For our background Scripture reading this morning, turn with me to 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. We read together that chapter. Then we will turn over a few pages to our text Revelation 2, verses 12-17. Hear now the Word of God. 2 Peter 2, beginning at verse 1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment, if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly, And if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men, for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard, if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment while continuing their punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings, yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. Their blots and blemishes reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning. They seduce the unstable. They are experts in greed and a cursed brood. They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam, son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey, a beast without speech, who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness. These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty boastful words, and by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity, for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. if they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the Proverbs are true. A dog returns to its vomit, and a sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud. Revelation 2, verses 12-17, as we consider Christ's state of the church address to the third church, the church in Pergamum. Beginning at verse 12, this is our text. To the angel of the church in Pergamum write, These are the words of him who has the sharp double-edged sword. I know where you live, where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city where Satan lives. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you. You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent, therefore. Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, you've got to give a little in order to get a little. You see, we live in a world of bargaining, a world of negotiating, a world of compromising. We know that that's common in the business world. For example, if you want to sell your car or to sell your house, then you may have to take a little less money than what you originally wanted to, and the one who buys it might have to give a little more money than he wanted to give. As you compromise, you negotiate and you set on a price. And of course, we can come up with many different examples of negotiating or compromising. The truth is our relationships are filled with compromising because we don't all have the same tastes and desires. And even as parents, we have to confess that we find ourselves compromising with our children. For example, when our young children don't want to eat the food on their plate, then after a certain amount of struggle, then we as parents might say to them, as sometimes happens in our house, How old are you? Four? Okay, take four bites. But you see, unfortunately, that doesn't work so well as we have found out when the children become 10 and 11 and 13. That's too many bites. But there are many things in daily life congregation which are indifferent, which may be compromised without hurting anyone. Many different things. But there is one thing, congregation, that Christians may never, ever compromise. There's one place where we may never, ever give even a little bit. We are not to even budge an inch, and that is the truth of the Word of God. Our faith may never be compromised. Jesus Christ is the head of His church, and as the head, He has given the church certain responsibilities, the foremost of which is to guard the truth. even as Paul told Timothy to guard the deposit which he had been entrusted with. The church, through her leaders, is to teach the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is to maintain purity of doctrine. She is to fight against the attacks of the devil, attacks of false teachings that are introduced into the church. And she is to guard against following these false teachings. And those who are in the church are to commit themselves to living lives devoted to the Lord and the church then is to teach and encourage her members to live out that commitment. And that's why the elders of the church have such a very important task. That's why they are called to shepherd the flock and watch over the doctrine and life of the church congregation. They are commanded by God to do that. And therefore, we as a congregation are to allow them to do that, to make their job easy. For example, when it comes to family visitation, we are to receive them. To hear what God has to say to us through them. The church, through her leaders, is responsible for guarding and directing you and me to continue on that proper path that leads to the Lord Jesus Christ so that we do not turn to the right or to the left following the paths that lead to sin. Now the church in Pergamum suffered the problem that some of her members had indeed left that path. They were no longer following that proper path that leads to Christ. They were being led astray. But in a sense, there was a bigger problem which Jesus addresses here. And that is how the church dealt with these members. A spirit of toleration and compromise lived in the Pergamum church. And therefore, I preach to you this Word of God. Christ the Judge commands the compromising church to clean house. We want to notice, first of all, the address of faithfulness. Secondly, the accusation of toleration. And then finally, the announcement of the