REVELATION 2:18-29 THYATIRA TIME TO REPENT2010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 2:18-29 Thyatira Time To Repent

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2010.

These are the things which must shortly take place that Jesus talked about in John chapter 1, sorry, Revelation chapter 1 verse 1, where he told John, or John shares with us, that this revelation God gave to Jesus in order to show us the things which must shortly take place. There's some things that are yet future that God has promised us.

that have not happened yet, but they're going to happen. They must shortly take place. They're going to happen quickly and very soon.

And we're looking forward to those things. As we head into Revelation chapter 4 in a few weeks, we'll be talking about and beginning with the rapture of the church. And for us as believers, that's what we're looking forward to. That's what we're looking towards. The time when Jesus catches us up as the church to meet with Him, to forever be with the Lord. And we're going to be with Him in heaven for the next seven years, which is...

when the earth is going through the great tribulation period well after the rapture and after the church is out of the picture then the world is going to go through a time like it's never seen before we think we've seen difficulty and hardship in our lifetimes or perhaps in history but what the world has seen before is nothing compared to the seven years of tribulation there's going to be death like never before famine and disease

and war like never before. It's going to be completely devastating as the wrath of God is being poured out upon the earth. And we'll be studying through that seven years of tribulation from chapter 6 of Revelation through chapter 19. Then in chapter 19, we find the conclusion of the tribulation period with the return of Jesus Christ. He...

He comes back. The battle of Armageddon is right about to happen. And as the armies are gathered together, Jesus Christ returns. And the armies that are gathered together turn against Jesus. But of course, He wipes them out. He destroys those armies. And that ushers in, He begins at that point, His thousand year reign. We call it the Millennial Kingdom. He reigns on the earth for 1,000 years. 1,000 years.

ruling and reigning here on the earth along with his saints, that is the church, those who were raptured, caught up to meet with him. We come back with God, with Jesus, to rule and to reign on the earth for this thousand years. During this thousand years, Satan is going to be bound in the bottomless pit, and so he's not going to be roaming around seeking those that he may devour. He's not going to be causing trouble and leading rebellions.

He's going to be out of the picture for that thousand years. Also during that thousand years, the earth is going to be renewed and restored to what it once was. And so it's going to be glorious. There's going to be just a wonderful, wonderful kingdom with people practicing righteousness. It will be forced. It will be enforced righteousness. People will be obeying God and walking with God, really whether they want to or not.

And during that thousand year reign of Christ, they will be required to be obedient to the things of God.

Well then, at the end of the thousand years, Satan will be released for a short time. And at that time, those who really weren't interested in God, really didn't want to follow God, but they were in that period of obeying God because that's what was required at the time, they'll be given an opportunity to join with Satan in one final rebellion. And he leads a group, an army against Jerusalem,

Again, rebelling against God, rebelling against Jesus Christ. And that final rebellion is put to an end. Those who rebel against the Lord at that time will be put to death. And that ushers in the great white throne judgment. That brings us to judgment day.

And there in judgment day, Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, eternally in punishment, eternal judgment, eternal separation from God. It also tells us in Revelation chapter 20 that whoever is not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire as well at that time. And so this is the final judgment that we'll be looking at when we get there to Revelation chapter 20.

And then in Revelation chapter 21, we'll look at the new Jerusalem, the new heavens and the new earth that God creates. And then He gives us some insight and some hints into the rest of eternity and what He has in store for us. And so these are the things which must shortly take place. These things are going to happen and we're looking forward to them and we're looking forward to studying them as well.

But before we get to these things, there's some other issues that God wants to deal with. And so there's some things in our hearts that God wants to address. And so following the outline of the book of Revelation, we looked at that in Revelation chapter 1 verse 19, it's divided into three sections. The first part of the book of Revelation, Jesus tells John to write down the things which he had seen.

And at that point, the only thing that John had seen was the vision of Jesus. And so the first section of the book of Revelation is chapter 1, where we have recorded there that vision of Jesus that John received. Well, then Jesus tells John to write down the things which are.

So the things that were past, the things that he had already seen, then the things that are present, the things that are right now. And we find that in chapters 2 and 3 here in Revelation. As Jesus writes these letters to seven different churches, we find that he is addressing the church age. He's addressing our situation right now in the midst of the church age.

He's writing to us, he's dealing with our hearts and preparing us for what is to come, the future events that will take place. And then the third section, the third part of the book of Revelation is the things that will take place and that of course is chapters 4 through 22. The majority of the book is focused on that, that's what Jesus is writing about because he wants us to know what will take place.

He wants us to know what is going to happen. He wants us to know what these things are. But until we get there, before we get there, He wants to work in our hearts. And so as we look at these letters, these are preparation for us so that we are prepared for these events to take place and so that we are prepared to study and to understand these events and what they mean.

