And we come to the message of Christ to the church in Pergamos. So please turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation 2, verses 12 through 17. Revelation 2, verses 12 through 17. And let's give our devoted attention to the reading and hearing of our King, Jesus Christ. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, these things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword. I know your works and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith, even in the days in which Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was killed among you where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things, sacrifice to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. Thus ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray that he would bless it to our hearing. Father, only by the power of your Holy Spirit can you take weak human words and use them by your Spirit's power to give us life, to edify us in the truth, to help those of us who need to let go of sin, let go of sin. and to help those who need courage have courage in this life. We pray that the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts would be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer. We pray this through the name of Jesus Christ, amen. One of the most popular interpretive theories relating to this book of Revelation is the theory that these seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 somehow forecast the history of the church until Christ's coming. The idea is that these seven churches represent different epochs or ages of church history in which the church takes on a prevailing characteristic. And those who advocate for this idea state that the Ephesian church is representative of apostolic Christianity. They say that the church in Smyrna is representative of the great persecutions the church faced after the apostolic times. And they say that the church in Pergamos is representative of what happened after Constantine legalized the Christian religion in the Roman Empire. I remember being in a Bible study in North Dakota and there was a man who was saying that we were in the Laodicean age of church history. He was sure of that because he saw the signs of lukewarmness everywhere. Well, what are the problems with this theory? The first problem is rather simple. John is told to write and to send revelation to seven historical churches in seven historical cities, which were all in existence, get this, at the same time. And yet somehow we're to believe that the church in apostolic times was broadly characterized by the message to the church in Ephesus, even though all seven churches existed within the apostolic age. The theory does not make sense. The second problem is that there is nothing in the text of Revelation itself which would indicate a prophetic forecast of seven epics of church history, with the church broadly taking on the prevailing characteristic of each of the churches here. If anything, we have to remember what Jesus told John back in chapter one, verse 19. Back in chapter one, verse 19, Jesus told John, write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this. Now, if I'm correct in saying that the things which are relates to the situation of each of the churches in Revelation two and three, this advocates against the theory I've just mentioned. John is writing messages that relate to the situation of seven churches at the end of the first century, and later he will get to the things which will take place after this. And the third problem with the above theory is that no interpreter of Revelation has the omniscience that is necessary to understand when the so-called Ephesian age of church history transferred to the Smyrnian age of church history, and so on and so forth. The man who said in that Bible study that the church today, we are living in the Laodicean age of the church, was basing that off of very limited experience. And no interpreter has the omniscience to be able to decipher the transfer point between the ages. And that is why so many commentators disagree with each other. The one thing we should recognize, however, from these seven messages, is that the situations of Christ's churches in the world are complex. There's complexity. Not all churches face the same situations. Some of the churches in Revelation were facing persecution, but others were not. Some of the churches were large, but some were small. Some of the churches were materially wealthy. Others were materially poor. Some of the churches were characterized by doctrinal fidelity. But as we see today with the church in Pergamos, some of the churches were characterized by toleration of error and moral compromise. And we need every single one of the messages, don't we? As I said last week, there is a summons at the end of every message of Revelation that calls each member of the churches, each one of you, in other words, to hear what the Spirit is saying, to respond to what the Spirit is saying. All of the messages of Christ that we have in Revelation are important so that we might overcome in our own day and inherit the new creation. So while the message to Pergamos is geared to the historical circumstances of that church in particular, this message to the church in Pergamos is also for all the churches. Think about this, this message was for the church in Smyrna. Christ had just told the saints in Smyrna that the devil was about to throw some of them into prison and he called them to be faithful unto death. Well, now they hear the commendation of a man who had been faithful unto