually not productive, only to be ripped out of the soil a few days later.
SPEAKER_01: And this was indeed the case with this church in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_01: The church in Ephesus, I think, had much in common with these trees, which became a liability.
SPEAKER_01: They were in fact not producing the crop the Lord Jesus Christ desire for it.
SPEAKER_01: I have a little outline for you to help me better communicate this passage to you, and the passage I would outline as follows: the commendation, criticism, correction, caution, and then the comfort.
SPEAKER_01: Little background about the Church of Ephesus.
SPEAKER_01: It was in this economically thriving city at the seaport of Ephesus, and it had many religious shrines, including the temple, that grand temple of Artemis.
SPEAKER_01: Believe it or not, but this church was planted by the Apostle Paul and had some notable pastors.
SPEAKER_01: Timothy, Tychicus, and of course, later on, the Apostle John.
SPEAKER_01: This church was bustling with activities, and then this church was really good at defending biblical orthodoxy despite much persecution.
SPEAKER_01: This church was bustling with activity and vigorously pursuing doctrine and the truth, but the Lord Jesus was ready to uproot this church.
SPEAKER_01: This church was no longer fruitful because of one thing.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
SPEAKER_01: Tragically, this church ended up being uprooted because it failed to hear the cautions of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But first, let's look at the commendation and then the criticism and then the correction.
SPEAKER_01: And by looking at that, you will say to me, here is a paradox.
SPEAKER_01: Things just don't fit well.
SPEAKER_01: As Jesus does his analysis of the Church of Ephesus, he calls them to uphold doctrinal truth, but also to uphold biblical love without compromising one for the other.
SPEAKER_01: And some might say to me, that is impossible.
SPEAKER_01: That is a paradox.
SPEAKER_01: And hence the title of my message this morning is The Truth Love Paradox.
SPEAKER_01: First, let's look at the commendation.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus commends them with favorable words.
SPEAKER_01: He says there in verse 2, I know your deeds, your toil, and your patient endurance.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus commends this church for being active and even proactive and doing many things in his name.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus noticed their good works and the excellence in which they have done things thus far.
SPEAKER_01: He further commends them for their doctrinal integrity and biblical discernment, because it says there in verse 2, you have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them false.
SPEAKER_01: This is a discerning church.
SPEAKER_01: Indeed, this church at Ephesus had an unwavering commitment to what we would refer to as biblical orthodoxy and doctrinal fidelity, to the extent that they were suffering for it.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3, he says, I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus gave this church a glowing commendation for being unwilling to compromise or even capitulate under the pressures of a pluralistic society.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6, he says there, yet you hate this, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
SPEAKER_01: However, against the backdrop of a glowing review, the Lord Jesus does have this one criticism, and the criticism is that you don't love the way you used to love.
SPEAKER_01: But this I have against you, verse 4, that you have abandoned the love that you had initially.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus mournfully criticizes the church, for it might have become arrogant because of its sound doctrine, but it was sound asleep with regards to love.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus also mourned its sister church, the church of Pergamon, who boasted of love and tolerance, but were doctrinally becoming compromised.
SPEAKER_01: Both churches were in a mortal slumber and they were facing judgment.
SPEAKER_01: The axe was indeed against the root for both the Church of Ephesus and the Church of Pergamum.
SPEAKER_01: For every tree that does not produce fruit will be cut down, the Lord Jesus warns.
SPEAKER_01: So what is Jesus after here?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is after a church that is doctrinally astute but also alert about loving its people.
SPEAKER_01: Here's a corrective prescription that will follow, where Jesus gives a corrective action, a corrective prescription.
SPEAKER_01: And by all looks of it, it is counterintuitive and even paradoxical.
SPEAKER_01: Because he says, do what you have done so far, but think about love.
SPEAKER_01: And I would wonder what will happen today if we get some church growth strategist to do an assessment of the Church of Ephesus.
SPEAKER_01: But I wonder if they would not say something like this stop majoring on doctrine and begin majoring on love.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe a church growth consultant would come in and say, you've got to have this slogan, love unites, but doctrine divides.
