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Praise the Lord, this is part 1 of a the seven churches, a study of the seven churches of the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John, it looks like God is going to let us go through the whole book of Revelations, and we have got a very exciting word coming forth here. I am going to start with a recap of reading the alternate translations that we did in the last service and those verses are Revelation 1:10-20.
REVELATION 1:10-20
10. One day while I was in prison on Patmos, I had a spiritual experience. My human personality seemed to be pushed to the background and the Spirit of Jesus Christ manifested in me in the fullest possible expression know to man and it is known as the day of the Lord. And I heard a powerful voice which seemed to be a part of me, it sounded like a trumpet sounding the gathering of the troops.
11. Saying, I am A and Z, the origin and ultimate end of mankind, and I want you John to write a book about what I am about to show you, and send the book to the whole church world, which are in Asia, unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea, which churches typify the spiritual problems, the body of Christ can fall prey to.
We all know that the church in this hour is spiritual. That was the church in that day, it was the only way the Holy Spirit could express that He wants this word to go to the whole church.
12. And my own personality returned again, and I could observe the voice that spoke to me, and being myself again, I saw seven golden vessels which represented the fullness of the redeemed living soul.
13. And in the middle of the living soul of man, I saw what appeared to be the Christ, He was wearing mankind as a garment, and they covered Him right down to His feet, and they had become one with Him and the power of God wrapped around his breast which were able to nourish and raise up children, spiritual children, and the power of God protected them.
14. His soul was white as the wool of a redeemed sheep and his spirit was white and pure as snow, and the fire of almighty God is seen in his eyes.
15. And His feet, the part of Him which stands on the earth, even mankind, appeared like unto fine polished metal as if purified in a furnace, and His voice sounded like many spirits speaking with one mind and in one accord.
16. And He kept His sons from sinning by imparting His righteousness to them, and He subdued the flesh man, put him under the foot of the indwelling Christ and ruled the creation with authority and power, and He appeared as the sun shining with all of its might.
17. And when I saw the glorified Christ, my natural personality yielded to Him, and I fell down as if dead. And He imparted righteousness and life to me by holding me up with His right hand and communicated with me saying, Do not be afraid, I am the origin and the ultimate end of mankind.
18. And Jesus said, I am the one who is alive, but there was a time when I was dead, nevertheless I will never die again, I am alive for the life of the ages, so be it, and I have the key that will unlock the prison house known as hell, the place where mankind is tormented continually, and I also have the key that will deliver them out from under the power of death, so that they can receive eternal life.
19. Write down the things which you have seen, the way they are now and the way they will be in the future.
20. Write about the hidden truth of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels or the spiritual men of the seven churches, and the seven golden candlesticks which you saw are the buildings which house those men. Yes the seven stars are the sons of God which I am upholding with my righteousness and the seven golden candlesticks are the redeemed living soul. AT
Hallelujah, we are starting today with chapter 2 of the book of Revelation, verse 1;
REVELATION 2:1
1. 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. KJV
I would like to start by saying that Ephesus is a city in Asia minor, and Ungle's Bible Dictionary tells us about it, that it is a successful prosperous city, on the western coast of Asia minor, and it had an ample harbor. The Ephesians worshiped the Asiatic Goddess Diana, whose temple, one of the seven wonders of the world made the city famous. The people after the temple was destroyed by fire immediately rebuilt it, it is said that some of the magnificent columns are incorporated in the church of Saint Sophia.
What that is saying is that a Catholic church present in Ephesus, was built right on the ruins of Diana's temple. There were many Jews in the city, who are more or less influenced by Christianity, Timothy was the bishop of the church founded by Saint Paul. Saint Paul opposed the idolatry of those who made or worshiped chimes or practiced magic. His opposition resulted in a serious riot.
What we are saying here is that Ephesus was riddled with idolatry, witchcraft, and magic, and it was opposed by the apostle of God, resulting in a riot. I know everybody here knows that when a true word comes forth, it attacks the traditions and the carnal thoughts of the people in the church, sometimes the people in the world, but mostly the people in the church, it usually results in a riot.
This is happening today. There is a riot in the land because the Lord God is coming forth with the word of truth and it is up seating and exposing all of the false doctrine and idolatry in the church world today, and the church world by in large to the best of my ability to see it, will not repent, and they will not repent because they will not receive the word of the Lord, they do not believe it.
We are embarking on a study right now where Jesus is speaking to the church world, and this message is for today, and He is going to tell them what their problems are, what good there is about Him, and what He is going to do if they do not repent. So take heed brethren, and may this message be a blessing to everyone that hears it, because the end is glorious, the end is glorious, He only wants for us to come into His image and He will do whatever is necessary to bring that to pass.
The first phrase of the chapter 2, verse 1;
1. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand... KJV
We went over that in chapter one, the fact that He is using His right hand, it is the right hand of righteousness as opposed to the left hand of judgment, and the stars are the spiritual men. If you have Christ, you are two men, you are an adamic man and you are a spiritual man, and the Lord Jesus Christ describes the spiritual man in you as stars. We know that the truth of this Bible is hidden, Jesus told us that it is not for everyone, it is just for those for whom He chooses to reveal it. So there are many, well we know that the book of Revelation is a book of symbols, but even more so than that, what really stood out in my mind as I did this study is how much is unsaid, how much is unsaid, that if you really analyze what he is saying, there is so much that is implied, but not said.
