Well, it is good to see you all this morning and we will be continuing our study of the seven churches in Revelation. We're going through the entire book of Revelation. And today we'll be looking at the church at Pergamos. The church at Pergamos, that's Revelation chapter 2 verses 12 through 17. And by way of introduction, Pergamos was the capital city of the Roman Empire in Asia. So a very important city. It was also a very idolatrous city. As you read the commentaries, one theme that you see over and over again is how many different temples and religions were represented at Pergamos. And so, of course, all the cities were idolatrous, but Pergamos especially so. and it was a center of emperor worship. So the emperor worship was a cult that existed in Rome, and so this was a center for emperor worship. And we have discussed here before the idea that these seven churches represented seven periods of church history. And while I do not personally believe that the Bible teaches this view, it is a view that's believed by many people, and it's an orthodox view. And so we're going to review that or look at it this morning. And so I'm going to read to you from the Schofield reference Bible notes, which give us this view. Schofield says, the messages to the seven churches have a fourfold application. Number one, local to the churches actually addressed. In other words, and that's the way we're reading them, by the way. We're reading them as addressed to seven local churches in that time period. Then he says, number two, admonitory to all churches in all time as tests by which they may discern their true spiritual state in the sight of God. And so we also look at these churches in that way. We look at them and we find things that would admonish us to look at our spiritual state and to repent where we need to. And so we see that as well. Then he says, number three, personal in the exhortations to him that hath an ear and in the promise to him that overcometh. We also look at the churches in that way because we see in the churches that God speaks to believers individually and calls them to repent and makes promises to individual believers. And then he says, number four, prophetic. as disclosing seven phases of the spiritual history of the church from, say, AD 96 to the end. And so this is where we're going to get into the stuff that is very interesting to look at. And you can see some definite parallels here. But for my studies to say that this is actually given as a history, excuse me, Having a little trouble with my voice this morning, but to say that this is actually given as a history or as a prophecy of church history I think is a little bit of a stretch, but you may disagree, so I'm going to read this. It is incredible that in a prophecy covering the church period there should be no such foreview. These messages must contain that foreview if it is in the book at all, for the church does not appear after Revelation 3.22. So he's simply saying, if there is a prophecy of church history in the book of Revelation, it has to be here, because the church isn't mentioned after Revelation 3.22. Again, these messages by their very terms go beyond the local assemblies mentioned. Most conclusively of all, these messages do present an exact foreview of the spiritual history of the church and in this precise order. So here's the order. Ephesus gives the general state of the church at the date of the writing. So he says Ephesus is the way the church was when this was written. Smyrna, the period of great persecutions. Of course, the early church encountered 10 major persecutions, and so he's saying that Smyrna prophesied that, Pergamos, the church settled down in the world where Satan's throne is after the conversion of Constantine, say AD 316. And Pergamos is the church we're going to look at today. Thyatira is the papacy developed out of the Pergamos state. Balaamism, worldliness, and Nicolaitism, priestly assumption, have conquered. As Jezebel brought idolatry into Israel, so Romanism weds Christian doctrine to pagan ceremonies. Sardis is the Protestant Reformation whose works were not fulfilled. Philadelphia is whatever bears clear testimony to the word and the name in the time of self-satisfied profession represented by Laodicea. Now this is a little bit different view. Many people today hold that we're in the Laodicean church age and so you can't see revival, but there are people like Schofield that believed that Philadelphia, the church at Philadelphia, would represent a church that could have revival in the midst of the Laodicean age where the church is lukewarm. So it's an interesting view. If you want to study more about that, I'm sure you can find books on it and studies on it. But at any rate, this is the view that a prophecy of the entire church age up until today is contained in these seven churches of Revelation. And now we're going to get into the text and move to our first point. So number one, greeting the double-edged sword in verse 12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, these things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges. Now if we go back to chapter one, we've seen this mentioned before. in chapter 1 and verse 16, where the Word of God says, And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. So this was Jesus Christ. This is the way Christ appeared to John. and in His resurrected and glorified state, and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, which is a picture of the Word of God coming out of His mouth. Hebrews 4.12, says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So Christ presents himself to the church at Pergamos as the one having the word of God in his mouth. It's like a two-edged sword. Now, secondly, we see The commendation, the commendation in verse 13. And so Christ says to the church, I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth." So first of all, Jesus says, I know where you live. And that can be intimidating if somebody says, I know where you live. But that's not the way he's saying it. He's saying it in the sense of, I know it's hard for you there. I know it's tough to keep a Christian testimony where you live. And of course, it's getting harder today to keep a consistent Christian testimony because people don't like it when you stand up for biblical truth. But Jesus says, just as he said to them, he says to us, I know where you dwell. I know where you live. And then he says, even where Satan's seat is. Now, we're going to come back to that in a moment. But then he mentions Antipas. Antipas, my faithful martyr. Now, nobody knows who this man is. He may have