INTRODUCTION

-Pangumusta
-Recap last prayer meeting (7 churches and Laodecia)
Laodecia – neither hot nor cold; they felt like they did not need God (they believed that He is
God and He is there but they had all that they needed (riches/products)
Pattern of (some) letters://not all Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis//
*Introduction “To the church…from//description of Jesus
*Commendation “I know your deeds/You did not/”
*Rebuke “Yet I have something against you..”
*Option to Repent
*Reward
-Opening Prayer
-Read Revelation 2:12-17//see the pattern
-v.12 How was Jesus described?
-Him who has double-edged sword
-Hebrews 4:12
- He has and is the Word that penetrates and divides, spirit and soul; judges the
thoughts and attitudes of the heart; v.13 Nothing in all creation is hidden in God’s sight
--It is important to understand who Jesus is, first and foremost
-He sees everything we do and knows our hearts and our thoughts
-This message or letter might/could/would divide //WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS
WRONG

-v.13 Read
-Give a brief History of Pergamum/Pergamos
In Asia Minor like Laodecia (Most churches);
Impressive or Not. 100 miles north of Ephesus.
It is built upon a hill (1000 feet above the country side);
No important trade route and products wise also not the best like Laodecia.
BUT the thing about Pergamos was it was culturally massive. CULTURE CENTER.
It has a Library(at that time) with 200,000 books
City of science and education (especially medicine)
Had the title of Capital or Roman Asia (along side Ephesus and Smyrna)

-SEAT OF SATAN/THRONE OF SATAN

-Open Culture, many religions were here; many teachings.
-If Ephesus and Smyrna was evil because of idolatry…Pergamum was somehow worse
-Imperial Cult Worship (Worship the Emperor)
-temples for gods and goddesses
ZEUS// huge altar of Zeus//sat on a plateau 900 feet above the city
ATHENA
AESCLEPIUS//god of healing//snake symbol
-WE experience this today //Hong Kong Tian Tan Buddha; not as obvious; schools and work

AND THE AMAZING PART IS JESUS KNOWS THIS…”I know where you live….” He understands.
-He knows that it is a place of persecution//example – Antipas – first martyr
-HE COMMENDS YOU FOR IT //it is hard to remain faithful under persecution and open culture
v. 14-15 BUT Read
-They had problems ASIDE FROM EXTERNAL//INTERNAL RPOBLEMS
-Now who is Balaam?
-best known for talking with his donkey
-Old Testament prophet, Gentile who knew God;called to speak for God
-In the time of wandering in the wilderness, God’s chosen people defeated the
Amonites, and next to fall were the Moabites
-When Balak(King of the Moab) knew about Isrealites advancement;
-In desperation, called Balaam “CURSE the people and I’ll give you something in return
(money)
-“prophet for Hire”
-3 times he tried to curse the people of God—but what came about was blessings
- He instructed the Balak to send the most beautiful women from Moab to the Israelite
army to seduce the men of Israel. God would judge them for their disobedience
- no match for this temptation. They wilted under the seductive power and decided to
party with these pagan women. Soon they went to church with these heathen women and worshipped
their idols. They even brought sacrifices to their pagan gods and ate meat offered to idols in pagan
ceremonies. The result was devastating: Israel fell into this terrible sin and God went to war against
them.

AND BECAUSE OF THAT GOD SENT A PLAGUE ON ISREAL THAT KILLED 24,000 people
-No outside curse can destroy God’s people. We don’t have to worry about outside
forces. God is in fact with us. And He knows the struggles that we face
-WE are mostly defeated from the inside out

-FALSE TEACHING (“It is okay”)

-The church stood through all the persecution, what the problem was, they were
compromising
-They compromised with the culture (Its fine)
- There were those in the church who began to teach that you can be a Christian on
Sunday, and still participate in emperor worship because that is how you show your patriotism.
They began to teach you can go to church on Sunday and eat food sacrificed to Idols… it is no big deal to
participate in worship to other gods, if you don’t believe in they began to teach, you can go to church on
Sunday and practice sexual immorality… what you do in your bedroom is between you and God…
besides everyone is doing it anyway it anyway…
- Comprising the two areas that the Church at the counsel of Jerusalem () agreed
together could not be compromised....
In the leaders of the church, Peter, James, John, Paul and many others got together to decide what
parts of the Jewish law the gentile church needed to follow...
And this is what the decided:
Acts 15:19–20 ESV
Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should
write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what
has been strangled, and from blood.

