Turn over to Revelation chapter two, Revelation two. If you missed the first sermons in Revelation, the introduction of the apocalypse or the sermons on the first chapter, go to the website. You can find the written versions or it'll link you to Sermon Audio and you can hear what I actually said. But those would go a long way toward helping you understand what we're getting into as we get into the book of Revelation. This is from God the Father to Jesus Christ, who transmitted it to an angel, who gave it to John the Apostle, who then wrote down, as it says at the end of Revelation in John's commission, the things which you have seen, the things which are, the things which will take place after these things. So chapter one covers the things which he's already seen. We're now in chapters two and three, which the things that are. So these are seven specific letters with seven specific messages to seven specific churches spread throughout the Roman province of Asia that are in seven specific places at a specific period of time. The principles in each letter will have application to Christians and to churches of all time, but unless you can understand in its grammatical historical context the message to each of these churches, you will end up missing the point. Unfortunately, a lot of Commentators and sermons on these have gone allegorical and they do miss the point. We do much better if we will understand it in its historical context and then from the principles of that we will make application. We'll do that again today. Now the first letter was to the messenger of the church at Ephesus. That is the closest city to Patmos where John was exiled and from where he is writing this letter. The Ephesian church was highly commended for its perseverance and not growing weary even though their toil for the Lord was to the point of exhaustion. They endured great hardship for the sake of the name of the Lord due to the persecution that was related to emperor worship. It was a very pagan society. This was part of it. It was strong in Ephesus, partially because there was a temple in Ephesus to the current emperor, who at that time was Domitian. And he was becoming more eccentric and demanding as he neared the end of his reign. And that was the reason John was exiled. They were also highly commended for their very strong moral and doctrinal integrity. They would not tolerate those who had low moral character, those who were godless, those who were worthless people, and they would test those who claimed to be something. The text talked about them being apostles, claiming I'm a special messenger from God, and they would find them to be false. That is a good thing to do, test make sure that they actually are from whatever they're claiming. And they are further commended for hating the deeds of Nicolaitans, which we're gonna talk about a little bit more today. Now, all those are wonderful characteristics, and those would be wonderful characteristics for any Christian and any church at any point in time, anywhere. But there was also something that Christ had against them. The Ephesian church at that time, there was a serious problem. They left their first love. That combined with this strong orthodoxy, usually that's gonna end up in sort of a rigid legalism and an academic faith. The warmth of love of Christ, the warmth of love for other believers was missing. Instead of displaying the tenderhearted forgiveness we have for one another, instead of the encouragement, the acceptance we have for each other, it was replaced by theological examination and extra-biblical standards of conduct. So their strength became a weakness. And it will become a weakness when it's not tempered with the Christian charity which practices all the one another commands and not just admonish one another. Yes, we need to do that. We need to be theologically astute. But all the one another verses need to be there. Now Jesus commands them to correct the problem. Remember the love they had for Christ and other Christians existed in the times past and from which they had fallen. Repent from that loss, change your mind to go back and change direction, and then go again and do the deeds of love that you had done at first. So remember your first love, repent from where it's fallen, and redo the deeds of love. So remember, repent, redo, and that principle works in marriage too. It really does, and we spend quite a bit of time on that when I preach through this. Now all true Christians are overcomers of sin through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by which we are justified and given a right standing before God and here Jesus promises all Christians, all overcomers, access to the tree of life which is in the garden of God. The tree of life which we lost access to because of Adam's sin. The second letter, which we covered last week, was to Smyrna, about 35 miles north of Ephesus. The Christians in Smyrna were in a little more difficult position than those in Ephesus, for though the temple to the emperor Domitian was in Ephesus, the people of the city of Smyrna actually had a stronger commitment to Rome than those in Ephesus. And so the emperor cult there was stronger. And that resulted in a greater oppression of the Christians there. And nothing negative is said about the church in Smyrna. Instead, there is this commendation and comfort given to them in the midst of their current tribulation, their current suffering, and then an encouragement regarding what is going to come in the future, which they're warned about. You see, true Christians could not participate in the emperor worship. It required you to offer incense to the emperor and say that Caesar is Lord. Often it would be accompanied by some direct denial of Christ. The result was is that they did not have a certificate of this emperor worship that would be given to them, and so they were ostracized, or they were cut out from a lot of the social things, including economic activity, and so they were impoverished. Impoverished according to the world's