Alright, well before we get to those sheets, just going to have a little bit of review. We started looking at Jesus' message to the church in Pergamos, and of course this is the third message that we find out of the seven that we come to in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. This particular letter is found from verses 12 through 17. I'd like just to begin by reading through this letter again. So Revelation 2, starting there in verse 12. And to the angel, the messenger, quite likely a leader or representative there of the church in Pergamos, the Lord tells John to write, these things saith he which hath a sharp sword with two edges. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. And thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days where an Antipas was my faithful martyr, my faithful witness, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it." So far, we've looked at the first three parts of this letter, and again, most of these parts have a similar beginning to them, so there's kind of a formula that you can trace throughout these letters. We looked at the first part, which is Jesus' commission there, at the first part of verse 12. to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, and again you find that in all seven letters. The second part deals with Jesus' character that He reveals to the church, and we spent a little time looking at this a few months back, but there at the latter part of verse 12, says, These things saith he, and again there's that formula that introduces Jesus' character to the church. These things saith he which hath a sharp sword with two edges. And of course that points us back to chapter 1 and John's vision of Jesus. And there it was actually protruding out of his mouth. Here it doesn't say that, but we can still get the picture that John had in his mind. Then, of course, the third part is what we started last Sunday and will continue on with this Sunday, and that is Jesus's comprehension. And there in verse 13, the familiar formula, I know thy works. Now, this third part in each letter can be broken down into two different segments. For those churches that have some praiseworthy things about them, he commends them. And that is something that we saw even last Sunday to this church. But then there are some challenges that the church is facing as well. And every church has a challenge that they're facing. Of course, there in the church of Smyrna, the only challenge that they faced was from without. Yet for most of the churches, we find issues from within that are challenging to the church. And so in the rest of verse 13, Jesus offers his commendations. We saw this particularly last Sunday. I know thy works. and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is." And we had a picture of Satan's seat, or what is known as the throne of Satan. It was that altar that was in use by two of those pagan temples in the city of Pergamos. Even where Satan's seat is. But, or and, thou holdest fast my name. So even though there was this great hostile pagan witness there in that city, yet they held fast to his name. You've not denied my faith, even in those days where an Antipas was my faithful martyr who is slain among you where Satan is dwelling." So in spite of the hostility that they were facing there in Pergamos, most of the church, and we say most because we're going to see that part of the challenge was that not all of the church were still honoring the Lord based on a history of faithfulness to the Lord. Of course, this is where we wish we had a little bit more of the history of Antipas and really the time in which he lived and really faced death, impending death, because of his witness for Christ. Much of that has already been lost to time, except for the record that we have right here in the book of Revelation. And yet Jesus, if you remember, ascribes to Antipas what John ascribed to him at the very beginning of Revelation. When John calls Jesus the faithful witness, he takes that and applies it to this man, Antipas, as his faithful witness. So they had a history of faithfulness to the Lord. But those good and positive things there in verse 13 are not all that Jesus knows about that church. And that's pretty sad, because he knows about their challenges, which are found in verses 14 and 15. And so the biggest challenge that the church in Pergamos faced, we find, was tolerance of others within their congregations who are not faithful to the Lord. And this is certainly one of the issues. And if you remember the church in Ephesus, their primary challenge was they were a loveless church. The primary challenge to the Smyrna church was that they were a persecuted church, and here we find the primary challenge to the church in Pergamos was that they were a tolerant church, and a tolerant church of things that did not please the Lord. Now, sadly today, tolerance is often seen as a virtue, especially when it comes to religion. In fact, that's something that is promoted in a lot of liberal societies where you just got to have this great tolerance for everything outside of Christianity, right? And yet they don't have much tolerance for Christ and Christianity. But when it comes to the church, let's listen again to what Jesus has to say regarding this tolerance in verse 14 and 15. And this is their challenge. Jesus says, "...but I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate." So we find really two challenges to this church. Now these words are