been a pastor of the church. Nobody knows for sure. But he was known to the church and he was known to the Lord. And that's what's important. And he was a faithful martyr. And then he says, who was slain among you where Satan dwells. And then, of course, earlier in the verse, he said where Satan's seat is. Pergamos was the capital of the Roman Empire in Asia. And of course, Rome was persecuting the church and was going to more heavily persecute the church under Emperor Trajan, so it was also a center for idolatry and emperor worship, so you can understand why I would say it was the seat of Satan. It was where Satan dwells. You know, Satan has strongholds in different places, and the Bible says that we as Christians, through the power of God, preach the gospel and that it pulls down strongholds. Just to give you a couple of examples in our modern times, when I was younger I went on a lot of mission trips. and we went to Peru one time, and while we were in Peru, and I've told this story before, and those of you who have heard it before would love to hear it again, and those of you who would not love to hear it again are gonna hear it again. So I was in Peru, and we went to this village up in the mountains, which mostly the Indians dwell up in the mountains in Peru, and so we went to this village, And they said, the missionaries said, now, as far as we know, the gospel has never come to this village. We've never been there. We don't know of any group that has ever taken the gospel to this village. And so we went in and we started handing out gospel tracts. And almost immediately when we started handing out gospel tract, this woman came out of her house and started saying that her son had been made sick. by us coming into the town. And she started saying, they're spreading sickness, they're spreading sickness and yelling that all over the town. And that place was a stronghold of Satan. And Satan was at work, all kinds of idolatry there with people seeing their dead relatives who had died and their relatives would come to visit them and all kinds of things. like that, the working of demons who were imitating and doing all that. I was in a jail or a prison in Mississippi, a Mississippi State Penitentiary, and walked in to a cell block with other missionaries from the Rock of Ages prison ministry to hand out gospel literature. And as soon as we walked in the cell block, this inmate started saying, get these people out of here. Get them out of here. Get them out. And there was a stronghold of Satan there. So this city was where Satan dwelled. It was Satan's seat, and yet God was at work in the city with this church. And we praise the Lord for that. You know, the Bible says, Jesus said to Peter, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." So the church is always to be going forward against the gates of hell, against Satan's strongholds, preaching the gospel And even the gates, which were defensive, cannot prevail against that because we see people saved out of all kinds of things all the time. We see people saved out of addiction. We see people saved out of homosexuality. We see people saved out of all kinds of wicked lifestyles, witchcraft and all kinds of different things. You see people saved by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and delivered from those things where Satan has a stronghold. And so we praise the Lord for the power of the gospel that can go through and assault the gates of hell. And so it was in this town at Pergamum, or Pergamos. Now we see condemnation in verses 14 through 15. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication. So the doctrine of Balaam was mixing paganism with Christianity. Pagan worship and fornication were encouraged by these false teachers that were in the church. And society at Pergamum was based on idol worship. And this included temple feast and fornication. So if you had lived during that time, business deals would have been done in the temples. and everything in society worked around the temples, and the temples would have had feasts. So you might have gone to a business dinner in the temple with other people that you were associated with and eaten in the middle of this, and they were idolatrous feasts. And also, fornication was part of their worship. So they had temple prostitutes, and you would have gone, had sex with a temple prostitute, and that was part of worship. It was very wicked. And so Christians in Pergamum, or Pergamos, were under constant pressure to engage in these things. Now the story of Balaam, because Balaam, they said, them that hold the doctrine of Balaam. Balaam is an Old Testament figure. He's found in the book of Numbers. And pagan king Balak hired Balaam. Balaam was a, he was gifted as a seer, which is a type of prophet in the Old Testament. And he was a prophet for hire. He found out that he could sell this gift to the highest bidder. And so pagan king Balak had hired Balaam to curse his enemies, and his enemies were the Jews. So Balak said, I want to pay you to curse the Jews. So Balaam tried to curse them repeatedly, but couldn't because God would not allow him to. One time his donkey even stopped him. He had a talking donkey. The donkey started talking to him. An angel spoke through the donkey and forbade him. But at any rate, he couldn't curse the Jews. And the problem for King Balak was that he would pay Balaam up front. He wasn't a very smart king. He would pay him up front and lose his money. He didn't get a curse. And David Guzik goes on to explain, essentially, after his failure to curse Israel, Balaam said to Balak, I cannot curse these people, but you can get them to curse themselves through enticing them to rebel against their God. Send your prettiest girls among them and tell them to entice the men of Israel to immorality and idolatry." And it worked. It worked. By the way, they would do that during the Vietnam War. the Vietnamese women would come out and entice the men, and they'd draw them over to this area, and then they'd kill them. They did that with our soldiers. And so this worked with the Jews, and they were enticed to engage in fornication and sacrifice unto idols. And so God sent a plague and destroyed them. He killed a bunch of the Jews, and so it worked. And so this was going on in the church, this doctrine of Balaam. And then he says also in verse 15, So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. So the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, we're not sure what these people were or what exactly they believed. But it's generally accepted that they were a group of immoral people who claimed to