SPEAKER_01: You see, people, your problem here is too much doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: Stop the doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: Start loving because love unites and doctrine divides.
SPEAKER_01: But that was not the corrective prescription of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is desirous of a church that loves people because of doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: You see, Jesus is not after a church here that loves people more than doctrine, neither is he after a church that loves people more than doctrine, or doctrine more than people, but he is desirous of a church that loves people because of doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: And so let's dig in to study the correction that Jesus gives them.
SPEAKER_01: How to correct their trajectory would be as follows.
SPEAKER_01: He says there you have to maintain your doctrinal integrity.
SPEAKER_01: It's no wonder because 1 Timothy 3 15 says that the church of the living God is the pillar and the support of truth.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wants this church to support and uphold biblical truth.
SPEAKER_01: But we should not forget that Jesus has in his mind that the church should be a lighthouse of love.
SPEAKER_01: John 13, he says, by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have a love for one another.
SPEAKER_01: Can you see it's not either or, it is both.
SPEAKER_01: Truth and love, love and truth.
SPEAKER_01: It is both.
SPEAKER_01: Both is to be upheld without compromising one for the other.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus desires a church that loves people because of doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: And these seem so paradoxical.
SPEAKER_01: It seems so paradoxical.
SPEAKER_01: And how can it be possible that truth and love can be maintained at the same time?
SPEAKER_01: Well, a few years ago I was at Salmonary and we were very poor, and one day this family gave us a wall clock.
SPEAKER_01: And I was very delighted about this wall clock because it was beautiful and it was expensive, I think, and so I took it home.
SPEAKER_01: Honey, look what I got you.
SPEAKER_01: We put the clock on the wall, everything mounted, and so on and so on.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the next morning at about 6.30, I notice we're not going past 6.30.
SPEAKER_01: It just stays there.
SPEAKER_01: And the hour marker is actually moving, but the minute marker or the minute hand just stands there.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, what's going on here?
SPEAKER_01: So I take the thing apart.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it just came dislodged there a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: So I put it back.
SPEAKER_01: Next morning, same thing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, we're either gonna run a half an hour early or half an hour late, but let's just leave it as it is because I'm kind of getting fed up with opening up this the the this clock uh after the third or fourth day.
SPEAKER_01: And eventually my wife said, Look, this thing is worth nothing.
SPEAKER_01: It's not worth a decoration because uh, you know, it's broken.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not worth like a timepiece, it's worth nothing because it we have to guess.
SPEAKER_01: If the minute marker doesn't work, what what what what does it help?
SPEAKER_01: Can you see where I'm going here?
SPEAKER_01: Truth and love is like the hands on a clock.
SPEAKER_01: It's like a hands on a clock.
SPEAKER_01: You can't have one lagging behind the other, they have to work together in harmony.
SPEAKER_01: How do we practically love out truth and love side by side?
SPEAKER_01: John fifteen will give us some indication.
SPEAKER_01: John 15.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 12, Jesus says, This is my commandment that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
SPEAKER_01: But then in verse 15, Jesus says, For all I have heard from my father I've made known to you.
SPEAKER_01: That is teaching doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: And then in verse 17, he goes back to saying, These things I command you so that you will love one another.
SPEAKER_01: Can you see the sequence there, dear brothers and sisters?
SPEAKER_01: Firstly, Jesus commands his people to love one another.
SPEAKER_01: But then he says, You can love one another because I have taught you doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, in fact, the purpose of me teaching you this doctrine is so that you will love one another.
SPEAKER_01: There's a bit of a circular reasoning here, but the one has a foundation in the other, and then the other spurs on the next.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, what Jesus is saying here in John 15 is before we can love God and love people, we must first know and understand biblical doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: But doctrine in itself should lead people to love one another.
SPEAKER_01: Some people often say, well, we why do we need doctrine?
SPEAKER_01: It's much simpler than that.
SPEAKER_01: Love God and love people.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I was on the internet and I found a few churches with that slogan.
