Attacks from Within

Please turn to Revelation 2:12-17. Revelation 2:12-17.

I want to announce those who are getting baptized tonight: they have given us permission. If I don’t announce your name; it’s because I had not heard officially if you are ok with that.

Vivienne Dull

Adalyn Lehman

Sophie Cramer

Zoe Litwiller

Lola Sprunger

Ava Kinsey

Zeke Baumer

MacKenzie Neuenschwander

Kapri Bixler

Braden Bixler

Megan Wynn

Ian Clark

and it is not too late to get baptized...

We are continuing in our Revelation series—and before the book gets really strange, Jesus is writing letters to 7 real churches to remind us that this book is for real Christians like you and me.

we are on church #3.

In Church 1 (Ephesus) Jesus challenges them to remember the love they had at first (for God and for others)

In Church 2 (Smryna) Jesus challenges them to endure persecution to the point of death.

and now we see a 3rd church—Pergamum, and what they are facing.

I want you to turn to your neighbor for a second—what are some of the greatest threats that the Church has had to face for the last 2,000 years? and that continue to this day?

See what the Church in Pegamum is facing:

Revelation 2:12–17 NIV

12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives. 14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

what threats are they facing?

They are facing at least 2 threats.

Threat #1: Persecution (vs. 13)

Revelation 2:13 NIV

13 I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.

This church is commended for remaining faithful to Jesus despite the persecution around them, despite the attacks, despite the fact that Antipas was put to death in their city.

and we get the idea that behind the persecution is Satan—twice he is mentioned--

“Where Satan has his throne”

“Where Satan lives”

In fact---you could combine them and say that Satan uses persecution, pressure, and hostility from outside of us—from people and government to conform to the world and deny Jesus Christ.

In Pergamum—we know from history that it was a very religious place. Full of pagan temples. The most well known temple they had was an altar to Zeus on a hill above the city. In addition, this city was one of the first places to build a temple to honor a Roman Emperor—the Emperor August in 29BC. This is probably why Jesus says this is where Satan lives—because of all the false gods and especially the emphasis on worshipping the Emperor that arose in this place.

Emperor worship was linked to civic loyalty and patriotism. it’s what you did as a good Romans citizen, and if you didn’t want to arouse suspicion, and wanted to fit in.

Despite all that they remained faithful.

In this 1st threat—they were doing great!

We looked at this a lot last week with the Church in Smyrna. And today, it is estimated that about 1 in 6 Christians over 350 million Christians, live in places that are considered hostile and dangerous to their faith.

But there was another threat where they were not doing great.

Let me read the next 2 verses.

Revelation 2:14–15 NIV

14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Do you see what the 2nd threat is? False teaching.

not just embracing it up here in their mind--

They are holding on and grasping teaching of Balaam in vs. 14 as well as the Nicolaitans in vs.15--.

Now we saw this group the Nicolaitans mentioned in vs. vs. 6—the church at Ephesus hated their works.

But this church—Pergamum—there are some (not all) but some who are holding to this teaching.

It is difficult to know exactly what the NIcolatian believed—but vs. 14 I think sheds some light on it—with the OT character or Balaam.

Balaam was a pagan non believing prophet in the OT (famous because his donkey spoke to him!)---Balak the king of Moab hired to prophesy against God’s people the Israelites.

This was back in the OT when God led Israel out of slavery in Egypt.

So King Balak of Moab hired Balaam the Prophet to curse Israel because he was afraid of them.

But if you read about this in the book of Numbers chapters 22-24, Balaam finds several times he cannot curse them but he can only bless them. This makes king Balak upset.

But if you keep reading Numbers-we see that Balaam tries another tactic to hurt and attack the people of God. instead of a direct curse—he has the women from Moab seduce the Israelite men—leading to the Israelite men not only sleeping with these Moabite women but sacrificing and worshipping their gods.

Here is how the OT describes that incident:

Numbers 25:1–3 NIV

1 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

so here in Pergamum—they were following the teaching of Balaam that got the Israelites messed up way back in the OT?

