Pergamum: A Church in Satanic Territory | Revelation 2:12-17 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Revelation Bible Study Series)

I wanted to keep going, but here we are, God's Word.

We're still worshiping in the Word.

So turn your Bibles with me to Revelation chapter 2 and place

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

your eyes there at verse 12 of Revelation chapter 2.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

Let's read together into the Angel, the church, and Pergamum.

Write the words of Him who has the 2, has the sharp 2 edged

sword. I know where you dwell, where

Satan's throne is, and you hold fast my name.

And you did not deny my faith, even though the days of Antipas,

my faithful witness who was killed among you, where Satan

dwells. But I have a few things against

you. You have some there who hold to

the teaching of Balaam, who taught Bailek to put a stumbling

block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food

sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

So also you have some who hold to the teaching of the

Nicolaitans. Therefore repent.

If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the

sword of my mouth. He 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

mana, and I will give him a whitestone with a new name

written on the stone that no one knows except the one who

receives it. Lord, we ask that you help us

with this passage. Help us see your heart, help us

know your mind, and help us be conformed to your will.

Help us be the church that you want us to be.

And so even now, provide us the ears that can hear what the

Spirit says to the churches. We wait upon you, O Lord, in

Jesus name we pray. Amen.

I want you to use your sanctified imagination for a

brief moment. Imagine that the resurrected

Christ wrote a personalized letter to us here at Maranatha

Bible Church and in his introduction he writes the one

who has the two edged sword. Would that comfort you?

Would that concern you? Perhaps your immediate response

would be, well, it depends what he does with the sword, and that

would be an appropriate reaction.

Thankfully, if we honor the context of the Book of

Revelation, we know what this sword is all about.

It's mentioned a total of three times in this book.

And interestingly, each time it is brought up in connection with

Christ, it is associated with his mouth.

And so in Revelation 116, we've already covered that chapter.

We saw how Christ in his manifest glory before John the

Apostle reveals a sword protruding out of his mouth.

It's not until we go to Revelation 19, verse 15, where

Revelation 19:15

we have the account of the return of Christ, the bodily

return of Christ, where we see that sword in operation, where

we see it functioning and what was its purpose.

We're told they're in that verse that Christ will strike the

nations with the sword of his mouth.

And so we can conclude that the sword represents it represents

something obvious, the swift and sudden power of Christ's word

when he executes judgment and how his judgment is based upon

his Word. So with that understanding, you

might be impressed to see that this introduction to the Church

in Pergamum is Christ conveying that He is the final judge and

that He will bring vindication. He will ultimately put all

things right by just the word of His mouth.

However, that's not the purpose of Christ revealing this about

Himself to this church. No, no, no.

Instead, when you keep reading carefully, you'll discover that

the unstoppable authority of Jesus Christ, when He wants to

execute judgement, is not confined solely to his fiercest

foes. It also applies to those within

His church. Let's go down to verse 16 again,

Revelation 2, just to confirm that he writes to this church.

He's not speaking to the world, to this congregation.

Therefore, repent. If not, I will come to you soon

and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

This should lead us to ask something very important.

What did this church do to warrant such a serious threat?

And that's what this message is about.

We're going to discover together.

We're going to uncover what it is that these believers were

doing for Christ to say to them. If you don't change, I'm going

to go to war with your church. But before we go there, let's

consider his commendation in verse 13.

Look what he says here. I know where you dwell at all

the things that Jesus could say that He knew about this group of

believers, He tells them, I know you and I know where you live.

Now, many of us in here know that choosing where we live is

one of the most important decisions that you will make

throughout your life. But what I find here is that it

is not just crucial for us to figure out and pray about and

plan about. It is also something that the

Lord considers and cares about. When I was reflecting on those

first few words of verse 13, my mind went to Paul's sermon in

Athens when he was preaching there to all those pagans and

those Epicureans and those Stoic philosophers heard this new

thing. And so they grabbed Paul and

they said, tell us more about what you're preaching about.