SPEAKER_01: We are here about loving God and loving people.
SPEAKER_01: And then that is absolutely great.
SPEAKER_01: I have no problem with that.
SPEAKER_01: But let's hear what this one seminary professor, Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Tom Hex, has to say.
SPEAKER_01: He says Christianity does not begin by telling us to love other people.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity also doesn't begin with a command to love God or others.
SPEAKER_01: It begins with the sweet doctrine of God's love.
SPEAKER_01: Unless truth is revealed to people first, from the pages of Scripture, there will be no understanding of what love is really about.
SPEAKER_01: 1 John 4, 19 says, we love because he loved us first.
SPEAKER_01: You see, we need to have an understanding of God's love before we are able to love him and love others.
SPEAKER_01: How do we expect people to live out loving God and loving people prior to teaching them about the human condition and Christ's sacrifice and Christ's obedience?
SPEAKER_01: How do we ever understand what love is outside the doctrine of atonement?
SPEAKER_01: For there is no greater love than this.
SPEAKER_01: That someone laid down his life for his friends.
SPEAKER_01: You see, before we can start loving God and loving other people, and even to love on people, we need to understand some basic doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: People won't ever understand how a loving God can love a sinful people unless they're given the truths of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: For this is love in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_01: You see, we get our understanding of love from the pages of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: It comes from understanding of doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: There is no concept of love without understanding the good news, but there is no concept of love either if we don't begin with the bad news.
SPEAKER_01: There are none who are righteous, not even one.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the bad news.
SPEAKER_01: Christ dying for us while we were yet sinners, that is the good news.
SPEAKER_01: Where do we find these?
SPEAKER_01: In the pages of scripture.
SPEAKER_01: If churches comply to this love unites, doctrine divides mantra, they will leave people short from a real understanding what divine love is.
SPEAKER_01: You see, any attempt at loving God and loving people without a doctrinal foundation will result in carnal sentimentality.
SPEAKER_01: Carnal sentimentality.
SPEAKER_01: It is a love that will stop short of showing people true love.
SPEAKER_01: Here are the words of 1 Timothy 1 5.
SPEAKER_01: And Pastor Jeremy pointed this out to me in the Christian Standard Bible, which I've got it on the overhead for you.
SPEAKER_01: It says, now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.
SPEAKER_01: What is the goal of teaching doctrine?
SPEAKER_01: Pops right out of the text.
SPEAKER_01: The goal of our instruction is love.
SPEAKER_01: There is no love unless there is a theological foundation first.
SPEAKER_01: Doctrinal foundation must be laid down first for people to understand love.
SPEAKER_01: But then doctrine by itself is not for the sake of doctrine, but it must lead us to love.
SPEAKER_01: Biblical doctrine is foundational, instrumental, but it is also the catalyst for loving God and loving the people of God.
SPEAKER_01: We can say it this way: agape love is formed and framed by doctrinal truth, but truth itself is an incubator of love.
SPEAKER_01: If you have a classroom and you are teaching someone the deep doctrines of Scripture, it's not a classroom, it is an incubator for love.
SPEAKER_01: You have purified yourself by your obedience to the truth so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other.
SPEAKER_01: From a pure heart, love one another constantly.
SPEAKER_01: If we surrender and submit ourselves to biblical truth, the result of that should be sincere brotherly love.
SPEAKER_01: The purpose of doctrine is firstly to purify the heart, mind, and soul for the purpose of expressing it in loving affection for God and His people.
SPEAKER_01: Remember therefore where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, here in his correction of the Church of Ephesus, says to them, I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
SPEAKER_01: Then he says, Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works that you did at first.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is now talking about motivation.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about the primary motivation for studying and teaching doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: And thinking of this Ephesian church, some 40 years into its existence, there's this cry out and criticism against the motivations in which people were doing things.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the criticism is not about what they were doing, because Jesus says they do the works you did at first.
SPEAKER_01: Just keep on doing what you've done from the first day.
SPEAKER_01: But the concern is rather not what you are doing, but why are you doing it?
