The lesson this morning is found
in Revelation 2. I'm going to try to cover the
whole lesson here in verses 12-17. What we're studying here is what
our Lord commanded John to write to the pastors of these churches. and this morning in particular
to the church at Pergamos. And in doing so, after he speaks
to that church, each one tells us this, he that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. And in
doing this, he's showing us all these situations in which his
church dwells, where it's at, what it's doing, what they are
by nature, what those are by nature around them. He's showing
to them problems by pointing out individual churches, and
yet these problems exist in all his churches. So in saying some
words to a few churches in particular, he's exhorting all his churches
throughout all ages. Now this morning we're going
to be looking at what he says to Pergamon. And so far, I haven't
went through to Chequemal, but so far our Lord has taken these
churches in geographical order. He's going right up the coastline
of the Aegean Sea. So first he spoke to Ephesus,
and then there's a little peninsula that goes out, and on the other
side of that was Smyrna. And then so many more miles up
the coastline and inland about 20 miles from the Aegean Sea
is where Pergamos was. And there's a big river that
flows down through there and a big valley. And Pergamos was
on a high hill overlooking that valley all the way out to the
sea. The name Pergamos means high or lofty. The city was situated
on a high hill. was lofty in its geography. And during the Roman rule, it
was a metropolis. It was always a good-sized city. It's got all kind of outstanding
historical facts. They had the second largest library
in the world. And Anthony, y'all familiar with
Anthony and Cleopatra, Anthony, under Roman rule, gave the library
at Pergamos to Cleopatra, whose big library there in Egypt was
the largest in the world. But during the Roman times, this
city, which was probably 15,000, 20,000 population most of the time swelled
to 200,000. So it was a metropolis under
Roman rule. And I kind of suspect that because
of its view and its long history of idolatry and its location,
it was just a magnet for every kind of temple and shrine and
monument and altar in the world. Now, I looked this up, and you
can too. I just typed in pictures of Pergamos,
and it took me back there, and it just had picture after picture
after picture of all these ancient ruins. in Pergamos and told you
what they were and so on. Gave you all the historical facts
concerning all of these things. Now let's read through our text
and then I'll make some comments. Revelation 2 beginning with verse
12. And to the angel of the church
in Pergamos write, these things saith he which hath a 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 Antipas was my fateful martyr, who was slain among you
where Satan dwelt. 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 I'll give a white stone,
and in that stone a new name written, which no man knoweth,
saying, He that receiveth it. Now there's five things that
I want you to see in these six verses. And I'm not going to,
I'm trying to eliminate as much as possible a lot of repetition. Where he says, I know thy works,
we've already gone over that with both Ephesus and Smyrna
and I don't see any need to keep going over that. But there's
five things here that I want you to see in these six verses. First thing I want you to see
is that the Savior carries a sword. We worship a Savior with a sword. You ever think about it in that
way? He has a sword. He has a sword. And He stands
before this church and speaks to this church and tells her
where she lies and where she dwells. and talks to her about
her problems with the sword in His hands. Why would Christ speak
to His church with a sword drawn? Why would He do that? Why would
Christ depict Himself as the Savior with a sword? You ever
think about it? Well, the sword in the hands
of the Savior is a figure of our being separated. It's a figure
of our of sanctification, if you will, in this world. In Matthew
10, verse 34, our Lord said to His disciples, think not that
I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. A sword. For I am come to set
a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against
her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And
a man's foes shall be them of his own household." And then
over in John chapter 15, verse 19, he said, if you were of the
world, the world would love his own.
But because you're not of the world, But I've chosen you out
of the world, therefore the world hateth you." This sword is a
sanctifying sword in His hand. It's what separates us from this
world. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory, but it's Christ in you also that separates you from
this world. Secondly, this sword is a symbol
of the Word of God. Sometimes it's called the sword
of the Spirit. And later on in his verses, he
says, I'll come to you quickly with the sword of my mouth. That's
what he's talking about. He's talking about his Word.
Now, I want you to understand something. The Spirit, the Word
says, when we call this the sword of the Spirit. The Spirit, when
He has come, what's He going to do? He's going to take of
the things of Christ and show them unto us. So when we're talking
about the sword of the Spirit, we're talking about that same
sword of Christ. So this is His Word, and He's
the message of the Word, whose name is called the Word of God.
Later on, He's depicted as riding upon a white horse and going
forth to conquer. This sword is drawn and in his
hands to show to his people that his word is actively engaged
in the salvation of their soul. When he speaks to them his word,
he wants them to understand that this sword, the sword of his
word, is engaged for the salvation of their soul. His word is sent
to his people. It's the children's breath. And
it's able. It's able to tear down strongholds
where you say, we need to do other things. We need to get
out here and picket and march. And we need to get people in
government. And we need to get out here and elect people that
will promote godliness and all that
type of thing. We're going to legislate morality.
