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
your eyes there at verse 12 of Revelation chapter 2.
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
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
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
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
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
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.