Okay, Shalom everyone. Let's us turn please to the book of the Revelation this afternoon, in a new covenant, in the Brit HaChadashah. Revelation chapter two, we are going to look into a few verses that deal with the letter that was written to the church of Pergamos, or Pergamum. You remember that we have studied how the Messiah Yeshua, the glorified Messiah, after he finished the work on the tree, on the cross, God have raised him from among the dead, placed him at the pinnacle of the universe, and he have given a letter that John would put down on a paper in order to give it to those churches. This is not one letter in a sense, it is of course the whole book of Revelation, but seven letters, seven messages to seven local assemblies in Asia Minor.

And I want to read those verses in verse twelve to verse seventeen and just talk a little bit about this to help us to understand what he was writing to this particular church. Verse twelve, And unto the angel of the church of Pergamos write, These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges, I know thy works. And where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. And thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idol, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.

Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give to him white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. And I stop here with this passage today. Now, beloved brothers and sisters, I tell you that one thing we do learn from those passages of Scripture, that God, even though He's writing now, two thousand years ago, through the Apostle John, giving this information to those seven assemblies, local assemblies in Asia Minor. Those seven letters that were written in chapter two and chapter three of the Book of Revelation are really addressed as well to us today.

Think about that. In every local area, whether it is Toronto here, or Jerusalem, or Tel Aviv, or any place in this world, there are local assemblies that are founded. God save people, bring them into a relationship with Himself, and then what happen once they get saved, they become children, sons and daughters of the Father, they form a local assembly in area, whether it is Toronto in our case, or it could be anywhere else in this world.

And every local assembly, local church have a certain condition in this local assembly. See, what is an assembly? What is a church? A church is not a building, a church is not brick and stone, a church is believers in the Lord Jesus the Messiah, which united together and they form an assembly, a local testimony. Now, when John received the revelation from Yeshua the Messiah, years ago, 1900, 2000 years ago, the Lord have addressed those local assemblies one by one, naming certain things, certain problems that existed in each one of them.

You remember, we studied the church of Ephesus from verses 1 to verse 7. This is the assembly, the local assembly that existed in a city called Ephesus. Ephesus means desirable, they had a desirable condition, but There was a problem at the reason there, if you remember, they have left their first love. They maintained good doctrine, good teaching, they did a lot of good deeds, but there was a problem there. And the problem was that instead of the affection that they once had for Yeshua, they have left it, and their affection was set in someplace else. In fact, that particular church, as we have studied that, had a danger of neglecting to do the right thing, priority neglected. Then last week, last Shabbat meeting, we talked about the second church by the name of Smyrna. And we discovered that this was a suffering church.

A local assembly that suffered, you know what? I don't know if you and I realize how much believers suffer today for the name of Yeshua the Messiah in many, many countries. But this particular church of Smyrna really suffered the Roman persecution. They had suffered so much that he promised them the crown of life for those that have been faithful to him.

The name Smyrna come from the word mor, or mar in Hebrew, mara, mar which is bitterness, they have experienced bitter persecution and suffering by the hands of the Roman persecution, and we talked about that they would suffer for ten days, we have looked at that, and those ten days represented either ten literal days, or other ten Roman emperors that have caused a lot of persecution upon the believers in this area, or this time of the Roman persecution, and you remember it's not only that he's dealing with local churches, he also gives us a church history here, the first church Ephesus talk about the first hundred years of church history. The second church deal with us from about the one hundred to three hundred and thirteen. The lesson that we learn from the church of Smyrna is the period of time of Roman persecution of the body of Messiah. They have experienced much persecution.

By the time we get to the third church, we get another aspect of the experience of a local assembly, but it also deals with a history of the church from about three hundred and thirteen A.D. all the way to about six hundred A.D. It's another period in church history. We're going to talk about it, but before we're going to talk about the period of church history, we want to talk about this condition that existed in this local assembly. You notice, first of all, the Lord is addressing the local assembly, the local church, and you notice what he says to them in verse twelve. It began with the destination. Where does he write to? It says in verse twelve, And unto the angel of the church of Pergamon, or Pergamos.