If you are schooled in the word of God and if the Holy Spirit is operating in your mind, what is implied will come to you, do you understand what I am saying, it is like half of it unsaid, it is hidden, it is veiled. He is upholding the spiritual man in you, He is keeping him from sinning by the right hand of His righteousness. If any good thing in you at all, that is incapable of sin, and we know that he who is born of God is incapable of sin, and if you have birthed Christ there is a being in you, there is a new man in you that incapable of sin, and the reason that He is incapable of sin is that He is being upheld by the right hand or the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, glory to God.
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, write, these things saith He that is upholding the spiritual man in you, by His righteousness, He who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, and we established it the last meeting, that the candlestick is the frame which holds the oil. You know in ancient Bible days I do not think I really explained this at the last couple of meetings, they did not have candles, the candlestick in the sanctuary did not burn a candle, oil was poured into what they call the lamp stand or they put a wick into the oil and they burnt the wick, it was pure olive oil, it was not a candle.
The candlestick is the frame that holds the oil and flame, and the oil is the Holy Spirit and the flame is the life of the Father. What does that leave the candle stick to be? It leaves it to be the soul and the body of natural man, the Father and the son is within us, amen? Okay, and because the candlestick was gold, it indicates that the soul was redeemed. I honestly do not know if it is talking about the soul and the body, at this point, I honestly do not know, but in any event, we are talking about a redeemed soul, at least we are talking about a redeemed soul.
We are saying the one that is talking is He that walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, and we also said that each candlestick had seven pipes, seven being the number of perfection and there were seven candlesticks with seven pipes, and we said at the last meeting, that, that was referring to the fullness of the redeemed living soul, seven being the number of completion. Alternate translation, glory to God. I want to make one more comment on that before I read you the alternate translation. The Scripture says, Unto the angel, singular of the church of Ephesus, and every time I have ever heard this book taught, it has been taught that the angel is the pastor of the church, and there is a definition in verse 20 of chapter 1, it says, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and it is taught that they are the pastors, but I suggest to you brethren, that it is not the pastor of the church, that it is the spiritual man in you and it is the spiritual man in me and the reason it is singular, see what snared everybody that preaches this, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, the reason that it is singular, is that there is only one spiritual Christ, there is only one son of God.
He is in you and He is in me, and He is in you and He is in all of us, but He is still just one, so when he says, Write unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, he is writing to the spiritual man singular that exists in many members in the church of Ephesus. Alternate translation verse 1, chapter 2 of the book of Revelation;
REVELATION 2:1
1. Write to the angels, (I made it plural, angels), of the church at Ephesus saying, the one that possesses and holds the fullness of the spiritual man in an upright position with the right hand of His righteousness, even the one who walks in the midst of the redeemed living soul says to your spiritual man,
I am suggesting to you brethren that if you fall into this category, you not only are living in a world laced with idolatry, we here in Long Island, and New York City it is horrible what is going on in the world today, but the human body, the unredeemed human body that we live in is laced with idolatry and every unclean thing. We are surrounded, our spiritual man, Christ in us is surrounded by idolatry, and fornication and every filthy work, and the Lord Jesus Christ comes to you in this condition and this is what He says to you.
2. I know thy works and thy labor, 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.
I would like to make one more comment before I go on with that, with regard to verse #1, the Scripture says that He is walking in the midst of the candlesticks and I just felt led to put this little comment in, Genesis 3:8 says;
GENESIS 3:8
8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. KJV
In the Old Testament the Lord God walked in the midst of the garden, and in the book of Genesis the first book the A book, the alpha book, He was walking in the midst of the garden, and in the Omega, in the last book, He is walking in the midst of the candlesticks, and I am going to suggest to you that the garden of God in Genesis is the soul, is the soul of man, and in the book of Revelation it becomes a gold candlestick, first of all it is redeemed and second of all it has become hard, and incorruptible. Hallelujah, glory to God. Okay, verse 2;
REVELATION 2:2
2. I know thy works, and thy labor 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. KJV
The word works, refers to work or toil as an occupation, it is legitimate work as an occupation, as opposed to labor, which refers to intense labor, which is related to and united with trouble and toil. It is not the peaceful labor of waking up in the morning and going to your job and passing your daily lifetime. Labor is the laborious grievous some labor that you do not necessarily see fruit from in the immediate future, and I am going to go back over this, but just to tell you right now, I am suggesting to you that the works is just existing as a natural man, and that the labor is what we are going through right now, striving to enter into the kingdom.
The works is the kind of works that we have to do to exist in this realm, unless you are going through the tribulation, it is not necessarily grievous, lots of people, they just get up and they go to work in the morning and they like their job and they have a wonderful life right? They are happy and they come home on the weekend and they go to the movies and they fellowship and they socialize and everything is fine.
That kind of labor, just the labor of being a natural man as opposed to the spiritual labor of trying to enter into the kingdom and those of us here should know, does anybody here know what the labor of trying to enter into the kingdom is, how that manifests in our life, does anybody remember? It is the putting of the soul man underfoot. It is knowing that we are two men, that we have the mind of Christ, and that we are still a natural man, and it is the crushing of the natural man and throwing our will in line with the spiritual man, that is the labor, it is just terribly painful brethren, it is excruciating. That is the difference between works and labor.
