Eric: 00:07

We are going I'm sorry. I'm I'm Eric. Hi. Good morning. Yeah, so pastor Cameron is gone and pastor Luke is gone.

Eric: 00:22

And so it is your unfortunate state that you are now stuck here with me. We are going to be moving into a series in First Timothy. So you guys can go ahead and open up to We're going to be going to First Timothy. First Timothy one is going to be the specific chapter. And if you have this Bible, it's in page 2,051.

Eric: 00:46

While we're going there, Paul wrote the book of First Timothy. It is actually a letter to Timothy. We're going to find that in the first couple of verses. I wanted to cover just a little bit of context and just so we understand kind of the setting of this book. Lots of times I am teaching in one of the kids' rooms downstairs.

Eric: 01:14

It's fifth through eighth graders. And we've been going through books of the Bible the same. And honestly, I always try to start the book because I really enjoy setting up the context of it. So that's what we're going to at least start with, but I'm going to try to do it briefly because we do have places to be within the next fifty minutes. We can do this.

Eric: 01:32

This is good. Perfect. So Paul, formerly Saul. I'm actually going to read from Philippians three:four-six. You might have this on the screen.

Eric: 01:44

I don't know. This is basically Paul is establishing his standing before the people that he's writing to, which in this case, it was the church in Philippi, but he gives a little bit of kind of an outline of his history. So he says, If someone else thinks that they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, the Hebrew of Hebrews, in regard to the law, a Pharisee, as for zeal, persecuting the church. As for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

Eric: 02:20

So this Saul character before he became Paul, he was zealous. He was trained as a Pharisee under what was like one of the chief Pharisees of that time. I'm sure we don't have any record of Paul being around during the days of Jesus. But this was like, he wrote like thirty years later. So he was probably like a baby at the time of Jesus and trained under Gamaliel, who was certainly around during the time that Jesus was walking.

Eric: 02:58

So if you are trained under one of the authoritative figures that put this Jew to death for claiming to be God, you would tend to have a certain disposition against the followers of that person. You just would. That's where Paul, that's where Saul was until Jesus met him. That's why he says, as for, in regard to the law, a Pharisee, as for zeal, you want to know how zealous he was? The very first martyr, Saul at this point is standing there watching over the coats of the people that are stoning the very first martyr, Sepphen.

Eric: 03:38

He was zealous. One One thing that we need to remember. Paul, Saul meets Jesus. Jesus changes his name to Paul. Paul died a martyr's death.

Eric: 03:54

It cost him something. He goes into Arabia and we are still in one Timothy, right? Okay. You guys are in one Timothy. We're going to get there.

Eric: 04:04

Paul goes into Arabia, meets with Jesus. It's in Galatians one, if you guys want to search it up. Galatians one twelve specifically. He says, I went to Arabia. I didn't go and learn from all these other people.

Eric: 04:18

I went from Jesus Christ Himself in Arabia. I tend to think He went to Mount Sinai. That's just my theory. But listen, there are other religions that claim that an angel of God gave them something. They wrote it down.

Eric: 04:34

And in all of those other religions, the person that writes it down in a book does very well. They don't end up getting imprisoned and shipwrecked and stoned and ultimately beheaded for what they wrote down. So one thing that you have to consider that adds credibility to what someone says is what does it cost them? It costs Paul his head. He's writing to Timothy.

Eric: 05:02

So this is super cool. Timothy, I don't have the reference wrote down, I believe it's an Acts. It could be in two Timothy. It's one of those. Timothy was actually taught the scriptures.

Eric: 05:13

He was a Jew. His mom was a Jew. His father was a Greek. He was taught the scriptures, they're Old Testament. He was taught that by his mom and his grandmother.

Eric: 05:23

That's why when Paul ends up going into it's on one of his first missionary journeys, he goes to Lystra. Lystra is a super fun story. We're going to get there first because we got to cover some of this context. Paul is able to ultimately bring Timothy into his ministry very easily because Timothy had a lot of groundwork laid, all the groundwork laid, by his mom and his grandmother. This is something that we need to think about.