Now, he'll do it by his word. That's how He's going to do it.
He's going to do it by His Word. And His Word is able to tear
down strongholds, cast down imaginations, and bring every thought into
obedience to Christ. The Word, the Scripture says,
is a sharp two-edged sword, and it's able to strip, expose, and
reveal things as they are, even unto the thoughts and intents
of the heart. God's Word. God's Word can read
your heart as though it were visible. Romans 13.4 tells us this about
that sword. It's a figure of Him who establishes
all rule and bears the sword of His justice. His sword is not drawn to threaten
His church, but to assure her that He is her Lord. and her
Savior, and He's ready to put all His enemies under His feet. Alright, so here's the Savior.
He's speaking. He has a sword. He tells us what
this sword is for. Alright, here's the second thing
I want you to consider in these verses. Where this church is
located to whom He speaks. Revelation 2.13, He said, I know
thy works, and where thou dwellest. even where Satan's seat is. In Pergamos, there was a shrine
built to a god they called Askelpheus. Askelpius is, they have a picture
of one of his statues in ruin, and there was also paintings
and different things that had this figure on there. He kind
of pictures as a kindly old man, and he's carrying this staff,
and the staff has a serpent wound around about it. And do you know
to this day that all medicine is represented by that staff
with that serpent going around it? Huh? Sure is. It's usually right on
the door when you go in the hospital or somewhere in there. It'll
show that staff. It don't show him, but it shows
his staff with a serpent on it. He was the god. He was considered
to be a savior and healer of men. And there was a shrine built
to him. And he was the ancient god of
healing. Some people say that's why, because
of that serpent, that's why the Lord referred to this place as
Satan's Seat. But pictures and history as well
reveal that Pergamos was completely covered with temples and shrines,
temples of Zeus and Athena and all kinds of gods, temple of
Trajan Tell us for us and just on and on and on the list goes.
You can look it up for yourself and read it. And when he's talking
about Satan's seat, it may well describe one particular religion. It can very well do that. But
it also describes all false religions. All false religion. Any idolatrous
religion and all idolatrous religions, whether they be ancient or modern
and whether they be the Temple of Zeus or whether he's talking
about the First Baptist Church. Satan's seed is false religion
and it's where he sits and manifests his influence and power. He doesn't
manifest influence and power in a bar. He manifests influence
and power in false religion. That's where his power to deceive.
Satan's power is deception. It's lies. It's lies. Satan's seat can even refer to
a sinner's heart where the strong man arm keeps his Goods and peace. Satan's seed. He said, I know
where you dwell, even where Satan's seed is. And Satan's seed is
the seed of deception. It's the seed of lying wonders
and fleshly allurement. And God's church, no matter where
it dwells, dwells where Satan's seed is. His seed is in the hearts
of all them that believe not. His seed is in the world who
walk according to the prince of the power of the air. And
he is the spirit who now worketh in the children of disobedience,
referring to religious men. And though Adam sinned by his
own choice and will, yet Satan deceived a woman and had a powerful
influence over Adam when he did sin. No man, I'm telling you this,
no man can truly appreciate the gifts of faith and repentance
and the preaching of the gospel until he has some understanding
of what he is and where he is. Do you know that he said, great
is the mystery of godliness? You know one of the things he
said describing that? Christ was believed on in the
world. You know to whom that's a miraculous
thing? That man who has faith. It's
a miraculous thing to him. To the rest of them, it's just
commonplace. It's just a man coming down the aisle. It's just
a man being baptized. It's just a man joining the church.
It's just a man turning over a new leaf. Not to the believer. To the believer, he's a new creature. This is a man who whole being
was sin and he dwelt where there's nothing but sin. That's where
he lived. And God saved him, called him
out of this world, chose him out of this world. And that world
from in which he was born despises him after that. By nature, a
child of wrath even as others. And then our Lord commends His
church for holding fast His name and His faith in this place where
Satan's seat is. Pergamos, under Roman rule, became
a place of emperor worship. The emperors had temples and
statues and altars. And Asclepius, called the Savior
Healer, had a temple there. And his priests were called a
name that means Chief Bridge Builder. That's what he was called. Chief Bridge Builder. He spanned
the gap between men and Satan. Chief Bridge Builder. And in
Latin, here's what that, I can't pronounce it in the Greek, but
here's what it is in the Latin, and this should have some impact
on you. Pontiffus Maximus. Do you know who wears that title?
Today, the Pope. Don't they call him the Pontiff?