The word patience is the same word used in chapter 1 verse 9, where it is used in connection with the patience of Jesus Christ, and it means cheerful and hopeful endurance, and that means as we go through this trial, through this process of crushing the natural man and falling in line with the spiritual man in us, it is painful, it is difficult, and by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, we endure hopefully and patiently, some of us do anyway, some of us scream and cry a lot, praise the Lord.
The word to bear, it really means to endure, nothing usual about that, and the word evil, we have had word studies on evil in this ministry, and this is the word that means worthless, depraved, injurious, harmful, this evil has a harmful effect on other people, and the word tried, those who tried the apostles, means to test, to scrutinize, to examine, to prove them. We are told to try the spirit. There is a big problem in the church today, people say you cannot talk about the man of God, that if he stands up in the pulpit, if a man stands up in the pulpit and manifests a wrong spirit, you are taught in many places in the church, you are not to talk about the man of God, that is a lie, that is a lie! You are not to gossip maliciously about the man of God.
You are not spread rumors about him. You are not to freely yield to envy with regard to him, but you are to try what spirit is manifesting in him, and if it is not God on a consistent regular basis, you are supposed to leave the church. You owe no allegiance to a natural man. If you want to make it through brethren, you better set up your allegiance to God, you do not owe any man anything, you do not owe me anything, if God tells you to leave, go, just make sure it is God. You do not owe me anything except that respect that you give any other human being, I do not even ask for more than that, we should respect everybody. You do not have to respect me any more than you respect anybody else, you should all be respecting each other, but we are instructed to try the spirit on the preachers, on the teachers, and on the people that we relate to in our every day life.
Who were you talking to? Were you talking to the star, who is talking to you, is this the star in me talking to you? Or is it my carnal mind? If you do not know how to do this brethren, I adjure you to pray to the Lord for that ability, your life depends on it, your spiritual life depends upon it. We are to try the apostles. The fact that a man has a ministry does not mean anything. The fact that a man is on television does not mean anything. The fact that a man has a congregation of 2,000 people does not mean anything, and on the contrary, the fact that a man has a congregation of five people does not mean anything either. There is only one thing that means anything, what spirit is manifesting?
The church is steeped in carnality. God have mercy on us. And has found them liars. Now this word liars, I found it very interesting, the Greek word translated liars is pseudes, and we have the English word pseudoman, it means fake, it means a copy, a false, and illusion, and the translation is to be untrue, erroneous, or deceitful. They say they are apostles but what they are, what the Scripture is saying is that they are phony apostles, they are phonies.
That is what the Scripture is saying, they are phonies, they look good, they dress well, they have charisma, they speak well, they stand up and they know how to use a microphone, they know how to make you feel good, but it is the wrong spirit. They are phonies, and God said, They are out there in the church world.
Do not tell me I cannot talk about the man of God, I can try the spirit on him, yes I can, I most certainly can, and what is more, it does not mean that I hate him, it does not mean that I hate him, if I try the spirit on a man and I determine it is not the Spirit of God, and I will not go to his meeting because I have determined by the power of God that it is not the Spirit of God manifesting through him, that does not mean that I hate him or dislike him, or I am against him.
I just do not go to meetings where a man is manifesting a spirit other than the Spirit of God, to the best of my ability to discern it, if I know it is not God, I do not go, I do not care who commands me to go, unless it is God. Verse 2;
2. I know thy works, and they labor, and thy patience and how thou canst bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not and hast found them liars. KJV
2. I know how you labor to survive as a natural man, and I also know of the intense labor, trouble, and toil you exercise as you strive to enter into the kingdom of God, and your hopeful endurance as you await the spiritual change which will result in your admittance, and how you find the worthlessness depravity and injuriousness of the natural man unbearable. And you have scrutinized and tested those men which say they are apostles of God but are really not, and have discovered that they are not what they say they are, but are deceitful men and liars. AT
I am going to suggest to you brethren, that this can be taken in two ways, we are not only looking for false prophets and false apostles when the Scripture says that they despise the injurious and depravity and worthlessness of the natural man, I do believe the Holy Spirit is saying, that they despised it within their own beings, that they were throwing themselves in line with the Christ within them, despising everything not of God in your own minds and in their own beings. Verse 3; This is still Jesus speaking, this is what He knows about the church at Ephesus, so far everything is good, yet they are in the midst of idolatry and He is saying all of these good things about them.
