Dear Pergamum | The Compromising Church | Dear Church 04 (Revelation Series)

Jesus took time and made important statements to the seven Asia Minor churches in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3. What can we learn from these messages? Are these literal or symbolic churches? What can the modern day churches learn from Jesus' words? All this and more is clearly explained in this verse by verse study through chapters 1, 2, and 3 by Pastor Jesse Martinez of Calvary Community Church in Tampa. Get your bible and a notepad! There is much to uncover in this expository study.

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let's take our Bibles and we're going to get right into it I've got a little background I want to give you about the
city that we're studying we're in Revelation chapter two we're going to look at verses 12 through 17
this morning there's a portion of the sermon today where I'm going to be we're
going to be going through verses a little quickly but I do want to make
sure we turn there take our time because I've been told that many of you are taking notes and I want to make sure
that I'm not going too quickly it's actually something I'm trying to work on is speak a little bit slower because
sometimes my brain gets way ahead of my mouth and then I say things like I'll give you an example okay I was recording
for our Bible line Channel okay and sometimes it's a good day and we call
those one take days where I can do the intro I can nail all the like comments
subscribe share hit that button notification Bell go through all the stuff that I have to say about the Bible
and it's a one take it's clean and sometimes we only have to do like three takes and it's one take per video and
then there's things there's days where I say things like this hi welcome to Bible lion my name is Messi jartines
thank you and you're like what just happened you know
it's pretty it gets pretty rough in that studio sometimes those are multiple takes and it you know
the filming session can go from you know 30 to 40 minutes to almost an hour and a half sometimes but uh I want to make
sure that we take our time this morning but I want to be respectful of your time too I think this is a very important series The reason why it's important is
because Jesus is talking to real cities here real churches real ministers and it's
very wonderful that we can look back on history and see what was going on in Ephesus what was it like in Smyrna and
today we're going to look at pergamum it's called pergamus in the scripture but it's uh more commonly known as pergamum what what was going on in these
cities was there anything that we can draw from it is there any kind of thing that Jesus mentioned that we can
actually see was a real thing because you know there's a lot of people that don't think that Jesus was real
a lot of people that think that when he died he died and he stayed dead well the fact that he's speaking very
specifically about things in these cities I mean it proves his deity
and it proves how much he knows about the culture in which the Believers the
bot his body uh the the church where they're located he knows all about it and we can see different Church ages and
we're going to be dealing with the age right now which is after Constantine's declaration that the whole world would
be Christian what this did was it you know we moved from Ephesus the early church which was a doctrinally
sound church but they didn't love people they left their first love in that they started with the gospel but they moved
off of it and got into more about Doctrine and rightly dividing and things like that and they left the gospel out
and Jesus corrects them hey get back to what you were first drawn in with
which is Jesus is saying that's me that's my shed blood that's my resurrection get back to that
then we move into the next age which was the age of persecution in which I mean countless Christians died in this
age in which the Church of Smyrna is written to and they had no correction
from Jesus in fact they were commended to stay strong and to finish strong and
those who overcome there's a promise for you and of course we understand how wonderful it is at the end of each one
of these addresses Jesus opens it up to anybody who wants to hear what I have said to these churches and so we've been
able to apply you know from Revelation Chapter 2 early on we see that we're gonna well those
who overcome are going to eat at a tree of life we're going to be in the midst of paradise with God and then at in
verse 11 he says he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death and we talked about the difference
between the first death and the second death and all those different things and now we can see Jesus is now writing to
the church at pergamum and this is as the title underneath tells you this is the compromising church and when you
understand the city that they were located in you can see why it was so easy for them to compromise and what compromise is it
is is it is lacks on the truth it is lacks on standards okay this is how we
can see that in our lives today you know you have structure when you're coming out of high school you're supposed to
have structure and they you know they're supposedly preparing you for the world but then you get into the world and many
times people begin to loosen their standards now they have their own car now they're able to live on their own they're able to go and experience the
world so what does the world say is the first thing you should do when you're of age and you're 21 well you go to the