They sure do. And that's his title, Pontiffus
Maximus. And if you trace this thing back
in history, it goes all the way back to Babel. That same title
goes all the way back to Babel. And so, when Julius Caesar, he
was chosen to be Emperor of Rome, made Emperor of Rome, They gave
him the title of Pontifus Maximus. And he'd become known and worshipped
as a god. And there were statues there,
and they had altars out in front of them. And when men passed
by this image of Pontifus Maximus, when they passed by that image,
they were to burn incense and cry aloud, in a loud voice. They were to cry, Caesar is Lord. Antipas said, I ain't doing it.
I'm not doing it. And he suffered the consequences.
And our Lord remarks and gives us his name, my fateful martyr. He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't
bow to those false gods. And he wouldn't do, even under
threatening, he wouldn't do it. All right. Here's the third thing
I want you to see. Two deadly but tolerated doctrines
in this church and in all churches. Now, I want you to understand
something here when I'm talking about false doctrine. False doctrine
is not and will not for long be tolerated in the Church of
Christ. He'll cut it out or he'll pull
his candlestick. He won't tolerate it. You won't
tolerate it. And these false doctrines, when
we talk about false doctrine, it's never to be considered insignificant
or harmless. Never. Warning after warning
after warning. They're called by the Apostle
Peter damnable heresies. which bring swift destruction
on them that hold to such things, and draw men and women away from
the truth, and they cause the word of God to be evil spoken
of." Now, in the church at Pergamos, there were some who held to the
doctrine of Balaam. What in the world is that? Fence
straddler. That's what that is. He's a fence
straddler. He wanted both sides. He wanted
it both ways. Worship God, but he wanted friendship
with the world. He wanted both sides. That's
Baal. He wants to be recognized as
a Christian, but live in harmony with the world. He wants to go
to church and fellowship with the saints, and then go to the
bar and fellowship with the world. He wants to eat at the Lord's
table and then go down to the feast of the idols and eat that
meat sacrificed unto idols. He wants both ways. And then there were some there
in the church of Pergamos who held and practiced the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans. Now they practiced gross sins,
gross sins, open adultery and fornication. Wife-swapping. All of these things. You thought
that was something new. That ain't something new. That's
been going on thousands of years. But these men professed to be
Christians and yet went down and practiced these things and
practiced them openly. And listen to this. It says which
thing our Lord said, I hate. And these are some of the things
that Peter talks about and says that the Word of God shall be
evil spoken of. That's why. That's why. False doctrine, don't you hear
me, always leads to immorality or idolatry or both. All right, here's the next thing.
Our Lord said, repent or else. Repent or else. You know, the lives of some of
the greatest believers record some of the most serious and
wicked things that have ever been. Did you know that? Did you know the psalmist David,
the man after God's own heart? the prophet of God who wrote
the Psalms, this man with whom God established His everlasting
covenant, this man lusted after another man's wife, plotted his
death, and this man was his friend, faithful servant of David, plotted
his death, figured out exactly how he could do this and have
his wife and nobody would ever know. And he got away with it
for a little while until God sent his prophet. And he told
him about this man who had a lamb, this woman, this woman. And this man came and took it.
Oh, he said, you show me the man. Bring him here to me. Tell
me where he's at. He said, thou art a man. Thou
art a man. But I'm going to tell you something.
David repented. He repented. And God came to
him and exposed those sins. He didn't let him get away with
them. He came and exposed those sins to him. caused him to be
brokenhearted over those things. And David pleaded with the Lord
and repented. And the Lord forgave him. And
forgave him. Now, there were consequences
to his sin. There were consequences to it.
But God didn't cast him out. He didn't cast him out. God's
message to all who profess to hold his name but live contrary
to his will is repent or else. He doesn't say repent and then
stands back and does nothing. He said repent or else. Or else what? I will come. I'll come and set things straight. I'll come. I'll come unto thee quickly.
Now listen to this. And I will fight against them
with the sword of my mouth." He'll expose them, judge them,
take them out of the way. Now, here's what I want you to
see. He does not say, I'll come quickly and fight against my
church. Does he? He says, I'll fight
against them. I'll fight against them. I'll
fight against any. He's not going to fight against
His church or against any who repent, but against those who
will not repent. I'll fight against them. And
my weapon will be the sword of my mouth. Now, God's Word and
the power of His Spirit is the weapon by which the enemies of
the church are exposed and condemned. Men's words. Now, hear what I'm
telling you this morning. These things, I'm going over
these things very quickly, but I want you to consider them.
Everything I'm telling you, I'm dead serious about. Men's words
carry little force. I can stand up here and I can
preach and what those men used to call hellfire
and brimstone. I can stand up here and I can
preach all day long and I can say this and say that and it
just rolls off of people's backs like water off a duck's back.