We have just came from there a few months ago, visiting Asia Minor, visiting Turkey, and we have literally have been in the location. There are many ruins in the area of Pergamos today, but Pergamos, and the meaning of the word Pergamon, is much marriage, much marriage. It talk about a church that became married to, if you will, to the world and its system. It's a church that was mixed with some things of God and something that have crept in into the church at that particular time.

The word Pergamum, speaking about much marriage, there is various ways of looking at this. A elevated marriage, I have a note here in my notebook here, elevated marriage, they have been elevated and they end up married to this world, if you will, to the Roman Empire that was influencing the believers at that time. And so the Lord is writing and he says, unto the angel of the church of Pergamos write, and in verse 12b he is giving us a description of the Messiah. Who is the one that is writing? It says in verse 12b, it says, These things write he which has a sharp two-edged sword in his hand.

You see, this Description of the Messiah having that sword in another passages in Hebrews it's speaking about the word of God is like a sword with two edges it's like a two edged sword the word of God is really cutting or dividing asunder and telling us when we are right and when we are wrong when we are walking in the right way and when we are walking in the wrong way and he's the one that's holding that sword in chapter one earlier in verse sixteen it says that he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went sharp two edged sword it's the word of God see the one that is speaking to the local assembly at Pergamos is the one that coming out of his mouth this two edged sword And isn't it true, beloved brothers and sisters, the Word of God often time, when we take it in a proper way and appropriate it to our lives, it speak to us, it convicts us, it shows us where we are wrong and where we need to be corrected.

And he is writing to this local assembly, to Pergamos, and he says, I am the one that have this two-edged sword. I am the one that is able to judge you, to deal with you, to correct you, and to instruct you. And he's writing to this local church of Pergamos. And you see, what happened in the next verse, he is giving them a commendation. Before he deal with their problem, he first of all give them a commendation. You know, we often time in our dealing with people, we don't find something positive, first of all. We immediately find something negative, and immediately we deal with the negative before we deal with the positive. Here is the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the glorified Messiah, telling to John to write down to this local assembly and he tell them, listen, first of all you tell them something that I'm commending them. I have something to commend them. And so in verse 13 he say to them, I know your works.

I know what you are doing. I know your works and apparently they had certain things that they have done. He says, I know everything about you. He says, I know your works and also he saying to them in verse 13, he says, I know where you dwell. Now remember, Pergamos was known as the first city in Asia Minor where there was set up a temple worship of Caesar as God. Actually, the worship of Caesar is God began in that location called Pergamos. And there there was a local assembly of believers, professing believers, they were dwelling there, they were part of this city, but in that particular city there was actually a lot of cult worship. The Caesar was worshiped. There was a worship of all kind of gods, Zeus and others, and in the midst of it there was a local assembly who were dwelling there.

And the Lord Jesus telling them, I know your works, and I know where you dwell, and you notice, look what he's saying to them in verse 13, he says, even where Satan throne is. You know, sometimes we think that just the same like the Lord Jesus have a throne in heaven, Satan have a throne in hell. But actually, it's not correct. Satan is dwelling every time, if you will, he is the prince of the power of the air, like we have it in the New Testament. He is the god of this world, we have it in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. He is the prince of the power of the air, we have it in the book of Ephesians. And every time he set his throne in different areas, in a different way, he is seeking to lead the world away from God.

Well, what we find out here, the Lord Jesus from heaven, the glorified Yeshua HaMashiach is saying to John, John, I know where this group of professing Christians dwell, professing believers dwell, they are dwelling in a city called Pergamos, and that area, you are in an area even where Satan's throne is. Why? Because out of that city of Pergamos, The worship of Caesar as God had started. There were all kind of temples and altars that had been situated there where there was all kind of cultish things had been done by men, the worship of all kind of gods. And right there, this group of believers, of professing believers, had been there in that local area. And so, can you imagine, can you imagine how difficult it must have been for those particular group of people to dwell in an area where cultish worship had been so prevalent, so exposed, and they had to make a decision, like the one that was before them, like Smyrna, whether they will worship, will say Caesar is Lord, or whether they will say Yeshua, Jesus, is Lord.

