I'm going to begin this morning with an observation that I would like for you to consider. It is simply this. People do not drift toward holiness. If this is true, and it is, Why do so many of us treat our walk with the Lord as if one day we're gonna wake up and be much more spiritual? No. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness or toward more prayer. or to be more obedient to scripture, faith, or to simply delight more in the Lord. You know what we do? Instead, we slouch toward prayerlessness. And when we slouch toward prayerlessness, we delude ourselves into thinking, well, I've escaped legalism. Don't need to get up for that early morning prayer time anymore. I'm not legalistic. We slide toward godlessness and we convince ourself, I've been liberated. We drift toward compromise. And we call it Tolerance. You know, the world is after us today to be more tolerant. We are called hateful because we aren't as tolerant. We're going to see where that leads today. It's the subject of our passage. Compromise through tolerance. Now, I need to make a distinction here when I'm talking about tolerance. I am not speaking of the tolerance that we are often accused of not having. You know that I teach at a secular college, and you know, God has given me the honor, the privilege, of having a lot of students who like to come before class and stay after class who don't have the same worldview I have. They come from the gay community. I tolerate them as human beings. I love them as human beings and I yearn for them to come to know the truth of Jesus Christ. I am not gonna be as what the world says we are intolerant. I don't want to have anything to do with you. I love the fact that they come and they want to spend time and I want to be Jesus with skin on to them. So when I'm saying that we are not to be tolerant, I'm not talking about that. What we are often accused of not being. The letter that Jesus instructed the apostle John to write from Patmos to the church at Pergamon. The letter we're gonna be studying today showed how they had conceded so much of their faith because in their idea of tolerance, it meant adopting and looking just like the world. That's the tolerance that I'm saying we are not to have. Their tolerance toward it is depicted as the church married to the world, becoming one with it. We have been studying the book of Revelation here on Sunday morning, and we're gonna continue with the third letter that John was instructed by Jesus to write. John was, in fact, given a three-fold outline for this book of Revelation that he was told to write. Revelation 119 says, write therefore the things that you have seen, and he just got finished with a vision, seeing Jesus before him. The things that are, And that means the existing church that was existing during John's day and the church age that goes on in the day that we are living in today, the church age in its entirety, which is these letters that he's writing here. The church isn't gonna exist forever. And so John was told to write, and those things that are to take place, the events that will occur after the church age, which are the very events of the tribulation, which we come to in chapter four, all the way to the end of the book. The church age in its entirety is represented by the seven letters to the seven churches. And the first, this is a first we see in the book of Revelation where he presents several series of sevens in the book of Revelation. Number seven represents completeness. And these seven churches represent the complete history from the time of Pentecost to the church's end when we are raptured off of this earth. We've been going through these letters, one a week, and seeing that John was addressing specific contemporary situations in each of these churches that were current to John's own day when he pinned these letters. But also, as Old Testament prophecy often did, they clearly relate to future events. And in this case, seven definite periods of church history, all the way to the final period that we're living in now, described in the Church of Laodicea. Now, we've already studied the letter to the church at Ephesus. That letter paralleled the literal church in Ephesus during John's day. and the church period from Pentecost, the church's birth, to about 100 AD, when the last apostle died, that was John, and the next church age began. Now both the church at Ephesus and that church period from Pentecost to about 100 AD, had both patiently endured hardship. They defended God's truth against false teachers. They worked sacrificially. But eventually, they only did ministry out of a sense of duty. They had lost their first love for Jesus. They were warned that if they did not repent, Jesus would remove from them the lampstand, their witness to the world among them. Now today, we see that that did happen. The entire region where this church once thrived, their testimony has been extinguished. It is a Muslim land today. Last week we studied the letter to the church at Smyrna, which amazingly paralleled the period of church history from about 100 AD to 312 AD. The church at Smyrna is the church under persecution. The letter said there would be 10 periods of testing. And when the time came from 100 AD to 312 AD, the church had never known previously or since then such severe persecution. During that church era, that period of time, 10 separate Roman emperors tried their hardest to extinguish Christianity. 