Well, you know the rest of the story. The men of Athens, according to Greek legend, had slipped a group of men inside this wooden horse, who, during the night, slipped out, opened the city gates, let the rest of the army in, and Troy was defeated, not by direct attack, but by subterfuge and cunning. They didn't lose because of cowardice. They lost because of their greed and because they let their guard down. Two weeks ago, Pastor Phil introduced us to the letters Jesus wrote to be read to seven ancient churches in the Roman province of Asia, what is now Western Turkey. Jesus wrote these letters to share his evaluation of each of the churches, and they were written for specific reasons to specific churches in a specific time and place, but they're applicable to all Christians throughout all church history, and we learn from them. Two weeks ago, we examined Christ's first letter to the church at Ephesus in chapter 2, verses 1 and 7, and saw how they were a loveless church, and Jesus told them to repent and do the first works. Then last week, Pastor Matt introduced us to the church at Smyrna, the suffering church. They were suffering, and Jesus told them to stand strong. The letter to the church at Pergamos in chapter 2 verses 12 through 17 is the passage for this morning. Jesus follows the same pattern that he uses in the seven letters. He dictates, he has John the Apostle dictate a letter. addressed to the angel, verse 12, or messenger, perhaps the lead pastor of the church in that city. So let's stand together, stand with me. We're going to read these verses out loud together as we read God's Word. Let's look at the screen, and it says, and to the church, excuse me, let's start that again, my fault. 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 sacrificed 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." Let's pray. Lord, we need your help this morning to understand your word, the letter that you wrote to a church and to us. We pray for understanding and that you would convict us of what we need to do in light of what we understand. In Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. So Pergamos, Your Bible translation might say Pergamum. What we know about the city is that it was in modern-day Turkey, in the northwest part of Turkey. The city of Bergama is there today. But this was a famous city. About 300 years before this letter was written, the city was the capital of an independent kingdom, the Adalid Kingdom. that allied itself with Rome until Rome took it over in 133 BC, again about 200 years before this letter was written. It became part of the Roman province of Asia, not the continent of Asia, but Asia Minor. And it was a prosperous city. It was a city of 150 to 200,000 people. An early geographer said it contained the richest land in all the area, and it was known for manufacturing parchment, which was a writing material, like paper or papyrus, but it was parchment. In fact, this was known as pergamena because of its close association with the city itself. It was kind of like it dominated, like Des Moines is known for insurance, or Iowa for farming, and that kind of thing. It was so associated with the city as far as what it manufactured. It was a cultured city. The city Acropolis was on a large hill 1,000 feet above the city below, and its ruins remain. It had a university with a library of about 200,000 volumes. That was the second largest library in the world. Only Alexandria, Egypt had a larger one. It had a 10,000-seat theater. and a gymnasium and many sculptures and works of art. The Roman historian Pliny considered Pergamos to be the most distinguished city of Asia, but it was a pagan city. It had many temples dedicated to Greek and Egyptian deities. We'll talk more about that in a moment. It was a center of Roman emperor worship, which we will also learn about. Here's a model of what the Acropolis would have looked like back at its heyday, from a museum in Berlin. So it was a cultured city, a wealthy city, a pagan city, but it did have a Jewish presence there and it had a Christian church there. We don't know when or how exactly the church started. It's not recorded in scripture. likely it was started by the church in Ephesus, which Paul himself started. We know that from the book of Acts. Paul spent three years in Ephesus, and perhaps he went down the road and started this church too, but if nothing else, it was started by Christians from Ephesus. So what did Jesus have to say to the church in Pergamos, and what does he have to say to us? And here it is this morning. Here's what he has to say. Watch out for worldliness. Be careful of compromise. Watch out for worldliness. Be careful of compromise. There are four things that will help us understand why this is important and how to be careful of these things. The first is that Jesus knows. Jesus knows. In every letter to every church, Jesus tells them he knows. What does he know? First, we see that Jesus knows who we are. Jesus writes to specific churches in specific places at specific times. He knows these churches. He's pictured as having the seven stars in his hand. His eyes are like a flame of blazing fire that sees. And he's walking amidst the lampstands, the