death, Antipas. Christ calls him in this text, my faithful witness. And the saints in Smyrna who were about to face intense persecution heard that and could be fortified by that, but not only they, but also all the members of the churches that heard that commendation were fortified and strengthened for holding fast Christ's name in this age. The point that I'm making here is that each one of the messages are relevant for Grace Baptist Church. What Christ commands in these messages, we should practice. What Christ criticizes about these churches, we should seek to avoid. And what Christ promises to the one who overcomes, we ought to long for. Now, if you look down at verse 12, notice the characteristic that Christ mentions at the beginning of this message. These things says. We are reminded that these words are authoritative, these words are kingly, these words are prophetic. These things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword. This message begins on a note of judgment, doesn't it? A sword is a weapon. A sword is an implement to inflict damage, to fight against others, as Christ says in verse 16. And so just as the previous characteristics of Christ in the first two messages pointed back to chapter one and that initial vision that John received, so this one does as well. If you look back at chapter one, verse 16, It says in chapter one, verse 16, out of his mouth, the son of man, went a sharp two edged sword. In other words, Christ is not a king that you want to trifle with, is he? His word is powerful. This image of the sword returns at the end of the book of Revelation in chapter 19, where John records, now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations. And this is an allusion back to an Old Testament text in Isaiah chapter 11, verse four, that states of this coming Davidic Messiah, he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips, he shall slay the wicked. You do not want to neglect the words of the one who has the sharp two edged sword. You want to listen intently to the one who has the sharp two-edged sword coming from his mouth. What is this awe-inspiring son of man about to say? Well, first, he begins by commending the church in Pergamos. Look at verse 13. The risen Christ says, I know your works and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Just as Satan controlled the synagogue of the Jews in Smyrna and used the synagogue as a means for persecution against those who were truly Jews, namely Christians, so Satan was and had been active in the city of Pergamos. Now commentators have debated why Jesus locates Satan's throne in this city in particular. And the answer seems to be a twofold answer. Firstly, and this is a quote, Pergamos was the seat of Roman government for the province and the center of the imperial cult. The imperial cult there is a reference to the worship of the emperors of Rome who were called sons of God. who were called by the names of divine beings. But not only was Pergamos the seat of Roman government and the center of the imperial cults in the region, it was also the only city where a Christian had been martyred for their faith. Verse 13 says, and you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith, even in the days in which Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was killed among you where Satan dwells. that Antipas' death is a sure sign of Satan's presence in Pergamos. It is a city where Satan lives, where he has already revealed his hideous habitation in instigating Antipas' death at the hands of his agents. This time, not a synagogue of the Jews, but at the hands of Roman authorities. But Antipas had loved not his life, even unto death. And this is his great accolade. Christ says, literally in Greek, that Antipas is my witness, my faithful one. It's remarkable to me that Jesus calls Antipas my faithful witness, especially as we turn back to Revelation chapter one, verse five, and see what Jesus is called in Revelation chapter one, verse five. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. You hear that there? And if you turn over to Revelation 3, verse 14. In Revelation 3, verse 14, right there in the middle of the verse, Jesus says, these things says the amen, the faithful and true witness. Antipas, in other words, has followed the pattern of his Messiah. Antipas has followed the pattern set by Christ, and he sealed his faith in Christ with his own blood, and Jesus states that that is pleasing in his sight. So what does Jesus commend in this church at Pergamos? It's this. Notwithstanding the heat of previous persecution, they continued to hold fast Jesus' name. They continued to profess faith in Christ after great tribulation, and it says, you did not deny my faith. To deny their faith in Jesus would have meant to repudiate Christ in order to avoid suffering. It would have meant to repudiate Christ so as to burn incense to Caesar and call Caesar Lord. But the saints in Pergamos did not repudiate Christ. They clung tenaciously to Jesus, even when things had reached a boiling point in their city. It says, even in the days when Antipas was killed among you. Jesus is saying, even when you saw what you might have to suffer, you did not give up your faith in me. And you still have not. The saints in Pergamos courageously withstood the affliction of persecution. They proved faithful to Christ in suffering, even when they experienced the terrifying reality of the potential of death before their faces when Antipas was killed. I mean, just imagine this, if next week persecution broke out in East Texas and one of our own