Session 2 Recap: H. B. Charles Jr., “Ephesus”

Editor’s Note: Grant Blankenship is the Preaching Pastor at Cedar Springs Church in Cedar Crest, NM. He is a member of the Albuquerque Chapter of The Gospel Coalition. This post is a summary of H.B. Charles Jr's message from Friday evening at Clarus, March 1, “Ephesus,” from Revelation 2.

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H.B. opened by putting us into the shoes of John, explaining that John was exiled by the Roman government to Patmos, but he was not alone. Not only was Christ there with John, He revealed himself to John. He encouraged us to remember that though this letter was not written to us, it is written for us.

HB asked, "Is this letter written to you? Have you abandoned your first love?" May we be listen to the four things the Lord had to say to the Ephesian.

#1 The Lord counsels the loveless church.
The one who holds authority over His churches and walks among them sent a messenger to counsel the
church in Ephesus. It is as if He is inspecting the purity of His churches. What does the Lord see as He stands in
the midst of His church? He declares to the church in Ephesus, "I know."

#2 The Lord commended the loveless church in three ways:
First, He commended their sacrificial deeds.
Second, He commended their sound doctrine.
Third, He commended their steadfast diligence.

#3 Next in the passage, the Lord criticizes the loveless church.
There are three verses of commendation and one complaint, but this one complaint was so serious because they were in danger of neglecting the main thing. Ephesus was like a husband saying to his wife, "Don’t worry,
sweetheart. I’m not going to leave. I’ll still provide for you. I’ll still be here. But I just don’t love you anymore."

#4 Lastly, The Lord corrects this loveless church with three ways to be restored.
First, they should remember from where they had fallen. Like them, we too ought to remember what it was like when Christ first saved us.
Second, the Lord called the Ephesians to repent.
Finally, we should act with Christ's salvation fresh on our minds. H.B. gave us example of how we can do this through Praying, reading the Bible, worshiping and gathering together with believers.

If the church didn’t heed the Lord’s call to repentance, then Jesus would remove its very existence because, as HB said,‘While individuals have eternal security, but churches do not.’