As we look at these seven letters to the churches, there's four ways that we apply these letters, four ways that these letters are applied in different scenarios. The first application of these letters, of course, is they're applied to the church that actually existed when Jesus was revealing these things to John. As Jesus is speaking to him, there is an actual

actual church in the city of Pergamos that has this particular condition that Jesus is writing to address. And so it's written to that specific church, that literal church that existed at that time.

But we also study and understand that these churches, also each one of the seven represents different periods of church history and the general condition of the church as a whole at different points and in different periods throughout history. And we're not going to talk about that this morning in our study, but in a few weeks as we get to the end of the churches, then we'll go back and paint the historical picture and look at that context and what the Lord is speaking through that.

Well, the third application of these letters to the churches is that these letters apply to individual churches.

this fellowship as well as all of the other churches around the world are described and we are in similar conditions according to these seven letters and so some churches might be more like Ephesus and some churches might be more like Smyrna some churches might be more like Pergamos which we're looking at today and so there's application for individual churches to pay attention to what Jesus is saying to find themselves in that same situation

and then respond appropriately or rebel and that's the choice of those individual churches.

Well, the final application, the one that we're really focusing in our time together as we study through these letters, is the personal application, where God wants to speak to us personally through these things. And each one of us, we can find ourselves more like the Church of Ephesus, more like the Church of Smyrna, more like the Church of Pergamos, where there's issues here that are going on in our lives and that God wants to work in our hearts and to bring us to right relationship with Him.

We find this indicated by something he says to each of the churches. In every letter he says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

And so Jesus intends for us to read these things and to understand what they mean and to listen up for our own selves, to pay attention and say, Lord, is there something in my life that is relatable to what is going on in that church and that you want to deal with and that you want to speak to me about? He has something for us to learn and to apply in our lives from all of the churches.

And so we need to pay attention. We need to listen up. We need to hear what the Spirit is saying and allow Him to work in our lives as we study through the church of Pergamos and the letter that Jesus writes to them. We begin in verse 12 where it says, And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, These things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword. As Jesus begins the letter, He says,

to the angel of the church, which he does in each of the letters, and we've talked about that several times. The word angel simply means messenger.

And so this could be an angelic being like we think of when we think of the word angel, a supernatural being that was created by God. But it also could be the pastor of the church. And so it's the messenger of the church. God is giving the church a message and he's delivering it to the messenger in order to have the church receive what he is writing. And so Jesus addresses it to the messenger. He's entrusting it to the messenger to pass it on to the church.

Well, this particular church is located in the city of Pergamos. Now, Pergamos was a city...

Unlike Smyrna and unlike Ephesus, which we studied the last two weeks, those were coastal cities. They were very commercial cities. They were right on the sea, so there's ports there. It was a lot of commerce that was taking place. Pergamos is farther inland, still in the same area in modern-day Turkey, right there in what is known as Asia Minor. It was a city that was there that was just full of splendor.

Ephesus and Smyrna, they were well known for their commerce. Pergamos was well known for its culture and its religion. It was a cultural center, not a commercial center. It was filled with all types of different religious temples. They would worship all kinds of false gods. It was a center really for Greek and Romans to come and worship their gods. It was...

also a university town. It had a prominent university and it boasted of its library, which at that time had more than 200,000 volumes. And so they collected works from all over. If it was written down, they tried to collect it. Here in Pergamos, it was also discovered that you could make parchment. And so that discovery, that development began there in Pergamos.

But it was most noted for the temples that it had and the worship that took place there in Pergamos. They had temples to Greek and Roman gods, Athena, Demeter, Zeus, another god known as Asclepius.

I always mess up that name. We get the word scalpel from that God. It was the God of medicine. It was represented by a serpent. And you know the symbol for medicine with the serpent wrapped around the staff? That comes from the worship of this God. And so they would come here for healing and worship that God if they were having some type of physical infirmity.

And so they would worship all of these different gods. They had a grove, which is an area where they would worship, and it was full of all kinds of different idols. The city was filled with temples. And the practice of worshiping these gods, it's not just bowing down to a statue, but the practice of worshiping these gods involved sacrifices, and it involved all kinds of sexual immorality.

And so Pergamos was a tough place. I mean, it was a really difficult place to be a Christian, to walk with God, and God is writing to this church that is there and dealing with some issues that are going on. As Jesus introduces himself, in each letter he introduces himself with a piece of the vision that John saw in chapter 1. And so he says, "...these things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword."

He introduces himself to this church as having a sharp two-edged sword. The vision described for us in chapter 1 says that sharp two-edged sword comes out of his mouth. It's speaking about his word that is sharp and that is double-edged. It's interesting that Jesus introduces himself as having the sharp two-edged sword because this church...