number was killed for the sake of Christ. The reality of the danger of being a Christian in this world would hit us like a ton of bricks, wouldn't it? The reality that we might be next would be a test of our faith in Christ, but the saints in Pergamos had persevered. And that pleased Christ. And what Jesus commends in the churches, we are meant to pursue. Namely, willingness to suffer to the point of death for his sake, to persevere through suffering and tribulation and afflictions, which are promised to us in this age. Paul says, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. And Jesus is pleased with that. But then he returns to his, he returns rather to his rebuke in verse 14 of the text. But I have a few things against you, he says. We should note this. Just because a church has suffered for Christ and been faithful to him in the midst of it does not mean that that church is above correction. One commentator wrote this, despite Jesus' special sensitivity for a suffering church, having suffered does not automatically validate everything we do or believe. That's really helpful, isn't it? Suffering does not mean that a church is somehow above critique. In fact, no commendation from the risen Christ means that we are above the critique of our king who walks among the lampstands, whose eyes are like flame, and who views things as they really are, according to the truth. And so while the saints in Pergamos hold tightly to Jesus' name, Jesus uses the same word in verse 14 to say, but you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam. Most Christians in Pergamos were holding fast to Christ, but there were certain members of the church living morally compromised lives. What was the problem? What sin were they committing? Well, it says in verse 14 that there was a certain subset of the church who held Balaam's doctrine. And it further specifies that this Balaam is the one who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. Thus, Jesus says, you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Now, what is the Old Testament background to this story of Balaam? Well, in the New Testament, sometimes Balaam is the paragon of a false teacher or false prophet, one who serves for the sake of money. Because when Israel was on the move toward Canaan, the Moabite king Balak sought to employ Balaam to curse the people of Israel in the book of Numbers. And for those of you familiar with the story, you know that Balaam was actually unable to curse the people of Israel. And instead of cursing them, what did God make Balaam do? Blessed them. He blessed them several times until Balaam had to come up with a ulterior idea. If God will not allow me to curse the Israelites, then what you have to do, Balak, is seduce the Israelites with pagan feasts, with pagan festivities, and with fornication. Turn back with me to the book of Numbers, chapter 25. In Numbers, chapter 25, verses one through three, Notice what this says. Now Israel remained in the Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifice of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal-peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. Now, the question is, who counseled these Moabite women to seduce God's people to worship Baal? Well, if you turn forward to Numbers 31, verse 16, we find our answer. There, Moses says, look, these women caused the children of Israel through whose counsel? through the counsel of Balaam to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor. So this sinful error of idolatry, of participating in pagan feasts, which was spiritual adultery against the Lord, and these sexual acts with Moabite women caused God's judgment to fall on the people. And what Jesus is saying in Revelation is this, That old Balaamite error is being reproduced by the Nicolaitans in the church in Pergamos. Christians were participating in pagan feasts and festivities. They were participating in the sexual immorality that often attended those idolatrous feasts. The distinction between God's people and the world in Pergamos was therefore being erased, and yet the Nicolaitans were saying, you can be a Christian, you can profess Christ and do these things. You have the liberty to engage in these kind of practices, and Jesus states in no uncertain terms, I hate that kind of doctrine. I hate it, which means to detest or to abhor it. And if Jesus hates something and we claim to follow Him, should we not hate what Jesus hates? We are living in a day when moral compromise is broadly tolerated in churches across our country. Let that not be so here at Grace. I remember hearing from a Christian student at the university in Valley City, He told me that Christian students at the university were in church every Sunday, but they were at a new party every Friday night, doing what attends party life, giving themselves to the seductions of the world, the temptations of the flesh, and that is called moral compromise. Young people, you need to hear this. This is moral compromise against the Lord and King of the church. Are you committing spiritual infidelity against your Savior? Are you practicing sexual immorality? Do not think that this does not matter to Christ. These things matter immensely to your Lord. Listen to what Peter writes, for we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles. And what was that? When we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries, Peter says, idolatry was mixed up into all of our lustful drunkenness and revelry. In regard to these things, Peter says, unbelievers think it is strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation. But