3. And has borne and has patience and for my name's sake has labored and hast not fainted. KJV
They have borne the burdens, of trying to put the soul realm under their feet, very heavy burdens brethren. They endure patiently, they have had patience, they have endured with hope, and for my name's sake, and names in the Scripture are spirit, so for the sake of the Spirit of God, they have labored and they have not fainted. For the sake of the Spirit of God, they have labored and not fainted, because they desire that the Spirit of God should prevail in their life. They have labored to put their soul man underfoot, and they have not fainted. Glory to God. Alternate translation verse 3;
3. And you have endured with a cheerful and hopeful endurance of Jesus Christ and have intensely labored and toiled by the power of my Spirit, despite all of the trouble and affliction in your life, and you have not weakened or given up. AT
You have not weakened or given up. If you fit into this category, it has been noted by the Lord Jesus Christ, that you have not weakened and that you have not given up. Verse 4;
4. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou has left thy first love. KJV
I have heard all kinds of interpretations about what this first love is, when I was deep in deliverance, I heard it was people that got out of deliverance, but brethren, the Lord spoke to me while I was working on this Scripture, and I am a deliverance preacher, I believe in deliverance, I received it myself, but is just showing me deeper and deeper that what has happened, and I was a part of it, was that people have taken this one aspect of the ministry of Jesus Christ and made and set it up as its own ministry, and set it up as its own doctrine, set it up as something apart from the rest of the word of God, and you cannot do that, you cannot do it with deliverance, you cannot do it with healing, you cannot do it with doctrine, everything has to work together, everything has to work together, and the only one to be glorified is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, however He chooses to move. Deliverance is available at every meeting that we have here, but you cannot say that the answer to every problem is deliverance. Brethren the answer to every problem is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The answer to every problem is the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is idolatry in the deliverance churches. I was in one, I was part of it, I did it, and I am not condemning anybody, I am just saying to anyone that might be hearing this message that is in that condition, God has more for you, there is more, do not get stuck there, there is more. Glory to God. We are on verse 4 and it says;
4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against you... KJV
They are doing all of these good things, but He still has something against them, and what He has against them, is that they left their first love. The word left, it is Strong's #863, it means to forsake, to lay aside, to yield, to yield up, to give up something. That means they possessed something and they turned it over. The word first is Strong's #4413 and it means foremost in time, place, or order of importance. It means before, beginning, chief, former, and the word love, is the agape love, the benevolence of God towards man. Alternate translation verse 4;
4. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against you, because you forsook the benevolence and protection God directed towards you, when you laid aside your inherited spiritual authority and submitted to the soul realm. AT
4. Nevertheless, I have something against you, becuse you forsook the benevolence and protection God directed towards you when you laid aside your inherited spiritual authority and submitted to the soul realm. AT
Man is a fallen creation brethren, there was a time when the living soul had not sinned. Every man on the face of the earth has laid aside the protection of God at some point. Most of us do it every day and submitted to the soul realm in our mind. What is He saying to us brethren? He is talking about the new covenant, it is what we have been studying here for months.
He is saying, you are doing all of these good works, they are wonderful, I acknowledge them, they are great, but you are yielding to the soul realm in your mind. Have we not been teaching that here for ten months? It is in the mind, it is in the mind, we are sinning in our mind. All of these things that people at Ephesus were doing, they were wonderful, God acknowledged them, He said they were great, but what is He saying here? He is saying, it is not good enough, it is not good enough, there is another step, you have to come up higher, and you cannot say that you have arrived, because you are doing all of these things.
You have got to take the victory in your mind. Verse 5; now is He asking us to do it ourselves? Is He asking us to stop sinning in our mind by our own power? He says in verse 5;
5. Remember therefore from whence you are fallen...KJV
You fell from the high realm of the Spirit of God.
...and repent, and do the first works...KJV
He is saying remember where you came from, remember that you at one time, had the soul realm under your feet and repent because of your condition. He is going to the religious church world, that is doing everything right and He is saying to them, You still need to repent because you are sinning in your mind and the fact that you are sinning in your mind, indicates that you are a fallen creation, you have to confess that you are a fallen creation. The church world by in large, they do not want to admit it.
This is what He is saying, You are doing all of these things, you are good, you are wonderful, you are striving to get back up where you were, but you have to repent, you have to admit that you are in a condition where you need redemption because you sinned. You are not okay, you are not okay brethren, if you go to a church that preaches that you are okay, and when you die you are going to fly away to heaven, they are killing you alive, you are not okay. Jesus Christ is the only one that is okay.
5. Remember therefore from whence you have fallen...KJV
Where did you fall from? The high spiritual realm of God.
...and repent...KJV
Admit it, you are not perfect, you have not arrived, you are not okay, and do the first works, put the soul realm under your feet. Well, how Lord, I have been trying for years? He says, Do it or else...
...or else I will come unto you quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. KJV
I have a comment in here so I am just going to go back to it. I am just going to read this alternate translation of 3 and 4 again, and then I have a comment for you.
3. And you have endured with a cheerful and hopeful endurance of Jesus Christ, and have intensely labored and toiled by the power of my Spirit to enter into the kingdom of God, despite all of the trouble and affliction opposing you on the soul realm.
4. And you have not weakened or given up, but nevertheless, I have something against you, because if you did not forsake the benevolence, and protection of God when you laid aside your inherited spiritual authority and willfully sinned, you would not be where you are today.
You are guilty, you are guilty, I am not condemning anybody, I am telling you the truth, the whole human race is guilty. Jesus Christ came and He judged this world, He judged the prince of this world, they crucified the Lord of glory. I am going to read you several Scriptures from Luke 11:47-51;
LUKE 11:47-51
47. Woe unto you, for ye build the sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. (Jesus speaking to the Pharisees).
48. Truly ye bear witness that ye allowed the deeds of your fathers. For they indeed killed the prophets and ye built their sepulchers.
49. Therefore also, said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles and some of them, they shall slay and persecute.
50. That the blood of all of the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation.
51. From the blood of Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar and the temple...KJV
Jesus Christ is telling the Pharisees that their fathers killed the prophets and that this modern generation builds their sepulchers. I use to read this Scripture and it never occurred to me that John the Baptist was the first prophet to appear to Israel in 500 years. John the Baptist and Jesus Christ were the first two prophets to appear to Israel in 500 years.
