May 31st - Laodicea

Prayer Requests
Summit in General
Pastor Aaron Preaching Church Dedication
Whoever’s Preaching at Summit
Heather in Texas
David going to California
Tyler and Sarah Going to China
Camp
Jeffrey

Text - Revelation 3:14-22

The more I look at the progression view the more I think I believe it. There is a very real chance with the proliferation of television, materialism, and democracy that the whole world will be Laodicea within a few generations.

Philadelphia, the super-on-fire church can turn into this church pretty easy, I thought there needed to be a transition between the two, but really Philadelphia starts out at a sprint, and when they pass the baton to the next generation, if the next generation doesn’t run: boom, you’ve got Laodicea.

1 Corinthians 9:26-27 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

What happens to the fastest runner if he stops running before he gets to the finish line and goes home? No prize, no glory, he gets disqualified. That is Laodicea, in the region where Christianity was thriving, but something happened and they stopped trusting in Christ, and so this has become by far the worst church. All of the other churches Christ at least said something nice about, this church gets NOTHING nice said to them at all.

This is the second letter we know of that was sent to Laodicea, which is the first? The name is kind of misleading. It’s Colossians.

Colossians 4:16 And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.

Unrelated to this study, but important, is that we are not in possession of this letter that Paul wrote directly to Laodicea. Just like if all of the words of Christ were written down they would fill all of the libraries of the world, so is it with Paul that the words that he wrote that God wants us to know about are in the Bible.

So, the letter to Colossae was important to Laodicea, we learn a lot from that, what was Colossians written for? A lot of reasons, but the big one was to prove that Christ is God; false teachers had snuck in and were denying his deity, as well as trying to get the church to worship and call on angels, and to work for their salvation. So, lets read the letter and see what it says.

Revelation 3:14-22 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

Listen to how Christ describes himself to a church that previously wasn’t sure if he was God, “The words of the Amen…” What does Amen mean? Truth. “The faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.” A better translation of this is the Originator of God’s creation. (HCSB) Christ is once again reminding the church at Laodicea that he is totally God, the beginning and the end, that all things were created by him and for him.

In the end days many false prophets will arise, Christ here calls himself the Faithful and True witness…where should we be looking for answers about who God is and what he wants from us?

Personal ideas?
The Government?
Our dreams and yoga-meditation?
Preachers, no matter how good they sound?
None of these, we should listen to the Word of God.

v. 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot.

So, this relates directly to who Laodicea was. They had no natural water source of their own. They had two ways of getting water.

The city above them, Hierapolis had and still has hot springs. This is heavily laden with minerals and people come from miles around to soak in these hot-springs. It’s like a hot-tub.

On the other side, the city below them, Colossae, had beautiful streams coming out of the mountains, this water was just above freezing. Laodicea had two options, they could drink the water from the hot-springs, which by the time it reached them was not hot at all and was merely room-temperature gross tasting water, or they could bring in cold water from Colossae, which by the time it reached them it was no longer cold, but at least it tasted better. Christ is saying here, your works are just like your water…gross.

Jesus wishes they were either hot or cold. Either he wanted them to either follow him totally, or not at all. By being pretend Christians they are blaspheming his name, and they’re going to go to Hell. It’s a lose lose situation. If they were totally cold, they could live the utmost of humanistic lives, eat drink and be merry, and then go to Hell, but not unexpectedly. With their lukewarmness they are thinking that they are going to go to Heaven even though they’re living reprobate lives.

I often wonder who will have the worst time in Hell, the Muslim who wonders how much he missed Heaven by, the Catholic who thinks he’s in Purgatory, or the Christian who doesn’t know why he’s there.

Here is Paul’s description of Laodicean life,

2 Timothy 3:1-5 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

If they were on fire for Christ, his name would be proclaimed, and they would go to Heaven, it’s a win win situation.

v. 16 Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.

Because they are not true Christians but just going through the motions, Christ promises to do with them just what they do with the water from Hierapolis; that is, spit it out.

From here he gets really insulting with what is wrong with the church.

v. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

Laodicea comes from two Greek words, Lao, which means people, and dicea, which means judge. This is the church that men were in charge of, not God, and this is part of where their indictment comes from. This was one of the richest cities in Asia. They had everything you could want in a city, good banking, high class living, an excellent justice system, an eye medicine that was supposed to heal all sorts of eye ailments, and a wool industry specializing almost exclusively in black sheep.

This church was trusting in their money, in their medical professionals, in their stylists, in their judges, in themselves…sound like anybody you know? America…yes.

What does democracy mean? The people are in control.

What is the best form of government?

1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

Christ’s eternal reign will be in a kingdom, as the King of kings…therefore the kingdom must be the best.

So this church thinks it has everything it could possibly need, but Christ sees them for how they are. They think they are healthy, he thinks they are wretched, they think they are superior, he thinks they are much to be pitied, they think they’re rich, he thinks they’re poor, they think they can see, he thinks they’re blind, they think they’re clothed in the latest styles, he thinks they’re naked in their sins. The self-sufficient church that can operate from God is one of the worst things that can happen to a church.

Watchman Nee tells a story of a Chinese Christian who visited America in the early part of the 20th century. He asks, “What impressed you the most about America?” and the answer, “How much they’ve been able to accomplish without God.”

v.18-19 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

Here is what we ought to do, seek the riches of Christ, his sufficiency, his righteousness, we and all ought to repent. Look at how far Heaven is disconnected from the world today. We want money money money, but check out Heaven.

Revelation 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

If we need a better indication of how much Christ esteems wealth than this, in Heaven it is trampled underfoot.

Luke 12:19-21 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything else you need will be added unto you.

v.20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

This is reminiscent to the progression view of the churches, that at the end of this church age, Christ is right at the door. Laodicea will be the last church before Chapter 4 of Revelation in Heaven.

No verse in the Bible is more misquoted and misapplied than this one. Who is Christ talking to here? Is he talking to an individual? No, he’s talking to a church. He’s not knocking at someone’s heart, he is knocking on the door of a dead church and there are no Christians inside to hear his voice.

