Sixteen miles from the Aegean Sea, on the north side of the river Caicos, on the river's floodplain and up a mountain that stands about a thousand feet above sea level, at its peak there is a city in Turkey called Bergama. It's a beautiful city and an archaeologist's delight as it is filled with history. And the part of the city that was on top of that mountain was built with a fortified wall around it. And in as much as it sat on the top of a mountain, it was of strategic importance. They had a panoramic view and they could see any enemy coming from any angle. And that fortified wall and its strategic location made it practically impenetrable to such a degree that it is said that Alexander the Great, when he was looking for a place to store his gold, would go to the predecessor of the city today known as Bergama and keep his gold in that city, in that fortified city. And today, that city of Bergama now has a population of about 55,000 people. But in the first century AD, at the time when the revelation of John was written, its population is estimated to be up to 150,000 people. Bergama is its name today. In the first century AD, it was known as Pergamum, and it was a city of wealth and influence. The wealthy lived on that mountain behind that fortified wall, but down the hill, there were only peasants. And there was also items of general interest that people mingled, wealthy and peasants mingled together around things such as the amphitheater that was built into the side of a steep hillside. And so they had entertaining events there and they would go and they would hand a white stone. That was their ticket. They would hand a white stone to get into the event that was going on there. And that's how they got in to fill this 10,000 seat amphitheater. Pergamum also was a leading medical community. There are shrines to and I don't pronunciation of this one. It throws me asleep. Yes, I sleep. Yes. Someone who's a doctor. Tell me how wrong I am. Set close, Jim. Asclepius, he was as my doctor. That's what I get for fooling the doctor this last week at my physical. Had a physical this week and it's been my my ambition to fool the doctor for the last couple of months. And so I've been trying to, you know, we have a physical. What you do is the last two months before your physical, you start paying attention to yourself. And that's what I did. And I did fool him. He thought my blood pressure was good. He retook it because he thought it was too good. My blood levels were good. I fooled him. And then he gives me this word Asclepius. Oh, well, Asclepius actually was the god of health and healing. And you've seen it. You've seen the rod of Asclepius with two serpents wound around it facing each other. That that was the symbol of this god, Asclepius. But there was in the city of Pergamum a medical center that was called the Asclepius. It was a center for medicine for the region, medicine and alternative medicine. The emperor of the day was a guy by the name of Domitian. He's referred to in antiquity, in other literature, as the beast. And it could be that he is the beast that's mentioned in Revelation chapter 13. Normally, emperors were worshipped as gods. They joined the Greek and Roman pantheons after they died. But what we found about Domitian was that he was particularly egomaniacal. And so in his lifetime, he referred to himself and the things that he would write, the things that he would say as he would take for himself the name Lord. God, and even Savior. And so it was in Pergamum that there was a particularly strong cult of emperor worship with Emperor Domitian at its center during that first century AD. There is also a strong following of the Greek god Zeus and the Greek goddess Dionysius. There was temples built to Dionysius and a shrine to Zeus at the Acropolis, which is the high point of the city. Polytheism, the worship of multiple gods, flourished in Pergamum and the surrounding areas. And in the latter half of the first century, there were horrible persecutions that were taking place all throughout the region and down into the area we referred to as Palestine now, but that Israel, the area of Israel, horrible persecutions were going on to such a degree that ten of the eleven remaining apostles died horribly. deaths at the hands of the persecutors. Other Jews and Christians were martyred as well. And that chased those annoying monotheists to places distant from the once heart of Christianity. And Pergamum became, along with cities in that region, a repository of persecuted Christians who were chased out of their original cities, Antioch, for instance, in Jerusalem, and chased out into the countryside. Those monotheistic Christians became targets for the polytheists and their open-minded, tolerant ways, I say with some sarcasm. It's kind of interesting that the polytheists considered themselves tolerant of anyone espousing many ways and many gods, but they were hateful and intolerant of the monotheists, people who said there was one God and one way. But far from being altogether dispirited, the church at Pergamum became a major hub for the sending of missionaries. Not only was it a wealthy town, not only was it a strong medical center, not only was it a center for polytheistic worship, but it was also quite a literate town. The city of Pergamum had a library there with 200,000 volumes. and that rivaled the library of Alexandria. It's said that Mark Antony conquered Pergamum and when he did he took all the books and gave them to his girlfriend Cleopatra. I suppose she was a big reader. Now, in the day that Revelation was written, about 95 