And he took the time to introduce to them in a very

unique way who God is in his nature.

And there's a part there in that evangelistic message that I'm

sure will bless you. And you're welcome to turn there

with me in Acts 17. Look at this little section of

Paul's sermon, verse 26 of Acts 17.

He says, and he speaking about God, and he made from one man

every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth,

having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of

their dwelling place. Again, he's introducing to these

unbelievers who the true God is, and he highlights two major

areas of God's providential work.

It can be summarized with two words, time and place.

Look again. He has determined allotted

periods that speaks of duration and then he goes on to say the

boundaries of their dwelling place that speaks of location.

What is Paul trying to teach here?

Essentially that the Lord is continually arranging the timing

and the location of our living and this is not reserved just

for His orchestration of nations and governments.

No, no, it applies to your individual journey and mine.

If you have difficulty believing that, I think of a Psalm where

the Lord recounts the history of Israel and He reminds His people

through the psalmist of how their journey and Egypt came

about. Let me quote this to you from

Psalm one O 5 and verse 16. When he summoned a famine on the

land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead

of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

Who was the one that sent Joseph to live in Egypt?

God, from the human understanding, when you read the

story in Genesis, it looked like he was a victim carried as a

captive into a foreign land. It looked like a despicable

eviction, if you will. But as you continue in your

Bible and you come to one passage here, at least one, you

are granted the lens of Providence and you realize that

God was behind the scenes all along, leading Joseph in

unlikely circumstances and through unlikely means to plant

him in a place for a greater purpose.

He sent Joseph to Egypt because He determines the boundaries of

our dwelling place. You know, when Joel and I were

planning for a wedding and we were at the same time looking

for a place to live, I frequently borrowed the words of

the apostle Paul in Acts 17. When I came before the Lord, I

would tell the Lord, You have determined the boundaries of my

dwelling place. You know where we're supposed to

live. You know what city, you know

what neighborhood. I trust in you, but you got to

guide me there. And through a grueling searching

process, the Lord came through, and I can say on behalf of our

household that we can see how God LED us perfectly.

I encourage you. Many young families here praying

and looking and wondering. He determines the boundaries of

our dwelling place. Trust in Him, rely on Him,

believe in Him, and He will lead you wonderfully.

Now, as we come to this church, the Lord tells this group of

believers that He knows where they live.

And shockingly, He confirms to them that it's where Satan

lives. What language does he use?

Again, in verse 13, I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne

is. We're looking for a church

building, are we not? I haven't heard from one person

that they're interested in looking for the place where

Satan has its headquarters. But God the Holy Spirit raised

up a church in this kind of a neighborhood.

And that is significant for many reasons.

And we won't get there just yet. I have to give you a brief

reminder of the ontology of Satan.

He is He is not omniscient, though he is incredibly

knowledgeable. He is not omnipotent, though he

is fiercely powerful. And he is indeed not

omnipresent, though he has a vast Kingdom with his age and

spread throughout the earth. And at this particular time in

history, Satan the Strategist thought it would be most

beneficial to set up his headquarters in a place called

Pergamum. Why?

But you can imagine the range of speculations.

But I think if you just peek into history a little bit, you

might have some kind of an answer.

Though the Bible doesn't tell us explicitly, Pergamum was one of

the most influential cities in Asia Minor at the time.

In fact, it served as the capital for a great period and

it was innovative in many, many ways.

Many believe that it was the place that started imperial cult

worship, where they really were the ones who were pioneers in

honoring emperors as divine. And it spread, they flourish and

they influenced others. You can you can say that this

was a trend setting city. More than that, it was a

Learning Center, a major one. It boasts of a library that

hosted around 200,000 scrolls and it came only second to the

Great Library of Alexandria in terms of size and significance.

