Letters to 7 Churches 04 Pergamos-Comp/heart — James Booker

Christ’s Letter to the Church at Pergamos

Shall we turn, please, to the second chapter of Revelation once more? Tonight we're going to consider together the Church of Pergamos. Church of Pergamos, chapter 2 of Revelation, beginning at verse 12.

And unto the angel of the church in Pergamos write, These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with the 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 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 each thing sacrifice 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.

And to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. Just a brief word of prayer, please.

Our Father, we thank Thee that this is Thy Word, and we thank Thee, too, that Thou hast imparted to us Thy Holy Spirit, to take of the things of Thy Word, and reveal them to us. And so, indeed, we're in need of Thy guidance, and Thy direction, and Thy control, and we ask that Thou wouldst speak to our hearts tonight.

We forget those things that will be unprofitable, and may Thou bring to our mind those things that will bring honor to Thee, and a challenge to our hearts. We pray this in our Savior's precious name. Amen.

Pergamos and the Compromising Heart

Now, on Sunday we were looking at the church at Ephesus, and noticing the heart that was cooling, the cooling heart. This morning we were looking at the church of Smyrna, and we were noticing the crushed heart, and how the Lord dealt with that condition in the church at Smyrna.

And as I look through this particular church, the church of Smyrna, what comes to my mind is a compromising heart. A compromising heart. And I think as we go along in our little study tonight in this church, you will see the point of compromising that is emphasized in two or three places.

In fact, it's centered around the compromising spirit among many in the church at Pergamos. There are a number of titles that could be given to this particular letter. For example, one could entitle it, I think very accurately, The Church Living in Satan's Capital.

For you'll notice that it speaks about, I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat or Satan's throne is. And again he says, where Satan dwelleth in the latter part of verse 13. So it was a church that was living in Satan's capital.

I want to just stress that in a moment or two. And another title that might be very fitting, it seems to me, to this particular church is a challenge. Am I committed to the word of God, or am I committed and compromising with the world?

It's one or the other. We hear a lot today about pollution. Wherever we go, we see signs up concerning pollution. We hear comments made on the radio, on television, and through the news media in many forms.

Pollution is on the minds of everyone. But there's one area of pollution that every believer needs to be concerned about, and that is the pollution that the world has, and which we can get contaminated with.

You remember over in the Epistle of Peter, it reminds us there that there is such a thing as the pollutions of this world. The pollutions of this world. And it's not thinking of the environment when it's speaking about the pollutions of this world.

It's speaking about things relating to that which will drag the child of God down and keep him out of touch with his Lord. There are things that pollute the mind, things that You remember we're told over in the Epistle of John to keep ourselves unspotted, or in James, unspotted from the world.

It is so easy for us to get spotted up with the things of the world as we go along in life. They say that around the coast where oil seems to be spilling from time to time, that the seabirds are constantly being affected tremendously by it.

And they've also added this little comment that even a spot of oil on the wings of a seabird about the size of a quarter will so affect that bird that it's doomed to death. It's doomed to die. Just a spot the size of a quarter.

It'll affect the wing spread, it'll affect the insulation that the bird depends upon, it'll affect its flight, and eventually it affects it in such a way that it becomes prey to others and it dies. Just one little spot.

And beloved, that's the way it is with God's people today. It doesn't take many spots to cause us to, instead of flying for Christ, instead of glorifying Him, we begin to take the downward plunge and become in a backslidden state.

Compromise is one of those things that we seem to have all around us today. We seem to compromise when it comes to the personal work of Christ, and people are sort of compromising and taking corners here, there, and everywhere.

It seems that Christians are compromising when it comes to the area of morals and what is honoring to God and what is not honoring to Him. And in the moral realm, not only is the world just setting aside all moral standards, but the Christian is sort of falling in line and sort of compromising along these lines.

In the area of companionship, how we come into a state of compromise today, what is right and what is wrong, what is honoring to the Lord and what is not. In the idea of separation, what is separation in the world and what is not, how far can I go and still be honoring the Lord?

And all this attitude that we have, there's a constant spirit of compromising. There's a compromising concerning the truths of God, church truth, and no matter what area it is, we're living in an age of general compromise.

And as the Lord writes to this particular church, He sees that spirit of compromise, and He's deeply concerned about it. We know that the enemy is constantly working. We know that there's the world. We know that there's the flesh.

