Chapter 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 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, 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 heap things sacrificed to 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. Now pergamos, the word, the name
means exalted, lofty, or elevated. It was a city built on a large,
huge, rocky crag in Asia Minor. The Romans made it a capital
in the province. In Pergamos, there was a Greek
god for healing named Asclepius, and they worshipped him there. They had an emblem for him. As
I read about this god of healing among the Gentiles, I was reminded
of the Balian ruins where they had serpents as images of their
gods. Well, the image of this Greek
god of healing was a serpent. and to you who know the Lord. That's throughout the scriptures
used as a symbol of Satan, and therefore our Lord calls Pergamos
the place where Satan's seat is. There was also a great altar
to the Greek god Zeus in the city of Pergamos, as well as
many other pagan altars to pagan deities or imaginary deities. In addition to those things,
Pergamos was one of the major centers for emperor worship.
There was a temple there dedicated to the worship of Caesar, and
all who dwelt in Pergamos were expected to bow before Caesar's
altar and say, Caesar is Lord. It was all right for them to
bow to the snake, it was all right for them to bow to Zeus,
it was all right for them to bow even to Jesus, numbered among
the other gods in Pergamos, as far as the unregenerate were
concerned, but they must all acknowledge that Caesar is Lord. Because Antipas, a faithful man
in that city, refused to do so, he was put to death. And there
were some in Pergamos who were fearful for that reason, and
they had denied the faith. The majority, as our Lord speaks
in this passage of Scripture, were obviously faithful to the
cause of Christ, faithful to the gospel. They held fast to
Christ's name and did not deny his faith. But there were some
who tried to saddle the fence. like most do in our day. Though
they claimed to be Christians, they were perfectly willing to
compromise with the pagans so that they could get along. After
all, they had family and friends in these churches. they followed
the doctrine of Balaam. In order to avoid persecution,
they tried to remove the offense of the cross by incorporating
the worship of the unregenerate, the worship of false gods, the
worship of all these imaginary deities with the worship of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They would offer incense to Caesar,
eat meat in the temple of Asclepius, pay homage to Zeus, and then
they would come with the people of God on Sunday and try to worship
Jesus Christ. Everything was fine. They got
along fine as far as they were concerned. Others in the church
went beyond this. They held to the doctrine of
Balaam, but they held something else. They thought of the licentious
practice of the Nicolaitans. These Nicolaitans, as I've told
you before, were base antinomians. searched out as far as I could
get with historic reference to them. This is the only reference
to them in the scriptures, and I've read some modern commentators,
and I've read some of the older commentators, but I decided I
want to find out just who these Nicolaitans were. Well, all the
way back to the writings of the fourth century, I discovered
that these Nicolaitans were just exactly as they've been described
throughout history. They were men and women who claimed
to worship Jesus Christ, who claimed to be saved by God's
free grace, but they were base antinomians. They really did
believe. that since we're saved by grace,
we can live like hell and it doesn't make any difference.
It was a common practice among the Nicolaitans to swap wives
with one another, a common practice to openly commit fornication
without shame, without blushing. These things, after all, were
acceptable among the Gentiles and ought to be acceptable among
us, they thought. Now notice how our Lord stands
before this church and what character He presents Himself. Look at
verse 12. These things saith he which hath the sharp sword
with two edges. Try to get the picture. The Lord
Jesus stands before the door of this church with a sword drawn
in his hand ready to do battle. This sharp double-edged sword
which the Son of God uses in battle is the Word of God. And
there are two reasons for this picture. First our Lord will
have us to understand that he will destroy those who defile
his name. He speaks to those in the church,
by profession at least, those who claim to be believers, who
hold to the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.