So you know what happened. Now let me just go back a little bit when it comes to history, a little bit to mix with this a little bit, not only the local setting, but also to look at it in a progressive setting of the church age, the church period of time. While the first hundred years we have Ephesus, where there was a desirable condition, apostolic assembly, Jewish believers who came to faith in the Messiah, preached the gospel to the world around them, there was a good, healthy condition. Then the church have gone through history of persecution by the Roman. And can you believe it? When they were so persecuted, all of a sudden at about year 313, we have this famous story of Constantine.

And you remember Constantine was one of those emperors? The church have mingled, the church religion became, the church of Christianity become the world religion. And impose Christianity upon the Roman Empire. And so everybody became a Christian. People or babies had been baptized by the hundreds, by the thousands, everybody become a Christian, professing Christian. Apparently, he have the one who have set the first pope in the city of Rome.

And what happened is that Constantine have helped to have the church mingle together with the world, and there was that marriage of church and state. Now, just think with me, while the church called to be called out one, a people that are separated from this world, here come Constantine and mingle them together. And if you remember in the time of Smyrna, the believers, the church have suffered persecution, now all of a sudden, Those who were part of the church were being elevated. They're no longer persecuted. They had to make a decision. Well, before they had to decide whether to say Caesar is Lord or Yeshua is Lord. Now, there is no fear anymore of persecution.

And they started to say, wow, they had to make a decision. Are they going to mingle with the world? Are they going to make Christianity allow all kind of things, cultish things to enter in with true faith in Christ and the Messiah? And what happened? Things have completely changed. And from about the year 313 A.D. all the way to about 600 A.D. there was a period of time in church history where the world and the church were mingled together.

And what happened? All kind of things have been allowed. The fundamental teaching of the word of God have been set aside. And all kind of things have been crept in and that's where we are today with all kind of teaching that we are hearing today about what how person can get saved and the person can get saved through baptism and all kind of things that have been taught that are really not found in the word of God. And so what happened here is the Lord Jesus telling to John and John putting on paper through the angel he says write to Pergamos I'm the one that hold the sword with two edge he says I know where you local assembly of Pergamos where you dwell you are dwelling where Satan's seat is and notice what he commending them still he's saying to them you hold the first my name and you has not denied my faith.

Now what happened in the midst of this There was some commendation that he gave to this local assembly, and he says, even though you are located in an area where Satan has so much power, a throne was coming from there, you hold fast my name, and you do not deny my faith. You know, there's two expression, my name and my faith, are very interesting. You know that it is amazing that a Christian, or a believer in Yeshua HaMashiach, the Messiah, when there is time coming, and his challenge, is he going to not deny the faith, and hold fast to the name of Yeshua HaMashiach? There are time coming that Christians, or believers, I should say, would be challenged whether they are going to not deny the name of Yeshua. And not deny, as it say here, not deny his faith, the faith which was once given to those apostles, the faith that had been given to us through the word of God, like we have in the book of Jude, as we have, if you just turn back for a moment to the book of Jude, just turn back, book of Jude, just some verses there.

Jude, the servant of Yeshua the Messiah, the brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Yeshua the Messiah, and called, he says, mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied, beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. You notice this expression? Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. I remember listening to an interview that one of the sisters in Israel have given when somebody asked her in Arad in south of Israel they asked her do you mean to say that you have to believe in Yeshua the Messiah in order to be saved do you mean that you have to believe in Yeshua the Messiah in order to have your sins forgiven do you have to share the name of Yeshua the Messiah with others around is it so important well the Bible teaches there is none other name giving among men whereby we must be saved nobody is going to be saved other than the name through the name of Yeshua the Messiah no we don't say it the Bible say it God say it in his word John 14 6 Yeshua said I am the way the truth and the life no one come to the father except through me In Acts chapter four said there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.

So the question is clear, is the answer is right in scripture. No one can come to the Father except he's doing it through the Messiah, Yeshua, the Son of God, who gave his life, who died on the tree for the sin and sins of this world, for you and I, who are sinners by nature and by practice.

The believers in Pergamos did not deny his name, and they held fast to his name and to the faith which was once delivered to the saints. So he gave them a commendation, and you notice what he told them even in the next part of verse thirteen, he said, even in those days, you notice that, wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr.

Who was slain among you where Satan throne is. Apparently, we don't know much about Antipas, but one thing we do know that the meaning of the name Antipas means against all. Here's a man by the name of Antipas, who stood and suffered as a martyr because he stood for the name of Yeshua the Messiah, and he did not deny his name. Now I tell you, it's easy to be said.