Well this generation, how did they live, forty, fifty years, seventy years, I do not know how long they lived in those days, whose sepulchers were they building? Jesus was saying to them, you are building my sepulcher, you are denying me life, you are trying to kill me, you are trying to bury me by denying who I am, and they physically tried to kill Him too. That is what He was saying to them, and He was saying, that this is the witness that you are the children of the generation that killed them.
You are still trying to kill the prophets. My whole point brethren, this is not condemnation, you cannot repent if you do not get a revelation that you are guilty. I remember I witnessed to a friend of mine shortly after I was saved, and she was very offended when I told her she needed to repent, she thought, she said, I have not done anything wrong. I am not condemning you, this is not condemnation because there is a way out, but the way out is not available to you unless you can admit that you are guilty.
That is a hard word, do you know if this word comes forth in the wrong spirit, it is condemnation, but I declare unto you today, I condemn you not. I send unto you the blessings and the love of God and I declare unto you, there is a way out, but you must admit your condition before that door shall be opened unto you.
You are guilty, I am guilty, we are all guilty or we would not be in the trouble that we are in. The Pharisees were guilty, their fathers were guilty, they were guilty, we are guilty, our fathers were guilty and this goes back to the teaching that we have here, that we studied here that it is basically the same spiritual ancestor that has been moving from generation to generation, it is the same spiritual ancestor from the beginning, it is a mystery, it is a great mystery, but it is what the Scripture teaches.
It is what the Scripture teaches, it is the same spiritual being, the spiritual substance of our spiritual ancestor has been moving along from generation to generation for thousands of years, and we know that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. I use to think that was so unfair, how could God do that? Because it is the same spiritual entity. If you cannot receive it, put it on the shelf. Verse 51;
51. For the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple, verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation. KJV
Do you declare God unrighteous? Anybody hearing this message, do you declare God unrighteous? If you think that the blood of the prophets being required of this generation is unrighteous, you have declared God unrighteous. God is saying that He is punishing the children for the sins of the fathers, do you dare do as Job did and declare God unrighteous? Maybe there is something that you do not understand. I declare to you that the answer to the puzzle is that it is the same spiritual life that goes back thousands of years living in the current generation. Even if I did not understand it, God is righteous. There is nothing that He does that is unrighteous. Verse 5;
REVELATION 2:5
5. Remember therefore from whence you are fallen and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. KJV
He says, Repent therefore and do the first works. The word do is Strong's #4160, and it means to follow some method in expressing by deeds the feelings and thoughts of the mind. I found that very interesting because we have been teaching here that the spirit that is ruling you is revealed through your thoughts words and deeds, but I never had a Scripture for it, God just told it to me. Here is the Scripture for it. He says, Do the first works, and the word do means to follow some method of expressing by deeds, the feelings and thoughts of the mind, to produce, to perform, to accomplish. Then He goes on to say if you do not do it, I am going to remove your candlestick from its place. We know that the candlestick is the vessel that holds the oil and the flame, it holds the Father and the son, and He said He is going to remove it from its place, and this is Strong's #2795 and it means to stir up, to excite, a disturbance, to throw into a commotion.
I remind you brethren that we are made of dust, and that if you take a natural example, if you excite dust, if you take a stick if you stir it up, if you make a commotion of the dust particles, what happens? If you have a pile of dust and it is laying there in a mound and you take a stick or your foot or your hand and you kick it, it goes flying up into the air and it comes out of the form when you kicked it.
It changes it form, because when it lands down again, it is not going to land in the same place that it landed when you kicked it. He is going to remove the candlestick which is the redeemed soul out of its place. The word place is Strong's #5117, it means a spot in space but limited by occupancy, it means a position, a home, a location. He is going to stir up your redeemed soul, if you do not repent, He is going to stir up your redeemed soul, He is going to excite it, and I suggest to you that when the dust lands, it is not going to be in the same form that it was in when he kicked it. If it was redeemed when He kicked it, it is not going to be redeemed when it comes down.
There has been a controversy in the church for years, can you lose your salvation? Can you lose your salvation? Brethren, you can lose it until God has swallowed up your natural man totally, you can lose it in a measure, you could go backwards, you can go forwards, you can go to the left, you can go to the right, nothing is permanent until Jesus Christ has swallowed up your natural man totally, and I suggest that is what this Scripture is saying. Remember therefore from whence you have fallen. You have fallen from the high spiritual realm of God where the soul realm is under your feet, and repent, admit where you are, admit that you are spiritually weak, and do the first works, put the soul realm under your feet.
If you do not, then I am going to come unto you quickly, and that word quickly means rapidly and suddenly, and I suggest to you that, that indicates the power of the movement that is going to unseat your soul, He is going to do it quickly, suddenly, and He is going to remove your candlestick out from the place where he is dwelling. He is going to excite it, and He is going to change its spiritual moral order.
Remember man was in the right moral order, then he fell, he was in the wrong moral order, now the soul is redeemed in the Scripture, he is in the right moral order, and what is God saying? He is saying, your soul, your soul is gold, it is redeemed, but you are still not putting the soul realm under your feet, and if you do not do it, you are going to lose what you have.