And what Jesus is writing about is there are those in the church who do not deny Jesus. They hold fast to Jesus' name, but they live their lives practicing sin. They fill their lives with sinful practices. And so as he introduces himself as having a sharp two-edged sword, he's writing a stern warning to them about what is going to happen if they do not repent.

As we looked at the church of Smyrna last week, we found that the church, you know, was afflicted and persecuted. And Jesus was writing to them to give them comfort. Also to warn them that there was more persecution coming and it was going to get tougher. But he reminds them that he has given them the hope of eternity and that he has conquered death. And so in writing to that church, he brings them comfort. He gives them hope. He's very gentle in dealing with that church. But he also reminds them

But here as he writes to a church that is practicing sin, Jesus gives stern and severe warning. We need to listen up. He says, look, I have a double-edged sword. I'm not just, you know, the God who gives comfort and hope and, you know, pats you on the back and tells you everything's going to be okay. You need to know that there's some who are in a situation that I have a sword and I'm not afraid to use it and there's going to be some judgment and some punishment

some sword that is applied to your life. The sharp two-edged sword is His word and we'll talk about that more as we get into this church.

Well, there's five things I want to share with you about this church. Five personal application items that we can take and consider and apply to our own lives. And the first thing that we'll find here in verse 13 is that we are to hold fast to the name of Jesus. Hold fast to Jesus' name. Look at verse 13. It says, I know your works.

And where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith even in the days in which Antipas was my faithful martyr who was killed among you where Satan dwells.

He begins writing to this church and addressing them directly. He says, I know your works. Now this is something that Jesus writes in every letter as he writes to these seven churches. He lets them know, I know your works. Jesus wants you to know, he wants me to know, that he knows our works.

He knows our situation. He knows what's going on. He knows what we're involved in. He knows what our lives are like and what our lives are filled with. As we consider the things that Jesus writes to this church, let's remember, let's pay attention and consider, as we look at these things and seek to apply them to our lives, let's remember that He knows our works. We cannot hide anything from Him.

You know, as we come to church on Sunday mornings, you're sitting next to people, and you may know them, you may greet them, you may say hi to them, you may pray for them, but really we only know about each other, what we present to each other, and the majority of that happens here at church during services and as we hang out together afterwards. But there's much time

that we don't know what's happening in other people's lives. We don't know what they're doing throughout the week. We don't know what's going on in their lives as they live out on a daily basis the life that they're living. There's a lot that we don't know, but what we do know is what is presented to us. And so it's very easy for people to come to church and they put on the Christian show

They put on the Christian vocabulary. They put on the Christian look and the Christian smile. And they put on this show and that's what we know. And so, as far as we can tell, people are doing great. Things are going wonderful. And they're walking with the Lord. But Jesus writes to the church and he says, I know your works. You know, there's a lot that we can hide from one another.

There's a lot that we can hide and we don't know about each other. But we can't hide anything from the Lord. He knows your works. He knows what's really going on. And so as we look at this passage, don't just think about what you've presented because God's not fooled by that. But allow God to search your heart and to challenge your heart with what's really going on in your life and not just the Christian show that you present.

He says, I know your works and I know where you dwell. He says, you dwell where Satan's throne is. Pergamos was a tough place. It was really difficult. In fact, the people, this saying where Satan's throne is, this was a saying of the people who were there. It was a saying of the church that, hey, we live where Satan's throne is. There's a stronghold there as there's so much idolatry, so much worship of false gods. They called it idolatry.

Satan's throne. This is where Satan's throne is. Much like we refer to Las Vegas as Sin City. If someone says, yeah, I'm going to Sin City, you know where they're going. In the same way, they would refer to Pergamos as Satan's throne. And so they were understanding this is a stronghold. There's a satanic work that is taking place as the city was completely devoted to idolatry.

Now, if you were to picture in your mind

the city where Satan's throne was, how would you picture that city? What would be the visual for you? Would it be dark and terrible and ugly? I think that's kind of what I visualize when I think of the place where Satan's throne is. Lots of fire and it's real hot and things like that. Maybe like Gotham City, right? It's all dreary and dark and not much light and clouds all the time. But the city of Pergamos where Satan's throne was...

It was actually a beautiful city. It was a splendid city. It was just full of glorious splendor. And it was a cause of amazement for people. In fact, one of the temples...

was high on a mountain and you could see it from a great distance away and it would be awe-inspiring. It would be like, wow, let's go see that. Let's go check that out. Let's go find out what that is about. And so it was a city that was attractive, that was full of just glorious splendor.

And that's really no surprise. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 that Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. You know, we think of Satan and we think of the horns and the tail and he's red and there's fire and that's what we think of when we think of the devil. But the reality is he transforms himself into an angel of light.

And so Paul tells us it's not a surprise then that his agents, you know, look good and they transform themselves into ministers of light. They put on the clothes, they put on the look and the appearance of those who are doing good. And where his throne is in that city, that's something that is bright, that is brilliant, that is glorious. It's...