We know that there's the devil. We're not to love the world. None of the things that are in the world. As far as the devil is concerned, we're told to resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Concerning the flesh, we're reminded we're to walk after the Spirit, and we'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Nevertheless, the enemy is still there. The world is still there, seeking to entice. The flesh within is seeking to drag us down, and the devil is seeking to use both these things to bring us into a state of helplessness in our Christian life.

It seems to me, as I read this portion of God's Word, there's a challenge to my heart, and I trust the challenge to you. The Lord does not desire, and not only does He not desire, He challenges us in this day in which we live not to compromise.

The Word of God as the Weapon Against Compromise

Now, what is the means that He has, what is the power that He gives when it comes to the idea of compromise and standing against compromise? I suggest to you, it's the truth of God. It's the Word of God.

Now, as you read through this portion, you'll notice that the Word of God is suggested in many ways. We have, for example, in verse 12, He which hath the sharp sword with the two edges, which brings before us the Word of God.

We go on to verse 16 in the latter part. It says, I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. It's the Word of the Lord. Again, you notice in verse 14 it speaks about the doctrine, or the teaching, of Balaam.

Again, in verse 15, it says, the doctrine, or the teaching, of the Michaleans. And so, here is the teaching, the truth, the sword of the Lord, in contrast to the teachings that set out to lead us into compromise.

And then He hands up His discourse to this particular church by stressing the fact that, in verse 17, to him that overcometh will I give to each of the hidden manna, which again brings before us the enjoyment of Christ, as we'll see in a few moments, the enjoyment of Christ as we have it through the knowledge of the Word of God.

So, He's bringing us into line with the truth of God. They were living where Satan's capital was, where Satan's throne was, and, beloved, we are living in an age, in a world which is under Satan's control.

All of you who know the Word of God realize this. He is the God of this age. He's the Prince of the power of the air. He is actively engaged in seeking to control His domain, and how deeply concerned we need to be that we're not dragged down by His wiles.

Pergamos as a Religious, Cultured, and Wealthy City

The background concerning the church at Pergamos is rather interesting, because there were four basic things that this particular city was known for. Archaeologists and others who have gone back into the, in digging up the ruins of Pergamos and going back into history, there are four basic things that stand out concerning this particular city.

Number one, it was a very religious city. Not a Christian city, but a very religious city. And archaeologists have uncovered time and again ruins of temples to all sorts of gods, hundreds of different gods.

It was a city filled with temples. Very, very religious. It was a very cultured city. They have uncovered the remains of ancient universities. They've uncovered the remains of a famous library which, at that particular time, was the most famous library in the known world, with over 200 ,000 copies of scrolls, which was quite a remarkable feat for that day.

It was the seat of learning. It was the capital city of that whole area, with over 100 ,000 people. And, above all that, it was a very, very wealthy city. And on all the coins that they have been able to discover in that particular city, they have found, on these coins, the emblem of the city was the serpent.

In fact, in one of the more prominent temples that they had at that time, they worshipped the serpent, and they had inside the temple alive serpents constantly milling around in a certain room of the temple, and it was that that they worshipped.

Truly, it was the place where Satan's throne was. Those four things we find that Satan is basically working on today, it seems to me. He's certainly working the area of religion. Man has a religious makeup about him.

As long as it leaves Christ out, as long as it leaves out the principles that bring us into a true knowledge of the Lord, Satan will flood the world with a religion of some sort. We're living in a religious world.

We think of, just recently, in the last year or so, this idea of a meditation that has been fostered upon us from the eastern country, and immediately thousands upon thousands of people flock to something like this.

There's a religious bend in the minds of people. There's a desire. They're looking for something. Anything that does not affect their realization that they're lost, they're hopeless, they're without Christ, and to acknowledge the very fact that they need a Savior is not what they want.

What they want is a religion whereby they can promote themselves and develop within themselves some sort of self-effort. Lifting themselves up is a sense of pride in that, and that form of religion we see all around us.

Culture. We're just flooded with culture. The very culture of our land is dragging us away from the things of the Lord. Wealth. We're living in a very affluent society, not just in the United States or in Canada, but it's developing throughout the whole world.

And as the wealth develops, so the greed and the thirst and the lust of mankind for this sort of thing exists. Satan is actively engaged. We are living where Satan's throne is, even as they were living where Satan's throne was.

Pergamos and the Call to Exclusive Faithfulness

The word Pergamos, as most of you are aware, means twice married. In fact, I believe it was Mr. Barnhouse states that the root word for Pergamos is the word from which we get our word bigamy today. Twice married.

