Revelation chapter 2. I'm reading
two verses for my text. Revelation 2, verse 12 and 13. 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 I know where thou dwellest. even where
Satan's seat is. These people lived in a very
trying time, and they lived in a very wicked place. But he said,
Thou holdest fast my name, and Thou hast not denied my faith. I know Thy works, verse 13, I
know where you dwell. You dwell in a very difficult
place, you dwell in a wicked day, you dwell in a very evil
place where Satan's throne and seat is, and yet you hold fast
my name and thou hast not denied my faith. Now, the name of Christ
and the faith of Christ are identical. Our Lord has said, these people
have held fast my name and have not denied my faith. It's the
same thing. Christ is the Christian faith. Christ is the Christian faith.
It's not faith in a system. It's not faith in a doctrine.
It's not faith even in a creed, though creeds are most valuable
and important. But the Christian faith is faith
in a person. His person, his work, his character,
his teaching. Christ is the Christian faith. When you hold fast the faith,
you hold fast his name. And when you hold fast his name,
you hold fast the faith. From our eternal election to
our eternal glorification, Christ is everything. We're chosen in
Christ, we are redeemed in Christ, we are sanctified and justified
in Christ, we're accepted in Christ, we're seated in Christ. Somebody said one time, the doctrines
are the rays. He is the sun. It's foolish to
worship the rays when Christ is the sun. All of these things
come from Him. He is the center. He is the essence. He is the source of all blessings. You don't arrive at Christ through
doctrine. You don't learn the Christian
doctrine and suddenly find Christ. You arrive at doctrine through
Christ. You find doctrine in Christ.
He is the Bible. He is salvation. He is eternal
life. To deny the faith is to deny
His name. His name is our faith. That scripture
that I read from the fourth chapter of Acts a few moments ago, these
men were commanded not to preach in the name of Christ. It was
the name of Christ that disturbed these men, for Christ is the
Christian faith. Now I want to point out about
five things from this text. First of all, how does a person
deny the name of Christ? How does a person deny the faith
of Christ? He said to this church, you have
not denied my faith. You have not denied my name. How is the name and faith of
Christ denied? Well, first of all, turn to Matthew
chapter ten. We deny the faith and we deny
his name by not confessing it openly. Brother Fitzgerald and
I were talking a few days ago about secret discipleship. He
asked me what I thought about it. I said, I don't think it's
possible. I don't believe that a man can
be a secret disciple of Christ. For our Lord said in Matthew
10, verse 32, Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before
my Father which is in heaven." Christ said, He that's not with
me is against me. He that's not with me is against
me. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed
of Christ, though he was crucified. A crucified Savior is the offense
of the gospel. Paul called it the offense of
the cross. So we deny the name of Christ
by not openly, publicly confessing the name of Christ. Now, baptism
is not in salvation, and salvation not in baptism, but I seriously
question whether a man can be saved who refuses to follow his
Lord in baptism. I know that a man's sins are
not washed away by water, they're put away by the blood. I know
that a man's sins are not put away by the sacraments or by
the baptism or by the ordinances. They're put away by the blood
of Christ. But to refuse to confess Christ and to refuse to be identified
with Christ, to refuse openly to own the name of Christ by
an identification with Christ, is a denial of Christ. And to
deny Him before men means that He will deny us before the Father.