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Verse 20, along with verse 21,

v.21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Remind us that even if we find ourselves in this church, Christ knows his saints and promises that they will share in his inheritance in Heaven.

So the church at Laodicea is the church where people are in charge instead of God, where the congregation makes decisions instead of the pastor. Johnny Hunt, who is the senior pastor of First Baptist Woodstock, decided to build a new bigger church in Woodstock a few years ago, as he announced this to the congregation, someone asked, “What do the deacons think about this?” Johnny Hunt replied, “Deacons wait tables, this is my church.” And his church has done very well and is one of very few mega-churches that remains faithful to the Bible.

Jesus Christ hates Laodicea, they make him sick. He says that those he loves, he reproves and disciplines. The worst sign for a church is that they go astray and Christ makes no effort to bring them back.

Even though the United States and Europe are this church, that doesn’t mean we have to be, we can hear his voice and open the door and he will fellowship in a tiny little church like Summit. So lets be zealous, preaching Christ and his sufficiency, and the glory of kingdom come.

May 24th - Philadelphia

Prayer Requests

Bethany's Grandpa's New Pacemaker

Jeffrey's Transfer of Guardianship

Kari's friend's grandfather passed

Dave and Brooke in Illinois

Dave Preaching on Romans 5

Pastor Aaron Preaching

The godless Charismatic movement in Congo

Text - Revelation 3:7-13

Today we’re going to look at my favorite church, it should be everybody’s favorite church, because it is the church that is faithful to God, inundated with the Word, loving one another, and loving others.

Which is the other good church we’ve looked at? Smyrna. They are also a great church, but what makes them pure? The fact that they are persecuted. Philadelphia is a good church not from outside influences, but from inside influences.

Before we go too far, I want to point out that people have tried to make an argument for a chronology of churches here in Revelation…I don’t see it, I really wish I could see it, but I don’t…each one of these churches has existed at all times since the First Century. But…because soooooo many people hold to this, I want to teach it to you, because it has exciting ramifications if it‘s true…and there is a small chance that it is.

First, we start in Ephesus, this is the church between Christ’s departure and any discernable persecution. In the 80’s, the persecution began, this is the church at Smyrna. Then after a little while of the church being pure, sin crept in; not through death and destruction, but by way of Balaam’s deception, this is Pergamos. As the sin got worse and worse, false teachers rose up and led the church in a completely wrong direction, and what happened? It died. This the promise that was given to Thyatira, and what happened to Sardis, they were dead with the reputation of being alive.

But what can God do with things that are dead? He can resurrect them. This is Philadelphia, completely unstained by the church at Sardis, alive and thriving. Here is where I have a problem with this progression, something big has to happen between Philadelphia and Laodicea. Laodicea is the worse church imaginable, it is the church we are in as a nation today. Pergamos would need to happen again in the middle…but we don’t see that in Revelation.

Here is what people say, and I sortof, kindof, not really see it, we start with the Asian church founded by Paul, Smyrna is a massive persecution against Christians which is brief, but thorough, under the Emperor Domitian. From here, the pure church gets corrupted by sin, opening the door for Montanism, or Charismania to sweep the church. As promised, Charismania results in the children being stricken dead. From here is opened the door for a ridiculously long running Catholic capturing of the church, dead, with the reputation of being alive. In 1517, God chose Martin Luther to start a world-wide reform of the dead church. Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, and others were the few that walked in white among the dead Catholic Church. From their efforts was borne the Philadelphian movement which lasted four-hundred years, until it was replaced by the Laodicean church, which is the extra-dead church.

When we look at Laodicea next week you’ll see how a church can be extra-dead.

It’s all smooth and believable when they present it that way, but the problem is that’s not the way it happened. There was a massive persecution under Nero in the 60’s…he lit a slum on fire in Rome in order to blame it on the Christians and from there beheaded Paul, crucified Peter, and killed many, many other Christians. The dead church has always been a problem; Lystra in Galatia, is where the Epistle to the Galatians was sent, they were dead with the reputation of being alive…during the Roman reign, we still see little Philadelphia’s in the Donatists, Valdensians, and Lombards….

But in recent history is where we see the biggest problem with this idea. During the Reformation, you can look at the Munsterites and see the church at Thyatira, you can look at Zurich and see Smyrna, you can look at Rome and see Sardis…but even today, we’re not all Laodicea…America is for sure, but Africa is still Thyatira, and China is Smyrna, and Rome, as well as adding Salt Lake City, is forever Sardis.

Even during the reign of when the Philadelphian church as supposed to be happening, we see massive fallings away from the faith, like from 1720-40, we’re supposed to be square in the midst of the Philadelphian church, but at the time the colonies were only about 7% Christian…after the Great Awakening, the colonies, which became the United States of America, were about 85% Christian.

So I just don’t see the progression view…all seven of these churches are with us today, just as they have always been and will be until Christ comes back. So lets look at the best church now, the church we want to be, no matter what the predominant church is…in the United States, which is Laodicea, we want to be Philadelphia, in Africa, which is Thyatira, we want to be Philadelphia, in China, which is Smyrna, we want to be Philadelphia.

Who do we want to be? Philadelphia.

Revelation 3:7-13 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. "'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

First, lets talk about the name and location. Philadelphia, at the time of the writing of this letter, was not Philadelphia. That is the most exciting fact I’m going to share with you today. Does anybody have a guess as to what Philadelphia means? A little critical thinking here.

Phila comes from Phileo, which is a type of love, delphia comes from adelphos, which means brother. Philadelphia literally means “brotherly love.” It is why Philadelphia in Pennsylvania is so named, they wanted to be the church at Philadelphia, and for the most part they were that church for a long time. Oh to have love in our name…we’ll talk about this more in the last lesson from this series.