The burden is not Man's, the burden is God's, the part that man has to do is repent. What the Lord is saying is, I am going to give you the power of my Spirit to put the soul realm underfoot, but what good is me giving you the power if you will not implement it because you do not think there is anything wrong with you? That is what He is saying. He is saying that you have come so far, with your salvation, that I describe your vessel as a golden candlestick, but you are not entering into the kingdom, you are not going all of the way if you will not admit that your works will not cut it, and that you have got to take the victory in your mind.
If you stop here and you do not go forward and acknowledge that you are not okay, that you are spiritually weak, and that you are nothing until Christ swallows you up totally, you are not only not going to go through all of the way, you are going slide back. That is what He is saying. You are not only not going to go through all of the way, you are going to slide back, and that is what is happening today brethren.
The power is draining out of the Pentecostal realm. I remember years ago Bill Britton wrote a book on this, and there was an uproar, there was an uproar over the book that he wrote. He said when we start moving in to tabernacles, either you are going to go on to tabernacles, or you are going to slide back to the thirty fold. They are falling like flies brethren, and the basis for his doctrine and I witness to it is that as we approach the day of atonement, I may not have this exactly right, with the altar, it was moved into the most holy place.
We have a tabernacle with a holy place and a most holy place, this is the court, there is a holy place, that is Pentecost, and a most holy place, that is tabernacles.
This is eternal life over here, it is the whole ball of wax, and in this holy place there is furniture, there is a candlestick, there is shewbread, and there is the manna, those are the three main things. The only thing that is in the most holy place is the mercy seat. My whole point of what I am trying to say is, as we approach the high holy days, we approach the tabernacles, it is the altar that is being moved into the holy place? There is a piece of furniture that gets moved in and basically speaking the furniture from the holy place, it gets moved into the most holy place and then the high priest goes in.
What is happening here is that the holy place is getting emptied out, and Bill Britton taught that either you were going forward into the most holy place or you would go backward into the outer court. There was a whole uproar in the church, but brethren I see it happening everywhere. There use to be glorious manifestations of the spirit in the Pentecostal type churches and you go in there today and it is dead, it is just dead, and it is across the board. Some ministers have a little more of the outpouring the spirit than others, but it is just not what it was, it is just not what it was, and what is happening is that the Holy Spirit is withdrawing because of the new move of God coming, and the new move of God is tabernacles.
The new move of God is the imparted anointing, it is Christ coming forth in you swallowing up your natural man, putting him underfoot. What the Lord Jesus Christ is saying in this chapter, the book of Revelation, is I am giving you the power to put your natural personality underfoot, there is only one thing that is going to stop you, and that thing is your inability to admit that you have not made it, until your natural man is totally swallowed up, and that you are not in the high realm of the spirit.
I do not care if you are casting out demons, I do not care if you are healing the sick, I do not care what you are doing until the natural mind is totally swallowed up by Christ, you have not entered in. Glory to God, so I have an alternate translation of verse 5;
5. Remember then that despite your admirable efforts to enter into the kingdom of God, you are nevertheless a creation which as a result of spiritual weakness has fallen from its original high estate. So confess how weak you are in your own power, and by my Spirit, once again, express the life of Christ in your feelings, in your mind, and in your deeds, or else I will manifest in you, and I will manifest in you with speed and power, stirring up the dust which your frame or redeemed soul is made of and rearrange the moral order of the piece of land where you dwell, once again permitting Satan to have dominion over you. AT
That does not mean if that happens to you He will not bring you back again, but brethren, who wants to go through that, who wants to go through that, who wants to have risen to a high place in God and fall down. We have other witnesses to that, we have preached it here in the book of Hebrews, where it says, if you tasted of the good word of God, and experience the miracles of the age to come, and you still go out and blaspheme the Holy Ghost, there is nothing left for you but judgment. That is what this is saying. I do not care how far you have come, you have got to go all of the way, you have got to give you every carnal thought, you have got to admit the condition of your natural man and let Christ overshadow you totally, or else you are going to back out to the 30 fold.
5. Remember then that despite your admirable efforts to enter into the kingdom of God, you are nevertheless a creation which as a result of spiritual weakness has fallen from its original high estate. So confess how weak you are in your own power, and by my Spirit once again express the life of Christ in your feelings, mind, and deeds, or else I will manifest in you with speed and power stirring up the dust which your frame or redeemed soul is made of, and rearrange the moral order of the piece of land where you dwell, once again permitting Stan to have dominion over you. AT
That is pretty heavy, verse 6;
6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
Nicolaitanes is Strong's #3531 and it means a follower of Nicolaus, a Nicolaitane. It is a name which, this is Thayer's lexicon, it can scarcely be doubted, refer symbolically to the same persons in verse 14 who are charged with holding the doctrine of Balaam, which is casting a stumbling block before the church of God by upholding the liberty or the right of the believers to eat things sacrificed unto idols, as well as of committing fornication. The Greek name Nicolaus coincides with the Hebrew name Balaam. Nicolaus in Hebrew is Balaam, and Balaam means destruction of the people, and in verse 14 it says;
14. But I have a few things against thee because thou hast there them the hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel...KJV
For those of you who do not know, Balaam is a character from the Old Testament, and he was sought by Balak to curse the children of Israel, and he knew he was a spiritual man and he knew that Israel could not be cursed, but he also knew that there was a way to get to Israel, and that, that way to get to Israel was to cast a stumbling block before them, to tempt them and get them to sin, and the way they were tempted was with heathen women, they fornicated.
