Letters to the Church Pt 1

Good evening. Good evening to you guys. It's good to see everybody. If you guys want to go ahead and stand with me, we'll pray and we'll get started. Father, thank you for the day. Lord, I just thank you for who you are and how much you love us, Lord. God, I just thank you for another opportunity to be here, to be in your word, God, to worship you, God, to serve you.

God, I just pray that you bless this time, Lord, and help us to lift a joyful noise to you, Lord, and bless the word as it goes out. Just prepare our hearts to receive from you this evening, Lord. We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.

God, thank you, Lord. God, that you pay the price for our sin on the cross.

Lord, I just pray that as Pastor Ryan comes this evening, God, God, that you would just speak mightily through him, Lord, overflow him with your Holy Spirit. God, prepare our hearts to receive from you this evening, Lord. God, prepare mine. God, we love you and we just praise you and we thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.

Good evening. If you would, please open up to the book of Revelation, chapter 2.

Revelation, chapter 2.

Tonight, we start the second section, if you will, of the book of Revelation. You may remember that in verse 20, excuse me, verse 19 of chapter 1, Jesus had told John, he said, I want you to write some things down. I want you to write down the things which you have seen. It was the vision that he saw. In chapter 1, I want you to write the things which are these letters to the churches, the things which will take place after these things that will take place, that which will take place in the future.

Well, as we come to chapter 2, we come to the things which are. Now, I think the best thing that we can do is create a little bit of understanding about what that means when he says the things which are. I believe that we are living in what many theologians refer to as the church age. According to the book of Daniel, 70 weeks had been decreed for the nation of Israel.

The end of the first 69 of those sets of seven, those 69 sets of seven years, you see the culmination of that with the crucifixion of the Messiah. The Messiah will be cut off, but not for himself. But from the point of the crucifixion of the Messiah to what Daniel terms as that 70th year, when the Antichrist makes himself known, it's almost like there's a parenthetical statement that has taken place in history. Because we've yet to see the Antichrist reveal himself.

We've yet to see the events of that 70th week. So what exactly are we living in right now? If all of a sudden between 69 and 70, all of a sudden we've had this great pause. Well, I believe that Paul gives us a really good clue as to what that means for us. In Romans chapter 11, verse 25, Paul tells us that a partial hardening, or as it says in the New King James, blindness in part,

has come upon the nation. Of Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. You see, something began to happen after Jesus rose from the dead. The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. And as they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to go out and preach. And as they preached, it started off that the Jewish people were accepting the message.

But slowly but surely, more and more Jewish people were rejecting the message of the Messiah. And more and more of the Gentiles were accepting the message of the Messiah. And as that was taking place, we saw this blindness, this hardening take place amongst the nation of Israel. And so, as Paul oftentimes said, I will now go to the Gentiles. And that's what we're seeing right now is we're living in this age known as the church age.

And when that fullness of the Gentiles comes in, that's when we'll see the events of chapter 4, those future events after these things start to take place. But what he tells us about in chapters 2 and 3, what Jesus has to say to these churches are really, really important because he is addressing the Gentiles. He's addressing the church age. And I'll talk about that scope in just a quick second.

So, in chapters 2 and 3, over the next couple of weeks, we're going to be looking at what we'll term as the letters to the churches. Now, I think that there's, as we look at the message, a scope that we need to pay attention to. And I think it's threefold. Number one, we need to pay attention to what that message is to that particular local church. Because he's writing to seven historical churches,

churches that actually existed at the time. In which John is writing this epistle, this letter being given to him by Jesus Christ. And so, we need to pay attention to what does it say in the local context of that particular church. But the second aspect of the scope that we need to pay attention to is, what does it say to the church in general? Because while there was something specific for that church,

there's also something that all of the church age, all of the churches can pay attention to. But then the third thing that we're going to take note of is, what does it say to me personally? Because you and I are members of the church. We're what make up the church. And so, there's a message individually that we each need to pay attention to. Now, if you read some people on this,

they will tell you that each of these churches represents a particular portion of church history. And I'm not saying that they're wrong. I'm sure that we could go there if we wanted to. I'm going to choose not to go there. I'm going to choose to stick without those three aspects of the scope of what John has to say. Because scripture doesn't tell us that those are the three aspects of the scope of what John has to say.

There are particular church ages, or particular aspects of history. So, I'm going to stick just with what scripture says. And if you disagree with me, that's fine. We can still be friends. But this is how I'm going to approach it. Now, as we look at this, there's going to be a basic outline that John is going to work off of, or shall I say, Jesus is going to work off of,

as he writes these letters to these seven churches. We will see the address to the particular church. We will see the introduction of Jesus. And I want you to take note, and I'll point it out in the introduction to each of the letters. Jesus will identify himself a little bit differently to every church. And there's a particular reason why he identifies himself a little bit differently to every church.