Philadelphia in Asia is on a plateau, 800 feet above the valley floor. This city was placed here for one purpose, to spread Hellenism, or the sort of enlightened view of the first centuries BC and AD. It sits at the crossroads of two major roads, and was used for spreading information before Christ opened up salvation to the world from the chosen-people of Israel.

In AD 17 there was a major earthquake in the region, it demolished two cities, Sardis and Philadelphia. The Roman Emperor sent relief to both cities to rebuild. In Sardis they thanked the Emperor by building a big statue in his memory…but Philadelphia took it one step further, they renamed their city Neocaesarea, which means, “The new Caesarea.” Real quick, Caesarea is mentioned in the Bible, it is Northern Israel and was a man-made port-city. Israel, for some reason, has no natural ports, you’ll hear jokes everyonce in a while about Jewish sailors and it derives from their lack of sea-ports. To confuse you a little, don’t mix up Caesarea with Caesarea Philippi. Philippi is north of the Sea of Galilee, regular Caesarea is in the Mediterranean. It sank into the sea. Caesarea on the Mediterranean is mentioned a lot in the New Testament. I wish I had more time to spend on this, but this is where a Roman Centurion was saved when Peter preached to him, the reason Peter was in Caesarea was because he was sending Paul off to Tarsus. God loves to work in ways like that, that seem like coincidences, but in hindsight are definite plans of providence. Phillipi is likely where the transfiguration took place, it is an absolutely gorgeous region.

So, Philadelphia at this point wasn’t Philadelphia, it was Neocaesarea, but Christ chose to call it by a more important and revealing name…Brotherly-Love.

v.7 These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

This is Christ setting a precedent for what he is going to do with Philadelphia, that he is holy, and true, holding the keys of David. Everytime I read a passage, I learn a little more. I was arrogant before starting this study and felt there was little more that I could learn about these churches…wow was I wrong. This time through I’m seeing how many times Christ quoted the Old Testament.

Isaiah 22:20-25 In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will be a seat of honor for the house of his father. All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

I wish we had time to go into this, but pretty much by quoting this passage, Christ is referring to a great priest in Isaiah’s time, Eliakim, whose name means “God will raise up.” Eliakim is compared to a nail in a wall on which everything is hung, like if you hung a certificate of achievement. Christ is claiming here that everything that is about to be done is based on his achievements, not the efforts of the church.

v.8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Philadelphia had no great abilities of their own, neither strength, nor great preachers, nor fantastic scholarship…but they had what mattered, the Word of God and his blessing on their efforts.

v.9 I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

Literally, these were the Jews who rejected Christ, but figuratively it is any one who stands against him. He was about to show through his actions in Philadelphia that they are the chosen people of God, not those who call themselves Israel but are not Israel.

Philippians 2:5-11 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

v.10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.

This verse is difficult to discern exactly what it means, because this church wasn’t spared from persecution, as many from it would die with Polycarp, as well as in a larger sense, many of the Reformers would be burned at the stake, thrown into prison, baptized to death, or beheaded. This may be a reference to there not being a faithful church left right before Christ comes, albeit this seems unlikely, because somebody has to be around to be raptured.

Perhaps it means that there will be no great temptation for this church, or that when trials and tribulations come, they will keep the faith and be faithful to the end. This is what I would hold to, because if you know and live the Bible, you will be ready to face any trial. A quote I like is, “The Bible is more valuable than all other books put together. It equips a man for life, it prepares him for death.”

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

v.11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

Salvation is assured on Christ’s death and resurrection, so what we’re talking about here is our rewards for our works in Christ’s name. Remember that I don’t need to see your birth-certificate to know you were born; the fact that you’re living proves you were born. Therefore, with Philadelphia we don’t look at their past works to say they are a loving church, we look at their current works.

Lets consider this one in a marriage relationship. The husband says, “I used to love my wife. I used to love her A LOT. I did nice things for her, I told her I loved her, everybody knew I loved her. Therefore that love was good enough and I don’t have to keep loving her.” Our good deeds and works done in the past are wonderful, it is good that we did them, but unless we keep doing them, we should have no expectation of reward.

v.12 Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.

A pillar in the house of God refers not to its structure, but a pillar of monument, a trophy of grace; like famous Christians in history who we seek to emulate. He who seeks to lose his life for Christ’s sake will find it.

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

Matthew 11:11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Finally, our new name is Christian, and the name of Christ and Heaven will be figuratively engraved on us. Like a normal statue, there is some sort of engraving to show what it is there for. A pillar of God is there to point to Heaven and Christ.

Lets be Philadelphia.

How do we be Philadelphia? By reading our Bible and doing what it says.

May 17th - Sardis

Prayer Requests
Summit in General
Abby and Adam's Soccer Tournament
The Little Girl that AA Talk shared about
Jeffrey's Change of Guardianship
All of Compassion International
Tyler and Sarah Going to China

Text - Revelation 3:1-6

While researching these churches I have found all of the bad ones, which is all of them except Smyrna and Philadelphia, to have been called the Roman Catholic Church at some point. Certainly the Catholic Church is a very bad church, but to think that it is the only bad church is to miss the point of these Seven Churches of Revelation.

Today we’re going to look at Sardis; Sardis is undeniably the Roman Catholic Church…but to limit it only to Rome is a mistake also, because Sardis is any works righteous church that thinks it has a monopoly on the truth; that because you’re a member of that church, you’ll go to Heaven. You can put the Mormon Church or Jehovah’s Witnesses in here too.

A lot of times the name of a cult is stolen from the truth. Catholic means “According to the Whole”, we’re witnesses for Jehovah, the Mormon Church is also known as the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” My response is that the Mormon Church is indeed latter day, but they ain’t saints. We’re the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, not them! I want our names back.

1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.

Here’s a quick joke, does anybody know the name of the angel who revealed the works righteous religion to Joseph Smith, the founder and antichrist of the Mormon Church? It was the fallen angel Moroni. What would you call a group of people who follow after an angel named Moroni? Exactly.

Christ hates the church at Sardis, lets find out why.