What did that look like in the NT

Nancy Guthrie says, “In Pergamum, where so many people practiced the worship of pagan gods, evidently some in the church were being lured into the sexual immorality and idolatry of the culture they lived in, thinking they could combine it with worship of the one true God.”

Guthrie, N. (2022). Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation (p. 70). Crossway

It may be that in this church in Pergamum—they are suggesting that Christians can still be Christians yet join in eating food sacrificed to idols in that city or participating in ceremonies that worship the Emperor. “It’s not that big of a deal. You have to do this to survive and build relationships and do business. People will think you are weird if you don’t. you don’t really believe it anyways. It doesn’t matter.”

So really the teaching of Balaam and the teaching of Nicolaitans is a teaching of compromise—that you can be a Christian yet still participate in the world’s values and practices.

And this is dangerous—look at what Jesus says –

Revelation 2:16 NIV

16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Revelation 2:12 NIV

12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.

Vs. 12—it says of Jesus—the words of him who has the sharp two edged sword. This is a reference to Jesus’ authority and power to judge as king—it refers to 2 things I think...

It refers to God’s Word—which is judging this false teaching and showing it to be false

But even greater it is a reference that if they hold to this false teaching and embrace it—they will face Jesus the judge, the powerful judge! Their eternal destiny—their very souls are at stake for eternity!

What you believe matters...

it affects not just what you think...

but what you treasure in your heart

and value

it affects your actions—what you do, how you live

it affects what and who we worship

it affects our sexuality...

it matters.

How do we respond against this threat of false teaching?

b/c let’s face it—this is still a threat to the Church all around the world.

3 ways:

Be alert to False Teaching in our culture and (even within) our own church.

other warnings in the NT - Apostle Paul says to the Ephesians elders…

Acts 20:29–30 NIV

29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.

be on guard. false teachers can come even within the church.

I was reading an excellent blog by writer Tim Challies on this. What kinds of false teachers are out there? so before we look at false teachingssss. look at some kinds of false teachers.

The Heretic (this is a person it is more obvious is clearly teaching wrong things) 2 Peter 2:1

“introduce destructive heresies—even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them”

we see this kind of teaching today in people who deny the Trinity or the Gospel. there was a guy early on in church history named Arius whom the early church confronted. Or Jehovah’s Witnesses—they say that Jesus is the highest created being but not on the same level as God.

The deceiver a teacher who who uses their position for financial gain 1 Timothy 6:3-5)

this is looking at the motive - this person leads and teaches for financial gain…and have we ever had teachers who lead and teach God’s people for the $$$??? You bet...

another type is The Prophet. this is a person who claims to speak a fresh and new revelation from God that has never been given. Revelation 22:18-19 warns about this

Revelation 22:18–19 NIV

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

we see this today in groups like the Mormons who claimed that Joseph Smith had a new and fresh revelation from God—the Book of Mormon. we see this with cults.

we see this today in popular speakers who claim to have the very words of Jesus—we have to be discerning and on guard when we hear people say that.

he mentions some other types of false teachers:

abusers (2 Tim. 3:6-7) those who use their power to bring harm to others. just listen to the podcast the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill to see that. “those who worm their way into homes and take advantage of people”

the dividers (Jude 18-19) those who use doctrine for the purpose of dividing the church

the ticklers (2 Tim. 4:3-4) those who care nothing for what God wants and also want to give people what they want to hear)

the speculators (1 Tim. 1:3-4) the one who is obsessed with rabbit trails, conspiracy theories, minor things in Scripture, or get fascinated by the Illuminati...

if you think about this—one writer say it like this: “Satan’s greatest ambassadors are not pimps, politicians, or power brokers but pastors or teachers. His priests do not peddle a different religion, but a deadly perversion of the true one. His troops do not make a full-out frontal assault, but work as agents, sneaking into the opposing army. Satan’s tactics are studied, clever, predictable, effective. Therefore we must remain vigilant.”

now, what are some examples of false teachings...