AD, plus or minus, from Pergamum, for all its intolerance and its persecutions that take place, it also had a vibrant Christian church, such that it's mentioned in Revelation 2 as the third of the seven churches in Asia Minor. And Asia Minor was now, in a great many ways, the center of global Christendom. That was in the day of the revelation, 95 AD. But now, if you were to go to Asia Minor, into Turkey today, you'd find in that country of 74 to 75 million people, you might find 7,500 people who named the name of Christ, making it, according to Operation World, the greatest unchurched country in the world. the smallest proportion of Christians relative to the entire population. And in that once great Christian city of Pergamon, today, you would not find in Bergama one single Christian Church. None. This great center of Christendom that sent missionaries out into the world today, not one Christian Church. Today, we're going to look at Jesus' letter to the church at Pergamon, 60 years after his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. And our outline is going to be You have it in your bulletin on the plus side, second on the minus side, third bread and stones. And finally, what's the takeaway? I would invite your attention to the scripture, which I've included in the bulletin for you from Revelation, chapter two, verses 12 and 17. You can follow me as I read. To the angel of the church in Pergamon, right? These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. I know where you live, where Satan has his throne, yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was put to death in your city where Satan lives. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you. You have people there who hold to the teachings of Balaam. who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food, sacrifice to idols, and by committing sexual immorality. You can see why that angel of the Lord was standing in front of that donkey, trying to prevent Balaam from getting into that city. Likewise, you also, in verse 15, have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore, otherwise I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He was an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I also give him a white stone with a new name on it. Known only to him who receives it. First of all, on the plus side. To begin with, there's a unifying theme to each of the churches to whom these letters are written by Jesus. Each is written to the angel of the church. Now, we mentioned a couple of weeks ago that there are a couple of ideas as to who exactly that angel was. Some believe that it was purely metaphorical and that it had reference to the pastor of that church. Kind of like that idea of someday thinking that I would be the angel of the church in Bonita Springs, a little megalomania there, but. But there's another idea that's equally credible, maybe more so, and that is that every church has at least one angel, one messenger or agent of God that looks in on the comings and goings of that church. And that being the case, then we say that the church is first governed by God. God knows what's going on in that church. And that church belongs to him. It's his church. Bay Presbyterian Church does not belong to me, the pastor. As much as you want to appreciate me, it's not my church. It's God's church. It doesn't belong to any large contributor. It doesn't belong to the general contractor and the subcontractors who have filed liens on the church in the course of their business. It belongs to God Almighty and his estimation of the beliefs and behaviors of those in the church are important to him. And so should be important to us. We have representatives in our church, but God is their rulers, too, and your pastor and your elders need to be looking to God for guidance and direction as they lead this church. So Jesus sends this letter, the Church of Pergamum, But with the attentive eye of the angel, the church of Pergamum looking on once again, Jesus speaks of himself in the third person. You remember to the church of Ephesus, he said to him who holds the seven stars in his right hand to the church of Smyrna, he said to him who is the first and the last. And again, speaking of the third person, Jesus writes to him who has the sharp two edged sword. Jesus is the one with the truth that pierces the soul. That's the reference to the sharp two edged sword, the truth that pierces the soul and his positive message to the church in Pergamon is number one. I know that you live where Satan has his throne in the city of Pergamon. There was on top of the hill a, not a statue, but a shrine, we'll call it a shrine to the God, the Greek God Zeus. It's not much more than a base now, but when Hitler's henchmen came through and they came through Turkey to plunder Turkey, And as they came through, there was developed an artist's rendering of what that looked like. And Hitler, some believe, had a pulpit made, a pulpit area, a nave made, that was for the purpose of approximating this shrine to Zeus, because Hitler wanted that same worship rendered to him. He wanted that same power of the greatest of the Greek gods, Zeus. Hitler was kind of a cultish. I've heard people say that Hitler got involved in the worship of the devil and demons. Now, it may be that when Jesus says, you live where Satan has his throne, that that has reference to that shrine to Zeus. At the very least, Jesus was saying that he knows that the people lived in difficult circumstances and that they had pagan gods all around them being worshipped in Pergamum, yet they remained faithful