From Him Who Has the Sharp Two-Edged Sword
Revelation 2:12-17
May 17, 2020
Abraham Hong
Sermon Script
So this is Jesus’ letter to the church in Pergamum. It is a letter that provided beautiful encouragement. And it is a letter that called for serious repentance. This was exactly what they needed. Because the church in Pergamum was going through a lot.
We are going through a lot right now as well. This coronavirus pandemic has been like a really bad dream. But our Lord Jesus Christ is giving us a wake-up call. Because of his love and his grace, he wants us to be encouraged during this time. And because of his love and his grace, he wants us to repent today. Encouragement and repentance. This is what Jesus had in store for his people in the church in Pergamum. And this is what Jesus has in store for us here at Highland.
So let us listen to the Lord. I’m excited to share with you three things that Jesus wants to say to us today. Let us hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The first thing that Jesus says here to his church is this. False teaching can be sneaky and stealthy and secretive. We need to watch out for it. And we must not tolerate it or make compromises with it.
The church in Pergamum was pretty good at handling false teaching that was easy to spot and open and public. Their city was a place full of idolatry to false gods. It was a town dedicated to the cult worship of Rome. And John said that Satan dwelled there, that his throne was there. All of this was false teaching that was fairly easy to spot, pretty open, and very public. And the believers in Pergamum did well with it. Jesus commended their church for holding fast to his name and not denying him when it came to this kind of false teaching.
But there was another kind of false teaching that was sneaky, stealthy, and secretive. And the church in Pergamum did not see it coming. There were members in the church who held to the teachings of Balaam and the teaching of the Nicolaitans. We don’t know much about the Nicolaitans, but we do know a lot about Balaam.
After God brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, Israel was attacked by the foreign nations of the world. This was their wilderness. But they were able to fend off all the attacks. They kept winning.
One foreign king saw this and he was determined to make sure that his nation would not suffer the same fate. So in Numbers 22, this king asked for help from a false mercenary-for-hire prophet named Balaam. The king paid Balaam to declare curses upon Israel with the hope that Israel would be defeated.
But whenever Balaam opened his mouth to curse Israel, God made it so that Balaam’s words were only blessings upon Israel. Balaam and the king went at this four times in a row, and every time they tried to curse Israel, the same thing happened. Balaam couldn’t help it and the king couldn’t believe it.
So after all of that, Balaam gave the king a suggestion. And this suggestion, this teaching, made Balaam famous in the Bible. Famous in a bad way.
Balaam offered the king a more sneaky, stealthy, and secretive approach to defeating Israel. The false prophet instructed the king to seduce the men of Israel into marrying the women of his own land. The idea was that if the king could lure Israel into sexual immorality, if the king could lure Israel into his world and into the ways of his nation and into the idols that his people worshipped, then Israel would eventually turn away from God and God would eventually turn away from Israel. This was Balaam’s teaching. Fighting Israel with an army would be too easy to spot, too open, too public. Instead, let Israel crumble slowly but surely from within. This was Balaam’s instruction. Defeat Israel with this sneaky, stealthy, and secretive approach.
And so the king followed Balaam’s teaching. The king’s name was Balak. And sadly, Balak and Balaam’s plan worked. The men of Israel ended up marrying the foreign women of the enemy king. And at the end of the day 24,000 of them died because of it. This was Balaam’s teaching. Balaam taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
Balaam became a big deal and his legacy lived on. Before Moses died and before Joshua died, both of them reminded Israel about what Balaam did to them in the past and both of them warned Israel against Balaam’s false teaching. And in the New Testament, in the book of Jude and in the entire second chapter of 2 Peter, Balaam is the face and the figurehead of false teaching.
And Balaam’s teaching was happening in the church in Pergamum.
This is so sad. The church in Pergamum held fast to Jesus’ name outside in the city… where the throne room of Satan was. But they struggled with false teaching and sexual immorality inside the church and inside their hearts and minds… where the throne room of Christ was. They did not deny Jesus in matters that were easy to spot and open and public. But they did deny Jesus in matters that were sneaky, stealthy, and secretive. And so, Jesus had this against them.