In other words, the name suggests a dual situation. It suggests a compromise. It suggests a breaking down of faithfulness. And remember, beloved, we are told in the word of God, Romans chapter 7, we are married to another.

That we should be married to another, even to him, directing our attention to the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me, if you will, back to a verse in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Here the Apostle Paul is deeply concerned for the saints at Corinth, and in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 he says, Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me.

For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused or promised you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Now, notice verse 3. But I fear, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Oh, he says, beloved, he says, I've promised you to Christ. He says, you're engaged to him, and I want you to be faithful to him. And I long in that day when we stand before the Lord to be able to present you as a chaste virgin, one who has been faithful to your Lord from the time that you have been one to him.

Until that day when you see him. He said, I fear the old serpent is busy beguiling, beguiling. That's just what he was doing back in Revelation chapter 2. He was busy beguiling. And these dear saints who had been identified now with Christ, who were looking forward to seeing him and being with him and eventually marrying him as part of the church, were starting to flirt with the world, casting their eyes in other directions, and losing their faithfulness to their Lord.

And the Lord was deeply concerned about it. Notice, will you please, just this brief little outline of the letter that we'd like to use. In view of the fact that the truth of God is very important here, I want you to notice that in verse 12, we have the source of the truth.

We go right back to the source of truth. In verse 13, we have the importance of standing for the truth. In verses 14 and 15, we have the spoiler of the truth. In verse 16, we have the source of the truth.

Christ as the Source of Truth

And in verse 17, there's satisfaction when we're controlled by the truth. The truth of God in the Holy Word. Notice verse 12, the source of the truth. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, these things say of me which have the sharp sword with the two edges.

He has a sharp sword with the two edges. He has it. He is true. My word shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away, sayeth the Lord. Again and again in the book of Revelation, he said, these things are faithful and true.

And you remember when he said in John chapter 17, even when we're speaking about going to be a prayer place for them, he said, if it were not so, I would have told you. In other words, he said, what I'm telling you is the truth.

And farther down in that very chapter, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He's the source of truth. And the moment we, as God's people, get to the place where we get away from the Word of God and begin to decide what is right and what is wrong on the basis of society, we're in difficulty and we're in danger of a lot.

The Lord here is challenging the church of God of Pergamos to keep in mind that he, and he alone, is the source of truth. He has the sharp two-edged sword. Notice how he describes the Word of God. It's a sword.

It cuts. It penetrates. It's quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. It's two edges. It has an edge for the believer as well as for the unbeliever. In other words, beloved, when we were without Christ, the Word of God by the Holy Spirit came to our hearts, and it brought conviction.

I'm sure all of us have gone through the experience in one form or another where the Word of God pricked our hearts, as it did in the early church. And we were challenged, and we realized we were lost and we needed a Savior, and we were brought to Christ.

But then we found the Word of God was so necessary in our daily life. As we went to it day by day, we found that it searched the hearts. It was like a mirror revealing our condition and seeking to bring us into the realization of what was needed to be done.

It's a two-edged sword. I want you to notice for time going down to verse 13, their stand for the truth. The place where they were standing, but it says here, I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne is.

And that word, seek, should be thrown, and in some other place in the New Testament, it's so translated, where Satan's throne is. And thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days when Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth.

You recall how the Lord, and this is so delightful, it's rather thrilling, is it not, that in these various churches, the Lord delights to commend where He can commend. And He always begins by commending before He condemns.

And as He looked at this particular church, there were certain things about these dear people that really thrilled Him, and that delighted Him. And He said, I just want to point them out. He said, the majority of you, He said, are standing for the truth, and you're willing to make a stand for it.

Holding Fast Christ’s Name

Now, notice what they were doing. He said, thou holdest fast my name. There's a tendency today, beloved, to dishonor that name, that name which is above every name. When it speaks about His name, it's speaking about His authority.

It's speaking about His character. It's describing His person and His work. It's all of Christ. You remember back in the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus, when the Lord revealed to Moses His name, He went on to describe how He was merciful.

He was longsuffering. He was gentle. And He was describing His name. He was describing the very character of Jehovah. Now, beloved, our Lord is truly God. We were speaking to some today, in a little conversation concerning the many false doctrines and the false cults in the world today, and how they are progressing so rapidly.

The tragedy is, with all these false cults, they go wrong on the personal work of our Lord Jesus Christ. They deny His name, and they delight to lower that glorious person down to a mere man, just like ourselves.

That wasn't so with the church of Pergamos. He says, You have not denied my name. Beloved, let's hold on to that blessed name. Why, it's in that name that we pray. It's in that name that we gather. It's in that name that we have power.