addressed to the body of Christ as a whole there in the city of Pergamos. And if you recall from last Sunday, this was a city known for its royalty, it was known for its riches, and especially known for its religions. And so it would have been very tempting for this church in this city to just go along to get along, right? to be tolerant of everything else so that they would not experience any hostility from that culture. But the Lord would not, and He still does not, tolerate His church tolerating sin within themselves, or error, or even compromise in their midst. So the first thing that we see and come to in our outline is the reason for the Lord's disapproval, and really the reasons for the Lord's disapproval. You see, while many, if not most, of the church were holding fast to Christ's name, we saw that in verse 13, there were two other groups, maybe even two other factions, in this church as well. One group, there in verse 14, held to what is called the doctrine of Balaam. And we'll look at that here in just a little bit. Whereas the second group held to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. There in verse 15, and we already were introduced to this doctrine when we read about the church in Ephesus. So this particular error had infected the church in Ephesus and maybe other churches in the region as well. However, even those who for the most part were faithful to the Lord, They were tolerant of these two groups within their midst. And again, they might have had their own congregation separate from the other faithful congregations. We're not exactly sure how the church was made up. It probably wasn't just one large congregation that met in one particular large building. Could have been that way, we're not totally sure, but most likely it was multiple congregations in the city, and there might have been some that really focused on one of these heirs and the other heir. Well, the whole, as a whole, most of them would have been faithful. But the Lord was displeased with the church as a whole because the faithful members were tolerating the unfaithful members. The members that were holding fast to the Lord's name were tolerating those that were holding fast to these other doctrines that were promoted by other leaders. And so this tolerance was the greatest challenge the entire church was facing from within. And so we first turn to verse 14 to learn a little more about the doctrine of Balaam. which we can see was probably a subtle error that crept into the church. A subtle error, the doctrine of Balaam. Because the doctrine of Balaam is a teaching that was rooted in the history of Israel. I mean, we're familiar with this because we've read through our Bibles, especially our Old Testament, and we're a little familiar with Balaam and the the situation that he had with Balak and the children of Israel as they were actually moving through the wilderness, just on the backside of the wilderness, getting ready to go into the Promised Land, this episode happened. And so all of the history that is the basis of this error, this doctrine of Balaam, is found in the book of Numbers. So keep your finger here in Revelation chapter 2, and we're going to go back to Numbers. And if we first of all head to Numbers chapter 22, And so just even the fact that John writes this and Jesus refers to the doctrine of Balaam assumes that the Christians in those churches had access to the Old Testament and were understanding those scriptures as part of their scriptures and the Word of God. So if you remember, here in Numbers chapter 22 we find a pagan false prophet who is hired to curse Israel by the king of Moab whose name was Balak. So we don't have to read the entire chapter, but just to kind of get a feel for what was going on, let's pick up there in verse 1 of Numbers 22. It says, And the children of Israel set forward and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho. So they are just on the cusp of heading over the Jordan River to get into the promised land as God had told them. But then, verse 2, Balak, the son of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Again, God had used them to destroy the Amorites. And so Moab, verse 3, was sore afraid of the people, rightly so, because they were many. The children of Israel were many. And Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. So what did they do? They tried to figure out something to deal with the children of Israel. And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, who were likewise probably afraid of the children of Israel. Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field." And Balak, the son of Zippor, was king of the Moabites at that time. And so what does he do? Verse 5, he sent messengers therefore unto Balaam. This is the first mention of this man here in the Bible, in the book of Numbers. Balaam, who was the son of Beor, he was a pagan man, which is by the river of the land of the children of Israel, to call him. saying, Behold, there's a people come out of Egypt. Behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me. Come now, therefore. So Balak says to Balaam, Come now, therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people, for they are too mighty for me. Peradventure I shall prevail, that we might smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land. For I want that he whom thou blestest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed." Now, this was a false prophet. Balaam was not a prophet of