to Christ and he commends them for that. They didn't recant. And then he cites one of those who was faithful. His name was Antipas. And Antipas was a faithful servant. He died as a martyr. Tradition tells us that Antipas was a leader among that second generation of Christians that came after the apostles. and that Antipas was so annoying to those who were worshippers of the emperor that in fact they took the liberty of martyring Antipas and he was put into a gigantic brass bowl, tradition tells us, and he was slow roasted until he died. The Romans were quite inventive in their murderous ways. They were dark, spiritual, demonic forces at work there in Pergamum. And then he mentions Satan a second time. We read these words in verses 12 and 13 of the text. These are the words of him who has a sharp double-edged sword. I know where you live, where Satan has his throne, yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antiochus, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city where Satan lives. They were commended by Jesus for the fact that there was polytheism all around them, and yet they remained faithful to the worship of Jesus Christ. But on the downside, Jesus says your suffering does not give you license to sin. He says to them, watch your doctrine. What is your doctrine? Your doctrine is your belief system, what you believe about God, what you believe about the world. Because, he says, what you believe will determine how you live. The problem with the church at Pergamum was that there was not they simply weren't careful with their belief system, the doctrine, and they ended up adopting belief systems that allowed cultural practices in the day that were abhorrent to God. For lack of time, we're not going to go into the details of Balaam. I had Joe read you part of him. When you talk about a talking donkey and a sword from an angel, those things should get your interest going a little bit. Maybe you can read Numbers 22 and 23 and find out what was going on. You could find out more about Balaam and why it was that that they're condemned because some of the people were following after Balaam there. But the point is that the people in that church were engaged in sexual practices, in cultural practices that may have been acceptable in the larger community, but they were abhorrent to God. And they approved of people who also practiced them. And we face similar choices in our culture today. So one has to ask the question, what is it that you believe? Is your identity more formed by Christ or is your identity formed by the culture? What you believe about God, about Christ and the Bible will shape your behavior. If you once believed but have slipped back and find your behavior slipping, repent is the message of Jesus. In Turkey, that once dynamic Christian nation in the first century AD, apostasy won. And in that nation of 74 million, There are no Christian churches. Jesus' message is repent. Go back to the Bible. Nail down what you believe. Check your heart. Are you defined by your culture? Are you defined by Christ and the Bible? We can read those verses from Revelation chapter two verses fourteen through sixteen. I lost my paper and all the shuffle here. Here it is. Fourteen through sixteen. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you. You have people who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise, you have also those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent, therefore, otherwise I will soon come to you and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. On the plus side, on the minus side, third, bread and stones. Jesus concludes his letter to the church in Pergamon with a promise of three things to those who prevail. First of all, hidden manna. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. When the Israelites came across that foreboding, bleak, barren wilderness of the Sinai desert, he gave them everyday bread, manna, for them to eat, to sustain them. And the point is, that God is going to take care of you in ways that you can't see, ways that you don't expect. God's going to take care of you if you lose your health or your wealth. And if in the name of Christ, you stand up and take persecution, God is going to provide for you. God is going to take care of you in ways that you can't even imagine. Second, he says, I will also give him a white stone. Now, you remember when we're talking about the amphitheater, that white stone was a ticket to get in. Some people think that this is the white stone to which they're referring that the ticket to get into the amphitheater. But there's also another one, I'm more persuaded that this is a better explanation, and that is it has to do with the judicial system. And in the day you put your hand in a bag and you pull out a stone. If it was a black stone, you're guilty. If you pull out a white stone, you were acquitted of whatever it is that you're on trial for. Now, the bad news is that when we came into this world and when we made our way along in this world, we every one of us accumulated a lot of black stones. Every one of us, without exception, Pastor John has a bag full of black stones. The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We don't like to think of ourselves as being tainted by sin. We don't like to think of ourselves as having that that dark, indelible stain on our soul of sin. And yet it was Jesus, the one who did only good. It was Jesus, the one who taught only good things, who said to us, be perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect. There's not one of us here today who could live up to that