Doctrinal Compromise is Condemned

Transcript

GR 1509
11-23-08
Doctrinal Compromise Is Condemned
Revelation 2:12-17
Gil Rugh

We're studying the book of Revelation, but before we go to the church before us this evening I want you to go to Romans 1 as a little bit of background. Many of you, probably most of you, are here for our study in II Timothy and we talk about persecution and suffering. And that's the context for the churches that we're talking about in Revelation 2-3. And we'll put that in the context of what the problem is in Romans 1. We pick up with verse 18, after Paul has declared that he is not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. We come to verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. This becomes an issue. When we present the truth to lost people, we touch a raw nerve, because the truth is intensely offensive to them. And they are created in the image of God, they see something of the evidence of the Creator and His character and being in the very creation around them. But they are determined to suppress that knowledge and hold it down. Because that which is known about God is evident within them, or among them because God made it known or evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse. This is what we call general revelation. It is the revelation available to all people everywhere. It is the knowledge of God declared by the heavens. Since the creation of the world this has been evident because the creation manifests His invisible attributes.

So verse 21, even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile, empty in their speculation. Their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man, bird, four-footed animals, crawling creatures. Therefore, now you'll note here, God has revealed Himself and made Himself known. There is no one anywhere in the world who can claim ignorance of the true and living God in that general sense. The details and specifics of course unfolded in scripture. But their response to the revelation God has given has been universally negative. They reject it, they refuse to acknowledge Him, they suppress that knowledge. Verse 21, even though they knew God, knew Him through the creation, we're not talking about knowing Him in a salvation sense in the fullness of that word. But they know Him, they know something about Him, they know of His attributes, His eternal power, divine nature. It is clear for everyone. But they suppress that truth.

Therefore God turns them over to their sinful desires and you have what follows in the rest of this chapter. He gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity. He does not cause them to be impure, but He turns them over to those desires that they are determined not to acknowledge Him, not to honor Him, not to bow before Him. So His judgment on them is to turn them over to their own desires. So they dishonor themselves, verse 25, they exchange the truth of God for a lie, they worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions, homosexual lust in verses 26-27. A clear manifestation of the rejection of the living God and His sovereign authority.

Verse 28, they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do the things which are not proper. So you see that threefold emphasis—God gave them over, God gave them over because they have refused to acknowledge Him. In their sin they have suppressed the truth, verse 18. Though they knew God they would not honor Him as God. No one is ignorant of a true and living God. All the scientific arguments, all the intellectual and philosophical arguments against God are just evidences of man's suppressing the truth, that they know but refuse to acknowledge because if they acknowledge Him as the sovereign God, the Creator of all, they would have to bow before Him, submit to Him and be open to what He further reveals about Himself.

So verse 28 ff, we are filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slanders, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. And although, here we have the emphasis again, they know the ordinance of God that those who practice such things are worthy of death. There is no such thing as a person in ignorance. All these basic truths about the living God, they are revealed through the creation which is available and open to all. They not only do these things, but they give hearty approval to those who practice them. We see that going on in our country very openly these days. If you don't practice it you give approval to those who do.

What I want us to note is this is the condition of the world in which God has drawn us to Himself and bestowed upon us the gift of His salvation. This is not a new situation, this is the way it has been since the fall, this is the description. So we see sometimes more open, flagrant displays of what is described here, but this is the world as God says it is. This is the world out of which we came to the wonder of our salvation.

Come to Ephesians 2:1, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we, too, all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. This is Paul, the converted Pharisee writing. He wouldn't have thought of doing some of those horrible things that are described in Romans 1. But he was guilty of the other, and he was just as much fully committed to his sin, his fleshly passions, the course that Satan set out for him as anyone else fallen and lost.

But God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. You understand salvation comes to lost, fallen sinful beings. We sometimes think, what are we going to do, what is happening. What has always happened. A world that has rejected the God who created all things, that is in rebellion against Him. Nothing is new. You know people who are saved are saved out of their sin. We sometimes get the idea, it's getting so bad. What are we going to do? We are going to present the gospel to them. What did Jesus say during His earthly ministry? Who was getting saved, responding to His message? The harlots, the taxgatherers. Who was opposed? The religious people. We sometimes think, it's getting so bad. It's getting so bad it becomes even more clear to us how desperately they need the gospel. We think we have to do something to reform the world and improve it and bring it up..... To what? This is how God describes it, we cannot change it. Change has to be brought about by God through the power of regeneration.