God. He was a false prophet. But he had this kind of air of success about him. And so he probably was very prominent in that day for people to hire, to get his blessing, or even to get his curse. And of course, what does Balaam do? Well, this is his livelihood. This is what he wants. This is what he needs. He needs a job. He needs some money. And so, verse 7, the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination, payments in their hand. They came unto Balaam, spake unto him the words of Balak, and He said, okay, lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again as the Lord shall speak unto me. Of course, he's pretending, I think, here to have a relationship with the Lord of heaven. But verse 9, God does come to Balaam and even asks him, what men are these with thee? So Balaam explains. If you jump down to verse 12, God says to Balaam, thou shalt not go with them, Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed." We're going to go ahead and stop there, because as you go through this entire chapter, Balaam attempts even to curse the children of Israel, but can't, because he is prevented from doing so by God himself. So God intervenes in this curse, and even prevents this curse from happening. And of course, we're familiar with Balaam's donkey, who talks to him and says, why are you hitting me, and all those things. But there's more to this story. Because Balaam was still a false prophet, and Balaam still wanted the rewards of divination. He was a greedy man, and a covetous man, and so he wanted the money. So if you jump down to Numbers chapter 25, Balaam right now is, at least from our perspective, maybe perhaps a little bit off the scene. But in Numbers 25, verses 1 through 3, we find that the people of Israel commit a horrible sin against God. It says, "...and Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began..." the people of Israel "...began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab." So we have the men of Israel who were committing fornication, sexual sin, with the daughters of Moab. Terrible sin! In the same place that Balak tried to get Balaam to curse them. And in verse 2, they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods. So here we have the children of Israel committing the sin of fornication. Now they're coming to the sacrifices of the Moabites' gods, and they're actually eating the food that was sacrificed there and bowing down to their gods. In verse 3, and Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor, another god, a false god. and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel." So even after all that God was doing for them, even behind the scenes, with Balaam and Balak, to not have him curse Israel, they still turn their backs on God by committing these sins, actually these many sins, with the daughters of Moab. So what happened? What happened between Numbers 22 and here in Numbers 25? And really, what does this have to do with Balaam? If you go now with me a few pages back to Numbers 31. In Numbers 31, verse 16, we learn that it actually was Balaam who advised the Moabites to tempt and lure Israel into this kind of sin. Or God tells Moses, because these cause the children of Israel, that is the Moabites, Because the Moabites caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Baal Peor, there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord." So ultimately, Balaam, the one who was hired to curse the children of Israel and could not get himself to curse the children of Israel, still wanted the money from the king of Moab in order to curse the children of Israel. And so instead of cursing them directly, he comes up with an idea. He comes up with a counsel. He comes up with a way for God himself to curse the children of Israel through committing sin. So what does this have to do with the doctrine of Balaam that we find back in Revelation chapter 3? Why don't we head back there now? We have a little taste of the history of what John is talking about here in verse 14, the doctrine of Balaam. What could this doctrine be that was so pernicious there in the church of Pergamos? What could this doctrine of Balaam be? It seems to be, based on the history that we just read there in the book of Numbers, a sinful mixture of God's people with the world. Of God's people with Satan's people, if you will. Just like it was in the Old Testament. Because in both cases, back there in the book of Numbers as well as here in the book of Revelation, the people of God were participating in the world's kind of worship and in sin. So that's kind of the idea. And really I think it comes down to this particular question. Those who held to and taught this doctrine of Balaam. It probably wasn't called that, by the way. This would have been a symbolic description of what they were teaching. But probably the biggest question of those that held and taught this error was this. What harm is there? What harm is there in being like the world? This is something that you probably hear even today. Or, what harm is there in doing what the world does? What harm is there with joining with people that are in the world, unbelievers even, to fulfill some of the responsibilities that perhaps we have as a church? Especially when it makes life easier for the church, and may even open up what we would describe as opportunities with the world. And so there's a mixture, a mixture between the church and the world, a mixture between righteousness and sin. And this was especially