It's another thing to go through when a person have to suffer this by a world that reject the Lord Jesus our Messiah. By the way, the first martyr in Scripture for the name of Yeshua was this Hebrew Stephen, who suffered and end up to be stoned by his own brethren because he confessed that Yeshua from Nazareth was the promised Mashiach. Yeshua from Nazareth, the one that came from heaven according to the Hebrew Scriptures, he didn't deviate from what he understood from the Tanach, from the Old Testament. The New Testament was not even existing then.

But he just shared with his own brethren, and then eventually he died as a martyr. And here, beloved, you see how the Lord is so gracious. He first of all commending the beloved believers in Pergamos. But while there is commendation, there's a lot that he had to correct them. And you know, beloved, you and I need to be also corrected. And I can show you here from the next verses, verses fourteen and fifteen. Here there is twofold problem that the local assembly in Pergamos have had, and also from historical setting. There was a problem in that particular church age of the professing church of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Notice two things in verses fourteen and fifteen.

The first one is there was the tolerating of the teaching of Balaam. Look at this. Let me read those verses to you. Verse fourteen, But I have a few things against you, the Lord is saying to them, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. Now I'm going to read just verse fourteen for this particular moment. In verse fourteen, the first thing that he's mentioning here is there were some among this local community who have held the doctrine of Bilaam. Now you and I might ask the question, what is the doctrine of Bilaam?

What is the teaching of Bilaam? Now, you see, the teaching of Bilaam are clearly giving to us, explain to us right in the next stanza here, in verse fourteen, he says, the teaching of Bilaam, what did Bilaam do? He taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things which had been sacrificed unto idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Now, let's just think for a moment. Let me talk a little bit about Bilaam. Bilaam was not a Hebrew, by the way. The story of Balaam is written to us, we have read some of it already earlier, in the book of Numbers.

The book of Numbers, in Hebrew we call it Bamidbar, in the book of Numbers when Israel, our own people, came out of Egypt, they were on the way to the Promised Land, they had passed by Moab area, and they were ready to move into the Promised Land. There was a king of the Moabites by the name of Balak, who was a wicked man.

When he saw the progress of the children of Israel, when he saw that Israel was moving forward and heading towards the Promised Land, he was concerned that Israel will take him over. So what did he try to do? He tried to curse the people of Israel as they were passing by, ready to go into the Promised Land. So what did he do? He hired a false prophet. You know what, let me just tell you, a false prophet, a person that we hire him for to do a job without him called by the Lord, what we're gonna get is exactly what we buy. What he got is exactly what he bought. He sought to have Bilaam cursing the children of Israel. So he called him to come to him and he told him, listen, I'm gonna give you some money and all what I want you to do, I want you to curse these people so I can win the war against them and I'm gonna consume them.

So Bilaam came. And I want you to turn with me to the book of Numbers for a moment, I want you to see that. In chapter 22, in the book of Numbers, we read this. It says in verse 1, And the children of Israel set forward, and they pitched in the plain of Moab, on this side Jordan, by Jericho. And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done unto the Amorites.

And Moab was so afraid of the people because of them, there were so many. And Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel, and Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all around about us? As the ox licked up the grass of the field, and Balak the son of Zippor was the king of the Moabites at that time. This is verse 4 of Numbers chapter 22. Look what it says in verse 5. And he sent messengers. Therefore to Bilaam, the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me, come now.

Therefore I pray thee, and curse me these people. He called Bilaam to come to curse the people of Israel. Now I'm not going to read everything here, but as Bilaam comes, he asked God, should I curse these people? And you know what God said to him in verse twelve? God said unto Bilaam, he said, thou shalt not go with them, thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed. God told to Bilaam, Bilaam. You don't curse these people, they are blessed people, they are not perfect people, they are blessed people.

But you see, Balaam wanted to make a deal, he wanted to make money. So eventually we find out that Balaam's seeking to curse the people of Israel, and every time he opened his mouth to curse them, he end up blessing the people of Israel. If you just read, by the way, these four times that he took four parables, he sought to speak against Israel, and every time he opened his mouth, he end up blessing the people of Israel. He says in verse 8 of chapter 23, How can I curse whom God has not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the Lord has not defied?