strip clubs and you go gambling and you go drinking and people go and do those things thinking it's a rite of passage
and they they actually continue to bring those things into their lives to where
what they thought was something they would stand for they've actually made a compromise on they no longer stand for
that thing and the church that we're talking to today is a body of believers who were
right in the middle of a very religious cult
it was it was just a hyper activity ground it was so dense with stuff and I've got some slides I'm going to show
you of early drawings and things like that of what this city would have looked like but I want to read you a background
first so as we're going through the background just draw your attention up there on the screens and I'll have some pictures there for you pergamum which is
modern day uh bergamma it laid about 55 miles north of Smyrna Inland a few miles
from the Aegean Coast now this is this is important because the two cities we've talked about previously Ephesus
and Smyrna these were port cities okay so we saw the beautiful Port of Smyrna
last week it's modern day Izmir today about 200 000 people reside there we saw
Ephesus and their grand Coliseum that they had where they would have a stadium and it was well known for the fact that
someone could stand right in the middle and be able to project their voice to where all could hear it was designed to
be acoustically high-tech at that time but Ephesus was a port city so there was
a lot of trade going on there was a lot of people coming in selling stuff and there's a lot of immorality going on and
the introduction to religious cults the difference here with pergamum is it's not on the coast it's actually Inland
okay so if you look up here on the screen you've got Smyrna right there and
then if you go Inland and uh commentaries are saying it's about 55 miles uh North and you're going Inland
from the Aegean Coast you're going to get to this little city and it's it's literally on a hill
I mean you've got to make sure that you take effort to get there the meaning of the name pergamum is
Citadel it also has different meanings like marriage and different things like that the town was noteworthy for three
reasons if you're taking notes here it was noteworthy for these three reasons number one it was the center of many
Pagan religious cults particularly Emperor worship was more intense there than in any other surrounding City
number two it boasted a university with the second largest library at that time
about 200 000 books were in this Library third it was the leader and center of
the production of parchment so if you're produ I mean that would be like Silicon Valley today you know all
the technology that comes out of Silicon Valley I mean we're using that technology today it Powers my iPad it
Powers these projectors the people who are tuning in from all over the world right now they're being able to be
powered by that technology I mean at this at their time if you have the ability to provide literally paper for
people to write on and you had the largest library and you had all this intellectual wisdom with all these
different gods in their temples and their religious cults boy you were the place to go for the student
for the student to learn about the world and all the flowery things of life and these different gods and you're going to
go to pergamum and many people traveled there and it was a part of uh their
their education the next thing I want you to see here this is a recreation by a German artist here I want to point out
just a couple of things this is the main Meeting Hall okay so to speak uh people would go there and you do a lot of
buying and selling there would be a lot of discussion there would be a lot of backdoor deals made right here and at
this is the lower Acropolis or or city part and then you would travel upwards
and the library was up here the University was up here healing Spas all these different things
there one of the things that pergamon was known for was their great Healing
Spa and this is where at that time it would have been considered modern medicine this is where that modern
medicine was conducted I want to read you a couple of things about a specific character that they worshiped I finally
got his name down asclepius I sat in front of Google translate yesterday and let that thing say it 50 times to me to
where I woke up in the middle of the night and I said the eclepius okay but I want I want you to see here uh
this is a drawing of like if we were to have a drone and we were to go over top of it you could kind of see how
everything was spaced out you've got these different palaces which are just large uh areas and they all have
different uh purposes you have a theater here um I had another drawing but it just
didn't it was too blurry and if I used it in the right size it would be like literally the size of my thumb so you
wouldn't be able to see it but if this is the this uh tan area here represents
the top of the mountain so to speak the the plane level and then there's this
big theater here and you can see it went up about one two three stories tall and
it's one of those really sheer drops um if you've seen those before and they had
a bunch of people that would wait down here and there was a temple all right to dionis and that is the the woman that's
been popping her head up everywhere okay she was everywhere she's an Ephesus she had her camp in Smyrna she had her place
in pergamum for sure you you can see here there's actually a large foundational area that was set out just
as a temple of sacrifice for Zeus I mean that's a major area you had shops