churches. He's there present. Churches are comprised of people, in each letter he identifies certain individuals or groups of people, here Antipas and then another group, some of whom were doing what was right and some of whom were doing what was wrong. So he knows every person here today in Grace Church and every person who attends Grace Church, whether a first time visitor or a charter member, he knows your name, he knows everything about you, he knows your motivation, he knows your purpose for being here. So Jesus knows who we are. Jesus also knows what we do. He knows what we do. In each letter, Jesus says, I know your works. And he goes on to say, their works, both good and bad, as we will see. Jesus knows what's going on in our church, to the very last detail. There was a testimony this morning of serving the Lord, and it wasn't quite what was expected, and it didn't go as planned, but Jesus knew that. Jesus knows The people who stuff bulletins, or collect attendance clipboards, or play in the worship band, or mow the grass, or change diapers, or have one-on-one discipleship, and we could go on and on. He knows these things. He knows every decision that's made in this church, personally or corporately, selecting a staff member, planning the budget, choosing the parks for Parkapalooza, setting up the kids' church teaching schedule, choosing the small group curriculum that your small group's going to use, and on and on. He also knows more than just our observable actions, because throughout these letters, he talks not just about actions, but about heart conditions. He told the church in Ephesus, you've lost your first love. He knew their heart attitude. So Jesus knows our thoughts. He knows our motives, our attitudes of every person in this church, whether pastor, elder, deacon, usher, greeter, teacher, choir member, visitor. He knows your heart. So he knows who we are, he knows what we do, and he knows where we live. That's letter C. He knows where we live. All the letters say, I know your works. This is the only letter where Jesus adds, and where you dwell. Jesus knew where the Christians in that church lived. But notice how he describes it. Look at verse 13. This is amazing. He says, I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And at the end of verse 13, he says, this is where Satan dwells. So, this is where Satan ruled and ruled from. That doesn't mean He was only present there. It simply means it was the height of his authority and power in the area. Pergamos was well known for its temples to pagan gods and Roman emperors. Some called it the City of Temples. I want to mention just a few of them to you. One of them was to the pagan god Asclepius. He was the Greek god of medicine and healing, and temples dedicated to worship of Asclepius were centers of healing, where people came to be healed of their ills. Pergamos had a temple to Asclepius on the plain below the Acropolis. You can see the Acropolis way up in the distance at the top of the hill. This was the plain below, and this was the walkway to walk to the temple. This really took off in Pergamos in the first two centuries AD, so exactly the time this letter was written. The temple complex was known as the Sanctuary of Asclepius or the Asclepium. It had its own little amphitheater and you can see some of the ruins. People would come and make an offering to Asclepius in the temple so that he might heal them. They would stay the night in a special place where they were supposed to record their dreams and the priest would tell them what their dreams meant and how that then meant they could be healed. In other words, what they should do to be healed. There was a sacred spring where they could bathe for purification and healing. It was kind of like a resort and spa in that sense. But the key was the altar on the left where they would sacrifice something to the God, okay? You have to give the God something to get something, and so they would make a sacrifice on the altar. But if you look closely at this altar, let's zoom in on it, the symbol of Asclepius was the serpent. Perhaps because the shedding of a snake's skin was viewed as a symbol of renewal, Now, you would have loved visiting this resort and spa because non-venomous snakes were allowed to roam and crawl freely, slither around freely all throughout the complex. That was part of the whole deal and they were used in the healing rituals. So, even in the places where the sick and injured slept, they'd be crawling around on the floor and crawling all over things. The rod of Asclepius has long been used as the symbol of medicine and health care. That's where we get that symbol. So a serpent, a serpent. What else does a serpent represent? Look at chapter 12 verse 9 in Revelation. Turn to chapter 12 verse 9 and it tells us, So that great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. Satan is also represented as a serpent. So perhaps that's what's meant by, this is where Satan lives. Then there was the temple to the pagan god Zeus. We see the ruins of this temple on the Acropolis, looking over the hill to the plain below, and there's some trees that have grown up, but this This looks like a square, was where the Temple to Zeus