42 The Revelation of Jesus Christ God says He "hates" "the deeds" and "the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes" (2:6, 15). So also did the church at Ephesus -the apostolic church! There were no such distinctions in the body of Christ in the beginning. Thus we see that the risen Lord beheld many things in the church at Ephesus which were worthy of commendation. But those all-seeing eyes, which were "as a flame of fire," saw something else there which we should not have noticed per haps. And in the midst of His commendation He paused to rebuke them. "Nevertheless," He said, "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love" (2:4 ). Declension and backsliding, soon to become more and more pronounced, until it reaches the climax in utter apostasy. had already commenced. "Thou hast left thy first love." What is the first love? Paul expressed it for us when he wrote, saying, "For to me to live is Christ." To seek His glory, not our own; to exalt Him, not ourselves:; to please Him, not our own selfish desires-this is the "first love" of the child of God. To know Him, rather than to seek His gifts; to love Him, rather than find delight first in His gracious providences-this is the "first love" of the born-again soul. A man need not kill or drink or commit a crime in order to be a backslider. The man who allows his first fervent love for his Saviour to grow lukewarm is a backslider, as well as the man who grows colder still and goes farther away from God. Such a man needs to return to his first love, to be cleansed from the defilement of sin, and to renew his al legiance to God. My Christian friend, have you left your first love? Listen to the words of the risen Christ: "Remem ber 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" (2:5}. Then follow the words which run like a refrain through chapters two and three: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." And last of all, to the church at Ephesus, there are these words of promise: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, -which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (2:7). Heaven, eternal life, the presence of God forever-this is the goal of the sinner saved by grace!
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