standards, but yet rich according to the standards of God. We'll add here they also were blasphemed. The Jews, which he calls here a synagogue of Satan, would blaspheme them, speak specifically against them, slandering them to get them in more trouble. Now the synagogue, a synagogue is a, you had to have at least 10 Jewish men, and they'd gather together, and the point was supposed to be to worship God and proclaim him. Instead, they were synagogue of Satan, they were gathering together, but they were doing the work of Satan, not of God. And so they are called that. These Jews were the same ones, the same kinds of people, maybe descendants directly from those that gave Paul such a hard time in his early missionary journeys. They definitely sought persecution. No wonder Jesus said of similar Jews in John 8 44, you have your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. So they rejected the gospel and so they became adversarial. So the church at Smyrna was going to go undergo even greater tribulation. They're going to, including being thrown in jail, Some could even be martyred. But this tribulation, this text specifically states, it's short duration, only 10 days, and they'd be promised a crown of life for all those who overcome. Continue to be faithful. That's encouragement to us too. Regardless of what we're facing, just continue to be faithful. Let it be in God's hands. Persecution, even if it costs us our life, is of little consequence when you compare that to receiving eternal life. and therefore we are protected from the hurt of the second death. The second death is described in Revelation 20 as the condemnation of the unrighteous to the eternal lake of fire. Now today we come to the third letter. It's addressed to the angel of the church at Pergamum. So please follow along. I'm gonna be reading verses 12 through 17. Then we're gonna come back and take a look at this in detail. To the angel of the church in Pergamum, write, this is the one that has the sharp two-edged sword, says, I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is, and you hold fast my name. Did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you. that you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols to commit sexual immorality so you also have some who are in the same way who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans therefore repent but if not I'm coming to you quickly and I will make war 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 to him I will give some of the hidden manna I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it So as in the previous two letters, the term angel here probably better translate as messenger because this is a human. A human who is going to take the message to that church and who is representing that church in the letter itself. It is not a holy angel from God. Now Jesus identifies himself in this letter as, quote, the one who has the sharp two-edged sword. As with the previous descriptive self-identifications and those that are gonna follow in the letters to come, this matches the description John gave in chapter 1, 12 through 17 of the glorified Christ. This is what he appeared as. This particular description is in chapter one, verse 16. The only difference is the use of the article with each noun, which is part of Greek grammar, which points back then to the earlier mention of it. And that's why we know this is exactly what's being talked about. Literally, this actually would read this. This is what he says, the one having the sword, the two edge the sharp. Obviously, that's not good English, but it's good Greek. Well, I explained earlier when we were in 116 that this particular sword is Aramphaia, which was a large, broad sword of Thracian origin that was used for both slashing and piercing. It was an instrument of a very aggressive attack by a soldier as compared to the other common sword, which was the Machira, which was for personal defense. This sword is also referred to in Revelation 2.16, 19.15, and 19.21. All the other references add that this sword proceeds from Christ's mouth as a reference to actual physical action, not a figure of speech, such as we'd find in Job or Psalms or Isaiah 49.2. The usage of this description in Revelation 19 is directly tied to Jesus' conquest of the world. So this is a very serious identification. So this opening description, obvious serious authority here of what Jesus is going to say to the church, but probably even a stronger meaning to them, and this is why. Quite a few commentators reported that Pergamon, as the capital of that province, gave its pro-council what's called the right of the sword. They, or he, had the right to carry out capital punishment at will. Courts and other places, the province did not have that right, you could appeal, if you were the defendant, up the chain of judicial propriety to the pro-council. But this is where the guy is. And if he says you're gonna be executed, that's it. You're gonna be executed. And so those in Pergamon would have understood that the one having the sharp two-edged sword had judicial authority and had the right to carry out execution. So this is a very serious letter right from the beginning. Now Jesus begins, as he did with the previous two letters, with a statement that he knew about them. The particular word here, oida, is a knowledge that's thorough and it's in the perfect tense, which means he knows everything about them presently and will continue to know everything about them in the future. That's a neat thing about God, isn't it? He knows everything about you now and he will continue to know everything about you. Now that's a little scary in the standpoint, that means he knows all your sin, but also it means that he knows all your sin and Christ still died for you. That's his love, isn't it? So nothing can separate you from his love. He knows you. Well, he knew them. Full knowledge of them. And what did he know about him? Jesus knew, says, I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Well, a little