The third thing that we'll see is he will tell them what they are doing right. Now, I've worked with young people for a very, very long time. And one of the things that I have learned is that if you are going to work with young people, and maybe I should just say, if you're going to work with people and you're going to correct them, the best way that you can start off is by telling them this is what you're doing right. So if your boss comes up to you tomorrow and says, hey, this is what you're doing right.

You need to probably pay attention to the fact that what's coming next is what you're doing wrong, because that's exactly what takes place in the letters to these churches. He starts off by telling them what they're doing right. And then he goes into telling them what they're doing wrong. Maybe an area of. Correction. There will be a couple of exceptions to this,

but for the most part, there will always be some aspect of correction that takes place. And then he will specifically tell them. The next part will be some exhortation or area of correction that needs to take place within the church. And then he will close with a promise of reward. And so with that sort of as a backdrop and a little bit of an outline, let's dig into what he has to say to each of these seven churches.

We're going to hopefully cover. The first three tonight.

Chapter two, verse one starts off like this to the angel of the church in Ephesus, right? The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands says this. I know your deeds and your toil, your perseverance, that you cannot tolerate evil men. And you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not.

And you found, you found them to be false. And you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake and have not grown weary. But I have this against you that you have left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds that you did at first, or else I'm coming to you and we'll remove your lampstand out of its place.

Unless you repent, yet this, you do have that. You hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to him who overcomes. I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. First church that he writes to is the church of Ephesus. A little bit of backdrop about Ephesus.

Ephesus was of course a city in that region of Asia, Asia minor. And if you were to look for Patmos is, you would see that it starts with Ephesus and sort of makes a horseshoe all the way around. We'll start there on this coast city of Ephesus. Ephesus was known for a handful of things. It was known first of all, for its great wealth. It was known second of all,

for its great culture, but it was also known for its false religion. And it was known for its immorality. I could go into all of the different temples that were there, all of the different idol worship that took place there, but we'll just, we'll settle on the fact that there was much false religion and there was great immorality that took place in the city of Ephesus. But you know, Ephesus was also well known as a church.

Matter of fact, the church of Ephesus was founded by Paul. And when Paul showed up there, he preached for a few weeks in the synagogue and then they kicked him out of the synagogue. And then he found a place, the school of Tyrannus, where he then taught for, if I remember correctly, 18 months to two years. And as he taught there for that amount of time, it says that everyone from Asia, came and heard and the word went throughout all of Asia.

He had an amazing teaching ministry while he was in Ephesus. As a matter of fact, people were very well schooled in the word of God in Ephesus. All the big names had taught there. Paul taught there. Apollos taught there. Timothy taught there. As a matter of fact, John had even spent time pastoring the church in Ephesus. This church was well known. It was well taught.

And it was a good, solid church. And so as Jesus is addressing this church, he says to the angel of the church in Ephesus. And just by way of sidebar, we remind ourselves that angel there means messenger. I believe that when it says to the angel of the church in Ephesus, this is written to the pastor of the church of Ephesus, intended to be read to the entire church.

He goes on to say, the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands said this, and this is Jesus identifying himself. He identifies himself in a couple of ways. He says, the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands. It tells us a couple of things.

Number one, it reminds us that within the church, since Jesus is the one who holds the seven stars, he is the one who has all, all of the authority in the church. Jesus is that ultimate authority of the church. And really the ultimate authority that we should always go back to is what does Jesus have to say about these things? And Jesus reminds this church in Ephesus that he is the ultimate authority over the church, even though they'd had a great preacher like John, even though they were started by a great guy named Paul, even though the Prince of preachers of that time, Apollos taught there.

And even though that meek and mild Timothy, who was always faithful to the word taught there, Jesus, he's, he's, he's the ultimate authority and the church, but he reminds him of a second thing. He reminds him of the fact that it is he who walks among the seven golden lampstands. And in that we're reminded of something. We're reminded that Jesus is the one who moves throughout the churches.

The church is founded by him. The church is guided by him and the church is intended to be centered upon him. This is a great reminder for a church like Ephesus, but this is a great reminder for a church. A church like us, the Jesus is always to be at the center of the things that we do. The Jesus is always to be the thing that the people see the most about the church.

If people walk away and talk about anything besides Jesus, and we've missed our point, right? Because Jesus is the one who holds the seven stars. And Jesus is the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands. And this is what he has to say. He starts off by telling them what they did, right? He says, I know your deeds. I know your toil. And I know your perseverance.

