1600-5 Church

REVELATION 2:1-7
The point is this: the Ephesian church had preached and taught against the error of the Nicolaitans. They had refused to al-
low the error to enter the church. They were doctrinally sound; they stood staunchly for the truth of Christ and the Word of
God. But they lacked the main thing: love for Christ. They had lost their love for Christ.

Thought 1. Note two things.
1) Christ did not do away with the law; He fulfilled it. He filled it up. That is, Jesus Christ embraces the law
and so much more. He is now our ideal and standard. We no longer follow the law; we follow Christ. But
remember: Christ embraces the law and much more. Therefore in following Christ, we end up keeping
the law and walking in far more purity and holiness than what the law demands.

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy,
but to fulfill” (Mt.5:17).
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Ro.8:3).

2) The soul and spirit are important, but so is the body. We are to take care of our whole person: spirit, soul,
and body. We are to keep both body and spirit pure and holy.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not con-
formed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Ro.12:1-2).
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy,
which temple ye are” (1 Cor.3:16-17).
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor.6:19-20).

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(2:7) Promise—Overcomers—Victory: there is the promise to the overcomers. The word overcomer has the idea of
conflict and struggle. The overcomer is a person who overcomes and conquers and gains the victory. He is the victor and
conqueror. What is it that he is to overcome? Everything that pulls his heart and love away from Christ and attaches it to the
world. Whatever possessions, whatever pleasures, whatever it is that has dampened the believer’s first love for Christ—it is
that thing that the believer must overcome.
Note that the promise is made to individual believers; therefore, all believers are to hear the messages to the churches. A
church as a whole may go astray, but it is the believer who must personally overcome. How? Let him who has an ear hear
what the Spirit says, and let him heed and do what the Spirit says. If he does then he will be an overcomer.
Here are the glorious promises to the overcomer.
1. The overcomer shall be allowed to eat of the tree of life. This is the tree of God, the tree that gives life, both the full-
ness of life and eternal life.
The tree of life is first seen in the Garden of Eden. Adam lost his right to eat of it because of his sin and disobedience to
God. Thus, he was banished from the garden and cut off from eating of the tree (Gen.2:9, 16-17; 3:22-24). Now, the tree of
life is given to the faithful and victorious follower of Christ, but it is not guaranteed. Only some have a right to it
(Rev.22:14), and the tree may be taken away (Rev.22:19).

“And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and
good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and
evil” (Gen.2:9).
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and
now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” (Gen.3:22).
“She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her”
(Pr.3:18).
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise” (Pr.11:30).
“Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were many trees on the one side and
on the other....And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all
trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring
forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and
the fruit thereof shall be for meat [food], and the leaf thereof for medicine” (Ezk.47:7, 12).
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overco-
meth will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Rev.2:7).
“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which
bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for
the healing of the nations” (Rev.22:2).
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live
for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world”
(Jn.6:51).
“Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which sa-
tisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness” (Is.55:2).
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