background on Pergamum, the city of Pergamum, will help you understand this. Now, Pergamum is located nearly 100 miles north of Ephesus. That's about 65 miles north of Smyrna, as on this map here. But unlike the previous two cities, it is not a port city. In fact, it's 16 miles from the Aegean Sea. It has an acropolis, a hill, that rises about 1,000 feet above the plains of the Caicos River. It was founded in about the 5th century BC, but actually was of little importance until Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great's generals, took possession of the territory in 301 BC. He then entrusted it to a fellow named Philaterius, who was the governor then of the district of Pergamum, and he was there to safeguard the wealth of Lysimachus. Now, Lysimachus was defeated and killed by Seleucus I in 281 BC. Philaterius retained possession of the territory and it became an independent kingdom. and established what's called the Attila Dynasty. With the help of Roman General Scipio Asiaticus, King Eumenes II defeated Antiochus III at the Battle of Magnesia in 189 BC. And so he ended up gaining control of the Seleucid territory as well. So it's an independent kingdom and it's expanded with the help of Rome. There's a Roman tie here now. Now what followed was referred to as the Golden Age of Pergamum, and with Pergamum itself as its capital for this whole kingdom. It's during this time there was a school of sculpture that was established there, and a library was started that rivaled the one in Alexandria and ended up with over 200,000 volumes. That's quite a library, especially when you think about the time period. Now, this rivalry actually has an interesting historical consequence. Alexandria, Egypt, where you can get papyrus, didn't like the rivalry, so they cut off exporting papyrus to Pergamum. And they had to come up with some other material on which they could write. And so, King Eumenes actually developed parchment. The word itself actually has an origin in the word Pergamon, the name of the city. Or sometimes it's called vellum. So it's animal skins prepared and that's what you'd ride on. It actually would last longer than papyrus. So there's a rivalry. Later, the library was promised by Mark Antony to Cleopatra VII, though it's uncertain if that actually ever happened. Both the library at Alexandria and the one in Pergamon were eventually destroyed. Now when Attalus III died in 133 BC, his tie to the Roman government encouraged him to actually bequeath the whole territory to Rome. Now, that may seem a little strange, but Rome is the big guerrilla, and that means its territories can be protected by the power of Rome from any other invaders. So actually, in some ways, a good thing to do. It retained its position. It's now the capital of the province of Asia. Now in addition to the library, there was a gymnasium, a large theater, and it's a thoroughly pagan city. This is a picture from the lower city looking up at the Acropolis, and that big thing that looks a little bit like a rhomboid, that's the theater. It's huge. They had all sorts of temples there. Some of the remains are there. The primary deities in that particular city included Zeus, Athena, Dionysius, and Akallipios, which we had talked about earlier in Smyrna. The temple to Zeus included a colonnaded U-shaped altar, 120 feet by 112 feet, built on a platform 18 feet high. That's pretty impressive. Surrounding it was a 440-sook frieze on its base, depicted a battle between mythical gods and the giants. Some have identified that as Satan's throne. Others have suggested it might be the large temple complex to Aclepius. It was 425 feet by 360 feet. That's large. That's like from the parking lot here all the way to the back of our property. and the whole thing, that's about the size of our property. So it's like six, seven acres. Now, Eclipius was the god of healing, and he's associated with snakes, and hence there became an idea that maybe that's associated with Satan. People in the ancient world, like people today, will do almost anything to get healed if you have a disease or some kind of handicap, right? We spend lots of money going to doctors. And it was the same thing there. And even though Pergamon was the birthplace of Galen, who was the second most famous position of the ancient world, Hippocrates was the most famous, the city was a major destination for healing due to this temple. Now, how would you do this? Well, you go to the temple at night, it's dark in there. and you would seek to lay down on the floor and sleep on the floor of this temple complex. And within this temple complex, there's lots of non-poisonous snakes. Part of their worship was feeding these snakes, so it was a place that a lot of these snakes gathered. And the hope you had is that one of these snakes would slither by and at least touch you. Because if it did, it meant that the god, Aeschylus, touched you, and so you're gonna be healed. Does that thrill anybody? You wanna try and go with, all right. Most like, nah, I don't think I want snakes slithering all around me. Now, those are of interest, but you can see why that might be tied to say, maybe one of those is the throne of Satan. There's something of more consequence in Pergamum. And there's this strong tie the city had to emperor cult worship. Pergamum was the very first site of a temple dedicated to that very purpose. AD 29, a temple was built to Caesar Augustus. After he dies, it's still a center for worship of the emperor. That particular temple was also dedicated to the worship of the goddess Roma. Now from that time forward, Pergamum was the leader in the cult of emperor worship. A second temple would be built for this purpose to Trajan, 98 to 117, so after this letter is written. Now while the Christians in Ephesus and Smyrna, as we've seen, were persecuted by this cult, the danger is a lot greater in Pergamum. Why? One, a greater devotion by those in the city to this cult, and more importantly, the authority of the pro-council. The term throne itself points to a state authority. And it is the state authority to execute, as we'll see in a few moments, that made it so dangerous for the Christians in Pergamum. And that's why Jesus would call this place where Satan's throne is and where Satan dwells. If you did not participate, if you didn't join in the cult worship of the emperor, you could be executed there. John was only exiled. The folks in Smyrna were only impoverished. This is a lot worse. So the persecution here, this whole emperor cult was thoroughly satanic. Pergamum is the starting place of it in Asia, and it's still the leader in it, hence the throne of Satan. That is where they're dwelling. Verse 13, Jesus details his commendation of these Christians in Pergamum. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. You hold fast my name and did not deny my faith, even the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. Now the church in Pergamon, like the church in Smyrna, was most likely founded after the church in Ephesus. Because even during Paul's time in Ephesus, that church became well known for spreading the gospel. And it was spread throughout Asia, as I previously pointed out in other sermons. Now the first commendation of the Christians in Pergamon is simple. They're dwelling there. They're still there. There's a lot of reasons to leave a city that was where Satan's throne was and where Satan is dwelling. And especially as that persecution intensified toward the end of Domitian's reign. And there's a lot of parallels through this throughout history and actually in our own time as well. I am not aware of any condemnation of any Christians who flee persecution. I don't know if you are, I am not. In fact, in Acts 8, we find as the persecution intensified in Jerusalem, the people who had become Christians and were staying there because that's where the church was founded, scattered to Judea and then Samaria and then beyond. And in doing so, they took the gospel with them. So they take it back to those areas they had come from, or they take it to places beyond that. And that was actually part of God's purpose. The persecution accomplished something he wanted them to do. Spread the gospel throughout the world. In fact, the church in Antioch, which we're told about in Acts 11, started exactly that way. People who fled Jerusalem, who were from Antioch, went back up there, they started a church, and it became the first real Gentile church. So fleeing a dangerous situation may be the wisest, most God-honoring action an individual or family or even a whole group might make. And I state that strongly because I don't want you to take what I'm gonna say next the wrong way. Those who will stay and endure the hardships and even persecution for the sake of the gospel are to be commended for it, even if it seems foolish to others. Among the more extreme examples I can think of in the present time are the North Koreans who become Christians. Those who become Christians in the country who don't flee but will stay there, and even more so those who have escaped North Korea. became Christians and they purposely go back for whatever short period of time they can share the gospel with other people before they're arrested, jailed, and then tortured at minimum. They know that in advance. That's certainly to be commended. Frankly, there's an application to us living in New York, isn't there? Now, whatever is going on here is pretty minimal compared to what Pergamum went through or North Koreans, or in a lot of other places. But we all recognize our state is fairly hostile to Christians. Some of you might remember when Governor Cuomo encouraged and said that people like us, with our faith, our beliefs, our values, we shouldn't be in New York. And well, there's been hundreds of thousands that have agreed with him and they've gone other places. So there can be good reasons to flee this state. And many have done so, but many have done so with great reluctance. Not necessarily what they wanted to do, they felt they were kind of compelled to do it. Even so, those who have decided to remain, which I guess would include you, because you're still here, you're to be commended, okay? And even more so, those who will move here for the sake of the gospel. The Christians in Pergamum were further commended because they held fast to Jesus' name and did not deny the faith in the midst of a severe persecution. And Jesus then points to the martyrdom of a man named Antipas. He's the example, my witness, my faithful one. Now we know little about the man except what's mentioned here and some information through tradition which holds that the way he was martyred was he was roasted to death in a bronze bowl during the reign of Domitian. From the more detailed accounts, if we have those who were executed in the years that followed this, who were also faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ. I mentioned Polycarp last week, and by the way, there's still some sheets on Polycarp on the back if you want to read about his martyrdom. The reason they were killed is they would not participate in the emperor worship. They would not offer the incense to Caesar. They would not say Caesar is Lord. They would not deny that Jesus Christ is Lord, period, and they wouldn't do that in any way, shape, or form. They're not gonna deny Christ, and that's specifically pointed out here. Now, emperor cult worship no longer exists, and we should be happy about that. But there are plenty other religions and ideologies that are not really a whole lot different. They demand that whatever it is, their religion, their ideology is number one in your life. It must have preeminence. In Muslim controlled lands, Christians are oppressed unless they deny Christ and affirm that Allah is God and Muhammad is his prophet. And in the other radical Hindus have been physically assaulting Christians who will not deny Christ and then affirm the pantheon of gods and goddesses that are part of Hinduism. And it does include martyrdom. Totalitarian states, governments, and other entities