You can't tolerate evil. You put to test those who call themselves apostles and they are not. And you have found them to be false. Take note of the things that said there. He says, I know your deeds. I know that you're those who know God's word. I know that you hold on to God's word. I know that you test what everything, everything that people say against God's word,

because you hold God's word in high authority. And that's a beautiful thing. He's very pleased. He's very pleased with them about that. He'll even go to go on to say, and you have perseverance verse three and have endured for my name's sake. It has not grown weary from all outward accounts. This is the kind of church everybody wants to be a part of. Now, I don't want to diminish anything about the church of Ephesus because it truly is a church that in these ways,

every church, every church should seek to emulate. Every church should be a church that is about God's word and tests the things that come along against what God's word has to say. I fear that so many times churches today don't do that. They're willing to be tossed about with every wind of doctrine. They're willing to be tossed about with whatever the newest thing that comes along is,

whatever the newest book that came out that told them this is the way that you should be thinking, whatever the newest trend within the church is, whatever the newest thing within the church is. He says, that's not you guys. You guys aren't the ones that are being tossed about by the false teaching. You've been well taught. You've been well studied. And quite frankly,

you endure, right? Like that's a strong word that he uses there that you guys have endured. And not only have they endured, but they've not grown weary. They have persevered. They have held up under persecution, stress, strain, and all of the false teachings that have come their way from all outward accounts. It's, it's the healthiest church in the region. It's the healthiest church anybody's seen.

If it was a church today, we would say they've got a great kids program. They have a great youth program. They have lots of small groups that you can get plugged into. They have lots of potlucks. There's lots of things that you can do at this church. And quite frankly, they have the best coffee bar in town, right? Like I admit everything about this church is healthy.

As far as the outside world is concerned. If you can imagine as this is being, read within the church, they, they've just heard this great presentation of the vision that John had had of Jesus. John, by the way, who had been their pastor at one point in time, many of them probably knew him in the reading through. And they're like, and to the angel of the church of Ephesus, Hey guys, that's us.

I know your deeds and I know your works. And as he's listing these things off, you can picture the people in the church, right? They're going, it's true. It's been hard, but hashtag blessed. We've held up under, right? Like everything. They're feeling really good about everything that's being said until he comes to verse four says, but I have this against you.

And everybody went, what? But he just said, we were awesome. He just said, we're the pinnacle. We don't put up with false doctrine, but I have this against you. You've left your first love. You see though, everything on the outside looked really healthy. They had a problem. And what they had to do was, what they had was a heart problem. It was so interesting the other day.

Was it not a few weeks ago? We've discussed it before, but, but to watch anytime I see an athlete, a young athlete like that have a heart problem. I always go, isn't that amazing? Cause when you look at these athletes, college pro, whatever, they are in such impeccable shape, right? They have to pass physicals in order to compete in the sport. And then these guys work out.

I can't even imagine. Like I've watched some of the workouts that they do. And then I go drink a soda and eat a brownie because I'm worn out from watching it. Right? I mean, the stuff that these, they're in impeccable shape. They're elite in their sport. And when all of us watched the other day or another time, perhaps I remember my wife took a, a first aid class.

And the guy who taught the first aid class was one of the trainers here at Cali college. And he literally had to do the exact same thing that happened to Damar Hamlin happened to a college basketball player. And he said, he had to perform CPR on him. He saved this kid's life. This apparently the kid was so muscular and had so much muscle structure. The kid at Cali that when they put the,

the paddle on him to, to shock his heart, it sat him up because his muscles were so intense that literally his muscles tensed up and his whole body sat up. That's the kind of shape these guys are in. And from all outward appearances, you would look at any young athlete that works out the amount that they work out and you would go, that's the healthiest person around. Look at how chiseled he is.

Look at how fast he can run the 40. Look at how many laps he can run. That guy can play and play and play and hang with the toughest athletes in the world. But there was a problem and nobody saw it because the problem was in the heart. Brothers and sisters, we can look as healthy on the outside as we want to spiritually speaking. But if there's a problem, with our heart,

eventually it's going to show. And so as Jesus is addressing this church in Ephesus, he says, you're doing all of the right things, but I have one problem with you. You've left your first love. You're doing it for all of the wrong reasons. You're going through the motions. You've lost that love and feeling, except he doesn't use the word lost, does he? He doesn't say,

you've lost, you've lost your first love because you see when you lose something that's on accident, right? Pastor Dave this morning from over at first Baptist church taught at the taught at chapel at Ark City Christian Academy. He says, who here's lost something? Who's lost a phone? Who's lost a pet? Who's lost a kid? I didn't have to say that when I've never lost a kid.

I feel pretty good about that up to this point in time. My life is still young, right? My kids are still decently young. The chances of me losing a kid still absolutely there. That's not the idea of what he says, though. It's not like, oh, I accidentally lost it. He uses a different verb there, doesn't he? He says, you've left your first love. You see, that's a decisive action.

That's a definitive action that an individual takes. And that's the idea that's presented to us here by Jesus is that you took an action to leave your first love. Now, listen, we need to understand something. Leaving behind your first love while a definitive action happens over time. It doesn't happen right away. You don't just wake up. You don't just wake up one morning and all of a sudden you've left your first love.