How could this have happened? How can a church be good at defending against the frontal attack of idolatry and persecution from outside forces but not be good at defending against the subtle attack of false teaching and sexual immorality from forces within? How can a church hold fast to Jesus and yet also eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality? Whenever we read about scandal in the church in America today, we ask this question about others. And whenever we think about our own personal sin and failure and contradiction and hypocrisy, we ask this question about ourselves. How does this happen?
The answer is this. The whole point of this kind of false teaching is so that the church can have an easier time in this old and fading world. This kind of false teaching happens when Christians want to go along to get along. When believers want to fit in and not stick out. When we want to alleviate all the pressures and conflicts that come with being a Christian and when we just want to conform to this old and fading world.
False teaching says that it’s okay for us to party like the rest of the world. It teaches us that it’s okay for us to laugh at sexual jokes. It teaches us that it’s okay for us to go along with dishonest business practices. It teaches us that it’s okay for us to tolerate sin. The bottom line is that we want to be accepted by others. We want to have fellowship and community with the citizens of this world. We want our lives to be nice here. This is, at the end of the day, the beauty and the glory and the power of false teaching.
But our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is our Good Shepherd. He reminded the church in Pergamum back then, and he reminds our church behind the gas station today, that we should listen to him. We should listen to his true teaching. And, at the end of the day, our Lord is saying to us that this old and fading world is not all that it’s cracked up to be. Our Lord says that his kingdom, his world, his world that is to come, is the real deal worth waiting for. This is the second thing that Jesus says here to his church.
On Sunday, June 1, 1997, the Chicago Bulls played the Utah Jazz in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. At the end of the game, with just 9.2 seconds left on the clock, and with a chance to secure the win for Utah, Karl Anthony Malone, player #32 on the Jazz, stepped up the free throw line to shoot two. Karl was playing really well up to that point. He was delivering. His nickname was famous. They called him “The Mailman.” Because he delivered.
But right before Karl took his first shot, player #33 on the Bulls, Scotty Maurice Pippen, brushed by Karl’s side and whispered six words into Karl’s ear, six words that became perhaps the single greatest line of trash talk in all of sports history. On Sunday, June 1, 1997, Scottie said to Karl: “The mailman doesn’t deliver on Sundays.” The mailman don’t deliver on Sunday!
Karl went on to miss both of his free throw shots. Michael Jordan went on to hit the game winning shot. And the rest, according to ESPN’s The Last Dance, is history.
Dear Highland, listen up. This world may seem great. This world might feel like a nice place to live. But when it really matters, when the game is on the line, this world will always miss its free throws. Because this world cannot deliver. This world has no answer to sin. This world has no answer to the second death.
But Jesus does. Jesus lived and died and rose again and defeated sin and death. Jesus delivered on a Sunday. And what did we receive from him on that first Lord’s Day? We received a future in which we can now finally, so to speak, “get along” with the Father. We received a wonderful people and a wonderful place in which we can fit in and not stick out. We received a conformity to the perfect Son, Jesus Christ.
You received a ticket to the party of parties, the marriage supper of the Lamb. You will enjoy fellowship and community with the citizens of the new heavens and the new earth. You have a far better life waiting for you after the first death and after Jesus comes back. You will see Christ face to face and you will enjoy your God forever. This is the beauty and the glory and the power of the true teaching of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This is why Jesus told the church in Pergamum that he will give them hidden manna and a white stone with a new name written on it. The hidden manna refers to a special portion of manna that was kept in a special jar that was to be placed inside of a special room in the Old Testament temple of God. And the stone with the name on it is refers to a special garment that a special priest wore in that special room in the Old Testament temple of God. And on that special garment were twelve stones that signified the twelve tribes of Israel.