Eric: 05:57

There have been, I like, I was just thinking about this when we were just worshiping and I love you all so much. So take this for what it is. There've been a lot of people this morning and over this past week that have been said, Eric, I'm praying for you. Eric, you're gonna do well. Eric, whatever.

Eric: 06:20

Just trying to encourage me because I'm standing up here this morning. How many people know that I teach downstairs, teach in the kids' class? A bunch of you know that. How many people know that there are kids' classes downstairs? Perfect.

Eric: 06:39

Listen, I'm gonna say this as gently as I can, but I'm actually serious. How many of you have prayed for the teachers in the kids' classes this week? Thank you. Yeah, guys, I'm gonna say this, the only way I know how to say it, your soul is not more important than the kids' souls. Don't pray for the person standing up here without praying for the people teaching the kids.

Eric: 07:05

That's like, I just had to stop there because it's gonna make me cry because I'm really serious. That's why Timothy was effective because somebody taught him as a kid. That's why he was able to join a ministry. Paul goes into Lystra. This is super fun.

Eric: 07:28

He's on a missionary journey. He goes into Lystra. There's a lame man from birth. Paul and I believe Barnabas. They see the lame man, it says that they see that he has faith.

Eric: 07:43

They pray for him and he's healed. The people of Lystra immediately say, because this is a Greek city, so they have all these gods, they're polytheists. They say the gods have come down. They call Zeus and Apollo, who they say has come down to join them. They say they've taken on flesh, the gods have come down, and they're dwelling among men, which actually is a true statement, but it wasn't Paul and Barnabas.

Eric: 08:12

They start making these thrones. They're gonna, they actually bring in a bowl and stuff, and they're going to start sacrificing to these guys. And Paul and Barnabas are like, No, no, no, no, no. What are you doing? And then the Pharisees actually end up showing up and they say, These are not gods.

Eric: 08:33

These are deceivers. They're teaching you all this wicked doctrine. They end up stoning Paul. They stone him, drag him out of the city. This is in Lystra where Timothy grew up.

Eric: 08:46

Guaranteed Timothy was around these events because this is where he met him. They drag him out of the city, leave him for dead, whether he died or not. We really don't know if God just raised him back up or if he just, they weren't very good at stoning folks. The next day he gets up and walks back into the city. It's in your Bible.

Eric: 09:08

This is a true story. It's in your Bible. You can read it. It's in Acts, maybe nineteen sixteen or 19. So that's at that point from there, Timothy joins with Paul and Paul basically, he says, You've got the scriptures.

Eric: 09:24

You understand the holy scriptures that your mother and grandmother have given you. Now let me give you the answer, the fulfillment, the Messiah has actually come. The one that the scriptures are about, His name is Jesus. And so Paul brings him in, baptizes him, actually ends up circumcising him, which is interesting, but we're not going to get there. And then he goes around on the missionary journeys.

Eric: 09:51

Now they go over, they're in Ephesus, still on the missionary journeys. Now Timothy is just traveling with him. They go over in Ephesus. Ephesus is an awesome city. It was a port city And they were, it was Greek, not a Jewish city, Greek, Gentile city.

Eric: 10:10

They had the Temple Of Artemis there. The Temple Of Artemis is one of the seven wonders of the world. It was like, basically picture like a football stadium, but this is not quite as big as like today's modern football stadiums, but this thing was huge, way bigger than the Colosseum. And it was all these like marble pillars they had like they were like 150 feet tall or something like that. Huge structures.

Eric: 10:36

One of the modern marvels of the ancient world. But that's the context of this city. Like they super into the occult, super into the polytheism and worshiping all these other foreign gods. And that's the setting. So that's where we're to pick up there.

Eric: 11:00

One Timothy chapter one, verse one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God, our savior, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. To Timothy, a true son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God, our father, and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine. So Paul has left him at this point, traveled across the sea.

Eric: 11:30

He's over in Macedonia, sending back, reminding Timothy, This is how you run your church. Charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification, which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith. From which some have strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers.

Eric: 12:32

And if there's any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. So the context, we've got Paul writing to Timothy. Very first thing he says, I urge you, charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies. So this, again, they're in a Gentile setting, Greek setting, worshiping all these other gods. We have a church now.

