Pursue Intimacy Again

Tomnolen Baptist Church Revival

February 9-12, 2025.

Message 2

Revelation 2:1–7 “1 “Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: / Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands: / 2 I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. / You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. / 3 I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name, and you have not grown weary. // 4 But I have this against you: / You have abandoned the love you had at first. // 5 Remember then how far you have fallen; / repent, / and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. // 6 Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. // 7 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. / To the one who conquers, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

Commendation [1-3, 6]

You started well.

You do not tolerate evil people

You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not— you’ve found them to be liars

You have endured much suffering for my name.

You hate false teachers who are immoral and idolatrous.

Condemnation [4]

You haven’t loved me in a while.

Exalting Jesus in Revelation Christ Is Characterized by His Protection (Revelation 2:1)

Paul, Timothy, and now John had ministered to this church. What a heritage! What a danger! Here is a second-generation church that apparently was living off the prestige and momentum of the past. The past was great, but their present condition was spiritually perilous.

Exalting Jesus in Revelation The Church Is Criticized for Its Passion (Revelation 2:4)

By all outward appearances this church looked healthy. Its doctrine was spot on, and the lifestyles of its members matched their confession. However—and this is an ever present hazard—they were in danger of becoming “a Pharisee church.” They were in danger of a legalism that in time would be their death. They were still doing all the right things, but sometime in the past they had forsaken the right motivation. They didn’t have a head problem but a heart problem. Obedience out of duty had replaced obedience out of love for Christ. The difference between the two is massive. It is the difference between “I obey and Jesus accepts me” and “Jesus accepts me and I gladly obey.”

You left behind your love for Jesus and the Gospel in order to dutifully obey.

Calling [5, 7a]

Remember from where you have fallen— the place of intimacy and eagerness. Present Imperative

Repent— change your mind about your condition. Aorist Imperative

Exalting Jesus in Revelation Repent of Your Sin

To repent is to undergo a change of mind resulting in a change of attitude and action. It is to think differently about your sin—sins of indifference, religious formalism, legalistic routine. It requires that we change our minds from thinking that our good deeds are meritorious and earn God’s favor. In calling for the Ephesians to repent, Jesus reminds them that labor is no substitute for love, purity is no substitute for passion, and deeds are no substitute for devotion. Do not pat yourself on the back for doing good things for the wrong reason. God looks on the heart (

Do what you did before

I am coming, and I will remove your lampstand from its place.

Listen to me

Comfort [7b]

Victory, Eternal life

Exalting Jesus in Revelation We Can Conquer by Perseverance

Our victory is a participation in his victory

Regarding eating from the tree of life:

Genesis 2:9 “9 The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Genesis 3:22–24 “22 The Lord God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Revelation 22:1–2 “1 Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations,”

Response Questions:

[1] Have you found yourself given to dutiful service out of obligation rather than out of love for Christ?

[2] Remember your first love, return through repentance, lest He come and remove the witness entrusted to you.