Revelation 3:1-6 And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: 'The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. "'I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

First, lets look at the name Sardis. This city was named after the Sardani people; that’s not important, what is important is what this name came to mean. Sardis has this absolutely beautiful white granite that has become famous worldwide. It is called Sarda, it has stared to represent all sorts of granite, Breccia Sarda is a beige granite from Italy, Rosa Sarda is grey granite, Crystal Sarda is a beautiful gold color. Sarda Granite is finishing stone, it presents an outer illusion of beauty and stability, when what the stone is covering could be termite eaten, poorly built, or falling apart.

Sardis likely was a gorgeous city, but I can’t show you any pictures because all of its beauty was outwards, and it has all collapsed since. That’ll preach.

Matthew 23:27-28 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Another thing about Sardis is that it is really two cities. You have a lower city, and an upper city. The upper city was up on a very steep hill, almost impossible to get to, most people lived in the lower city. I think this represents beautifully the idea of the popery, that there is a hierarchy of men and difference in closeness to God.

Who is a priest? Everybody who is a saint.

Who is a saint? Everyone who has been justified and is being sanctified.

We’re Sola Sacerdos, one priesthood of believers, the least of saints has just as much right and authority to approach the Throne of Grace as any other believer. Our works have nothing to do with it, we don’t have to go through men, because there is only one Mediator between God and men, that is the man, Jesus Christ.

Anybody that puts themselves in the place of God on earth is wrong. The Pope, the Mormon President, the Watchtower Society…anybody that puts themselves between you and God is an apostate; look at the end of verse 1.

v.1 The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

Who has the seven spirits and seven stars? Not you! Not a church! Jesus Christ!

Matthew 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Who will build his church? Jesus Christ will build his church.

Numbers play a big part in Revelation, indeed in the whole Bible. For example, after Israel was baptized with Moses in the Red Sea, they spent 40 years in the wilderness. After Christ was baptized by John, he spent 40 days in the wilderness. Anytime there is a number in the Bible, you should ask, “What is this here for?

7 is the number for completion, for perfection. Christ requires perfection, we’ll talk more about this in just a minute.

v.1 I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

This church looks like a church, but it’s not. Christ could tell by their works that they were unrepentant.

Acts 26:20 Paul declared…that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

A dead tree doesn’t produce fruit. They had an outer façade of being alive, but inwardly they were dead. This is the epitome of the Catholic Church. Some of the prettiest churches you’ll ever see are Catholic, and the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City is a fantastic piece of architecture, but the outer façade doesn’t mean inside it is living.

v.2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.

Works righteous churches believe that they are earning their way to Heaven. We know, as Christians, that we have Christ’s works imputed to our sake. Imputed means that his righteousness is freely and totally given to us. The Catholic Church and Mormon Church believes in infused righteousness, that Christ gives you a little righteousness and you have to complete the work.

Jesus knows that’s what they’re trying to do, and his response is that their works are not good enough, because he requires perfection.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The will of God is what is perfect, we can’t be perfected by our works.

Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Hebrews 10:14 By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

As I stand here before you today, a sinful, wretched, undeserving man, God sees me as perfect in his Son Jesus Christ. Wow.

Not by my works, by his.

v.3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent.

Keep the truth, not the strange lies that these churches follow. They all hold to the Bible in at least some form, they’ve heard the truth, yet they want to hold to their own teachings instead of keeping the statutes of God.

John 8:51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

Once again, Christ gives them the opportunity to repent.

v.3 If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

This “Wake Up” and “Sleeping” language shows that their death is not yet permanent. They have not yet been reprobated to the second death of Hell. It’s like if one of us stopped breathing for a little bit, if someone gave us CPR, we could revive. This church could be revived if they would repent.

If you’re awake and watchful, it is very unlikely that you’re going to get robbed or be surprised, but if you’re napping, there is a good chance you won’t even know you’ve been robbed until the thief is long gone. This is Sardis’ threat.

v.4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

Throughout history, various Catholics have been redeemed. Not a lot, but a few. Augustine, Boniface, Francis of Assisi (probably), Savonarola, and certainly more that we won’t hear about until Heaven. A few believers inside of an apostate church don’t make for a good church, but once again we see that Christ recognizes his saints in the midst of radically bad churches.

The word for soiled in the Greek derives from the word for “black”. So the saints are walking in white, where-as the others have blackened their garments.

Paul Washer gives a great analogy about the saving power of our works by using a leper as an example. A leper is a person whose nerves and skin is dying, they have open wounds, and the worst of them have an odor you wouldn’t believe.

“The greatest, most commendable deeds of men are nothing but a few filthy rags before God. One might clothe a leper in the finest, white silk to cover his sores, but immediately, the corruption of his flesh would bleed through the garment, leaving it as vile as the man it seeks to hide. So are the “good works” of men before God. They bear the corruption of the man who does them.”

These guys at Sardis, with their gorgeous outer coverings, will see the corruption soak through and defile their garments. Unless they are washed in the blood of the Lamb, raised with him to walk in newness of life, and clothed in his righteousness, they have no option but to be defiled and dead in their transgressions.

v.5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments,

What’s my favorite verse? Anybody know? Revelation 19:11; verse 14 of that chapter continues the promise of verse 5.

Revelation 19:14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

v.5 I will never blot his name out of the book of life.

This verse has been used way wrongly to say that you can lose your salvation. That’s not what it’s saying at all. Lets look at when the Book of Life was penned and what it's for.

Revelation 13:8 before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

Revelation 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter [Heaven], nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

What this verse 5 is referring to is the citizenship book of Heaven. Most cities through history have kept city ledgers; records of everyone living in them. What do you think happens to someone’s name when they die? It gets erased from the ledger.

Christ is saying in this verse that those that conquer will never die, they will never be removed from Heaven’s rolls.

Hebrews 13:14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

v.5 I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

Boldly, unashamedly, he will announce, This is my saint, my brother/sister, I paid for him/her on Calvary’s cross, perfected through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion, Sardis is the works righteous church, thinking they can get to Heaven on their deeds. Christ requires perfection, and the deeds of men will always be found lacking. At the very most, the best our works can do is make us look pretty on the outside, with the inside in dire need of salvation.