It takes time, right? But you initially made some decisive actions that that led to that.

All of a sudden, all of a sudden you don't feel it anymore when you worship. All of a sudden your prayer time is as dry as it's possibly been. Matter of fact, maybe even non-existent. Your Bible reading time is more of a so you can get it done instead of so you can hear it. You show up to Bible study because it's the right thing to do, not because that's where you learn about Jesus.

You see, it's easy for us to leave our first love. So he tells them what they need to do. He says, therefore, remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds that you did at first. He tells them, he tells them to do three things. He says, number one, remember, and I'm going to ask you a question tonight. If you've walked with Jesus for any amount of time,

do you remember what it was like when you first started walking with Jesus? Do you remember what that was like? Do you remember how excited you were about everything in the world? You didn't understand anything, but you were excited about it all, right? Remember when I really started walking with Jesus at the age of 17, almost a long time ago now, April of 1998.

Is when that happened for me. I really started walking with Jesus. And I remember every worship song that I heard was like, I heard it for the very first time. Every Bible verse that I read, it was like, I read it for the very first time. I remember I decided I was going to read the book of Romans and I had no idea what anything in the book of Romans said, because that's maybe not the place to start.

But I remember coming to Romans chapter five when it says, and God declared his love for us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ, died for us. I was like, that's me. I get that verse. I understand that one, right? And I'm just super geeked up about it, right? I remember taking notes in church for the first time at the age of 17 and being like, I don't know why,

but I feel like I should write that down. That feels important to me. I can remember that. And I can remember the feeling that I had. I remember the first time I carried my Bible to school. It was in my backpack. Don't get me wrong. Cause I was a little nervous about things, right? But I remember the first time I carried my Bible to school because all I knew was,

I wanted people to know that I knew Jesus kind of right. It was slowly, but surely I started taking more stands for the faith. I remember what that was like. Do you remember what that was like? Jesus tells him, I want you to remember, remember what it was like when you first started walking with me. And then the second thing that I want you to do is I want you to repent.

It's kind of interesting, isn't it? He's not talking to a group of unsaved individuals here. Is he? And yet what specific word does he use? He uses the word repent. Ryan, I thought I repented the day that I came to know Jesus is my Lord and savior. You did. So do I have to keep doing it? Yes. Multiple times a day because repentance is not a once done act. It is simply the start of what should take place every moment of your life.

As you continue to repent of the areas of your life that you need to turn from. Here's the interesting thing. I was thinking about this. So I've been growing some facial hair, a beard here for a while. And I thought about this today. I was like, this is the perfect picture of things right now. I realized that for some, it looks like I grow a beard in a day,

but I don't. It takes time, right? But one day I made a decisive decision. The decision was beard growing time. It's time to return to my form of facial hair glory. And so I made a decisive decision, but over time that beard began to grow in until one day I said, my face itches too bad. I'm going to repent of the growth of the beard and I'm going to shave it.

And that moment I took a decisive action and I shaved off the beard. But do you know what it takes time to do? Adjust to the way your face looks after the beard is gone, right? That's sort of what it's like in our walk with Jesus Christ. As you drift from God, you made a decisive decision at one point in time that led to another decision. And then, another decision and then another decision.

And now all of a sudden you're just going through the motions because that's the right thing to do. And all of a sudden you realize I have no more heart in this. What do I do now? Well, it's time to repent and go back. Now it's still going to take a while for you to adjust to what that looks like, but you've made the decision. He says, repent, decide that you're going to come back to that place and then go back and do

the first works. What does that look like? Man, it means get that notebook out again, get that Bible out again and start writing things down. Start taking those notes in church again. Start turning on some worship songs and saying, Lord, show me you again. Help me just to sing up from the bottom of my heart again. Lord, restore the heart that I used to have.

And you know what? He's always faithful to do just that. I've watched it happen over and over again. In my life, as I go through ebbs and flows of my walk with the Lord, where I go through a time where everything's great and I'm walking strong, but then I start to drift a little bit. And as I start to drift a little bit, I start to lose that love and feeling that I had at one point in time.

And I'm like, Lord, what happened to us? And I repent and I go back and I start over again. And God always restores because that's who he is. He says, remember, repent and go back and do the deeds that you did at first. Or else verse five, middle of verse five. Well, so I'm coming to you and we'll remove your lampstand out of its place. Unless you repent. What does he mean by that?

I mean, it takes away my salvation. No, but it does mean you will no longer have a witness. It says church of Ephesus. If you don't go back and repent and do those first words and get back to the first love that you used to have, then, then your witness is just absolutely going to die out. Oh, you may still be a church. You'll just be a church that lacks power.