was, and we have a model of it in a museum in Berlin. It was quite large, and this is a life-size model, a rendering of what it would have looked like in all of its glory here. So, this overlooked the city below and might have been what is meant by Satan's throne, his place of ruling, looking over the city. And then there's one more aspect of worship that I want to talk about. A little Roman history. Caesar Augustus was Caesar from 27 BC to AD 14. He was the Caesar when Jesus was born. He was the one who called for a census of the entire Roman Emperor, which meant that Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem and so on. Well, he gained power and he took power for himself. He was trying to bring peace to the empire. And the provinces, the cities of Asia, the provincial council, the rulers of the cities of Asia said, you know, we really want to get in good with this new emperor. So they sent a letter to him and said, could we set up a temple? in our province to honor you, you know, to facilitate honor of the emperor, because that's pretty important. And he said, oh, by all means, you can do that. And so by 19 BC, a temple dedicated to the worship of the Roman emperor was built in Pergamos. It was the first city of Asia to have such a temple. It was quite an honor. And it made Pergamos the center in Asia of the emperor worship religion. It was such an important part of their civic identity that when the city issued new coins, now think if Des Moines decided to, you know, if we had our own coins, what would we put on the coin? Maybe the president on one side, but then on the other, like maybe the city skyline or whatever we think would be the most important thing about our city. Well, what did they put on their city? Here are some coins from 20 BC showing Caesar Augustus on one side and the temple to him in Pergamos on the other side. And then a few years later, here's another set of coins, and this time inside the temple we see what's inside, two statues, the statue of Augustus and the statue of Roma, the woman representing Rome. So the worship of Augustus and Rome was facilitated. Cities with a temple to the emperor began calling themselves the temple keeper, neacherous, the temple guardian. This term originally just meant the person who tended the temple. We call people who care for our facility custodians, they have custody of the building, they care for it, the temple keeper. But then that term began to be used for the city itself because they were keeping guard over the worship of Whatever God or whatever Emperor in Acts 1935 there was a riot at Ephesus after Christianity had led to a reduction in the demand for idols of the guard goddess Artemis or Diana and This verse says when the city clerk had quieted the crowd He said men of Ephesus what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great goddess Diana that they had a huge temple one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and and that was civic pride to them. Well, here in Pergamum, Pergamos, they were a neacherous of the worship of Augustus. Here's an inscription in the local gymnasium that notes this. Jesus knew all about that. Jesus knew how pagan and emperor worship dominated and was the very fabric of its civic identity to the point where Satan himself ruled from this city. Grace Church, Jesus knows where we live. He knows Des Moines completely and utterly. No, we don't have a temple to Zeus or the emperor, but Jesus knows the ways in which Satan is influencing Des Moines and his strongholds here. He knows the spiritual warfare that's going on behind the scenes. He knew the pressures the Christians were facing in Pergamos. He knows the pressures that you're facing in our culture. He knows the temptations at work, in your neighborhood, the media you consume, on your phone. He knows these things. He knows. And next we see, Jesus praises. He doesn't just know, He praises. Some people only know how to criticize. Jesus isn't like that. He praises each church for what they are doing right. So, He praised the church in Pergamos. Well, what did He praise them for? Look at verse 13. It says, and you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith. So Jesus praises us when we hold fast to him. When we hold fast to him. Hold fast is exactly, you picture a little kid clinging to a toy. Anybody have a little kid right now they can really identify with that? No! Not going to let go of it. He's clinging to it. He says, you held fast to my name. My name means not just the name Jesus, but everything about who Jesus is. They wouldn't let go of Jesus. And Jesus praises us when we refuse to deny our faith in Him. When we refuse to deny our faith in Him. My faith here, when Jesus says that, He doesn't mean the faith He possesses. He means the faith concerning Him, the faith that He is the object of. So it's talking about our faith in Him. Yeah, the Christians in Pergamos were facing tremendous pressure to give up Christ, deny their faith, to participate in worship of the pagan gods, but even more so, because pagan gods, it's like, hey, if you want to worship this god or that god or whatever god, it's up to you, you know, kind of like today. But worship of the emperor