And he says to them in verse 16, repent or else I will come
to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He says, I will fight against
them, not against my church, not against my people, but against
you who are in my church, who claim to be my disciples, but
have in reality forsaken me while you still claim allegiance to
me. There's a parallel passage in
Matthew chapter 3. You'll remember when John the
Baptist came and spoke of the Lord Jesus, he said, there's
one coming after me, whose shoes I'm not worthy to stoop down
and unloose. And he is preferred before me because he was before
me. He says, he will come and baptize you not just with water,
but with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand. And he will thoroughly purge
his floor and gather his wheat into the garner. but he will
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Christ's love for his church,
Christ's love for his people in this world, is manifest by
his judgment against those who are traitors within the walls
of Zion. The word of God is a sword in
his hand. It is a sword of judgment and
destruction to hypocrites. By the preaching of the word,
as I endeavor to preach the gospel to you tonight, if God is pleased
to speak by me, by the preaching of the gospel, wherever God speaks
through a man, his word to the hearts of men, by the preaching
of the gospel, our Lord disciplines his church. And this is what
I mean by that. He sends his angels, his messengers,
to separate the wheat from the chaff. He binds up the tares
for the burning as the gospel is preached. In Matthew chapter
13 in verse 30, our Lord tells us that in the kingdom of heaven,
that is in every local assembly just like this, there are wheat
and tares, there are sheep and goats, and you'll find them everywhere. And the disciples, like us, they
said, well, let's get rid of the tares. Let's pull them up.
And our Lord says, you leave them alone. You leave them alone,
because you don't have enough sense to know the difference.
You jerk up the wheat and leave the tares. He says, you leave
them alone, and I will send my angels, and they will bind up
the tares for the burning, and they will gather my wheat into
my garden. Now, this is what he's saying.
as the gospel of grace is preached, and God the Holy Spirit speaks
by the words of a man, his word to the hearts of men. It does
one of two things. It either gathers wheat to his
garner, it is either a saver of life unto life, or it binds
up tares for the burning, and is a saver of death unto death.
The same sun that melts the wax, hardens the clay. And the same
gospel that melts the hearts of God's elect, of his sheep
in repentance, hardens the heart of the reprobate in unbelief
and in hypocrisy. Our Lord tells us here that he
turns his sword against those within his church who have no
right to be there. Such a sight ought to make every
hypocrite tremble, but nothing makes hypocrites tremble. It's
amazing to me. It's amazing to me. I try ministering
to folks. I talk to folks. I meet with
folks. I have for all these years now.
And it seems that as God deals with them in providence, as God
brings one judgment after another at their feet, making them to
see with certainty the matter of divine judgment, as God opens
his word clearly before men and proclaims clearly the judgment
that awaits the hypocrite, you think, man, that's going to make
them shake in their boots. No, not the hypocrite. Not the
hypocrite. Nothing moves them. Nothing affects
them. Our Lord also presents himself
here as a man of war with a sword drawn for the comfort of his
church to defend us. He's saying to the faithful,
I'll defend you. I will fight off those who attack
you and I will destroy your enemies and I will purge you of the wicked
within you who would defile you. The Lord Jesus then is our Joshua. As a matter of fact, the word
Jesus in the New Testament is the very same word that would
be translated Joshua. If we look at it in that perspective,
Jesus was typified by Joshua. And he will chase the enemy before
us, leading us onward, conquering and to conquer. Now in this letter
to Pergamos, our Lord's purpose is this. He writes this letter
to encourage you and I in faith and faithfulness. He encourages
us here to persevere, holding fast his name and his faith. Let me show you three or four
things that are clear and obvious in this letter. Number one, look
at verse three or verse 13. The name of Christ And the faith
of Christ are one and the same. Now let that sink in. It needs
to be heard. So many times you hear folks
say, well, but, you know, he believes in Jesus. He doesn't
believe in Christ unless he believes the faith of Christ. But they
say, I called on Jesus. You haven't called on Jesus unless
you've called on Jesus Christ in the context of the faith which
he reveals and which is in him. Our Lord says here, Thou holdest
fast my name and hast not denied my faith. The two things are
identical. They can never be separated.