You'll just be a church that goes through the motions. You'll be a church that eventually dies. And the same is true in our life. He says, I'll remove your lampstand from you yet. Verse six, this you do have that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Who are the Nicolaitans and what were their deeds? Well, there's a little bit of conjecture about this.

So I'm going to tell you the two things that I've settled on from all of my reading about what the deeds of the Nicolaitans were. It seems to be twofold. Number one, it seems that the deeds of the Nicolaitans were somewhat like the Gnostics of the day and that they didn't really believe that it was too big of a deal to sin. After all, we're in sinful bodies.

Let's just please our bodies because our spirit is what's going to live forever. Not these bodies. Many believe that Nicholas helped start the Gnostic heresy. And so if you will, the deeds of the Nicolaitans, have to do with immorality and compromise. But there's another aspect of it too, where the deeds of the Nicolaitans are that they believed in a hierarchy of

leadership. Like you can't go directly to Jesus. You have to come through us. After all, we're the ones with superior knowledge. So it was a compromise of morality, but it was also a hierarchy of leadership where you couldn't actually go to Jesus directly yourself. And he says, you guys hate that, which is a, a good thing because I hate them too. I hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans as well.

You got that going for you. And that's a good thing. It goes on in verse seven and say, he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to him who overcomes. I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. We're going to notice this phrase repeated with every church. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. This is why I believe that this was not just written to that particular church.

It's written to anyone in the church. Who's willing to listen. Whoever has an ear to hear, let him hear what's being said. Anyone who has an ear to hear that is willing to test your heart and say, Lord, have I left my first love? Then let him hear. And to him who overcomes, I will give of him to eat of the tree of life. So what does he mean by that? Well, there's two places that the tree of life is mentioned in scripture.

One is going to be in the book of revelation and it will take place in eternity. And the other is going to be in the book of Revelation. But the other is given to us in the book of Genesis shortly prior to Adam and Eve sinning. The tree of life actually speaks of eternal life, but it also takes us back to Eden. So what does he mean when he says to him who overcomes,

I will give of him to eat of the tree of life. I think it means two things. Number one, I think he's talking about eternal life. He's talking about overcoming so that you can live with Jesus forever. But I think the second aspect of it, and maybe even the more important aspect of it is, the tree of life speaks of fellowship with God, because what was the thing that they had in the most pure form in the garden of Eden?

Daily fellowship with the father, daily fellowship with God, to him who overcomes, to him who gets himself back to that place of his first love, who repents, remembers, and goes back to do the first deeds to him who overcomes your fellowship with the Lord will be sweeter than you ever imagined. Because that fellowship will begin on this side of eternity, and will continue on the other side of eternity. He goes on from there in verse eight to address the church in Smyrna. It says unto the angel of church in Smyrna, right?

The first and the last who is dead and has come to life says this. I know your trivial, your tribulations and your poverty, but you are rich. The blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear. What you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison so that you will be tested and you will have tribulation for 10 days.

Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. Second church that he comes to is the church in Smyrna. Let's, again, start with the city, the city of Smyrna. Again, the city of Smyrna was a very wealthy city. It was also a center of learning and culture.

However, a city that was deeply committed to her idolatry and the beginning of the worship of the emperor. As a matter of fact, in the city of Smyrna is where the worship of the emperor actually began. And what they would do is they would take a pinch of incense and they would burn it to the emperor. And they would declare the emperor is Lord. Matter of fact,

you can go on living your life however you wanted to, as long as you were willing to make that pledge. As long as you were willing to burn the incense and declare the emperor is Lord. You can then go on and live your life however you want wanted to. You could compromise in that way. Well, the city of Smyrna finds at its root word, the word myrrh. Have you heard the word myrrh before?

Surely you have. That's one of the things that they brought to Jesus. The word myrrh is in or the myrrh is an embalming spice that's used, but there's something interesting about myrrh as a spice. The fragrance is released when it's crushed. Kind of interesting, isn't it? Given what Jesus is about to say to the church in Smyrna. As Jesus addresses them, he identifies himself.

He says the first and the last who was dead and has come to life. He says this. Jesus identifies himself in two different ways. He identifies himself. First of all, it's the first and the last. Now we know from our previous study in chapter one, that that phrase, the first and the last speaks of the eternal nature of Jesus. The Jesus is both the beginning and the end.

He's eternal in his nature. Then he identifies himself as a second in a second way. The second way that he identifies himself as this. He says, who was dead. And has come to life says this. He identifies himself as the one who can identify with them because Jesus too went through what they are about to go through. While Jesus was not just the death of a martyr,

his was the death of the sacrificial lamb. He still understands what they're going through because he understood persecution. And he wants to remind them that first of all, I have faced the death that I know you, are probably about to face. And I overcame, which means that you are going to overcome. Not on this side of eternity, but on the next side of eternity,

because the thing that identifies the church and Smyrna the most is the persecution that they were about to go through. And so as he identifies himself to them, he begins to speak. He says, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich. And the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. I think one of the two best words in this entire message to the church of Smyrna

are the two words. I know, I know there's nothing quite like when you're going through something very difficult to find somebody else who's been through the same thing that you have. And when you start to explain how you're feeling, just to have them simply say, I know. And you know, it's not just them trying to empathize or it's not just them trying to sympathize.