It's no surprise that it's a city of splendor. You know, we need to learn the lesson that just because it's pretty or shiny or bright, it does not mean that it is good. It does not mean that it's something of God. So they're there in a tough spot. They're in a difficult situation. Jesus says, I know your works and I know where you live is really hard to follow me.

But now he commends them for holding fast to his name. He says, And you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith even in the days in which Antipas was my faithful martyr who was killed among you where Satan dwells. He says, And you hold fast to my name.

He commends them. They were devoted to Jesus and to the faith. That is, they were devoted to the truth of God. They were devoted to the doctrine of His Word. They were devoted to the truth. They did not deny Jesus, even in the midst of persecution and difficulty, as they live in this tough city, in this tough environment, where it's tough to follow the Lord. They held fast to His name.

And so Jesus says, good job for that. Good job holding fast, not denying the name of Jesus, not turning away. They kept the faith. They kept the truth. They held on to the truth of the word of God and the truth about Jesus Christ. They didn't deny the Lord. They didn't throw away their beliefs, but they held fast. He talks about even in the difficult days when Antipas was put to death for the name of Jesus.

He calls him a faithful martyr. The word martyr simply means witness. He was Jesus' faithful witness. What a compliment to this guy. This guy, Antipas, we know nothing about him. Nothing. He's not mentioned anywhere else. We don't know any of the circumstances or how he was killed. We know nothing about him. But the cool thing is that God knows everything about him. And so he mentions him in this letter. He says, hey, Antipas was my faithful martyr.

You know, sometimes when we're suffering greatly, we feel so isolated and alone. Nobody else really knows what we're going through. Nobody else knows what it's like. Nobody else knows. But God knows. You know, if you're suffering greatly, if you're going through difficulty and persecution, remember,

Remember and understand that God knows. It's not lost on Him. All of us might be oblivious. We might not be able to relate. But God is right there and He knows what's going on. And He's paying attention. And He calls Antipas His faithful martyr. That's something significant. His faithful witness. It's something that was attributed to Jesus. Jesus was the faithful witness. And He says, Antipas as well was a faithful witness. He was faithful to Me.

And so I want to encourage you, regardless of the circumstances, be faithful to Jesus. There is reward in that. And although you're suffering, although you go through difficulty, He knows, He sees, and He understands what's going on. And so we need to hold fast to Jesus' name, to not deny the faith, but to stay steadfast in believing the Word of God.

Well, the second point that we find for our personal application this morning is to repent of idolatry and immorality. And this is where it really begins to hit home. Look at verse 14.

He says, but I have a few things against you because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. He says, great job, guys. You've held fast to my name, even in difficulty, and I know where you live. It's tough, so way to go. However, I have a couple things against you.

There's some issues that need to be addressed and that's what Jesus is going to do now. The issue really begins with those who hold the doctrine of Balaam. Now he says you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam. Not everyone in the church held this doctrine, but some did. And so his issue with the church is that they were allowing Balaam

This doctrine to continue. They were allowing this doctrine to exist within the church. And they were allowing those who had that doctrine to be part of the church. God expects the church to get rid of false doctrine. This church was putting up with it, tolerating it, allowing it. But God expects His church to purge false doctrine from the fellowship.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul was dealing with an issue that was happening there in Corinth, where they were allowing immorality to take place within the church. In fact, more than just allowing it, they were glorying in it. They were happy about it. They were saying, look how awesome we are and how tolerant we are and how loving we are that we allow this couple who is involved in immorality their

sexually involved when they should not be, but we embrace them and we allow them to be a part of the fellowship.

And Paul tells him in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 6, he says, Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? He says, you're allowing that, you're tolerating that, but that's affecting the whole body. The whole body is affected by that sinful condition that you're putting up with. And so that's not a good thing. You need to get rid of that. And he instructs them to put them outside of the church so that they might miss God, that they might repent and get right with God.

And so as he's writing to this church of Pergamos, he says, you have some issues that are going on and you're not dealing with them and it's affecting the whole body.

The church of Pergamos is often referred to as the compromising church because that's what they were doing. They were compromising. They didn't want to ruffle feathers. They didn't want to really deal with issues, make firm decisions or firm stands. And so they compromised. They allowed these false doctrines to remain and to exist within the church. Well, what is this doctrine that was there within the church? He says it's the doctrine of Balaam.

Now the doctrine of Balaam, we can find and you can read the account in Numbers chapter 22 through 25. And it goes back to this time in Israel's history where God had brought them out of Egypt and

They were on the way to the promised land. God was leading them to the land of Israel or the land of Canaan at that time. And as they're on their way, the Moabite king sees what's going on. He sees the people coming and he starts to get a little nervous and worried. And he says, look, these guys are going to wipe us out.

