• Download Video
• Download Audio
• Print
• Email
• Save As PDF

"Unless you repent"

Text: Revelation 2:5

WHERE THERE IS NO LOVE FOR GOD

The Ephesian Church had once loved the Lord dearly. Their love for God moved them to serve most significantly. When they left their first love for the Lord, their ministries were affected. They may have continued to serve but their ministries lacked the fervour and ardour that come from the first love for God! Was there a way back to return to their first love?

“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent
and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly
and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”
Revelation 2:5

1. The need for reconciliation was obvious.

a) Sin must be addressed.

b) Only when that happened could there be reconciliation.

2. The first step

a) The church must “remember” where it had fallen.

b) The departure from the Lord started when the Church left its first love for God.

c) The Church must be candid and brutally honest with itself.

d) There is always a starting point and it must retrace its steps till they discovered when and where they had fallen.

e) They would have to confess that they had indeed fallen before they can look at reconciliation with God.

2. The second step

a) The Ephesian Church must “repent” from its transgression.

b) The word “repentance” must be carefully understood.

i) It is not just feeling sorry for having transgressed.

ii) Repentance involves an actual turning away from sin deliberately.

iii) The repentant church must take definite steps to return to the Lord.

iv) As much as “leaving their first love” was a deliberate act, so must true repentance be a deliberate decision to forsake sin and to return to God.

3. The third step

a) The Church must remember how it served the Lord with “first love”.

b) The truly repentant Church must return to the days when they served God with great fervour because they had first love for God.

c) There must be true fruits of repentance as evidence of genuine repentance.

4, A strong word of warning

a) The Lord warned that if there was no genuine repentance, He would personally “remove” their lampstand.

b) The Ephesian Church would no longer exist as a lampstand for the Lord.

c) The Church may still exist physically or as an organization but its spiritual role as a golden Lampstand would no longer be extended to them.

d) The emphasis of the Lord was strong and clear. The Church is called to “repent” from its loveless approach to the Lord and its ministry.