demand an allegiance to it first and foremost, and that always ends up involving putting Christ in a secondary or some kind of lower position. The state must become more important than your worship of Christ. Some of that is extreme, such as I mentioned North Korea or in China, other totalitarian states. Some of it may be subtle. In fact, some of you may face some of it from your employer, who demands that you make your job your most important priority in your life. Nothing else is more important than that. So regardless whether it conflicts with your God-given priorities, You need to do what they're telling you to do, even if it's something non-critical to the health and welfare of others, or even critical to the business that you're running, the job itself. They simply want that allegiance. But for us as Christians, it's Christ first and foremost in everything, period. Hence, we will make our decisions based on that. How do we honor Christ? How do we become more like him? He's first in our lives, regardless of whatever else comes. So there may not be emperor worship, but there's still pressure on Christians to conform to whatever is in that society and deny Christ. Verses 14 and 15, though, detail the condemnation against them. So just as Jesus knows their circumstances and what they're doing right, he also knows what they are doing wrong. He states here, I have a few things against you, and then he lists two major complaints, with the first one having two specific sins that resulted from a failure. Now the first area in which Jesus condemns him is that you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel. Jesus then goes on to specify the consequences of the stumbling block. Now before we look at those, we need to understand something about the problem with Balaam. Now if all we had was the record that's about Balaam in Numbers 22-24, we'd probably scratch our heads a little bit and go, well, what's the problem? What's the issue here? Because on the surface it appears he did what God told him to do, even if he does show some weakness in doing it. Now the story begins chapter 22 of Numbers. Balak, the king of Moab, is reacting to the destruction of the Amorites by the nation of Israel as they had journeyed to take possession of the promised land. They are now on the plains of Moab, which is on the east side of the Jordan River, opposite of Jericho. Balak is afraid Israel is going to destroy Moab, so he's looking for some way to get Israel cursed. so that they're no longer gonna be a threat against him. If they're removed from God's protection, then maybe he can defeat them and they won't be a threat to us. So Balak sends emissaries to Balaam, son of Beor, and he's known as a prophet of God, Elohim, and he lived in a place called Pithor that's near the west bank of the upper Euphrates River. So if you're in Israel, it means you go north and east. So it's way up there. And God, so they go up there and they seek to get him to come down and curse. And God tells Balaam, don't go. And the men return. That looks pretty good, right? So far so good. God said no. Balaam said, okay, then I'm not going. Well, Balak sends more of his leaders to Balaam with a promise to make him rich if he will come and curse Israel. And Balaam replies, he can only do it if, and actually it says here, if Yahweh, the Lord, tells him, regardless of any wealth offered, he can only do what Yahweh tells him. Well, the text says, God says, go ahead with him, but only speak what I tell you. Now our first indication something is wrong is that Numbers 22, 22 states, God was angry with Balaam for going. Now, what's that about? You said go, and now you're angry. Well, it's because God knows the heart. He knows what's in Balaam, and so he's going to set something up so Balaam understands very strictly, you're only gonna say what I tell you. Now, this is the fun story, because it's the incident of the angel of Yahweh is standing in the road at various locations, that the donkey he's riding on sees, and it veers off. Which of course gets Balaam upset. In fact he beats the donkey three different times. Until the Lord opens the mouth of the donkey. And challenges him, why are you beating me? I've been your faithful donkey all these years. And what's more surprising is Balaam talks back to the donkey. And then the Lord opens Balaam's eyes and he sees the angel of the Lord standing there with his sword drawn. Well, that certainly got his attention. And he warns him again, you will say only what I tell you. Now, this is used because then the prophecies Balaam gives are from the Lord. because it's only gonna be what the Lord tells him. Now, twice King Balak takes Balaam to a place to curse Israel, and twice Balaam seeks Yahweh, and he says only what Yahweh instructed him to say, which were two blessings. Now, of course, that didn't make Balak happy. I asked you to curse them, and you're blessing them. The third time, Balak took him to the top of Mount Peor, which overlooks the wilderness, and so you can see Israel scattered down below him, again the effort get him to curse Israel. Now this time Balaam does not seek omens he simply looked upon Israel and the Spirit of God came upon him to deliver an oracle in which he again blesses Israel. Now One more time, Balaam is under the spirit of God, and he gives a second oracle to Balak on here is what is going to happen in the future. Moab's gonna be destroyed. After that, Balak and Balaam depart company. So from this point, it looks like, okay, Balaam was doing well. He did what the Lord went. So what is this, problem that is going on that he is, they're being condemned for the teaching of Balaam. And somewhere, as I was moving notes around, all my references got moved. So give me a second here, and see if I can find them. Because I can tell you the story, but I don't know the references offhand. So, one. No, that's last week. All right, we're going to have fun with this one. Yeah, thank you. That's last week. Thank you. Maybe it's in that. Aren't you having fun? I'm