SPEAKER_01: Why are you doing it?
SPEAKER_01: Are you doing it?
SPEAKER_01: Are you motivated by a love for me?
SPEAKER_01: All this ministry, all this teaching, all this apologetics that you are doing.
SPEAKER_01: In the past, you did these things so very well because it was motivated by your love for me and your love for my people.
SPEAKER_01: This church, indeed, as pastor author Alexander Stroud comments, he says, their love for Christ and for one another had once motivated all they did.
SPEAKER_01: It brought joy, it brought creativity, freshness, spontaneity, and energy to their life and their work of ministry.
SPEAKER_01: But instead of being motivated by love from the heart, their works now had become perfunctory.
SPEAKER_01: They were going through the motions, still doing the same thing, but there was one thing they have forgotten.
SPEAKER_01: Love.
SPEAKER_01: Loving Christ and loving the people of Christ was the thing they have forgotten.
SPEAKER_01: So, what is the lesson here, dear brothers and sisters?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says to this church, you keep searching the scriptures, keep studying the scriptures, keep learning, keep teaching, be noble, Bereans, but remember this.
SPEAKER_01: At one point in time, you were primarily motivated by a love for me and a love for my people.
SPEAKER_01: My dear brothers and sisters, isn't it a bit of an infinite loop here?
SPEAKER_01: The consequences of studying doctrine and teaching of doctrine should be love.
SPEAKER_01: But the motivations for studying and teaching doctrine should be love.
SPEAKER_01: I think Ephesians 3, 17 really captures this idea.
SPEAKER_01: He says then verse 17 of chapter 3, it says, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and the width and the height and the depth of God's love.
SPEAKER_01: And to know Christ that surpasses knowledge so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
SPEAKER_01: A bit of an infinite loop here.
SPEAKER_01: The deeper we study Scripture, the deeper we get an understanding of the depth and the height and the length and the width of God's love.
SPEAKER_01: But in doing that, we become, or should become, more loving.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, all study of scripture, all teaching of scripture is for the purpose that we can know the length and the width and the height and the depth of God's love.
SPEAKER_01: So that the people of God can be firmly rooted in love.
SPEAKER_01: And one author states it very well.
SPEAKER_01: He says, truth taught must translate into people rushing to their feet in practical kindness, humble service, brotherly affection, fervent hospitality, and tangible expressions of love for one another.
SPEAKER_01: My brothers and sisters, have we seen in the teaching of scriptures and the study of scripture people rushing to their feet in expressions of love, kindness, service, hospitality, and tangible expressions of love for one another?
SPEAKER_01: In all reality, the deeper we plunge people into the depths of God's love, the greater the expression of love should be.
SPEAKER_01: Someone comes to me and says, Oh, brother, we're studying deep theology, deep.
SPEAKER_01: We go deep here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, great.
SPEAKER_01: How deep is your love?
SPEAKER_01: The deeper you go, the you if you mine deep, you're gonna find the depths of God's love.
SPEAKER_01: Which should make you turn to loving him more and love others.
SPEAKER_01: My dear brothers and sisters, motivation.
SPEAKER_01: Motivation is what it's all about here.
SPEAKER_01: He says there, do the works that you have done at first, but remember at some point, everything you did around here was primarily motivated by your love for me and your love for my people.
SPEAKER_01: You take love out of the picture, then Paul says we have become a noisy gone.
SPEAKER_01: My dear brothers and sisters, we might be teaching the same Sunday school classes, doing the same Bible study, uh hosting the same life groups for the past five or ten years.
SPEAKER_01: But have we noticed a deeper and greater connectedness with each other?
SPEAKER_01: Have we seen deeper fellowship within our groups, or is the the there less of a connection?
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps Jesus might say to us, go back.
SPEAKER_01: Go back to the good old days and see what motivated us.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews 10 24 speaks about a simple thing like church attendance.
SPEAKER_01: I never thought that church attendance has something to say about our love for one another.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews 10 24 says, Why do we come to church?