So turn to Philippians 2:12, the instruction, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to do and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Nothing has changed. We are to demonstrate the children of God as we live in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. That's true of every generation because that is God's description of sinful beings. And what are we? Among whom, that crooked and perverse generation, you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life. We appear as lights in the world.

So come to Revelation2. We noted these seven churches in Asia, the Roman province of Asia, we know it as Turkey today, they are represented by seven lampstands, a stand with an oil lamp in that day on it, giving off light. Philippians 2, a crooked and perverse generation, among which we appear as lights in the world. The awful darkness of Romans 1, that's the world in which we reside. We ought not to be deluded or think changes of Presidents or congressmen or Supreme Court justices change the world. It does not. We live in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, we live in a world that is under the direct control and authority of the god of this world, Satan. And all the people in this world are walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. But that was true of you and me until God intervened with the wonder of His salvation.

So Jesus Christ addresses His churches, individual local churches in Revelation 2-3. This is their context and we see He is very demanding that they represent Him, that they be lights in the midst of darkness. And he will not tolerate darkness being allowed to infiltrate the church. And that's where we are with the church at Pergamum, beginning with verse 12. The church is in the midst of a hostile setting. Again we looked at that because we oughtn't to think that was unique to them. We've been studying II Timothy, II Timothy was written about 30 years before John was appointed to pen the book of Revelation and the letters to these churches from Christ. Nothing has changed, nothing has changed. Nothing has changed today. That's why these seven churches are set forth for us to learn from, to examine and to look at ourselves as a mirror to learn from.

Verse 12 begins, to the angel of the church in Pergamum, write. The church at Pergamum shows very early in the history of the church it began to be infiltrated with the corruption of the world. It's not new to us, it's true in the other letters in the New Testament. But it becomes evident in the church at Pergamum. It's addressed to the angel or messenger of that church, will be brought to the church from that person.

Pergamum, we've moved about 55 miles north of Smyrna, the previous church. Remember we are on a route, sometimes noted as the postal route for Asia Minor, that Roman province. We've gone from Ephesus to Smyrna, now we've traveled 55 miles north of Smyrna to Pergamum. It is north and east of Smyrna, it is not on the coast. Both Ephesus and Smyrna were coastal cities. So this is not the commercial center that Ephesus was, or Smyrna was, but it is a very wealthy and prominent city. But without a seaport it did not have the commercial significance.

But several things stand out about the city of Pergamum. 1. It had a great library, it had over 200,000 volumes. We have a lot of libraries with more volumes than that. But you understand every one of these volumes had to be handwritten in this day. So it was a major literary center. You might be interested to what happened to this library. You are familiar with the story of Antony and Cleopatra? Well Antony sent it to Cleopatra as a gift to her. So that's what happened to the library, it ended up in Egypt. 2. It was a famous religious center. So not only a literary center and a place of learning, a library would become a center that would attract learned people and people interested in learning more, but it was a religious center. It had temples to Zeus, Athena, Dionysis, Asklepias. Asklepias was worshiped in the form of a serpent. This was a medical center and Asklepias associated with that and we still have that symbolism of a serpent and so on. So you're dealing here in a city that is a major pagan focal point, with major gods having temples to them in this city. This kind of paganism just permeates the city. And remember you can get along with various pagan religions, but Christianity doesn't fit. 3. This would be associated with the previous one but it is unique enough to be distinct. It is a major center or emperor worship. We've seen this previously in the other cities but Pergamum had a unique characteristic. In 29 A.D., it was the first city to have a temple dedicated to the divine Augustus and Rome. So the first city to have a temple devoted to the worship of Caesar Augustus and Rome. This was a major focus of this city.

Now you see how certain things characterize and turn up in the different cities. They become prominent and dominant. Now Christianity has to fit in this place where you have these various pagan temples and worship centers, and then that worship would unite all those who would worship the different pagan gods, the worship of Caesar. Now into this you establish a church that worships only the true and living God, declares only one Savior, only one way of salvation. And you have major conflict.