not. Well, that's weird. All right, we're gonna have fun. Sorry, no references. I'd check the website if you want all the references in the future, because they're all listed there, but I can still tell you a story. So the first clue comes later in Numbers, I think it's Numbers 28, and it states that Balaam is killed alongside the five kings of Midian. What is Balaam doing with the kings of Midian? He lives in Pthor which is a long ways from there. That's one of our first clues. We also have a clue in God's reaction to him which talks about him being one who is seeking to entice Baalek are teaching them how to deal with the Israelites. In Numbers 25, we actually get the full story. There's a reference in Deuteronomy, in Joshua, and in Nehemiah, dealing with God's reaction to him and this whole idea of him trying to teach them to lead the people astray to the sacrifice of idols. Numbers 25 details what happened in the plains of Peor. The women are sent in and they commit harlotry with the men of Israel. And the worst part is they lead them astray to sacrifice, to their sacrifices. So it's you got them involved in the pagan worship of Midian and Moab. The result of that was that God sent a plague upon them. 23,000 died of the plague and another 1,000 died at the hands of Phinehas and the other priests who rose up for those who were committing harlotry and worshipping the Baals. and they killed him. So 24,000 people died as a result of Balaam's teaching of how you can get God to curse Israel. Now 24,000 compared to the total population of Israel is small. Not insignificant, but it is small compared to the total population. It also ended up later causing Israel to take complete vengeance upon Midian and destroyed them, and that's where the five kings are killed and Balaam with them. This is the teaching of Balaam. He ended up teaching them it's okay to participate and send your people in to entice, to bring temptation into things that are contrary to God. That's the teaching of Balaam. So first was to eat of the things sacrificed to idols, and the second was the sexual immorality. Now, we don't have a whole lot of problem with meat sacrifice idols in our culture, right? Now there is some, there is some people who still have idol worship and they make sacrifices to it. And the way that the sacrificial system would work would be is, if it's an animal, because there'd be other things you might sacrifice, such as grains and things like that as part of your harvest, and that's true in the Old Testament as well, You bring the animal, the animal is killed, it's sacrificed. Part of the meat is gonna be burned up in the worship of that god or goddess. Part of the meat is given to the priest who's doing the sacrificing, which, how much meat can you eat? So a lot of that would go to the meat markets and it'd be sold. And it could be sold fairly cheap because, well, what did the priest have involved in this? He had no money into it, it's pure profit for him. So it would be sold cheaply at meat markets, and then part of that meat would be given back to the worshiper, who would then eat it as part of the worship of the God and Goddess. That was the normal way it would work. So if you had people moving you toward joining their sacrifices, then you are participating in the worship of these demons, the false gods. And so it becomes a serious issue. And there's a lot of warning in scripture, Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8, 1 Corinthians 10, that Paul also deals with this whole issue of meat sacrifice to idols or food sacrifice to idols. In Acts 15, there is a whole section where the Jerusalem council warned the Gentile Christians about things they should not do. One of them is, eating that which has been sacrificed to false gods. So it's a serious issue. And even Paul points out, properly so, that those who have a strong conscience and do understand that idols are nothing, and would have freedom to eat it, cannot use that freedom to be something that would trample on the conscience of those who wouldn't. Now you're in Pergamum. You have come out of idolatry. And even if you're second generation, it's all around you. It would actually be kind of difficult to find food that had not been sacrificed to idols, and yet that was something incumbent upon the Christians. You need to do that. You need to make sure you're not going to participate in the worship of false gods or entice other people to do it. The other problem in Greek culture was the sexual immorality. It was rampant. It was part of their culture. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul has to correct them in telling them, quit going up to the temple, prostitutes. You're saved now, you're joined to Christ. God has a plan for human sexuality. One man, one woman, joined together in a monogamous relationship for life. That's his plan. Now, does this have application today? And unfortunately, it does. Now again, we don't have a whole lot of meat being offered to idols, but we certainly have a lot of false worship, don't we? And even when it comes to within the church of Christ, where we're supposed to be worshiping Christ, how many churches actually end up with a false Christ? It's not the Christ of Scripture, it's a different Christ. It's some caricature of him. That's false worship. That would be part of the teaching of Balaam. It's okay to do that. It's okay to have a false worship. Or even more so, maybe it's they're striving to worship the true God in ways contrary to what scripture says on how he's supposed to be worshiped. I would say that's even more rampant. I would put it this way. If worship is going to be evaluated in the basis of how you feel when you leave, that worship is about you, not God, and that's idolatry. Now, how often does that happen in churches? Even the discussion goes out, well, what'd you think of the service? Oh, I felt really good today. Man, I feel close to God. I'm sorry, I think some of the most times you've had worship is when we had an ex-Marine, I guess there's no