outcome. Christ begins His speech to this church by identifying Himself and giving the address of faithfulness. He says once again in verses 12 and 13, these are the words of Him who has the sharp double-edged sword. I know where you live. where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to My name. You did not renounce your faith in Me, even in the days of Antiphas, My faithful witness, who was put to death in your city, where Satan lives. Now, congregation, what an awesome, what a wonderful thing to have said about you. And I pray that it would be God's good pleasure that this would be able to be said about each and every one of us one day, if not today. You remain true to My name. You did not renounce your faith. And as we can expect after having considered the first couple of churches in those first two cities, we can expect that this becomes even more awesome what Christ says as we consider the situation surrounding this city. Just like Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamum was an important and an influential city. In fact, Pergamum was the capital city of the province in which she was located And therefore, this city was important for both political and governmental purposes. In a sense, we could say that Pergamum held the sword of the Roman government. But this city was also a hotbed for pagan worship. And this, too, is probably no surprise or shouldn't be a surprise to us, having considered the cities of Ephesus and Smyrna and the pagan worship that took place there. Pergamum was not only the center of government, but she was also the center of pagan religion in Asia Minor. Ephesus and Smyrna were bad, but Pergamum was worse. This city was the home of a number of pagan temples to the Greek gods, a number of different ones, including to the Greek god Asclepios, considered to be the god of healing, symbolized by none other than the serpent. As well, there was a huge altar to the Greek god Zeus located in that city. Zeus, considered to be the god of the sky. And this altar was apparently located at the city's highest point and was shaped like a throne. And therefore, maybe those things have something to do with Jesus talking about this city being the place where Satan, the serpent, has his throne. But the feature of this city which outdid everything else was that Pergamum was the home of the imperial cult of emperor or Caesar worship. Now last week I said that Smyrna was the home of Caesar worship, but I need to correct that somewhat. Smyrna, like a number of other cities, was a home of Caesar worship. Temples were constructed in different cities in honor of different emperors. But Pergamum was the home in that the very first temple to an emperor that was ever built was built in the city of Pergamum with a few more temples to follow throughout the years. You see, the Christians in Smyrna, as we considered last week, were pressured to pay occasional homage to Caesar. But Caesar worship as a daily way of life surrounded the church in Pergamum. So much so that civil loyalty, for example, was measured by one's worship of the emperor. There was more pressure on Christians in Pergamum than anywhere else to pay public homage to Caesar as Lord. And to refuse to worship Caesar was high treason. It was the height of disloyalty. In fact, as the episode with Antipas points to, to refuse to worship Caesar as Lord, was worthy of death. Considering all of this, is it any wonder that Christ calls Pergamum the place where Satan has his throne? Satan was at home there. He owned that city, in a manner of speaking. He controlled that city. He controlled the government. He controlled the cult to Caesar. He controlled the temples to the Greek gods. This was Satan's kind of city because the people had their focus and attention everywhere but on Jesus Christ where it should have been. Satan's throne was apparently secure in a city that was completely given over to idol worship. He controlled absolutely everything there. Everything except that is the little fortress of a church that belonged to Jesus Christ. Jesus identifies Himself to the church in this city. A city which held the sword of the government and the sword of idolatry. And He identifies Himself as the One who has the sharp, double-edged sword. Now in Revelation 1, verses 12-16, we read of the description of the exalted Christ, the One who is about to reveal these things to John. And that description includes that out of His mouth came a sharp, double-edged sword. A congregation, and especially boys and girls, that sword is where? Is it on his side like we would expect? No. Is that sword in his hand as we would expect? No. That sword is coming out of his mouth. What does that mean? Maybe you remember Paul's description of the armor of God in Ephesians 6, where he says, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The sharp, double-edged sword that comes from the mouth of Jesus is His Word, His living, breathing, powerful, authoritative, true Word. Hebrews 4.12 says, For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. The Word of God proclaims mercy and grace to believers. but it also pronounces judgment upon unbelievers. The Word of God cannot be defeated. And Christ's sword is both a sword of salvation and a sword of death. Pergamum may very well hold the sword of the government, but Jesus Christ is the Judge who holds the sword of truth. And He who has ultimate authority, power, and dominion speaks to this church in a city which claims to have authority and power. And what does He do? He addresses the church's faithfulness. In the midst of persecution and affliction, in the