So Christ addresses the church as the One who has the sharp two-edged sword. The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this. That goes back to chapter 1 verse 16, in His right hand He held seven stars, out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. Because of Pergamum's commitment to emperor worship and the way they had stood with Rome and honored the emperor and so on, Pergamum was given a unique privilege. They were given the privilege to exercise capital punishment. That was something that Rome normally reserved for itself. But Pergamum had that right to carry out capital punishment, symbolized by the sword. So when Christ comes and declares His authority to the church in this city, He declares Himself as the One who has the right and power of judgment. That's what the sword represents—judgment. Now here He is coming to His church. It's been years since the church has had a revelation from the Lord of the church. And this is the last one that will be given, and here is a church in difficult times, so difficult they've experienced martyrdom in their church. And He comes to them with a statement, I am the One who has the sharp two-edged sword. And here is what I have to say. Obviously He has a message that is dominated by judgment and this is how He appears to this church.

The One with the sword, the sword coming out of His mouth. I take it the sword represents the Word of God, we looked at this in chapter 1 verse 16. Come over to chapter 19 and we'll see this picture again at the Second Coming of Christ. Verse 14, the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean were following Him. So heaven is open, Christ is descending to earth to destroy His enemies and set up His kingdom. And from His mouth, verse 15, comes a sharp sword so that with it He may strike down the nations and rule them with a rod of iron, tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. So that sharp sword coming from His mouth. Down in verse 21, and the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. I take it this is representative of the Word coming from the mouth of Christ.

Come to Isaiah 11. Remember so much of the representation in the book of Revelation comes from the Old Testament. We'll see this even more fully when we come into the prophetic portion of the book beginning with chapter 4. In Isaiah 11:1, the shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him, on it goes to describe Him. Verse 3, He will delight in the fear of the Lord, He will not judge by what His eyes see nor make a decision by what His ears hear. But with righteousness He will judge the poor, with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. That picture of the sword coming forth from His mouth, a picture of the breath of His lips, the rod of His mouth. He speaks the word, His enemies are destroyed. That's the sword coming from His mouth.

So you come back to Revelation 2, I'm sure an awesome thing for the church at Pergamum to hear, and the address coming from the One who has the sharp two-edged sword. We've noted, there is no sentimental emotionalism here. Christ comes to address His church. This is serious business and we come to the One who exercises judgmental authority over His church.

And here is what He has to say, I know. This is where we pick up in each of these churches—I know, I know, I know. Remember He doesn't have to judge by what He sees, what He hears. I know. As Paul made clear, He will judge the motives of men's hearts. He doesn't have to learn, He doesn't have to listen to what is going on. He knows and He is the One here. I know where you dwell. And you know where they dwell, where they live? Look at the last words of verse 13, it's where Satan dwells or lives. I know the difficulty of your environment, the special circumstances in which you have to live. In a special way Satan has taken up residence here. He is present, his power, his authority, is manifested in a special way here, in a strong way here. Basically, I know the awful situation in which you have to live. We say Satan dwells in the world, but he is dwelling in Pergamum in a special way. Perhaps it's with all the idol worship and temples for idol worship, the prominence of Caesar worship. We don't know in what all ways. But Jesus Christ Himself says Satan dwells here, lives here. That's going to mean it's going to be an especially difficult place for believers to live, for a church to carry on a faithful ministry.

I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. The throne represents power, authority. Again, his power, his authority as the god of this world. You understand Satan can only be in one place at a time, he is a created being and he cannot be omnipresent. But his demonic beings serve him here and he has opportunity to manifest his power and authority in a greater way here in the city of Pergamum. As I mentioned, perhaps with at least four major temples to various gods, emperor worship might be part of that. It is a stronghold of Satan's power.

I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is and you hold fast my name. I mean, that's a tremendous commendation. You hold fast to my name, you dwell where Satan dwells, you dwell where Satan's throne is. His power is manifested in a greater way, his authority is more evident in what is going on. And you hold fast my name. In that kind of setting and situation you hold fast my name. They remain faithful to Christ in this difficult time. You did not deny my faith. They did not deny Christ. We talked about that in Timothy. If we deny Him, He will deny us. But here before the throne of Satan, if you will, in that city where Satan's throne is, they did not deny their faith in Christ. They were loyal to Him, who He is.