standard. And so we all have a bag full of black stones. And the Bible says that sin brought about death and death is a frequent metaphor in the Bible that means separation from God. So we conclude that our sin brings about separation from God. And the worst news is that there's nothing we can do about it in and of ourselves. The Bible says by good deeds shall no man be made right with God. Now that's scary because that kicks the legs out of our otherwise best hope. I think most of us either have or had at one time the idea in our minds that our bad deeds may be piled high, but if we do enough good deeds, our good deeds will offset our bad deeds. And I think when we say this, we undervalue the negative consequences of our sin and our bad deeds, and it overvalues the effect of our good deeds. And so the Bible says that good deeds don't cut it. That's my translation. But the Bible says, by good deeds shall no man be made right with God. Good deeds don't cut it. That's a lot of bad news for one day. But there is good news. And the good news is this, that Jesus Christ came into the world. No one denies that he lived a good life and taught good things. But if this is all he did, teach good things and do good things, help the poor, help the sick, every one of us would suffer from even greater depression than we may already have. Because his good life only magnifies how many black rocks I have in my satchel. Something more had to be done. Something more was done. Jesus allowed himself to be arrested. Yes, he allowed himself to be arrested. That was not an angry mob that took Jesus away. Jesus allowed himself to be arrested, tried, convicted, condemned and ultimately crucified. Now, as a youngster, I could have told you that Christ died on the cross for my sins. I had no idea what that meant. I had no idea how it related to me. What I learned from the Bible is that on the cross, God, the Father, took my sins and he put my sins on God, the Son, Jesus. And then he poured out his full wrath and fury on Jesus to punish him. Not for his sin, he had none, but for my sin. And so doing, he gave me the assurance that I would be given a white stone. I would be acquitted. It vindicated God's justice, sin had been paid for through death. And it was the greatest act of love ever in the history of this planet. That white stone is mine, not by virtue of how good I can be, how many good deeds or how many church services I go to. I'm not telling you not to go to church. But my white stone is mine by virtue of Jesus' work on the cross for me, plus nothing. If it depends on my efforts, then Christ's death meant nothing. My white stone is solely dependent on Christ's suffering on my behalf. You know, I find interesting is that the person that Jesus referenced in this by name in this particular city was a guy by the name of Antipas, which means when translated suffering in the place of another. Now, there's a third thing that God says he gives us to the one who perseveres. He says, I'll give them a new name. When Abram had an experience with God, God gave him the name Abraham. When Jacob had an experience with God, God gave him the name Israel. When Cephas had an experience with Jesus Christ, he gained the name Peter. And when the apostle Paul had an experience with God, He was named Saul at the time. God changed his name to Paul. And we, after we have an experience with God, are given a new name. That name is Christian, which means Christ in one. To them who overcomes, he will give a new name, Christ in you. And Paul says that is the hope of glory. What's the takeaway? What do we take away from this? Well, first of all, believe the good news. Luther believed that it was solo fide, by faith alone. He got that right out of the Bible. The Bible says in Romans chapter three, but now a righteousness from God, apart from law, apart from good deeds, has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. He says that my righteousness comes apart from my good deeds. This righteousness comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Faith plus nothing is what it takes to satisfy God's requirements. So believe the good news. Second, be wary of idolatry. In that day, idolatry came in big forms. Statues of Zeus, temples to Aphrodite and Dionysus and Archelaus, emperors standing over the city. Those were the type of idols that people worshipped. But they had more subtle idols in that day too. And so do we. Our subtle idols include things like our cars. Don't mess with my car. Our homes. We make anything, even good things, we make them into idols when we take things of value and assign them ultimate value. Our reputation is another one. We idolize those things. Our net worth, everybody does it to one degree or another. Jesus' response to that is repent of it. Take your identity from being in Christ. The Apostle Paul said, I count all things as being loss, as being rubbish for the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, our Lord. Today, we're dedicating this building. This building could become an idol. Do you know that the temple that the Hebrews built explicitly for the worship of Almighty God became an idol to them. And in the book of Jeremiah, when God was getting ready to let the Babylonians sweep through there and take them away and sack the city, the people said, that'll never happen. We have the temple of the Lord. And Jeremiah said, Do not say that we have the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. Don't say that. It's an idol, this place could become an idol to us, we can forget about what's important. We can we can lose sight