Matthew 23:25-26 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

Has Dave told you the story of his long-lost coffee cup? He found a coffee cup on top of a book-shelf a few months ago. As he was pulling it down, he found out that it wasn't empty, and he spilled old coffee on himself. He said it smelled terrible and stained his clothes. He wasn't being more careful because the outside of the coffee cup looked clean, but the inside proved to be disgusting.

While we might be able to look pretty on the outside, providing a façade of holiness that will soon crumble. Only Christ's works can cleanse on the inside, so trust in his finished work on the cross and in the empty tomb.

May 10th - Thyatira

Prayer Requests
Summit in General
Jeffrey's Change of Guardianship
Tyler and Sarah Going to China
Students Finish Strong
Dave and Brooke in France
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Persecuted Brothers and Sisters Abroad

Praise
Mothers

Text - Revelation 2:17-29

Before we start, I want to comment on some recent news events that are going on, especially since we’ve been talking about various kinds of churches. There are people calling what happened to Miss Prejean a “persecution.” Beloved, this is not persecution, this is a mild inconvenience.


In the last two weeks, twenty pastors in China have gone to jail, sixteen are still being held. Two Christians in Afghanistan had their throats slit and four were shot. A Saudi Christian, Hamoud Bin Saleh, who should have been executed for his proselytizing in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was just released from prison after spending four-months there; he probably won’t live long now that everyone knows he’s a Christian, unless Christ decides to sustain him.

We’ve put our hope in a woman who can’t articulate the gospel of Jesus Christ and who is firmly entrenched in the church at Pergamum, in love with the world and unashamed of her sin.

I want to take this moment to remind you that God’s will for your life is your sanctification. Whatever you do with your life, whether you’re a missionary, doctor, wife, nurse, soldier, salesperson, pastor, Wendy's clerk or whatever, God’s main goal is your sanctification, and high on that list, as First Thessalonians tells us, is to avoid sexual immorality. This includes him disapproving of you wearing bathing suits that expose more of you than they cover.

Going through these churches, I hope you see that Christ cares about when his saints do good deeds, and he cares when they do bad deeds. He is proud of the good deeds, and he abhors the bad. We live in a culture that says, “Do your best and whatever happens I’ll be proud of you.” That’s not how Christ works, he’ll love you no matter what, he proved that by dying on a cross for you, but you can grieve his Spirit by failing to live for him. The same for me, I’m going to love you no matter what, but beloved, if you set your goals high and achieve those goals, I’m going to be so proud of you.

This is both in spiritual and natural things, but especially spiritual, and I want to hear about your successes. First chair in band, first string in sports, straight A’s; set your goals high and then achieve them. Whatever you do, do it for the glory of Christ. I heard of a church in Michigan where each Sunday School class listed out the names of their classmates, then when they would give one a gospel tract they’d put a check-mark, if they had a conversation they would put a “C”, and for a conversion they would put a cross. By the end of the year, every one of their classmates had heard about Jesus. Beloved, that would make me so proud of you, set your goal on your entire high-school graduating class being Christian; you’ve got seven years, get to it. And guess what, if you don’t convert everybody, you only convert 50%, I’m still going to be proud. By setting your sights on perfection, you have a goal and something to aim for, after-all, isn’t our goal perfection in our thoughts, words, and deeds, loving Christ completely, serving him totally?

So, to compare, we’re going to look at a church today who had none of these goals, and was totally clueless. The Beatles have song that says, “All you need is love, love, love; Love is all you need.” We’re going to prove that that statement is wrong.

What was Ephesus’ problem? Loveless.
How was their doctrine? Impeccable.

So doctrine without love is bad. But we’re going to see that love without doctrine isn’t any better.

Revelation 2:18-29 And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 'The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Tell me someone famous from Thyatira. Lydia. What did she do? She was a seller of expensive fabric. Thyatira was famous for their textiles and other guilds. A guild is like a union. This is, as far as I can tell, not important for the lesson that they had a lot of guilds, except that it is important who Lydia is. She was the first convert in Europe, and her house became the first church in Europe. Women have a very important role in the church, but checks and balances are vital, both ways.

The name Thyatira means daughter. One of their problems was that they had a woman pastor, I don’t know if the name and this fact are connected. Lydia would either be really old in this church, or most likely would have already gone home to Heaven, but the fact that she was a prominent person in the church was likely one of the reasons that so many were following a woman pastor. Past success shouldn’t drive your current efforts, you should be following the Bible. Lots of churches make this mistake, verse 19 is going to expand on this thought.

v. 19 I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.

This is exactly the opposite introduction as Ephesus got. This church was undoubtedly feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and befriending the lonely, and not only so, but their love was increasing. Because their love was growing they apparently stopped caring so much for doctrine as long as their was a visible manifestation of love.

v.20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

Love without doctrine is going to go nowhere. Imagine we want to go to the moon, we need two things; we need a space ship, and we need fuel. Imagine we just have fuel (love), and we push the “go” button, what’s going to happen? Are we going to get to the moon? No. Imagine we just have a space ship (doctrine) and we push the “go” button, what’s going to happen? Are we going to get to the moon? No. Lets put the fuel in the ship, and push the “go” button, are we going to go? Yes.

As we see from Ephesus and Thyatira, doctrine without love is worthless, but so is love without doctrine; you need both.

There are two examples of Thyatira today in America. They are both murderers of souls. The first is Walt Disneyism, which is love and morality without a hint of Christ. If you watch his older movies, he frequently uses biblical stories without so much as mentioning God. He believed that your good works could get you to Heaven and that no-matter which religion you were in, do good works, and you’d be fine. It is missing the doctrines of sin, Hell, and redemption; not to mention Christology: who Jesus Christ is, what he did, and why it matters to you.

