1 00:00:04,690 --> 00:00:09,990 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:09,990 --> 00:00:14,630 moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And 3 00:00:14,630 --> 00:00:22,230 today I want to challenge you to think through the issue of the church of Ephesus in the book of 4 00:00:22,230 --> 00:00:29,170 Revelation and what it tells us about our Lord Jesus Christ and his sovereign watch care, his 5 00:00:29,170 --> 00:00:35,850 love, his care, his concern for his church, not only the church in Ephesus back in the first century, 6 00:00:36,189 --> 00:00:42,270 but also the church today, the living church today, your church, my church, us, me, you, 7 00:00:42,530 --> 00:00:49,869 because our Lord Jesus Christ does love us and care for us and watch over us. But before I take 8 00:00:49,869 --> 00:00:56,689 that subject up, there's something I'm pretty excited about. And let me just give a plug here 9 00:00:56,689 --> 00:01:04,790 for the Bonneville County Republican Party third annual Lincoln Day Banquet. There's a Lincoln Day 10 00:01:04,790 --> 00:01:12,129 Banquet coming up April 13th. And they're going to have as a speaker, one of my favorite people. 11 00:01:12,329 --> 00:01:18,930 He's not as well known as some of their other speakers in the past, like Dinesh D'Souza last 12 00:01:18,930 --> 00:01:28,629 year they had. But this year they're going to have David Barton, David Barton, B-A-R-T-O-N. Now I am 13 00:01:28,629 --> 00:01:34,670 familiar with David Barton. He's the president of wall builders. And I've known about him for years 14 00:01:34,670 --> 00:01:44,670 because I used his material on the constitution, on American history, on the core and essence of 15 00:01:44,670 --> 00:01:51,769 America. I used his materials for years when I was teaching my kids at home. We homeschooled all 16 00:01:51,769 --> 00:01:59,829 three of our children. And David Barton's materials were invaluable to my family in helping to school 17 00:01:59,829 --> 00:02:07,010 our children on those things. The constitution, American history, and all the rich characters, 18 00:02:07,250 --> 00:02:14,090 some of the unknown facets of America that David Barton is very familiar with. And he's worked with a 19 00:02:14,090 --> 00:02:20,490 great number of people. But he's going to be the featured speaker at the Bonneville County Republican 20 00:02:20,490 --> 00:02:27,289 Party Lincoln Day Banquet. And that's going to be held at Melaleuca Corporate Headquarters. And you 21 00:02:27,289 --> 00:02:36,530 can call them for tickets. But just let me feature that for you. And if you get a chance on April 13th, 22 00:02:36,530 --> 00:02:43,569 you need to go out there and participate in that banquet and bring your friends, bring your neighbors, 23 00:02:44,270 --> 00:02:51,009 bring your family, and hear what David Barton has to say about God and the constitution. That's his 24 00:02:51,009 --> 00:03:03,169 topic, God and the constitution. Well, let me return then to my material here. We are looking at the 25 00:03:03,169 --> 00:03:09,770 church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation. I'm preaching through the book of Revelation. 26 00:03:10,469 --> 00:03:17,490 Consequently, we are dealing with the seven churches. And we know from Revelation already, 27 00:03:18,050 --> 00:03:25,930 and I've dealt with this to some extent, that the seven churches of Revelation are a symbol and a 28 00:03:25,930 --> 00:03:34,530 metaphor and a picture of the whole church of Christ all through the ages and how these churches apply 29 00:03:34,530 --> 00:03:41,270 to the life of the church all through the ages as well. The book of Revelation unpacks this for us. 30 00:03:41,789 --> 00:03:52,729 And chapter two of Revelation begins with the church at Ephesus. So let me take up that text with you, 31 00:03:52,729 --> 00:03:58,909 and then we'll unfold it for you as well. So let's begin with Revelation chapter two, 32 00:03:59,110 --> 00:04:06,810 verses one through seven. And it goes like this. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write the words 33 00:04:06,810 --> 00:04:14,129 of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 34 00:04:14,330 --> 00:04:20,649 I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear evil men, 35 00:04:20,649 --> 00:04:27,269 but have tested those who call themselves apostles, but are not, and found them to be false. I know 36 00:04:27,269 --> 00:04:34,209 you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I 37 00:04:34,209 --> 00:04:41,370 have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you 38 00:04:41,370 --> 00:04:48,290 have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your 39 00:04:48,290 --> 00:04:56,709 lampstand from its place unless you repent. Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, 40 00:04:56,990 --> 00:05:02,069 which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. 41 00:05:02,730 --> 00:05:09,490 To him who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. 42 00:05:09,490 --> 00:05:18,389 Oh, the letter to the church at Ephesus, and has great material not only for them then, but for us 43 00:05:18,389 --> 00:05:25,149 now. Oh, I knew a church like this, like the church at Ephesus. In my early Christian life, 44 00:05:25,649 --> 00:05:32,089 I almost joined a church in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan that was much like the church 45 00:05:32,089 --> 00:05:40,209 at Ephesus. I could not have told you exactly why I didn't join then, but now with hindsight I can tell 46 00:05:40,209 --> 00:05:46,250 you why. Now this church, I'm not going to name it, of course, it was a church that was very doctrinally 47 00:05:46,250 --> 00:05:54,470 astute, but very brittle and stunted in its exercise of Christian love and grace. And that's much like the 48 00:05:54,470 --> 00:06:01,910 church at Ephesus, we'll see. Now the sermons I heard there, the teaching classes, they were all very 49 00:06:02,089 --> 00:06:08,269 orthodox, and they adhered closely to the Bible and the Westminster standards. But there was something 50 00:06:08,269 --> 00:06:14,449 cold and judgmental about the ethos of the place, too. I remember vividly, for example, hearing a 51 00:06:14,449 --> 00:06:21,629 sermon on Proverbs 4.23, which reads, keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of 52 00:06:21,629 --> 00:06:28,389 life. What a superb text. What a superb theme. Yet at one point in the sermon, the pastor's face was 53 00:06:28,389 --> 00:06:33,230 beet red with anger, and he was shaking his fist at me, yelling at the top of his lungs. It seemed like 54 00:06:33,230 --> 00:06:38,790 he was pointing right at me, right, even though it was generally the congregation. And he was yelling 55 00:06:38,790 --> 00:06:46,629 at the top of his lungs about my heart and its lack of love and grace. Oh, my. With such anger and 56 00:06:46,629 --> 00:06:51,269 rage, I thought to myself, perhaps there's a mismatch here between the content and the delivery here. 57 00:06:51,730 --> 00:06:57,009 Perhaps more love and grace should be incorporated into your sermon style, Mr. Pastor, if you want me 58 00:06:57,009 --> 00:07:03,529 to keep my own heart with all diligence. Now, this was unfortunately typical of the church. 59 00:07:04,069 --> 00:07:08,970 They were disciplining one man for doctrinal error and looking at me very suspiciously coming out of 60 00:07:08,970 --> 00:07:14,910 an Armenian background. I understood these cautions, but on the other hand, I never really felt welcomed 61 00:07:14,910 --> 00:07:21,110 or accepted while I was there at this church, kind of like what I felt the Ephesian church might be like. 62 00:07:21,610 --> 00:07:26,129 In fact, it didn't seem that anyone there was really accepted. Everyone's status was conditional. 63 00:07:26,129 --> 00:07:32,089 Everyone was on a perpetual bubble. There was little care, it seemed to me anyway. I could have been 64 00:07:32,089 --> 00:07:37,189 wrong, but it seemed to me to be very little care for one another. There was no outreach into the 65 00:07:37,189 --> 00:07:42,610 community. No one shook my hand really until my fourth time there. Well, no church is perfect. I 66 00:07:42,610 --> 00:07:48,829 don't mean to say that. Our church at New Geneva certainly isn't perfect. Most of us are more or less 67 00:07:48,829 --> 00:07:55,730 like one of these seven churches. We'll see as if we're honest about it. And at best, we share some 68 00:07:55,730 --> 00:08:01,610 of the good as well as some of the bad features. These seven letters to the seven churches of Asia, 69 00:08:01,829 --> 00:08:08,550 they are deliberately designed to prompt us to introspection and to self-examination. 