Jen Wilken - the Instagram Bible people—what does she mean?

i titled my sermon “Algorithms, Conspiracy Theories, and False Teachers.” for a couple reasons:

#1: I don’t think any of us mean to fall into false teaching—we can of slide into it…innocently. b/c false teaching is clever enough to sound like the real thing

#2 I think one of the biggest sources of concern I have as a pastor is false teaching online or social media. It is promoted, celebrated, and shared.

i recently read an excellent article on a resource called “The Gospel Coalition” and the article is “I Lost My Mom to Facebook.”

Here is what the article says: “Sherry began to cry. Her husband put an arm around her, pulled her close, and said, “It will all be okay.” It was a kind sentiment. But it was wrong. She’d lost her mother.

Not to death. To Facebook.

Over a period of three years, her elderly mom went from Facebook illiterate to Facebook junkie. From a great-grandma liking photos of her great-grandkids to a full-blown QAnon conspiracy theorist posting wild articles. Sherry watched her mom transform from a godly woman who quoted the Sermon on the Mount and told her to respond to bullies by “killing them with kindness” to an anxiety-filled propagandist, warning Sherry the end was coming.

Sherry tried to intervene but failed multiple times. Now she was crying in my office: “I lost my mom to Facebook.”

I told her, “I know it’s hard. But you’re not alone. Your mom isn’t the first person I’ve seen transformed by social media. There are so many. Even here in our church.”

New Pastoral Reality

Like every other pastor in America, I’m wrestling with a new challenge. Artificial intelligence—using neural networks and sophisticated machine-learning algorithms—is shepherding my church into the valley of the shadow of death. The algorithm, to misquote Psalm 139, has searched them and known their hearts. It tests them and measures their anxious thoughts. It has woven digital models of them in its silicon (“On”) womb so it can sell their everlasting data to the highest bidder and keep them addicted to the online platform it serves.

Pastors need to be aware that every day of the week their church members are being instructed—and, most likely, their mentor is an algorithm. Is it any surprise that the human shepherds are losing to the digital ones?

Of course, algorithms aren’t the only problem. A recent piece in the MIT Technology Review showed that foreign troll farms are exploiting the algorithm to target Christians in their effort to destabilize American democracy. (troll farm) an organization employing people to make deliberately offensive or provocative online posts in order to cause conflict or manipulate public opinion.) Nineteen of the top 20 Christian Facebook pages are run by these anonymous, nefarious (“ne’-air”)agencies. If you visit one of these Christian troll pages, it’ll seem innocuous at first: Cheesy posts. Cursive Bible verses over Colorado landscapes.

But then you see it.

A headline saying something verifiably false. A partisan hot take that borders on conspiracy theory. That’s how the troll farms do it. First, they build trust using Christianese. Second, they slip some nasty disinformation into the Christian’s social media cocktail. Third, they watch as Christians are seduced by QAnon.

But even if we stopped these bad international actors, it wouldn’t solve the problem at home.

According to an internal report from Facebook, leaked to the Wall Street Journal, “Our algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness . . . in an effort to gain user attention and increase time on the platform.”

To keep you on Facebook, the platform keeps you engaged with highly emotional content—which usually means the most extreme, partisan, intoxicating trash possible. This explains why people get radicalized so easily on social media.

Me: I confess I see this, too, with people in our area. It doesn’t take much to get sucked into these kinds of thoughts, or really “false teaching.” we love the conspiracy theories of it…the divisiveness...

I think a lot of false teaching comes in the form of algorithms that keep you viewing, scrolling, and clicking to see content you like.

and conspiracy theories.

that is some of the false teaching of our time!

and it distracts us so much from the main thing. even if we are not sucked in fully—it keeps us from focusing on what really matters—on Jesus, and spreading the Gospel, and making disciples. it creates enemies with others so easily with those who disagree with us.

one documentary that talks about all this—came out in the last 2 years on Netflix is called “The Social Dilemma.” (PG-13) I would highly encourage you to consider watching it at some point. looks at the problems of social media companies and its affect on us.

one practical thing you could do is be discerning of every quote you read, every article you see—do some digging when you read an article or a post to see who is posting it; what is the source? what do they seek to gain? who funds it?

parents, set boundaries for your kids and teens with technology. there is a great book called “The Tech-Wise Family.” by Andy Crouch

one practical idea for the Sabbath—I would highly encourage you to take a 24 hour chunk of time for rest, worship, refreshment. b/c God made the world in 6 days and in 1 day he rested…and consider an online break for 24 hours from social media and the news, and the web.

so what do we do?

well we said be on guard and be alert to false teaching in the culture and church.