the case when it came to the big issues of immorality and idolatry. And again, that is what happened there in the book of Numbers. What was it that Balaam counseled the Moabites to get the children of Israel to do? To commit fornication, that is immorality, and to eat the things sacrificed to their idols, and to worship according to their gods. And so immorality, idolatry, those are the big two sins that are confronted all throughout the book of Revelation. And yet, isn't that also the two big sins that we still face in the church today? Immorality and idolatry. And yet, a lot of churches, a lot of Christians, are much like the church here in Pergamos, tolerant of even those errors within their midst. But what ended up here, immorality and idolatry, those two big issues, I think would have started small, probably small in the church, in small and subtle areas of compromise and toleration. Because a lot of times you just don't throw yourself into those big sins without having a long history of small sins and small toleration and compromise with those sins. So again, the Doctrine of Balaam was probably a symbolic title given to the teaching of those who wanted to lead the church to become more like the world, especially in the area of worship. Again, they committed sin in acts of worship to this other God, even when God was calling them to faithfulness to Him. There's a few other descriptions that I think I put there on your lesson guide that I thought would be helpful to get a real feel of what this doctrine of Balaam might entail. Ken Ham, of course we're familiar with him and his ministry, enters in Genesis. He describes the doctrine of Balaam as allowing pagan ideas to be adopted into the church. Certainly that's something, again, that compromise, that tolerance going on. David Stewart describes the error in this way. They would rather be united by error than be divided over truth. And of course, that is a prominent feature, I think, in the ecumenical movement, where it doesn't matter what the doctrine is, what unites us, as long as we're united in some way before the world. And yet we find throughout Scripture is that if there is no unity in doctrine, there really can be no unity in practice or in picture. In fact, we find throughout the New Testament that there are some foundational, fundamental doctrines that are to unite Christians. But here we have, again, that idea of compromise and tolerance, of rather being united by air than divided over truth. I like Wiersbe's description of it. If you can't beat them, join them. And again, we see that over and over again played out in the history of the church, not just here in Pergamos, but throughout the time in which we live. Now, the question is, what would make members of a church even want to go down this path? What would make members of a church want to go and compromise and become tolerant of those things? Well, to those in Pergamos, this is what one writer describes here, and this is also on your lesson guide. To not partake in the idle means, that is, the meat that was sacrificed to idols there in the city of Pergamos. To not partake in the idol meat involved abstinence from almost every public, every private festivity. A withdrawal in great part from the whole social life of his time, for sacrifice to idols had bound itself up in almost every act of social life. You see, we don't really get a good picture or feel of what was going on in the cities there in the roman empire because we don't have those kind of temples that are so prominent, that were so prominent even back then. This idolatry and this religiosity there in Pergamos was so prevalent that if you did not, you know, pinch that little incense to Caesar, you didn't bring your sacrifice to Athena or to Zeus or to any of the other gods that they would worship there on top of the hill, then you would have been banished or looked down upon by society as a whole. In fact, throughout the Roman Empire, there were trade guilds. So if you were a leather worker, you would try to become part of the leather worker guild so that you can, you know, take advice from each other, and you could buy, sell, and trade, and you really would have their stamp of approval. And there'd be other guilds like this, and every one of these guilds had their own patron god, their patron false god. And so to join these guilds, you'd have to worship those gods, and you would have to sacrifice to those gods, or you would have a big meal, and you knew that the food that you're eating was sacrificed to those gods. And so, again, like Trench was describing, To not partake in these idol meets involved abstinence from almost every other public or private festivity. And that would have been a temptation for them, because to follow after Christ meant to renounce a lot of society as a whole. In other words, many there in the city of Pergamos and in the church of Pergamos would have been too afraid to be too different than the world around them. And that led them down this path of ultimate compromise to the point where they were committing the big sins, quote unquote, of immorality and idolatry, even in that city of Pergamos. And so it's just like it is today. When one sin or error is left alone, more will soon follow. What seems like something that is small, something little that you compromise with or are tolerant with, will continue on and to really steamroll and get to those bigger sins that ultimately we recognize is not something that God