And when I learned that, I thought to myself, is it

possible that Satan chose to concentrate his efforts here

knowing that it would be more effective and spreading his

corruption? Being that this was a prominent

cultural place, being that this was an intellectual hub that

Satan know, if I really focus here, I can reach many other

places. We think of our own kind of

areas in America that influence not only the nation, but the

world. Think about Hollywood and what

they pump out. Makes you wonder who's really

behind it. I don't think really, it's a

guess. And so we see here that the

enemy was very, very mindful of where to go, where to be.

And whatever the reason may be, Jesus makes it clear that

Satan's presence and Satan's influence was especially potent

in this place. It wasn't difficult to see with

the natural eye, the crime, the violence, the Antichrist

communities. And I've mentioned this in the

past that it blesses me to know that the Lord built a church

here. But I don't want to focus on

that because we mentioned it before.

I want to applaud these Christians.

Assuming they had the choice, they chose to remain here, to

minister here, to gather here, to sing here, to hear sermons

here, to evangelize here. You know there are many

Christians who desire to be a part of a church where things

are most comfortable thinking. You know, the less political and

societal pollution and corruption there is, the easier

it will be to plant and grow something for God.

That's not true because you have to remember the purpose of the

church is not to be safe, it's to be salt.

And over the years I've heard some people even ask why we have

a ministry in Chicago given all the violence and corruption in

our government. And my answer is always the

same. Why not?

What, should all the Christians just pack up and move somewhere

just because there's a warmer state with less property taxes?

Is that really the goal of Christianity, to be as snugly as

possible in America? No, we're on a rescue mission.

That's why we're here. And I consider a great honor and

privilege to be in this city. And God's Providence that his

Spirit worked in the hearts of people to make Maranatha Bible

Church possible. If the Holy Spirit is doing

something here, it means he wants us to do something here.

And so we're we're looking for the heavenly mission.

That's our perspective when it comes to our dwelling place,

when it comes to where we're going to park ourselves, where

we're going to raise a family. Yes, we should be wise.

Yes, we should be stewards of different resources.

But consider your calling ultimately, as a follower of

Jesus Christ. We're all getting out of here

very soon. We're not trying to make this as

comfortable as possible. We're trying to rescue as many

people as possible. And I love this church for that

reason. And Jesus praises this church.

They stay here. They saw the opportunity to be a

light in a uniquely dark place. How dark was it?

So dark that this community threatened the believers with

death from time to time. We've been threatened before as

a church never received death threats.

Yet I say yet on purpose. And this assembly was never

deterred, even when faced with potential martyrdom.

They never denied the faith. They never were ashamed of the

name of Jesus Christ, and interestingly, the Lord wants

them to know that He was aware of an intense period of

persecution. Come back to Revelation 213

again. 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 is Antipas? I don't know, because this is

all we have about him in the Bible.

You can look at some church fathers who give us a little bit

more understanding, and that might be helpful.

But when it comes to biblical data, all we have is this man's

name. Some believe he was an elder,

some believe he was just a faithful member.

But what I find interesting is that the Lord names him.

He could have been general about the martyrdom of this church,

but he actually highlights this individual by name.

And I believe there's a purpose because when you understand the

meaning of the name Antipus, there is profound insight.

Some believe Antipus is just an abbreviation of the name

Antipater, which could mean like the father or instead of the

father. But if you were to just derive

your definition with a name as it is, it's quite simple.

Anti. We commonly know that we're to

be opposed or against something anti.

And the Greek pass pause. Forgive me, Greek speaking

people simply means all or every or the whole of something.

So bringing this together, we could say that the name Antipas

means against everything, against all.

Do you see the significance of that?

I do, because if we go with that definition, then I believe we're

given a clue as to what it takes to be a faithful witness unto

Jesus. A willingness to stand against

everything he attempts or threaten us to disown Him.

In other words, if you and I want to be a faithful witness

unto Jesus Christ, be ready to stand alone if you have to.

And that is not even super Christianity.