And so the king's name was Balak. And Balak sends for Balaam, who is a prophet. And I think, you know, the names are similar just to confuse us and make us study it more intently. King Balak sends for Balaam the prophet. And he says, Hey, Balaam, what I want you to do is to come and curse the people of Israel so that we can defeat them because we're not strong enough to do it on our own. And so Balaam...

after being promised much money and wealth, he finally comes and he says, okay, and they go up on a mountain, they're looking over the children of Israel and Balaam begins to speak but instead of pronouncing a curse, out of his mouth comes a blessing. And so he blesses Israel.

And so King Balak is pretty upset. He says, hey, I hired you to curse them, not to bless them. So they go over to another mountain. From this spot, he says, maybe you can curse them. But again, out of his mouth comes a blessing and not a curse. Then they go to a third place and he says, curse them from here. But again, out of his mouth comes a blessing and not a curse. And so Balaam was not able to curse God's people. Well, Balaam was still enticed by the promise of riches and wealth.

And so he came up with an idea and what he did was he taught King Balak how to turn God's people in such a way that God would curse them. That Balaam wouldn't need to, but that God would fight against them. And that they would put themselves in a place where God was displeased with them.

And so what he taught Balak to do was to entice the men of Israel into sexual immorality. He says, why don't you get your Moabite gals and dress them up nice, make them nice and enticing, send them down, put them around the armies, and the guys will be attracted to them and lure them, seduce them into sexual immorality.

Get them involved in idolatry and have them start participating in the worship of these gods that you worship. And then the result will be that God will fight against them.

And as we read the account, we find that's exactly what happened. The men of Israel were enticed by these Moabite ladies and they began to turn away from God and they began to involve themselves in immorality and worship these false gods. And so he says here in verse 14 that Balaam taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.

There were there in the church of Pergamos those who held to the doctrine of Balaam. And so what that means, how that translates for us, is that there were people who would go to church, but they were involved in the worship of other gods. They would go to church, but they were involving themselves in sexual immorality, which was normally a big part of the practices of worshiping other gods.

And so they were causing people to stumble. They were leading people astray because they were there within the church. They didn't deny the name of Jesus. They didn't turn away and say, I don't want to be a Christian. But they continued to go to church, but also included in their life these sinful practices, these sinful lifestyles. They would not deny Jesus in name. They would still say, hey, I follow Jesus. But they denied him in action. They denied him by the way that they lived their life.

And as we're looking at this with a focus on the personal application, I would ask you this morning, is that you? Are you that kind of person who comes to church, you won't deny Jesus, you would still say I'm a Christian or that I follow Jesus, you would still come to church on Sundays or Wednesdays perhaps, but in the rest of your life, you deny him in action and that you're living in disobedience.

They were involving themselves in idolatry and sexual immorality. Now, idolatry is not just bowing down before a statue. But think of it this way. Living in disobedience is idolatry. Because what you are saying is, God, I know what you've said about this, but...

It's more important for me that I live this way. You're not that important. And so your allegiance is to something else other than God. Many times it's allegiance to our own selves. This is what I want to do. And so I'm going to do this. And it doesn't really matter what you say, Lord. And so it's idolatry. It's worship of false gods. That was what was going on within the church then. And unfortunately...

Within the church today, this is what goes on. There are those who come to church and they live in disobedience to God. There are some who come to church and they're drunkards. They're here on church times, they're here on Sundays or Wednesdays, but their lives are full of partying and drunkenness and drugs. They're not living in obedience to God, but they still come to church.

They still participate in the services. They still are around. They will not deny the name of Jesus. They won't say, I don't want to be a Christian and walk away from God. But they fill their lives with disobedience to God. There are some who come to church that are abusive to their spouse or to their children. Filling their lives with disobedience, but still holding on to and lifting up and proclaiming the name of Jesus.

There are those who come to church who have filled their lives with pornography and have involved themselves with lewdness, things that are not right. There are those who come to church that are involved in adultery, breaking their marriage vows, fulfilling themselves sexually outside of the marriage. There are those who come to church who are involved in fornication,

who are practicing sex before marriage, who are sleeping around or sleeping with one another. Hey, we're engaged or we've been dating for a while or we love one another, whatever. But it's outside of the marital bond. It's called fornication. And there are those who live in these things and practice these things

But they still come to church. They still proclaim the name Christ. They will not deny Jesus and say, I don't want to be a Christian. They still call themselves Christians, but they will not turn from sin. And this morning, I know it's a challenge, but let me ask you, is that you?

