Yesterday at the men's meeting,
we dealt with that very issue, how Almighty God is in control. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Revelation chapter
2. Revelation chapter 2. originally purposed to take these
seven letters to the seven churches in Asia that we looked at ten
years ago plus. Originally, I was going to just
take this letter today to the church at Pergamos in Revelation
2, verses 12 and following. And I was going to deal with
it in one service. And after looking at the message,
I feel that I need to take that letter to that church and actually
preach it in both services this morning. So Lord willing, I want
to take and look at verses 12 and 13, and then we'll look at
verses 14 to 17 in the Second Service. But I'd like to read
the letter, just a few verses, to the church at Pergamos. I truthfully believe this is
the message of the hour. My heart is heavy. Let me just be honest with you.
My heart is heavy because of the seriousness of what is being
dealt with here. not a light thing. It is a heavy
issue. I pray God be pleased to bless
it to our hearts. Revelation 2, verse 12, and to
the angel of the church in Pergamos write, These things saith he
which hath the sharp sword with two edges, I know thy and where
thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. And thou holdest fast
my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days
wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you
where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against
thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of
Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the
children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to
commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold
the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come unto
thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of
my mouth." he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone,
and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth, saving
he that receiveth it." This is the third letter. Now, every letter that is written
to the seven churches in Asia is for every one of God's churches
in every age. Every letter is to them. Let him at half an ear hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches In this letter, the scripture
sets forth that the letter, it was dictated by the Lord. The
Lord God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, dictated this letter
to John the Apostle while he was on the Isle of Patmos. And
he said in that twelfth verse to the angel, to the pastor,
to the star that the Lord holds in His hand. The one set up,
called out, established, placed by the Lord Jesus Christ to be
the under-shepherd, the watchman, the one that watches for the
souls of God's heritage. This right here starts, there's
the beginning of the heaviness of this Word to my heart. The
burden of the Word of the Lord. As I just read it this morning,
Neil, I just, heaviness. To the angel of the church at
Pergamos. Pergamos means fortified, elevated, exalted. God wrote
a letter to a church that He had raised up, a fortified, a
hedged about, a body of His people. And it says to the angel of the
church at Pergamos, write, These things saith he which hath the
sharp sword with two edges. The Word of God. The sword of
the Spirit. I was thinking this morning about
the armor of the Lord. God's armor that He gives. to
His people, the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. That
offensive, defensive, that's the weapon. He said, you write
this letter to Him which hath the sharp sword. It's the Lord's. It's God's Word. This is the
Word that will not return unto Him void. It's that Word that's
going to accomplish the purpose for which it's sent. That Word
It has two sharp edges, not dull, it's not blunt, it's not ineffectual. God's Word, it accomplishes His
purpose. Two sharp edges. One edge, it's going to convince
God's people of sin, of righteousness, and judgment. That's what the
Lord said the Comforter was going to do. When the Comforter, when
the Father will sin, He's come. He's going to convince you. He's
going to reveal to you. God's people are going to be
convinced of what they are. Of sin. Of the heinousness of
it. And of righteousness. That is,
that in themselves they don't have any. It's self-righteousness. And all it is is filthy rags. Stinking, filthy rags. That's
all it is. And the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the only righteousness accepted of Almighty
God, the Spirit of God. That's that sharp sword. We know
that by the Word of God. How would we know that save the
Lord told us? How would we know? Convince Him
of sin and righteousness and judgment. That is, number one,
there is none for God's people. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that be in Christ Jesus. I'm so thankful. I thank God
in our blessed Savior's name that the Lord Jesus Christ bore
the guilt of His people and put their guilt away, paid their
debt. There is no debt owed to God's
law for the children of God. No debt. Nothing owed. We love the glorious message
of free grace, sovereign saving grace. There's no judgment. But
we know that outside of Christ, God Almighty is a consuming fire. Listen, I'm telling you, that
know Him not, I'm telling you, listen to what Almighty God has
to say. I'm telling you, without Christ,
God Almighty will cast every rebel into hell. There's judgment. There's judgment. I've had people tell me, well,
I just don't believe that God's going to be like that. I believe
God's a loving God, and He is. He loves righteousness. He loves
judgment because he's just. He's a just God and a Savior. This sword convinces God's people. To the wicked, that sharp sword,
let me tell you what God has to say about His Word. You'll
read. I want you to look at John 12.