here if you wanted to get your little uh you know statues and stuff and Jesse they did that yeah read it read Acts
there was a guy who specifically made those little souvenir models and he got pretty upset because of the Christians
coming in there and doing all their different Jesus discussions and so as you continue to go around here you see
that there was a rotunda and there was a sculpture in there to the dying Gall that was a Roman God you have a
sanctuary of the river cult this is where we're going to kind of study today this is where asclepius had his his
Healing Temple okay let's let's take a look at our uh main dude number one today there he is what a handsome man
right this is the god of sleepius and I want you to notice something very unique about our fellow uh guy up here right
here he's got a serpent and it's on a pole right now that's carried in the medicine today and this
was you know you you can see the first instance of this was used by God when he
instructed Moses to put the serpent on the pole and Israel would look and you drive you see an ambulance drive by
today you still you see that at one point I knew what that was called and I forgot my uncle had told me and he's thinking right now don't forget but I
forgot uh and then and then you you take a look here and there's that pole and there's the
serpent oftentimes if the city had more wealth when they built this statue they
would actually build the Statue only as a serpent
coincidence I mean when you see what Jesus says today if you're excited about end times
if you're excited about the accuracy of the scripture you're going to be hooting and hollering right along with me I mean
I was studying this yesterday before I knew it was like five hours had gone by it's just you're so deep into this to
see exactly what Jesus addressed what's happening in this city and what was happening is the Believers were getting
on board with it they're bringing it into the church it ought not be that way
so as they would uh do their ritualistic healing they would be worshiping to this
God okay and he's not a god at all it's a demonic entity to get people to think
that he has any kind of power over death or illness or any kind of cure would you
be shocked if I told you today those remains are still there what you're looking at right there is the sacred way
this is what people would walk down to get to the main area okay now imagine
this with much more pillars and much more ornate marble all that different kind of stuff
it would go into here and they would go through a healing process and you see this area right back here
they don't tell you this but as we learned more information that's where they would throw out the Dead who were not able to be healed
okay wow okay notice front door back door you understand family hello
they get them out okay it didn't work we got to keep up the shenanigans we got to keep up the parade I want to read this
to you here I was doing a lot of research yesterday and uh I came across some stuff and some
commentaries and then I also came across a modern website the last time it was updated was 2022 last month but they had
made an inscription about this place people still travel there today to get their healing
listen to this pergamum had a world famous Healing Center a pagan ritualistic Temple dedicated to
asclepius the god of healing he was known for having listened closely
he was known for having the power to raise people from the dead that's what his little origin story was all about
um he was he was believed to manifest as a serpent because of how snakes shed
their outer skin okay we know that's a front the reason why he looks like a serpent is because the devil is
described that way and isn't it interesting the Antichrist is going to suffer a deadly wound
and then come back who was the only one who came back from
the dead on his own power who is the only one that can bring everlasting life do you think it's a coincidence that the
devil is trying to do everything that he can to put a counterfeit up that says to do the same thing that Jesus said
asclepius statues often depicted him with the serpent of some sort or possibly if the city had more wealth an
entire serpent was there in place of a human body here's how these temples would operate patients approach The Healing Temple via
the sacred way okay these are the remains of the Sacred way and it was a path that started their journey to
health I'm reading directly from this website who they you know they just made a travel this year to go see this and get healed okay an underground passage
led to it so that the patients went down a short flight of steps into a tunnel okay now the tunnel's gone now but you
can see where those steps were and it was believed that there was a Archway right here and there were holes that
would come you know there were holes that were drilled through so as to create this kind of you know light shining through the darkness and you're
walking into this healing places and there would be guess what prostitutes there showing themselves off offering
them to these people as an opportunity for them to get well and they're beckoning to them and they bring them in
so this is open now but at the time it was covered all right so you're descending in and now you're going to be
coming into this area here all right here's what it says an underground passage led to it so that
the patients went down a short flight of steps into a tunnel cubicles were located on either side where they collected your health insurance card I'm
