I'll read a few verses of this
first chapter and then we'll turn over to the twelfth and
thirteenth verse of the second chapter. Let me read these verses
to you. The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave unto him, that is, unto John, to show unto his
servants things which must shortly come to pass. and he sent and signified it
by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the word of
God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that
he saw. Blessed is he that and they that
hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are
written therein. For the time is at hand. John to the seven churches which
are in Asia. Grace be unto you and peace from
him which is and which was and which is to come, and from the
seven spirits which are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and
the Prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us,
and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And he hath made
us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory
and dominion for ever and ever. Behold, he cometh with the clouds,
and every eye shall see him. and they also which pierced him.
And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, saith the Lord, which is and which was. and which is to come, the Almighty. Now turn over with me to the
second chapter. I want to read that twelfth and
thirteenth verse. of the church of 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 seat is. and thou holdest fast
my name, and hast not denied my faith,
even in those days wherein Antippius was my faithful martyr, who was
slain among you where Satan dwelleth. Our Lord is pictured here as
the captain of the Lord's host, the captain of the Lord's army,
and he carries with him a sword with two edges. John the Baptist once said of
the Lord Jesus, that his fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly
purge his floor, and will gather his wheat into the garner, and
he will also burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." In other words, He is full of
grace, but he is also full of truth. And he will set as a refiner
and a purifier of silver and gold, and shall purify the sons
of Levi. And the question arises, and
we need to remember it, that says, may abide the day of his coming,
and who shall stand when he appears. He will turn the sword against
those within the church that has no right to be there. Those who are not Christians
in heart yet profess to be so. He says here in this verse that
I read to you, I know thy works and where thou dwellest. I know
the place that you're at, and I know the position that you're
in. He said, I know that thou holdest
fast my name, and hast not denied my faith. Now, where it says
there in that thirteenth verse, Thou holdest fast my name, and
hast not denied my faith, the name of Christ here is made to
be identical with the faith of Christ. Those two expressions. Thou holdest my name and hast
not denied my faith. The name of Christ is made identical
with the faith of Christ. The name means the person. the character, the work, and
the teaching of Christ, said, Thou holdest fast my name, his
person, his work, his character, and his teaching, and hast not
denied my faith. The person and the work and the
character and the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ is the
faith of true believers. That is the faith of true believers,
his person and his work, his teaching and his character. That
is the faith of the believer. Now, we can never hold the faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ correctly except as we see the Lord Jesus
Christ to be the center of what we hold to be truth. He's got
to be the center of all of it. He's got to be the top of it
and the bottom of it. He's got to be both sides and
overhead. The Bible puts it like this.
It talks about Him being the sum and the substance of all
things. It talks about Him being Christ
in all. And now we'll never understand
and never hold to the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ right or
correctly until we see the Lord Jesus Christ as all in all, as
the center of it, all of it, from our election We talk about
election before time. We talk about God's sovereign
choice, that God the Father and God the Son and God the Spirit,
the Holy Trinity, fixed their eyes upon so many out of Adam's
fallen race before the world ever was and elected them in
Christ Jesus. and gave them grace in him and
called them in time. And what I'm saying is that we'll
never understand too much about the faith of God's elect and
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ until we see and understand that
Jesus Christ is the center of all this, from our election to
our glorification. He's the sum and substance of
it, the top and the bottom of it. He's the center. He is all
and in all. Now, to the Jews, that was under
the law in the Old Testament, under the old covenant. The Jews,
the law was never in its proper place until it was laid in the
ark and covered with the mercy seat. And I'm sure that the believer
never sees the law write correctly until he sees it fulfilled in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me say that again now. I'm
just positive of this. It's just a certainty with me
that a believer never sees the law correctly until he sees the
law fulfilled. Every jot and tittle of that
law, he won't see it right until he sees it fulfilled, every jot
and every tittle of it, in Jesus Christ our Lord. All in all,
he's the center of it. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the gold ring. And Christ is the diamond which
sets in the middle of the gold ring. He's the sum and the substance,
the top and the bottom. Notice that it says here that
the blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, watches his church
with an observing eye. He said, I know thy works, and
where thou where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. I know your works, and I know
where you're at. I know the position you're in.
I know the condition that you're in. They're in a place where
wickedness prevails, where there is, in all probability, horrible
and terrible orgies It's full of idolatry. And the Lord even
indicates here that it was the citadel of Satan, where they
were, their location, their position in this world. Like we're here
between Mannington and Fairmont in this area that's called Katy. That's our position. That's where
we are as a church. This is where we meet. Although
we live in different places, maybe three or four miles from
here, but this is where we gather. This is the seat right here.