70 00:08:08,790 --> 00:08:15,410 They're written really to all the church throughout the new covenant age. We are intended to know that 71 00:08:15,410 --> 00:08:21,990 as real and present and thoroughly understanding as Christ was of these seven churches. So real and 72 00:08:21,990 --> 00:08:30,329 present and thoroughly understanding of us is the same Lord Jesus Christ. Each letter is packed with 73 00:08:30,329 --> 00:08:37,370 exhortations for us and has implications for the rest of Revelation 2. Oh yes, the entire book of 74 00:08:37,370 --> 00:08:47,929 Revelation is indeed featured and anticipated and foreshadowed in these letters. What are some of 75 00:08:47,929 --> 00:08:53,090 those exhortations, rebukes, and lessons? Well, let's look then at the particular verses. Let's look at 76 00:08:53,090 --> 00:09:00,909 verse 1 where we see in the church of Ephesus, in verse 1, in a direct application, know that the Lord of 77 00:09:00,909 --> 00:09:07,710 the church is sovereign over every hidden facet of the church's life in heaven and on earth. Yes, 78 00:09:08,269 --> 00:09:15,629 the Lord of the church is sovereign over every hidden facet of her life in heaven and on earth. 79 00:09:15,669 --> 00:09:21,490 That's what verse 1 tells us from chapter 2, where that verse, once again, let me read it again for you, 80 00:09:21,549 --> 00:09:27,230 to the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right 81 00:09:27,230 --> 00:09:34,590 hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Oh, dear brother and sister, as you listen, did you 82 00:09:34,590 --> 00:09:41,669 know that all of us at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church and all of us in every church in Idaho 83 00:09:41,669 --> 00:09:50,289 Falls, we abide moment by moment in the very presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know this from the vision 84 00:09:50,289 --> 00:09:56,950 of last week reinforced by this week's letter. This first letter is addressed to the angel of the church 85 00:09:56,950 --> 00:10:04,470 in Ephesus. Now, we observed last week how the metaphor of an angel pictures how we dwell not 86 00:10:04,470 --> 00:10:10,549 only on the earth, that is, as flesh and bone, blood and sinew, day by day walking around life, 87 00:10:10,549 --> 00:10:18,950 but also we dwell mystically and spiritually in the unseen realm of the Spirit, and we dwell before 88 00:10:18,950 --> 00:10:26,710 the very Lord Himself moment by moment, continuously in this spiritual realm. So be assured, be comforted 89 00:10:26,710 --> 00:10:32,549 by this. It's confirmed time and time again for us as we move through Revelation. It's one of those 90 00:10:32,549 --> 00:10:40,210 motifs, one of those themes as the book of Revelation oscillates between heaven and earth, where often the 91 00:10:40,210 --> 00:10:45,970 same scene is played out first in one realm and then the other, and that's to tell us indeed that 92 00:10:45,970 --> 00:10:53,970 we dwell perpetually in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at all times, and it should be a great 93 00:10:53,970 --> 00:10:59,070 comfort to the church. That's meant to be delivered to us, to bring great comfort to the suffering church. 94 00:10:59,730 --> 00:11:05,149 So before you go running off to find who's the beast, who's 666, oh, when's the rapture coming? 95 00:11:05,149 --> 00:11:10,490 When does the seven-year tribulation unfold? You know, you gotta deal with these things first, 96 00:11:10,549 --> 00:11:14,950 because there's a great deal of material here for us and a great deal of comfort and spiritual 97 00:11:14,950 --> 00:11:19,029 upbuilding and uplifting for us here in the book of Revelation. 