Eric: 13:08

One other thing we got to cover about Ephesus. Because this city was so into the occult, so into worshiping all these other gods, really into magic. Like they were into dark things. So when the power of Paul and Timothy and Barnabas and when that group shows up and the power of the Holy Spirit shows up in Ephesus or where Timothy was, check out what they did. They burned what the Bible says, 50,000 drachmas worth of their books and scrolls.

Eric: 13:38

So they have all of their theology for all of these foreign gods. They take it, they put it in a pile and they burn it. 50,000 drachmas. So what the heck is a drachma? Well, drachma is basically what you would earn in a day.

Eric: 13:53

So I figured it out. Let's say if you have a decent paying living wage, you can make up to $200 a day. So we'll make your $50,000 is $200 That ends up being $10,000,000 worth of books and scrolls they burned. It cost them something. There was a lot of information in that that they had been using.

Eric: 14:15

They were living out of that. That was part of why they were so upset. Because when Paul shows up, there was this guy Demetrius. He actually starts a riot because so many people, he was a silversmith and so many people aren't buying his little silver idols anymore to Artemis and all these other gods that he ends up making a riot and basically trying to get Paul killed, not because he actually disagreed with what he was teaching, but because he was costing him money. It was just because the sales were down.

Eric: 14:49

And so he gets everyone together and he says, We got to get these guys out of here because they're going to be seriously cutting into our profits. It's a true story. Anyhow, no other doctrine nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification, which is in faith. So I've been thinking about this for quite a while. We just came out of the Exodus series.

Eric: 15:15

And once I got to basically, we get Israel out of Egypt and we get to Mount Sinai. And I've been stuck on like that passage for a long time because I think that it lays out pretty nicely the false doctrines that you and I tend to believe. So we're going to go to we're going to stay in one Timothy. We're just going to remember this because we just went there. In Exodus, do you remember when Moses goes up on the mountain, the fire of God comes down on the mountain.

Eric: 15:52

There's a cloud, there's a pillar of smoke, there's fire. Three times, God says, Go tell the people not to come up and touch the mountain. Moses goes up, back down. Guys, don't touch the mountain. Okay.

Eric: 16:06

Goes back up. Why don't you go back down one more time? Tell him not to touch the mountain. He goes back down, Don't touch the mountain. The holy presence of God was on that mountain.

Eric: 16:16

They heard the voice, they heard the trumpet. Do you remember what they did? After forty days, they go to Aaron and they say, Make us gods. As for this man, Moses, we don't know what's happened to him. Actually, it's even worse than that.

Eric: 16:36

As for this man, Moses, it's Exodus 32. Exodus 30 two:one. Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us gods that shall go before us. As for this Moses, listen, the man who brought us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. Do you hear what they just did?

Eric: 16:59

This man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, when they crossed the Red Sea, there's what we call the Song of Moses. And it's all about how God, Yahweh, delivered them from the hand of the Egyptians. And by the breath of the power of His breath, He parted the sea and they walked across on dry ground and God drowned the Egyptians, the Egyptian army. That's the way that the song of Moses says. Forty days later, they're standing over here at the base of the mountain that's still burning with fire.

Eric: 17:34

God, the presence of God is still there because God and Moses are still over there talking. And they say, As for this man, Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt. Listen, Moses did not bring them out of the land of Egypt. They were delivered by something. Specifically, I'll just answer the question what they were delivered by.

Eric: 17:57

If you remember, it's called Passover. And what they had to do is they had to take the blood of a lamb and put it on their doorposts, and then they would stay in their house. I don't know why everything good is always over here and everything bad is always over here with me. I just realized I just do that. The mountain's over here, the doorposts are over here, and all the bad stuff is on this side.

Eric: 18:20

They put the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. And when the destroying angel goes over, it will pass over. He will see the blood and pass over that house. That blood was what delivered them from Egypt. Now we've taken the thing that delivered them and we've turned it into a man, but it gets infinitely worse.

Eric: 18:42

Aaron said to them, Break off your golden earrings. So they take their earrings, melt it down, melt the gold, and they make the golden calf. The golden calf, we're not going to get into it, but it's such a fun study. For anybody that actually likes looking into this stuff, it is super fun. We're going to stay away from it because it's too much.