John 12. Let me tell you the seriousness
of what we're doing here this morning. Let me tell you the heaviness of it. The word
that we're hearing, the word that we're considering this morning,
this is the word that is going to judge us. John, chapter 12, verse 44. Jesus
cried and said, He that believeth on Me believeth not on Me, but
on him that sent Me. And he that seeth Me seeth him
that sent Me. I am come a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness.
And if any man hear My words and believe not, I judge him
not. For I came not to judge the world,
but to save the world. He that rejecteth me and receiveth
not my words hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken,
the same shall judge him in the last day." You know, when I read
the seriousness of hearing the Word of God, the seriousness
of studying God's Word, the seriousness of asking Lord, speak to my heart. I know based on the word of the
Lord Jesus Christ, this word is going to accomplish the purpose
which it sent. I know that according to his
word, this word, this book, this book right here, it's going to
be our judge right here. I'm telling you in that day when
we stand before God Almighty, what sayeth the scriptures? We can stand and give every kind
of excuse we want to give. But I'm telling you, God's Word
is going to stand. Heaven and earth are going to
pass away. But you know what's not going to pass away? This
Word is not going to pass away. This is the issue right here.
What God has to say. That's the issue. Back in Revelation
Chapter 2. Revelation Chapter 2. To the
angel of the church in Pergamos write these things, saith he,
which hath the sharp sword with two edges. I know thy works,
and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seed is, and thou
holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in
those days when Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain
among you where Satan dwelleth. I know thy works." In the second
service, Lord willing, I want to say a little bit more about
that. But for right now, the Lord says,
I know, I know, I know thy works. A believer knows that he is not
saved by the works of the law. We know that. We know that. We know that it's not by works
of righteousness that we've done. So therefore, to claim that there
is something that we can do in order to be saved is completely
contradictory to the Scriptures. Not by the works of righteousness
that we've done. According to His mercy, He saved
us. But the Lord said, I know thy
works. And the works that he knows are
the works that are wrought in and through God's people by the
Spirit of God. Works of the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1 talks about the work of faith, the labor of love,
the patience of hope. The Lord says, I know your work.
I know that which He has wrought in us. And I've said before,
I said it last week, I think about the work of faith and I
think, oh, how inadequate. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. I think about
that scripture. He said, if you had faith as
a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mountain. And
I'm thinking, he said, if you had, if you had. You know what
that makes me think? If I had. If I had. But for him
to say, I know thy works, my heart rejoices. And I say, Lord,
oh, that you would see in me that which you have wrought in
your people. Lord, that you'd see in me a
work of faith. Lord, that you'd give me a heart,
a labor of love and patience and rest of hope in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Though sin is present, and God's
people know that it is. God's people know. That's the
confession of a believer. I know that in me, that is in
my flesh, I know that there dwelleth no good thing." A believer is
going to admit that. But Lord, as Peter said, Lord, You know
all things. And Lord, You know I love You.
Lord, I know, I see in me the evidence of the weakness of that
old man. But thanks be unto God that You
have dethroned sin. Thanks be unto God that You have
caused sin to not have dominion over me. Lord, the very presence
of sin is a grief to me. But thanks be unto You that You
give me a heart that longs after You, that hears Your Word, that
wants to hear Your Word. That article I put in the bulletin
this morning, Brother Henry, I put it in there before. It's
such a good one. I'm glad when they said to me,
let's go to the house of the Lord. Henry said, I'm just glad
I wanted to go. Glad that He gave me a heart
to believe it. That I desire, that I love what
I hear. I thought, I want that. I want
to be found. Sin is with us. Oh, but by grace
He's given us a new heart. He says, I know thy works and
where thou dwellest. where Satan's seat is. God's people, by and large, I don't really
know of an exception. Satan's seat, where Satan dwells,
its bottom line is this. It's going to be wherever the
gospel of God's free grace is not preached. That's Satan's
seat. Where man is exalted, where man's
free will is set forth and the Scripture bears out plainly. Man doesn't have a free will. Try to tell somebody, say, show
me in the Scriptures. Show me in the Scriptures where
the Scripture bears out that man has a free will. Man does
not, Jeff. You know that he doesn't. Man
is bound up in trespasses and sin. Man is dead. His will is
not free. Free. Free. Free. You know what free is? No bounds. No bounds. Bound by nothing.