The faith of Christ is the gospel. It has Christ for its center,
Christ for its circumference, and Christ for its sum. The name
of Christ, that is his person, his character, his work, his
teachings, is the gospel of Christ. It is the faith of Christ. We
use names these days and we call our children by names because
that's the name that's given in the family. It's a name of
some relative in the family that just sounds pretty. Our crazy
mamas and daddies these days give kids names because they
sound stupid. You know, that's just different. We'll call him
something he has to live with the rest of his life. But in
the scriptures, Names identified people for certain characteristics
that were either family characteristics or characteristics expected with
hope of the child. Now here, when we talk about
the name of Christ, don't ever try to separate, don't allow
anything in your mind to separate His name, Jesus Christ the Lord,
from His character, the Christ, who is our Savior, the Sovereign
Lord. The two are identical. You cannot
have his name without his character. You cannot have his name without
his faith. The great doctrines of the gospel,
all of them are intimately connected with the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
They are the rays, he's the sun. We never hold the faith of Christ,
except as we hold Jesus Christ himself as the center and object
of faith. In the faith of the gospel, Christ
is everything, everything. And you do not understand any
doctrine right, until you understand it as being in Christ, from Christ,
by Christ, for Christ. We are chosen of God, but God's
election is the choice of His people in Christ. We are redeemed
by precious blood, but it's the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. We are forgiven of sin, but forgiven
of sin only because of Christ, in Christ, and for Christ's sake.
Do you see what I'm talking about? is the righteousness of Christ
imputed to us. Our sanctification is the righteousness
of Christ imparted to us. And the glorification awaiting
us is conformity to Jesus Christ in his person and in his position
as our mediator, the God-man, our Savior. The same is true
with regard to the gospel as it was in the law in the Old
Testament. In the Old Testament, the Jews never looked upon the
law as in its rightful place until it was tucked away under
the mercy seat in the Ark of the Covenant where the blood
was sprinkled. And with regard to the gospel, the golden ring
of the gospel is our faith. And the diamond sitting in the
middle of the ring is Christ crucified. Everything in this
book, everything relating to our faith, is Jesus Christ the
Lord. All the doctrines of the book
are the doctrine of Christ. All the precepts of the book
are the precepts of Christ. We do not simply proclaim to
men doctrine for doctrine's sake. We don't proclaim to men morality
for morality's sake. We don't proclaim to men anything
just for the sake of entertaining their minds or tickling their
brains, but rather we proclaim to men the truth of Christ. That's not up for debate. We
declare to men the way of Christ. Any doctrine separated from Christ
is heresy. Any precept separated from Christ
is legality. Any morality separated from Christ
is just self-righteousness. All right, now that's the first
thing to be learned. The name of Christ and the faith
of Christ are identical. Here's the second thing. There
are many who deny the faith and the name of Christ. In Pergamos
there were some who held to the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans. And as our Lord identifies these
two, he is telling us that these people are such as he hates. Do you see that? Which thing
also I hate? The doctrine of Balaam and the
doctrine of the Nicolaitans was not a matter of indifference.
It was not something to say, well, it's alright for you to
believe that if you want to. It's alright for you to behave
that way if you want to. But our Lord says, no, these
things I hate. And he identifies those who hold
to the doctrine of Balaam and to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans
as men and women who have utterly departed from the faith, having
denied his name and his faith. Now this is a painful fact. But
a fact it is, and one we have to deal with. In every local
church, there are now, always have been, and always will be,
both true believers and mere religious professors. Those who
hold to the faith, and those who deny the faith. That's true
of every true local church. How is it that men and women
deny Christ and his faith? Our Lord identifies two or three
ways here. Sometimes there is denial by
cowardice, just sheer cowardice. Antipas, his faithful martyr,
bravely and boldly confessed to him in the face of death and
endured it. But there are those who choose
not to confess him. I realize that some of our Lord's
disciples are secret disciples for a while, as were Nicodemus
and Joseph of Arimathea. But secret disciples are always
suspect disciples. Those who confess Christ and
the faith of the gospel only among their friends by their
silence deny him. Those who know the truth but
refuse to confess the truth in the teeth of the Lord's enemies
virtually deny the truth. I know people say, well, I don't
think we ought to offend people. We certainly shouldn't try to
shove anything down somebody's throat. We must not judge anyone.