2. Repent (vs. 16)

Revelation 2:16 NIV

16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

this word shows up a lot in Revelation and especially in chapters 2-3.

it means a turning from one way to another.

from embracing false teaching to Jesus.

it is deep change from sin to Jesus.

one is recognizing our habits—it’s true that most of us don’t intentionally sit down and say “Let me embrace false teaching today.”

or even intellectually— how does this teaching compare to Christianity.

most of it is through our media consumption, online views, and social media likes.

what patterns and habits do we need to examine, change, and what fresh ones do we need to start?

i mentioned the idea of Sabbath…that would be a great start—to take an intentional 24 hours of rest, restoration, worship, and fun (without technology)

what about your Bible reading—how is it going?

—Mark

—Romans or Hebrews

for those holding to false teaching—confess it to Jesus today. commit to looking to Him and His Word for everything you need.

and for those who are leaders in our church—one of our jobs is to be on guard for our people for false teaching. to confront it and correct it. this church was in danger not just b/c of false teaching but no one did anything to confront and correct it. this is a responsibility not just of the leaders but the entire congregation.

Are we a Berean church?

Acts 17:11 NIV

11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

3. Hold on to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

The Gospel is not just the ABCS of the Christian life. It is the A to Z.

it is not just something we believe early on that gets us in the kingdom of God and eternal life and avoiding hell.

but it is the very thing we cherish.

it’s how we grow by treasuring its richness, dwelling on it, holding on to it.

it is the good news of what God has done through Jesus Christ.

and we are going to actually put that into practice by celebrating communion today.

if you need communion elements…would you raise your hand?

we don’t have time to study every single false teaching out there—but as you get to know Jesus through prayer, and reading His Word—I recommend every day—don’t miss it.

one of the things I appreciate about people who have been Christians for decades—when they hear false teaching. they can smell it. they have a heart for discernment where if it the teaching is right—they can spot the motivation beneathe it. or if someone is just off a little in their teaching they can identify it.

Let’s celebrate the Gospel...

Matthew 26:26 NIV

26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

the bread reminds us of Jesus’ body—broken and given for us. he took the punishment in our place that we deserve not just physically, but spiritually and relationally as He became sin on our behalf.

In Revelation 2:17

Revelation 2:17 NIV

17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

Jesus says he will give us some of the hidden manna if we persevere with him. manna was the bread that fell from heaven when the Israelites were in the desert—God supernaturally provided food. and Jesus is the ultimate bread of heaven—He said He is the bread of life—whoever comes to him shall hunger.

and he gave us this ordinance of communion to be reminded that Jesus paid for our sin and we must regularly feast on Jesus everyday—He is the true manna---that feeds us and sustains us...

would you take a moment and thank him for Him giving His Body?

pause

Let’s take together.

Matthew 26:27–28 NIV

27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

the cup reminds us that Jesus shed his blood for our sins. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. and it began a new covenant with us.

Revelation 2:17 NIV

17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

says we get a white stone.

i. we know that stones were sometimes used as like a token or ticket of admission—so this might be a picture of us entering God’s kingdom, or some scholars say that stone were used when a jury voted—white for innocent, black for guilty—so it may imply that we are guiltless and clean on the day of judgment.

ii. Even more than this—though is that idea of the name— Beale -- “In the ancient world and the Old Testament, to know someone’s name, especially that of God, often meant to enter into an intimate relationship with that person and to share in the person’s character or power. To be given a new name was an indication of a new status. . . . Therefore, believers’ reception of this name represents their final reward of consummate identification and unity with the intimate, end-time presence and power of Christ in his kingdom and under his sovereign authority. . . . [T] he “new name” is a mark of genuine membership in the community of the redeemed, without which entry into the eternal “city of God” is impossible.

would you thank God for His Son’s blood so we could have a new name with Him?

Let’s drink together.