They can actually empathize because they've been through it too. They say, I know. We just talked about this a couple of Sundays ago, right? We talked about Jesus on the cross. If anybody understood what they were about to go through is Jesus. He says, I know, I know what you're about to go through. I know your tribulation. And I know your poverty. But I love this little parenthetical statements that's included there.

But you are rich. I think sometimes we forget, especially in our Western culture, that the richest people in the world are not the ones with the most stuff. The richest people in the world are the ones with the best relationship with Jesus Christ are the ones who find themselves identifying with Christ in a way that nobody else can because they're identifying with him and their sufferings. Because though there may be poverty and brothers and sisters, we need to know that we have, brothers and sisters throughout the world right now, that part of the persecution that they're going through is poverty because they don't get the contracts because they're Christians.

They don't get the jobs because they're Christians every day. And I would encourage you to go to the website for voice of the martyrs. Every day I read to my kids about the country of the day, right? Because we pray for that country. My kids meeting my students at, at our city Christian Academy. I read to them about what the country of the day is. And we read about,

about what they go through. And so many of them face poverty because they're believers in Jesus Christ. But what we realize is they're rich because God always meets their needs. And they know God in a depth that sometimes you and I lack. He says, I know your tribulation and I know your poverty. And I know the blasphemy by those who say they're Jews and they're not,

but are a synagogue of Satan. I know the ones that are causing you affliction because of their, their false doctrine because of the blasphemous things that they're speaking against you. I know all of those things. He goes on to now exhort them. And he says, do not fear what you are about to suffer. That phrase do not fear can literally be translated. Stop being afraid.

I think it's good for us to remember that the first century, second, third century Christians that faced the persecution, the persecution that they were facing, they were scared too. I think sometimes we view them as these super saints, like, right? Like they never, they never faced any fear. If that were true, then why would God keep sending an angel to Paul to tell him, fear not, don't, don't be afraid.

Why would he be telling this church, stop being afraid of these things? You know, I had to tell him to stop being afraid because they were afraid. He said, listen, things are coming for you. But stop being afraid of them. I want you to notice what Jesus did not say was about to happen. Don't worry. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. I do think sometimes those of us that are pre-tribulational rapturous think

somehow that means we're never going to have to go through anything hard. And I think we'd better buck up now and realize that's not true. The potential for us facing hard things is absolutely there because we don't know how bad things will get before Jesus takes us home to be with him. And I think that we just, we need to understand that. And the quicker that we understand that,

the easier it's going to be for us to face it when it comes. He says, stop being afraid of what you're about to suffer. Behold, the devil's about to cast some of you into prison so that you will be tested and you will have tribulation for 10 days. Be faithful until death. And I will give you the crown of life. Do you know what I appreciate is that he points out who the one that's

actually going to be committing the persecution is and that it's the devil because we're reminded of something that Paul tells us as well, that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, spiritual rulers in high places. Do you know why that's important? Because some of these guys, as they face the persecution are going to have the opportunity to give the truth of the gospel to the very ones that are persecuting them. And if they view people as the enemy, then they'll treat people as the enemy.

But if they view the real enemy as being Satan himself, then we'll view people as those that need set free from the real enemy. He says, he's about to cast some of you into prison and you'll be tested and you'll have tribulation for 10 days. I have no idea what the 10 days means. I've read five different interpretations of what the 10 days means. I think it means it was the first specific amount of time.

You don't have tribulation for 10 days. Be faithful until death. And I will give you the crown of light. This is one of those areas where I don't want to get caught in the weeds. I wonder what the 10 days means. What exactly does it mean by that? I don't know. But what he said was be faithful until death. Whatever the 10 days means doesn't matter. What matters is he says,

don't be afraid, be faithful and make sure that you know who the real enemy is.

He says, whoever's faithful in death, I'll give you the crown of life. That word crown. There's one of two words for a crown that's used in the Greek language. One word for crown that's used is a crown that a king would wear. The other word for crown that's used is for the crown that a athlete would wear after he wins the prize, after he finishes the race. That's the word that's used here.

Remember what Paul said? I don't compete for temporary crowns. I compete for eternal ones. Well, that's the idea. It's for the one that finishes. He gets the crown. He says, he will receive the crown. The crown of life. He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. And he who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. You may face death on this side of eternity,

but that will be the last time you face it because you will not be hurt by the second death. He goes on. This is the last church we'll cover for tonight to talk to the church of Pergamum. Notice what he says. And to the angel, the church of Pergamum, right? The one who has the sharp two edged sword says this. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is,

and you hold fast my name. It did not deny my faith. Even in the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you because you have their some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept the teaching of Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.