Eric: 19:07

There were, in the ancient world, virtually every ancient religion had a bull or a calf. Had horns and everything. And this was really in virtually all of the ancient religions, this could be, it would represent either the Creator God incarnate, or it would represent a God of fertility or God of basically like strength, military strength or economic strength. Check this out. How many of you have been at Times Square?

Eric: 19:48

What's the statue in Times Square? Anyone looking forward to a bull market? That's why it's the bull market. It literally is. It's because it's economic strength.

Eric: 19:57

It's the same thing. We have one in our city in North America. We have a bowl that represents, you know what it really represents? The strength of all of us combined. So now watch this.

Eric: 20:17

And you can do a huge study on that. It's super fun. I encourage anyone that's really into that, check it out. It's super fun. Aaron takes the gold, creates the calf.

Eric: 20:28

After he forms the calf with his hand, takes it out, and he says, it's in verse four, he said, This is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. I'm trying to paint a picture for you for what false doctrine is. Because unfortunately, you and I do this. It's unbelievable. So we started off with my leader, my physical human leader, or the people that I lean on.

Eric: 20:58

Guys, this can be like, this can be your pastor that's standing here. This can be your counselor. This can be your spouse. This can be your community, your small group. Those people did not save you.

Eric: 21:12

It was the blood of a lamb on a doorpost that delivered them. But now look, this is your God that brought you out of the land of Egypt. So now we've gone from a man to either a foreign entity, deity, or my own strength as the source of my deliverance. It gets worse. Moses comes down from the mountain.

Eric: 21:41

He's tipped. He goes over to Aaron. What did these people do to you that you've done this? Now we're over in verse 22. Aaron said, Don't let the anger of my Lord become hot.

Eric: 21:57

He's talking to Moses. You know the people that they are set on evil for they said to me, make us gods that shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt. So now he's trying to kind of like cozy up with Moses. You brought us out of the land of Egypt.

Eric: 22:13

Moses already rejected that. We do not know what happened to him. And I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me. I cast it Listen to this.

Eric: 22:27

I cast it into the fire and the calf came out. Guys, we do this. You know what that is? Time, chance, dumb luck. I grew out of it.

Eric: 22:42

I gave it enough time. Yeah, not an alcoholic anymore because I just grew out of it. I'm not addicted to drugs anymore because I just, it just grew up a little bit. Time healed it. We do this.

Eric: 23:00

So now we went from the object of their deliverance was blood on a doorpost. We go from my leader, my own strength, community strength, dumb luck. It gets worse. Virtually every false doctrine on this planet Well, mean, these are my categories. I think you can pretty much categorize any false teaching, any false doctrine on the planet, and what is going to be these four.

Eric: 23:36

Now we get into, this is where it gets bad. Numbers 11. This is a little bit later on down the line. They've been out in the wilderness for a little while. Probably not super long because this would not have been an extremely long journey, literally like a forty day trek.

Eric: 23:55

Now they're at the, basically at the threshold of the promised land that God was drawing them into. God promised to them, I'm going to give you this land. You don't have to worry about it. I will fight the battles for you. We're going to go there.

Eric: 24:11

Numbers eleven:four-six. This is bad. Now the mixed multitude who are among them yielded to intense craving. The mixed multitude right there is suggesting people that were not of Hebrew or Israeli descent. So more than likely, there would have been some Egyptian friends that when they saw the power of God delivering them, they actually joined with the Jewish people, with Israel.

Eric: 24:45

That's what this is actually talking about. The mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving. So the children of Israel again wept and said, Who will give us meat to eat? Remember the fish, which we freely ate in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our whole being is dried up.

Eric: 25:10

There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes. This is the worst one by far. So now we go from changing the source of my deliverance. Have I been delivered? Have I been set free from anything?

Eric: 25:28

I have. In my life, I have. I'm still in a process of sanctification and I still need God. That's what check this out. Anyone remember when the Israelites were in Egypt?

Eric: 25:42

What they were? They were slaves. Remember how the cry, their cry came up before God? And it's at the burning bush conversation when God says, I've heard their cries come before me and I'm sending you. Now they're out in the wilderness just about to go into the full promises that God promised four hundred years earlier.