That's entry level discipleship. Do you remember the words of

Jesus in Luke 1426? If anyone would come after me

and does not hate his own Father and mother and wife and children

and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be

my disciple. Antipast is not a superhero

Christian. He's level 1 discipleship, yes.

Was he faithful to death? Yes.

Is it something to to applaud and to command?

Absolutely. But based on Jesus teaching, if

any one of us want to be considered a follower of his,

then you must consider him more important than any of your

closest relationships. You must consider more valuable

than your personal ambitions. That if your father or your

mother discourages you from following Christ, your siblings,

your cousins, your aunt, your uncle, whoever it may be, you

say no. I will stand against anyone who

stands in the way of me following my Lord.

This is what it means to be a faithful witness.

Antipus models that for us here, in a very brief way, just by his

name, we get an understanding, a reminder at the end of the Bible

what it means to follow Christ. This church didn't flinch in the

face of demonic intimidation. Even when one of their members

was killed for their faith. They did not give in.

They were never moved. But tragically, they lacked one

thing. They lacked the one fear that

they should have had, and that was the fear of God.

That's why Jesus introduces himself in the way that he does.

It's as if to say, you stood firm when Rome drew its sword

against you, but you forgot that I have a sword.

And you might be wondering, how can you say, preacher, that this

church did not honor the Lord Jesus Christ?

They were willing to die for him.

Yes, without a doubt. But I'm here to tell you that

there aren't. Honor as a church was partial.

It was not total. What do I mean by that?

Well, let's come now to the criticism in verse 14.

But I have a few things against you.

Now pause there. The Church of Smyrna that we

heard about last week, Jesus had nothing against him.

He just encouraged him. Do not fear the church in

Ephesus the first time around He said this very specifically.

The Lord said I have this against you.

It was one thing you walked away from your first love, but with

the church in Pergamum, he says I have a few things against you.

What are those few things? Well, it can be summarized with

a number of the people in this church who are adhering to false

teaching. Let's finish here to see what it

is that they were believing. 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,

sacrifice to idols, and practice sexual immorality.

Verse 15. So also you have some who hold

the teaching of the Nicolaitans. So in this church you had

different pockets of people who are believing things contrary to

the Bible. And the Lord says, this is what

I have against you. Now, when we come to this

passage, we have to understand something that Jesus, as we, as

we heard when we started the series in Revelation, relies

heavily on the Old Testament. And so he makes it up.

He makes a commentary, He makes an allusion back to the story of

the character Balaam. You remember Balaam, do you not?

He was essentially a sorcerer. And when Israel was delivered

out of Egypt and was traveling through the wilderness leading

to the Promised land, there was a king of Moab, modern day

Jordan, by the name of Balak. Balak, like other kings, was

very fearful hearing the reports of what the God of Israel was

doing on behalf of his people. And Balak understood that they

are approaching his territory, his land.

And so in desperation, instead of submitting himself to the

true God, he wants to try to overthrow them.

And so he hires a witch, a warlock if you will, and he

hopes that he can defeat the people of Israel in the

supernatural. So the price was right for

Balaam, though initially he refused, he was recruited.

And we know there are numbers 22 to numbers 24 that Balaam over

and over tries to pronounce a curse upon the people of Israel

without their knowledge. And each time it failed, every

time he uttered a curse, God was right there and turned it into a

blessing. He gave up.

You come to the end of Numbers 24.

He gives his final Oracle, and you just read the simple ending

to that chapter. Balaam packed his bags.

He goes his own way. Balak does the same.

But then something incredibly strange happens in the opening

of Numbers chapter 25. You have to go there with me to

Numbers 25 · chapter mention

see it. Numbers 25, verse one.

This is immediately after we learned that Balaam failed to

hatch the people of God. What do we find in this chapter?

They experienced great defeat. Numbers 25, verse one.

While Israel lived in Shitham, the people began to whore with

the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the

sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to

their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal

Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.

What was the consequence of that?