of the relationships, we can lose sight of people, we can lose sight of what our job is in the community and become Look inward towards this building. It can happen. It doesn't happen just because it's brick and mortar, but it can happen because it's brick and mortar. It's where we put our heart and the value we assign to it. Be careful of idolatry. And finally, know what you believe. That's the third thing that we take away from this this this church, this letter to the church in Revelation. Know what you believe. Nail down the loose ends of your belief system. If you don't know what you believe, if you were like I was. And you say, well, Christ died for my sins, but inside you say, I have no idea what that means. Go back to the Bible. Come talk to me. Let's figure it out together. Search the Bible for yourself. See what it says. Get involved with a group that's reading the Bible and studying it. What you believe will shape who you are. And when you need to make big decisions, what you believe will guide you. So believe the good news, be wary of idolatry, taking things and assign them ultimate value and know what you believe. That is the message to the church at Pergamon. Now, I'm going to pray in just a second and then we're going to sing one more song. Shout to the Lord. You have the words in your bulletin. And then I'm going to ask you to sit down for just a couple of minutes because I want to just briefly dedicate the building and identify the people who brought it together and have a prayer. And it'll just take a few minutes, but I do want to do that. So let's pray and then we'll sing together. Our great God, we thank you. We thank you for the letters that you wrote to this church, to these churches and this church in Pergamon today who who lost sight of what they believed and began to call bad things good. And good things, bad God challenge us in our beliefs, help us to follow Christ. to draw our identity from you and you alone and not from our culture, not from the things that you give us that we might idolize. God, help us to follow only Christ. Help us to have the resolve of someone like Antipas, who is willing even to go to his death for the sake of knowing Christ. Help us, God, to follow you with single-minded intensity. And hear us as we make our prayer in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our strong Savior. Amen. In your bulletin you will find the words, Shout to the Lord, would you stand with me? And we're going to sing this together. I need a thousand touching, for there is one like you. Oh, what an age! I want to praise the wonders of your mighty love. I come through my shelter, tower of majesty and strength. Let every man, all that I am, ever speak to worship You. Shout unto the Lord of the earth, let us sing! Thou in the desert, be praised with everything! Round and round and round in the seas we'll roar at the sound of Your Name! I sing for joy at the work of Your hands! Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand! Nothing compares with the promise I have made for you. Would you please be seated for just a moment? I just want to take just a second, first of all, to recognize, and I had Joe Reed today for a purpose. I wanted, Joe, if you would stand up. Joe was the guy who led the committee that is your building committee for this. Why don't you stand up for me? And then I want the building committee to stand up. And I know this is going to embarrass them horribly and I'll pay a deep and heavy price for this. But if I could get the building committee to stand up. These are the people who led us through the tortured and treacherous waters of building. and made a lot of choices, and not only that, that we have another piece yet to come next summer, or late spring, early summer. We're going to be doing some renovations in here. This is the group, and they may not make all the choices that you want them to make. You may not agree with everything they do, but it's a broad representation and they're giving their best shot at doing the right thing. So you give these people your attention and your consideration and thank them for what they do. Now, I want to, as a benediction and as a prayer of dedication, by this prayer We will dedicate this building and that portion of the building to Almighty God for the use in his work, for his kingdom. And for this prayer, what I am doing is I'm taking the prayer of Solomon. I think there was a while there where he was smarter than me. And I want us to take this prayer of Solomon. And that's the prayer I'm going to pray. It's Solomon's prayer. But he was dedicating the temple for the worship of Almighty God. And to that end, and for that reason, I use this. And I would like for you to stand for this, as it's a benediction as well. So I pray with Solomon, praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Read in that, give rest to the people of God, just as he promised. No one word has failed of all the good promises that God gave through his servant Moses. Read and going forward through all his servants. May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors and made these words. of mine, Solomon's, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of His servant and the cause of His people according to each day's needs, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and there is no other. And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God to live by His decrees and obey His commands as at this time. May God bless His church and His people. Amen. Go in peace. Thank you all very much. These doors are going to be breaking open here.