We must try to get along with everyone. Now, if you have that
opinion, I want you to hear the Lord's words. This is what he
says. I'll give you his words without
comment. I came not to send peace, but a sword. He said, he that is not with
me is against me. And he that gathereth not with
me scattereth abroad. Our Lord says, whosoever doth
not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And this is what that means,
Bob. If you're his, if I'm his. If our sons and daughters are
His, if we're His, we're going to confess Him. He'll see to
it. He'll see to it, sooner or later,
that we confess Him, even before His enemies. Nicodemus, the member
of the Sanhedrin, when the Jews gathered in their council in
John 7 to put the master to death, Nicodemus at last was compelled
to choose between Christ and the Sanhedrin, and he spoke up
for him. In John chapter 19, when Joseph
of Arimathea came at last to confess Christ, he confesses
him before the very man who had hanged him. When Peter, who had
denied the Lord Jesus in Pilate's judgment hall, stood before the
Sanhedrin. And the Sanhedrin asked him by
what name and authority he and John had healed that impotent
man by the temple's gate. Peter looked at them. This is
one of the most instructive words in all Scripture with regard
to confessing Christ. He looked at those Jews who had
crucified the Son of God. He knew well what they had done
and they did too. And he knew how he could appease
them. He knew exactly how he could
please them. He knew exactly how to get along
with them. All he would have to do was this. He would say,
now fellas, we have healed this man and he stands before you
whole in the name of Jehovah God, the one true and living
God. They said, amen brother, that's
right. And Peter would have been telling the truth. But he would
have been denying Christ. Because he knew what was the
point of their rebellion. And the point of their rebellion
was Jesus Christ himself. So Peter stands before them and
he says, now fellas, be it known to you that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, the one you hung on the tree, the one you
crucified, this man stands here before you whole. Now you do
what you have to. I've done what I had to. I've
confessed it. Now I'm telling you that if we
would follow Christ, we must confess it. Others denied the
Lord Jesus by compromise. In Pergamos there were some who
embraced the doctrine of Balaam and others who embraced the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans. Neither was an open denial of
the gospel. Neither was. Balaam did not teach
Balaam nor the children of Israel to deny God and his worship.
No sir. He did not teach them to deny any aspect of gospel
truth. No sir. What he did teach them
was this. Fellas get along. Get along. Figure out a way to get along
with these folks. If you're going to live here, you've got to get along.
So what you need to do is don't tell them that God is only worshiped
where God says He's worshiped. Tell them you're going to worship
God, but you'll worship with Him too. You'll get together
with them, tell them it'll be alright. Just incorporate the
worship of false deities with the worship of God. Now you can
read it in Numbers 25 through chapter 13. And in those chapters,
the Word of God makes it plain. This is what Balaam did. He persuaded
the children of Israel to worship God, mixing the worship of God
with the worship of idols. That's a denial of Christ by
compromise. And I'm telling you, I'm telling
you. No, I'm not telling you, our
Lord tells it right here. Those who would mix the worship
of Christ. with the worship of the gods
of this age. Those who would mix free will
and free grace. Those who would mix law and grace. Those who would mix the works
of man with the works of God for God's salvation. Those men
have denied Christ by compromise, and the reason for doing so is
because they're determined, if they can, to get along with folks
and still try to hold on to truth, which they know is truth. Others
deny him by corruption. The Nicolaitans. They're still with us. This is
what the Nicolaitans said. The Nicolaitans said faith in
Christ doesn't really require godliness. Faith in Christ doesn't
really require that we walk before him with devotion and consecration.
Faith in Christ doesn't really demand that we give ourselves
to him, that we surrender all to him. And then those men denied him
by their conduct, like many today. The Apostle Paul brings this
down real practical. You might say, well, you know,
a believer doesn't have to do certain things. He doesn't have
to do this, doesn't have to do that. You don't have to do anything,
but I'll tell you some things a believer will do. In the tenor
of his life, he'll do right, and he'll do what's right. This
is the difference between what we preach to men and what the
Reformed folks and the Arminians, everybody else says, I'm not
telling you what believers ought to be, I'm telling you what they
are. This is what believers are. This is what Paul said. He said,
if any man provide not for his own, and especially for those
of his own house, that man is denied the faith and is worse
than an infidel. Wow. That's not even talking about
fornication and adultery. That's not even talking about
drunkenness and dope payers. That's not talking about stealing, murder,
anything like that. What's he talking about? He's talking about
just doing what's right. Just doing what's right. Believers
do. In the tenor of their lives,
they're ruled by the will of God, for the glory of God, with
hearts of gratitude for the grace of God. Morality will never produce
faith, but faith always produces something more than morality.