98 00:11:19,029 --> 00:11:24,210 And these things, then this oscillation between heaven and earth meant to comfort the church 99 00:11:24,210 --> 00:11:31,590 is underlined for us. As John taps one of the features of the inaugural vision that we 100 00:11:31,590 --> 00:11:37,629 chronicled last week, he says, the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand walks among the 101 00:11:37,629 --> 00:11:45,149 seven golden lampstands. We know from last week, the seven stars are the seven angels of the churches, 102 00:11:45,149 --> 00:11:51,789 that is, their heavenly correspondence before the presence of the Lord. This is how every church 103 00:11:51,789 --> 00:11:56,929 dwells in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, having its angel, that is, its representation in 104 00:11:56,929 --> 00:12:03,769 heaven before the Lord. And the seven lampstands are the particular churches themselves on the ground. 105 00:12:04,350 --> 00:12:10,950 Now, these prologues before every letter are important in each letter, and they're there for 106 00:12:10,950 --> 00:12:16,750 several reasons. Number one, they apply to all the churches in general, not only those particular 107 00:12:16,750 --> 00:12:23,049 churches in Asia, but also the churches all through history. And there is hardly a commentator that 108 00:12:23,049 --> 00:12:28,549 doesn't agree that seven being the number of completeness and fullness, seven churches being 109 00:12:28,549 --> 00:12:34,669 the complete and full church of Christ represented by the seven churches of Asia. But indeed, they're 110 00:12:34,669 --> 00:12:40,190 but representations of the whole church of Christ throughout the ages. And secondly, they have a 111 00:12:40,190 --> 00:12:47,090 specific application to the church under consideration too. Oh, the problem with the Ephesian church was 112 00:12:47,090 --> 00:12:55,389 one of the heart. That is, the love you had at first, right? They might have cloaked that from the 113 00:12:55,389 --> 00:13:00,690 outside observer and the visitation committee from Presbyteria, maybe with their flurry of works, but 114 00:13:00,690 --> 00:13:08,610 not from the one who holds the seven stars and walks among us. No, Jesus Christ himself. Now, this is borne out 115 00:13:08,610 --> 00:13:17,429 for us as the text moves on. Let us look then to verses two through six. That is, in commendation, 116 00:13:17,929 --> 00:13:23,710 know that I see. In commendation, know that I see. There's commendation and there's condemnation 117 00:13:23,710 --> 00:13:30,950 for the church in Ephesus. Exhortation and encouragement as well as warnings, right? 118 00:13:30,950 --> 00:13:37,690 Commendation and condemnation. First of all, in commendation, church at Ephesus, know that I see, 119 00:13:37,929 --> 00:13:44,769 first of all, your incessant labors, your incessant labors, your works. Our Lord recognizes and commends 120 00:13:44,769 --> 00:13:51,610 what every true church must manifest. That is, your works, your toil, and your patient inments. 121 00:13:52,169 --> 00:13:56,690 No church or Christian really has faith if he doesn't manifest works. 122 00:13:56,690 --> 00:14:02,470 What good is it, my brothers, James says, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? 123 00:14:02,990 --> 00:14:08,750 Can that faith save him? No. Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead, James says, 124 00:14:09,230 --> 00:14:16,230 in James chapter two. The Ephesian church certainly had an active faith, didn't they? And they worked 125 00:14:16,230 --> 00:14:21,629 hard. Our Lord commends them for this. That is what verse two intends to communicate to us 126 00:14:21,629 --> 00:14:29,590 with a series of three synonyms. Task, toil, and tedium. That is patient endurance. Task, toil, 127 00:14:29,710 --> 00:14:34,610 and tedium, as I put it. Patient endurance. There may be a slight difference in emphasis, 128 00:14:34,769 --> 00:14:41,110 but together in a group, they tell us that the Ephesian Christians tirelessly worked, 129 00:14:41,629 --> 00:14:47,110 though they may have forgotten exactly why. John is establishing a theme that will recur 130 00:14:47,110 --> 00:14:53,509 throughout Revelation. Works are integral to the life of the church. Yes, you aren't saved by works, 131 00:14:53,970 --> 00:15:01,610 but those who are saved will work. They will provide a crescendo, the works will, at the end of time. 132 00:15:01,990 --> 00:15:08,610 As chapter 19, verses 7 and 8 puts it, let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, 133 00:15:08,610 --> 00:15:15,049 for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her 134 00:15:15,049 --> 00:15:22,730 to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the 135 00:15:22,730 --> 00:15:29,889 saints. Unquote. That's from the closing chapter, a theme all the way through Revelation, but really 136 00:15:29,889 --> 00:15:36,429 highlighted here, and then in chapter 19, that is the fine linen, that is the glistening robes of 137 00:15:36,429 --> 00:15:43,850 the people of the church. They are bright and pure. They are the righteous deeds of the saints. 