You remember in Acts chapter 3? Silver and gold am I none, but what I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. And when later on they saw this man walking, leaping, praising God, Peter said, Why look ye so earnestly upon us, as though by our own power and holiness we had made this man to walk?

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, he has been made whole. And in His name, and beloved, those early saints delighted to exalt that name, they did not deny that name. Even if it cost them their lives, they were told, you remember, not to speak any more in that name.

Of course, they could not do, and they very clearly, quickly told the soul. And you remember as they were let go, it says they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for that name. We sing the name of Jesus is so sweet.

I love its music to repeat. But oh, do we really mean it, beloved, in all reality when we hear that name blasphemed, when we hear that name brought down, when it becomes just a mere man in the eyes of men and women, do our hearts respond, and are we deeply concerned about it?

Or are we also kind of leading into a compromised position, and shrug our shoulders and sort of say, So what? He said, You have not denied my name. Thou hast not denied my faith, the truth that the Lord has brought forth.

Even in those days when Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. And tradition has it that this one Antipas, who was a faithful martyr for the Lord, was put into a brass bowl that was molded into the shape of a bull and slowly roasted to death.

Whether that is actually true or not, that is what this tradition has come down to express. But we know that during this time many went through all sorts of similar tortures like that. It's rather interesting also, just in passing, beloved, to remember that when it says faithful martyr, it's the very same word concerning the Lord Jesus Christ in chapter one who's the faithful witness, because the word martyr and the word witness is one and the same in the original language.

The Doctrine of Balaam and Internal Corruption

Our Savior was the faithful martyr or the faithful witness. Antipas was one who followed his glorious Lord, who had set the example. Now in verse 714 it says, But I have a few things against thee. 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.

And as I think of this particular doctrine of Balaam, I'm reminded of this, beloved. It was a teaching that destroyed their fellowship with their Lord. It was a teaching that destroyed their fellowship with the Lord.

It was a teaching of compromise. Now we're all aware, are we not? Paul says we're not ignorant of his devices. And even though we're not ignorant of the Satan's devices, sometimes we forget. But Satan seems to have a pattern which he follows.

And his pattern seems to be that where he starts out by persecuting from the outside, and when that doesn't work, then he begins to work on the inside. And it seems to be a pattern that he's followed all down through the ages.

He started with Abel and Cain. Raising Cain up as a murderer to slay Abel. Persecution. But that didn't work. So it wasn't long in Acts chapter six where he begins to infiltrate in among the people and the sons of God that involved with daughters of men, and we know the circumstances there, and he got sort of a mixture going.

The same thing happened with the early church, you'll recall. He begins by persecution from without. He stirs up all sorts of persecution. In Acts chapter four we see that persecution coming to a head, and as the persecution increases, so the work of the Lord increases.

It just fans the flame. And the fire of God's gospel kept going as the persecution continued. And then Satan changed his tactic, and he started to work from within. And a murmuring developed as to the way the money was being handled.

And he got far better results when he got from within. He got in. Now the same thing is happening here. We have in verse 13, the working from without. The faithfulness and the forstanding for the Lord.

The persecution that was being pressed upon these dear people. But that was only building up and strengthening the things. And so he very subtly comes now within, and he allows certain teachings to come in.

And he gets these dear saints to be questioning what was right and what was wrong. Questioning how they were to live. He knew that if he'd get us to walk in a kind of a careless, indifferent sort of way, we'd become helpless and powerless in the things of God.

What about this doctrine, this teaching of Balaam? Well, very, very simply, you remember how he sought to curse the people, but he couldn't. All along there was Balak offering them all sorts of wealth, if he would do it.

And the love of money was so great to Balaam that he thought to himself, well, if I can't curse the people, I can corrupt them. And the counsel of Balaam, so we're told back in the book of Numbers, was to get the people of Israel involved with the people of Moab to break down the line of separation, to get them to act like the people of Moab, to get them to interrelate with them, to intermarry with them, and so he did.

And in Numbers chapter 25, we have the sad story, interrelation took place. And God said, there shall be a separation, you're going to be my people, after you've accused your people under me, and you'll have no affair with the people around you.

But they did. And if you read that story in Numbers chapter 25, which is a sad story, they began by getting involved with those dear people. It wasn't long before they were worshiping the gods of those people.

And that same principle seems to be carrying out today, that same characteristic. There's a tremendous tendency today to sort of take the position that if we act like the world, we'll be able to reach the world.