The second is easier to see, but not any less dangerous. At the time of the writing of this letter, Montanism was in its infancy, but it would rock this church. It is what is called Pentecostalism or the Charismatic Church. It most manifestations it can be called a cult, and the name of that cult is Word-Faith, or the belief that your words have power to change the world because you're a little god. Not all Pentecostals are lost, but more are lost than are saved.

A brief note, Charismatic, is a good name, but it’s been hijacked and wrecked. It means “Gifts”, and we know that each of us is gifted by the Holy Spirit for our specific role in the church. But they take it too far.

One of the ways is the belief that unless you speak in “tongues”, or are “slain” in the Spirit, or “prophecy” that you aren’t saved. These gifts are made-up things, taking biblical concepts and renaming them after doctrines of demons. Tongues in the Bible refer to speaking in known languages; they speak in goofy made-up languages, sometimes I think it is a demon actually speaking through them, check out the website, I’ve put up a very scary video of this happening to someone who thinks they’re a Christian, but are deceived.


Isaiah 3:12 My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.

God says in this verse that women ruling over them is a judgment for their rampant sin. Strangely, these movements are usually led by women, but not always. The first manifestation of this in Montanism was run by a man named Montanus, but he had two girls with him, Priscilla and Maximilla; Priscilla was excommunicated for claiming Christ was a girl. The main doctrine of this cult is that you’re a little god, that you aren’t THE God, but that you can do a lot of things if you only name it and claim it. A big part of this is healing and prosperity, both of which rarely work, and when they don’t, you get blamed for having a lack of faith. It is godless paganism.

v.21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

This cult is called a cult quite often, and the Bible is easily used to refute their ungodliness, yet they love themselves more than they love God and will not repent, even though God gave them ample opportunity to.

v.22-23 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead.

This cult leads to spiritual death, both of those leading, those following, and of their children. This verse terrifies me, because it shows that there is something I could do that would impact your souls negatively for eternity. This is why both doctrine and works are so important; if I just taught you all the time, no matter how good the teaching was, without demonstration it wouldn’t sink in. If all we did was good things for people without ever naming the name of Christ, you wouldn’t be saved, you wouldn’t understand why we do good things, you wouldn’t understand that we’re not trying to work our way into Heaven, but that we’re being obedient to Christ in proclaiming his wondrous works and taking care of his flock.

Or worse, if my doctrine and ministry was dead on, but I constantly and frequently sinned without any shame, it would prove my hypocrisy and nobody wants to follow a religion filled with hypocrites, which unfortunately is what most of Christianity is today. I hope you see in me, Dave, Jenny, Pastor Aaron, and your parents a real, genuine, loving, biblical, consecrated Christianity; but it’s not your job to follow us, it’s your job to follow Christ, who we should be imitators of.

v.23 And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

This relates back to how Christ describes himself, as one with eyes like a flaming fire. This church seems always to be in the spotlight, but nobody ever pays attention. Todd Bentley, one of the antichrists in charge of this church, recently cheated on and then divorced his wife, proved to be an alcoholic, and was shown to be a huge fraud. They put on huge shows and pretend to heal people, but if you look at their success rate, it is pitiful. Even if they heal one person, Christ and his Apostles never failed to heal anybody they set out to heal, so it shows right there that its not from God, and their reward will be accordingly.

2 Peter 2:2-3 False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

v.24-25 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come.

Christ calls the Montanists, the Charismatic Movement, those holding onto the deep things of Satan, which is really what I think most of their works are, Satan manifesting himself through their lack of redemption, their desire to see signs and wonders, and their aversion to seeking after righteousness.

Undoubtedly many in this church were standing up to this cult, and beloved, I know people in this cult, and they love it so much that they refuse to repent of it, and it gets sooooooo frustrating. Here Christ recognizes this battle and tells his faithful followers to keep the faith.

v.26-27 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.

We’re going to talk more about these in detail in a few weeks, but this is Christ quoting Psalm 2:8-9, promising that the battles we are fighting now will come to victory on the last day, and that our enemies, if they will not repent, will be broken into itty bitty tiny pieces.

v.28-29 And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Morning Star is a way to refer to the king of kings, it was used to call Babylon's king powerful among kings, it was also used to call Satan the leader of angels. (Isaiah 14:12) Who is the true King of kings? It is Jesus Christ. (Revelation 22:16) Make Christ and his glory your end reward, fight sin and stand up to his enemies, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in his name. Your promise is that you will receive him and his glory, and not only so, but also his inheritance. This is a HUGE promise which is worth everything we could ever endure on earth; be that hatred, persecution, aberrant theology, goofy churches, and the rest.

The church at Thyatira will make you mad, but Christ knows it and has threatened them. Thank God that he is longsuffering and good, and pray that his forebearance leads them to repentance.

This video is pretty scary, but it really shows why this church is anything but Christian:

May 3rd - Pergamum

Prayer Requests
Answers Conference
Summit in General
Students Traveling

Praise
Mark Safely Back from Seattle

Text - Revelation 2:12-17

So, a recap, Ephesus; good church or bad church? Pretty bad, not totally awful.

What was their problem? Loveless, didn’t put their doctrine into action.

Smyrna; good church or bad church? Very good church.

Why? All the heretics were weeded out by threat of death; you really had to love Jesus to stay in this church, and that made it a great church.

What does Smyrna mean? Suffering, they were the persecuted church.

Here is the chapter out of Foxe's Book of Martyrs about Telemachus:

The Last Roman "Triumph"

As was customary on such occasions, there were bloody combats in the Colosseum, where gladiators, armed with swords and spears, fought as furiously as if they were on the field of battle.

The first part of the bloody entertainment was finished; the bodies of the dead were dragged off with hooks, and the reddened sand covered with a fresh, clean layer. After this had been done the gates in the wall of the arena were thrown open, and a number of tall, well-formed men in the prime of youth and strength came forward. Some carried swords, others three-pronged spears and nets. They marched once around the walls, and stopping before the emperor, held up their weapons at arm's length, and with one voice sounded out their greeting, Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant! "Hail, Caesar, those about to die salute thee!"

