Our First Love!

(Matthew 15:11) “Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the man.”

Boxing Day the day after Christmas, is a day that gifts will be boxed and the celebrations are over and the day is long forgotten except for some of the turkey that may be eaten well into the week. It is never an easy thing to make a stand against idolatry, whatever that may entail, and I do not make reference to positioning yourself against unbelievers, the objections normally come from believers, our hearts will often defend that which is reproachable… and the war rages on!

The reason I use this chosen verse for us to consider this morning is rather deliberate, often I may just pen what comes to mind but this morning I looked for some instruction to remind us of the work of the cross and to keep us from looking for self justification by our own works. Yesterday I said what I had to say, and I believe I endeavored to do that with a gentle spirit, I do however realize that we can get carried away by trying to make a point and then we find ourselves rather obsessed with wanting to be heard and forget Calvary and that is unacceptable! Above all things, this must never happen, we may compromise on issues, not that we must ever condone idolatry of any nature, but we must never ever fall into the trap of forgetting our first love. We are forever justified by His blood, never by any other deed. Let me say it again, we will never ever be justified by anything other than the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.

Remember the words of the angel to the church of Ephesus, did he not instruct us and remind us of the Lord Jesus’ words to that church, ---- He did! These were His words

(Revelation 2:4-5) “But I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love. Remember therefore whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works; or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.”

The Lord first commends the church for what it is doing correctly and then a stern warning is given; that they must remember their first love or else! In other words they need to keep in mind what it cost the Lord Jesus to lay down His life for all the sinners that found repentance and are now saints because of His atoning sacrifice. If they do not remember Him they are warned that the light (candlestick) could be removed.

So what can we learn from this instruction to them? We must resolve to never exalt anything above Him, sound doctrine, and legalism of any sort must never take preference over Him but rather because of Him. Legalism will never find alignment in grace, sound doctrine is exactly the point I now make, Christ alone will secure our salvation, but when I reason and exclude His sacrifice no matter how subtle it may be, it will lead to dead works and ultimately be burn up with fire on Judgment Day. We must never move from a mindset of our First Loves atoning sacrifice, no matter how we may grow in the knowledge and the grace of our God and Father. When we war, as we must, sifting out the rot that has crept into the church, and there is decay that needs to be purged it can never be executed with legalism or the like. We must always point people to Christ; we must show them our great Saviour and what He has done to save mankind from a potentially unthinkable end, the Lake of Fire (hell). Today is a day of hope, the gospel message still needs to be proclaimed, people still need salvation, for if that was not true then the Lord Jesus would have already returned. (Matthew 24:14) “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.”

Let us not get caught up with decoys that divert our attention from the hope we find only in and through our salvation hero, yes Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let us always remember to speak of His work and echo the words of the apostle Paul; (1Corinthians 2:2) “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” We must find grace to speak of His great exploits;

(Matthew 15:11) “Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the man.”

Signing off

Tyrone