Revelation 2:14-17

When you come to church, you want it to be a safe place where you know the Bible will be taught accurately. But what happens when someone comes in and begins to preach ideas you never heard of before, who tries to justify their teachings with the changing society, and ultimately is teaching some strange doctrine? I tell you what happens, you have a church just like Pergamos that was in danger of judgment by the Lord.

If we would just take the time to truly understand what some of these so-called ministers are preaching today, we would find that the false teachings that we read about in the Bible are still taking place today. That is why it is so important that we stand on the Bible. What is the old children’s song that we grew up singing? The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me, I stand alone on the word of God, the B-I-B-L-E! If we start heeding the false doctrines of philosophy and new-agism, we would become like this church we are learning about here.

[Read Scripture]

Now Jesus has pointed out some wonderful things about this church, but this church was not perfect. It definitely had some problems. And can I say, that churches everywhere have problems. You have people who may leave a church that they are at, to go to another church that they think doesn’t have problems, but what they are doing is just trading them for others. What separates a good church from a bad church, is how that church deals with the problems it is facing. Are they ignoring it or are they seeking God about it? Well, Pergamos had some problems and that is what the Lord is addressing here in the scripture.

“But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam.”

· Now the Lord is dealing with a familiar foe, this isn’t the first time Balaam has been mentioned in the scripture.

o Numbers 22:5-6 “He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me: 6 come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.”

· Balaam was a for-hire minister, who had a deceptive practice of trying to show a smiling face and then stab you in back. He was more interested in fattening his wallet than being the man of God that he should have been.

· Balaam was sought out by a king names Balac, who was afraid of the children of Israel, so, he calls for Balaam to cast a curse on Israel, but Balaam can’t curse them, because God wouldn’t let him. It seemed that Balaam still knew what he ought to do, but he chose to do otherwise.

· Isn’t that how many people operate today? They know what they should do when it comes to God, but they chose against him and chose money over God.

· Well, Balaam couldn’t curse the Children of Israel, so, he comes up with an alternative. If he can’t curse them, let’s corrupt them, then God with punish them. Balaam gets the allurement of the Moabite women to come and seduce the men of Israel, and they give in to their fleshly desires.

· They were allowing themselves to give in to worldly things that God had forbidden them from taking. God had forbidden them, because He knew it was going to cause problems with the people. And it was going to destroy them. Yet, they gave in anyway.

· Now in like manner, we see this still going on today. Christians and churches that are allowing the worldly teaching to come in to the House of God and what it is doing is corrupting the hearts of God’s Children.

· Well, let me say, there are still many just like Balaam in this world today. Many who are in the churches, who know what they ought to be preaching, but instead are preaching what people want to hear and to make themselves richer, and all it is doing is corrupting the church.

“Who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel”

· Now here is a church that is being told that they are allowing the doctrine of Balaam to be shared within their church, a doctrine of compromise. And this is nothing more than a stumbling block.

· It is important to note, that when we compromise the word of God, it becomes a stumbling block. Now how do we deal with stumbling blocks? Well, what if I had a board that was sticking up, and every time I walked toward it I tripped. There is three ways to deal with that board, I could let it just remain like it is, and just let it catch another person off guard and cause them to fall, or I could take a hammer and nail that board down and hope that it will hold, or I could take that board and rip it up and not have to worry about it no more.

· Listen, here was a doctrine being spread in this church that was going to cause many to stumble back into a worldly life and never grow into what they were meant to be, unless it was dealt with.

· Now, let’s apply this to our lives. Are there things about us that are a stumbling block for another brother or sister? What should we do about it? Well we need to get rid of it. Instead of trying to justify why it is okay, it is better to get rid of it and that way it want cause another to stumble.

· Balac was a king who ought to have helped Israel, but instead was a hindrance.

“To eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication”

· Now what was the stumbling block that they were dealing with? Well, it was the same thing that the children of Israel was dealing with way back in the OT.

· Pergamum was a church that was surrounded by paganism. Life was influenced by these pagan deities and some based their business around it. Now here was a church in Satan’s back yard, and it was real easy to go to church and just live like the rest of the world. They really weren’t living a call-out life.

· One of the things that some in the church were doing, was they were eating meat sacrificed unto idols. Now Paul spoke about this over in 1 Corinthians 8-11, that it was not worth eating the meat if it would cause some to stumble. Now here were people that were coming out of paganism, coming out of worshipping these false gods, and there were some in the church who were eating this meat and it was causing some to see this and go right back into the same old lifestyle they were saved from.

· It wasn’t just the meat they were giving in too, but they were also giving into sexual misconduct as well. They were not keeping themselves within the bonds of marriage and they were giving in to those who were not believers.

· Now, listen, if we live a life that is no different than the rest of the world, are we really God’s people? That is what Jesus is basically summarizing here with this church. This very reckless and sinful lifestyle that was causing the church to miss the real message and purpose.

· We mustn’t allow ourselves to give in to the temptations of the world that we become a stumbling block for others, because when we do, the Lord will come and deal with us. And that is what the Lord is warning this church about.

“So has thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.”

· Now this church, was I remind you, in an educated city. Filled with people teaching open mindedness and acceptance. So, the doctrine of Balaam fitted right in with this community and another group’s philosophy had become a doctrine here, and that was the Nicolaitans.

