How does a thriving, truth-loving, mission-minded church lose its passion for Christ in just one generation? In this powerful episode of Hope for Today, David Hocking walks us through Revelation 2:1–7 and Jesus’ sobering words to the church at Ephesus. Though Ephesus stood strong against false teaching and held firm in hardship, they had abandoned their first love. David connects their story to ours—warning that busyness, sound doctrine, and even past spiritual victories cannot replace a heart on fire for Jesus. With deep historical insight, including first-hand reflections from visits to the ancient ruins of Ephesus, David brings Scripture
How long does it take a church that’s on fire for God, standing for God’s truth, trying to be a witness in a pagan city and environment, a church that sent out many missionaries, how long does it take that church to lose its vibrancy and leave its first love? We believe that Paul in that ministry was somewhere in the 60s A.D. John is writing somewhere between 90 and 95 A.D. I remind you that in 25, 30 years, this church is already being evaluated by Christ as having a seed of decay, neglected priorities.
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Thank you.
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Welcome to Hope for Today with Bible teacher David Hawking. Today on the program we step into a passage that peels back the surface and goes straight to the heart. Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 through 7 is a message to the church in Ephesus. Now this is a church that looks strong from the outside. They knew the truth. They stood against evil and they kept pressing on. But something, something was off. They had left their first love. And the risen Lord who walks in the midst of his churches is calling them back. He says, remember, repent, return. And this isn’t just a word for Ephesus. It’s for you and me and our churches today. Open your Bible to Revelation chapter 2 as David begins our study called Neglected Priorities. And that’s coming up in just a moment. First, we have David’s original sermon outlines and notes for each message in our current Revelation series. You know, these are great for following along through the series and then into the future when you want to review or share it with others. The Revelation series sermon notes pack is just ten dollars. That’s sermon notes for each message in the entire series, 48 messages altogether. And you can purchase or download at davidhawking.org or receive them by PDF CD when you call us. And then you can save and store all your learning in our current series with the Revelation Radio Series Message Pack. All 48 messages on MP3 format, download or MP3 CD. Special price this month, Jim, just? Just $30. Or on DVD, a special price this month for the DVD set, $50. Go to davidhocking.org or call 1-800-75-BIBLE. In Canada, at 1-888-75-BIBLE. And Bible by the Numbers is 242-53. And your resource purchase or your donation right now will help the future ministry of Hope for Today. And let’s get into the Word. Here’s David.
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Revelation chapter 2, verses 1 to 7, the church at Ephesus. 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 or lampstands, I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them who are evil, and thou hast tried them who 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 labored and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” Remember, therefore, from where thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works. Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy lampstand or candlestick out of its 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. So often I’ve found that you can substitute a lot of busyness, a lot of efforts that you claim are really effective for the Lord, for what’s really most important, and that is loving the Lord with all your heart. But in that song, O Lord, You’re Beautiful, It says in that third little paragraph, O Lord, please light the fire that once burned bright and clear. Replace the lamp of my first love that burns with holy fear. Let’s pray. Father, we’re so grateful to be back here again, fellowshipping together around your wonderful word. You tell us that we are to have a sincere love of the brothers because we’ve been born again. Some of us are going through hard trials right now, things that we don’t understand, but you’re the one that knows all things, and we thank you for that. Oh, God, help us to see the beauty of Jesus Christ, his love, his forgiveness, and may we run to him. who loves us with an everlasting love and with loving kindness draws us to himself. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. It’s been my privilege to travel to Bible lands on many occasions, and on some of those trips it was my delight to visit the seven churches of Revelation. Once you actually go to these sites, you discover why these seven churches were picked out. There were more churches than seven in Asia Minor. That is a view you’ll find in some books, but it’s totally incorrect. For example, when you come in the beautiful mountains of what is now Turkey today, to a lovely valley where the church at Laodicea is found, much to your amazement, you realize that in ancient times that was a tri-city area. There were three cities in that valley, and they’re all mentioned in the Bible. Colossae, and we have a letter, the Colossians, to that church, and Hierapolis, which is also mentioned in that letter, a church in Hierapolis. Those three cities are there. Here’s another example. As you’re driving up to the ancient ruins of Laodicea, you notice these limestone cliffs, and over these cliffs, water is falling. And so remembering the passage in the Bible, you have to stop your bus and get everybody out and go over and put your hands under the water. And you’re amazed because the water is indeed lukewarm, exactly like the Bible says. You take that water and you put it up to your mouth and it is so bitter, you will spit it out immediately. And we are reminded of the message at Laodicea, that you’re lukewarm and I’ll spew you out of my mouth. In each case, there is something about the city that connects the whole message together. Ephesus was called the metropolis of Asia. As a matter of fact, in all of the Bible lands today, the ruins, the archaeological ruins of Ephesus are the most spectacular. You’ll hardly find a site in all of Israel that will compare with what has been uncovered at Ephesus, and they have not finished that excavation. There’s an Ephesus in three different time periods, but the one that is at the time of the Apostle Paul is indeed amazing. One of the things that we know upon visiting there is that it was once a seaport town. It is not now. A lot of the landfill, the marshy swamp land that has come in from the sea, has made it about a 20-minute drive to the interior. The seaport now is called Kudashi, and you drive in to get to Ephesus. I’ve been in Ephesus before, and it’s really a spectacular sight. They have the amphitheater there that you read about in Acts chapter 19, where for two hours the crowd shouted out, “‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians!’ That amphitheater is still in existence today. It seats 25,000 people. You can stand at the bottom without a microphone and be heard clear to the top row. Perfect acoustics. And those who would sit in that amphitheater, that stadium, were actually looking out to the sea. They would see the sea. It was a gorgeous sight. You also have a library there in Ephesus. It was one of the greatest in the ancient world. That has now been reconstructed, and it’s indeed spectacular. Over 200,000 volumes, and remind yourself it was before printing. A huge cultural center. It was a center of trade and business. All the ships that went from Rome to other parts of the world, when they headed east, they would always stop at Ephesus. A great banking industry was there. But in addition to it being a cultural center of the empire and a great library, a population that we now estimate was somewhere between 250,000 to 500,000 people. In this huge pagan city, they had one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was the goddess Artemis or Diana of the Ephesians. It’s a multi-breasted colossal statue that dedicated to sex and fertility. It was a terribly immoral, pagan, educated city of the ancient world. And this goddess, by the way, is still quite popular in Turkey today. You will find in most of the hotels along that western side of Turkey, you will find a replica of that statue in the hotel lobbies. They sell little tiny statues of the goddess Diana that you can put on your car or take home with you. They make kind of a joke about it, but I find it very interesting that the thing that they believe from the past gives them some sense of glory and importance would be the goddess Diana or Artemis of the Ephesians. Now, the church at Ephesus had its roots in a very brief visit to the synagogue by the apostle Paul. Take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18. It’s interesting to me, having visited many of these ancient sites, that the Apostle Paul’s strategy appears to have been to go to the major metropolitan cities, plant a church there, and then out from that they could send many other missionaries and plant other churches. He definitely was hitting the major cities. In Acts chapter 18… Beginning at verse 18, it says, And Paul, after this, tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed from there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, Paul having shorn his head in Cancrea, for he had a vow. And he came to Ephesus and left them there. But he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.” When they desired him to tarry a longer time with them, he consented not, but bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem. But I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. And when he had landed at Caesarea and gone up and greeted the church, he went down to Antioch. And after he had spent some time there, he departed, went over all the country of Galatia and Persia in order, strengthening all the disciples. And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, that would be in Egypt, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in the Spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. That would be John the Baptist. So he doesn’t know the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Christ in Israel. He’s only been in Alexandria, Egypt. He knows about John the Baptist. He’s one of those Jews that’s been prepared for the coming of the Messiah. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. Now, mind you, Paul has been there earlier, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. Can you imagine Apollos hearing the events about the death and resurrection of the Messiah? Verse 2. Verse 3. So what we’ve learned so far is that the ministry at Ephesus, the church at Ephesus, had its roots in a brief visit to the synagogue by the Apostle Paul and a ministry by Apollos, an Alexandrian Jew who was taught by Aquila and Priscilla. Now look at chapter 19 of Acts. The story of the work in Ephesus continues. It came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coast or borders, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples. Now this would be disciples of Apollos’ ministry who knew the baptism of John was preparing people for the coming of the Lord. He said unto them, Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there is any Holy Spirit. And he said unto them, Unto what then were you baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him who should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost of the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve. I find this interesting. The ministry starts in a synagogue. Apollos is an Alexandrian Jew, knows the ministry of John the Baptist, which came to the Jewish people to prepare them for the coming of the Lord. And now we have 12 men at Ephesus who are introduced to more of what happened in the events surrounding our Lord. So they’re now going to be baptized upon the authority of Jesus Christ, not simply of John the Baptist. And then notice what happens in verse 8. He went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing, arguing, and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and believed not, but spoke evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued for the space of two years.” so that all they who dwelt in Asia, that would be Asia Minor or Western Turkey, the site of the seven churches, all who dwelt in Asia Minor heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. Now our story in Revelation is a good 40, 50 years later at least. And the work of the seven churches apparently came out of Ephesus. It was through the ministry of Paul that teaching in his school that the word of God began to spread all through the province known as Asia, which is primarily western Turkey today. Now verse 11. God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them who had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? I think there’s humor in this passage. I really like it. And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them and overcame them, so endeth their ministry. No, here’s what it says. And prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus. And fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified or enlarged. Now he’s big news in the city. And many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. Many of those also who used curious or magical arts brought their books together and burned them before all men, and they counted the price of them and founded 50,000 pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. Now that’s what I call a pretty exciting beginning to that church. What we have here is a Jewish group. The church was Jewish to begin with in Ephesus. It has its roots in a brief visit to the synagogue by Paul, a ministry also by Apollos, an Alexandrian Jew who was taught on the side by Aquila and Priscilla, an encounter with Paul and 12 disciples of John the Baptist, presumably through the ministry of Apollos, a teaching ministry by Paul that lasted for two years in a philosophical school, interestingly, And it also included mighty miracles by the hand of Paul, spectacular miracles, and a mighty revival in the city, which was dominated by the occult. By the way, we know a lot about that today. There was demonism, occultic practice, magical arts, immorality. It was a pagan city from beginning to end. And so the gospel penetrates that place and a church is born. And then it ends up with a serious riot in the amphitheater. And I won’t read that, but you can look at that in verses 23 down to verse 41. What a spectacular beginning.