When Jesus says that he will give you a special manna and a special stone, he is basically saying this to you. He is saying that you are with him and that he is with you. He is saying that you have communion with him. That your relationship with him, your friendship with him, is so close that it’s like you have VIP access in the Old Testament temple. It’s like you are right there where the special hidden manna is. It’s like you are right there were the special priest walks with the special stones of Israel.
Except you’re not. Because Jesus is speaking metaphorically here. Because you have what is infinitely better than manna or stone. You have the true bread of life, which is Jesus Christ. And as your Great High Priest, Jesus has a personal connection with you. It’s so personal that no one knows the new name written on your stone except you and Jesus.
This old and fading world is not what it’s all cracked up to be. The world that is to come, the kingdom of God, the beautiful fellowship that we are going to have with Jesus in eternity - all of this is the real deal worth waiting for.
All of this is such good news. And all of this ought to bring us to profound repentance. Jesus called the church in Pergamum to repent. And Jesus calls us to repent as well.
Dear Highland, let us repent of false teaching that is in our lives and let us repent of how we like this old and fading world more than we like the world that is to come. Please examine yourself and consider the possibility that you have fallen for schemes that are sneaky, stealthy, and secretive. Think carefully here and be honest. Jesus knows.
Perhaps you have been a Christian for a long time, but along the way you have allowed compromise and tolerance and acceptance of certain sins. Perhaps you had the good intention of being in the world, but you sacrificed certain things and now you are of the world. Perhaps some of you are into sexual immorality. Perhaps some of you have deep, serious idolatry in your life. Perhaps some of you have become too cozy with the culture. And perhaps you don’t even know it.
If so, why Highland do you fall for such things when Jesus offers you what is far better? You have the presence of Christ. You are united with him. You cannot love Jesus and also love the world at the same time. You are holy. You are different from the world.
Highland, don’t fall for this world. I know that you want to participate in the feast of the world. But the feast of the world is really a trap. It is like the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones. Don’t fall for this world. Stay the course, good pilgrim. Let us repent.
If not, if we do not repent, then Jesus will make war himself. Jesus said to the church in Pergamum, “Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.” The sword of his mouth is his written word in the Bible. This is profound. Jesus protects his church with his word, with the sword of his mouth. Jesus does not protect his church with his sword, that is, with the sword of his hand. Jesus governs and protects his church with his word.
We have to remember this, especially as we go through this coronavirus pandemic. When Antipas died, it would have been easy to think that Jesus did a lousy job protecting his church. It is true that Jesus did not provide a sword for Antipas. But Jesus’ power is not about physical weapons of this world. Jesus’ power is all about spiritual weapons of the world that is to come. Jesus loves and Jesus protects and Jesus disciplines and Jesus grows his church with his word. Remember, it was not ultimately David’s stone that killed the Philistine. It was actually David’s words, or to be more precise, the word of the Lord, that truly ended the enemy. And for us as a church, the Lord will keep our church intact with his word. He is, according to the beginning of today’s text, the one who has the sharp two-edged sword.
This brings us to the third and final thing that Jesus says here to his church. Jesus cares. Jesus goes to war for his church. He defends his church. He deals with false teaching and sexual immorality and idolatry and sin. And this coronavirus time is a golden opportunity for us to reflect and think about our lives now and repent of sin and stop the compromise and the worldliness that has crept in - in such a sneaky, stealthily, and secretive way.
Brother, sister, if Jesus is disciplining you now, then please remember that he disciplines you because he loves you. Jesus loves you. He wants to grow you and change you. He wants you to draw nearer to him now. He is calling you back today. It’s a new week. This is the Lord’s Day. Jesus is leading you away from this old and fading world and toward a better world that is to come. Jesus loves you. And he is speaking to you now. Let us ask the Lord to discipline us and love us with his word, with the sword of the Spirit. Let us strive for true teaching. Let us strive for sexual morality. Let us have no other gods or idols before Jesus.
Highland, hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Hear the words of the one who has the sharp two-edged sword. And remember that he who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” And so we say: Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Soli Deo Gloria