Exciting First Baptist Church, Jasper
THE SEVEN LETTERS: "Permissive in Pergamum" (Revelation 2:12-17)
What if Jesus dropped in our church service in Person this morning, and then wrote us His assessment in a letter? That would definitely shake some things up, don't you think? The truth is, He has been to our church, and He has written letters that are so revealing and convicting that they're unavoidable. Jesus is in the house today and He has a word for us!
Locations & Times
Jasper's First Baptist Church
1604 4th Ave, Jasper, AL 35501, USA
Sunday 10:15 AM
About 60 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Apostle John transcribed a letter from none other than Jesus Christ to a church located in the city of Pergamum. Pergamum was the Roman capitol of Asia Minor and a university town, offering residents and visitors a perfect cocktail of serious thinking, luxury experiences, rampant immorality, and plenty self-serve religion to make you feel better about yourself.
Highly educated debauchery and enlightened, tolerant wickedness--these were the hallmarks of city life in Pergamum! And down one of the streets in this luxury-appointed, idol-soaked city was a little Christian church. Jesus has visited this church in Pergamum, just as He has First Baptist. He has taken His measurements and assessed His churches, and He has some things He wants us to hear.
Jesus immediately tells this church something it couldn't possibly know in v. 12: And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: “The words of Him who has the sharp two-edged sword. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is." Contrary to popular belief, Satan's throne isn't in Hell, it's right here on earth. And Jesus said it was located in Pergamum.
What did that mean to the church in Pergamum? Basically, that meant Satan had found Pergamum to be a place where he could exercise unhindered influence. The combination of intellectualism, sensuality, and religion was the perfect camouflage for his work. A dark cloud of skillfully packaged, highly appealing evil hung over Pergamum.
Don’t you know that when the pastor in Pergamum read these opening lines from Jesus’ letter to the congregation, they thought, “That explains it! No wonder this town is so perverse! No wonder light is called darkness and darkness light--Satan’s got one of his operational headquarters right here.”
And that's the reality for us as well. Satan rules, effects, and works in strategic points in our country: in our universities, in seats of political power, in the halls of commerce, in our music and movies, and in our religious centers where empty prayers are offered, but Jesus Christ is conspicuously absent.
What a relevant letter Jesus is writing! Time to hear His bracing words to HIs church!
Highly educated debauchery and enlightened, tolerant wickedness--these were the hallmarks of city life in Pergamum! And down one of the streets in this luxury-appointed, idol-soaked city was a little Christian church. Jesus has visited this church in Pergamum, just as He has First Baptist. He has taken His measurements and assessed His churches, and He has some things He wants us to hear.
Jesus immediately tells this church something it couldn't possibly know in v. 12: And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: “The words of Him who has the sharp two-edged sword. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is." Contrary to popular belief, Satan's throne isn't in Hell, it's right here on earth. And Jesus said it was located in Pergamum.
What did that mean to the church in Pergamum? Basically, that meant Satan had found Pergamum to be a place where he could exercise unhindered influence. The combination of intellectualism, sensuality, and religion was the perfect camouflage for his work. A dark cloud of skillfully packaged, highly appealing evil hung over Pergamum.
Don’t you know that when the pastor in Pergamum read these opening lines from Jesus’ letter to the congregation, they thought, “That explains it! No wonder this town is so perverse! No wonder light is called darkness and darkness light--Satan’s got one of his operational headquarters right here.”
And that's the reality for us as well. Satan rules, effects, and works in strategic points in our country: in our universities, in seats of political power, in the halls of commerce, in our music and movies, and in our religious centers where empty prayers are offered, but Jesus Christ is conspicuously absent.
What a relevant letter Jesus is writing! Time to hear His bracing words to HIs church!
JESUS IS FIGHTING FOR YOU; STAY TRUE! (v. 12: “The words of Him who has the sharp two-edged sword. I know where you dwell."
This two-edged sword is the apt picture Jesus draws of the power and authority of His Word. His Word sets His will into motion, for blessing and judging, for creating or destroying. He steps forward armed for war. He knows where to find us. He knows our enemy better than we ever will. And He stands ready to fight the good fight through us and for us!
This is an incredibly encouraging reality, that our great Savior and Commander-in-Chief is with us and for us! This is especially helpful when we face persecution, as they did in Pergamum. Verse 13: "I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast My name, and you did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas My faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells."
Antipas was a member of the church. He had worshipped with them, laughed and cried and prayed and served with them. And he was faithful to Jesus, even when the threats came; even when the mob showed up; even when the media cast him as a member of a cult and a traitor to Rome; even when the state murdered him.
People in Pergamum might have viewed him as some kind of radical religious nut, but Jesus calls him my faithful witness. That word witness comes from the Greek word “martus.” We get our word martyr from it. Antipas bore witness to Christ, no matter what the cost. He would rather die than deny Christ or deviate from the gospel. He truly believed that Jesus is worth it all.