Verse 9? Nevertheless, those who died by

the plague were 24,000. So God in his discipline

unleashes A plague and it destroyed 24,000.

And if it wasn't for a righteous man named Phineas who stood in

the gap, it would have been much more.

This is strange. And if you don't finish books of

the Bible, if you don't honor beginning to end of a book that

you start, then you might miss the insight because it comes

later. Numbers 31.

Is there an explanation for this?

Yes, there is. Look at what Moses says in

review of what happened here in Numbers 25.

Numbers 31, verse 16. Behold, these, on Balaam's

Numbers 31:16

advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously

against the Lord in the instant of Peor, and so the plague came

among the congregation of the Lord.

Here's the main take away from this.

When Balaam learned that he could not curse the people of

God, he taught Bailek, the king of Moab, how to corrupt them.

And this was his advice to the king of Moab.

Listen, I've tried over and over.

You saw it with your own eyes. You heard it with your own ears.

I cannot pronounce a curse upon these people.

They are blessed. But I'll give you a different

strategy. Find the most beautiful woman

you have in your Kingdom, send them off into the camp of

Israel. Let them seduce the men sexually

and they will be seduced to spiritual adultery.

Guess what? It worked.

You see, Balaam had enough knowledge of the character of

God that if he can get the people of God to embrace sin,

then they would invite God's judgement.

So what's the strategy if I can't get him from the external,

If I can't get him from the outside, I'm going to work

within. And that is what Balaam did.

And now we come to the final book of the Bible and we read

Jesus drawing from this very account to speak to a local New

Covenant church, saying some of you in there are believing the

teaching of Balaam. Meaning what?

It's very simple. Just as Balaam's seduction LED

Israel back into worldliness, there was a group of people in

this church who are embracing A doctrine that encourage

compromise as well. Does that make sense?

How did that look like for these Christians?

It looked like this perhaps, that they would go to temples,

they would indulge in their feast to false gods, they would

engage in sexual activities, and they would come every Sunday to

worship Jesus Christ. They were persuaded that this

was OK. They were told that they could

relax. They were convinced that they

can enjoy the world and still serve God.

There's so many things that we can say about this, but let me

make one thing clear. If Satan can't frighten a

church, if he can't intimidate them, if he can't pressure them

from the outside, he will try to weaken a group of believers from

the inside. His strategies have always been

the same. Think about it.

Back in Numbers, we find that the curses did not work against

Israel, and we come to Revelation.

We realize that threats from the government did not move this

church and Pergamum. So what does the enemy do?

Something that proves to be more effective than anything else.

He sends his agents to mingle with the people of God to

corrupt them. In the former case, he sent

unbelieving women. Listen here young men, be

careful of the women that are introduced to you.

Be careful of the women that walk into your life.

Same thing for you ladies. Be careful of the men that show

up in your DMS. Satan has won many of the people

of God. Lure them away by sending a girl

with pretty eyes and a nice voice, sending a guy that seems

promising and reassuring and comforting.

In the former case, he sends beautiful woman.

In the latter case, he sends in false teachers.

That's how he works. Which brings us to another

crucial point. Notice back in Revelation 2 that

he also mentions the teaching of the Nicolaidans.

We don't know exactly what the Nicolaidans taught.

It might have been very similar to what these Balemites

believed. But the mention of the

Nicolaidans in Revelation 2 verse 15 does show us what false

Revelation 2:15

teaching promotes. Is this the first time in our

study of Revelation that we heard about these Nicolaidans?

Good. No, we heard about them in the

letter to the Ephesians. Go back to Ephesians, or rather

Revelation 26. Notice what the Lord says.

This, better yet, this you have. You hate the works of the

Nicolaitans, which I also hate. So in the first part he mentions

their works. In this letter, he mentions

their teaching. This was a movement.

This was a sect. And here's what we learned

putting this together. Bad doctrine will always lead to

bad behavior. Wherever there is corrupted

teaching, it will in one way or another, corrupt character.

