Love's Complaining

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Revelation 2:1-7

To the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things said he that holds the seven stars in his right hand…

I. CHRIST PERCEIVES.

1. He does not so perceive the faults as to be forgetful of that which He can admire and accept. He has a keen eye for all that is good. When He searches our hearts He never passes by the faintest longing, or desire, or faith, or love, of any of His people. He says, "I know thy works."

2. But this is our point, that while Jesus can see all that is good, yet in very faithfulness He sees all that is evil. His love is not blind. It is more necessary for us that we should make a discovery of our faults than of our virtues.

3. This evil was a very serious one; it was love declining. It is the most serious ill of all; for the Church is the bride of Christ, and for a bride to fail in love is to fail in all things.

4. It was Jesus Himself who found it out. How good of Him to care one jot about our love! This is no complaint of an enemy, but of a wounded friend.

5. Jesus found it out with great pain.

6. The Saviour, having thus seen this with pain, now points it out.

7. The Saviour pointed out the failure of love; and when He pointed it out He called it by a lamentable name. "Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen."

8. The Master evidently counts this decline of love to be a personal wrong done to Himself. "I have somewhat against thee." It is an offence against the very heart of Christ.

II. WHAT THE SAVIOUR PRESCRIBES.

1. The first word is Remember. "Thou hast left thy first love." Remember, then, what thy first love was, and compare thy present condition with it. At first nothing diverted thee from thy Lord. He was thy life, thy love, thy joy. Remember from whence thou art fallen. Remember the vows, the tears, the communings, the happy raptures of those days; remember and compare with them thy present state. Remember and consider, that when thou wast in thy first love, that love was none too warm. Even then, when thou didst live to Him, and for Him, and with Him, thou wast none too holy, none too consecrated, none too zealous. Remember the past with sad forebodings of the future. He who has sunk so far may fall much farther.

2. The next word of the prescription is "Repent." Repent as thou didst at first. Repent of the wrong thou hast done thy Lord.

3. But then he says in effect, Return. The third word is this — "Repent, and do the first works." There must be in every declining Christian a practical repentance. Do not be satisfied with regrets and resolves.

III. HE PERSUADES.

1. With a warning. "I will come unto thee," etc. Our Lord means, first., I will take away the comfort of the Word. But the candlestick also symbolises usefulness: it is that by which a Church shines. The use of a Church is to preserve the truth, wherewith to illuminate the neighbourhood, to illuminate the world. God can soon cut short our usefulness, and He will do so if we cut short our love.

2. With a 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." Observe, those who lose their first love fall, but those who abide in love are made to stand. In contrast to the fall which took place in the paradise of God, we have man eating of the tree of life. and so living for ever. If we, through grace, overcome the common tendency to decline in love, then shall we be confirmed in the favour of the Lord. Note again, those who lose their first love wander far; they depart from God. "But," saith the Lord, "if you keep your first love you shall not wander, but you shall come into closer fellowship. I will bring you nearer to the centre. I will bring you to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God." The inner ring is for those who grow in love; the centre of all joy is only to be reached by much love. Then notice the mystical blessing which lies here, waiting your meditation. Do you know how we fell? The woman took of the fruit of the forbidden tree, and gave to Adam, and Adam ate and fell. The reverse is the case in the promise before us: the Second Adam takes of the Divine fruit from the tree of promise, and hands it to His spouse; she eats and lives for ever.

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