Historians tell us that Antipas was slowly burned to death inside a hollowed out brass furnace shaped like a bull which was where offerings were given to one of the false gods. And the local authorities made these church members watch him burn. Notice how Jesus said it: Antipas...was killed among you.
Hebrews 12:4 reminds American Christians that you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. So, Hebrews 12 adds, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-3).
Jesus is the One with the double-edged sword. He will fight with you and fight for you. Trust Him! Follow Him! And never let the culture silence you!
This two-edged sword is the apt picture Jesus draws of the power and authority of His Word. His Word sets His will into motion, for blessing and judging, for creating or destroying. He steps forward armed for war. He knows where to find us. He knows our enemy better than we ever will. And He stands ready to fight the good fight through us and for us!
This is an incredibly encouraging reality, that our great Savior and Commander-in-Chief is with us and for us! This is especially helpful when we face persecution, as they did in Pergamum. Verse 13: "I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast My name, and you did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas My faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells."
Antipas was a member of the church. He had worshipped with them, laughed and cried and prayed and served with them. And he was faithful to Jesus, even when the threats came; even when the mob showed up; even when the media cast him as a member of a cult and a traitor to Rome; even when the state murdered him.
People in Pergamum might have viewed him as some kind of radical religious nut, but Jesus calls him my faithful witness. That word witness comes from the Greek word “martus.” We get our word martyr from it. Antipas bore witness to Christ, no matter what the cost. He would rather die than deny Christ or deviate from the gospel. He truly believed that Jesus is worth it all.
Historians tell us that Antipas was slowly burned to death inside a hollowed out brass furnace shaped like a bull which was where offerings were given to one of the false gods. And the local authorities made these church members watch him burn. Notice how Jesus said it: Antipas...was killed among you.
Hebrews 12:4 reminds American Christians that you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. So, Hebrews 12 adds, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-3).
Jesus is the One with the double-edged sword. He will fight with you and fight for you. Trust Him! Follow Him! And never let the culture silence you!
JESUS KNOWS THE TRUTH; STOP TOLERATING SIN, v. 14-15.
"But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also, you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans."
So what exactly was Jesus at war against? We all want to know because we don’t want the Lord waring against us or the church! The key to understanding what is ticking Jesus off here is found in the Old Testament story He references about a prophet named Balaam. I suspect the Pergamum church reread what happened back in Numbers 22-25.
It records the story of Balak, the kind of Moab, who wanted to get rid of Israel. But Balak knew he couldn’t overmatch Israel on the battlefield. So, he searched for a prophet who could be bought, and found one. His name was Balaam.
He offered to pay Balaam if he would pronounce a curse on Israel, weakening them enough for Moab to defeat them. The Bible says Balaam tried to comply with Balak’s wishes three times, but each time he tried to speak curses, blessings came out of his mouth instead.
So, Balaam devised another plan. If he couldn't curse them, he would try to corrupt them. He proposed that the Moabite women invite the Israelite men to their idolatrous, immoral feasts. Verse 14 says that Balaam taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. Balaam knew that if Israel embraced the idolatrous immorality of Moab, they would provoke God’s judgment. And that’s exactly what happen.
Balaam is the biblical prototype of every false teacher in every age who has urged God’s people toward compromise with the world. What Balaam was to Israel in the Old Testament, the Nicolaitans were to Christians in the New Testament. They were false teachers who abused the freedom that is ours in Christ as a license for sin. But what they were really doing, in the words of Jude 1:4, was perverting the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Truth is, we can and do fall into these same traps. Two important questions rise from this passage:
1. Are my beliefs and behavior shaped primarily by Christ or the culture? In too many areas, the culture is calling the shots! Christians are dating unbelievers, having sex outside of marriage, and approving or practicing abortion and homosexuality, ignoring the clear teaching of God's Word! We have listened to "teachers" who have twisted the Scriptures to support their views. And somewhere, Balaam, the Nicolaitans, and the Devil are giving a thumb's up.
2. Are we helping one another toward personal holiness at JFBC? Back in Revelation 2:6, Jesus commended the Ephesian church for hating the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. But in the Pergamum church, it was live and let live in the name of church unity. They didn’t practice Hebrews 3:13, which urges us to exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Do you? When a fellow believer is contemplating sin, do you lovingly approach them and beckon them to holiness? When you hear that a brother or sister in Christ has lapsed, do you practice Matthew 18:15-18, and seek their repentance? Real love doesn’t look the other way when someone in God’s family strays. Love doesn’t gossip, slander, or pass the buck. Love goes after your brother or sister, seeking to restore them to Christ and grow in holiness.
