Sermon Tone Analysis

Jesus’ Letter To The Church In Pergamum: Be Courageous!

Revelation 2:12-17

We have been working our thru Jesus’ seven letters to the Churches in Asia Minor

Stott's helpful commentary makes the point: The first mark of a true Church is love, suffering, and today Truth.

12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

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.

14 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.

15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

16 Therefore repent.

If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

17 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.’

Pray

V.12 - Jesus has the sword and he intends on using it.

12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

How do we use “our sword” in an age of “just be nice”?

Little boys get suspended if they tussle.

They are expected to just be nice.

Mom and Dad come to their child’s rescue refusing for them to simply act like a boy.

We medicate them into zombies forgetting one day they may well need to fight, yes they will be commanded to fight either for their God or their country.

God is good but He is not always nice.

He is not going to be nice with the wicked, nor is he nice when false teachers infiltrate His blood-bought church and prey on His kids.

No, no He’s not gonna be nice and if someone breaks into your home tonight you won't be nice either.

This is both a warning and a comfort

Rev. 1:16

In John’s vision of Jesus in chapter 1, the sword symbolized Jesus’ power to judge and conquer his enemies (see also Rev. 19:15).

The Roman proconsul exercised the power of the sword from his judgment seat in Pergamum.

He had the power of persecution, but not ultimate power.

Only Christ is the ultimate wielder of absolute power and when he uses his sword it is always based on Truth.

The common theme: The church is under pressure yet they are called to hold fast.

To what do we hold fast?

Under pressure, this can seem hard to see, harder still to act on.

Example: The tornados - There you were your spouse and all your stuff - if all was being torn away and you could hold to one thing what would it be?

Can you see how clear that is in the moment but how hard it is to see in every day?

And so the first three churches have taught us to hold fast to truth in love especially under pressure

The Lord attends His church in Pergamum and commends them for their devotion to Christ in the midst of religious hostility while He calls on gospel compromisers to repent.

The Lord Commends The Church For Standing in Truth (v.

13)

The Lord who knows where you live - v.13a (External pressure)

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.

The Lord walks among his people

They lived in a religious city

The Greco-Roman culture was not devoted to only one god; they worshiped and served many gods and enlisted the aid of any god who could help them.

The Christians Worldview stood completely opposite.

They refused to recognize any god apart from the one true God who had revealed himself in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

The temple of Asklepios (A- skli - pius) was a temple of healing.

The temple had its medical wards, medical school, as well as its priests.

The serpent was connected with one of the ways that the ill was supposedly cured.

The sufferer would lie on the temple floor as tame snakes crawl around and over them.

When the snake touched you it was the god touching you.

Whereas for believers, Serpents were symbols of Satan

There was also an altar to Zeus that was on a hill that jutted out for all to see.

Above all, Pergamum was a center of Caesar worship

They lived in a historic city

When John wrote this had been a capital city for 300 years (29)

The last king of Pergamum, Attalus III, willed his territory to Rome, and Pergamum was made the capital city of the Roman province of Asia.

It was well known not only for its medicine but also its libraries

It had one of the most famous libraries in the world having over 200,000 volumes.

They lived in Satan’s city - v.13

13 “ ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is.

Possible symbolism the capital of “babylon” in the east as Rome was in the West

It was here that Satan had established his official seat or chair of state.

The devil had used his stronghold in the city to make life miserable for the Christians.

The Church is standing in truth -v.13c (in the mist of external pressure)

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.

The Christians in Pergamum are commended, for they have persevered in their devotion to Jesus’ “name” and have not “denied the faith,” even amid such great hostility.

My name & my faith - We hold fast to that which is given to us - come back to this

The guarding of the truth of the gospel is Jesus’ primary concern

Jesus is not only concerned that we love Him and his people and that we should suffer faithfully but that we should believe in Him by holding fast to the truth

“Love becomes sentimentality if it is not strengthened by truth, and truth becomes hard if it is not softened by love.”

(44) - Stott

Eph.

4:15-16

15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Holding fast despite the cost - Antipas

The faithfulness of those in Pergamum is striking—they persevered even as Antipas sacrificed his life for Jesus’ sake.

Antipas is described as a “faithful witness,” the same description given to Jesus Christ in the first chapter (1:5).

The word “witness” (martys) didn’t yet have the technical meaning “martyr,” one who gives his or her life for the sake of the gospel.

They had not denied their faith by yielding to the pressure of burning incense to the emperor and declaring “Caesar is Lord.”

Not even in the days of Antipas,15 who was put to death in their city, did they renounce their faith.

Little else is known of this early martyr apart from this reference in Revelation only that he held fast for the sake of the name.

The Lord commends but then without taking a breathi issues a BUT

The Lord Confronts The Church For Compromising the Truth (v.

14-15)

The truth about the Nicolaitans and Balaamites - v.14

14 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.

15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Balaamites - These are two different ways of describing the same people.

Number 22-24 - Balam was a prophet who was supposed to curse Israel but God would not let him and he ended up blessing them

Ballam devised another plan to bring a curse on Israel by tempting them to immorality.

He would invite the Jewish men to come to the pagan feast so the Moabite women would seduce them.

Balaam know God would get angry and judge them.

So Balaam became a prototype of all corrupt teachers who lead believers into fatally compromising their faith for the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Nicolaitans

Some believe this is Nicolaus, one of the first “deacons” from Acts 6:5.

If this is true, Nicolaus must have later departed from the faith he confessed.

They taught a doctrine of compromise That took a more tolerant attitude toward pagan society and religion.”

(Sound familiar?)

The cultural background for this is the fact that sexual “freedom” was not considered a serious sin by the Greeks and Romans.

Remember in Acts 15, at the Jerusalem council where they were dealing with the tensions between Jewish and Gentile believers, they decide to encourage Gentile to abstain from sexual immorality.

This played out in the context of the pagan feasts in the various temples.