Always. And that is one of the reasons

why Jesus values what a church teaches.

You know, we're coming here week after week.

We're trying to understand what Christ desires from his church.

Yes, the universal church, ultimately the local church.

And here's what we learned at this point, doctrine is up, is

not up for negotiation. Doctrine is incredibly important

to the heart of our God, and it should be equally important to

us. What a church teaches, Christ

considers carefully, and the purity of doctrine of what's

being taught, of what's being believed by the people in the

church is not the only thing that Christ considers.

In the unique cases where you have a mixed group, Jesus,

according to this letter, also holds responsible those who know

the truth yet refuse to confront error in the church.

Who does he call to repent here? Who does he ask to turn?

Look again here in verse 16. Therefore repent.

If not, I will come to you soon and war against Him with the

sword of my mouth. We might assume that Jesus is

threatening those who are believing the lies of Balaam's

teaching or the Nicolaitans. That's not who He is primarily

addressing. Say, what are you talking about?

Look at verse 14 again. But I have a few things.

Against who? You.

Who's the you? The church, the entire church.

So do you know what this teaches?

That not only did you have people believing different

things, the people who knew the truth, who were faithful to his

name, who were faithful to the faith, refused to confront the

error in the church. And Jesus says, I'm looking at

you. I'm looking at you leaders who

refused to address this issue, You elders, you know, some in

your church are not believing, are not upholding the Bible, and

you're not doing anything about it.

You members of the church, you refuse to in love, according to

Matthew 18, approach the one who is in sin and call them to

repent. And instead you fellowship with

these ones who are unashamed of their compromise.

And so he's calling the entire church into account, not just

those who are following false teaching, even those who are in

the truth and know about their false teaching and don't do

anything about it. This is profound.

This is very important for us to hear because again, it

reinstates what the church is about.

We're supposed to look out for one another.

You know, an elder is not just here to just preach sermons and

do weddings and funerals. That's not what a pastor is

about. He watches over your soul.

And this idea of false teachers creeping in the church is more

complicated than ever in church history.

You know why? Because at this time, it would

be people physically walking through those doors, sitting at

the Love Feast and talking to people, inviting to their home

and teaching them and lead them astray.

You know how false teachers work in many times, in many ways

today. They don't need to show up here.

They're in your pocket. They're in your YouTube history.

They're on your social media, they're on your podcast, they're

on those one minute reels and people build their theology in

60 seconds. TikTok.

I know people that are getting their theology from TikTok.

God help us, but it doesn't lessen the responsibility.

The Lord wants His church to be pure, not just morally but

doctrinally. Yes.

Is there room for differing opinions with secondary and

tertiary matters? You better believe it.

We have to be compassionate and understanding.

But with these clear things, these non negotiables or

anything that is so obvious in the word of God that's not up

for debate. I am personally worried about

any minister that refuses to talk about sin from the pulpit,

and you should be worried about them too.

I don't believe a church should every week be a time where

people are rebuked and are called to repentance.

Ultimately, we should all know greater encouragement.

And if repentance is preached rightly, it will encourage

people. It'll bring life to them.

But for somebody to never mention sin, for somebody to

never warn about false teaching, from time to time to warn

people, hey, be careful what you're hearing out there.

They're in danger. I'm worried about any church

that doesn't have church discipline, that doesn't have

membership, that calls people accountable, that if they live

in unrepentant sin, then there's going to be concept.

I worry about that. That's what the Church of

Pergamum is teaching us. So yes, they were faithful in

many ways, but they just let people do their own thing.

Let people believe what they wanted to believe.

Let people live how they wanted to live.

And the Lord says, I'm calling you all to repent because the

church has a responsibility in wisdom and love to approach

those who are not in the right and to invite them back into the

truth. Now we come to the last verse

because the Lord ends on a good note, on an encouraging note in

verse 17. Let's revisit it again, shall

we? 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

mana and I will give him a whitestone with a new name

written on the stone that no one knows except the one who

receives it. You can imagine the countless

theories that have circulated over the centuries about this

verse. Hidden mana, a whitestone with a

name on it. It can get quite complicated,

and people try to go to the culture of this time to make

reference of what these things could mean.