The combats now began again; the glatiators with nets tried to entangle those with swords, and when they succeeded mercilessly stabbed their antagonists to death with the three-pronged spear. When a glatiator had wounded his adversary, and had him lying helpless at his feet, he looked up at the eager faces of the spectators, and cried out, Hoc habet! "He has it!" and awaited the pleasure of the audience to kill or spare.

If the spectators held out their hands toward him, with thumbs upward, the defeated man was taken away, to recover if possible from his wounds. But if the fatal signal of "thumbs down" was given, the conquered was to be slain; and if he showed any reluctance to present his neck for the death blow, there was a scornful shout from the galleries, Recipe ferrum! "Receive the steel!" Privileged persons among the audience would even descend into the arena, to better witness the death agonies of some unusually brave victim, before his corpse was dragged out at the death gate.

The show went on; many had been slain, and the people, madly excited by the desperate bravery of those who continued to fight, shouted their applause. But suddenly there was an interruption. A rudely clad, robed figure appeared for a moment among the audience, and then boldly leaped down into the arena. He was seen to be a man of rough but imposing presence, bareheaded and with sun-browned face. Without hesitating an instant he advanced upon two gladiators engaged in a life-and-death struggle, and laying his hand upon one of them sternly reproved him for shedding innocent blood, and then, turning toward the thousands of angry faces ranged around him, called upon them in a solemn, deep-toned voice which resounded through the deep inclosure. These were his words: "Do not requite God's mercy in turning away the swords of your enemies by murdering each other!"

Angry shouts and cries at once drowned his voice: "This is no place for preaching!--the old customs of Rome must be observed!--On, gladiators!" Thrusting aside the stranger, the gladiators would have again attacked each other, but the man stood between, holding them apart, and trying in vain to be heard. "Sedition! sedition! down with him!" was then the cry; and the gladiators, enraged at the interference of an outsider with their chosen vocation, at once stabbed him to death. Stones, or whatever missiles came to hand, also rained down upon him from the furious people, and thus he perished, in the midst of the arena.

His dress showed him to be one of the hermits who vowed themselves to a holy life of prayer and self-denial, and who were reverenced by even the thoughtless and combat-loving Romans. The few who knew him told how he had come from the wilds of Asia on a pilgrimage, to visit the churches and keep his Christmas at Rome; they knew he was a holy man, and that his name was Telemachus-no more. His spirit had been stirred by the sight of thousands flocking to see men slaughter one another, and in his simple-hearted zeal he had tried to convince them of the cruelty and wickedness of their conduct. He had died, but not in vain. His work was accomplished at the moment he was struck down, for the shock of such a death before their eyes turned the hearts of the people: they saw the hideous aspects of the favorite vice to which they had blindly surrendered themselves; and from the day Telemachus fell dead in the Colosseum, no other fight of gladiators was ever held there.

So, we’re going to look at another bad church now, it represents the church that sin has infiltrated, married to and in love with the world; not taken down by blatant sinning, but slowly suffocated.

Revelation 2:12-17 And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

Pergamum is not the worst church, it does have some very good things going for it, but it is far from the best church.

v.13 I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

Pergamum was the Roman capital of Asia, it was in effect the center of worldly power in that part of the world. As you see from the pictures, this city was built on the top of a large hill, it was what is called an acropolis, a fortified city on a hill. Pergamum means fortress. This city was impenetrable, as far as my research goes, it was NEVER conquered from the outside in, although it changed hands several times from people selling it out. This city was a pinnacle of human engineering, it was beautiful, functional, defensible, and self-sufficient. It’s easy to take most castles and cities like this, all you do is make sure they can’t get food or water, and they’ll have to surrender…but not Pergamum, they had designed the city so that they could grow crops and keep livestock, as well as gathering rainwater.

As a church, they had faced fierce persecution prior to this letter being written, as many false gods were worshipped in this city, and many bad things took place. This persecution was probably what was keeping this church alive in the midst of such sin.

v.14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

Who’s Balaam? That guy with the talking donkey.

Numbers 22-24 summary; the year is 1250BC, Balak the king of Moab saw that Israel had conquered the Amorites, the Amorites were the superpower of the time, if Israel could beat them, they would have no problem beating Moab. So, Balak sends his messengers to Balaam, who was a prophet, but apparently one who doesn’t particularly like God. He says he can’t say good nor bad by his own will. (Numbers 25:13) He is the strangest prophet in the Bible, I think, he started out as a sorcerer, but then God actually spoke to him. But instead of following God, Balaam continued to try to figure out how to use it for his gain.

Anyways, Balak really wants Balaam to curse Israel, so he takes him up on a high place…interesting, Pergamum is on a high place…and they sacrifice to God, and Balaam preaches what God tells him to, which is a blessing on Israel. So Balak gets mad and decides they’re on the wrong hill, so they try another hill, from whence God through Balaam blesses Israel again, starting off by saying, “God doesn’t change his mind.” This whole time they can see this massive Israeli migration. Balak gets mad and says, ok, we’re gonna try another hill, but this time don’t bless or curse them! He is pretty much telling Balaam to remain neutral so that God is neither for, nor against, Israel, and he will try to conquer Israel by force.

Balaam blesses Israel again, and again, four times in all. He tells Balak that it wasn’t his will to bless Israel, but as a prophet he had no other choice but to speak God’s words, and God wanted to bless Israel.

Now at some point a secret meeting took place in an effort to defeat Israel sneakily. It is not recorded in Numbers 22-24, which is the story I just told you, but in Joshua 13:22, 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 11, Revelation 2:14 and Numbers 31:14-15, lets read the Numbers verse.

Numbers 31:14-15 Moses said to them, "Have you let all the women live? Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the LORD.

The reason it’s not in Numbers 22-24 is my guess because either Balak or Balaam related the story and neither would want to tell how they tried to go around God’s plans. Somehow Moses found out about their plan; it’s difficult to know how, albeit women of Midian came in and one of them may have told how Balaam was the mastermind of their efforts.