10 of them did. And it's described in the letter to the church at Smyrna as 10 days of persecution. Praise God for his grace and his mercy because there was an end to it. And he said there would be an end to it after 10 days. Well, this morning, we come to the letter of the church at Pergamum. They had gone through those 10 days now, and we come to the letter of the church at Pergamum. This represents a church period from about 312 to approximately 590 AD. Now, it begins in 312 when Emperor Constantine not only made Christianity legal now, But he forced his armies and much of Roman society to convert to Christianity. And you might look at that and say, well, wonderful, that's such a good thing. Nah, no. He was allowed to take over and he was allowed to preside over the church as its leader. We're talking about Roman Emperor Constantine here. And so during this period of church history, we see the church marry the world, become just like the world. We see tremendous compromise through tolerance. There's always been a great effort on the part of Satan to try to destroy, to try to hinder the work and the influence of the church on the world. And he tried his hardest during that second period represented by the letter to the church at Smyrna with the 10 emperors doing their hardest to snuff it out through persecution. But he didn't win. Satan's always tried to use persecution as one of his main methods in hindering the work of God and destroying churches. However, what we saw in the church at Smyrna in that church period that it represents, it didn't work. Real and dedicated Christianity has always flourished and spread under persecution. Someone has well said, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. It was true then, and it's been true during every period of church history. Persecution strengthens the determination and causes men to affirm their allegiance to Christ as nothing else seems to do. Now having failed at snuffing out the church through persecution, Satan now changes his method of attack. And we see it in this next period of church history. From persecution now, persecution from the outside, Let's destroy it by infiltration from the inside. So as we pick up now to the letter of the church at Pergamum, notice the phrase we're going to see here in this letter. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. We'll see that specifically in verse 13. We'll see it another time here in the letter. He dwelt among them. Satan couldn't stomp them out, so he moved right into their midst. He joined the church of Pergamos and tried to destroy them from within. And so we pick up now with Revelation 2, verses 12 through 17. It reads this way. And to the angel of the church in Pergamum rang, the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword, I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed among you where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to 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 to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. Early in the fourth century, Emperor Diocletian, who persecuted Christians most severely. After he died, two men contended for the throne to be emperor. Constantine from the west and Maxentius in the east. They were both determined to be the next emperor to succeed Diocletian. Old tradition has it, on the night before the battle at Milvian Bridge, Constantine saw a vision in the sky in the shape of a cross. And it had the inscription on it, In hoc signo vinces, By this sign, conquer. Constantine then promised to declare himself a Christian if he won the battle. But I must tell you that he faced overwhelming odds against him. On October 28, 312 AD, Maxentius built a trap Somehow he used a bridge of boats that crossed over the Tiberis River. However, while standing there with a whole garrison of troops, the bridge gave way, sending Maxentius and his entire elite guards to their death in the river. Constantine could now ascend to the throne as emperor. Within months of his victory, the Edict of Toleration was implemented in 312 AD. Eleven years later, the Edict of Milan was issued, which elevated Christianity as the state religion of Rome. The persecuted Christians went from catacombs to comfort. The emperor promised anyone who would convert to Christianity a white robe and 20 pieces of gold. In one year, 12,000 were baptized in Rome alone. Most of them, though, were clearly unsaved. Yeah, give me my gold. The church became married to the world. People who claimed to be Christians who had never been saved at all, there was no change whatsoever in their life. Later on, when almost 400 bishops met, Constantine was carried in to the meeting on a golden throne And he presided over the International Church Council as the recognized head of the church. But with all of that profession and pomp, there was no evidence that Constantine had ever been born again. Pagan practices were introduced into the church because so many of those who are now part of the church began to complain, we miss our old festivals and means of worship. Many of the converted heathens complained that they missed their pagan rites and festivals. And the Roman church decided, well, all right, No harm in it, we can do them here in the church as well. And so it was called Christian worship in order to please these complaining masses was adopted in. Several pagan holidays were Christianized. Also, prayers were made for the dead. The worship of saints and angels commenced. Mass, where Christ is believed to be re-crucified every time it is celebrated, was instituted. Mary was worshiped