midst of watching and witnessing the deaths of faithful men like Antipas, in the midst of having false teachings brought into them, this church remains true to the name of Jesus, to the only name that brings salvation, even as Acts 4, verse 12 says, salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. The Christians in Pergamum remained true to Jesus' name. In other words, they remained true to Jesus Christ Himself in all of His work, in all of His riches, in all of His power. They held fast to Christ by faith in their confession and in their walk. And by the grace of God, they stayed true to the name which is above every name, and they did not renounce their faith in Him. As a church, their faith was solid as a rock founded upon the rock of Jesus Christ, and they did not deny the doctrine of Christ. They held firm to the fact that Jesus Christ alone is the Savior, and He is the Lord of all, not Caesar. But Jesus Christ is the Lord of all our life. And they are commended for this with a hearty well done. A congregation, once again, just as with the other cities that we've considered, we cannot really understand what it meant to live in a city like Pergamum, a city that was completely wicked and absolutely hated Christians and Christianity. Boys and girls, we can go to McDonald's or Burger King and we can get a hamburger and no one will bother us. We can go to the grocery store and buy groceries without being in danger. We can go to the public beach and we can have fun and the world will leave us alone. Our parents can get jobs and make a living and earn money to take care of us. But the Christians living in Pergamum as well as the other cities didn't have it so good. Those who were not Christians wouldn't buy from them, wouldn't sell to them, wouldn't hire them, and they wouldn't tolerate them in public places. Satan's followers wanted to kill Christ's followers, which they did, as is clear from Antipas. Now, we don't know a lot about Antipas, basically what we are told here. We know that he was a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we know that he died for his faith. He was a faithful witness. Yet the church stood firm in the faith of Jesus Christ. You know, we still live among a society where Satan's throne is. Our society may no longer worship Caesar. Our society may no longer worship the different Greek gods, but Satan's throne is still there because today society worships man. Man is the measure of all things. Man is his own Savior. Man is his own Lord. Man knows best, and what's best for me may not be what's best for you, but that's okay. We can all decide for ourselves. If the world today acknowledges Christ at all, it is only to say that He was a human, to say that He was a good example, to say that He was a wonderful teacher, but not God. Man is God. And man's motto today is not, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. But His motto is, I can do all things through my own strength. Just take a look around and see everything we've accomplished. We explore the galaxies. Look at our computer technology and so many other things. Our medical technology. Look what man has done. But beloved, we are called to publicly confess and stand up and say that Jesus Christ is Lord alone, no matter what the outcome. To say that apart from Him, we are absolutely nothing. That all power and authority on high has been given to Him. And that we depend completely upon Him for His saving sacrifice. Because all that we can accomplish in ourselves is to head in that eternal direction of hell. Praise be to God that we still live in a world where the Word of God, that sharp double-edged sword, is still all-powerful. It is still effective. It is still authoritative. It is still true. It still transforms hearts. And it still brings God's elect people from darkness into His marvelous light. That sword of the Spirit brings courage to the faithful and takes away their fear. But it is also to bring fear and repentance to the unfaithful or it will bring judgment upon them. Yet not all was well in the Pergamum church. Yes, they were faithful as Christ says. But then He accuses the church of toleration. You see, this church stood firm against attacks that came from outside of her walls. She was commended for that, but she was tolerating the subtle attacks that came from inside, from within her walls. She was being attacked by Satan through certain people within the congregation. And the church as a whole, along with the leaders of the church, just turned their heads and ignored it. What was going on in the church of Pergamum, we could probably describe as a double compromise. The first compromise caused the second compromise, which brings on the accusation from Jesus. And the first compromise is by those certain people in the church who are attacking the church from the inside, but what they are doing. Now we're not talking about physical attack as in hurting the body, but we're talking about attacking the lifestyle of Christians, attacking the beliefs of the Christians through wicked and sinful influence. The text says again, verses 14 and 15, Nevertheless, I have a few things against you. You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. The first compromise is that one in which these certain people within the church are compromising with the teaching of Balaam and the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Even the boys and girls, I trust, remember Balaam as we read about in 2 Peter 2 because Balaam was the only one who ever had a donkey talk to him. What was his teaching? If you remember your Old Testament history, you remember