And he says, I know where you dwell. I know where thou dwellest,
even where Satan's seat is. And we are in this world and
can identify with that to a degree. Unbelief evidently reigns supreme
here. in this particular place where
this church was. My mind runs with the mind of
the Lord here when he says, where Satan dwelleth, where his seat
is. It's the capital. It's like Charleston's
the capital of the state and all the government. And laws
were made there at Charleston, and it reaches out to us. And
he indicates here that this is the capital, this is the citadel
of old Satan himself. And you know and I know that
Satan himself is so cunning and so conniving and
deceiving He seeks to take us. He seeks to have us and sift
us like wheat. But the Lord's watching over
us. He's got a watchful, observing
eye, and He knows where we're at, and He knows our situation,
and He knows what we're up against. It was a trying place and a trying
time for the people of God. They probably felt like Lot did
in Sodom. The Bible says that the wickedness
and the idolatry vexed the soul of old Lot. Their wickedness bothered him,
upset him. He wasn't pleased with it. Vect
tormented his soul. The Lord watched over him and
finally delivered him. These people, I'm sure, were
struggling, having a hard time of it. And the Lord consoled them by
letting them know that he knew where they were, and he knew
about their struggles, and he knew about their sorrows and
their grief. He knew about their failure.
These people were placed in a place of trial and difficulty and hazards. But he says, I know where you
dwell, even where Satan's seed is. And the indication is to
me here, anyhow, is if you are faithful and hold fast to his
name and have not denied my faith, And you know that here in this
day in which we live, it's not an easy time to hold fast the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and not deny his faith because
they come at you from every side in our civilization. There's always things laid before
us, snares, that are set there to cause us to stumble and fall. And we've got to watch and be
careful and hold fast the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and
his faith. This place in which we live is
not honey and pie. In saying that, let me say this, Thou holdest fast my name, and
hast not denied my faith. Now, how can the faith of the
Lord Jesus Christ be denied? We know the situation that these
people are in, their position, location, is where Satan dwells,
and so they have a hard time of it. But they are keeping the
faith. They are keeping the faith, and
they are not going to deny the faith in spite of that. But how
can the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ be denied? Well, some
deny the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ when they let go of the
name. of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
when a man lets go of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by not
confessing the name of Jesus Christ, he's denying the faith.
And there may be some here this morning listening to me that
you have let go of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you
say, well, how do I know that? It's because you've never confessed
Him. You've never confessed Him, so you've let His name go. Well,
he says, Whosoever shall confess me before men, shall the Son
of Man also confess him before the angels of God. And he also
says, But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before
the angels of God. And so a man that doesn't confess
the Lord Jesus Christ, confess His name, has denied Him because
he hasn't confessed Him. plain as the noonday sun. It's
clear here that to deny is the same thing as not confessing
Him. If you deny Him, you're not confessing
Him. Now, most people are kind of, for the lack of a better expression,
most people at any given time upon this earth at any place
are kind of in a neutral zone. I'm not against him, but I'm
not for him. That seems to be their take on
this matter. I'm not against him. I won't
fight against him, but I'm not for him. In other words, he says,
he that is not with me is against me. I mean, he's very plain about
that. You can't be in this state of
neutrality, in a neutral zone. You're either for or you're against. And our Lord said, He that is
not with me is against me. And whosoever doth not bear his
cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. That denying,
That denying is not confessing. If a man doesn't confess the
Lord Jesus Christ, confess His name, he denies Him. You say,
Well, I'm not against Him, but I'm not for Him. Then you have
denied Him because you denied His name and you won't confess
Him. Now, you can't hunt with the
hounds and run with the rabbits. Christ is also denied. I believe, by false doctrine. If a man is wrong about the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, well, then he's denied
the Lord Jesus Christ. If a man refuses to believe the
teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ about himself, about his person,
about his character, and about his work, He has denied God in
Christ. Well, the question is to everybody,
to me and to you here this morning, the question to me and you personally
is this. Is Jesus Christ to you and to
me personally, is he the way, the truth, and the life? If he's
not, then you've denied his name, because he himself said, I am
the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Now, if you deny that, then you
have not confessed him, and you've denied the faith, and you've
denied his name. That's what he says. Thou holdest
fast my name." These people held fast to his name, and they have
not denied his faith. And I'm telling you here this
morning how you can deny the faith, and telling you this in
order that you might see the importance of it. You can actually deny the faith
by forsaken the faith, that is, by quitting the people of God.