just kidding I just think it's funny they said cubicles is like
uh cubicles were located on either side of the passage and patients spent the night there so it was required for you
to stay there for a night in the morning they would tell their dreams to the priests
commonly and and they they say today now known as doctors this is this is interesting you study
that word pharmacia and it's translated uh in the in the Bible as wicked or rebellious I'm
not saying doctors that practice medicine today are practicing witchcraft but let me say
very boldly there are doctors who are doing that I have met two people in my life who have gone through serious health
conditions who went to a witch doctor who pushed a plant-based diet
who pushed crystals did you know right now you can go to New Age stores and buy crystals that have the spirit of
asclepius infused in them it's 2022. yet some of us are still
asleep at the wheel some of us still think we're all good everything's great we live in America guys it's here it's here
already so in the morning they would tell their dreams to the priests and doctors to facilitate the diagnosis of their
disease the patients then ascended to the temple as we see here the ruins of that Temple and which had a circular
shape so that they could walk in a never-ending procession the pillars supporting the vaults had individual
tubs for bathing treatments included Psychotherapy which is a translation for prostitution
massage herbal Herbal Remedies mud and bathing treatments surgeries and the drinking of
water here I have some water right you're fine just have some water not
from the hose though which were prescribed according to what the dreams the patients had experienced it was
believed that the dreams recounted a visit by The God escalpius Who would
heal all of their illness because he held the key to uh to curing all illness there was even the theater at the
escalapon can you imagine what that is to entertain the patients who would often stay for weeks all of this was
done in the belief that healing was it was a sacred art and that people's Souls needed to be mended as well as their
bodies you know what our souls do need to be taken care of it's not in a temple
it's not through massage therapy or you know a little
inappropriate dancing and getting high and drinking water that's not how we get healing we get
healing through Jesus Christ amen but this is where these Believers were they were living in this place
this website Ends by saying thousands of people still travel to a sleepy on every year in the hopes of being healed
tradition says that the ancient therapies based on both psychological and physical treatments were highly
successful in restoring health until you died and you had to be thrown out the back
which is right here notice it's a very fertile area of ground
interesting stuff right it's a nice background to see okay this is the city that we're dealing with all
right this is not we didn't make this up I've got the source material here now let's see what Jesus says what does he
say to the Believers who are right in this center it's the hot bed for a cult a hotbed for idol worship and Pagan
practices look there in verse 12. and to the angel of the church in
pergamus right these things saith he which hath the
sharp sword with two edges we need to take a note here if you've been paying attention you saw
an Ephesus he gave a very specific remark about his characteristics
he said I'm writing to you as the one who holds the Seven Stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the
seven candlesticks then in his address to Smyrna he said these things right the
first and the last which was dead and is alive I believe this is a reference of his
character so that the Believers in Smyrna knew I was once dead as you will die soon but because I am alive so will
you be alive so now he says to the compromising church he says this is the one who
speaks who has the sharp sword with two edges I'm going to study that
phrase you can make a note of John 1 14 the word of the uh and the Word was made
flesh and dwelt Among Us look in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12. hold your spot here in Revelation and
look in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12. it's not a coincidence that Jesus says
what he says about himself to the church at pergamum
Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12 for the word of God is quick and
powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit
and of the joints in Marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart now this is not just a
characteristic of the scripture this is the description of Jesus Christ himself and we can see that because of what he
said in verse 12 and Revelation chapter 2. when it says in John 1 14 that the word
was made flesh dwelt among us we cross-referenced that with the beginning in the beginning was the word and the
Word was with God and the Word was God you ask a Jehovah's witnessed that they've changed
that to the word was a God because they do not believe that Jesus Christ is God okay I believe he's God I believe when
he said I am my father are one that's exactly what he meant to say hello I think that's pretty clear and you know
what for a guy like me let's be clear so now we have the subscription in Hebrews 4 12 that says the
characteristic of the word is that it's sharp like a two-edged sword and it cuts through the things that we all think are
okay yo here's my truth let's put it to the test of scripture
look very quickly you can let Hebrews go and look at Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 4.