that in the book of Numbers we read about Balak, the king of Midian. He called Balaam to come and curse God's people, the Israelites. Balaam was a false prophet who would do anything for the right price. But God would not allow him to curse God's people. Instead, God used him to bless the Israelites three times. Yet, Balaam found a way around this by giving advice to Balak. Advice that would cause Israel to compromise. Look, Balak, if you want God to become angry with His people, all you need to do is tempt the Israelites to do the things you like to do. Be friends with them. Make them feel at home so that their guard is let down. That they want to be with you and spend time with you. And of course, these things would cause Israel to disobey God, as well as to lose her distinctiveness. And Balak, of course, followed this advice. And the Moabites got the Israelites to worship idols, to intermarry with the Moabites, and to commit sexual immorality. You know the old saying, you can catch more flies with honey than without. Balaam's teaching has not gone away. It is still effective today. That is, advanced personally and financially by ungodly means. Get what you want by compromising. We've even experienced that in the church when it comes to talking about issues of salvation. Things that are or are not, so to speak, salvation issues. Things which cause us to compromise. But there were also those in the church who held to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. and some believe that it was the same group that followed both sets of teachings, which very well may have been. But the Ephesian church, as I trust you recall, was commended for hating the practices of the Nicolaitan sect. Remember, the Nicolaitans said that the soul was for God, but the body was for Diana, the Greek goddess, and they said it was okay to participate in the pagan feasts and therefore to eat at those feasts, the food that had been offered to idols. And it was okay to be involved in sexual immorality. The Nicolaitans openly compromised with pagan worship and practices. They might have used and claimed the name Christian. But they followed the lifestyle of the world. These two teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans worked together like a hand and glove to infest and infect this church. And indeed, those who followed these teachings ran around to idol feasts and practiced sexual immorality in pagan temples. They compromised their Christian distinctiveness in order to blend in with the society around them. But they also compromised in order to gain immunity and favor from Rome. You see, this was a way to avoid persecution, to not get in trouble with the government, and as well to even avoid death, unlike Antipas. With these particular people in the church, what they were doing was absolutely terrible. But you see, the focus of Christ's accusation of toleration goes beyond those who were compromising in that way. There was an even greater compromise, in a sense, taking place. As the focus of Christ's accusation is with the congregation as a whole, and how they dealt with the actions of these compromising members. What did the church do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The church turned her head and ignored this problem. You know, if you close your eyes, the problem will go away, because if I can't see it, surely it can't be there. The second compromise here was that the church as a whole, complete with the church leaders, compromised by way of toleration with those who followed the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. They allowed them to exist in the church and follow these teachings, no questions asked. Congregation Jesus Christ has entrusted His church with the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. The preaching of the Word of God and the exercise of church discipline. And it seemed that this church was indeed faithful in the preaching of the Word of God, but fell very far short when it came to exercising church discipline. The church is called to exercise discipline with the goal of bringing the erring brother or sister to repentance. That's the goal of discipline, to reclaim the erring brother. The goal is the salvation of the one who is in sin. But if there is no repentance, then those in error, like the compromising members of the church in Pergamum, must be removed. In order to guard the purity of the Word of God and in order to protect the faithful members of the flock. Beloved, this church and our leaders did not call those who were following these false teachings, the church did not call them to repent. They turned their heads, thinking that these people wouldn't affect them. Surely it won't rub off on us. Yet we know from the history of the church in our own lives that unbiblical toleration in the church is the death of the visible church. For example, when a church decides to structure worship to please man instead of God, there's only trouble. I'm called here, beloved, not to please anyone of you, but to please one. And that is my God. And the minute the church begins to try to please all the people in the pew, look how many different tastes you have to cater to. And it won't be long before you can't please anyone anymore. But Jesus rebukes this church. And when a church allows open, blatant sin that attacks God's Word and threatens God's people to go unchecked, then there can only be trouble to follow. One little compromise that doesn't seem so bad leads to the next and the next and the next. And the church that compromises with the world loses her distinctiveness and differentness from the