Because if that's you, if that describes you, then Jesus' command to you is to repent. We see that in verse 16. He says, repent, or else I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He calls us to repentance. He wants us to turn and to change. And so if there is idolatry, that is a life of disobedience,

Not that we never sin. Of course we sin. We fall short. But a practice of a lifestyle of disobedience. No desire to change. No desire to turn away from the things that are not of God. Or if there's the involvement of immorality. If you're involved sexually in a way that you should not be. Jesus' command, Jesus' call is that you would repent. That you would turn and get right with Him.

The third point we find in verse 15 is to repent of the thing that God hates. Verse 15 says, Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

He says, you also have the doctrine, not just of Balaam, but the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Now, there's some discussion about what exactly that doctrine is and what the Nicolaitans taught. But Jesus connects it with the doctrine of Balaam. And so it's probably that they were practicing idolatry and sexual immorality, much like Balaam taught Balak to do.

He says, you have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Now, the city of Ephesus or the church of Ephesus was commended. God said, hey, you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. Good job. I hate their deeds too. And so Ephesus, they'd encountered the Nicolaitans as well, but they rejected them. They said, no, we don't like that practice. We hate those things. But Pergamos embraced them. They

They tolerated that. Again, they compromised and they allowed these things to exist within the church. And again, thinking personally, thinking for our own hearts and our own lives. Do you have things in your life that God hates? Are you practicing things in your life that God hates? What does God hate? Well, we know He hates disobedience. He hates sin. He hates sexual immorality.

Those are things we've already talked about. A couple of other things though. Proverbs 6, verses 16-19. It gives us seven things the Lord hates. It says...

These six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to Him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among the brethren. And the eighth is sirens that interrupt church services. No, I'm just kidding. He says these are seven things that the Lord hates. Are you filling your life? Is your life filled?

Does your life consist of these things? Lying, pride, shedding of innocent blood, devising wicked plans, running to evil. Is this what your life is like? These are things that God hates. In addition to disobedience, in addition to immorality, God also hates divorce. Malachi 2.16 says, For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one's garment with violence, says the Lord of Hosts.

He says, Now listen, if you've already been divorced, that's something in your past, this is no condemnation for that. You're a new creation in Christ.

But there are those within the church who are considering divorce, who are talking about it, who are maybe finding out about it, getting some information, finding out how difficult it would be, what they would gain out of it. There are those who are entertaining the idea or making plans for divorce. That's what God hates. Are you filling your life with things that God hates?

God calls us to repent of the things that He hates. Verse 16 again says, Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. The word repent, it means to regret. But it's a regret that is accompanied by a true change of heart towards God.

There's another word that means to regret and it's regretting the consequences. You know, you're sorry that you got caught or you're sorry that you have to pay this price or pay this fee or reap these consequences for what you've done. That's a different idea. This repentance is a regret, it's a sorrow that is accompanied by a change of life. It's a change of heart and a change of life.

Where you say, I'm not going to continue in that anymore. I'm not going to continue in that way, but I'm going to change. My life is going to be different. I'm not going to practice those things any longer. And so he says, repent. Change your life. Stop living that way. If your life...

is full of disobedience, if you're practicing sin, if you're involved in sexual immorality, if you're entertaining divorce, if you're filling your lives with the things that God hates, he says, repent, get rid of those things, change your life, stop going that direction. Or else, this is not an idle threat, by the way, he says, repent or else, I will come to you quickly and will fight against them. He's going to fight against those who hold

to that false doctrine, to those who are practicing those things. Balaam caused the people to sin. He taught Balak how to do it so that God fought against them. And there was a plague and a disease that came upon the people as a result of their disobedience to God. God fought against the children of Israel when they involved themselves in idolatry, when they involved themselves in sexual immorality.

Is there compromise in your life that would cause God to fight against you? He says, repent or else I will come to you quickly and fight against you. Repent or I will fight against you. The whole church is affected by the sins of those who come. That's understood as, again, Paul said, 1 Corinthians 5, 6, a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

But God is going to fight specifically against those who are practicing the sin. He's not fighting against the whole church, but He knows how to deal with the rebellious at the same time saving the righteous. So He says, listen, you guys need to repent. You need to deal with this sin or else I'm going to come and fight against those who practice these things. Repent or else God will come and fight against you. He says, with the sword of my mouth. Again, He introduced Himself. He says, hey guys, I have a sword.

The sword is not just for show, it's not just shiny, but it's living and active.

It's the word of God. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 tells us, "...the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." He goes on to say, "...and there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

He says, look, the Word of God is powerful. It's alive. It's able to completely open us up, to reveal what's going on, the real motives and the thoughts of our hearts, to discern between right and wrong, to determine the truth. The Word of God is powerful. Jesus comes against us with His Word, which lays us bare.

And so he says there's nothing that's hidden from him. Everything is naked and open before him. Again, we can put on the show and there's a lot that we don't know about each other, but there's nothing that God does not know about you and about your life and about the way that you live and the things that you practice. The Word of God lays us completely open. We're naked and bare before him. And it says that we will give an account to him. There are some of you who are living in sin and doing things that God hates.