Eric: 26:16

They're at the threshold of the door. Man, don't you remember how good it was in Egypt? We freely, it's so insulting. It's unbelievable because God is giving them supernaturally sustaining them with bread and water. If you read Ephesians, it says that they all drank, they all ate the same spiritual bread and they all drank from the same spiritual rock, which this is crazy, followed them around in the wilderness.

Eric: 26:43

That's what it says. We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt. The cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions. You see what just happened in their heads? Now I didn't even need delivered.

Eric: 26:57

I changed my deliverance. The source of my deliverance was a man, was my own strength, was dumb luck. Now I didn't even need delivered. This is false doctrine. If you've been in the church for very long, if you I mean, there's a lot of people here that have been in the church for long enough.

Eric: 27:25

You came in this morning and you're sober. You're gonna go home and you're probably not gonna get on your computer and look at inappropriate stuff online. You probably aren't gonna blow up at your spouse and lose your temper. This is an easy place for our clean American churches to get extremely complacent because we forget something. We forget exactly the same thing that Israel forgot.

Eric: 27:56

We were in bondage. I was in bondage. Check this out. Now we're going to go back to one Timothy. All right, we've made it all the way to verse five.

Eric: 28:10

The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some have strayed, having turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things that they affirm. The goal of the instruction is love from a pure heart. Simple. Can anybody love from a pure heart? Not apart from the power of God, He has to give you a pure heart.

Eric: 28:45

You're dead. You can't do anything out of it. The Psalmist says, Give me a pure heart. Who can ascend the mount of the Lord but him who has pure heart and clean hands? This is fun.

Eric: 29:02

Love from a pure heart. Jesus in Matthew five, probably verse seven, verse eight. That one's actually, yeah. The pure in heart will what? See God.

Eric: 29:20

Let's go back to Moses. There was like one person, possibly two if we include Joshua, who didn't take the bait. Moses didn't even take the credit for himself. He had the opportunity to, and he insisted that it was only God that delivered them from Egypt. He didn't get to see God's face, but he got to see His glory.

Eric: 29:49

The pure in heart will see God. We gotta go back to Israel for just a minute Because I'm so convinced that this is us today, that they're about to go into the promised land. They see the challenges. And you know what the challenges were? Because we find out forty years later, actually, they probably more than likely went to the same very same place because it was at least two of them, Joshua and Caleb were the same guys that had just gone in, come back, give a report.

Eric: 30:25

Everyone's freaking out. They say, Oh, we can't go in there because there's big scary people. They come back forty years later. The big scary people are there only with bigger armies because they've been there for forty years. The very first battle, it's so stupid.

Eric: 30:42

You remember how they fight it? The way that they fight it, it's the battle of Jericho. They don't raise a finger to bring down that city. But what they did do is obey, even when it didn't make sense. There will be times when God is calling you to do something simply out of obedience, and you're not gonna get to the next place in relationship apart from obedience.

Eric: 31:17

It might look really dumb. It might look really uncomfortable. Might look like serving on the food truck. It might look like serving with the kids. It might look like giving.

Eric: 31:32

It might look like taking a Sabbath. It might look like just read the red letters particularly, but read this book. And when there's something that you say, That doesn't make sense, try obeying it. That's what Israel didn't do. And then watch this.

Eric: 31:53

This is the worst of it all. Then they want to go back to Egypt, but they don't want to go back to Egypt alone because what do they have with them at this point? The tabernacle. So much worse. Now they're not just saying, I miss what we had.

Eric: 32:13

It wasn't that bad. I wasn't in bondage. I wasn't bound. I wasn't dead. Remember when Moses, when they Moses' story starts with throwing babies in the Nile River, and that's what they want to go back to.

Eric: 32:30

But now they have the tabernacle. They have the presence of God traveling with them, which they had been following. Probably until now, and then they're going to pick up their little tent pegs and they're going to walk this way. I guess this way is Egypt now. Guys, we do this.

Eric: 32:54

I do this in my life. Obedience is too awkward. God, you're gonna have to join me in my own sin. Yeah, I could I could follow you. I could obey, but it's uncomfortable.