such thing as an ex-Marine. He was a Marine who was no longer in active service. Is that the way to describe this? Once a Marine, always a Marine. I gotta check with my Marine here. All right, I got it right. So he had served his time in the Marines and he walked out the door and he went like this. And he left. That's the best compliment I've ever had on any sermon. It got to him, he understood, you changed my heart. That's the best worship, isn't it? When God changes your heart and you move radically from whatever you were doing to follow him wholeheartedly, that's worship of God. It's not about how you feel when you leave. It's about your commitment to walking with Christ. Have you given everything you can to God and then stretched to give more to him in your life as you go out? Because when you walk out those doors, that's the mission field. This is where we gather to be encouraged and be educated and worship together, corporately honoring our God. The other part has an application to us is certainly this whole issue of sexual immorality. It's certainly rampant in our day and time, isn't it? And a great tragedy that's happening in so many churches is the acceptance of that as normal. Eh, no big deal. Even to some churches, even promoting it, or at least, well, I'd have to say promoting, because they want to celebrate even perversions of it. They have a different Christ, they have a different God they're worshiping, and it's not the one of the Bible. And that's rampant within our society. I saw something the other day that was a little shocking. If I remember the figure offhand, it's something that only, I think it's like 14% of people who get married now are virgins when they get married. Otherwise, they've all been sexually active someplace. That should not be within the church. We have a commitment to following and walking with Christ, and we praise God he's so forgiving of the sins we've committed previously, but we don't continue in those things. So this teaching of Balaam is still around. It's this idea that somehow it's okay, it's acceptable, it can be tolerated. It can't. Our goal in life as Christians is to pursue holiness, isn't it? We are to be holy as he is holy. And so that's our pursuit, to become ever more conformed to the image of Christ, not with society around us. Now, related to this particular one was Nicolaitans. Now, we talked about that before. The Nicolaitans, regardless of whether they were those who had perverted the teachings of Nicholas, who was one of the six or seven deacons in Acts 6, or if it was Nicholas had actually gone off the wall and become apostate, regardless of, they had taught a syncretism between whatever was going on in society and Christian life. So it was a tolerance of whatever was going on and then merging them together. You can be a Christian and you can be very well and just fit in with society, whatever's going on. Now there's a lot bad in our society, but we're not the Greeks in Pergamon. And that's a whole lot worse than here. In fact, maybe those in Las Vegas would blush. Okay, these are bad scenes. They're teaching it's okay to merge these things together. Yeah, worship Christ, but it's okay if you fit in with society. You ever feel pressure to do that? Just fit in with the rest of society, just go with the flow? Does that fit everything in our lives? Everything from fashion to materialism that's rampant in our society? Just fit in, whatever is important, you just fit in with that. Why do you wear what you wear? I don't know, you have to think about that. Do you dress to glorify God? Or is it to fit in with the culture around you? That's an issue, isn't it? Even how do you define modesty, which we are supposed to have as Christians? Is that defined by culture, or is it defined by what we can find in scripture? Materialism, what's the point of your life? Why are you working all those hours? Is it because you're actually doing it because you're trying to do something to glorify Christ, or it's because you're trying to fit in with society? I have to have this, this, and this in order to fit in. I gotta have the fancy car, I gotta have the house, I gotta have all these other things. That's a lot of our society, isn't it? Or the pursuit of power, or any other thing that comes up. So the whole range is okay according to Nicolaitans. Merge them together, the Christian life is completely compatible with our society. Is the Christian life compatible with American society as it stands here in the 21st century? And the answer is no. It doesn't. We stand out as something radically different from those around us. We don't participate in it. Our language is different. We don't participate in the dirty jokes that are common. There's a difference for us. They were tolerating the Nicolaitans, their practices, they were among them, and they're tolerating those who are teaching the era of Balaam. We can't do that. Any equivalent. That's what he's saying to this church. It was bad. Now the correction here is fairly direct. It's a command. Repent, therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. Repent. Change your mind, which changes your direction. Don't continue this direction. Turn around. That's repent. And what a strong warning. Again, I mentioned this sword. This particular one is an aggressive attack sword. I'm coming against them. That's not just sharp words, that's already been said. I am coming against them, I will make war with them. He's gonna judge them. And again, in Pergamum, where the right of the sword was there to execute, this has a little more strength and meaning to them. So they need to repent, and he also warns here, I'm coming quickly. This is often the distant future. This is at hand. This needs to change now. Now when the Lord convicts you of some sin, when do you need to change? Now, right? Not next week, you change now. He brings a conviction, change now. Is that really any different? If we know what is right to do and don't do it, it is sin to us. So if you know what is right to do, then trust the Lord for it and move that direction. Now he ends with a call and a promise. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to churches. We saw this the previous two letters, it'll occur in the rest of them. So this expands the application of the principles in this particular letter to all Christians, really to anybody who's gonna bother to listen to it, and to all churches, all time, all places. If the scenario here, the circumstances described here, if the issues, the problems that are described here fit then this is what you need to do. You need to repent from it. Don't continue on in that direction. Then it says, I will give him some of the hidden manna and a white stone and a new name written on the stone, which no one knows who received it. And you go, huh? What is that? Well, let's think through first. Manna, where did manna come from? It came from God to feed the children of Israel when they're out in the wilderness. And in fact, while Balaam is blessing God, contrary to Balak's request to curse them, guess what the children of Israel were eating? Manna. Their food was coming from God. God supplied them and there's a contrast here from that as opposed to eating the food that had been sacrificed to idols. Are you gonna trust God to provide for you or something else? It's hidden, you may not see where it's coming from, but it's there. Now since each of these ends with a reference toward what is gonna happen when Christ returns, there's also a tie here then probably to the marriage supper of the Lamb described in Revelation 19. The hidden manna, that which you cannot see but God provides, is gonna be given to you. Now I'll make one application here, which goes to Matthew 6.33. If we seek first his kingdom as righteousness, what does God promise us? He'll provide the things we need for life, right? Food, shelter, something to drink. And if you have those things, according to James, we should be content. So, what becomes the priority in making decisions? How does it fit with the kingdom of God and his righteousness? Is it gonna further God's work, and how does it fit with me walking righteousness? And I can trust God to provide for me. And I have lots of stories of that, of how God does that. I don't see where it's coming from. And I know a lot more stories, not involving me, but people with even more radical of, no, there's nothing in the cupboard, nothing. Bag of grocery shows up on the doorstep. Or even for an orphanage, there's nothing left. Someone bring something by. just at the time you need it. That's God, he provides, he provided manna. Now this stone, this white stone, now that's a little more interesting, and that is where the culture helps because there was a practice at that time of those who, an athlete who won a game was given a white stone, his name was written on it, and that stone not only was a reward as in, look, you can show people I won, But it also would be used as a pass to join in with a special feast for the winners of the games. That's what the Whitestone was for. Now, do we understand that? No, we don't. I mean, if you win an athletic event now, what do they give you? A medal, a ribbon, something. Did anybody ever get a Whitestone? Anything? No, we don't do that, but that's what they did then. They would have understood this. So it is the idea they have received a reward for a victory, and it is going to enable them to take part in a feast. So he who overcomes, all true Christians, we overcome because of the blood of the Lamb. We overcome by faith, 1 John talks about that. How is it we overcome? We overcome by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So we overcome, there is a victory, and we are given what is going to enable us to participate in the marriage supper of the Lamb, the feast that is yet to come. And that's what that is talking about. The name on here which says no one knows but he receives it, the particular word no here isn't about a sequence in time, it's about a change of quality. It's a new name in the sense it's something new. I'm sorry, new not no. New in the sense of it's not a sequence of time. It's something of qualitative difference. Now think about when Jacob wrestles with the angel, the Lord, and what happens to his name? It is changed from Jacob to Israel. There actually are promises in the Old Testament given to those who are the servants of God that in the millennium they will be given a new name. That's what's referred here. Whatever it is, you will know it, so it's personal. It's not just a generic. It's something to you personally because God knows you that says you are of a new nature. Now I think that fits well because once I am Either translated, I'm still kind of holding out for that. God, you can send Jesus anytime. I don't have to do this death thing. But if I die, it's still gonna be the same thing. Am I gonna be in this body? No. Am I gonna have the same wrestling with my nature of sin? Will you? No. You will have a new nature, so guess what? I think I'm ready for a new name. I appreciate being called Scott. I appreciate my parents naming me that, but I'm ready for a new one that says, you are radically changed, dude. You are something different than you were, and you belong to me. Come on in and join the feast. Father, thank you for the truth of your word. And I thank you for giving me some clarity of mind after losing my notes. Father, to look at this passion and see what encouragement actually comes within it, even to a church that was tolerating that which should not be part of it. Commended for many good things. But warned as well, we cannot tolerate evil among us. We cannot tolerate a syncretism with the world around us. We are to be something radically different, being conformed to the image of your son. But what a precious promise is here of those who overcome, not only receiving the hidden manna, but this white stone with a new name on it. Father, we look forward to that marriage feast. the marriage supper of the Lamb that is to come in the future. In Jesus' name, amen.