was a little different. Emperor Domitian had given himself the title Lord and God. And of course, Christians cannot ascribe that title to anyone but Jesus. But refusing to participate in the civic religion and pay public homage to Caesar as Lord would have been extremely controversial. And to understand this, we need to understand how closely intertwined religion was with government and civic life in that day. For us in America today, church and state must be separate. And that, of course, has been taken to mean something that it never originally meant, and that is freedom from religion, not just freedom of religion. But there should be no religion in government. And religion is a private thing. It's not something that, you know, if you want to believe something in your own life, that's great. Well, the opposite was true in ancient Rome. Religion was intertwined with the state and was considered, first and foremost, a corporate thing. A corporate thing. Gods were worshipped not for personal salvation, but for corporate welfare. And here's how this worked. If we sacrifice to the gods, and so, you know, there was a god of each city and nations, and they sometimes fought each other, and Rome would take over this nation and borrow their gods, or whatever. If we sacrifice to our god, he'll be happy with us, and he'll bless us, and he'll prosper us, and life will be good. If we don't, He'll be angry with us, life will be not good. So everyone needs to get in on this, alright? The more people that are a part of this, the better it will be. They viewed this as the cement that held the empire together and made it strong. So patriotism and the state religion were one and the same. And if you refuse to participate, it wasn't just, oh, that's your personal decision, no problem. You are being, you are threatening law and order, and that's treasonous, because for some reason you think that it's not important that our city and our nation be blessed and prospered, and you don't want to participate in worshiping the God that will make that happen? So Christians were called atheists because they wouldn't do this, they wouldn't worship these gods, and they wouldn't participate. But Jesus commended the Christians in Pergamos because they refused to deny His name and His faith. They held fast to them. And so, when a person denies the truths about Jesus, he is denying Jesus Himself. Jesus takes that very personally. When a person falls away from his faith, he's falling away from faith in Christ. Jesus takes that very personally. Jesus says, you stayed true even in the days, verse 13, in which Antipas was my faithful martyr. One of the Christians in the church, perhaps the leader of the church, had been killed for his faith in Christ. Church tradition says that he was burned alive in a bull-shaped altar. But right up until the end, he was a faithful martyr. In other words, he didn't just give his life, but he testified up until his very last breath of his faith in Christ. So would Jesus praise us? No, we don't face persecution in this country at this time that rises to the level that it did in Pergamos or that it does around the world today. But we are facing a slowly rising tide of ostracism, antagonism, marginalization. The pressure is not so much to worship some other god or person, per se, but rather to deny the teachings of Christ as found in his word regarding certain social issues, basically to worship at the altar of the cultural views on these issues. But what did Jesus say? Here are some things that we have to hold fast to. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That's counter-cultural. That's offensive. I am the only way to get to heaven. Do you hold fast to that truth? Jesus said, Now this is not all that Jesus taught. There are many other things Jesus taught. I'm simply picking out a few that are especially countercultural today. The truths about gender, sexuality, marriage, divorce, are you holding to these truths? So Jesus knows, Jesus praises, and then Jesus warns. The Christians in Pergamos were standing strong against Satan's frontal attacks, and they were holding fast to the name and faith of Christ, but there was a very serious problem that Jesus warned them about. Jesus warns us Here it is, when we allow worldliness to creep into the church. When we allow worldliness to creep into the church. He warned the church in Pergamos that they were allowing certain people to teach dangerous things in their church. Well, who were these people and what were they teaching? Verse 15, Jesus describes them. He says, and by the way, verse 14, I have a few things against you. Oh, I sure hope that I would not hear that from Jesus. Of course, I'm not sinless, so there would be things Jesus wants me to change in my life. I hope our church would not have to hear Jesus say that to us. But verse 15, he says, here it is. Thus, you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate." We were introduced to this group in the letter to the church at Ephesus in chapter 2, verse 6. In that case, Jesus, as Pastor Phil showed us, commended the church in Ephesus because they hated the teaching of this group. They refused to allow them to influence the