And he says, if you do not repent, I will come against you. I will fight against you. Listen, if you are living in disobedience, Jesus says, repent. Repent, or I will fight against you. If you are living in disobedience, you need to understand that you have no reason to have hope in heaven, to have hope in eternity with God. Look it up, Galatians chapter 5.

We'll see it also in the book of Revelation. God says, look, for those who practice sin, they will not inherit the kingdom of God. This is a warning we need to take seriously. The word of God lays us open and bare. He knows the truth and we know the truth and we will give an account to him. To the church of Pergamos, he says, look, there are some of you who are holding these doctrines, you're practicing these things and you better repent or I'm going to come against you. In the same way, to us this morning, he says, listen, there are those who are practicing disobedience.

They won't deny the name of Jesus. They still come to church. But their life, well, their life is not lived in obedience to God. Is that you? Does that describe you? Because that's who Jesus is addressing today. The fourth point we find in verse 17 is that we are to hear what the Spirit says. In verse 17, he says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Again, this is something he writes in each letter to all of the churches.

He calls us to listen up, to pay attention. Are you listening? Are you seriously considering these things for your own self? Are you paying attention and allowing God to challenge your own heart? Listen, this is serious stuff that God is dealing with here. This is not just playing around. This isn't a game. This is for real. And this, well, this has eternity at stake.

This letter is written to those who won't deny Jesus but keep living in sin. Does that apply to you? Do you this morning need to repent? It's interesting as we look at these letters that five out of the seven churches need to repent. Jesus commands them to repent. Repentance is not just for those who have never received Jesus Christ. The word, the message to us, the church, is to repent, to get right with God, to get rid of those things that are not of God, to repent.

Turn from disobedience and to walk with God. Five out of the seven churches. Now, maybe those statistics apply here this morning. I hope not. But it's possible. Each row has eight chairs. So, five people in each row need to repent. I hope not. But it might be the case. Listen. He who has an ear, let him hear. Are you letting the Spirit speak to you? Are you allowing God to challenge your heart? Are there things in your life

It's so easy to kind of brush it off and not deal with it. I'm fine. I don't need to handle that. I don't need to worry about that. But sin is nothing to trifle with. It's nothing to play with. It's something we must take seriously. So he says, repent. Listen up. Pay attention. God wants to speak to you. The fifth point we find is also in verse 17, and that is to overcome.

He says, He says, He says,

He writes to the church. He says, listen, you guys are in a place where you won't deny my name, but you keep practicing sin and you need to get over that. You need to repent and get right with me. And if you do, if you overcome, if you'll get right with me, if you'll turn from your sin and turn from your disobedience, he says, I'll give you some of the hidden manna to eat.

The hidden manna. What is that hidden manna? Well, Jesus introduced himself. He proclaimed himself to be the manna from heaven. In John chapter 6 verse 35 he says, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. He proclaimed himself to be that manna which was what God fed the children of Israel with in the wilderness. He says, I'm the bread of life. I've come down from heaven. He is...

The one that manna represents or foretells. He says, to him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. Here's the good news. There are some who need to repent. There are some who are living in disobedience. It's tragic, but God gives us the opportunity to repent. And he says, look, if you repent, if you get right with me, I will give you myself. I will give you some of me. God is not looking to demolish us

He's looking to deliver us. He's looking to work in our lives. He's looking to extend to us mercy and grace and forgiveness. And He calls us to repent so that we can have Him. He's our reward. He's what we really need. He's the one that can satisfy us and fulfill us. And so He says, look, if you overcome, if you'll repent, if you'll stay faithful to Me...

I'll give some of the hidden manna to eat. Not only that, but he says, I'll give him a white stone and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.

So he says, I'll give you some of the hidden manna, but I'll also give you a white stone, and on that stone will be a new name that only you and I know. It speaks to us of the intimacy that we have with God, that personal relationship with God. It also speaks of acceptance. In those times, if you wanted to be a part of a society or a club, the way that they would vote was that the current members would have a white stone and a black stone.

And if they wanted to accept the person that was wanting to be part of the club, they would put forth the white stone. And if everybody put forth white stones, then that person would be accepted. If somebody put forth a black stone, they would not be accepted. We know it today also as blackballed, right? It's the same idea. He says, look, I'm going to give you a white stone. We're accepted. We're part of the club.

We're part of the future that He has planned for us. And on that stone, as part of that acceptance, is a new name. Now, whenever God gives a new name in the Scripture, it's always associated with a change of character. Remember, Jacob was known as the heel catcher. Well, I mean, that's what his name means. But he was a heel catcher. He was a supplanter. But then God changed his name to Israel, which means governed by God. He was changing his character. He was changing his life. And then God changed his name to Israel,

Doing something new. In the same way God says, hey, if you overcome, I'll give you a white stone and on it will be a new name where I am changing your character. I'm changing who you are. 2 Corinthians 5.17 tells us that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have gone. Behold, all things become new.