Free. Free. No captive. Free. You open up a prison door. They
said you're free. You mean I'm not bound in it?
No. You're free. You can go. Free. Man, it's not free. I can't do
everything I want to do. I like to fly. Well, try it. Go ahead and do it then. If you're
free. I mean, there's limits. We're bound in trespass. You
have to be quickened. We're dead. Death is bondage. Death is bondage. I mean, if
we're dead in trespasses and sin, then there's some bounds
there. You know what we're going to have to do before a man's
going to believe? God's going to have to give him
life. You had to quicken who were dead. You know, you read
that. A believer understands that.
An unbeliever doesn't. He reads it. He doesn't see it.
He said, I know where you dwell. Even where Satan's feet is. Pergamos was There in Asia, it
was then just a place surrounded by immorality, ungodliness, false
teachings, heinous, God-hating teaching. But I'm going to tell
you, every gospel church is too. Just get out on the road and
start driving. Tell me how long it takes you to find one. Somebody
says, Marvin, you know, don't be so hard. Well, when I get
into verse 14 and on into the doctrine of Balaam and the Nicolaitans,
that's where the Spirit of God explains what He's saying right
here. But suffice it to say, the Lord said, I know where you
are. I know where you dwell. I know
where you are. I placed you there. That's what
1 Corinthians 12, 18, but now has God set the members, every
one of them in the body as it has pleased him. Not only is
every member in this assembly placed, every one of God's people
is placed just exactly and has been given the calling. You say,
well, I don't know what my calling is. Well, I can tell you this,
whatever it is, God put you there. God placed you there. You know,
we're not all hands or eyes. You know, that's what Scripture
says forth in Corinthians. We're not all this. But I'm telling
you, we're one body. We need each other. But not only
has he placed all of the members in this assembly, every assembly
individually, this one, that one there in Cottageville and
over in Todd's Road and Hurricane Road. God put them there. That's
where the Lord put them. God raised them up. Well, we
talk about how thankful we are that we're still here by the
grace of God. He said, I hold the candlesticks
in my hand. I hold them. I put them there.
I placed them there. I know where thou dwellest, Satan's
seat, that place of false, blasphemous, God-hating religion. Scripture says, the Lord says
to him, he says, and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied
my faith. Here's the evidence. He said,
you hold fast my name. Holding fast, you seize. When he says his name, his character. A believer holds fast and seizes,
and he does not Deny the faithfulness of God's Word. God Almighty set
forth that the Father chose a people in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And a believer says, God, the
Father chose a people. And the world says that's not
fair. And a believer says, well, according to God's Word, who
art thou? Old man that replies to guess
God. Who made you God's judge? That's what he's saying. Who
art thou? That replies a believer. When the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I lay down my life for the sheep, a believer says the Lord laid
down his life for the sheep. And the seed of Satan says, no,
he died for everybody. And a believer says, no, he didn't. Scripture bears out all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to
me, I will no wise cast out. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me." And a believer says, all of God's elect are
going to come. And an unbeliever says, no, no. He said, we've got to try to
convince everybody and whoever exercises their free will. And
the believer says, no. He says, I know thy works where
thou dwellest, where Satan's seated. Thou holdest fast my
name. You've not denied my faith. You've not denied my faith. Even
in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr who was
slain among you where Satan dwelleth. You know, in those days there was a man
named Antipas. But let me just, in conclusion,
concluding of this message, because this is where I plan to stop,
just on this verse right here. The sweetness of this verse is
this. When the Lord says, Antipas, Antipas, you say, well, what's
so sweet about that? The Lord knew him. The Lord knew
his name. And this is what the Lord says
about him. In those days where Antipas was my faithful martyr. My faithful martyr. 2 Timothy 2.19 says, Nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure. It means it is steady.