church. No, no, no, you're not teaching that in our church. But unfortunately, it seems that they went down the road to Pergamos where they were able to get a foothold in the church. And we don't know exactly where the name came from. There's some theories about that. But it seems that here Jesus is explaining what they taught by verse 14. Because verse 15 says, thus, meaning in the same way, you also have those. So verse 14 explains what the Nicolaitans taught and what they encouraged. And it says in verse 14, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam. Well, what's the doctrine of Balaam? Let's go back to the Israelites wandering in the desert on their way to the promised land. And they're getting closer towards the end of their wilderness wanderings. God begins to allow them to have some victories over certain kings before they get into the promised land, before they cross the Jordan River. The king of Moab, his name was Balak, heard about these rampaging Israelites and it says he became exceedingly afraid and sick with dread. He's like, uh-oh, I better do something about this. I know we're not strong enough to defeat them as an army, so what should I do? Oh, I'll hire this guy named Balaam. Balaam was a well-known local prophet. and Balak hired Balaam to curse the Israelites so Moab could defeat them. The problem was God would not allow Balaam to do that, and every time Balaam opened his mouth to curse the Israelites, blessings came out. So, Balak got a little frustrated. He's shelling out all this money to this guy, and all he would do is bless the Israelites, and Balaam says, sorry, that's all I can do. But Balaam says, you know what? I've got a plan here. Let's go with plan B. This direct attack is not working. I've got another idea. He advised Balak, the king of Moab, to invite the Israelites to join with him at the worship feasts for the Moabite gods. Hey Israelites, you look like a nice bunch of people. We'd really love to get to know you and be friends. And so, you know what? We're having this celebration coming up. Why don't you come join us? We'll get to know each other. And while you're there, there's these women we'll introduce you to. The Moabite women enticed the Israelite men, as Numbers 31.16 tells us, to intermarry with them. So in Jewish thought, Balaam was the Trojan horse of religion, okay? He slipped in the back and tempted the Israelites and led them astray rather than attacking them from the front. These Nicolaitans then were putting a stumbling block, it says in verse 14, before the Christians in the church in two areas by saying, these two things are okay to do. The first is eating food offered to idols. Now, this is so far removed from our culture and understanding that I do need to take some time to explain what this is, okay? So, first of all, we live for the weekends. Some people say, you know, well, in Roman times there were no weekends. You say, what? Well, here's the good news, okay? The good news is there were so many festivals dedicated to the gods that they actually had more days off. If we added up all our weekends and holidays, they would have more days off because there were all these festivals where you would say, oh, don't have to work, let's go to the temple, let's have a feast, and let's honor this god so he'll bless us. Part of the worship services involved offering food to the God, right? Those who have taken my Exploring Other Faiths class or those who've been around the world and visited other countries and other missionaries have seen this in person at the Buddhist temple where food is placed before the statues. And then at the Hindu temple, no pictures were allowed on the inside, but the idol would be awakened. bathed, pouring milk and water over it, clothed, and then food is placed before it. In ancient times, the food would be an animal sacrifice, like a bull or a cow or a goat or whatever. Funny thing is, you know, you put food in front of an idol, a statue, nothing happens to it. It just kind of sits there. It doesn't really get eaten. Some of it would be burned on the altar. Some of it would be given to the priest, right? Like the leg or a best portion. And then if there were a lot of animal sacrifice, there would be a lot of meat left over. You couldn't just stick it in the freezer. So it would be served at the meal that all the worshipers would get to participate in. Or, perhaps, resold in the local market at a reduced price. This was a primary part of idol worship was going and participating in these meals. So, the Jews had a problem with all of this. They would not even eat the food that was resold in the market because it was tainted by its association with idol worship because it had been offered to the idols. And there was a controversy about that. Paul had to address that and said, you know what? It's just meat, and an idol is not a thing, it's not a god, and so if your conscience allows you to purchase that meat in the marketplace, that's fine. If your conscience does not allow you to do that, then don't do it, don't judge one another for that. That's one thing, okay? But some Christians were saying, were taking it to the other extreme. Instead of being too strict, they were saying, There's