So you have also some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore, repent or else I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear to hear what the spirit says to the churches, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes to him, I will give some of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone, which no one knows, but he who receives it.

The city of Pergamum was the political capital of the province of Asia. Again, noted for its culture, noted for its education and noted for its false religion. And as he begins to address the church in Pergamum, this is how he identifies himself. The one who has the sharp two edged sword says this. Have you noticed how many of these have taken us back to the vision that he had of the things which he has seen?

Well, this is another one of those things that takes us back to that. And we know that the sharp two edged sword, remember, came out of his mouth. And so we know that the sharp two edged sword is the word of God, because we know from the book of Hebrews, it says the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword. Why does he identify himself this way?

Well, because what we find in the church of Pergamum is their compromise. And the only way to weed out compromise is with the word of God that is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. It will appear between bone and marrow. Why? Because it reveals the thoughts and the intents of the heart. And so he identifies himself as the one who has the word of God,

who is the word of God, who is the word of God. He says, I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And this is what they've done, right? And yet you hold fast my name and did not deny my faith. Even in the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. He says, I know that you dwell where Satan's throne is.

Apparently there was some sort of a, if you will, a place of healing within the city of Pergamum. And if I understand this correctly, the symbol for the place of healing was a serpent, because it was a place of healing. Because of course there was demonic things that went on with the way that they would heal people. And there were a lot of what they would call tame, non-harmless snakes in this hospital.

And they would lay the people on the floor and the snakes would slither over top of the people, believing that that would heal them of their diseases. Listen, if there's any way to represent a place where Satan dwells, it's snakes crawling over you while you're sick in a hospital. I heard it tell you, right now, the only way a snake ever crawls over my body is if it's dead. Listen, if it's sick, I don't care how sick I am.

Once that snake hits me, I'm alive, right? Because I do not want that thing touching me. And so he says, I know where you live, where Satan's throne is. Most believe that that's what's spoken of as being Satan's throne there. And yet you hold fast my name. I love this because he's about to just absolutely nail them to the wall. He's like, Hey, but hey, you hold fast to my name.

And I appreciate that. And you did so even in the midst of persecution, because even when Antipas, my faithful witness was killed, you hold strong to me. Do you know who Antipas was? Me neither. Neither does anybody else. This is the only time he's mentioned in both the Bible and church history. Isn't this kind of neat? Nowhere in history do you read about Antipas.

Right here, it just says that he was killed for his faith in Jesus. That should tell us something. That should tell us that Jesus keeps track of the names of those that suffer persecution for him. Listen, even if history doesn't, because he knows our names. He says, you were faithful even when Antipas was killed.

He says, but I have a few things against you. Really mainly two things did he have against them. Number one is that some of them hold to the teaching of Balaam. Now you remember the teaching of Balaam. Balaam, right? Balaam was the one that God or that, that, uh, that the king sent for to curse the nation of Israel. And God kept telling him no. And they're like,

but we'll pay you lots of money. And he's like, I want to go. And God's finally like, fine, go, but only say what I tell you to say. And so Balaam, so that he could make a little bit of money, went and said what God told him to say. Only instead of cursing the people, he kept blessing the people. And he's going, you're going to lose all of your money. You could be completely set for the rest of your life.

If you'll just curse, the people. And he realized I can never curse the people because God will never curse the people. But you see, Balaam came up with a plan. And so he told Balak, listen, I can't curse the people, but they can be their own worst enemy. Why don't you send in the beautiful women to mingle amongst the men and encourage them that they can have as much of the women as they want.

As long, as they worship the gods of the people. Because brothers and sisters, we must realize we can be our own worst enemies. And so that's exactly what happens. So what's the doctrine of Balaam? The doctrine of Balaam is compromise. Compromise for the sake of immorality and compromise for the sake of financial gain. Isn't it interesting how churches can do this?

We'll compromise for the sake of morality because after all, we don't want to hurt the feelings of those who, maybe find that they're a little bit looser in their morals. After all, they donate a lot of money, right? I'm reminded of what Seth Gruber said on that, on that teaching we listened to a few weeks ago. If you didn't listen to it, you need to go and, and look up on YouTube, the white rose resistance with Seth Gruber, because he talked about how many pastors won't speak out against abortion because they have people in their churches that are big time donors.