and eventually prayers were directed to her. Purgatory was introduced. The church became more Roman and less Christian. These teachings are not found in the Bible anywhere. Well, let's turn back to our text now in the book of Revelation, Revelation 2, verse 12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, the words of him who has the sharp, two-edged sword. Now, before reading this verse, I've been discussing the period of church history, which the church at Pergamum represents. Now it's necessary for me to discuss the literal church at Pergamum during John's day and why this is such a fitting representation for the third distinct period of church history. Pergamum was a famous and prosperous city. Its rulers had been the very first to invite the Romans into the affairs of Asia Minor. It was the center of the imperial cult for the entire province. The worship of the emperor as God was strongly emphasized. It was even required in the province of Asia. It was a major problem for Christians at the time. Augustus would often come to this beautiful area when the climate got cold in Rome and there was a healing spa that he enjoyed there. Pergamum hosted temples dedicated to the divine Augustus and the goddess of Roma and to Asclepius. Asclepius, the god of healing. It was symbolized by serpents entwined on a staff. Yes, it is the very medical symbol used today. And also there was a large altar dedicated to Zeus. All of these centers of godlessness, it qualified Pergamum to be called the site of Satan's throne in John's letter as he wrote it to them. Not only did Pergamum boast great temples and this healing spa, it also had the greatest library of the pagan world. It was a library of over 200,000 volumes. In fact, the city got its name from the parchment, Pergamena, which was used that they would write the books on. This great library was the very library, the one which Mark Antony gave to his girlfriend, Cleopatra. She carted it off to Alexandria in Egypt, and that library was considered the greatest library the world has ever seen. It originally came from Pergamum. Now, it just seems natural that Satan would want to control such a city as Pergamum. in which to operate his system of evil and spread it throughout the world. It's a combination of idolatry, higher education, and medical arts. This allowed Satan the opportunity to affect the total man. Satan can control the mind of man through learning, the body of man through healing, and the soul of man through pagan religion. body and soul, the totality of man, right there in Pergamum. Now that we've looked at a few descriptions of Pergamum that was contemporary to John's day when he wrote this letter, notice the description of Christ in this letter. Here in verse 12, it says, he has a sharp two-edged sword. you know as well as I, that speaks of the word of God. It says he has a sharp two-edged sword, and the word can bless, and it can also judge. Here it's used in a way of judgment. The enemy, which is so prominent in Pergamos, will be judged by the word of God. Nothing but his truth can defeat error in satanic opposition. Please remember that. It's his word that defeats error. It was more important that the church fear the sword of the Lord than the Roman sword. The word of God has the power to penetrate the very depths of the soul and expose the hidden secrets in the heart of man. Here, the two-edged sword speaks of a sure and swift judgment. We're also reminded by this of Hebrews 4.12, which says, for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and of discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. But let me ask this. Whose judgment do you fear? The Christians in John's audience could avoid the sword of Rome by doing the things that would put them in danger of the sword of Jesus. They had a choice. We all face situations where the world judges us to be right if we follow them and we can avoid their sword. if we ignore the sword of Jesus. Whose sword do you respect the most? The sword of the world and the judgment of the world might inflict, or the sharp two-edged sword in the mouth of Jesus Christ. Verse 13 says this. 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. So Christ was acquainted with their service. You know, those who are in your life may not be aware of your service. They might not even be aware of how faithful you are in serving the Lord. But Christ knows. You may be unrewarded by the world. But Christ knows which means in due time you will be duly recognized and rewarded for your good service. regardless of how obscure, how unimportant your service seems to be right now to the world. Jesus was aware and he commended them for three things. First, they were steadfast in devotion. You hold fast to my name. The name represented everything involved in Jesus Christ. This commendation says they were devoted to Jesus. They would not deny him. Second, they were steadfast in doctrine. You did not deny my faith. That was doctrinal fidelity in the church there. Obviously, we learned shortly, all were not faithful, but the Lord commends those who were. Third, they were steadfast in danger. Even in the days of Antipas, who was killed, when persecution began to kill the righteous, there were those in Pergamos who refused to be cowardly about their faith in the face of great life-threatening danger that had even taken the life of one of them. They were being faithful to death. But even with their courageous stand against persecution, the believers of Pergamos were not