no problem going to these feasts and enjoying the free meat that's offered there. Remember, the feasts were held at the pagan temples, so they were accepting invitations to these feasts, eating the food that at least some of which had been offered to the idols. This was tempting. Meat was a luxury for most people. This might get you your protein fix for the entire month, you know. And it was a highly social event. It was where you would mix and mingle. And if you're a businessman, hey, prime opportunity to make sure you get to know people and you network. The reasoning seemed to be, you know, I'm not going there to worship. I'm just going for cheap food, socialization. Yeah, there's this guy stands up there in a robe and chants some stuff and people pledge their allegiance. But I don't do any of that. You know, if I don't go, I'll be ostracized from the community. I mean, I'm going as a way to witness. I'm gonna get to know these people so I can share the gospel with them. All sorts of rationale. Paul said, you misunderstand what's happening, okay? 1 Corinthians 10, we usually use these verses in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11 when we introduce communion, the Lord's Supper. But in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul says that we need to be careful. What's the first verse there for that? Put that up on the screen. There we go. "...are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers." That's the word koinonia, fellowship, communion, partaking. partaking of the altar." What am I saying then? That an idol is anything or what is offered to idols is anything? And he's saying, no, but rather the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to have fellowship, koinonia, with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake Koinonia, of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. Paul says, yeah, it's just a piece of wood or a statue, but there's something spiritual going on here. There's something spiritual behind all of this. It's demonic. Satan is at work here, and you need to recognize that. And if you just go and eat this food, but you're there, you're present, and everybody else looks at you as if you are participating, because that's what you're doing by your presence. So, you know, we have the Lord's Supper, this is Satan's Supper. You're participating in demon communion. Even if you're not thinking that you're worshiping. That was the problem with eating food offered to idols at the temple, and sexual immorality was also a part of the worship practices. I won't take the time to take us to 1 Corinthians 6, but Paul warned the people, not just about sexual immorality in a general sense, of course that's true, but as it relates to what was tied in with the pagan worship of the day. That was a place where this might often happen. Wives would be left behind at home, men would go to these celebrations and festivals and there would be women there. So these two things violated the decision of the Jerusalem Council in Acts chapter 15, where they were debating, do we have to follow the Old Testament law, all the laws that God gave to the Israelites? No, we do not. But we need to make sure we abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. So that's already been decided. That should come as no surprise. And yet these Nicolaitans were teaching, eh, it's OK, not a big deal. Christians and Pergamists who were standing strong against persecution were falling prey to temptation. They were allowing this to creep into the church. Some maybe just wanted a more prosperous life, you know, maybe the God will bless me if I go. Better social standing, maybe just free meat, maybe they were tempted by the sexual immorality. And what they were doing is participating in idol worship and debauchery. If someone had said, deny Jesus or you'll be put to death, they would have stood strong. But when some said, no big deal, go to the Emperor Worship Festival, how are we supposed to be a witness if we don't participate? We're not under the law, we're free in Christ. Hmm, okay, yeah, well, that makes sense. So Warren Wearsby says, Satan had not been able to destroy them as a roaring lion, but he was deceiving them as a slithering serpent. They were compromising. They were being compromised as a church. Jesus warns us. Jesus warns us, letter B, to repent or be judged. Jesus didn't say, well, you know, I mean, it's not a huge deal. No, he said this needs to change. Look at verse 16, repent. Do you remember how Pastor Phil demonstrated the meaning of this word? It's simple, really. You're going the wrong direction. You need to come to a place of understanding that you're going the wrong direction, and you need to turn and go back the right direction. That's repent. You need to change your mind, change your will, and decide to change with God's help. Otherwise, he warned them of judgment. This is not talking about the second coming. It's talking about Jesus intervening through providential judgment. The church in Corinth had already had this happen. Paul said, some of you are sick and some of you have died. Christians there because God had judged them and Jesus says I I will come and I will fight against you with the sword out of my mouth It's not talking about a literal piece of metal coming out of Jesus's mouth It's talking about the fact that when Jesus says something in judgment it happens when Jesus pronounces judgment judgment happens Someone else doesn't have to carry it out. It just happens in Revelation 19 at the Battle of Armageddon All of God's enemies are gathered against him and Jesus comes, we follow him, saints from heaven, and it says a sword out of his mouth kills the enemies. It's his judgment, his word of judgment. The word of God is a two-edged sword as well and can be a means by which God judges people even today. Jesus warns and then we see fourthly Jesus rewards. Jesus rewards. The beginning of verse 17 gives us good news. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Once again, these are not just for the people in Pergamos in the first century, for anyone, any of us who will listen to what the Spirit is saying. And he says, to him who overcomes, I will give. So Jesus will reward us if we overcome worldliness. Jesus will reward us if we overcome worldliness. The word overcome there is a word you're actually familiar with in the original language of the New Testament. In verb form, it's nikao. In noun form, it's nike. It's Nike, which is the Greek goddess of victory. The word meant victory or overcoming. If you gain the victory over what I'm warning you about, you will be rewarded. If you overcome the testing of persecution and the temptation of worldliness. So will you be an overcomer today? Will I be an overcomer? Be victorious. If so, Jesus will reward us. And Jesus will reward us, letter B, with eternal satisfaction and acceptance. Eternal satisfaction and acceptance. These rewards that Jesus gives in each of these letters, it's not just random. It's not like Jesus has a big grab bag full of goodies and he just kind of throws them out randomly. No, each reward is intentionally related to the situation that the Christians were facing. And it takes a little bit of understanding here. So when he says in verse 17, to him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. Well, manna, if you've Familiar with Bible stories? It was the food that God provided from heaven to his people in the wilderness when they were wandering around. He provided it from heaven. A jar of manna was stored in the Ark of the Covenant to remind them, everywhere they went, that God provided for their needs. This verse refers to hidden manna. There was a Jewish tradition that before the temple was destroyed in 586 BC, the prophet Jeremiah had hidden this jar of manna in a cave. Okay, now whether that actually happened or not, there was this idea and that in the messianic time it would be revealed and people would partake of it. Well, in John chapter 6, Jesus compared himself to the manna that God had provided for his people in the Old Testament. He said to them, who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life. I'm the manna from heaven. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." Jesus tells these Christians he will give them of himself completely. The believers in Pergamos were tempted by the food sacrificed to idols. Oh, I love steak. I can only get steak at the Emperor Festival. But Jesus is saying, you know what? If you overcome this temptation, you can feast on Jesus himself. Unfailing, heavenly, spiritual food. Not earthly food. You're allowing these worldly teachers to tell you, go ahead and enjoy yourself. But food and sex and these false gods will never satisfy you. It will only lead to destruction if you allow it to overcome you and consume you. I can give you what will satisfy you completely and eternally. That's what I'm offering to you. And a white stone. A white stone. Admission into these festivals was often by some sort of little stone, okay? And they didn't have admission tickets. So if you want to get into the theater or a festival or an event, it was often little stones. And so Jesus says, I've got a stone for you. It's a white stone. That's a symbol of purity and victory in the book of Revelation. You know, you're trying so hard to get into these festivals and feasts. I can give you entrance into a much better feast, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Revelation 19.9. Blessed are those who are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And in fact, you're trying to make a name for yourself here in Pergamos, trying to be well-known and accepted by the community. I'll give you a name. I'll give you a name nobody else will know except the two of us. All right? It'll be just for you. It'll be something that I give to you. Don't you want to be accepted by me, Jesus is saying to them? Don't you want to be satisfied by me? Then turn to me. So friends, watch out for worldliness. Be careful of compromise. I know the outline is complete there, but I have just a few more thoughts on this as we conclude. this morning, what is worldliness? Some of us from certain church backgrounds might have bad memories of this term perhaps and how it was used in a legalistic way to enforce certain standards of behavior and what you should watch or not watch, listen to, not listen to, where, not where. But just because the term's been abused doesn't mean that it's not a threat to us individually and as a church. So here it is, worldliness, and you can write this down if you'd like, is being seduced by a fallen world, ultimately by Satan. It's being attracted and tempted and being drawn away by the world around us that is ultimately, behind the scenes, Satan as the puppet master controlling. It's under the influence and authority of the serpent. John wrote in his first epistle, this is the same John who recorded this book of Revelation. Don't love the world, neither the things that are in the world, for the love of the Father is not in you. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, it's all passing away. It's all going to be gone. Don't be attracted and drawn away by it. Well, is this a danger? Is this a danger? Over 150 years ago, Charles Spurgeon said, I believe the one reason why the Church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the Church. And one contemporary author states this, So how can we tell if worldliness is infiltrating our church? I don't honestly stand here today and think that it is, but I don't want it to be. And we have to think, what are our goals as a church? Is it to gain approval from the world? Is it simply to be more liked? Maybe we even couch it in terms of, well, we want to reach more people. Do we allow sexual immorality to be tolerated in our church? Or do we lovingly confront and, if necessary, discipline it when it's unrepentant? Friends, we can't just guard the front door of the church against Satan while allowing him to sneak in the back. But here's the thing, a church is made up of individuals, you and me. So how can you, how can I tell if worldliness is invading our lives? Here's just a couple of things that are related to this and Pastor Phil is going to talk more about this next week because the church in Thyatira had the same problem. But, you know, they were going to these feasts partly because they wanted approval and acceptance and they wanted to be part of the community. Do you seek the approval of others to the point that you compromise your Christian character? Whether it's friendships, whether it's at the workplace, whether it's at school. How about sexual immorality? What are some of the areas in which you are tempted? Have you compromised? Maybe you haven't completely given in and wholeheartedly, but what are the things that you allow yourself to listen to and to look at on TV, on Netflix? What images run across your Instagram feed? Proverbs 8.13, I was reading Proverbs this morning, God hates a perverse mouth. What kinds of perversity Do you allow in the sitcoms that you watch or the filthy jokes that you entertain at work? Maybe you don't say them yourself, but you know, you're there and you're participating and the things you're watching on YouTube or on your Twitter feed. You know, you and I need to stand strong against persecution, but also against temptation. D.A. Horton says this, it's one thing to say, yeah, I'll die for Christ. But Jesus here is saying, saints, will you live for me? Will you live for me? How can we turn from worldliness? I'll leave you with this. We can't simply say, well, I'm going to just fight worldliness. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. We have to find greater joy. We have to find greater joy in God. And we access that through Christ and his death on the cross. Jesus, see, he says, I'll give you myself. That's much better than anything there in Pergamos. That's what we have to turn to. We have to turn to Jesus. He'll satisfy us. Puritan pastor John Owen said, fill your affections with the cross of Christ and you will find no room for sin. And so I'll close by quoting a song many of us know, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Let's pray. Father, we want to stand strong against whatever persecution we might face, as limited as it is in our day and age, although it's increasing. Help us to do that, but Lord, help us also to be aware, to be watchful when Satan tries to slip in the back door of the church, when he tries to tempt us individually and as a church to compromise. When worldliness starts to creep in, help us to see it, help us to be on guard and help us to identify it and reject it. Lord, we want to be loving, we want to be kind, we want to recognize that all of us are sinners and we can't We can't simply judge people without recognizing our own sinfulness, but we have to be aware. Lord, I pray right now for each person listening that you would work in their hearts, that you would help them see in their lives and in my life areas where Satan is creeping in, where they're being attracted by the world, seduced by it, drawn away by it, enticed by it, and they need to stand strong. They need to look at Jesus. They need to turn to Him. Maybe there's some who have never trusted Christ and they need to trust Him for salvation. And then Christians who are simply being drawn away need to return, repent, return to Christ so that they can look at Him, be satisfied in Him, and the things of this earth will fade away. Lord, help us with that, we pray this morning. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.