you might be familiar with this this passage we looked at Isaiah chapter 11 when we talked about the introduction to
the series about the seven spirits of the you know the seven spirits being
the Holy Spirit I think for reference this is on page 723 in a church Bible we need to read
the first three verses Isaiah chapter 11 and there shall come forth a rod out of
the stem of Jesse and a branch that's capital B Branch because we were talking about Jesus shall grow out of his roots
and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and
might the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the
Lord and he shall not judge after this the sight of his eyes neither reproved after the hearing of his ears but with
righteousness shall judge the poor and reprove with equity for the mink of the
earth when he shall Smite the Earth with the rod of his mouth
now I believe this is a prophetic looking forward to Jesus Christ he just said in Revelation Chapter 2 and
verse 12 these things to the church at pergamum comes the one who has the two-edged sword
now look in Revelation chapter 19 and we just saw there and I uh looking uh
Revelation 19 and verse 15. what we just saw there in Isaiah chapter
11 and verse 4 was a description of the branch that would come out of the stem
of Jesse through David was not going to judge with his sight or
with any kind of power and might but he's going to judge with the things that come out of his mouth that proceed out of his mouth Revelation chapter 19 in
verse 15 describe this about the Lord when he comes back the
second coming of the Lord and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword
that with it he should rule he should Smite the Nations and shall rule them with a rod of iron
and he treaded The Wine Press of the fierceness and Wrath of almighty God look in verse 21
and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse which sword proceedeth out of his mouth
and all the fowls were filled with their flesh now listen
I don't think that any of this is a coincidence that we see the mention in Isaiah 11 4
about Jesus Christ giving judgment through a rod of his mouth
we saw earlier in the series in Revelation 1 16 about the two-edged sword he holds that two-edged sword I
don't think it's an actual sword I think it's the words that he speaks
and we see that there in verse 15 out of his mouth goeth now look people would like we're not taking that literally and
that a sword comes out of his mouth it is the words that he speaks which has power those words will never pass away
that's why we should respect and and take care of our Bibles because this is not just a collection of writings of men
this is that sword we used to do this in Camp we called it
sword drills and it was funny because you said unsheath your stories and all the kids would go Shing you know it was
cute but the thing that's being taught there is it's a Biblical principle this is the sword of the Lord
and it's important for us to understand this is how we discern truth and error even the people who were in pergamum
they could do that but Jesus what is being taught here you can now go back to Revelation chapter 2.