Now secondly, how is the name of Christ denied? It's denied
first of all by refusing, for whatever reason, to openly, publicly
confess Him. And then secondly, a man denies
the name of Christ by false teaching. If we teach what he did not teach,
or if we refuse for whatever reason, To teach that which he
did teach, we're denying his name, for he said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. We don't need a new gospel. We
need in this day a return to the gospel of Christ. We need
a return to the gospel of substitution. This is the hope of lost men,
and this is the comfort for believing sinners. Christ in him crucified. To deny the name of Christ is
to refuse to teach what He taught, or it's to teach what He did
not teach. Then in the third place, turn
to Philippians chapter three. What is it to deny the name of
Christ? It's to refuse to confess Him,
or it's to deny His name by false teaching, to refuse His doctrine,
to refuse to proclaim what He proclaimed. Peter said we can
only teach those things that we've heard. Where did we hear
them? From the lips of our Lord. And
then in Philippians chapter 3, verse 18, I want to point out
something here. We deny the name of Christ by
unholy living and by an unholy attitude. Now, my friends, an
orthodox creed is of no value at all. to a person with an unholy
life. If I have no love, I have no
true faith. If I show no mercy to others,
I have not been the recipient of mercy. If I have an unforgiving
spirit, I deny the faith. I can profess the faith with
my lips and deny the faith by my attitude. Paul calls them,
in Philippians 3.18, look at it, he calls them the enemies
of the cross. He says, "...many walk, of whom
I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping. Their
lives, and the tenor of their lives, and the bent of their
wills, and the attitude of their lives, is such that they are
the enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ." In the fourth place,
we deny the faith, we deny the name of Christ by not openly
confessing Christ. We deny the name, we deny the
faith by false teaching. We deny the faith by an unholy
attitude, by an unholy character, by an unholy life. And then in
the fourth place, we deny the faith when we forsake the faith. In 1 John chapter 2, In the second
chapter of 1 John, John said this, they went out from us,
but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they left us, that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. They're those who heard His and
for a time followed his word, and for a time identified themselves
with him and with his people. And then they left. Turn to the
book of Hebrews. Listen to what Paul has to say
about them. In Hebrews chapter 10, verse
38, you know, some heard our Master speak, and they followed
him for a time, and then one day they said, This is a hard
saying. These things that you're teaching,
they're hard teachings and hard sayings, and they live. If we're
not prepared to accept hard sayings, we need not profess to be His
disciples. Look at verse 38 of Hebrews 10.
Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we're not of them who
draw back or who leave unto perdition, but we are of them that believe
to the saving of the soul. How does one deny the name of
Christ? Our Lord said to the church in
Revelation 2, I know your works. You have held fast my name and
you have not denied my faith. How do we deny the faith? How
do we deny his name? By not confessing it. How do
we deny his name? By refusing to teach what he
taught. By teaching that which tickles
the ears of men. By not teaching that which our
Master proclaimed in his word. We deny the faith by an unholy
attitude, by an unholy character. We deny the faith when we literally
forsake the faith. Now the second question. How
does one hold fast the name of Christ and the faith of Christ?
It says here, Thou hast held fast my name. Thou hast not denied
my faith. Let me give you about three or
four things. First of all, we hold fast his name and the faith
by a willing mind. A willing mind is a teachable
spirit. When the people cried, This is
a hard saying, and walked away, our Master turned to the disciples,
his chosen twelve, and he said to them, Will you also go away? And the disciples replied, Lord,
to whom shall we go? We don't claim to understand
it all. We don't claim to have seen into
the mysteries of the gospel. We don't claim to understand
everything you're saying. But to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life. Let God be true and every man
alive. When God speaks, when Christ
speaks, when the Word of God speaks, let's bow to His Word. Whether we understand it or not,
we must never put the Word of God to a motion. One day the disciples were out
fishing. They had toiled all night and caught nothing. They
were getting ready to come in. They were stacking their nets.
And our Lord appeared on the shore. He said to them, Children,
have you caught anything? They said, Nothing. He said,
Push the boats back out. Cast the nets on the right side
of the boat. Peter looked at the master, and
he said, Lord, we have toiled all night and caught nothing.
We fished on the right side of this boat and the left side.