notice what Peter is presuming about the Christian life in this text. Once a person turns from their previous sinful lifestyle to the Lord Jesus Christ, do they continue in the lusts that previously characterized them? Do they continue in the practices that characterized their life before Christ? No, they turn their back on their previous life of sin, and Peter's clear point is that Christians do not live like the Gentiles. And why not? Why don't we live like the Gentiles? It is because we have been saved by the blood of Christ. It is because we believe that Jesus is the Savior and Lord. It is because we love Him. And we want to live for Him and for His honor and for His glory. That is the apostolic teaching. Unbelievers are surprised when you don't do the things that they find to be so fun. When you refuse to do evil, they revile you. But what were some in the church in Pergamos doing? They were participating. We have to listen to what Christ is saying here. I have this against you. He's saying this to the church broadly. You tolerate those who are committing evil. In other words, the practice of church discipline was not being exercised. Jesus is saying to this church, you do not discipline those compromising their Christian profession in public before unbelievers at pagan feasts where you are sitting at table and dining with demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord, the Lord's supper, and partake in the table of demons. What does scripture say? Scripture says that friendship with the world is okay. No. Scripture says that friendship with the world is actually enmity with God. James 1.27 says this, pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble. And do you know what he says next? He says, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. But certain saints in Pergamos were staining their profession of faith in Christ with the sin of spiritual adultery and sexual immorality, and the church was turning a blind eye to it, letting the Nicolaitans continue to be members in their midst. And what does Jesus say to this church? It's a clear command, repent. Repent. Repentance would mean two things. First, for those holding to the teaching of the Nicolaitans, it would mean stop holding to false teaching. and stop committing what the Nicolaitans say is legitimate to do. Stop doing these behaviors and reflect a life of Christ-likeness that adorns the gospel of Jesus. Live a salty sort of life, fight for purity because the grace of God has appeared and it teaches us to renounce ungodliness. But also for the church broadly, repentance would mean beginning the process of church discipline. It would mean emphasizing uncomfortable disciplinary actions that would need to be taken against the offenders so that the church might continue to uphold its witness in Pergamos and to remain pure. And Jesus says here, repent or else. There's another threat. When our Lord says or else, do we listen to it? or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. What does Jesus do or warn moral compromisers with? I will come to you quickly and will fight against you with the sword of my mouth. Jesus promises to do battle with the lawless professors of his name in Pergamos if they don't repent, that's the key. This coming of Christ here indicates some sort of judgment over these offenders. Perhaps something akin to Paul's statements in Corinth when he says that some of them were weak and some of them had died even because of their sinful approach to the Lord's table. This is serious. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Grace Baptist Church must be a church characterized by holding fast to Christ's name. We must not deny our Lord who has purchased us at the cost of his blood, not even in the face of death. But Grace Baptist Church must also be a pure church. We must not be tolerating like our culture. We must not tolerate those in our midst who might live a morally compromised life. Sin must be called out in the church. False doctrines must be rooted out because Christ hates the deeds and doctrines of the Nicolaitans, and so should we. Look at verse 17. To him who overcomes. What would it mean to overcome from this message? To overcome would mean to hold faith in Christ to the end. To overcome would mean to live a life of true discipleship before Christ, and to those who overcome in such a way, this is the promise that Christ makes. This is not a promise for the Nicolaitans unless they repent, but it is a promise for the true believer seeking to walk in the light as God is in the light. To him who overcomes, Jesus says, I will give some of the hidden manna. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written on it, which no one knows except him who receives it. There are two things promised to the one who conquers here. First, Christ promises to give to the victor some of the hidden manna, he says. What is the significance of the hidden manna? Well, remember that the Nicolaitans were participating in pagan idolatrous feasts, eating food, sacrifice to idols, joining themselves to demons. What is God offering here instead? Different food, true food. Now, some say that the hidden manna is a reference to our inward nourishment on Christ in this age, and it is theologically true. We do nourish ourselves on Christ in this life. We're about to come to the table of our Lord, where by faith we feed on Christ. But this promise in Revelation is a promise to the one who conquers, you see. It is a promise like the rest of the promises in these messages to those who live