Having this seal. Here is the foundation of God.
This is what is the surety. Here is the steadiness. God said this is the foundation
of God. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. Let every one that nameth the
name of Christ depart from iniquity. A man named Antipas. That's what we know about him.
His name was Antipas. But the Lord's confession of him. He
said he was mine. He was mine. Oh, what a precious
one. He was mine. Let me tell you
what the Lord said about me. Faithful. He was faithful. He was my faithful witness. That's what martyr means. My
witness. God kept Him. God kept Him. And I'm telling you, Antipas
wanted to be kept. He's like Joseph. You know, in
Potiphar's house, when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him, Joseph
said, God forbid that I should do this. God forbid. And she
lied on him. They threw him in prison. You
know the rest of the story. My faithful witness. Turn over Acts 7. There when Stephen was martyred. Acts chapter 7, verse 54. Fifty-four to sixty. Steven preached the gospel to
him, what he did. That's what I mean. You go back
and read what Steven had to say. He just preached the truth to
him. He preached the truth to him. And they, they hated, they
hated what he was saying. Acts 7, 54. And when they heard
these things, they were cut to the heart. They were so mad. hated His guts. And they gnashed
on Him with their teeth, but He, being full of the Holy Ghost,
looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God. Now, you want to know what the
glory of God is. Moses asked the Lord. He said,
Show me Your glory. He said, I'm going to cause all
my goodness to pass before You. declare the name of the Lord.
I'm going to have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. He saw the glory of God, Jesus
Christ, standing on the right hand of God. He said, Behold,
I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right
hand of God. You talk about... I'm thinking,
What a sight, what confidence. You think, here's a man, he's
leaving, just a few minutes, maybe not even a few minutes,
because they're getting ready to take him out and stone him.
But what confidence, what assurance. God opened up the heavens and
gave this man sight to see, and he said, I see the Son of Man
standing on the right hand of God, they cried out with a loud
voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord
and cast him out of the seat and stoned him. And the witnesses
laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul,
Saul of Tarsus. Paul later said, he said, that
was me. He said, I held their coat. They stoned Stephen. calling
upon God, not them, Stephen, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit. He kneeled down and cried with
a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. When he
had said this, he fell asleep. There were some. I know Saul
of Tarsus was one of them. Some of God's elect. The Spirit
of God gave Stephen a heart to pray. Lord, don't charge him
with this. faithful, faithful martyr. The Lord said, I know where you
are. You do not deny my faith, even
those days when Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain
among you where Satan dwelleth. The Scripture says forth that
this man died to the glory of God. And the Lord commended that
assembly. and told him, he said, I know
where you are. I know what you're doing. When
Antipas was slain, I think about Psalm 116, 15. Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. You know, our
old flesh, we look at it, and we do. I heard Brother Scott
say it. You know, death is not natural
to man. I mean, sin. We die because we
sinned. But man was not created, you
know, originally. Man died when he rebelled against
God. But sin has caused death. And death is not natural to us. And there's a fearfulness that
we have. That old man right there, you
know, somebody say, well, I'm not afraid. Well, you're not
being truthful. There's some things that we don't
know. But I do know this. Precious. Precious. This is a precious thing. Precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Those that He set apart. Those
sanctified ones. Those that are made holy in His
Son. Those robed in His righteousness. That's precious. When one of
God's people die, when the Lord calls them to Himself, that's
a precious thing to the Lord. This man died, but he died in
the faith for the honor and glory of God. If we'd be called upon to suffer
as a witness, as a martyr, whether it be in persecution, whether
it be in death, Lord, may it be for the glory of God. May the Lord be pleased to look
upon me I'll answer for me. You answer for yourself. Lord,
I pray that you might see a work of faith in me, a labor of love,
a patience of hope. Lord, may you look upon me and
say to me, by your grace, my faithful witness, my faithful
martyr, to the glory of God. Amen. Let's take a break.