Jesus is so serious about this. False teaching that leads to compromise has got to go. Tolerated sin has got to go! "Repent," Jesus said. "If you don't, prepare for war with Me!"
"But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also, you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans."
So what exactly was Jesus at war against? We all want to know because we don’t want the Lord waring against us or the church! The key to understanding what is ticking Jesus off here is found in the Old Testament story He references about a prophet named Balaam. I suspect the Pergamum church reread what happened back in Numbers 22-25.
It records the story of Balak, the kind of Moab, who wanted to get rid of Israel. But Balak knew he couldn’t overmatch Israel on the battlefield. So, he searched for a prophet who could be bought, and found one. His name was Balaam.
He offered to pay Balaam if he would pronounce a curse on Israel, weakening them enough for Moab to defeat them. The Bible says Balaam tried to comply with Balak’s wishes three times, but each time he tried to speak curses, blessings came out of his mouth instead.
So, Balaam devised another plan. If he couldn't curse them, he would try to corrupt them. He proposed that the Moabite women invite the Israelite men to their idolatrous, immoral feasts. Verse 14 says that Balaam taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. Balaam knew that if Israel embraced the idolatrous immorality of Moab, they would provoke God’s judgment. And that’s exactly what happen.
Balaam is the biblical prototype of every false teacher in every age who has urged God’s people toward compromise with the world. What Balaam was to Israel in the Old Testament, the Nicolaitans were to Christians in the New Testament. They were false teachers who abused the freedom that is ours in Christ as a license for sin. But what they were really doing, in the words of Jude 1:4, was perverting the grace of our God into sensuality and denying our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Truth is, we can and do fall into these same traps. Two important questions rise from this passage:
1. Are my beliefs and behavior shaped primarily by Christ or the culture? In too many areas, the culture is calling the shots! Christians are dating unbelievers, having sex outside of marriage, and approving or practicing abortion and homosexuality, ignoring the clear teaching of God's Word! We have listened to "teachers" who have twisted the Scriptures to support their views. And somewhere, Balaam, the Nicolaitans, and the Devil are giving a thumb's up.
2. Are we helping one another toward personal holiness at JFBC? Back in Revelation 2:6, Jesus commended the Ephesian church for hating the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. But in the Pergamum church, it was live and let live in the name of church unity. They didn’t practice Hebrews 3:13, which urges us to exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Do you? When a fellow believer is contemplating sin, do you lovingly approach them and beckon them to holiness? When you hear that a brother or sister in Christ has lapsed, do you practice Matthew 18:15-18, and seek their repentance? Real love doesn’t look the other way when someone in God’s family strays. Love doesn’t gossip, slander, or pass the buck. Love goes after your brother or sister, seeking to restore them to Christ and grow in holiness.
Jesus is so serious about this. False teaching that leads to compromise has got to go. Tolerated sin has got to go! "Repent," Jesus said. "If you don't, prepare for war with Me!"
Jesus closes this letter with two unusual promises that add incentives to His call to repent. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it."
Why would the Lord promise "hidden manna" and "a white stone" at the conclusion of this letter to Pergamum? I think He is promising to meet the needs that we’re seeking to meet through worldliness and sexual sin.
Jesus knows that our tendency toward worldliness arises from a desire to meet some need in our life. So Jesus Himself offers the provision of hidden manna for our needs. He will satisfy us in ways that we cannot see unless we trust Him.
And Jesus knows that the reason sexual sin is so widely accepted and practiced is because, deep down, we crave intimacy. His promise of a white stone, with "a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it" meets this longing in a special way. Jesus promises a private conversation between Himself and the one who overcomes this world’s lures toward sex. He will give you a new name, a name that only you two know and share. That is the essence of intimacy, and a weapon for the war on lust.
Jesus is all you need. Heed His call. Abandon anything that is pulling you away from Him to the idols of this world. Repent of any known sin. Let Him fight through you and for you. And you will come to know Him in ways you never dreamed.
Why would the Lord promise "hidden manna" and "a white stone" at the conclusion of this letter to Pergamum? I think He is promising to meet the needs that we’re seeking to meet through worldliness and sexual sin.
Jesus knows that our tendency toward worldliness arises from a desire to meet some need in our life. So Jesus Himself offers the provision of hidden manna for our needs. He will satisfy us in ways that we cannot see unless we trust Him.
And Jesus knows that the reason sexual sin is so widely accepted and practiced is because, deep down, we crave intimacy. His promise of a white stone, with "a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it" meets this longing in a special way. Jesus promises a private conversation between Himself and the one who overcomes this world’s lures toward sex. He will give you a new name, a name that only you two know and share. That is the essence of intimacy, and a weapon for the war on lust.
Jesus is all you need. Heed His call. Abandon anything that is pulling you away from Him to the idols of this world. Repent of any known sin. Let Him fight through you and for you. And you will come to know Him in ways you never dreamed.