follow the teachings of Nicholas, who was one of the first deacons. And they believed that they could get spiritual victory by indulging the flesh in fornication, drunkenness, and other immoral behaviors. Now, there are others believe, like Schofield and others that believe, that the Nicolaitans were the beginning of hierarchies in the church, where leadership is separated from the laity. Because the name Nicolaitans basically means to overcome the people. So there's a line of thought, which is taught in the Schofield Reference Bible and several other study Bibles, that the Nicolaitans were a group of people that said, we are higher than the laity in the church, and that that led to the creation of bishops And I don't mean bishops in the Bible who were just basically pastors, but I'm talking about a hierarchy where you had a bishop, and this bishop was higher than this bishop, and you had the archdiocese, and you had all these things that led to a Catholic-type church government. And that's one belief about these people. It's interesting that in Ephesus, the church hated the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, but in Pergamum, God hated it still, but the church tolerated it. They put up with it. By the way, none of this says that the church as a whole practiced these doctrines. What it says is, is that you have people in the church that believe these things and teach these things. So they were putting up with it. They had people that taught false doctrine in the church. And it's not that the whole church believed it, it's that paganism was mixed with Christianity. And so, you know, Jesus gave us a way to handle that. And the New Testament gives us a way to handle that where you excommunicate people that teach false doctrine from the church. Now, this morning we were talking about the seven C's of history. And we had somebody bring up the flood and some other things, and that is not false doctrine. That is a different interpretation. And so we allow for different interpretations. But if somebody stands up and starts teaching salvation by works, or that the Bible's not the Word of God, or that Christ isn't the Son of God who came in the flesh, then that's false doctrine. That's heresy. And so when we have heresy, you have to tell a heretic, repent, or they have to leave the church. You can't have somebody teaching heresy in the church. Now, you have young Christians that question things, and you can disciple them. But when you have somebody that's actually teaching heresy in the church, they have to leave the church. You can't have them in the church. You can't have unity around heresy. And so these people were tolerating people that taught Balaamism and people that taught the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which God says, I hate this doctrine. I hate it. But they were tolerating it. Now we see number four correction in verse 16. God says to them, repent or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. You know, the Word of God has authority because it is God's Word. You know, the only authority I have as a preacher is that I preach the Word of God. That's the authority that I have, and that's the authority of God's Word. And Jesus says, I'm going to come, if you don't repent, I'm going to come there and fight against these false teachers with the Word of my mouth. with the sword of my mouth, which is the word of God. You know, there's an interesting story in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 5, but a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession. Now in the early church, they got this thing going where they were selling their land and giving it to the church. They weren't making people sell their land. They had an extra piece of land. If somebody wanted to sell it, they would sell it and give it to the church. So they had a piece of land and they sold it. And they kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now when they did this, they acted like they were given the whole proceeds of the land to look good in front of the church. And we don't know why they did this, but they just decided that they would lie about it. And so Peter said, Ananias, why had Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost, and great fear came on all them that heard these things." I imagine it did. If we had somebody drop dead in the church service because they lied about something, that would probably cause us all to repent. And the young man arose, wound him up like a mummy, and carried him out and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after when his wife came, not knowing what was done, and she came in, and Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost. And the young man came in and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. I imagine it did. George Whitefield, who our county is named after, was preaching a service, and he read the scripture that said, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. Whitefield preached in the open air, and his voice would carry, some said miraculously, but it would carry, and he could be heard by thousands. Back then, they had public hangings for entertainment. People would go on Sunday afternoon after church and sit and watch a public hanging, eat their sandwiches and whatnot. And so he was standing on the gallows where they would hang people, and he read the scripture that said, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. And there was a gasp from the crowd, and somebody had fallen over dead. And so he read the scripture again. It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. And there was another gasp, and somebody else had fallen over dead. And I imagine a bunch of people got right with God that day. Now we haven't seen things like that happen here, and I hope people don't start dropping dead here. But at any rate, we do need to respect the authority of God's Word. God's Word has authority. And in this day and age, people blaspheme the Word of God, they don't have respect for it. When I started preaching in the jail years ago, when you'd go into the cell blocks, the inmates would shut off the TV and they'd say, church is here. They'd shut off the TV and they'd gather around. And when I quit preaching in the jail several years ago, the inmates would just leave the TV on and watch TV during the church service. They didn't care. And so there's been a reverence that has been lost in society for the word of God. We walk out here and people throw liquor bottles in the church parking lot, throw bags of garbage in the church parking lot. It's ridiculous. People do drug deals right out here at our sign. You wouldn't believe it, but I've seen it happen. And so the people have lost their reverence. They have no fear of God. And it's sad that this has happened to society. But in the early church, fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things. And so there needs to be a reverence for the Word of God. And Jesus said, if you don't repent, I'll come unto you quickly with the sword of my mouth. Now the fifth thing we see is the promise in verse 17. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it. So this is the promise. If you overcome, I'll give you to eat of the hidden manna." Of course, manna was what Jesus gave to the children of Israel who were in the wilderness, and it sustained them, angel's food. He gave them that. And so he says to the church here and to us, if you overcome, I'll give you to eat of the hidden manna. And so this is nothing less than Christ's provision, for Christ's provision. And do you know that God will take care of us even if things get really bad? You know, there's inflation right now which is killing everybody, it's hurting everybody. And, you know, we don't know how we're gonna pay our bills and all this kind of stuff, but the truth is, is that God has promised to take care of us. And He's promised to him that overcometh, I will give you hidden manna. I will provide for you. The children of Israel were out in the wilderness and had no food to eat, and God sent manna from heaven to provide for over a million people wandering in the wilderness, and God will provide for us. And He's promised to. And then He says, by the way, this message, as all the others are, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Plural. This is a message to all the churches. To him that overcometh. This is an individual message to members of the churches. So it applies to us as well. To him that overcometh. will I give to eat of the hidden manna." And then he says, "...and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it." So God says, I'm going to give you a new name. You know, and Jesus did this for people all through the Bible. He would rename them. And so God's going to give us an individual name, a name of favor with God. And then he says, I'm going to put this name in a white stone. Now, nobody's really sure what this white stone was, but it's interesting that in this time period, White stones would be used with juries to decide verdicts and so they would have a black stone, a white stone, and if they pulled the white stone and presented it to the judge that meant you were acquitted. So it could mean acquittal. And also, white stones were used for victors in athletic games to invite them to feasts. And so they could use these white stones for admittance to a feast. And so though the believers in Pergamos were surrounded by paganism, they will be acquitted and found innocent by faith in Christ. And though they are excluded from the pagan banquets and parties in their city, yet in the heavenly city they will be admitted into God's feast. And so we praise the Lord that God will put our names, which no other person knows, into a white stone. And we are forgiven through faith in Christ. And we are admitted into the heavenly city and unto the feast of God. And we have God's provision with hidden manna in the midst of poverty and persecution. that we encounter. Now, of course, every week we have read these verses from 1 John. John wrote the book of Revelation. He also wrote the book of 1 John. And he says in 1 John 5, verses 4 and 5, for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. So God promises to the church at Pergamos and to all of us, if you overcome, I'll give you the hidden manna. and I'll give you a white stone and a name in that stone that no man knows except for me." And so he gives these promises to those that overcome, and then he says in 1 John, "...for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" So who will overcome? Who will overcome the world? Those that believe in Jesus Christ. We overcome by faith, and we praise the Lord for that. And so, in the midst of persecution, in the midst of paganism that is entering our society now, in the midst of all the things that we experience, and around the world, Christians have it a lot worse. Christians are being martyred for their faith. And it's a terrible thing that's happening all around the world. And that hasn't come to the United States yet. We haven't been martyred because of our faith. But we can overcome. by faith, and we praise the Lord for that. And so now, in conclusion, the question is, are you an overcomer? And you say, well, how can I become an overcomer? Well, you become an overcomer by faith in Jesus Christ. And what do we mean by faith in Jesus Christ? Well, we simply mean that Do you realize you're a sinner that has sinned against the Lord? Do you realize that because you're a sinner, you're lost and on your way to hell? Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and was buried and rose from the dead three days later? Do you believe in Him? And will you, by faith, receive Him into your own life as your personal Savior? If you'll put your faith in Jesus Christ today, He will forgive your sins, He will write your name in the book of life, and you will be an overcomer by faith in Jesus Christ. For the Bible says, Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And how do you get born of God? Well, you're born again by faith in Jesus Christ. And you'll overcome the world by faith. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for these people. I thank you for this church at Pergamos that, though it was in the middle of a wicked place, and though these believers were tempted to compromise with paganism just to survive socially in the town and economically, we praise your name that there was a group of believers that did not bow the knee And we praise your name that the church of God will go forward against the gates of hell, even in places like Pergamum. And we praise your name, Heavenly Father, that today you're calling people out for your glory and your saving souls. And we pray today if there's anyone here that doesn't know you as Savior and doesn't know that their sins are forgiven, that today will be the day that they will believe in you and know that their sins are forgiven by faith in Jesus Christ. And we pray you change our lives by faith. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray if there's anyone here that's a Christian that needs to repent of something, that today would be the day that we would lay it down and repent and find your forgiveness by faith in Christ. Amen.