138 00:15:44,690 --> 00:15:50,769 And, dear listener, that is in store for us, too, as we labor, as we work on behalf of our Lord Jesus 139 00:15:50,769 --> 00:15:58,669 Christ. Works, per se, they weren't the problem in Ephesus then. And our Lord sees them in addition to, 140 00:15:58,669 --> 00:16:07,029 secondly, your discernment of true from false authority. Your discernment. The Ephesian church 141 00:16:07,029 --> 00:16:15,250 was able and equipped and had the ability to discern true from false authority. We know from the letters 142 00:16:15,250 --> 00:16:22,289 of the New Testament that posers and pettifogging prophets were rampant almost from the day of our 143 00:16:22,289 --> 00:16:29,029 Lord's ascension. Simon the sorcerer being exhibit A, right? Simon the sorcerer, who was a false 144 00:16:29,029 --> 00:16:36,330 authority, became a byword in the history of the church for a false apostle who wishes to buy the office 145 00:16:36,330 --> 00:16:42,990 of the church, right? Oh, dear listener, these were rampant in the early church. And Paul gives us a 146 00:16:42,990 --> 00:16:49,269 graphic warning that will resonate throughout Revelation. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11, for example, 147 00:16:49,269 --> 00:16:58,750 such men, like Simon the sorcerer, such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves 148 00:16:58,750 --> 00:17:06,230 as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. And so it is no 149 00:17:06,230 --> 00:17:12,710 surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to 150 00:17:12,710 --> 00:17:19,150 their deeds, Paul says. So, one of the major recurring contrasts in Revelation, again, is the 151 00:17:19,150 --> 00:17:26,950 almost mirror image of false authority with true authority. Yes, the mirror, the false authority 152 00:17:26,950 --> 00:17:33,210 mirrored with true authority. Our Lord, before his ascension, declared the source of true authority. 153 00:17:33,730 --> 00:17:40,509 He says in Matthew 28, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make 154 00:17:40,509 --> 00:17:46,750 disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 155 00:17:46,750 --> 00:17:52,990 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end 156 00:17:52,990 --> 00:17:58,710 of the age. What great comfort that is, dear listener, for all of us. John gives us graphic 157 00:17:58,710 --> 00:18:05,329 examples, doesn't he? All through Revelation of false authority. In Revelation chapter 13, for example, 158 00:18:05,470 --> 00:18:12,130 once again, this is a major motif. You have to pick up on these things early in the book of Revelation 159 00:18:12,130 --> 00:18:19,210 before you go running off immediately to Revelation 13. Revelation 13 talks about the beast and false 160 00:18:19,210 --> 00:18:25,690 authority, but you have to understand what John is laying down as a predicate before, earlier in his 161 00:18:25,690 --> 00:18:35,670 apocalypse. And he begins here then in chapter 2, where we see another example of false authority, 162 00:18:35,670 --> 00:18:41,990 right? And the Ephesian church, which was able to judge true from false authority. But in chapter 13, 163 00:18:41,990 --> 00:18:49,549 we see, and the beast that I saw, John says, and the beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet 164 00:18:49,549 --> 00:18:56,490 were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it, the dragon gave his power and his 165 00:18:56,490 --> 00:19:02,250 throne and great authority. Some of these authorities were in the Ephesian church, but they didn't fool the 166 00:19:02,250 --> 00:19:08,950 Ephesian church. No, they spotted him and threw him out. Well, chapter 13 goes on to say further, 167 00:19:09,690 --> 00:19:16,089 and they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the 168 00:19:16,089 --> 