AND THESE VERY TWO ISSUES THE CHURCH IN PERGAMUM

 - Just as Balaam misled the Israelites into committing idolatry and fornication, so now the
Nicolaitans were misleading some members with their false teaching.
The Nicolaitans taught that church and culture can live together harmoniously because a Christian’s true
spiritual self could not be influenced by carnal things…
In other words they believed that how you live your life on earth has no effect on your faith in Jesus...
They believed that the spiritual self and the physical self or our flesh were completely seperate…

-AND WE SEE THIS TODAY

There are more and more christians that see their spirtual life seperate from the
physical life…
There are more and more christians who believe living together is okay...
There are more and more christians who have no issue in participating in other
religions
There are more and more christians who believe using recreation drugs, like
alcohol
OTHER EXAMPLES

I hear this all the time… being a christian is not about living my life a certain
way… it is about loving Jesus!
BUT JESUS SAID IN JOHN..IF YOU LOVE ME YOU WILL OBEY MY
COMMANDMENTS

-AND ASIDE FROM COMPRIMISING, they are also COMPLACENT

- oh well, you know, we are just going to let them go. We are walking with the Lord. Just
let them do what they want to do
-.” This is a problem because we have a responsibility as believers to not only stand firm
on our faith and for our faith, but we also have a responsibility to defend the faith
-We are sometimes like this

v.16
-Repent! If not, Read
-harsh. Jesus does not take this lightly
- He says, “I’m coming to you quickly.” Jesus isn’t referring to the rapture; He’s referring to a
rupture.18 Jesus will rumble with His church! The change from “you” to “them” indicates that Jesus will
not wage war on all Christians in a church marked by disobedience. Rather, He will severely judge those
who are personally involved in tolerating theological or practical compromise.
-He is talking about imminent judgment. I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against
them. By using that pronoun, he is referring to that entire church. The entire church is accountable—not
just those who are teaching falsely, but also those who are holding fast to God’s Word but are not doing
anything about the false teaching.
- Jesus describes Himself as the one who has the sharp two-edged sword. This description of
Jesus Christ refers to the Word of God. In Hebrews 4:12
It exposes. It judges our innermost thoughts, our motives. Thoughts like, “you know I really should not
be thinking that about that person!” God, thank you. If we ever get to the point that His Word does not
prick us, I think we are in danger. It is a sword that will sharply expose what is inside.
v.17 READ In order to stand firm against compromise with the world, we need perceive the problem.
We need to consider the consequences and, third, we need to remember the reward.

-HIDDEN MANNA
-- the manna stood for God’s faithfulness to the Israelites to provide and sustain them
through the wilderness for years and years
-- In memorial to God’s faithfulness a portion of that manna was placed in the Ark of the
Covenant in the Holy of Holies and, thus, hidden. We need to remember that we have something so
much better than what the world has to offer. We have Jesus Christ, the bread of life, the one Who will
always sustain us. He will give us all that we need. He is the real manna. We do not need a feast from
the world. He offers so much more.

-WHITE STONE
White Stone with a New Name

-This is the hardest symbol to interpret in these promises.

-The white stones were used for a number of purposes. They were used for an invitation
or admission to a banquet. They would take their white stone and that stone would have their
name on it and they would present it at the door to get admit into a banquet.
-It was also used as an award given to a winner of an athletic contest. You won – here is
your white stone.
-It was used in the ancient courts for jury verdicts. If you thought somebody was guilty,
you put a black stone in the jar. If you thought they were acquitted, you put a white stone in the
jar. If there were more white stones than black stones, they were acquitted.

-I do like the thought that we are acquitted in God’s eyes and that we are not guilty in
His eyes. Perhaps that is what this white stone is.

-I do believe that that this white stone symbolizes our acceptance and approval by God
and that that new name that is written on either refers to the name of Jesus Christ, implying
that we now are His. We belong to Him.

-I will tell you what I would like either one. It does not matter. It is something that we need to
look forward to. We do not need to feast with this world and get engaged in all the fleshly desires. We
need to look forward to the reward that is so worth waiting for, the manna, the white stone with His
name on it. Whatever those fully mean, they are worth it. Thus we need to be careful to not disqualify
ourselves ahead of time.