tolerates at all. But that's also another reason why the second group is addressed there in verse 15. And the second group are those who held to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. And we spent a little time looking at this when we looked at the church there in Ephesus. This was probably a very shameless error, and kind of came out as a result of the subtle error of compromise, because again, it not only infected the church in Pergamos, it was infecting the church in Ephesus as well. It seems like this faction within the church was more organized, maybe even more widespread. They might have had their own apostles and their own disciples coming into the churches to try to convince them to follow them and not to listen to what John and Paul and Timothy and the others had been saying. But as one, of course, we looked last time at some of the explanations that have been put forward about this error when we looked at them in the Church of Ephesus. But one early Christian historian, Clement of Alexandria, describes these Nicolaitans in this way. They abandon themselves to pleasures. Again, that's really the focus of their life. That's the focus of this doctrine. They abandon themselves to pleasures like goats. in a life of shameless self-indulgence. And the idea is that they still focused on idolatry and really immorality. This might have been an incipient form of Gnosticism, where they kind of had that dualistic philosophy, where there is the spirit and there is the flesh. And really there is such a disjointing between those two that as long as in the spirit I'm gods, I can do whatever I want in the flesh and not worry about it. Because that's not going to contaminate me, that's not going to do anything to my spirit, my soul, which is safe in the arms of Jesus. And again, that was a Gnostic heresy that came out even later from this, so this might have been an original form of that. But again, they abandon themselves to those sins of immorality and idolatry in a life of shameless self-indulgence. So really, most likely, these Nicolaitans, really under the guise of Christian liberty, pursued after the pleasures of the flesh. And again, this is not unfamiliar to us. We see this in churches and in Christians' lives, even in our day and age. This is nothing new. There's nothing new under the sun, even when it comes to these challenges in the churches. And yet, in doing so, these Nicolaitans were still in bondage to sin. So we have a subtle error, the doctrine of Balaam, which compromised more and more with the world in order to adopt their practices within the church. There's the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, a shameless error, which basically was more organized and said, okay, we're going to just go ahead and live the way we want to, not realizing that the gospel is not just in doctrine, but also in deed. It changes your practice. It changes your life. Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. But to tolerate these two false teachings was inexcusable for these churches in that city. And it was inexcusable because the Lord's feeling about them was unmistakable. In fact, if you jump down to verse 15 again, in describing the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, what does Jesus say? Which thing I hate. Again, we mentioned this when we looked at the church in Ephesus. Jesus has a holy and healthy hatred of sin, and a healthy and holy hatred of this error that crept into his church, and we ought to as well. Jesus is never tolerant of worldliness and sinfulness within his church, and that's why we must never be tolerant of what the Lord is intolerant of. And that is the challenge to the church in Pergamos. Now, that challenge then leads us to Jesus' command and consequences to the church, which are the next couple of parts in this letter. And so that leads us to point number two, which is the response to the Lord's disapproval. The response to the Lord's disapproval. Now, in verse 16, we find just a single command, right? Now, the commands are the fourth part of Jesus' letter to His churches. And what is His single command here? Repent. Verse 16, repent. Repent simply means to turn. To turn. So what do they need to turn from? Tolerating the errors within their church. And not just errors in doctrine, but errors in practice. They needed to stop tolerating them and then purify themselves from them. You see, repentance does start in the mind and heart. All throughout Scripture, we learn this. Repentance does start here, but it never ends here. Repentance always begins in the mind, in the heart, but it always results in action, and the right kind of action. So in order for this church to repent and obey Jesus' command, what would they have had to do? They would have had to exercise proper church discipline. In fact, if you look at Matthew chapter 18, you don't need to do that right now, but Jesus lays out what proper church discipline would entail. And really, he probably didn't even need to go to some of those preliminary steps because Jesus kind of already did that here in this letter. He said, you need to take care of it. You need to call them out on it and cast them out from your presence, out from the church. They have nothing to do with this church because I hate what they stand for. So the faithful members of the church in Pergamos needed to turn from their tolerance and then deal with them biblically. That's true repentance. And that process would include