And he end up blessing the people of Israel. Four times he sought to curse them, but it didn't work because God did not pronounce cursing on Israel. Now mind you, let me just say, Israel were not a perfect nation. Israel were many times disobedient to the God of our fathers. Israel was disciplined by God, but they were God's people. And God is the one who will discipline his people, and he will not allow others to curse them. So you know what happened. We don't read it in the Old Testament, by the way. We only read it in the New Testament. That Balaam, what he did, because he could not curse the people of Israel, what did he do? He taught Balak to do something that would help the people of Israel to be punished by their own God.

And that's what we read here in the book of Revelation chapter two and verse fourteen we read, There are some people among you there that have the doctrine of Balaam. And what is the doctrine of Balaam? That he taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things which have been sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. So what do you think Balaam did? He taught Balak to do something that will succeed in causing the people of Israel to stumble and to be disciplined by God. By the time we get to the book of Numbers chapter twenty five, what did Balak do? He paraded before the children of Israel all the good looking women of Moab. And when the men from among the people of Israel look at the women of the Moabites, they get attracted to them, and they end up marrying them and committing both physical fornication and also spiritual fornication.

They end up to have sexual immorality, but more than just that, they end up to worship a false gods. Look at Numbers chapter 25, look at verse 1, 2, and 3 of Numbers chapter 25. And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. You see? Verse 2, and they called the people unto the sacrifice of their gods, and the people did eat and bow down to their gods, and Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. Beloved, listen to that. What is the lesson for us here in this particular passage? This wicked prophet, false prophet, have told the people of Israel, I should say he told the king of Moab to set before Israel a stumbling block. And what did he do? He caused him to parade the daughters of Moab. And the daughter of Moab says, come, come have some good time.

And you can have what you want, you'll have a lot of pleasure. And you know what? It was attractive to them. And they have gone out, as we read here, they commit hudam with the daughters of Moab, and eventually they did not only commit physical fornication, they end up to worship the gods. Of Moab. And what we read in verse two of chapter twenty five, they called the people to the sacrifice of their gods. And the people did eat and bow to their gods. And instead of worshipping the only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they end up to worship the gods of the Moabites. Now, very similar to that, in a different way, in a very crafty way, happened to the local assembly of Pergamos.

And what happened, there were individuals in the midst of this local assembly, which what we read, they have the same teaching that Bilaam had. You know, a little bit of Jesus, and a little bit of everything around, you see? And there is Not only perhaps they didn't have physical fornication, but there is a lot of spiritual fornication. A mixture with that which is true and that which is false. And you see, you notice that Balak is the one that was taught by Balaam to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to commit that fornication.

Now, that's the condition that existed at that time. And it didn't only existed in the local assembly of Pergamos, but that's what happened, by the way, beloved brothers and sisters, in this period of time, where Constantine make the church and Christianity the religion of the world. And so everybody was a Christian, you see? Everything was a Christianity, you see? Everybody, you believe in Jesus or you don't believe or mix. Sure of everything.

And all of a sudden people that we never knew the Lord, all of a sudden became Christians. Professing, that is. Because we know, in reality, that God knows the hearts, and salvation is only by faith in Yeshua the Messiah. No one can sneak in unaware, but this was the condition that existed without. That is the condition, the professing condition that existed in this particular time. The doctrine of Bilaam. And by the way, Bilaam is mentioned a few times in the scripture. In, if you just for a moment turn to Jude one more time, and notice in verse 11, just one page back, in verse 11, not only that we hear of the doctrine of Bilaam, we also hear of the error of Bilaam. In verse 11 of Jude, Jude verse 11, Woe unto them, for they have gone in the ways of Cain. They have ran greedily after the error of Balaam.

The greediness of Balaam for a reward. You see, he wanted a reward. This Balaam is found more than once, twice, three times in the New Covenant because there was not only the doctrine of Balaam and not only even the error of Balaam. You know what, if you go back to 1 Peter, one more verse, 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 5 says this, listen what it says about Balaam, the way of Balaam, it says in verse 15 of 2 Peter chapter 2, which have forsaken the right way and gone astray and they follow the way of Balaam. We have the way of Balaam. We have the error of Balaam. We have the doctrine of Balaam.