SPEAKER_01: We would say, Well, we're here to worship.
SPEAKER_01: Of course, Anton is a simple question.
SPEAKER_01: But Hebrews 10.24 says to us, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, we should not be neglecting coming to church.
SPEAKER_01: I would have never in the past connected faithful church attendance with love.
SPEAKER_01: You see, if we are driven by a love for God and love for the people of God, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be where the people of God is.
SPEAKER_00: And we can't wait.
SPEAKER_00: What day is it today?
SPEAKER_00: Monday, oh, still another six days.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's long.
SPEAKER_00: Can't wait.
SPEAKER_00: I want to love.
SPEAKER_00: I want to stir up people to love.
SPEAKER_00: You know, statistics.
SPEAKER_01: There's always statistics to prove a point.
SPEAKER_01: I understand that.
SPEAKER_01: But the point that I want to prove here is that they say that the average family considers attending church 20 Sundays out of the year as regular attendance.
SPEAKER_01: Well, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Pay your bills half of the year, see how that works out.
SPEAKER_01: My question is, based on that statistic, has life gotten busier or has love grown cold?
SPEAKER_01: Life is always busy.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there was a time that you had to work a pump to get water out of the ground, right?
SPEAKER_01: And milk a cow.
SPEAKER_01: Life has actually gotten very simpler, but we say, oh, life has gotten busier.
SPEAKER_01: No, love of self has taken the better.
SPEAKER_01: You see, this church of Ephesus has grown cold and it's live.
SPEAKER_01: My now, in the life of the church, it might have been a very big congregation with dynamic teaching and dynamic pastors and music and outstanding missions.
SPEAKER_01: But it's essentially become a noisy gong because it has forgotten the primacy of love.
SPEAKER_01: You see, a church that upholds truth and it upholds love and it practices and applies both is not a noisy gong, but it's more like a symphony.
SPEAKER_01: Think of truth as being the instruments and love as being the conductor.
SPEAKER_01: Instruments without a conductor will make sounds that is uncoordinated, resulting in a cacophony of indistinguishable sounds.
SPEAKER_01: But love is the conductor, it coordinates, it leads, it directs, and it harmonizes all the sweet sounds together in one harmony to produce sounds that are sweet to the ear and warming to the heart.
SPEAKER_01: My dear brothers and sisters, are we a congregation where all the sounds are in sweet harmony because it is held together and directed and coordinated by love?
SPEAKER_01: Dr.
SPEAKER_01: D.A.
SPEAKER_01: Carson says something very interesting about this congregation.
SPEAKER_01: He says, While the Ephesian Church attempted to be a great witness for the truth, they have forgotten that love bears testimony to the truth.
SPEAKER_01: They preserved the truth and witnessed courageously about it, but forgot that love is the greatest witness to the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the caution of our Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 5, Jesus says, Remember therefore from where you have fallen.
SPEAKER_01: Repent and do the works you did at first.
SPEAKER_01: If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.
SPEAKER_01: This is serious business.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we'll attend to it next week.
SPEAKER_01: We'll make work of this love thing.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we're really about doctrine here.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we'll do it later.
SPEAKER_01: Repent! Or I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.
SPEAKER_01: He says it twice.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus conscient then warned them to depart from this current trajectory.
SPEAKER_01: Status quo is no longer acceptable.
SPEAKER_01: They need to correct and reconnect with the old ways of doing things.
SPEAKER_01: The old way was love permeated all that was done in the name of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: My dear brothers and sisters, I'm not sure at some point in life we start talking about the good old days.
SPEAKER_01: You know now you have transitioned.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you're older than you think.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm doing it.
SPEAKER_01: In the good old days, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so often churches would say, well, in the in the good old days we used to do this.
SPEAKER_01: In the good old days, we used to spend so much time with each other.
SPEAKER_01: In the good old days, we had all these meals together.
SPEAKER_01: And the good old days we did this, in the good old days we did that.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, often, more often than not, these things fostered love.
SPEAKER_01: Not only did it foster love, it expressed love.