We've covered every spot out here, and we've caught nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word, we let down the net." And, my friends,
that is the way to hold fast to faith, a willing mind, a teachable
spirit, one that says, Lord, I don't understand it. I don't
claim to have apprehended or arrived. But Lord, at your word,
whatever your word says, I'll let down the net. Secondly, how
do we hold fast his name, his faith? By a willing mind, and
secondly, by a loving heart. Now Paul's master principle,
every man has a master principle, every man, every woman has a
driving motive. And that driving motive and that
master principle in the life of the Apostle Paul was Christ's
love for him and his love for Christ. That was his master principle,
that was his driving motive, that was his strength of comfort,
his strength and source of power. That which motivated him was
the love of Christ. He said, the love of Christ constraineth
me. Peter's one plea. Listen to it. Lord, Peter, in spite of his
impulsiveness, Peter, in spite of his rashness, Peter, in spite
of his errors, he loved Christ. He said, Lord, You know all things. You know I love You. I never worry about the man who
truly loves Christ. You don't have to spend your
time as a pastor, as a minister, hammering on tithing to people
who love Christ. The man who loves Christ, I leave
him, as far as his giving is concerned, to his own conscience
and his own relationship with the Master. To people who love
Christ, you don't have to hammer on honesty, faithfulness to the
Church, to the Gospel. If a man truly loves Christ,
that love affair between him and his Master will govern his
actions, it will govern his faithfulness, it will govern his honesty, it
will govern his walk, it will govern his relationship with
others. Now, men have loved doctrines,
and they've departed from them. Men have loved denominations,
and they have departed from them. Men have loved creeds, and they
have departed from them. But no man ever yet loved Christ
and departed. We hold fast his name by a willing
mind. Lord, teach me, I'm but a child. I don't have the answers, I don't
even know the questions, but I bow to your word." And that
man holds fast the name of Christ, he holds fast the faith of Christ
by a loving heart. If he loves Christ, you don't
ever have to worry about him. That relationship with Christ
will govern what he does and what he says and what he thinks
and how he feels. and you're wasting your time
trying to organize men into moral forces, you're wasting your time
trying to organize men into religious forces, you're wasting your time.
If they ever come to know the Master, be it a child or a teenager
or a youth or an older person, if they ever come to know Christ
and to love Him, then before his own Master he
stands or falls. Now, the third way that we hold
fast to name and faith of Christ is by determined will. Paul said, I am determined, I
am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Ease, money, comfort, reputation,
popularity. These things must not close our
mouths when the honor of Christ and the gospel is at stake. I
am determined." Paul said, even in Corinth, even in that capital
of learning, in that capital of pleasure, I am determined,
even incoherent, to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I will, for Christ's sake," he
said, be regarded as a fool, if that's what it takes. What shall it profit a man anyway
if he gain the whole world and lose his soul? We have a determined
will. I am determined. The third question. What does it mean to hold fast
to his name? He said, you have held fast my
name and you have not denied my faith. What is it to hold
fast his name? Well, I believe first of all
it's to hold to the deity of that name. Isaiah 9 verse 6 says,
Under us a child is born, a son is given, his name shall be called. What is his name? This Jesus
of Nazareth, what is his name? Great prophet, great preacher,
great healer, great orator, great reformer. What is his name? Isaiah
gives us his name. It's Emmanuel. It's God with
us. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor. His name is the Mighty God. His name is the Everlasting Father. And His name brings men like
Thomas to fall at His feet and say, My Lord and my God. To hold fast to the name of Christ
is to hold fast unquestionably to the Deity, to the Deity, to
the sacredness. of that great name. And then
I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 2. Here's a verse of
Scripture. I was riding down the highway
years ago. I was listening to a black preacher
who was preaching down in Mississippi or Louisiana, and he was preaching
from Matthew 2 verse 2. What is it to hold fast the name
of Christ? It's to hold not only to the
deity of that name, but to the royalty of that name. And this
preacher, bless his heart, he said, The wise men came from
the east to Jerusalem, saying, verse 2, Matthew 2, Where is
he that is born king? Now some kings are made because
their fathers were kings, Some are made kings by an act of parliament. Some are elected kings. But Jesus
Christ is born king. He's born king. He's king over
our hearts. He's king over our families.
He's king over our church. He's king over our nation. And
He's king over this world. And someday every knee's going
to bow and every tongue's going to confess it. He's king. He's not a defeated martyr, he's
a reigning monarch. Jesus Christ is King. Pilate
wrote over his cross in Latin, in Greek, and in Hebrew. This is Jesus of Nazareth, King. King. We're not living in a vacuum. Some preachers preach that Christ
was King back yonder, And one of these days he will be king.