And that's the way that was against the will of the Lord. And so apparently In this particular local assembly of Pergamos, there were those that have been teaching the doctrine of Bilaam. And he has, the Lord is warning this local church at Pergamos, he says, you be careful, I have this against you. I am telling you, set it aside. You can't allow those who teach the doctrine of Bilaam to remain in your midst, unless they confess it and repent of it, and change their ways, and change their teaching. So he taught Balak to cast this stumbling block before the people of God. And you know, beloved, today, isn't it amazing how many excuses we hear today, even in this period of time of church history? You know, especially today, in which we live in, today homosexuality is being allowed.

And today all kind of people live together without getting married. All kind of things is being allowed and we people condone it. He says what can we do? I mean that's the way it is. But the Bible teach otherwise. The Bible does not condone it. God condemn it. We need to repent of it and we need to ask the Lord, Lord I change my ways. I want you to help me. I confess it before you. And then the Lord can bless and restore. But that's what existed in this particular time.

Notice the next verse. Not only remember we said the first problem number one was the teaching of Balaam but here's the second thing is the teaching of the Nicolaitans in the next verse. He said so has thou also notice in addition to those that are teaching the doctrine of Balaam you also have those who hold to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate he says. By the way, this is the second time he says about this Nicolaitans. Again, we do not know what kind of a group of people they must have been, but we know this is the group that is the ruler over the people. The Nicolaitans come from the word laity and clergy and all the separation between the clergy and the laity. And he says, by the way, you notice here, he talks about the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. In verse 6, he says the deeds of the Nicolaitans. Some who have held to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

And what does that do? That only promote the separation between the clergy and the laity as if they is an elevated group of people that are to be elevated, separated from the ordinary people of God. But the Bible doesn't teach us this. The Bible teaches of the Of all believers. The Bible teaches that every person is just as near to the Lord as the other.

But he sees here those who taught the doctrine of the Nicolaitan. And beloved, this thing the Lord Jesus says, I hate. He doesn't ever want us, and I think we must, not think, I'm sure we need to get a hold down deep in our hearts the importance of understanding that there is no superiority in the body of Messiah. The body of Messiah composed of believers from every people, tongues, and nations.

And that each and every one of us is just as important in the body of Messiah. He gave us gifts, yes. There are those that have the gifts as teachers and pastoral responsibility and evangelization and all kind of gifts. But the gifts are not to elevate a person, but a gift is to cause a person to say, Lord, how can I use this gift for the benefit of the people of God and for your honor and for your glory? Use me, O Lord, with the gift that you have given to me, and help me to be humble before you, so I will recognize that everything that have been given to me, given to me from you. And that's what he's saying, the accusation that he has against this local assembly. And the twofold, as we have mentioned, the doctrine of Balaam that some held, and the doctrine of the Nicolaitan, which he hated.

So now, in the next verse, notice, in verse 16, he gives them an exhortation. Every letter, he gives the destination is the local assembly, the one that writes is the one, the glorified Messiah from heaven, then he give a commendation. Then he give a condemnation, and then he give an exaltation. Now, by the way, to the church of Smyrna, there was no condemnation. There was nothing to say bad about them. The suffering church, they have suffered so much, he didn't condemn them. They didn't elevate themselves. They didn't have any issues that others had. But here in Pergamos, by the time that the Pergamos age have come, things like that have crept in. The church became married to the world, and they have allowed all kind of things to creep in. There was no longer separation from the world. And then he had to condemn them, and then he give them a warning. In verse sixteen, he give them the warning.

And he notice what he tell them. He tell them, repent, or else. Repent, or else I will come unto you quickly, and I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He's saying to this local assembly, he says, you know, you better repent. If you are not going to repent, he says, I'm going to come and I'm going to fight with you against those with the sword of my mouth.

You know, he is promising to fight against those that have those two things, the doctrine of Balaam as the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. He says, you better repent. And by the way, repentance is a turning around completely, 180 degrees, to recognize before the Lord that, yes, I may have practiced this, yes, I may have done that, yes, I have even believed it in the past, but I repent before you, Lord, and I confess that.