confrontation, confession, and ultimately restoration. And so I'm sure that there was that desire for these people to confess their sin, knowing once again that Jesus is faithful and just to forgive them of their sin, to cleanse them from all unrighteousness, and then to get them on the right path to restore them to the truth. But then, in the rest of verse 16, we find the consequences. The consequences which make up the fifth part of Jesus' letters here in Revelation 2 and 3. Because if they don't deal with the sin in their midst, the Lord will deal with their sin in the midst. Again, repent, or else, here's the consequence, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my Now, this is another case where we don't know exactly how Jesus would judge them, but we do know that Jesus would judge them. And based on what he says, we know that his judgment would be swift. That is, he would come quickly. Now, this is probably not something that they were used to in the royal city of Pergamos. I mean, just like any government position or any government bureaucracy, it's pretty slow to get things done, right? I mean, you have even the wheels of justice turn slowly. But Jesus says, my wheels of justice will turn very swiftly unless you repent. And again, that repentance is for the entire church as a whole, for their tolerance of this error, but also repentance by those committing the error themselves. And so if there's no true repentance in the church, his judgment will be swift. Also, his judgment would be severe. He goes on and says, I will fight. Now this phrase, will fight, can also be translated, he will wage war. Now the interesting thing about this phrase, it is used of real war and real battles all throughout the book of Revelation. So did Jesus imply that he would use the government there in Pergamos to clamp down on and persecute, perhaps, the Christians there in Pergamos? in order to purge them and purify them, perhaps. We're not exactly sure. Again, this is kind of something that is lost to us in history. But his judgment would be swift and severe. But ultimately, his judgment would also be sovereign, because he would do so with a sword of his mouth. It was his right to judge the church, because the church belongs to him. And that's something that every church needs to remember. The church does not belong to us. I mean, in one sense, it does, because it's our church. We are part of this church. We're part of this body. We ought to treat it in that way. But ultimately, this church, every church, is God's church, is Christ's church. And so we don't have the right to just allow any old heir to come into our lives or into our church, any kind of leader, or any kind of teacher, any kind of teaching. Instead, we need to pursue after purity. because the Lord himself is pure. And so every church ought to respond to sin and error and compromise within the church the way Jesus would. No toleration in this tolerant church. But once again, this is not where Jesus leaves the church in this letter. In fact, if we head to verse 17, We kind of come to the conclusion of the letter, and we find the sixth and seventh parts of this letter, and we find, ultimately, the resolution from the Lord's disapproval. The resolution. Now, in the first few letters, The call and the comfort are in this order, the order that we'll be reading it here in verse 17. In the last few letters of Revelation, it's actually switched, where the comfort comes before the call. But what is the call? The sixth part of this letter, the call to the church, we've heard this before. What does he say? He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. So, once again, a message to one church is a message to all churches. and not just the seven churches in Revelation, to all churches of all time in all places, including our own. And so that's why we need to hear and heed what is being said today, and really every church does, especially when we think about toleration and compromise with the world, heeding that doctrine of Balaam. But then, of course, we end with the seventh part, which is Jesus' comfort to the church, Because when the church does obey his command, and really, again, very simple, one command, repent. To Smyrna, we saw two commands. Two, what was it? To fear not, and to be faithful. So there were two commands. There in the church of Ephesus, there were three commands. So in the first letter, three commands, remember, repent, do the first works. In the second letter, there's two commands, fear none of those things, be faithful to death. And now we just have one simple command, repent. I'm sure all the others apply. Remember, the message to one church is a message to all the churches. But here's Jesus' comfort. If you do obey this command and you do repent from this kind of toleration, not just in your mind but also in your actions, what does he say? To him that overcometh. There's that formula for comfort, promise. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. Now, we looked a little bit more in depth as to what the hidden manna would be and this white stone would be a few weeks back. But why would Jesus have used these two things? Jesus probably talks about the hidden manna which again harkens back to the Old Testament time of the children of Israel when they were eating real manna. And it was somewhat hidden. In fact, the picture might have been that when the dew fell on the ground and the manna would rain from heaven, there might have been dew that kind of came on it as well to kind of protect it from dirt and soil and dust. And so when they went out, it was perfectly pure, perfectly clean. There was some idea concerning that. But he's probably talking about the hidden manna, because it's in stark contrast with what they would eat in verse 14, those things sacrificed unto idols. The hidden manna was something that God would provide, versus the things sacrificed from idols, which were really what the devil provided. And of course, the ultimate hidden manna is the bread of heaven himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Jesus is basically saying, don't be satisfied with anything else out there. I am the bread of life. I am this hidden manna. And if you eat what I give you, it will give you health and strength forever and ever. So don't be tempted, don't be lured, don't compromise with the things that are sacrificed unto idols. Jesus is far more satisfying than anything they might be tempted to partake in this life and this world. But then when we looked at that white stone, the idea was not just a picture of approval. There is some evidence that a stone would have been used to cast a vote for someone, maybe in an election or even in a jury trial. There would be white stones in favor of someone or a black stone against someone. There's also perhaps the idea of an invitation where they would have white stones with a person's name personally inscribed and they would give it to them and say, hey, come to this meal. And maybe it was a pagan meal. And Jesus says, don't worry about their stones. Think about the stone that I will give you, a white stone with your name, a new name written on it, which no man knows except the one who receives it. So this is in contrast with the natural desire and longing for the approval and favor of men. See, that's what leads churches to compromise. That's what leads Christians to tolerate sin within their midst. It's really the fear of men and the desire for the favor of man. And again, this is something that is natural in our human condition. But Jesus says, with my stone of approval, nothing else should really matter. And so these are the rewards of faithful Christians, faithful churches, who are not tolerant of the ways of the world that are infiltrating and trying to influence the church. So like the church there in Pergamos, I think there's a lot of real value to us reading this in the Western church. We do live in a very wealthy and religious society. We think about not just religion in church buildings or in mosques or in fellowship halls of various religions, but the predominant religion in Western society is humanism and materialism. It's setting oneself up as God and not God as God. That is our predominant religion, and that's one of the reasons why this message is really appropriate for us. Because we need to be careful to not let the church conform to the culture of this world, which again is so easy to do, because we want and desire the approval of men over the approval of God. So we need to watch out for these two errors. And that is the message there to the church and programists. We'll start off the next letter. which is to the angel of the church in Thyatira, picking up in verse 18. This is the longest letter that finishes up Revelation 2. We will start looking at that after Easter. Remember, this is a church that compromises and tolerates error within their midst. May that not be said of us. Let's close in prayer. Gracious Father, we thank you again for this message. Thank you again for the truth that we find here and really the very relevant challenge that this is to us as a church, even today, in this society, in this culture. It is so easy for us just to go along to get along. It's so easy for us to adopt the methods and practices and even the worship of the world in order to attract the world and be like the world. And yet, Lord, we know that we are not of the world. But we've been chosen and called out of this world, so that while we're in this world, we can be sent to this world to be different than this world. So Father, I pray that you'll help us to see in our own lives, and to see in our own church, and really to see in the areas that we have responsibility if this compromise and this tolerance is creeping in. And then, Lord, to obey the command, to repent, to repent of that in our minds, to repent of that in our hearts. And then, Lord, to repent of that through our actions, to take what steps are necessary to Separate ourselves from this kind of air. And not just the people that teach it, but Lord, from the air itself. So that Lord, we will be more like you and not like the world. That Lord, we will be more like the truth and not the air that is so frequently taught around us in just about every circle in this world. And so Father, I pray that as we see ourselves in the light there of the city of Pergamos, that, Lord, we will see the similarities to our culture. Oh, but Lord, help us to see the contrast that there can be and should be, a difference between light and darkness, a difference between day and night, so that we might let our light so shine in this world. Because, Lord, that's what you've called us to, not to tolerate, not to compromise with error, but to stand on the truth and to display the truth for all to see. Thank you, Lord, for this message. May this message to that church be a message for all churches, even today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.