Balak means “Waster”, Satan has a name of “Destroyer.” Balak here certainly represents Satan, it is interesting to note that many commentaries say he wasn’t a legal king of Moab or Midian, neither is Satan a legal ruler of the planet, but since people follow him, he has power over them.

Matthew 12:30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

So, Balaam and Balak, who know they could not beat Israel by force, instead tried to beat Israel through sin, by sending in beautiful women to seduce and intermarry and pollute Israel’s population. At the height of it, one of the men, Zimri, brings his new wife, a Midianite named Cozbi, to a meeting. It’s like a lamb bringing his new girlfriend, a wolf, into the flock. While she’s just a girl, she represents sin in the camp, intermingling with worldly lusts, and for it, Israel is stricken with plague, until Phinehas, a priest, kills the newly-weds and rids the camp of sin.

So the way that relates to Pergamum is that it is the church intermarried with the world. Satan knew he couldn’t take this church through force, he’d tried, he killed Antipas and the church thrived, because the persecuted church is a healthy church. So he decided to try something more sneaky.

v.15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Uh-oh, these same cult members, who Christ has previously says he hates, are in the camp. How good do you think this class would be if I was teaching you while I was standing at the door making cat-calls at all of the pretty girls that walked by?

We have to call sin sin, and we can’t pretend it’s alright to have in our church. I’ll give you some blatantly offensive examples...after church you go home and watch tv shows and movies that blatantly make war on God, you sing in church that God is sufficient and yet you covet money and possessions so bad it hurts, you tell Christ you’d do anything for him and yet you won’t help your parents with housework.

God hates blatant sin, and while Christ is able to pay for every type of sin, no matter how heinous, if you don’t have a hatred of sin and an aversion to it, it is unlikely that you have been redeemed.

A terrible modern day example is the Presbyterian Church USA (Not to be confused with the PCA), who recently voted on whether or not their clergy have to be monogamous to one woman in a marital relationship while serving as pastors. It is godless paganism and that church is dead.

v.16 Therefore repent.

Even as bad as it was getting in Pergamum, Christ is still offering forgiveness if they will repent of their sins.

v.16 If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Remember, Pergamum was the unconquered, unconquerable city. An army would have to be foolish to try, and yet what does Christ say? If they will not repent, he will make war with them. And beloved, Jesus Christ does not lose wars.

So, Pergamum is the church who loves the things the world has to offer, who profess to love Christ, but embrace his enemies. Unconquerable from the outside, but dying from the inside out.

v.17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

Once again, we’ll talk about these promises more later, but your church situation doesn’t necessarily refer to your situation. You may be put in a bad church in order to help lead it back to God, to correct sinful situations, and to rightly represent your Saviour.

If I had to pick one church to call Summit, and most Southern Baptist Churches, unfortunately I would probably choose this church. We stand up for Christ, we won’t deny that he is the only way to reconciliation with God, and yet we have no problem living in the world, trying to filter what we want through our worldview, and reading and watching things that aren’t God honoring.

I think the worst part is that many people start with what they want to do, and then find Bible verses to support themselves. It is much better to know the Bible and find out what it allows and doesn’t allow, instead of trying to make it say things it doesn’t.

I want to give you two major examples. The first is the book, The Shack. This book is blasphemy, it totally misrepresents God, and yet if we did a survey of the congregation, I bet 25% of people like it. The reason it slid by our heresy-RADAR so easily, just like Balaam’s suggestion to infiltrate Israel with pretty girls, is because it’s not a direct attack on Christianity, after all, it uses a lot of Christian terms, it’s a very subtle sneak attack. For more information please see Michael Youssef - Thirteen Heresies in the Shack.

The second is evolution. I bring this up partly because of our Answers Conference today. Evolution is a sneak attack on Christianity. It doesn’t come right out and say, “God doesn’t exist.” But it does work very subtly and deceitfully to say that God is not necessary, which in turn leads to God not being able nor willing nor necessary to work in our lives.

One of Satan’s awesome fallacies to this effect is his ability to convince us that we’re smarter than other people and previous generations. One of the pseudoscientist’s favorite claims is that science is self-correcting, that if science discovers a theory is wrong, then it will be found out and make a new, better theory. This is nothing more than a brainwashing technique to say that the generation we are living in now is the smartest generation ever to live. If you look back through history, plenty of generations have been smarter than us and have accomplished more. We think we’re smarter now because we have airplanes, computers, and cell-phones, when in reality the only reason these are possible is because God allowed us to discover how to make and use electricity.

For example, in attempt to get people on board during the founding of the nation, a book was written in the 1780's called the Federalist Papers, which is a collection of essays in favor of a Republic. I have taken more college courses than most people, and still I find the Federalist Papers hard to read, very interesting, but extremely intellectual. Here’s the thing, the Federalist Papers were written not to college educated men, but to farmers and merchants and normal people. Back then your average citizen knew how a Republic worked, why it was good for them as opposed to a monarchy, how its checks and balances worked, and a hundred more reasons why the United States was founded as a Republic. Today most people don’t even realize that soviet and democracy mean the same thing, and that this country was never intended to be a democracy, because democracy’s are dumb.

So, the church at Pergamum was wont to fall into worldly lusts, not on purpose, but for lack of knowledge and because the heresies were cleverly hidden. The only way to avoid being this church is to know your Bible and do what it says. When science and the Bible contradict, stand with the Bible.

So, all that to say, know your Bible, believe what it says because it is absolute truth, when somebody tells you something that differs, whether it differs by a little teeny tiny bit, or a whole lot, stick to the Bible, because it has been proven right over and over and it’s not going to fail ever.

Look out for sneak attacks, because if Satan can't kill you or beat you, he wants to trick you.

Psalm 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.

Next week we'll look at Thyatira, this church has one of the scariest things written to it in all of the Bible for me, see if you can find it.