Christ Jesus has never been anything but king. He's king in the past,
he's king in the present, he's king in the future. What is it
to hold fast his name? It's to hold to the deity of
that name, to the royalty of that name. And then, thirdly,
it's to hold to the saving power of that name. The angel said,
Thou shalt call his name Jesus, His name is Jesus, which is Joshua,
which is Savior. That's His name, Savior. Thou
shalt call His name Savior, for He shall save His people from
their sin. And Peter said in Acts 4.12,
Neither is there salvation in any other. There's none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Turn to Luke 24. In the twenty-fourth
chapter of Luke, verse forty-seven, our Master is teaching his disciples
just prior to his ascension, just before he went back to the
Father. And he told them in verse forty-seven
of Luke twenty-four, repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name, not in the name of the church. not
in the name of the old pilgrim of Puritan fathers, not in the
name of religion. Repentance and remission of sins
is preached in his name. He is made unto us all we need. He is our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification and redemption, Jesus. The name that charms our
fears, Jesus. The name that bids our sorrows
cease, Jesus. "'Tis music in the sinner's ears,
"'Tis life, that name is health, and that name is peace, "'for
he saves us from sin's guilt by his righteousness, "'he saves
us from sin's punishment by his stripes, "'and he saves us from
sin's power by his Spirit. "'To hold fast his name is to
hold to the saving power of that name.'" Now the fourth question,
what is the name of Christ to a believer? He says, Thou hast
held fast my name. What is the name of Christ to
me, to you? What is the name of Christ? Well,
first of all, that's our message. John the Baptist came crying,
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And
like John the Baptist, we have but one message. That one message
that God has given his people to proclaim is Christ. Salvation by Christ, eternal
life by Christ, forgiveness by Christ, through Christ his person
and his work. We preach Christ. Charles Spurgeon
printed thousands of sermons while he was ministering in London,
England. And he chose as his motto to
be put on the cover of every book published by Metropolitan
Tabernacle, every book, we preach Christ and him crucified. That's our message. The name
of Christ, what is it to us? It's our message. It's our message. Some dear friend wrote in this
week from the television audience. said she was a Baptist, but at
the present time she was going to the Church of God. But she
was happy there, and she wanted me to answer some questions.
And the questions involved things like, what about the Millennium? Who is the Antichrist? My friends,
those things I'm sure have an answer somewhere. I don't know
that I've ever found the But the Antichrist is not my message.
Christ is my message. The Millennium is not my message.
The King is my message. These other things are really
unimportant. If God is pleased to give us
the answers to some of these questions along the line, that's
fine. But let's not, like simple children,
take these little toys and sit off in the corner and neglect
the King. He's our message. What is the
name of Christ to us? Well, secondly, His name is not
only our message, His name is our authority. By what power, they said to Peter,
and in whose name have you done this thing? And Peter said, Be
it known unto you and to all of Israel by the name of Jesus
Christ we did it. Peter came to that lame man sitting
at the gate, beautiful, crippled, lame. He said to him, I don't
have any silver and gold, but what I have I give to you in
the name. That's our authority. We don't
have any authority except that which is given us in the name
of Christ. In the name of Christ you rise
up and walk. His name is our authority. We
have no authority except the name of Christ. And thirdly,
what is the name of Christ to a believer? Our message? Our
authority? Our power? His name is our comfort. Jesus, oh, how sweet the name. Every day the same. To all, let
all saints proclaim His precious name forever. The sovereign name
of Christ. makes the future a happy prospect. For he said all things work together
for good to them who love God, who are called according to his
purpose. The sovereign name of Christ
makes the past a joy with all of its failures and mistakes
and sins, but still the past comes to us as a joy, knowing
that these trials and these tribulations and these Unhappy circumstances
were all in the will of God. I know who holds tomorrow. I
don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds it. And
then, fourthly, what is the name of Christ to a believer? His
name is our plea in prayer. He said, Whatsoever you ask in
my name, it shall be done. whatsoever you ask the Father
in my name." Prayer without the name of Christ is useless, useless. And we don't, it's not just in
you, it's not a magic formula. Using the name of Christ, I can
pray to the Father without actually saying in the name of Christ. I can say, Father, I rejoice
that I can be in thy house and worship thee, and give me this
day my daily bread, and forgive me of my sins, and bless my family and my friends
in the church. Amen. I didn't say in the name
of Christ, but in here, that's what's important. That's who
is our plea, and we know it. We know it. In fact, I had a
friend who lived down in Florida. a few years ago, and he was a
businessman. And he met the president of a
large corporation, a retired president of a large corporation,
Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company, Pepsi-Cola Company over the whole
world. This man was a retired president,
a very wealthy man. And this young man met him, and
they somehow became friends. And they were going to have Pepsi-Cola reunion, board meeting. They were going to have the annual
Pepsi-Cola party in Miami Beach, Florida at one of the large auditoriums. The Roosevelt sons were going
to be there, television cameras, radio networks, governor of the
state of Florida, all of these important people from everywhere.