I've known people in my short lifetime that have identified
with the people of God by confessing the name of the Lord Jesus and
claiming to believe His teachings and claiming Him to be the way,
the truth, and the life and even go so far as to publicly confess
Him by water baptism and go down into the grave and say that I
confess the name of Christ, that He died in my stead, in my place,
in my room. He's my righteousness. He's my
means of acceptance before God. And when He died, I died. And
so I'm going to picture that and then quit the people of God. I've known people that went that
far and they finally have forsaken the people of God, have quit
the people of God. I come to this conclusion that
they have denied His name and denied the faith. That's how
you can deny the faith. By not confessing the name of
Christ, you deny the faith. By quitting the people of God,
you deny the faith. Well, he told of some in the
Bible here that went away from our Lord because of what he taught. They said this is a hard saying,
who can receive it? He was talking about some hard
sayings like the doctrine of election. He talked about Naaman,
as Henry preached to us here the other night. He talked about
old Naaman, he said there were many lepers in Israel at that
time, many lepers, but he said only Naaman was healed. The sovereignty
of God in His choice, in the doctrine of election. He said,
All the Father giveth to me shall come to me, and him that comes
to me I will in no wise cast out. He said, My sheep hear my
voice and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, eternal sovereign election. That's a hard saying. And they
heard that and they said, This is a hard saying. Who can hear
it? And they turned and walked away,
would not follow him no longer. They quit the people of God. They denied the faith by forsaking
the faith. They said, this is a hard saying
and who can hear it? Well, let me say this in light
of that. If you're not prepared to receive
and to accept hard sayings, you need not profess to be a disciple. If you're not prepared to receive
and accept hard sayings, You need not profess to be a disciple. Horrible doctrines is what most
people call this. When you talk about God being
sovereign and God doing as it pleases Him and that God's not
trying to save every single solitary individual in Adam's race, they
say, well, that's a horrible doctrine. Doesn't God give everybody
a chance? Then we say that salvation is
not by chance. Salvation is by the grace of
God. God saves whomsoever he pleases. That's a hard saying. And if
you're not prepared to receive and to accept some hard sayings,
then no need for you to profess to be a disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ, because there's hard sayings. all through the
Bible. Horrible things! There are horrible
things, brethren, that take place all around us, but you can't
change the facts. Four policemen in New York City
shot an unarmed man in a little two-foot doorway. shot him 18 or 19 times, emptied their guns. That's a horrible thing. Horrible
things happen. But you don't change the facts
of them if the fact is that they shot him. And, of course, most
of you know that here the news knew that they found him not
guilty, in their mind and all, and they were thinking that he
had a gun and all that. That, it's a horrible thing that
four people had to, or this man had to die at the hands of four
men. And they shot forty-some times
and hit him nineteen times and shot him in the bottom of the
feet and shot him in the arms and the legs and all. It's a
horrible thing, but it's the truth. It happened. God said
that he chose us before the foundation of the world in Christ. That's
a horrible doctrine. Other people are going to hell,
but he chose us. He chose who would believe him. He chose him. And the result
of his choice is that they came to him, and they won't deny him. They won't deny him. Come hell
or high water, they won't deny him. We're not to judge what
the Bible says by our feelings. We are to receive it and accept
it by the faith of God's elect. Bow to it. Our Lord speaks awful things
about the end of the wicked and unbelievers, that the sheep will
be on one hand and the goats on the other hand, and the sheep
will come into eternal life, and the goats shall go into everlasting
torment." Awful things! But know that God is not capable
of exaggeration. He's not exaggerating when He
says that men who deny Him deny his name, deny his faith. He
says the end of these people will be in an unquenchable fire
where the worm never dies, where there'll be gnashing of teeth. Those are terrible things, and
God's not exaggerating. It's the truth, and I'm telling
you the truth. I know what God says He says
forever, and I know what He says is certain, and there's no doubt
in my mind whatsoever that it's all true. They're facts. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
called the faithful and the true witness. I don't have any plans of turning
from Him. Whatever His teaching is, I have
no plans. I'm making no plans. I don't
think about them, of turning from Him. Regardless of what
happens, I'm not going to turn from Him by the grace of God. Oh, for grace! to cause me and
you to persevere, to hold fast his name and not deny his faith. We must hold the faith of the
Lord Jesus Christ in the love of it, store it up in our affections,
read the Bible, store the Bible up in our affections and our
memories. Remember the promises of God,
that they're all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Hold to the
faith, even in the face of all kinds of opposition, yet hold
fast to the faith. He said, here, he said, Thou
holdest fast, my name. Fast! You've got a good grip
upon it. You won't let it go. You haven't
let it go. You haven't denied my faith. I like that. Hold fast to faith in the truth
of our Lord in spite of hell and high water or whatever opposition
comes our way. We cannot hide our colors. We cannot pull the flag down. We cannot surrender. We cannot
give in. We cannot be ashamed. Paul said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. So we can't be
ashamed of the gospel or be afraid of it. Regardless of ease and
reputation and even our life, we must hang on to it in the
name of our blessed Lord. God help us. We've got to be