I think the hidden mana is more obvious to us as people who

understand the totality of Scripture.

But what's this Whitestone all about?

Let's look at these things separately.

In fact, let me just start here. This is not as complicated as

people make it out to be, because when you look at this

letter, you'll learn that what Jesus is offering here counters

the evil substitutes that some of these Christians were tempted

by. What were they condemned for?

Going to these feasts that were dedicated to false gods and

engaging in sexual immorality. What the Lord is saying, Hey,

instead of indulging in those feasts, why don't you eat some

of the manna that I have? And instead of finding your

trust and finding your thrill and illicit behavior, why don't

we deepen our relationship? I have hidden manna, remember?

What manna was right? The name actually means what is

it? Back in Exodus, they didn't know

what it was. It was a flake like thing that

would show up in the dew every morning.

What is it? And had like a honey flavor to

it. But more importantly, it was

supernaturally provided. It was something that God gave

every single day. And interestingly, the Lord is

so precise. He says I have hidden manna.

He didn't just say, manna, I have hidden mana.

Oh, how do we make sense of that?

Well, we learned that when this mana first arrived on the scene,

the Israelites were instructed to take a jar of that mana and

to put it where in the Ark of the Covenant to be preserved.

And that mana never rotted. If you had mana one day and you

try to, because of your unbelief, puts them in your

pocket or in your cupboards because you didn't know if God

was going to provide the next day, it would turn into worms.

But this one little jar of mana was kept in the presence of God

in that little compartment and it would serve as a memorial for

the rest of their time, signifying I am faithful to

provide for you. Jesus says to the church, I have

hidden mana for you. In other words, I have spiritual

nourishment because that mana points to another substance.

Jesus made it clear in John chapter 6 when he made bread

John 6 · chapter mention

multiply in the wilderness. They said this is this is the

prophet that Moses spoke about. He goes, no, I'm here to tell

you that I'm not offering physical bread, the bread of

heaven, me. So when he says I have this

hidden mana, it's a symbolic way of saying I have spiritual

nourishment. It will never waste, it will

never rot, it will never dissatisfy.

And it's it's able to sustain you, it's able to satisfy you.

So think about it. Why go to those feasts?

Why fellowship with unbelievers? Why go to those places that

dishonor my name when I have something more permanent, more

lasting, more pure for you? And then he follows it with

this. I have a whitestone with a new

name written on the stone. Again, there's no biblical cross

reference that can help us understand this.

And there's many, many, many ideas out there that in Roman

times, a whitestone would be used as an admission ticket into

a feast if you successfully won an athletic competition, or it

was used in a judicial setting to say you're innocent.

And so they would extend away. There's all these ideas, but I

believe the mystery is intentional.

So imagine we never preached on this and you read Revelation.

You came up to me and you said, hey, what's this Whitestone

about with a name written on it? You know what the right answer

would be? I don't know, and you won't know

either. That's the point.

Christ is making an invitation to each individual believer that

if they overcome worldly Christianity then He will give

them something that will be a secret.

The name that is written on it. Is that a name for me?

I don't know. Is it a name about him that no

one's ever heard about? Quite possibly.

Either way, this depicts intimacy because what defines a

rich deep bond is 2 people who share an experience, who have

knowledge about something. That no one else does.

Some of your husbands and wives, you have names for each other

that no one else knows about. And that's good because you

don't want somebody else calling your husband what you call them

and vice versa. Here's the Lord saying, I want

to share a unique name between you and me.

