Lesson 2
How to Keep Your First Love
Memorize: Rev. 2:5 , Deut 8:10-11, Mark 12:30, Psalms 51:12
(Question 1)
Intro. When you first got saved, the Spirit bore witness within you.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Remember the excitement you felt - the intense love for God, the intense gratitude, the great hunger for spiritual things?
(Question 2)
Do you still feel that? Do you feel it as intensely? Do you feel it as often?
Rev 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, 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:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
(Question 3)
I. How do we lose our first love?
Is it a result of not working for God as we should?
You can work for God and still lose your first love.
Is it for lack of Bible study?
You can even read the Word and still lose it.
Is it a lack of prayer? Or from not witnessing?
No. Even these activities may not make you feel any closer to God at times.
These reasons would seem sure and simple, but are not always foolproof.
To lose your first love is to lose your daily awareness of your need for God.
(Question 4)
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
When our needs are met and things are going well, we tend to feel we need nothing.
Israel in th4e wilderness daily depended on God for guidance and food. But when they got into the Promised Land and their needs were met, they forgot God.
And God had already warned them -
Deut 8:11-14 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
Over and over God would send troubles to bring them back to Him, but as soon as they got comfortable again, they strayed.
The danger here is not so much backsliding, but simply losing the enthusiasm of the Christian life - the zeal for spiritual things. The danger is to become too satisfied.
The more we are aware of our needs, the more intense our prayer.
The more aware we are of God's meeting those needs, the more genuine our thanksgiving.
But when we are secure and well taken care of, we begin to lose our appreciation and fear of the Lord. We begin to lose our fear of the Lord and start thinking we can go it alone.
Prov 30:8-9 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
Paul had mastered this dilemma:
Phil 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
The heart of the problem is that we fail to maintain our continual dependence upon God - we become independent. We begin to depend upon our own abilities, wisdom, strength, and resources.
It is often not until we come against a setback or difficulty that we reach out in dependence upon God. That is idolatry; those things become our God.
i.e. If money meets our need, then money can easily become the thing we look to for future deliverance and thus, becomes our God as we depend upon it. We tend to build our lives around what makes us secure.
When something threatens our security, we experience fear. That is a good signal that our dependence has transferred from God to something or someone else.
God sometimes has to remove things from us in order to make us again realize our need for Him.
(Question 5)
List 5 things that are very important to you.
Have you committed each of these things to God? Could you live a contented life without these things?
STUDENT QUESTIONS
How to Keep Your First Love
Complete the Personal Evaluation given out in class.
Memorize Revelation 2:5, Deuteronomy 8:11, Mark 12:30, and Psalms 51:12
Do you remember when you first were saved? Read Romans 8:16.
Do you still feel the excitement of salvation?
Do you feel it with the same intensity?
Do you feel it as often?
How do you think we lose our first love?
Do you have a daily awareness of the presence of God in your life?
When was the last time you felt His presence?
List five things that are very important to you. Have you committed these things to God? Could you live a contented life without these things?
Doing The First Works:
1. Prayer
2. Bible Study
3. Giving
4. Fasting
5. Christian Service