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That’s David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. We’ll have more from David in just a moment to close out our time, and God’s words so do. Stay right there. Right now, we want to share a great study resource with you. Matt, what do we have? Babylonian civilization lasted for several centuries. And it influenced subsequent cultures throughout the world. And sadly, the most significant part of that influence was paganism, idolatry, and immorality. Exactly. Babylonianism has penetrated and seduced the nations for over 4,000 years. That history, Matt, and Babylon in the prophetic future is covered in 286 Bible references. Yeah, Revelation chapter 17 through 18 is one. It details the mystery and fall of Babylonianism. And the book of Revelation depicts a prostitute on a seven-headed beast with 10 horns on its seventh head. symbolizing the Antichrist’s future rise. Apparently, he will emerge from a confederacy dividing the world into 10 divisions, attacking Christian beliefs. And according to prophecy, Jim, the Babylonian religious system will culminate in a diabolical final seduction of all nations. Like the world has never seen. This month, we’re featuring a special price on your dad’s book, Babylon, Its History and Prophecies. Now, normally $15, just $10 this month. You know, this powerful study guide commentary covers scriptures on the history, prophecies, and warning signs for Babylonianism. Fortifying readers to stand strong in faith and hopeful for our future. Get Babylon, its history and prophecies. Normally $15, just $10 this month when you call 1-800-75-BIBLE. And if you make this purchase, would you prayerfully consider adding an additional amount as a donation to help us continue the ministry of hope for today? Or perhaps send a donation by itself. Either way, your gift will help us continue this outreach. Just before David returns, let me speak to your heart for a moment. If this ministry has been a blessing to you, stirring your soul, maybe building your faith or clarifying God’s word in a world gone sideways, then ask yourself, who else needs to hear this? Who’s out there right now, confused? hurting, hungry for truth, maybe just one broadcast away from a breakthrough. That’s what God’s Word does. And that’s what your support helps make possible. Not just programs, not just radio time, lives changed, minds renewed, souls saved again by the power of preaching God’s Word. And if that resonates with you, if you feel that pull to help multiply what God is doing through Hope for Today, then join with us in ministry, not out of obligation, but out of vision. First of all, pray for us and then make a donation, a one-time gift or regular monthly contributions as God might direct. Call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Bible is 24253. You can also give online securely on our website, davidhawking.org, or send a gift by mail to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, Tustin is T-U-S-T-I-N, California, 92781. And again, that’s in the U.S. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. And thank you for standing with us in ministry. Well, once again, here’s David.
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Thanks for listening today, and I hope you’re enjoying our study of the book of Revelation. We’re in Chapter 2 now. Boy, we’ve had a number of broadcasts in Chapter 1. In fact, I think a total of about 12. broadcast already. If you missed any one of them, go to our website. You can pick them up and catch up with us if you’re not in chapter 2. We’re in chapter 2 on the church at Ephesus. The subject, neglected priorities. Oh, this was a strong church, all right. And maybe you’ve got one, but maybe there is something wrong. The Lord said, I have someone against thee. Wow. Well, I’m telling you, this is a message that the churches of our Lord today need to hear. You may be Orthodox. You may stand for many of the good things of the Word of God. But the question is, what’s wrong? And according to this passage, The Lord said, Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. He didn’t say lost. He said left. And maybe that’s happened to you, and it’s time to get straightened out. These messages require repentance according to the Bible. In fact, verse 5 says, except thou repent. Wow. Let’s study it carefully and prayerfully.
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As David said, if you missed any part of today’s broadcast, you can always listen again at davidhonking.org. And while you’re there at the website, would you also consider praying for this ministry? We depend on God’s provision through friends like you, those who believe in what we’re doing and want to see this kind of clear, bold, verse-by-verse teaching continue. Pray for us, and if you’re also able to give, we’re grateful. Your support helps us reach thousands each day with the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible. Well, next time on Hope for Today, David continues his sobering look at Jesus’ message to the church in Ephesus, where sound doctrine and hard work weren’t enough to hide a heart that had grown cold. If you’ve ever gotten busy, too busy for God, and you’ve lost sight of why you started, this one’s for you. Neglected Priorities continues next time on Hope for Today.