This friend of mine was a preacher, and the president of Pepsi-Cola
Company, retired, said, I'd like for you to give the invocation.
And he said, well, I'll be honored to do so. But he said, I'll tell
you this, he said, it'll make your business. You'll have it
made from here on once you get exposed to that type of publicity. And so a few days went by, Just
shortly before the big banquet, the president of Pepsi-Cola Bottling
Company retired call my friend, and he said, uh, say, he said,
uh, how will you close your prayer? Well, my friend said, I don't
know what you got in mind. What are you talking about? He said,
well, I said, you know, I'm a Jew," and he said, many of the board
members are Jews, and we had a meeting the other day, and
some of them expressed a little anxiety over the fact you may
close your prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. And he said,
You don't have to, do you? And my friend said, Well, I do
now. I do now. I didn't have to, but
I do now. You've made it an issue. Yes,
I have to now. It'd be denying Christ. It'd
be denying His name. Since you made an issue of it,
I have to close that prayer in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth."
And he said, well, he said, don't plan to come because, he said,
we just couldn't afford to have you do that. He said, all right,
I won't be there. But now, my friend, you mark
this. Our plea in prayer is Christ. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. And I don't know whether you
have to say it. You do if somebody makes an issue
of it. But in your heart, you have to
know it at least. What is the name of Christ to
us? It's our message. What is the name of Christ to
us? It's our salvation. What is the name of Christ to
us? It's our comfort. What is the name of Christ to
us? It's our plea and prayer, it's our authority, it's our
power. His name, His name, the name
of Jesus Christ, our Lord, is our very life. It means more
to us than mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife, son or
daughter. It means more than life itself.
Now then, let me ask you this in closing. Why should I give up this name?"
He said, you have not denied my faith, you have held fast
to my name. Well, let me, I'll say what the
disciples said, Lord, to whom shall we go? My friend, what
have you to offer me in exchange for Christ, huh? But I'll tell
you this, everything that I've ever heard, everything that I've
ever seen, Everything to which I've ever been exposed, proposed
in the place of Christ, doesn't even deserve a second look. So
why in the world should I give up his name? And then I say this
in closing. There are generations yet to
come, and you and I need to hold fast that precious name and all
that it infers. We need to hold fast that name
and the doctrines which that name proclaims for the benefit
of and for the good of these future generations. Somebody
says, let's not talk about doctrine. Let's just get together around
Jesus. You can't get together around
Jesus Christ until you know who he is, who he is, until we're
willing to preach. who he is and where he came from
and what he came to do. Hold fast my name. Our Father,
we thank Thee for the name of Christ. His name which is our
salvation, our strength, our authority, our comfort. His name
which is our life. His name which is our plea. His
name which is our message. We pray that every person in
this building shall come to see Christ. Not just a religion,
not just a set of laws and rules, not even just a way to heaven
or an exit from hell, but they might come to see the beauty
and the holiness and the royalty and the deity of Christ Jesus
the Lord. the perfection of our Master,
the power of our Master, to fall at His feet and worship Him and
adore Him, to make Him the captain of our salvation, to receive
Him as He is, Prophet, Priest, and King, not just a way to heaven,
but the Lord of our lives, the Master Principal, the driving
force, the source of all blessing, Christ Jesus, Reveal him to the
hearts of the people of this congregation in his true character. We ask it for his sake and in
his name. In his name. Amen.