FIRST WORKS
Unto the angel of the church of
Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right
hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy
patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried
them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for
my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because THOU HAST
LEFT THY FIRST LOVE. Remember therefore
from whence thou art fallen, and REPENT, AND DO THY FIRST WORKS; or else
I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his
place, except thou repent. But this
thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also
hate. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
(Revelation 2:1-7 AV)
Evidently, from what we read
here, the FIRST WORKS is FIRST LOVE, and these WORKS must be done if one is to
remain part of the spiritual Church, the Church of the Lord, Jesus Christ. I
think it all important to hear this warning today, because there are churches
just like the one in Ephesus in John’s day.
Remember Abram?
(a high) The Word of the Lord came to him when he was 75 years of age to leave
all and go to a place that God would show him, and He would make of him a great
nation and that he would be a blessing and that he would be great, and that
those that blessed him would be blessed, and those that cursed him would be
cursed.
When Abram was 99
years old, God made a covenant with him, that Abram should walk before Him and
be perfect, that He would multiply him exceedingly and make of him a father of
many nations. And He changed his name to Abraham (of a great multitude), and
told him that kings would come of him. And God made an everlasting covenant
with Abraham and with his seed after him to be a God to them and give him the
land of Canaan as an everlasting possession.
Abraham was
mightily blessed after 25 years of obedience to God, but his first work was to
obey the word of God, to walk away from all his comforts and elders to do as
God had told him.
Listen to what Jesus tells us,
and has been telling the world for 2000 years:
“He
that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he
that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will
manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21 AV)
This, I believe is the FIRST WORK, to hear the WORD of God and DO IT. What did
He say? “Therefore whosoever heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built
his house upon a rock: (MT 7:24) (2)
Jesus said we
should keep His ‘sayings’. Imagine how much there is for us to do in our walk
with Him. But most of all He wants us to do the FIRST WORK, the work of hearing
the WORD of God when He calls us to salvation through faith in His Grace. As
Abram did, so should we; respond! And what was Jesus’ first command? Repent,
for the kingdom of God is at hand.
People CLAIM the
blood of Christ today for their “sins” without REPENTING of them, and are
encouraged by some church leaders in this heresy. How presumptuous. Repenting
is “turning from” as did Abram as he turned to obey God from his comforts and
security. People need to be made aware of what SIN really is, then they need to
know what sins are. With understanding of these truths people can find the
peace they don’t even know they are missing; they think that the church ‘happy
hours’ are times of pure peace and jolly joy, but it is far from the joy of the
Holy Ghost which will put a dance in one’s feet just like King David, and a
shout straight from the heart such as we read in the psalms: “But let all those that put their trust in
thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let
them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.” (Psalms 5:11 AV) These are
those who put their trust in God.
Has your SIN
found you out? If so, REPENT, of all your SINS, the sum of which is SIN, your
SIN NATURE, which is of old and is the source of all your SINS. As one truly
repents before God, he/she receives
from Him a new life provided by His Grace through the Gift of His Son, Jesus
Christ, whose blood cleanses us of our sins and gives us that Spirit of
Sonship, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Some may wish to
know why should one be “saved”. The Holy Bible, God’s Word to us tells us that
there is a Heaven for the righteous, and a Hell for the unrighteous. “Marvel not at this: for the hour is
coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done
good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation.” (John 5:28-29 AV)
Good work is only that
work done in Christ; all other “good” work is worldly in nature and of no
eternal value. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were of the Devil, yet they
did what they thought to be very holy works. All work done in Christ is good
work. All work done without Christ is evil work.
Hell is eternal
torment, because it was made for Satan and his angels. Only Jesus can bring us
to Heaven through our faith in God’s Grace, which is full of love and
forgiveness. If you are not saved yet, find a place right now to tell God that
no matter what, you want to give up all for Him and receive Jesus into your
life, to take away your sin and make you a new creature for His glory.
WTL
Ministry