world. She is no longer a showcase in the midst of the world, a showcase of the grace of God. We are called to remain separate, living out what we believe as God says, come out from among them and be separate. because light and dark have nothing to do with each other. Our God commands and expects from His people total devotion to Him and complete obedience to His commandments. We have to confess we've failed miserably in this. Miserably. But Jesus Christ has perfectly accomplished this in our place. He has fulfilled all righteousness all the way to death on the cross, and therefore, congregation, we are called to live as Christ lived and not to live like those He defeated. And therefore, instead of compromising with the world, believers are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, flavoring our surroundings and shining forth the light of Jesus Christ in a dark world. In our text, Jesus calls this church to clean house to get rid of the filth. He calls them to repentance as we notice in the last place, His announcement of the outcome. He says, Repent, therefore. Repent, therefore. Now, there's two possible outcomes, aren't there? One if they don't repent, one if they do. Indeed, those following false teachings are to repent. But here, Jesus is calling for the church to repent. They must understand how dangerous this situation is. They are to be sorry for it. And they are to change their course of action turning completely around and stop compromising with those who have fallen away. The church is to fulfill her obligation of exercising church discipline. And what if they don't? Verse 16 says, Repent, therefore, otherwise I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 2 Peter 2 was all about that, wasn't it? That no one can escape God's judgment. Not one. Jesus Christ will intervene in His own providential way and the sword of the Word of God will divide, exposing the error of those who have fallen away and speaking against them Christ's Word of judgment. But what about for those who do overcome, those who remain faithful? Verse 17 says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. We know that God fed His people, the Israelites, with manna in the wilderness, that bread that came down from heaven. And we also know that manna points to the bread of life, Jesus Christ. And therefore, those who do not participate in the pagan feasts, those who do not compromise but instead are suffering persecution and affliction and possibly even starvation, they will receive the bread that satisfies unto eternity. Even as Jesus said, I am the bread of life, he who comes to me will never hunger. He who believes in me shall never thirst. That manna is hidden in the sense that the believer does not yet enjoy the fullness of salvation on this earth. Salvation will be revealed in all of its glory and all of its splendor in the heavenly presence of God in the next life. But there's also the white stone that the text talks about. There were many uses for a white stone. Many uses which we're not sure what the use is intended to be here, but uses including that white and black stones were used in casting verdicts. The white stone meant acquittal, not guilty, whereas the black stone meant condemnation. White is also a symbol of purity and holiness. But God's people, you see, are given the assurance of salvation as they are brought into the eternal family of God, cleansed white as snow by the blood of Jesus Christ. And they are given that new name which only they know. A name points to one's very person or being. And God's people are made new in Jesus Christ and we become His property and we receive His name. Beloved, as a church of Jesus Christ, we are called to stand fast and stand firm on the truth of God's Word. That Word which by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit shapes our hearts, our minds, our wills, our thoughts, our words, our deeds. As believers, we are not to blend in and compromise with the world. The world and the ruler of this world is not our friend, but God's enemy, and to be ours as well. And all pretenders to God's rightful throne will be destroyed and perish forever as well as those who follow them. And the church cannot and may not tolerate false teachings that contradict the Word of God. Compromise within the church is an infectious disease that spreads throughout the body. And if it's not treated with the healing power of the Word of God, it destroys. Congregation, you can't have it both ways. It's either God's way or the world's way. Those who reject the truth of the Word of God will hear from that very same mouth that holds the sharp double-edged sword, Depart from me, for I never knew you. But those who stand fast by the grace of God will hear from the same mouth, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Beloved, how is your house? How is our church house? Is it time for us to clean house? Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we praise You in this morning hour for Your Word of Truth. The Word which cuts, which divides, which exposes error and falsehood. Even the error and falsehood that still lives within us, even if against our will. We confess that so often we do find ourselves in compromising situations where we do give in. We don't stand firm and stand fast as we ought to, but we pray for Your strength, O Lord. We pray that You would fill us with Your Holy Spirit and continue that work of sanctification, that more and more we would stand up for Jesus. Stand up for Him who died for us. Lord God, hear our prayer and give us Your strength. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.