We are told here, well I am not going to get into that much now. But the whole point is, that Jesus is saying He hates the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, and what those deeds are, are telling God's people that it is alright to break His law. It is alright to fornicate, and it is alright to eat things sacrificed to idols, and brethren a false doctrine is something that is sacrificed to an idol. The idol is the demon in your mind. It is my understanding that there are preachers out there that are preaching what they know is false doctrine, and they will not tell the people the truth because they fear the persecution.
Let me tell you brethren, when you tell God's people the truth, you get persecuted, they do not want to hear it, they do not want to hear it, and whether they come around or not, they will beat you to a pulp before they come around and that is just the truth. God hates the deeds of the Nicolaitanes. We are required under the anointing in a manifestation of the love of God to tell God's people the truth when He tells us to do it, but when God tells you to do it, you have to do it brethren. We are in verse 6, and He is saying to the church of Ephesus,
6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes which I also hate. KJV
Alternate translation;
6. But I acknowledge that you hate false teachers as much as I do, who bring destruction upon God's people by distorting the word of God and teaching them that fornication and idolatry are acceptable to God. AT
Hallelujah, verse 7;
7. 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. KJV
Alternate translation;
7. Let everyone who can understand spiritual things, hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the men in whom the Spirit of God dwells, I will give eternal life which can only be found in God's spiritual realm of total provision, to the one who overcomes the soul realm. He that hath an ear, if you are spiritual and you can hear, listen to what the Spirit saith unto the churches...
Now this is what the spirit saith, this is not the indwelling Christ, this is the Holy Spirit speaking, He is not speaking to people that have birthed the Christ, He is speaking to the church realm that has the Holy Spirit, we know the difference in this ministry, first you get the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit fertilizes your human spirit, and you birth the Christ. What the Lord is saying here is, He who is spiritual, let him hear what the Holy Spirit says to the churches.
...to him that overcomes, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is Christ, which is eternal life which dwells in the spiritual of God of all provision which is in the midst of the paradise of God. AT
And this is the promise that is made to all of those, what God is saying here is you have got to birth the Christ, that is what He is saying. He is saying, Let everyone who can understand what the Spirit is saying, You cannot understand what the Spirit is saying if you do not have the Holy Spirit, you have to have the Holy Spirit. He says, He who can understand what the Holy Spirit is saying, listen to me I am going to give you eternal life. Where is eternal life? Eternal life is only in the son.
There is no eternal life anywhere but in the son of God. He says, If you have the Holy Spirit, listen to me, I want to give you eternal life, I want to give you the son, and I want to, let me read the whole thing to you, I want to give you eternal life, I am going to let you eat of the Tree of Life, that is Christ, which is in the midst of the paradise of God, and the paradise of God is the redeemed living soul. He is saying to them, Come and be fertilized and receive eternal life. Can you receive that? Can you hear that?
Praise God, so you really have to have spiritual ears and eyes to see this, but I am suggesting to you brethren, pray about this, but it is very clear to me that God is drawing a distinction between the Holy Spirit and birthing the Christ, in chapter 2 verse 7 of the book of Revelation. He is saying to them, If you can hear what the Holy Spirit is saying, if you are a spiritual man, I want to give you eternal life, I want to let you partake of the Tree of Life, everybody knows the Tree of Life is Jesus Christ, I hope everybody knows that, I want you to partake of the Tree of life that exists in the redeemed living soul, I want you to become one with the tree that abides in the midst of the living soul.
How do you become one with the son? First you get the Holy Spirit, He fertilizes your human spirit, you birth Christ, and when Christ is in full stature, He joins Himself to you. That is how you partake of the Tree of Life that lives and abides in the paradise of God, you have got to birth the son. This message is being rejected in the church world but it is true, it is true, the Holy Spirit is not the end of it, you have got to birth Christ, He has to appear in you, and He has to give you and share with you everything that He has received from the Father, not coming from out of the sky, but coming forth from within your very being. Glory to God.
I am just going to recap the seven verses that we just did, I am going to read them to you, and then I am going to put a little chart up on the board. I have come up with nine categories of information that Jesus imparts when He is speaking to the seven churches, and I am going to give you a little chart and when get through the end of the seventh church, we are going to compare them and see what kind of information we can discern that Jesus, by analyzing what Jesus is saying to all of these different churches.
I have a feeling, I just glanced through the rest of the chapters on the churches last night, and I have a feeling that this is one of those situations where we are going backwards and the first church, which is Ephesus, is the final promise that He wants to give you the Christ, because that is the end of it, once you birth the Christ, it is all over, once you birth the Christ, when He swallows up, well He has to swallow up Satan in you, and that is it. We will see as we move along. Let me just go over this, recap chapter 2 of the book of Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ to Saint John, verses 1-7;
1. Write to the angels of the church at Ephesus saying, the one that possesses and holds the fullness of the spiritual man in an upright position with the right hand of His righteousness, even the one who walks in the midst of the redeemed soul says;
2. I know how you labor to survive as a natural man, and I also know of the intense labor, trouble, and toil you exercise as ye strive to enter into the kingdom of God, and your hopeful endurance as you await the spiritual change which will result in your admittance, and how you find the worthlessness, depravity, injuriousness of the natural man unbearable, that is within yourself as well as without, and you have scrutinized and tested those men which say they are apostles of God, but are really not, and have discovered that they are not what they say they are, but deceitful men and liars.