Not only that, but as we enter into eternity, God has promised us, He's given us the hope of a glorified body where we no longer have a sinful condition, where we no longer have that weakness. So He says, look, to Him who overcomes, I'm going to supply your need with Myself. I'm going to satisfy you. I'm going to accept you. And I'm going to change you. I'm going to do a great work in you. That's God's promise. That's what He wants to do. And so...

Looking at these things, number one, we need to hold fast to Jesus' name. Hold fast to the Christian faith. But it can't just end there. We can't just hold fast to His name. We need to repent of idolatry and immorality. Any lifestyle of disobedience we need to get rid of. We need to change. We need to repent of the things that God hates to not allow those things to continue and persist in our life. We need to hear what the Spirit is saying and realize He is speaking to us

He wants to work in us and we need to overcome. There's some great promises as we overcome, as we obey God and turn to Him. He promises to give us the hidden manna, to give us of Himself, to accept us and to change our name. Incredible what God has offered to us. In closing, I want to ask you, where does this find you this morning? Are you, like the Church of Pergamos, in need of repentance?

I want to give you that opportunity to repent. Are you hungry this morning? I'm not talking about, you know, are you looking forward to lunch? Are you hungry? Are you satisfied in life? Or are you miserable and empty? Are you thirsty? Or is there this thirst that you're trying to quench, but you just, it just seems you're unable to quench it.

Jesus says, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. Jesus says, look, are you unsatisfied? Are you unfulfilled? Are you miserable? Are you empty? I'm the one that you're looking for. I'm the one that can satisfy you. I'm the one that can meet your needs.

King Solomon, there in the Old Testament, we read through the book of Ecclesiastes, and he knew God, but he walked away from God, and he tried to satisfy himself. He had a hunger. He had a thirst. He lacked something. And so he tried to fulfill that need that he had. He tried to satisfy himself with everything possible. He amassed to himself great wealth, but he found that that didn't satisfy him.

He then had great fame and he found that that didn't satisfy him. He had great power and that didn't satisfy him. He surrounded himself with all kinds of women.

That didn't satisfy him. He filled his life with wine, with drinking, with partying. And that didn't satisfy him. He built impressive buildings and that didn't fulfill him. He gathered all kinds of knowledge but that didn't satisfy him either. He tried and tried and tried and tried and nothing. And this is a guy who had virtually unlimited resources. And it tells us that, he says, I didn't withhold myself from anything. Whatever my heart desired to do, that's what I did.

Can you imagine that? Having unlimited resources and whatever you could imagine, whatever you could want to do, you could do. That's who Solomon was. That's what he had. And he tried it all. And he still said, it's all worthless. It's useless. He came back to what we really need, what really satisfies us, what really fulfills us, is a relationship with God. That's what we need. I don't know where you're at this morning, but

I don't know what's going on in your life and I don't know what's going on in your heart, but I believe some of you need to repent. You need to get right with God. You've been trying to satisfy yourself. You're miserable. You're empty. And it's not working. And God's saying, I'm the one who can do it. What you need is me. What you're looking for is found in Jesus.

So the worship team is going to come up and lead us in the last song. And as they do, I want to give you that opportunity to repent, to get right with God. And there's going to be some of us up here who would love to pray with you and help you to make that decision and to get right with God. He offers to you forgiveness. You know, maybe you've walked with God, but you've been away from Him for a while. Maybe like the Church of Pergamos, you've filled your life with compromise. He commands you to repent, to overcome, to repent.

As they lead us in worship, we're going to be up here. We invite you during this song to come up, to get prayed for, to recommit yourself to God, to receive the forgiveness that He offers. But maybe you've never made that decision. Maybe you've never followed the Lord. Maybe you've never received that offer of forgiveness and really made a commitment to walk with Jesus.

This is an opportunity for you as well. If you want to get right with God, if you want to have purpose and meaning of your life, if you want to receive the peace of God that passes all understanding, be forgiven of your sin, have the guilt removed and taken away. We want to give you that opportunity. And so as they lead us in this song, we're going to be up here. We invite you. Come on up.

Don't be shy. Don't let your pride get in the way. If you're outside, come on in. Get right with God. Don't let it stop you. Jesus says to the church at Pergamos, and if this is your condition, you need to listen up. Repent, or else I will come and fight against you. Let's get right with God. Let's not leave anything unturned. Let's not leave anything untouched. Let's submit our hearts back to Him and follow Him completely and wholly.

So as we worship the Lord, we'll be up here. Come on up. We'd love to pray with you and agree with what God is doing in your life. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.