Has no effect on them whatsoever. But I'm going to tell you something,
when He comes, when He comes and speaks through His messenger,
gives them His Word, His sword, it has all the force of the Godhead. And the man to whom he speaks
knows it. He knows it. Now, he said, you repent, or
else I'll come. I'll come. And I'll come quickly.
All right. Here's the fifth thing I want
you to see. Verse 17. This is our Lord's exhortation
to persevere. 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." How do believers overcome? We ain't got no power. We fight
against principalities and powers and things not seen. He can take us captive at his
will. We don't have any power. How can we overcome? Listen to
what John says over here in 1 John 5, verse 4. Whatsoever is born
of God overcometh. Nothing else will, but that man
will. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Because his salvation is not
dependent on himself, his power is not dependent on himself,
it's dependent on God. And if God be for us, who can
be against us? This is the man who overcomes
the man of faith, the man who's rested and trusted in Christ. Now to those who overcome, the
Lord gives two great promises. First of all, He said, I'll give
him to eat of the hidden manna. Now John tells us what this manna
is over in his gospel. It's Christ. He said, this is the bread which
came down from heaven. It's He that came down to do
the will of His Father. This is the manna. He said, I'm
the bread. If any man eat of me, he'll live
forever. I'm the bread. I'm the manna.
But it's hidden from this world. Hidden from this world. John 6.35, in his true character and person
and work, He's hidden from men. After he declared to them that
he was the bread which came down from heaven, I'm the bread, he
turned right around and told them, he said, but I tell you
this, you've seen me and yet believe not. It's hidden manna. So the overcoming
believer feeds on the hidden manna, and secondly, he says
to the overcoming believer, that he shall receive a white stone,
and in that stone a new name written, which no man knoweth
except the one who received it." Now, you can go back. I went,
took concordances and stuff and went all the way through the
Old Testament. There's nothing in there about a white stone.
Now, you're really stretching things if you want to take that,
those stones, that onyx stone, which 99% of the time is black,
but it does, come in other colors, and sometimes
it comes in white and so on, but white doesn't really depict
the sinner. Black depicts the sinner, and
it's the sinner whose names are written on our Lord and borne
up on his shoulders and over his heart. So you're going to
have trouble there, and you're going to have some more trouble
if you try to take the Urim and the Thummim and try to make that
end to be the white stone. I believe what's going on here
is John is speaking to the people, or Christ is speaking to John
about the people and telling him to write these things, and
he's doing it in a language that they would understand. So it
was something common in their day to which he's referring here
when he talks about this white stone. And there's three things,
I believe, that could be considered. First of all, it was an ancient
custom under Roman rule that when a man was tried for a crime
and found guilty that a black stone was tossed into an urn.
But if he was acquitted of the crime, a white stone was cast
into the urn. But in that, it's never mentioned
that the man's name was inscribed on the stone. The stone was just
a symbol. But he could be talking about
that. Christ is our justification. were fully justified in Christ,
declaring our God to be righteous in his remission of sins. And
he's the stone upon which his church is built and a stumbling
stone to all those who believe not. So he could have some application
there. Secondly, it was also an ancient
custom for a victor in the Olympic games to receive a white stone
with his name inscribed on it. He was the victor. He was the
victor. And they gave him this white
stone with his name written on it. which when presented, he
wore it on the outside. And when it was presented, it
enabled him to enter into the big feast and celebrations at
the end of the games. He could go in and celebrate
the victory. And so I don't think I have to
get into that to explain to you how that he that overcometh,
he that is the victor, he's got a victory over this world in
Christ. And he's going to have this white stone with a new name
on it, and it's going to cause him to be welcomed into heaven's
glories. And then there was an ancient
custom of wearing an amulet, which had both the name of his
God on one side and his name inscribed on the other side of
the stone. And this stone was proudly worn
so that all who could see it would know, especially his enemies,
But if they did damage to him, they did damage, this was an
assault on his God. And so that could be, have a
good application in this white stone. And then there was one
other one, if I've got time to get it out, there was a thing
called a I think is how you say it, or
a tricellar or something like that. And it was a white stone
given of anybody in prominence in Rome. Anybody who was recognized
as a dignitary or had some high classification was given this
stone. And that stone enabled him to
go into any, it was like a key to the city. He could go in anywhere
he wanted to go. This thing was a passage for
him to go there. And Paul tells us, as far as
an application to this, he tells us, he said, don't you know that
the world is yours? It's yours. Were you talking about a preacher?
Were you talking about the food you eat? Or were you talking
about the weather on the outside and how you survive it and so
on, God's providence, all of these things? The world's yours. You're heirs of God. You're dignitaries
in heaven's glory. Did you know that? Kings and
priests under God.