And that was true even in the days of Antipas. My witness, my faithful one who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. His throne is here, he dwells here. You were faithful, you didn't deny my faith, you hold fast my name. You did it even in the days of Antipas when the persecution and the opposition were so intense. Here is a church, we don't know how large the church was, how many, but they had had one of their number martyred. And Jesus says, you weren't shaken, you didn't back away from Me, you didn't turn away, you didn't deny my faith. I mean, that's a testimony to them. They didn't all have to die but it was a potential reality for all of them. Because if one of them was pulled out to be martyred, that puts everyone else on notice that they could be next. I mean if that's the level of the persecution and the opposition, everyone in this church at Pergamum had to know that remaining faithful to Christ may cost me my life and it did Antipas. We don't know anything else about this person, we don't know the details of what brought about his martyrdom. But Christ does. Family members wonder why the Lord didn't intervene, but Christ is well aware of everything that goes on. All part of His sovereign plan for His people.

Antipas, he was my witness, testifying on behalf of Christ. For him, his witness had to go to the ultimate. We get the English word martyr from the Greek word for giving a testimony. That's a person who gives their testimony in the fullest way, the ultimate testimony—giving your life for Christ. He was my witness, my faithful one. It wasn't a loss, it was a victory that Antipas held on and was a faithful testimony for Christ to the point of giving his life. In those days the rest of you, you now still living in this church, you held fast, you didn't deny. Even in those days of such intense persecution when Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells. This is a church that has a firm commitment to Jesus Christ and you think, what more could you ask. I mean, what a testimony that a church lives in this kind of environment. It's where Satan dwells, where his throne is. Those things haven't changed And they've come through a time when they even had to be willing to give their lives, and Antipas did. Through all of it they help fast to Christ, to the name of Christ, who He is, what He's done, their faith in Him. This is a great church.

But, but. Don't you just hate that word in these kinds of contexts. Sometimes you love that word, the conjunction but. But God being rich in mercy, that's a great conjunction. But here we're moving to the condemnation. But all is not well in this church. What else can you expect? They did have a church that stands firm like this and has this kind of history and they permanently manifest this kind of faithfulness to Christ. Whatever could not be right is not major. I mean, let's look at the positives. But remember Christ appears here as the One with the sword coming out of His mouth. But I have a few things against you. Why? Because 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 acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitins. You know we must never become satisfied. We look at the things that are going well as though we put that on the scale and the things we're not doing what we should, they're not as important. It's easy for me to look at the church of Pergamum and say, here's a church with this kind of faithfulness and this kind of environment where Satan's presence and authority is more fully manifested than in other places, a church that has seen one of their own number give his life for his testimony for Christ, and this church felt faithful, too. I mean, the connotation is to the church because they were faithful as Antipas was. And even though others didn't have to give their life in the church, they held fast and didn't deny Christ during those days. And that's true of them now.

But I have a few things against you. The church had stood fast but they had failed to maintain doctrinal purity. That's what it comes to. They were tolerating in their midst some who evidently, obviously are professing faith in Christ, but they are morally and doctrinally corrupt. You understand the pressure. The last thing we want to do is turn against ourselves when everyone is already against us outside. These are professing believers, they are in the church. We don't need a battleground inside, we have our hands full outside. I mean, this is where Satan dwells, where his throne is. This is a testimony of Christ. We have all the opposition and conflict we will be able to handle. What is going to happen now if we begin to try to exercise judgment within the church? We may have disagreements, we understand at least these people profess to be believers. And that kind of environment you have these kinds of people in the church professing to be believers. But you know the devil does his work well. He attacks the church from outside, he also infiltrates the church from the inside. I mean, he is brilliant, he is not a man of one strategy, you understand. We think that in this kind of environment everyone who wasn't a true believer would have exited the church long ago. But remember this is where Satan dwells and he knows to undermine the church you attack it from the outside but you also infiltrate it from the inside. And that's exactly what's happened at Pergamum.

I have a few things against you because you have there, in the church, some who hold the teaching of Balaam. Now not everybody in the church held this. Keep this in mind. But there are some who do and they don't belong there. You have some who hold the teaching of Balaam. Interesting. That word hold is the same word translated hold fast in verse 13, I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is, and you hold fast my name. But you have some there who hold fast. If we're going to translate the same word in the same way, hold fast the teaching of Balaam. Now to be in the church they had to be professing to be believers in Christ and part of the church. But they are holding fast to the teaching of Balaam. And, verse 15, in the same way you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans, they hold fast to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. So within this church people profess faith and allegiance to Christ and you have some who are holding doctrines that are totally contrary to the truth concerning Christ. That is totally unacceptable. Nothing is an excuse.