You see, that's the doctrine of Balaam. It's compromise of morality. It's compromise of morality for the sake of, for the sake of financial gain, but it's also a compromise of morality for the sake of this is what I want to do. This church was living in compromise. Not only was it the doctrine of Balaam, but who else was at the doctrine of the Nicolaitans? We already said that that was an aspect of compromise,

right? There was compromise within the church. This church of Pergamum looked as much like the world as they did like the church. And he says, and because of that, I have this against you. He goes on from there. He goes on from there to say in verse 16, therefore repent or else I am coming to you quickly. And I don't think that's a positive. I think that's more like when your mom and dad says like,

Hey, if you don't get this done, I'm coming home now. And you're like, that's not good, right? Like immediately. That's the way that you feel. He says, I'm coming to you quickly. And this is why I don't think it's a good thing because he says, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. The greatest way that you can cut to the, the heart of compromise is with the sword of the word of God,

which is why it's always so unpopular. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to him who overcomes to him. I will give some of the hidden man in this great. There's three things that he says he's going to do. First of all, he reminds us he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to him who overcomes.

In other words, to him who begins to put away the compromise and live the way, that he's supposed to, there's three things he's going to do. Number one, I'll give him some of the hidden manna. Well, what's manna. Remember how we said, revelation ties kind of all of the Bible together. Well, man is what God gave to the children of Israel in the wilderness and it

sustained them. It was their daily bread. I will give him some of the hidden manna. What does that mean? It means a spiritual sustenance that they've never seen before in their life. I'll give them everything that they need to live an uncompromised life. If you will put away the compromise currently that's in your life. And then he tells him there's a second thing he says,

and I will give him a, a white stone. Now most believe that this speaks of what the priest would have used to cast lots. You've heard that term casting of lots. Well, there were two different stones. There was a black stone and a white stone. The black stone spoke of judgment and the white stone spoke of righteousness. And that was kind of how they determined judgment.

As far as God was concerned, the white stone speaks of righteousness. So when he says, not only will I give him the hidden manna, but I will give him a white stone. I will give him the righteousness that he needs. But then the third thing it says is it says, and I will give him a new name and their specific language that's used. He says in a new name written on the stone,

which no one knows, but he who receives it. I believe this speaks of a special identification because of a love relationship with the father because of a love relationship with the father. Because of a love relationship, with Jesus Christ. Let me explain what I mean. Perhaps you have someone that you're very close to and you have a nickname for them. My nickname in Bible college was little Ryan.

I know that's a stretch, right? It was my day. Actually, my full nickname was little Ryan from Kansas, right? And all the people that were close to me, that's what they called me. It's kind of like that. Only think a little bit deeper. Think about a nickname that only you and somebody else know. Maybe we'd call it a pet name that you have for somebody. That's kind of the,

the idea behind that phrase that I'll give them a white stone with a name written on it that nobody knows, but the one who receives it. That's an intimacy of knowledge with the savior. And where does that intimacy of knowledge begin? By putting away the compromise, by putting away the immorality, by putting away those things that are keeping you from knowing Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, there are messages for us to learn in these letters to the churches. We we've learned tonight. First of all, that we must pay attention to whether or not our heart has left our first love. Are you as passionate for Jesus as you were the day that you got saved? Are you as passionate about following him? Are you as excited about following Jesus today's you were the day that you

got saved? Don't get me wrong. Your relationship changes over the years. Just like your relationship with your spouse. It doesn't look exactly the same way as it did when, when you first got married, but the passion should still be there. Have you left your first love? We've learned that it's so important that we continue to endure. Listen, even if things get hard,

we must endure, even though sometimes it might be scary. I believe that in the Western culture, we have no idea even what this is like. I remember when COVID hit now because we're facing persecution because we're shutting the churches down. That wasn't persecution. Okay. We just need to know that a mere survive point points us out in his book on revelation.

He goes, we as Christians have to, we have to stop cheapening the word persecution by saying that that's what happened to us during COVID persecution did not happen to us. We don't know what that means just yet. Go read some stories of the people from the voice of the martyrs living in other countries where it's not just that they could only meet in groups of so many people. It's that they can't meet.

They can't own a Bible. They will lose their job. If not their life for their faith. But I think the potential is there. I think the handwriting is on the wall. I think that we as a church need to be ready for whatever comes. And is there compromise in your life? Are there, are there areas where you're compromising your faith? You've given into that doctrine of Balaam where maybe for a little bit of

financial gain, maybe for a little bit of personal gain, heck, maybe just for a little bit of personal pleasure, you've allowed compromise to creep into your life. There's messages here for us. There's messages for the church. And I pray that not only do we take that message, but that we take that message and we take that message and we take that message and we take this and apply it to our own church, but that we apply it to our own lives.

Amen. Would you bow with me? Father, much to learn in these letters to the churches, and we don't want to bypass this to get to all the other stuff. Lord, because there's things in our hearts that need dealt with before we can see what you have planned for the future. And so Lord, do your business with our hearts and continue to draw us close to you. Father,

as we go throughout the rest of this week, may we take serious our pursuit of you. And may we take every opportunity in our service to others. We just thank you and praise you, Father, in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.