willing to bear ridicule for His name's sake. We must be willing
to be thought of and seen as fools for His sake. The Bible says, What shall it
profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul. I mean also by holding fast to
his name, we hold fast to his deity. We hold fast to who he
is. He's God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is God, manifest in the flesh. As I've said a hundred million
times, he's as much God as if He is never man, as much man
as if He is never God. I believe in our Lord's real
Godhood. The Bible says His name shall
be called Wonderful, Excellent, Counselor, and Mighty God. Our Lord is Emmanuel, God with
us. That's who He is. We can never
give up the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ regardless. We've got to hold fast that our
Savior is none other than God manifest in the flesh. That's
who he is. The Bible says, Paul puts it
this way, he said, At the name of Jesus, who is God manifest
in the flesh, who is as much God as if he is never man, as
much man as if he is never God. At his name, let every knee bow
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father, every tongue and every knee. We hold fast
to the royalty of His name. Pilate put on that cross Jesus,
the King of the Jews. He was born King of the Jews. He's King of Kings, Lord of Lords,
the only potentate. You can't deny that. You've got
to hold fast to that. Hold fast with sticky fingers. Don't let it go. Don't quit the
people of God. We hold fast to it. The Bible
says that the Father, God the Father, hath committed all judgment
into his hands. He shall put down all rule and
all authority, for he must reign until his enemies be put under
his feet. We can't give up on him. We must hold fast. When we bow
the knee to pray and say, Thy Kingdom come, we mean the Kingdom
of God and the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. We mean that
he is as a lamb slain in the midst of the throne. That's what
we're talking about. We hold fast the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because we believe in its
saving power. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
his name. I'm not ashamed of his gospel.
or it's the power of God unto salvation. The Bible says, His
name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people
from the guilt and the punishment of their sins. We can't give
up that name. We can't give up that faith. We hold fast to it. We are assured by the Lord Jesus, who is the
faithful and true witness, we are assured that he makes us
just before the Holy God by his own
righteousness freely imputed to us. We hold to that deal. We hold fast to it. He saves us from the punishment
of sin. He died as a victim in our stead,
in our place, in our room. He is our salvation in every
department from its beginning until its end. He is my salvation,
the Psalms say. He is my rock and my high tower
and my covering and my hiding place. He alone, himself, is
my salvation. And it says in the Bible that
there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. In the name of Jesus. He is a unique Savior. There is no possible salvation
now or in the world to come apart from Him. You must bow the knee
to the King of Kings. You must own Him to be yours
because there is no other salvation now or in the world to come. He that believeth not shall be damned. He that believes not the Lord
Jesus Christ to be the Savior of sinners. He that believes
not shall be damned. Now, you can say that any way
you want to. You can say it soft or you can
say it hard, but it comes out the same way, damnation. Damnation. Oh, my soul. We hold fast to his name. Why? Because his name is immutable. It never changes. We change. Seasons change. Worlds change. But he's the same yesterday and
today forever. We hold fast to his name and
dare not deny his faith. We live in an age of progress,
so-called, and we are wanted or told to accept an improved
gospel. It is a time that now is. when every man is his own lawyer. Every man is his own savior. We're going in the direction
of every man putting away his own sin, a do-it-yourself program. We must hold fast to the gospel
that Paul preached. He said, if a man preaches any
other gospel, he said, if an angel comes down from heaven
and preaches any gospel but the gospel that I received and delivered
unto you, how that Christ died and was buried and was resurrected,
that Christ is our righteousness alone. He said, let him be damned. I don't want no new gospel, no
modern gospel. My conviction is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. And the way that the apostle
went to heaven is good enough for me. This name, this faith, this is our message. Not just
mine, but yours. This name and this faith, that's
our message. Our only business is to cry out,
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. We've
got no other business with that. He didn't send us here to set
up a soup kitchen to feed the hungry. Well, it's all right,
but that's not our main business. Our main business is to cry out,
Behold the Lamb of God! The one message which God has
given to His people is to proclaim salvation through the Lamb and
through His precious blood. We have nothing else to say which
is not involved in in the revelation revealed to us by God in Christ
that He is the Savior of sinners. If we preached in any other name,
then a man would have a right to reject it. But we don't preach
in any other name. We preach in His name, and His
name alone. Hold fast to that which is essential
to God's salvation, that we are accepted and justified only by
faith in the righteousness freely imputed by Jesus Christ unto
us. What do you think of all that?
Hold fast. Hold fast, don't let go. Hold
fast to that name, and don't deny His face. There wasn't too many of these
people. That was just a small church
in the midst of a sea of wickedness, and they had difficulties that
surrounded them. Everything was opposed to them
and against them. They were hated for what they
believed. But they didn't quit. And we can't either. And I'll quit by saying, have
you heard His Word? and responded to it and bowed
in your heart and owned up to God that you are a sinner for
whom he came to save. If you're the sinner that Christ
came to save, own him and bow to him in Jesus' name. This stand will be dismissed.