The account of Balaam is recorded in Numbers 22-25. What Balaam did is he brought judgment on Israel. Remember he was a false prophet called to pronounce judgment on Israel, but he couldn't do it, God wouldn't let him do it. Every time he opened his mouth God put prophecies concerning Israel and His purposes for them in his mouth. So Balak is frustrated with Balaam. What we learn from Numbers 31:15-16, when Balaam knows God wouldn't let him curse Israel, he came up with a plan for Balak to carry out. Send the Moabite women in among the people of Israel, let them seduce the Israelites into immorality and idol worship. And you know what? God will do the work for you, Balak, you won't have to go to war with them because God will bring judgment on them and destroy them. So what Balaam did with his false doctrine, which was infiltrate among the people of God and corrupt them, morally and doctrinally. They tend to go together obviously, because when you become morally corrupts you're not going to worship the living God. So between that he brought God's judgment on Israel. Why did he do it? He wanted the money, that's what false prophets are in it for, false teachers are in it for. The money. You turn on your TV, send me the money. I have a handkerchief for you, I have holy water for you. Probably filled at the tap at home. When you get this you have to send it back because we have to get the money. And on it goes. They are in it for the money.

How did it get in the church here, the doctrine of Balaam, moral and doctrinal compromise, the teaching of the Nicolaitans, verse 15. And the way this is grammatically connected, verse 15, we noted this when we were in the church at Ephesus, seems to connect the teaching of the Nicolaitans, it is similar to the teaching of Balaam. It is distinct but it has similarities, like things. The point here is both are teachings that have no place in the church. And yet you have some in the church holding fast to it. I mean, we know today you can tear a church apart with biblical truth. That happens in church after church. And so the method of peace is tolerated. They profess to be believers. We don't have to agree on everything. Now you add the kind of persecution that existed in Pergamum and the difficulty that church had. You can see you have added reason why you need to be tolerant, look for reasons not to go to battle against someone who at least professes to be a believer with you, at least attends church here with you. I mean, you have the whole city opposed to you and the forces of Satan aligned against you, we may make adjustments. I mean, this goes on, I don't know how many times you hear we have some doctrinal disagreements but we have social issues, we have moral issues we can agree on and we ought to unite on. That kind of compromising thing, as though the gospel is not the most important thing. Social issues are the most important thing. So we can align with whatever the reason. The church at Pergamum tolerated in their midst this kind of compromise that Christ said, it's serious. How serious?

Verse 16, therefore repent or else I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. Well that's all right, that solves us the problem. We don't have to do the dirty work, we'll just wait until Christ comes and judges those who are heretics in our midst. But the message is to the church. And when Christ comes to mete out the judgment the responsible to do, you'll notice the church that is commanded to repent. His condemnation is to the church for tolerating it. He commended the church for their faithfulness, but verse 14, I have a few things against you because you have some there. Now here is the real issue for those holding to the teaching of Balaam and holding to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. And He'll come with the sword of His mouth to deal with them, but you understand the Lord of the church says, I have something to deal with you as a church for tolerating it. Any my command to you as a church is to repent.