3. And you have endured with a cheerful and hopeful endurance of Jesus Christ, and have intensely labored and toiled by the power of my Spirit to enter into the kingdom of God, despite all of the trouble and affliction opposing you on the soul realm, and you have not weakened or given up.
4. But nevertheless, I have something against you, because if you did not forsake the benevolence and protection of God when you laid aside your inherited spiritual authority and willfully sinned, you would not be where you are today.
5. Remember then, that despite your admirable efforts to enter into the kingdom of God, you are nevertheless a creation which as a result of spiritual weakness has fallen from its original high estate, so confess how weak you are in your own power and by my Spirit once again express the life of Christ in your feelings, mind and deeds, or else, I will manifest in you with speed and power, stirring up the dust which your frame or redeemed soul is made of, and rearrange the moral order of the piece of land where you dwell, once again permitting Satan to have dominion over you.
6. But I acknowledge that you hate false teachers as much as I do, who bring destruction upon God's people by distorting the word of God and teaching them that fornication and idolatry are acceptable to Him.
7. Let everyone who can understand spiritual things hear what the Spirit of God is saying, to the men in whom the Spirit of God dwells. I will give you eternal life, which can only be found in God's spiritual realm of total provision which is Christ, to the one who overcomes the soul realm. AT
So just as one quick recap what the Lord is saying here is you are doing everything right, I could not ask for more from a son, you are doing everything right, but to go all of the way, you must admit that you are a fallen creation, you must admit that you are not righteous, and you must offer up and sacrifice your own soul realm, your own personality, your own hopes and your own desires, to the Christ that is emerging forth in you, you must let Him prevail, you must yield to Him, you must admit that there is no good thing in your natural man, or you are going to go backwards.
What He is really saying if you analyze it, is that this is a real stumbling block for a lot of believers, they come very far, they have had deliverance, they have had power to deliver and heal, they have deep revelation, the sharing of the hidden manna like we are having in this ministry, and they really think that they have got it made, but they do not, they do not. You have to admit that you are a fallen creation.
These are the categories we are going to be studying over the next couple of services, and the first, well the name of the church over here is Ephesus, the second category is the description of Jesus. In Ephesus He describes Himself as the one that holds the spiritual man that upholds the spiritual man and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, which means, this is talking about Pentecost brethren, by His Spirit He is present in the church, that is what He is talking about.
The third category we are going to be dealing with, is what Jesus recognizes in this particular church. In Ephesus He recognizes their works, their labor, their patience, He recognizes that they cannot bear, that they recognize evil and they cannot bear those that manifest evil. He recognizes that they have put aside their excusing or accusing, and that they are scrutinizing God's people and discerning those that do not have the Spirit of God, and they borne and they have had patience and they have not fainted. He has acknowledged that hate the deeds of the Nicolaitanes. A category that does not apply to Ephesus, is a reward for works, we are going to find that in some of the churches, He gives a reward for their works.
That is not true in the church at Ephesus. The fifth category is the judgment for works. There are some churches that have evil works, and the Lord promises a judgment for works. That does not apply to Ephesus either, we have a blank here. The sixth category is what Jesus has against that particular church, what His complaint against them is, and with regard to Ephesus, who remembers? They left their first love, they fell from their high estate, and no matter what good they are doing, they are a fallen creation, and when Jesus says, He has that against them, what He means is, it has to be corrected, He is not condemning you, He is saying it has to be corrected, you cannot stay the way you are.
I do not care, all of these wonderful things that you are doing, you still cannot stay the way you are, you have got to go all of the way, my son is going to appear in you and that means you have got to die, and there is no getting out it, there is no half way.
The seventh category is, sometimes Jesus gives an exhortation to the church and in the case of Ephesus, the exhortation, remember from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works. He wants them to repent, and do the first works, manifest Christ, manifest Christ. I do not care if you are feeding the poor, I do not care if you go into the prisons, that is nice, that is wonderful, but I want you to admit that you are manifesting the natural man, to stop doing it, and to manifest Christ. It is nice that you help the poor, and you go out there and you lobby, and you picket in front of the abortion centers, manifest Christ, admit your spiritual condition and manifest Christ.
The eighth category is the judgment that will come upon you if you do not do what He says, and in the case of Ephesus, He says, He will remove their candlestick. He says that He is going to disrupt the moral order of your soul, He is going to disrupt the moral order of your soul, and give Satan dominion over you again. He is going to disrupt the moral order of your soul.
We know that we get to a place in Christ where He is bound, sometimes He gets out but He is bound, and He is bound by the chain that is Christ, and if Christ comes to you quickly and disrupts your soul He is going to get out, there is going to be an upheaval in your soul. The ninth category is the promise. He make a promise to every church, and with regard to Ephesus the promise is that will partake of eternal life and there is no life in anyone other than the son. The promise to Ephesus is Christ. There is life in none other but the son of God, not in the Holy Spirit, there is no life in the Holy Spirit, the life, eternal life is in the son. Any questions anybody. Glory to God.
COMMENT: About Balaam and Balak and the Nicolaitanes, how did you find out that, that word, what word was that the name Nicolaitanes?
PASTOR VITALE: I got that out of Thayer's lexicon, and he said that Balaam is the Hebrew equivalent, he said it. That is how I got that. Anybody else?
03/23/09rr