How can you talk to them unless you get down to where they are and seek to live like they do, and then you'll have an opportunity to speak to them? And I have spoken to many, many people who sort of have that idea.

I've seen many a young person taking that particular approach and finding themselves dragged down and dragged away from the things of God. I can think in the Ottawa Valley, and I can think in our camp working with young people.

I can think of many, many young people who have taken that particular position. And they say, well, in order for me to reach them, I'll just go along with them, and then I'll have an opportunity to speak to them.

And in theory it sounds so good, but in practice it's disastrous. We're not to be isolated from the world. We're to be insulated. We must contact men and women for Christ. We must show a love and a concern and a regard for them.

But in showing that concern and regard, beloved, we're not to walk as they walk. Live as they live. Well, we have Christ. We have a new life. We have a source of joy and peace that the world hasn't got, and we must show that.

The Call to Repentance and the Overcomer’s Reward

But just hurrying on to the end, because our time has almost gone. Notice the Lord says here, repent, verse 16, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

I just want to close, beloved, with verse 17, a lovely promise the Lord gives to the overcomer. He says, He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat.

And notice three things are mentioned here. To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the hidden manna, number one. I will give him a white stone, number two, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it.

So, I say to myself, well, Lord, if I don't compromise, if I remain true to thy truth, if I remain true to thee, if I hold fast to thy name, if I do not deny thy faith, and you can deny the faith not simply by your words, but by your life, by the way you live.

I believe, in a sense, we deny the faith when we talk about the joy of the Lord and live a life of grumbly complaining and bitterness and resentment. I think we deny the faith in that sense when we talk about the peace that God gives and we're constantly worried and fretting and disturbed and upset and everything bothers us.

The people who are not saved look at us and say, well, they talk about the peace they have, but they seem to be worried about everything. Talk about the joy they have, but they're, if that's the kind of joy, I don't want it.

I've got enough problems of my own. Well, notice what it says here. It says, beloved, if we will remain true to him, remain close to him, he says, to him that overcometh, I will give to eat of the hidden manna.

In other words, you'll have the satisfaction of enjoying the Lord. Do you enjoy the Lord in your life? The hidden manna, you remember, was that was put inside the ark. It was the manna for the wilderness journey.

It was a special food which they gathered day by day and enjoyed. It was sweet as honey to their taste. I want to challenge you, dear child of God, do you find Christ in the word a delight to you as you read the word each day?

Do you desire the sincere milk of the word, or do you just read the milk of the word? Do you long to look into the word because as you read it, you say, my, the Lord has just revealed something, some hidden sweetness there, some hidden manna, and it's just a frail delight to me.

Is that what the word of God is like to you? I find so many dear Christians who talk about the word of God and even say, they confess, I really do not enjoy the word. I just don't enjoy it. Many confess, well, someone reads the portion and they see so much of Christ in it.

I read it. I don't see anything of Christ. Oh, the Lord says, he that overcometh, I'll give to eat of the hidden manna. There is a place in the Christian life where you can come to really enjoy the word of God, enjoy the things of Christ, be frail to have the Lord reveal himself to us day by day.

And not only that, he says, I'll give him a white stone, a white stone. And this reminds me of the blessings that there are in the things of Christ. There's so much to enjoy in the things of Christ. The white stone, beloved, was a very unique thing in that day.

They used it for many things. They used it in court. And as the historians tell us, that in the courts of Pergamos and that surrounding area, when the person was put on trial and the jury had to make the decision, they would pass an urn around and they had two stones in their hand, either a white stone and a black stone.

And they would, the white stone indicated acquittal and the black stone indicated condemnation. When we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, will it be a white stone, well done, a good and faithful service?

Or will it be, they used that white stone in other ways as well. They used that white stone in the games, in the Olympic games and they would give that stone to the victor. And that white stone, while it seems like a very small thing, that white stone was as good as the key to the city.

That white stone gave them access into all the activities of the city. Apparently, in the homes they used to have large containers and there were certain ones who would take a white stone if they had a good day.

They'd put a white stone in. If it was a bad day, they'd put a black stone in. After their death, the relatives would dump out all these stones, apparently. Find out how many good days they had and how many bad days they had.

How many good days do you have in the things of the Lord? The Lord says, listen, you're faithful to me and don't compromise. I'll give you a white stone. I'll give you real joy. Real joy. The joy of the Lord will be your strength.

And finally, he says, there'll be a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. A new name. I was wondering a little bit about that name today, again. A new name. I'll give them a new name.