we're there in verse 12. the the teaching here that we need to understand and what Jesus is trying to communicate
to this compromising church is I am the word of God Jesus is the word of God he is the one
who will bring judgment and righteousness by the word of his mouth can you imagine what it must have been
like to be a disciplined believer in pergamum and have that Temple operating every single night
and maybe even seeing Brothers and Sisters in Christ come out of that Temple or Christian Believers going into study
in these great libraries which are full of pagan Witchcraft and idolatry
how difficult that must have been how hard it must have been to stay faithful well no one else is doing it
why should I do it I think the point that Jesus is going to be making here shortly is you don't worry about that I'm going to take care of that because
I'm perfect I'm the one who's going to get everything right please just do what I've asked you to do and I'm coming
right alongside you I'm I'm in this with you verse 13 He says this
I Know Thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is can we look
back at that statue
are you excited I think it's pretty interesting and I believe this is literal I think that Satan was there in
this city I don't know if he was I don't think he was walking around with the body and stuff like that but he was running
operations out of that location he's the prince of the he he he's the prince of
and the ruler of the power and air of the Earth he has Authority down here he's doing
things he's not omnipresent so he's not in each one of your lives but let me tell you the things that he pushes and
promotes they're in your homes already you turn your TVs on and it's right there you're gonna drive home today you're
going to see some stuff advertised on billboards and and benches that are going to be inappropriate
oh no not me you know I'm I'm doing everything right you know I'm I'm sinless boy come tonight and we're going
to learn about the measure of Fellowship in first John don't be deceived that stuff is out
there I think right now it's my personal belief that the devil is working presently right now preparing that
Antichrist man and his false prophet and if you study the involvement of the
Catholic church in the disruption of the Bible of the King James Bible translation and stuff there's a great
book written um did the Catholic Church give us our Bible it's right up my alley because 100 of it
is pictures it's like a comic book boy I think I read 80 Pages last night
amazing stuff to see how involved the Catholic church was do you know when the Catholic Church came about right in this
age right in this age
I love people but let me tell you very clearly there's a lot of wickedness going on in the
Catholic Church and I wouldn't be surprised if Satan's seat right now is right there in the
Vatican City getting ready you see the stuff that's coming out of
there and the way that they have things structured and those particular sins that these people are found in it's not a coincidence
especially when you see and understand what Jesus is about to say to these people here but here's this God that was worshiped
he was probably the second most famous God in this city Zeus being number one
him being number two and then our girl Diana being number three so what does he say what does Jesus say
here I Know Thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is and thou hold
as fast my name and Hast not denied my faith even in those days where Antipas
this is the real person that we actually have a historical account that I'm going to share with you here anthropos was my faithful martyr who was
slain among you where Satan dwelleth I think the ruins that we're looking at
right here could have been exactly where Satan was conducting business and here's why I think it's I think it's given to
us in what Jesus says about this man Antipas being a martyr and then finding
out who this man Antipas was let's look at the historical record Antipas is said to have been a dentist
and a physician so he would have been right in line with stuff that was going
on with this he's probably a convert out of
the Cult of asclepius he probably came right out of it
he's a dentist and a physician but the followers of asclepius suspected that he
was propagating Christianity we know that to be true because Jesus commends him for being a faithful martyr
he died for the Lord he was propagating Christianity secretly and they accused
him of disloyalty to Caesar do you see the comparison here between what what what the Jewish leaders did with Jesus
they tried to get him to have a problem not within the Jewish Community but also
with the overruling government the Romans boys they did the same thing to Antipas
if he was really doing something bad they would have been able to easily get him but of course they said he was
disloyal to Caesar because a Christian believes that Jesus Christ is the Lord he is the king
we looked at polycarp in the age for Smyrna and how he was burned alive an 80
year old man burned alive because he would not recant and say that Caesar is
Lord listen to how Antipas met his end he was condemned to
death and was shut up in a copper bull which was then heated until it was red hot
interesting right in the same vicinity of this guy
right here I don't think it's outside of the reason of possibility to think that through
this kind of healing oh we're going to bring you back from the dead we're going to make you live forever
came this destruction of Believers and that's the first thing that the Lord mentions here he says I know your works
I know that you're doing well and I I even know this martyr that was slain among you where Satan dwelleth could it
be that he was here right in these little uh pictures that we've got here isn't it
interesting that people still go there today look at how well that cult has
translated throughout time it could be just some hipster guy on the internet too
who's just trying to look for something outside of what the Bible has already said why isn't it interesting to think
that this God existed or whatever he was in this form and operating with these people was the devil
and through that he was trying to rival what Jesus had already clearly said that he was the great physician
the devil wants to do everything opposite of What the Lord Has Done if you find a church or you find a pastor
or a podcast or a small small group or whatever and they say things contrary to what the Bible has already clearly said
you can know without a shadow of a doubt right there that is not of the Lord that is of the devil period
and you got to Mark and avoid those things otherwise you get into what is said in verse 14.