· The church of Smyrna struggled with this group, but here this group thrived and became the doctrine of the church as well.

· Now we learn that the Nicolaitans were trying to get the people to be under the rule of the clergy. And that people needed to come to the clergy instead of Christ. In essence, they were trying to remove Christ as the head of the church and put themselves in that place instead.

· Listen, Jesus never came and died that we would have to go through someone else that we might come to him. He has made himself available to all the world. And the teaching that you have to come to someone other than Jesus to find forgiveness is heresy.

· Matthew 23:9 “And call no man your father upon the earth…”

· Now the devil knew that this church was in his neighborhood, and he knew he couldn’t curse it, but he could corrupt it, and that is what he was doing with this congregation. He was corrupting them.

· The devil is a subtle being. He is not going to come and force a person to do something, but he is going to come and entice them and try to persuade them to follow his way. If we are not careful, we might find ourselves and our churches following this sinful error without even realizing it.

· Here was a church that didn’t even realize what they were doing. And sadly, many are still doing the same thing. Listen, Jesus loved this church. That is why He is warning this church.

“Repent: or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”

· Jesus was upset with this church and its practices. They had gotten away from their true purpose. They had given in to sinful lifestyles and became a church that was embracing the world rather than the word.

· The Lord gives a warning to them and what is the warning. Well, it is the same message that he has shared throughout his word and during his earthly ministry. Repent! We hear that word and recognize the important meaning of it, but fail to apply it in our life. Listen, we have to repent from our wicked fleshly ways and allow Christ to change us.

· I did a quick search of the word “repent” and it appeared 105 times in the search. 105 times that the Lord is telling us to repent and turn away from sin. At some point we need to get the message because the Lord wasn’t going to tell this church anymore.

· The Lord was going to come and fight against them. Now the Lord doesn’t want to have to fight with a church for it to repent, he wants that church to turn on its own and come back into fellowship with him, but if a church refuses to repent, then the only thing left is for the Lord to chastise the church.

· Christ would use His Sword of his Word, His very voice to come and fight this church. Now I will tell you, that is not just some weapon, it is the weapon. Some talk about the a-bomb being the weapon to end all weapons and wars. But what do men do, they build bigger bombs they increase the mega-ton of it to do more damage. Listen man may create a weapon that can level cities, but the Lord only has to speak the word and it will level a man’s heart. No greater weapon than the word of the Lord.

“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,”

· In the concluding of this section, Jesus readdresses all of the churches with a call to hear once more. If we would just listen to the words of Jesus, we would find direction and hope.

· In this portion, Jesus is addressing the believer, the one who has put their faith and trust in Christ. They have been labeled as one that overcometh. This was just like the statement made by Christ in verse 11.

· This is followed by a promise, that the believer will eat of the hidden manna. Earlier in this passage we read that some of the church were eating meat sacrificed to idols. This food that the Lord gives will not be idol meat, but heavenly bread.

· Manna, or “What is it” was given to the children of Israel to sustain them during their wanderings in the wilderness, it was a mysterious food that was gathered in the morning. Here in this passage we find a call back to the manna, and its mysterious nature.

· There are many things that are a mystery to us when it comes to Jesus and His divine nature, but the Lord gives himself to us to impart that holy nature onto us.

· His physical appearance is hidden from us right now, but at some point the hidden will be revealed, and we will see Christ for who He really is.

· The Lord has likened himself as the bread of life, and it will be this bread that will give eternal life to the believer.

“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 there are several view points that speak on this white stone and its meaning, let’s consider view #1.

· The white stone goes back to the judicial times of the Bible, when it was customary of a jury to render a verdict of not guilty by displaying a white stone. If a person was guilty they would receive a black stone.

· When a person has been washed by the blood of the lamb, they are made pure, clean and white, and that white stone is made possible by Jesus.

· Those who have put their trust in Christ are also promised a new name, which most likely means that they will take on the name of the Lord as one who has been adopted into the family. Now will the Lord give us a new name to be known by? Perhaps, or perhaps he will give us a new last name, but whatever it is, it will be a name that he only knows right now.

· View #2, Now it can be possible that this is referring to another ancient tradition of when people would enter into a covenant together. used to use in that time when they were very close friends and wanted to enter into a covenant relationship. They would take a beautiful white stone, and they would break it; and, they would exchange halves of it. One man would write his name on one half of the stone and give it to the other man. And, the other man would write his name on the other half and give it to that person—and, that is, the two sides of the stone would match, representing a whole. And, I would write my name on one side of the white stone and give it to you. Perhaps I would write a secret name that we called one another by that no one else knew. But, this name—this meant that you and I are in a covenant relationship and everything that I have belongs to you. And, everything you have belongs to me. And, I could go to your household, or I could go to some kingdom that belonged to you, or some tribe that you were a member of, where you had authority, and I could present that half of the stone with your name on it, and that would mean I’d just have a wide open door. It was like a credit card, you see—Heaven’s credit card, the “Master Friend”—you’ve got it. And, he gives to you a white stone, and it means that no matter where you go, you just flash that stone and you’re in—instant reception.[1]

· Friend, we don’t know exactly the true meaning of the white stone, but it is a stone that far more valuable than any precious stone of this earth, it is the stone cut without hands, it is the Rock of our Faith, it is Jesus Christ.

[1] Rogers, A. (2017). Hell’s Headquarters. In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Re 2:12–17). Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.