all faultless before the Lord. Satan had not been able to destroy them by coming at them as a roaring lion, but he was making inroads as a deceiving serpent. The seeds were planted. They're gonna gel. and the church is gonna formalize each of these things I've just shown you in a future church age where they become tradition and locked in. But here they are planted and they are growing in this church age. A group of compromising people had infiltrated the church fellowship and Jesus Christ hated their doctrines and practices that got in during this church period. Verse 14 says this. But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold the teaching of Balak, 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. Now, in order for us to understand what he means here about the doctrine of Balaam, we need to go back and look at what he's referring, our Savior is referring to in this passage in the Old Testament in the account of where it speaks of Balaam. All of the children know the story about the donkey that talks to Balaam, but here's the point of all of that. Back in the book of Numbers, chapters 22 through 25 and chapter 31, We find that the children of Israel were on their way from Egypt to the land of Canaan, and they had settled temporarily out on the plains of Moab. Now Balak, king of Moab, was afraid of the Israelites, and so he called for a prophet of God. He called for Balaam the prophet to ask Balaam to curse the children of Israel. Almost every child knows the story of Balaam, what happened to Balaam on his way there to receive the rich reward from Balak, which he had promised him. But Balaam was allowed to go on his way. He was told to speak only those things which the Lord would direct him to say. And every time Balak tried to get Balaam to curse the children of Israel, he ended up blessing them instead of cursing them. Not being allowed to curse Israel, Balak, the king of Moab, was very angry. And Balaam himself was disappointed because he wasn't able to get the money that he had planned on receiving from Balak. He was a hireling prophet. He had hoped to receive this great reward for cursing the children of Israel, but God wasn't allowing him to do that. And therefore, having been hindered by God from cursing the children of Israel, Balaam conceived another plan so that he could get this money from Balak. Balaam reasoned with the king of Moab that if he wanted to overcome the children of Israel, he could do so by breaking down their standard of being a distinct people. So he told him, he said, look at these children of Israel. They sacrificed to their own God. By leading the children of Israel to commit adultery with the daughters of Moab, we could infiltrate them and you can defeat them. Because of this unholy alliance with the children of Moab, God sent a plague among them. 24,000 of them died of the plague before the judgment of God was over. Balaam was willing to see Israel robbed of her glory and to thwart in her purpose all for the love of money and the reward that he wanted to receive from the king. Balaam, the hireling prophet, was willing to do anything for the sake of profit. You're beginning to see some of the allusions to what happened in that church century. Willing to do anything for profit in the church of Pergamos. And there were those who held to the doctrine of Balaam. The teaching of Balaam simply stated is the doctrine of compromise. Balaam led Israel to compromise all of her distinctiveness, worship of the one true God, stay holy and pure in order to be like the nations around them. Well, okay, we can be a little bit more like you. Balaam was a greedy man who had both a faulty concept of God and a very devious mind. Now, why did this bit of ancient history apply to the believers at Pergamos? I think you can begin to see it here. Because a group in that church said, you know, there's nothing wrong with being real friendly to Rome. We can have them come in. We can adopt their practices. We could be just like them. What harm is there in putting a pinch of incense on the altar and affirming your loyalty to Caesar? No big deal. They wanted to compromise their distinctives so they could be like all the other nations that were doing the same thing. Antipas refused to compromise and he was martyred, but others took the easy way and cooperated with Rome. and those seeds were planted in the church. We never had more Balaamites in our churches than we have today. What harm is there in being tolerant? Everybody's doing it. We call them worldly Christians. Billy Sunday used to say, you might as well talk about a heavenly devil. They argue from half of a verse of scripture. They say, all things are lawful to me. And they never add the rest of the verse. All things are lawful to me, but not all things are beneficial. They don't help me. All things are lawful to me, but I will not be dominated by anything. Some things enslave me. Good things, like a hobby, distract me from what God wants. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. They don't build me up. These Balaamites never subject their habits to the threefold test of expectancy. Is it expedient? Enslavement? Does it edify? Another point of compromise was they're allowing the Nicolaitan doctrine to infiltrate the church. Verse 15, so also some of you hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. That might ring a bell to some of you if you were here when we were preaching about the letter to the church at Ephesus. We've seen this group before in that letter to the church at Ephesus. The church at Ephesus took a strong stand against the Nicolaitans, but Pergamos allowed them in. Those who want to corrupt the church never rest. They come at it, and they come at it, and they come at it, and these Nicolaitans apparently were doing that. They continue their attack and work to get inside. Now, the word Nicolatane comes from two Greek words, nikao, which means to conquer, and laos, which means people. Now, what it means is to rule over the people. This was accomplished by setting up certain men to rule over ordinary people in the church. Now you have this specialized elevated clergy who rule over the people. You don't dare read scripture, you haven't been trained in scripture. They divided the church in two divisions, the rulers and the laity. It was those in charge who ruled over and dominated the laity. The Nicolaitan movement marks the beginning, I believe, of the form of the priesthood in the church, and the clergy even. The vast distinction that one is far above the other. The period of church history from 312 to 590 was the time that the professional clergy, a class of rulers, was developed. Verses 16 and 17. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. to the overcomers, God promises three things. Number one, hidden manna, bread from heaven. Manna was God's miraculous provision for Israel as they journeyed through the wilderness. These little wafers of bread stood as a type of symbol of Jesus Christ and the word of God. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. Christ is our provision for life. He is our source of energy, spiritual energy, renewal, refreshment. The overcoming life is those who feed upon Christ the eternal bread of life. The overcomer is precious to Christ. He will feed him with a heavenly sustenance. The manna in the wilderness had satisfied physical hungers for a while, but Christ, the bread of life, will satisfy spiritual hunger forever. Number two, he promises a white stone. What's that about? Well, at that time in history, in the courtroom, it represented acquittal. A black stone, if you were given that, if you were tried in a court of law during the first century, if you were given a black stone, you were guilty. If you were given a white stone, you were acquitted. God's children are on trial every day. Every day that we live, we're on trial. But one day the test will be over and God will give his stamp of approval to the true believer. The world is casting white stones for evil and black stones for Christianity today. But God will set the record straight for the overcomers. A new name. Now, I'm gonna be honest with you, I've been reading and reading and reading, and I haven't really come up with anybody who can say definitely what the new name is, but what we do know in scripture, every time God changes the name of a person, it's an honor, it reflects the character of the person. Peter, from Cephas to Peter, Rock, Several times we see God gives a new name to people. Abram became Abraham. Jacob became Israel. Simon became Peter. With a new name came a new role in God's kingdom, and with that came greater intimacy with God. And I think that is what it's suggesting here. In the Bible, names were given to an individual to reflect the calling and the character of that individual. Based on the way that you're living now, what name would the Lord give you? Would it be a name that reflects faithful, responsible, courageous? Take a good look at your life. And remember this. People do not drift toward holiness. We drift toward compromise. A few years ago, there was a rash of flying accidents in the United States for single-engine planes. When a comprehensive study was conducted by the FAA Of the 44 most recent fatal accidents to this study, a few lessons stood out. First, all but one of the accidents listed were pilot-related causes. Second, and most surprisingly, experienced pilots were responsible for the majority of the accidents. A few of the accidents were caused by pilots with less than 150 hours of flight time. But over 75% of the accidents were caused by pilots with over 400 hours of flight time. Apparently, these pilots assumed because they already had a lot of hours under their belts, they could cut corners. and be a little sloppy. And by contrast, beginning pilots with fewer hours were extremely careful. Even painstakingly in their pre-flight routines, meticulously inspect every rivet of the airplane. They did it by the book. The study concluded that pilots who get overconfident and stop pursuing ongoing safety training are four times more likely to have a fatal accident. Now here's the point I want to make. Sometimes we as Christians are 400, 400 hour flying disciples. failures in our Christian life take place because we become careless and we stop doing it by the book. I don't need to memorize scripture. I've memorized enough. I don't need to get up early and pray. I know my Bible well enough. Why do I have to read it again? We compromise on our devotions. We slump on allowing the standards of Scripture and the Holy Spirit to inspect every rivet of our heart and our life. We go on, day after day, cutting corners, wondering why we lose power on the climbs, and we stall. Accidents may often be the consequences of thinking we know better. But I must say this one last time. People do not drift toward godliness. We drift toward compromise. And we agree with the world that it's freedom or tolerance, let the letter to the church at Pergamum be our warning. Let's pray.