faith-filled lives until the end. So the hidden manna is a reference not to a present blessing, but something we will receive in the age to come. Namely, food that the world cannot eat and does not have access to, but Christ says, I will give it to you. What is the food that he gives us? It is the food of eternal life. pictured so often in the Bible as a great feast, and specified in Revelation 19.9 as the marriage supper of the Lamb. Here is the hidden manna held out to all of us. In effect, Jesus is saying to his people, reject paganism. reject moral compromise, reject idolatrous feasts and festivities for the sake of the heavenly food that I will give you at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Just as we forsake Babylon and we come out of Babylon in order to enter another city, New Jerusalem. So Jesus is saying, forsake idolatry and all that accompanies it, and I will give you the hidden manna, the manna you cannot now see, but will one day, and I will grant you a place at that feast. It says, I will give him a white stone, and on the stone, a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. What is the significance of this white stone? Well, commentators take diverging interpretations, but following the intertextual clues of this passage, my tentative suggestion is that this stone signifies a ticket of admission granted by Jesus to the marriage supper. If you listen to Revelation 19, eight and nine, hear what it says. And to her, the wife of the lamb, it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. And I take this white stone as a token or invitation of our personal entrance into the new creation and Christ's end times feast. It is symbolic of our invitation to the marriage supper and what is on this white stone but a new name signifying the depth of intimacy between us and Christ in glory. There's something secretive about the name, isn't there? Christ writes the new name on the stone and he gives it to us, it says, and no one knows that name save for whom? Save for Christ and the believer. It is an indication of Christ's friendship and intimacy with us personally at the feast. As if to say, fight the good fight of faith and you will receive my special invitation to the wedding celebration in glory. This is the reward of rejecting idolatry and following after Christ in this age. In Isaiah 65, 15, it says of the wicked, you shall leave your name as a curse to my chosen for the Lord God will slay you. And then it says, but he will call his servants by another name. Think of it, a name specially selected by Jesus just for you. Today, as we come to the foreshadowing of that reality in the Lord's Supper, as we feast together in anticipation of the day that all God's people will be joined into one, let us remember, dear brothers and sisters, to hold fast Christ's name. Remember that every time you come to the table of your Lord, you are renewing your allegiance to the one who died for you on the cross. You are renewing your allegiance to the one who rose for you from the grave. Remember that every time you come to the supper, you should commit afresh, commit yourselves afresh to live for Christ's glory, for Christ's kingdom, and not for the sinful passions of the flesh. And if there are things that you need to repent of from last week, do so as you come to the table. Confess your sins as you come to the table and commit yourself afresh to a life of discipleship to your Lord who has the sword that is sharp and two-edged. The table is a great declaration that you belong to Jesus and therefore must live for him. Let's remember that the hidden manna Christ promises in our text is anticipated by the bread and the wine we take into our hands as tokens of Jesus' love until the day He drinks the wine anew with us in His Father's kingdom. In the meantime, as God's little children, let us keep ourselves from idols. Amen. Father, we ask that you would keep us from moral compromise. We pray that out of a deep faith in Christ and through the power of your Holy Spirit, you would help us to live in the midst of this world pure and blameless before you in love. We pray that you would teach us to hate the doctrine of modern day Nicolaitans who say we can compromise ourselves with the idolatry of our age and still claim the name of Christ. Jesus, we pray that by your spirit you would keep us loyal to you as we come to your table that you have set up for us as a token of your love and your grace symbolic of the great sacrifice that you paid as the faithful witness, we pray that in response to your grace, we would desire to live as faithful witnesses to you in Van, Texas. We pray that you would help us to hold fast to your name and never to deny our faith in you, even should persecution arise to a boiling point. We ask, O Lord, that as we come to your table, that you would help us to see by foretaste the hidden manna that you will give to us in the new creation, and that white stone of invitation, and that new name that you will call us. We thank you for the hope of greater intimacy and fellowship with you in the age to come. As we come to this table, we ask that you would help us to watch over each other's lives, that we would be gentle with one another, but that we would also be firm if sin should arise in the body, that we would speak to one another out of our love, desiring to save a soul from perdition. We pray that you would help Grace Baptist Church to be a place where discipline is exercised, where love is known, and where we are faithful to the death. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.