That your word is right, and I don't want to associate with the doctrine of Balaam. I don't want anything to do with the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which you hate. Lord, I repent. And here is that warning. He says, repent, or else I will come unto thee. And you notice that he end up to give them this warning. He says, I am going to come, and I will end up fighting against them with the sword of my mouth. They speak about judgment.

They speak about judgment. And here is the Lord from heaven giving this warning to those particular individuals that judgment is going to come, and there must be a need to do those correction in the local assembly. In the book of 1 Peter, we read in chapter 4, judgment must begin at the house of God. It's very easy to talk about somebody else.

It's very easy to correct. Anybody else when we don't correct our very local area, a very small area. And that's what the Lord is giving the warning. He says, you better repent, he says, because otherwise I'm going to come to you and I'm going to fight against you with the sword of my mouth. And you know, beloved, it's sad, it's really sad. But today in which we live in, there is all kind of churches that allow all kind of, and I'm saying churches in a quotation, I'm professing churches that allow all kind of things to go on, on one name called love, you know, because we love everybody, so we're going to allow everything to happen and everything is right, we condone everything, everything is okay. Because Jesus loves me, you see, he will not judge me, he will not discipline me, because he's love, he died for me.

Well, you read in the Bible, in the book of Hebrews, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourges every son whom he has received. It is so much better to be corrected by the Lord, to confess before Him our weakness and our failure, and that He will correct us, than to allow things to go just like that and never have the blessing of the Lord upon the people of God. And so now, quickly, here he is giving them a promise in the last verse here that we have read in verse 17, and you notice the promise is a threefold promise.

Three things he's telling them in verse 17, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He speak to an individual, he, but the Spirit saying it unto all the churches, it's to everyone. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, and now notice, to him that overcome, I will give him number one, to eat of the hidden manna. Number two, I will give him a white stone. Number three, it says that in that stone there will be a new name written which no man knoweth except he that receiveth this. You notice those three things? Number one, he says the one that will overcome and will stand for these things. He says number one, he is going to give him to eat from the hidden manna.

And what is the manna? The Hebrew word for manna is the bread that God had provided for the people of Israel. When Israel, our own people, came out of Egypt, God had provided our people manna in the wilderness. And this manna is a picture of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He is the one that came from heaven. He is the bread that came down from heaven that we read in John chapter 6. The people who will stand, the people that will overcome, the person that will overcome, he promised to give him the food, to give him spiritual food, to be nourished with the person of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. That's number one. Number two, he's going to give him that white stone. And the white stone, if a person being acquitted, he receiving a white stone, if he had been charged as guilty, he will receive a black stone. So the white stone which speak to us of a person that had been accepted by God.

And God will not need to discipline this particular person. And number three, in verse seventeen, and I will give him a new name. And the new name would speak to us of the approval that one receive from the Lord. And you remember Abraham whose name was changed from Avram to Avraham. Jacob, his name was changed from Yaakov to Yisrael. And the thought there is not that there is loss in anything, but there is a gain, that new name would speak to us of an approval by God, of a blessing by God. And that's what the Lord Yeshua the Messiah had promised to those who overcome the condition of the Church of Pergamos.

Now, what is the conclusion? What is the lesson that we learn from that particular church? We learn that sometime we need to realize of the importance of not to have religious compromise. You know, we sometimes compromise. We compromise to make things easy. You know, we allow things, we agree with things just to make things easy. And those particular people, when they suffered in the beginning and they were fleeing, now they have been accepted, and everything is fine. You know, you just come and be mingle with us, and everything gonna be fine.

Well, religious compromise is very serious. And the lesson that we learn from the Church of Pergamos, or from the letter to the Church of Pergamos, is the necessity not to have religious compromise. We are to stand on the A, B, C of the Word of God. We cannot change certain things. We cannot change. That's what the Lord has given to us in Scripture. We might fail into certain conditions such as this, but if we do, We should confess it and say, Lord, I confess that I failed before thee. I repent of it, and I want to change, and I want to continue to go in a direction that is pleasing unto thee.

And that is the lesson that we learn from the letter that had been written to the Church of Pergamos. May the Lord help us and set our affection on Yeshua, and He is able to lead us on and to move us in a way that is pleasing to God. Can we say amen to that?