00:19:21,769 beast, saying, who is like the beast and who can fight against it, right? That's from Revelation 13, 169 00:19:22,190 --> 00:19:29,450 where we see a kind of consummation, false authority in the beast, given it by the dragon. And the dragon, 170 00:19:29,450 --> 00:19:37,970 of course, is none other than that old serpent, that old deluder, that is Satan. Well, revelation 171 00:19:37,970 --> 00:19:44,910 was given in part, let me submit this to you. Revelation was given in part that we might be 172 00:19:44,910 --> 00:19:51,890 better equipped to recognize true authority when we see it, and false authority when we see it. 173 00:19:51,890 --> 00:19:58,809 And in every subsequent age, too, not just then, but now, beginning here with the church of Ephesus. 174 00:19:59,450 --> 00:20:04,890 You read the book of Revelation, you should be better equipped to recognize true authority in 175 00:20:04,890 --> 00:20:12,009 the church from false authority. So rather than just hurrying on from here and just go on to cherry 176 00:20:12,009 --> 00:20:18,390 pick and ransack Revelation, looking for the Antichrist, trying to identify the beast from today's 177 00:20:18,390 --> 00:20:24,089 headlines, often take false apostles to their breast. I often do. Often, these kinds of people 178 00:20:24,089 --> 00:20:29,769 take false apostles to their breast and coddle them without even knowing it. Oh, there's a beast. 179 00:20:30,029 --> 00:20:35,230 You don't have to wait and look for the beast in the future, because indeed, Revelation in part 180 00:20:35,230 --> 00:20:41,470 unfolds that there are beasts in every age. We see this in the book of Daniel. We see it in the book 181 00:20:41,470 --> 00:20:46,750 of Job. We see it all through Scripture and the prophets and Isaiah and Ezekiel. There are beasts 182 00:20:46,750 --> 00:20:53,069 indeed in every age, and we need to be able to be ready to identify them, not just look for them 183 00:20:53,069 --> 00:20:58,369 as somewhere in the future, because you look right past the one today looking for the one in the future. 184 00:20:58,990 --> 00:21:07,269 Well, not so with the Ephesian church. They tested apostles to prove them whether they were authentic 185 00:21:07,269 --> 00:21:18,190 or not, to test or to try. Epirasas. Epirasas. I'm sorry. Epirasas. To test or to try. To try metals 186 00:21:18,190 --> 00:21:22,750 for purity. That's the Greek word. The same will be done to the saints, too. They will be tested. 187 00:21:23,170 --> 00:21:30,470 They will be tried as a metal is for its purity. Well, they are also commended then for their 188 00:21:30,470 --> 00:21:37,910 indefatigable witness to his name. Yes. The Lord commends them for the indefatigable witness to my 189 00:21:37,910 --> 00:21:44,710 name. The church under Nero was under constant wearing persecution. That's where we place the 190 00:21:44,710 --> 00:21:50,410 book of Revelation written during the persecution under Nero. In its early years, it was identified as 191 00:21:50,410 --> 00:21:57,309 an offshoot sect of Judaism, and it enjoyed its protection, too. But as the synagogues of Satan, 192 00:21:57,309 --> 00:22:04,710 as John characterizes them, began to persecute and accuse the Christians, for example, the Apostle 193 00:22:04,710 --> 00:22:11,730 Paul, well, as this began to happen, Rome began to take a closer look, and they saw the implicit threat 194 00:22:11,730 --> 00:22:20,009 of the one who expansively claimed all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus claimed to be Lord, 195 00:22:20,390 --> 00:22:27,269 and his followers would not embrace any other Lord. And since then, since Rome began to take 196 00:22:27,269 --> 00:22:33,990 a closer look, the pressure to conform and confess the emperor as Lord was constant, and it was 197 00:22:33,990 --> 00:22:42,269 severe. Many who professed to be Christians broke under these circumstances. Now, even centuries later, 198 00:22:42,750 --> 00:22:48,170 the church would wrestle with the problem of what to do with those who did break and fold like 199 00:22:48,170 --> 00:22:53,730 lawn chairs under this kind of pressure. That would be called the Donatist controversy. What to do with 200 00:22:53,730 --> 00:22:59,269 those who wandered back into the church, even though they abandoned Christ under persecution? 