but Jesus says I have a few things against thee and he says them
specifically number one because thou Hast there them that hold to 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 there's four things that were just listed there now when he says the doctrine of Balaam
this is not that the line of Balaam was preserved all the way to the city here in pergamum what he's saying is the same
teaching that was pushed in Numbers chapter 25 and you can take note of that that's where we see this doctrine of
Balaam was promulgated that same Doctrine has creeped in to
where you are what is that Doctrine it's summarized it's it's uh described
in detail in Numbers chapter 25 but it can be summarized as this in order to get Israel to stumble before God and not
keep their promise to do all that the law had commanded them to do you introduce them to foreign women who
will seduce them and get them to participate in religious feasts which included sacred prostitution
that is exactly was the method that Balaam was going to use the moabite people
to take over Israel and how he was going to do that is he was going to send Temptation in
the men of Israel would sleep with these women they're now a part of their culture they bring along their practices
and their practices override what is what God has clearly said to do
that's what happened in numbers 25 so when Jesus says you're bringing in that same type of Doctrine here
he's saying very specifically that the church that was in pergamum these Believers were taking part in
those same ritualistic practices where else would something like that occur
but right there in that Temple interesting stuff
I want you to take your Bibles for a moment and look with me in Acts chapter 15 and verse 20.
hold your spot there in Revelation Acts chapter 15 and verse 20.
for some reason people have had a big problem with this passage as to say the
Jerusalem Council was promoting a works-based gospel
I wish we had time to go through this entire thing but if you remember Pastor Freddie Coyle came in the beginning of
the year and around that time he preached a message on James chapter 2 and instead
of telling you what it didn't mean he told you very plainly what it did mean and he went back in the book of Acts in
chapter 15 and he went through the discussion with Paul and Peter and James
and all those that were there as Paul was going to go out and reach the
Gentiles there was a warning of instruction that was given the gospel was all the same at no point did James
and the Jerusalem Council say we believe in the maintaining of the law you believe in grace go in peace we will go
in peace as a matter of fact Galatians Chapter 2 says Paul had the right hand of fellowship with the Jerusalem Council
you want to know what the right hand of Fellowship is it's a handshake it's an agreement they were in agreement with
what the gospel was there's no difference in the gospel however because
of the temple ritualistic Pagan practices that came with idol worship
there had to be instructions given to the Gentile so they could avoid those practices and not bring them into the
church what do you think those were look in verse 20 of chapter 15.
but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollution of idols and from
fornication and from things strangled and from blood each one of those were
found in the practices of the Cults in pergamum
what's the Gateway it's the fornication people are very easy to just give up
their bodies in that way that leads to the ritualistic worship to the eating
of animals that are not properly cooked but the blood stuff have you guys seen any of this stuff on
the Freemasons these Cults where they literally have a little Crystal Skull
and you know they they oh they pour red wax through it as to symbolize up
yeah that's a symbol but that stuff is really happening bloodletting was an early medical
practice thinking that that was how someone was cured that's how George Washington you know
Departed you don't feel good just bleed bleed a little bit
there's a little bit of a disturbing story but I have a friend who had a lot of problems in his youth with spiritual
demonic power and he I don't know how many of you guys have experienced stuff like sleep
paralysis a lot of teenagers that I worked with went through this type of stuff and I think it's because there's a
Gateway with media and music and it brings that stuff in and it It prepares these kids to see things that are
spiritual wickedness in high places I have a friend of mine that said he was struggling very early on with depression
in his life and he was sitting down in a chair and all of a sudden he had this Vision this dream
and it was an angel that came to him presenting himself as an angel of Light and he said hey God wants you to be with
me things are so bad here God wants you to be with me to get with me you just have to
cut up along your arm okay now commonly when people in media
and stuff like that when they're trying to portray this Avenue of of death they go across okay well the more efficient
way to do that and the more dangerous way is to go straight up the vein okay and that is exactly what this angel
of Light told my friend to do he was eight years old
okay that's some crazy stuff I'm not one for the supernatural but I'm not going to