Eric: 33:12

I don't understand it. They go in and they take out Jericho by walking around it seven times. It's just obedience. Finally, they did it. Sorry, set a time.

Eric: 33:24

You guys know the story. They want to incorporate God into their sin. You know what happened to them? That generation died in the wilderness. Now we're back into one Timothy because we still have to, we got, we're going to do it.

Eric: 33:46

This is perfect. We know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. So how do we use the law lawfully? This is super fun because the law didn't ever save anybody. The law never delivered anybody.

Eric: 34:00

It's all over the New Testament. Paul says that dozens of times. The law does not set anybody free, but how do we use the law properly or lawfully? The law reminded them about what it was like in Egypt. The law reminds you and I, this is, it reminds us of a bondage that we've been delivered from.

Eric: 34:22

It does not the purpose of the law is not to say that you are bound. The purpose of the law is to say, You have been delivered because of blood. That's using but that's not what they wanted to do, at least in this church, in the church of Ephesus that Paul is writing to Timothy, who's the pastor at this point, says, make sure that these people that have always they've gone through generations of worshiping at this temple. They're worshiping idols. They're doing all these necromances and all these things to try to appease gods.

Eric: 34:58

It doesn't work like that. That's false doctrine. That's the endless genealogies. It's fables. It's like Here's something that I was actually thinking about just this morning as I'm out watching the sunrise.

Eric: 35:15

Like the stars are out, the moon's out. Like, I'm sorry, but there are people that pay attention to moon phases and where the stars are and where comets are. Guys, that's not the gospel. That's the same type of thing that they were following. That's this type of stuff that was in the books that they burned.

Eric: 35:41

The law is good if one uses it lawfully. Okay. We're going to skip ahead because we got to find out what ended up happening to Ephesus and the church in Ephesus. There is a letter written to another letter. There's one Timothy, two Timothy, the book of Ephesus, also written by Paul.

Eric: 36:04

It's all doctrine. It's good, sound doctrine of the truth of the gospel, staying away from false teachings. We aren't saved by any other name under heaven other than Jesus Christ. He was the Lamb of God. You're going to find it.

Eric: 36:21

And do you have it in Revelation two? Sweet. So this was actually a letter written to the Church of Ephesus by Jesus Christ Himself via the pen of John. To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write, The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands, we're not going to get into all that right now, but it is fun, says this. I know your deeds and your labor and perseverance and that you cannot tolerate evil people.

Eric: 36:59

You have put those who call themselves apostles to the test, and they are not. You have found them to be false. And you have perseverance and have endured on account of my name and have not become weary. That's wonderful. That's wonderful.

Eric: 37:20

We have several books. First Timothy, Second Timothy, the book of letter of Ephesus, teaching them doctrine. And they did a really good job. It's you put those who call themselves apostles to the test. They are not.

Eric: 37:36

Found them to be false. Perfect. You got out the false teachers. Perseverance have endured on account of my name and not become weary. This is something that's so easy, especially it's This always resonates with me because it's easy for me to enjoy digging into something and trying to pull truth out of it.

Eric: 38:02

But you know what's really easy to do? To get consumed with that. And pretty soon, I find that I have not spent any time in the presence sitting with Jesus. It's so easy to read this, read commentaries, listen to commentaries, listen to sermons, and not just sit and be still, but the person that it points to. Guys, that is idolatry.

Eric: 38:41

It turns out that's exactly what Ephesus ends up being guilty of. I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen. You remember there was, we call him the rich young ruler that comes up to Jesus. And he says, Teacher, tell me what I must do to inherit eternal life.

Eric: 39:06

Says, You know the commandments, honor your father and mother, do this and this and this. He says, Yeah, I've done all those things. But one thing you lack, Sell everything, give it to the poor, follow me. And the man went away sad. Says Jesus actually loved him.

Eric: 39:34

The man did really good at doing the things. Go to church, pay a tithe, serve in the kids' room, be on the worship team. Guys, this is stuff that's super easy for like, you guys see me do things. You guys do things. It's really easy to lean on that and lose your first love.

Eric: 40:04

It says, Do the things you did at first. You endured, not count my name, have not become weary, but this I have against you. Left your first love, therefore remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds which you did at first. From where you have fallen. You know, for a long time, I would always read that and I would, in my head, turn it into to where you have fallen instead of from where you have fallen.