201 00:23:00,750 --> 00:23:08,009 This was not a problem with the Ephesians, though. They held up more like oaken pews than folding 202 00:23:08,009 --> 00:23:13,609 lawn chairs. Ephesians were strong. Our Lord commends them for the fact I will witness to his name. 203 00:23:14,130 --> 00:23:19,990 Patient endurance for the name. That is how John puts it. Patient endurance for the name. 204 00:23:19,990 --> 00:23:28,250 That is, you confess Christ rather than Caesar. You identify oneself as a Christer, not indeed a 205 00:23:28,250 --> 00:23:34,109 Caesarite. That's a recurring motif all through the book of Revelation, too. And we need to embrace 206 00:23:34,109 --> 00:23:40,970 this. We need to apply it to today. It's meant for us. It's meant for us, not a future generation during 207 00:23:40,970 --> 00:23:47,809 some ostensible great tribulation out of which we will be raptured. No, you will be totally unprepared 208 00:23:47,809 --> 00:23:53,650 for the persecution, for the tribulation, for being a witness to his name if you're just 209 00:23:53,650 --> 00:24:00,089 twiddling your thumbs, waiting for the rapture, thinking that you're going to escape tribulation 210 00:24:00,089 --> 00:24:07,329 and persecution. It ain't gonna happen that way. Your theology, your understanding of the book of 211 00:24:07,329 --> 00:24:14,569 Revelation is entirely misguided and wrong if you think that is going to be the case. No, 212 00:24:14,569 --> 00:24:20,349 you must be prepared for persecution. You must be prepared for tribulation in your own life, 213 00:24:20,450 --> 00:24:28,150 dear listener. It's not for some future generation out of which you will be raptured. No, unless you 214 00:24:28,150 --> 00:24:37,650 are prepared like the church at Ephesus to endure under constant wearing persecution, you will be caught 215 00:24:37,650 --> 00:24:42,569 off guard. And maybe one of those that throws over your testimony. You don't see it happening now, 216 00:24:42,569 --> 00:24:49,269 but unless you are prepared, you may well. So these are the things for which the church at Ephesus was 217 00:24:49,269 --> 00:24:56,190 commended anyway. And we're going to take up next week the note of rebuke. There is not only 218 00:24:56,190 --> 00:25:03,829 commendation, but condemnation too. And I think after which the church of Ephesus and consequently us 219 00:25:03,829 --> 00:25:11,809 must take careful note. So brothers and sisters, this letter to the Ephesians is a great letter and 220 00:25:11,809 --> 00:25:21,069 it has many elements in it that are applicable to us today. So we must be prepared to not only be like 221 00:25:21,069 --> 00:25:27,650 the church at Ephesus in its positive qualities, but as we'll see next week, we have to avoid those 222 00:25:27,650 --> 00:25:33,609 things for which they are condemned. But once again, just a beautiful picture of how our Lord 223 00:25:33,609 --> 00:25:40,690 is sovereignly superintend, sovereignly guides and looks over his church and shepherds it too, 224 00:25:40,769 --> 00:25:49,509 doesn't he? What a great picture this is of not only our church, but the church in the early first 225 00:25:49,509 --> 00:25:55,670 century and the more things change, the more they stay the same because many of the same issues they 226 00:25:55,670 --> 00:26:02,470 face, we face. But once again, I just hope you are drawn closer to your Lord Jesus Christ by having 227 00:26:02,470 --> 00:26:06,869 heard and understood a little bit better, a little bit more, a little bit more clearly 228 00:26:06,869 --> 00:26:13,490 what this letter to the Ephesians of which it consists. This has been Pastor David Bass at New 229 00:26:13,490 --> 00:26:20,109 Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Idaho Falls. And we're preaching through the book of Revelation 230 00:26:20,109 --> 00:26:30,009 now. I urge you to join us and we meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the 231 00:26:30,009 --> 00:26:36,109 corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for some feedback. Give me some feedback on what you hear. 232 00:26:36,109 --> 00:26:49,589 Perhaps you have some more questions. You can call us at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196.