You remember, I mentioned the church at Ephesus, back in the letter to the church at Ephesus the church was commended for hating, chapter 2 verse 6, the deeds of the Nicolaitans. Now you have a church who tolerates people who hold fast to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. You better repent. If you don't, I'm going to come. And I will come against them with the sword of my mouth. But the church is accountable for tolerating it. There ought to have been no place for compromising doctrine in the church. You know, I don't know how we fix this in our minds. It's like your kids, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah when you're telling them something, until the situation comes up. Then they don't function as they should and they have their reasons. And somehow we as a church ............. I know them, I think they are sincere. So? Well I don't think we have to make an issue of this. Well the only thing acceptable, there are no external circumstances. I am sad to say as a pastor I am surprised every time I go through these letters to see Christ give a commendation in such a concise way, of such wonderful things and immediately turn and say, but I have this against you. And what I have against you is so serious, if you don't deal with it, if you don't repent. And repentance, metanoeo, really it means to be of another mind. But it always entails change of behavior as a result of changing your mind. The behavior is never disassociated. So he says to repent, he's not just telling them to think differently about this, they are to think differently about it, see it as He sees it. But that requires the follow through of action because it's in the context here. Repent or else I am coming to you quickly. In other words you don't know when, it's imminent. And I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. In other words it won't be good for them if He has to come and make the correction. You repent, which means you deal with it. So you will not have among you those who hold fast the teaching of Balaam, you will not have among you those who hold fast the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Now you note what is happening here. You know what happens to people who are driven out. They say, no, we will not accept you, you are not allowed to be part of our fellowship. Your teaching is not acceptable. Now you've made another enemy. They are an enemy anyway, but they act like a friend. Now they become more hostile. Does this church at Pergamum need more hostility? Well what they need to do is be faithful to the Lord and let the chips fall where they may. I don't know that that's a good way to say it, but you let the Lord deal with things. We think the response here being, Lord, you understand, we may not be a large church, we are a church that is under intense, fierce pressure. And I know you know that because you just told us you know this. Do you understand what it will do to our church if we try to remove these? There are going to be people there who say they are my friends. They may be part of their family. Well anyone who loves family more than Me is not worthy of Me, right? Anybody who goes with them when they have to go just reveals they don't belong to Me. It's clear when we are studying it and not having to deal with it. It becomes more difficult when we have to deal with it. Obviously there are people who think the teaching of the Nicolaitans may be a variation of Christianity. The teaching of Balaam can somehow become acceptable in the church. I mean, what is it doing here? There are some in the church, even though they don't hold to it, don't see it as of the seriousness that it should be dealt with, and these people have to be removed. Somehow the thinking has gotten clouded, even among those who hold fast themselves to the truth, to Christ, to the gospel. They have not followed through. I mean, they'll die for their faith but they will accept the compromise in the church of those who hold teaching contrary to the truth. Christ says that cannot be.

Turn back to II Corinthians 7. We talk about true repentance. In II Corinthians 7:8, Paul says, though I caused you sorrow by my letter I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that the letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while. I rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance. You were made sorrowful according to the will of God so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation. The sorrow of the world produces death. You see when there is genuine repentance there is change and sorrow is just sorrow. Godly sorrow brings true repentance, which brings change. And that's what we're talking about in Revelation.

Come back to Revelation 2:17. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This is addressed to Pergamum. This is a message from the Spirit of God, given by Christ through the Spirit to His churches. All of us need to listen. To him who overcomes, promise again to the true believer. To him I will give some of the hidden manna. The hidden manna. I take it this goes back to John 6 where Jesus talks about the manna and He says that He is the true bread of God that comes down from heaven. But when He talks about the overcomer will be given some of the hidden manna, it's talking about the privilege of enjoying Christ in the fullest possible way. And I take it this would talk about the enjoyment of eternal life and eternal life in its fullness when we enter into the kingdom with Him. That description in Revelation 22 when we will behold His face, we will live in the presence of God the Father and God the Son as well as God the Holy Spirit. But here's a focus on Christ as the privilege we have to partake of Him in a full and complete way.

Come back to John 6:31, you fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat. Remember in the wilderness wanderings He provided manna they gathered every morning, the heavenly bread. Jesus said to them, truly, truly I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Verse 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will not hunger, he who believes in Me will never thirst. Come down to verse 48, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. I will give the hidden manna to the overcomer. We partake of Christ and that partaking of Christ has brought to us life. And that only gets better because the fullness of what that means will await until we are glorified in His presence, when we enjoy His presence for eternity. The depths of fellowship and communion is beyond what could be known within the finite confines that we have yet. But we are glorified. There is a promise here that carries us to the fulfillment of all in His kingdom.

Back in Revelation 2. I will give him a white stone. And there is much discussion about the white stone. It is given to the overcomer. I think the most probably answer for this is during this time for admission to events, sporting events, other kinds of events. You were given a white stone and you had your name written on it, it's like your ticket. And that gave you admission. And I take it that may be referred to here, that for the overcomer, he is given a white stone and it is connected with the new name, we'll mention in a moment, on the stone. And here is, he has free access to the kingdom that Christ is going to establish, in which we will have an intimacy of fellowship with the living God that none other could ever know.