Eric: 40:33

So if I fall off of this stage, I fell off of the stage onto the floor, but the from where was on the stage. So He's talking to a church. Remember from where you have fallen, you were at a place up here. Ultimately, what was that place? So practically, what did they do?

Eric: 40:54

Well, they started with burning their books. They got rid of every, all the trash. They took everything that was not pointing to Christ and they got rid of it. Great. It was something tangible that they did.

Eric: 41:10

Then they pursued good doctrine and they were good on it and they made sure that there was no false teachers. Perfect. But they did not love. You know what I think they actually did? I think that they probably got to a place where they weren't honest about their sin.

Eric: 41:26

I think that they got to the same place that Israel got to when they were about to go into the promised land and they were no longer honest about their prior situation. Remember from where you have fallen. They were honest. Check. Okay.

Eric: 41:43

I've got a story that's a true story, but I don't know. It's as good as I can do for getting this point across. One month ago yesterday, this happened. So I have I work for a family business and we put in oil wells in Pennsylvania. And I work generally with, I have a cousin that's ten years younger than me, and I have an uncle, his dad, that I work with.

Eric: 42:15

And like these two are, they're really, really, really high up on my list of people that I love. My uncle, he's, I mean, he's done a big part of, he's been extremely influential in my life and a very high respect for him. And I care about his perception of me because I love and respect him. So a month ago yesterday, we had just fracked a well down at Warren and we were hooking stuff up and getting it ready to produce and go down the line. And I had to go over and do some stuff on another location, drove my truck back up to the well that we were working on.

Eric: 43:12

I was there for about twenty minutes. And I had to run down to our shop to get a piece of pipe. I jump in my truck. I pull ahead about 10 feet, and I hear something. So we're a small family business.

Eric: 43:35

And like my uncle and my cousin, lots of time well, sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes they'll bring their dogs to work. My uncle had two dogs. Now he has one dog. I had no idea that it had crawled under my truck and laid down in front of my tire. And this like his dog.

Eric: 44:02

This was like, he had two dogs. And the one that we really liked was Bobo, who was no longer with us. And then he's got Honey Blossom. Literally the day before I was talking about how, like, I really like Bobo and Honey Blossom is just kind of Bobo's friend. He loved this dog.

Eric: 44:24

My cousin loved this dog. We're all standing there and there's absolutely nothing that we can do. He's dying. And we're all there. It actually so after we knew that Bobo was gone, my uncle, he stood up and he hugged me and he prayed for me.

Eric: 44:57

And he said, Eric, I'm sorry that you have to carry this. Now listen, this is someone that's been in, we've been in relationship. I started working for him in twenty plus years ago, but he was my uncle before that. We've been in relationship literally my entire life. We put stuff together at the well that had to be addressed.

Eric: 45:30

And he and my cousin took the dog and went back to his house. He has a place where they bury their pets over at his house and they were gonna go take care of that. And I had stuff at work that I still had to take care of. But afterwards, when they left, I had to go just literally sit down for a good half hour and just like, because this was a really heavy event. I just seriously hurt somebody that I very much love.

Eric: 46:08

It cost him something. It was an accident, absolutely an accident, but my negligence because I did not look under my truck before I moved it. It was my negligence cost him something. Listen to this. My sin and your sin cost the Father His Son.

Eric: 46:37

It cost Jesus His blood. He took it on Himself. He took your sin upon Himself. And He allowed the judgment of the Remember when there was the fire, the cloud, the pillar of smoke over here on the mountain? And three times, God says, Make sure nobody touches the mountain lest I break out against them.

Eric: 47:02

That wrath, that power is what Jesus endured on your behalf and on my behalf. It cost him something. Can you imagine how inappropriate it would have been if I would have run over his dog and killed his dog? And if I would have just kept going, would I have loved him? You can't do that to people that you love.

Eric: 47:42

That would have been would have been it would have been very telling of where my heart truly was if I would have done that. For it to hurt somebody, even unintentionally, but to cost somebody something so dear, and then just carry on with business as usual and not allow yourself to be affected by it. That's why Jesus in Matthew seven, We're going to go there. Matthew seven twenty one-twenty three. Because you remember what we just read in Revelation?