It produces godliness. This was the era of the Nicolaitans.
They held the truth in the creed, but denied it in life. Now, it
doesn't matter what I say I believe. That doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter how accurate and precise my doctrine is. If my manner
of life is contrary to the gospel of Christ, then I'm an infidel
and an unbeliever. And you too. That's just exactly
right, isn't it, Lindsay? That's just exactly right. Then our Lord tells us here that
all true believers hold fast the name of Christ and will not
deny the faith. Oh yeah, they fall like Peter. And if he leaves us to ourselves,
we'll fall a thousand times a day. They may even deny Christ for
a season, but none of God's elect will permanently and totally
deny him. It won't happen. In the tenor
of their lives, God's people are faithful. They persevere
in the faith. This is the teaching of scripture.
The Lord says, I'll give you one heart and one way, and I'll
fix it so you won't depart from me. He says, I'll give them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Believers are many women who
hold the faith and name of Christ steadfast. How do you hold his
name and his faith? We hold his name and his faith
with the full consent of our minds. That which is revealed
in the word, we believe. We believe it. We just believe
it. Somebody says, well, old brother
so-and-so, he doesn't believe the gospel, but he's our dear
brother. No, he's not. I wish you'd get over that nonsense.
No, he's not. Many women who don't believe
the gospel are not brethren. They don't know God. Those who
know Christ hold his faith, but not only do we hold it in our
heads, but if we believe God, we've
received the love of the truth. We love it. We love it. I don't just believe sovereignty,
I love it. I don't just believe in God's election, I love His
electing love. I don't just believe in effectual
redemption, I love Him who redeemed me. Believers love it. And those
who do not receive the love of the truth shall receive a strong
delusion from God Himself to believe a lie. We hold the faith,
when we hold forth the faith in the teeth of opposition, And
we hold His name fast. We hold the deity of His name.
He's our God. We hold forth the royalty of
His name. His name is Jesus Christ, the
Lord our King. And we hold fast the greatness
of His name. I looked up a few scriptures
just a little while ago concerning this name of our Savior and His
greatness. The scripture says, His name
is great in Israel. I will praise thy great and terrible
name for it's holy. There is none like unto thee,
O Lord. Thou art great, and thy name is great in might. The Lord
God says, I am a great king, though saith the Lord of hosts,
and my name is dreadful among the heathen. We rejoice to declare
that Jesus Christ, our Savior, is the great God and our Savior. Now look at one other thing.
Our Lord tells us in verse 17 that if we persevere in the faith,
if we hold fast his name to the end, if we hold firm his faith,
we shall be saved. In other words, he that endures
to the end shall be saved. He says, I'll give you hidden
manna to eat forever. What is that? What is that? Well,
it's the same thing he describes in John chapter 6. It's him.
His blood and his righteousness. I'll give you forever to feast
upon me. And in heaven's glory, we shall
continue to feast upon him. His blood and his righteousness,
giving us joy and strength forever. But then he says, I'll give you
a white stone. A white stone. What on earth does that mean?
Well, in ancient Roman courts, when the judges had a man before
the bar, if they found the man to be guilty, they didn't say
anything. They didn't say, now stand up
and read the verdict in the form of the jury. No. They just put
a black stone in a little bottle. And when the man stood up, they
emptied the bottle out of the black stone. If he was acquitted,
found innocent, they didn't say that. They just put a white stone
in that bottle. And when he stood before the
bar, they rolled out a white stone. Listen to me. When we
stand before the bar of God Almighty, he gonna roll out a white stone.
Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Forever. And he says, I'll give you a
new name. A name that nobody knows but you. A new name. What name? Well, he calls us
sought out. He calls us Hephzibah, the delight
of the Lord. He calls us Beulah, those married
to the Lord. I think this is better than all
of them. He says, I'll give you a name better than that of sons
and of daughters. This is the name whereby she
shall be called in that day. The Lord, our righteousness.
I tell you, my brothers and sisters, persevere. Hold fast the faith
of Christ. Hold his name dear and make it
known. Amen. All right, let's stand
together. We'll sing a hymn.