So when you move to the new name, the white stone with a new name pictures the new state, we are entered into a new state. We have eternal life, we have the fullness of God's salvation as our present possession. But we haven't entered into it all yet. Glorification, as we mentioned, Romans 8:29-30 bring that as a climax. That's where we're going in Revelation. I mean, we know the living God, we live in communion with Him, He dwells in us. But we have a fullness for us and a glory for us. And so this new name pictures our new state, living in a new condition as His people in a kingdom over which He rules. That's what is promised to the overcomer in light of where the book of Revelation is going, in light of the promises to the other churches. The intimacy of fellowship with Christ and a fullness, access to the kingdom and a unique relationship with Him, and a new name going with our new condition, the glorified saints, in a new environment, and so on. That's His promises to us.

Let me just list a few things that I've noted in conclusion. 1. The Word of God is an instrument of judgment for the church. Christ appears to the church as the One with His word coming out as a sword. We must submit everything here to the Word. It's not enough, my relationship with you, your relationship with me, our relationship with one another. The important thing, that all has to be subject to the Word. Be willing to leave and lose my closest friends, my closest family for Christ. It's one thing to say, I'd be willing to die for Christ, but He may call me to lose my closest friend, to stand for the truth against those who mean so much to me. The Word of God is an instrument of judgment. 2. We must stand fast in the face of satanic opposition. The attacks will come, the slander will come, the persecution comes in one way or another as He commended this church for their faithfulness in verse 13. Isn't encouraging to know our faithfulness is known by the Lord. You know, Antipas going to martyrdom, perhaps seeing his family, his children, his wife, we don't know the situation and what is happening here. The thought comes to mind, Lord, do you know what's happening? Lord, have you abandoned me? The answer is yes, I know what is happening; no, I haven't abandoned you. The Lord knew all about the faithfulness of Antipas and he was serving as a faithful testimony for Christ. What a privilege. The Lord observes it, we stand faithful for Him, our testimony for Him. He knows it, He sees it, He observes it. Part of His plan for us. 3. We ought to be clear, compromise brings condemnation. That's what verse 14 is about. There is no acceptable compromise. We are narrow, we don't want to be any more narrow than the Word of God is and we have no right to be any broader than the Word of God is. That's where we must stand. And it doesn't matter if a person is in our midst, is taught in our midst, has been a friend. If their teaching is contrary to the Word they must be dealt with. If they will not abandon that teaching, we must part ways. 4. Verse 16, the church is commanded to deal with sin in its midst. Repent, repent of your compromise, repent of your unbiblical toleration, deal with it as my representatives or else I will come and deal with it. And that will bring His judgment as well on the church. 5. There are great and eternal promises for the overcomer. What promises in verse 17? The full understanding and appreciation of how wonderful these promises will await the time when we are in the glory of His presence. We say, I just can't believe it. How do we comprehend with these finite minds and these physical bodies in this sin-cursed world, grasp the glory that God has prepared for those who love Him. The intimacy of relationship we will have with Him, we sometimes wonder how it will be without the family relationships we have here. We just get a glimpse of partaking of the hidden manna, the depths of relationship we'll have with the living God, what that will mean for our relationships as well.

So we want to learn from the church at Pergamum, we want to have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches, plural, as He addresses this church. We want to take to heart the commendation to hold fast to Christ in our stand against the world, not to deny the faith in the midst of opposition, but we also want to learn. We have to be very discerning, constantly on guard. I have to be subject to the examination of scripture, others who would teach the Word must be subject to the examination and evaluation of scripture. And that's an ongoing process so that we can be a church that honors the Lord in our testimony for Him.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness to us. Thank you for this message to the church at Pergamum, which is a message to us. Lord, we would take it to heart. Thank you, Lord, that we are privileged in these days to stand for you and testify for you, that we don't have the intensity of opposition in open ways that the church of Pergamum had to experience. We do not know what it is to have a martyr taken from us, to give his life and testimony for you. We've not experienced that level of opposition. Yet, Lord, we realize that Satan is the enemy of your work in this place and we would be faithful to you, to hold fast the truth in these days. And Lord we want to be faithful to you in being careful to examine those who would teach the Word and the teaching that is being given out. Lord, to be totally intolerant of anything that is contrary to your truth. Lord, we would be faithful to you above all. Thank you for the glorious promises given to us. Lord, we fallen sinners, unworthy, undeserving but by your grace we have been called to your salvation and given wonderful eternal promises that we will not fully comprehend until we enter into the glory of your presence and the full realization of what you've promised us. May we live the days of this week in light of the truth of your Word. We pray in Christ's name, amen.