So instead of going to these women and sleeping with them,

justifying it with this false doctrine of grace, instead of

you ladies throwing yourself at one guy to another from

relationship to relationship, even if it's in this, in this

case, even if it's in the context of spiritual practice,

false spiritual practice. Instead of doing that, I'm

inviting you closer to my heart. I want to exchange something

with you that will be more meaningful than anything else

outside. Are these things ultimately

realize in heaven? You can make a case for that,

yes. Can you say that it's going to

be a physical stone, a Pearl of some sorts, a gem that he'll

give to you? Sure.

But I also believe that in both cases, the hidden men and this

whitestone, the idea behind it is available.

Now you know what the secret is to overcoming the seductions of

this world? Satisfaction in Jesus Christ.

You will never listen to me. You will never overcome

temptation unless you first taste the sweetness of Jesus.

Never. And this is what he is reminding

this church. He who has an ear, let him hear

what the Spirit says to the churches.

So I must do my duty, my brethren, I must do my job, my

family. This church is growing.

It's exciting. I think we see new faces every

single week and I'm thrilled about it.

Not because of numbers, but because I hope that what God is

doing in this place is he's raising up people who are

craving the Bible, the word of God being taught.

But it's also very possible that there can be an esteem for the

truth. There can be passionate about

the faith, there can be a level of faithfulness to the name of

Jesus, while there's also compromise somewhere else.

Does your life align with what Jesus says it means to be a

disciple of His? Are you with some people doing

some things, believing ideas that contradict His word?

How much does His word govern your life?

Let me say it this way. Are you an Antipus?

Have you determined that I'm willing to stand against

anything and everything? Think about how fascinating this

man was. He refused to continue to live

if it meant denying Jesus. Death was something that he was

willing to accept if it meant that he would end faithfully.

Life was not life if he had to disown his Savior.

Is that the level of conviction that you have and it's not

proven? Ultimately, with your head on a

chomping block and terrorists threatening you.

Deny Christ or you lose your head.

It's also proven in you looking out into the world, hearing all

the seductions even within Christendom and you saying

that's false because I know my word.

That's something that Christ does not want.

I will not accept it. Jesus said this and you're

saying something else. I refuse it.

No matter how much it benefits my flesh, no matter how much it

helps me in society, I will deny it.

That's an antipas for those here who have determined that.

Be fortified in your faith because Christ promised that

when you overcome, you will know a level of satisfaction now, and

there will be a depth of your knowledge of Christ that awaits

that will make anything that you resist now so worth it.

May the Lord Jesus Christ help us.

Let's pray. Lord, we trust that we have ears

to hear what Your Spirit says to this church.

Thank You that You know where we dwell, and thank You that You

know the condition of our hearts.

We ask, Lord, that You would probe and that You would examine

every person here and highlight anything that goes against what

You asked of us. Lord, may this church be a

church that is pure in its teaching, that will never

deviate from the word of God, that will never be ashamed of

the Scriptures, that we'll be able to say confidently thus

says the Lord, and never shy away from it.

We pray that every member of this church would also have that

same conviction, that we would not have a mixed crowd here, but

that every person would uphold the truth, that in love and

gentleness and compassion we would help each other stay in

the truth. And so, Lord, give us eyes to

see and ears to hear all the falsehood that's being promoted

around us, all the teaching that seems to be Christianity, but

it's distorted. Give us discernment.

And thank You that you've given us the tools to be discerning

your Word, Your Spirit, your people.

Lord, if there's one person in this place who knows that

they're living in compromise, perhaps they're being seduced by

the doctrine of Balaam, unequally yoked with others, but

justifying it. Rescue them today.

Rescue them today, Lord, for anybody else here who knows that

they are turning their back on some component of your Word.

Lord, may your conviction be louder than ever.

Louder than ever, even now. We want to please you.

So Lord, we pray that you sanctify the pulpit.

Keep it holy. Sanctify our hearts and our

minds. Keep us near you.

We celebrate now because you love us enough to speak the

truth to our hearts. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Amen.

Let's sing to the Lord, shall we?

Let's stand.