SPEAKER_01: So we're not being sentimental when we say, let's think back on how we did things in the good old days and ask ourselves if love did not permeate all we did.
SPEAKER_01: There are many churches even today that have failed at this command to love and they have paid the price.
SPEAKER_01: You see, there were married churches, even churches today, who would pride themselves at saying, We teach sound doctrine, but they are sound asleep when it comes to expressing love.
SPEAKER_01: Beware, you will soon see a signpost at the entranceway saying, Echabot.
SPEAKER_01: The glory has departed.
SPEAKER_01: Likewise, there are many churches, even churches today, who are priding themselves that they are loving on people with the love of Jesus, but doctrine has fallen by the wayside.
SPEAKER_01: Those churches too will have a sign on their front lawn that reads, Ichabot, the glory has departed.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is desirous of a church that loves people because of doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: To these churches, Jesus promises great comfort and great reward.
SPEAKER_01: He says there in verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
SPEAKER_01: To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
SPEAKER_01: This is a difficult thing, this truth love paradox.
SPEAKER_01: It is not what is out there.
SPEAKER_01: But to the church that holds tightly to this apparent paradox of love and truth, those churches will be fruitful churches in the eyes of Jesus, and they will yield a harvest of souls, 30, 60, and some even hundredfold.
SPEAKER_01: And they will all see people granted to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
SPEAKER_01: What is Jesus comforting this church in?
SPEAKER_01: Is if you do what I'm telling you to do, if you take to heart the things that I criticized you about, if you start changing and and and realigning your trajectory, then you will be a fruitful church.
SPEAKER_01: And you will prove to be fruitful to others, and others will eat of the tree of life.
SPEAKER_01: We have gone through Christ's commendation, he's criticism, he's correction, his caution, and his comfort.
SPEAKER_01: And what is the lesson for us here today?
SPEAKER_01: Dear brothers and sisters, let me ask you this.
SPEAKER_01: Is it that we don't love people?
SPEAKER_01: Let's do some introspection here.
SPEAKER_01: Is it that we don't love people?
SPEAKER_01: Is it that we don't treasure doctrine?
SPEAKER_01: Or is it that we don't love the way we used to love?
SPEAKER_01: You see, there's scope of improvement.
SPEAKER_01: I asked this question to stimulate you to greater love.
SPEAKER_01: You see, if we sit here today, March 1st, 2020, and say, we as a congregation, we maxed out on love.
SPEAKER_01: We we've we we you can't go bet higher.
SPEAKER_01: This is the highest that you can go in loving people.
SPEAKER_01: And loving Christ, you can't do no better.
SPEAKER_01: Then the work is done, right?
SPEAKER_01: Christ may want us to think about are we are we as fervent and passionate and loving as we used to be?
SPEAKER_01: You see, then there's scope for improvement, say maybe not.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says then, okay, it's simple.
SPEAKER_01: Repent.
SPEAKER_01: Remember where you went off on the wrong track and get back on track.
SPEAKER_01: And if you do that, I will bless you as a congregation.
SPEAKER_01: Very comforting.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus doesn't write us off, he encourages us.
SPEAKER_01: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_01: We have heard that you have died for us while we were yet sinners.
SPEAKER_01: You died on behalf of us so that we can be forgiven and be given of the tree of life.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you, Jesus, for exemplifying sacrificial love to us.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for showing us on the pages of Scripture what love is.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you from beginning in Genesis showing us what love is, showing us in Exodus what love is, showing us in numbers what love is, showing us in the gospel what love is, showing us in the book of Revelation what love is.
SPEAKER_01: That you will love and embrace a sinful people is beyond my understanding.
SPEAKER_01: But I pray, God, in all our study, as we plummet ourselves into the depths of Scripture, may we plummet ourselves into the depths of your love.
SPEAKER_01: And may that cause us to rush to our feet, to express it in tangible forms of love for one another.
SPEAKER_01: We pray that you will help us.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to love like we used to love in the good old days.
SPEAKER_01: I pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_02: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.