Eric: 48:30

You guys did all of this stuff in my name. In the name of Christ, they were making sure that the people that were teaching were teaching sound doctrine. That the way that they were living, that it was not contrary to the law or what Paul and what all the other apostles had taught. But what they didn't do, check this out, Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven,' but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. That's exactly what Israel didn't do.

Eric: 49:06

They didn't, they just wouldn't obey. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name? Then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Lost your first love. Do you understand?

Eric: 49:34

Do you remember? This is the point. Man, some of us have to be here. Some of us have to just sit and say, we have to remember. We just straight up have to remember that a man bled for me.

Eric: 49:51

And we are too comfortable to pull his blood into, bring the tabernacle, whatever you want, we bring it into our sin. We covet. We're selfish. We're proud. And lots of times, I'm on this stage playing an instrument or I'm downstairs teaching your kids, and you know how easy it is for us that when we're doing something with our hands to think that that saves us.

Eric: 50:21

It's a freaking calf. It doesn't save you. But we have to remember sometimes that we cost the Father something. Do you know how hard it is? Listen to this.

Eric: 50:35

I get out of my truck. I go over. The dog is laying there dying. My uncle is crying and my cousin is crying. I did that.

Eric: 50:44

They get up. We pray together. When I see what is a very good picture of the Father's response to our failures, When we're honest, when we come and we say, I bring nothing to the table but a dead dog. And they respond in love. You want to know why your love is complacent?

Eric: 51:15

Why you're not excited to go to church? Be honest about your sin. Be honest about what it cost him. And if you don't want to know what it cost him, then you need to talk to somebody that can explain to you the gospel. Didn't lay a bunch of torment on Jesus.

Eric: 51:46

He was crushed under the weight of the Father for you. Here's my encouragement. If your love has grown cold, if you need more love, if you need to experience the presence of Jesus where you know that you can stand before Him and He won't say, I never knew you, because you know Him right now. Here's what you need to do. Do if you've been in church for a while, do the things you did at first.

Eric: 52:16

Read your Bible like you did when you first discovered it. Pray like you did when you first discovered the presence of the Holy Spirit. Be honest about your sin like you were at first. I think that's a hard one for people that have been in church for a while because we're not supposed to struggle with sin. Be honest about it because that's where He meets you.

Eric: 52:43

It is where he meets you. For me to walk away from my uncle and say, your dog's back there. Completely different relationship today. It would have to be different. And they would say, Dude, I don't even know you anymore.

Eric: 53:01

And he would be right. But that's what so that's what I want to encourage us. As the worship team comes up, here's what we got to do. If that's where you're at, man, repent, return to what you did. That was I don't even know if I got there in Revelation.

Eric: 53:22

Did I get there in Revelation? It's on this page. It's on one of these pages. I hate notes. Remember where you have fallen.

Eric: 53:33

Repent and do the deeds you did at first. That's my encouragement for you. Let's pray. Father God, I thank you for your word. I thank you for your faithfulness.

Eric: 53:44

I thank you for your love. I thank you that you see us where we're at. You will meet us where we are at as we come to a place of obedience to you. Help us to obey. Help us to seek your will, not our own will, not our own agendas, and certainly not looking for excuses to return to our own sin, our own bondage.

Eric: 54:20

I pray that you would move even now, move in my heart, move in the hearts of everybody in this room. Reveal to each one of us places where we are either holding idols or completely rejecting that we even needed deliverance. Be merciful and show us. Give us the grace and power to respond in faith. Father God, help us to make that true in our lives.

Eric: 55:01

To truly surrender, completely surrender, ultimately the source of our freedom is entirely in you, entirely paid by you. No other name under heaven by which men are saved. You are the source of our freedom. You are the source of our life. Not our leaders, not our community, not our own willpower, our own strength, not time.

Eric: 55:35

Go with us this week, draw near to us as we draw near to you. I thank you that you will be faithful to me, every one of us that reaches out to you. I thank you for your goodness. We pray that you'll bless every person in here, bless the kids. In Jesus name, amen.

Eric: 56:01

Thank you all, have a wonderful week.