say that spiritual wickedness in high places is a lie it's out there all this stuff in modern movies today
and in culture and in these you know these cartoons a majority of the content that's coming out of Japan and
entertainment wise is about demons okay demons are celebrated in the anime
culture this stuff is brought right in and it's mixed with fornication fornication is the way that it's out the way that the
the the movies are Illustrated the way that things are portrayed is to get people to think about that type of
activity and what is being advised here from the Jerusalem Council is stay away from
those things because they're going to bring shame upon the gospel now look what Jesus said
when he said in Chapter 2 of Revelation in verse 14 and he talks about that
doctrine of Balaam it was the same thing this is why I know
without a shadow of a doubt the gospel that was coming out of Jerusalem and the gospel that was done by Paul in his
missionary journey they were the same thing Jesus verifies the very instructions that we're told to them to
avoid that'll make you think right look at the accuracy we've looked at three books and
they line up we looked at things in Isaiah we've looked at things in Revelation we just looked at a verse in Acts these things
they're matching up and I don't have a tinfoil hat on you know what I'm saying this is not a
conspiracy this is just allowing the word to do what it does it's accurate it carries truth
we gotta wake up and realize the answer to all of our problems is right here in
this book we have to wake up to that let me read you this very quickly
42 million websites in a study that was conducted in 2020 42
million are pornographic websites now what that means is the URL you type it
in and it leads you to a website a website if you think about it is like a book and there's Pages within the book
Calvary Community Church has about I don't know 25 Pages you know you can
click and get to 25 individual Pages Bible line has hundreds of pages
with all the Articles and links and contacts and all that kind of stuff So within that 42 million
websites that are all pornographic there are over 370 million individual pages with
pornographic content that was in 2020.
between that time and the time that we're in right now because of the
pandemic and the isolation that happened it is believed that that number has doubled
over half of people that are in pornographic films are there against their will because they were trafficked
that is the Gateway for our children it's the Gateway for how many of us got
into inappropriate things and it it still continues today
that leads to all this other stuff while I'm not doing that with anybody it
doesn't matter you do it you think about it the Lord said it's as it's as if you did it it's it is damaging to marriages it's
damaging to young young men specifically and the content that's being produced is
all around this kind of stuff and certainly in this city that was rampant
so much so that Jesus acknowledged that they were partaking in this kind of behavior
verse 15. so hast thou also them that hold the
doctrine of the Nicolaitans there's those guys again boy I'm about to blow your mind here you
ready I already did that a couple of weeks ago when we looked at the translation of Nicolette means to
conquer the people and how I propose that is what the Catholic system has right now you know
the Bible talks about deacons and elders okay and there's a teaching Elder that's
a Shepherd of the flock why is there an Archbishop and a cardinal
and a priest and a confessions person and all those different things it's to
have control over the people if you study the word nicolaitan
to conquer the people and the doctrine of Balaam that word Balaam translated into the Greek is to
swallow up the people isn't that interesting so what what Ephesus did was they had
that Doctrine and they kicked it out I was in the first church age
then the persecution came the age in which the Church of Smyrna is written to
people died then this age where we're in the Church of pergamum is where Constantine
said hey everything's Christian we're going to make all the Pagan stuff we're going to make it Christian
you know this this is how you can understand that when you do the math it doesn't look like Jesus was born on
December 25th but if you trace it all the way back you can see there's Pagan practices that are going on on that very
week people are not crazy
you follow the history you see where it leads so it's interesting now to see
that the problems that they're struggling with is that nicolaitan Doctrine is back
it I don't know what happened to it in the second age where Smyrna was they're
probably killing the the Christians but now it's endorsed it's in part it's a
part of the culture you look at when the doc when the Catholic church was created it is in this third Century of the
church between 313 and 800 A.D I do not think that's a coincidence
and there was a problem there with pergamum not only were they bringing in this sexual Doctrine this blood-letting
Doctrine this God of asclepius stuff allowing people to be introduced to that
in the body of Christ it should not be that way they were also caving into this
nicolaitan Doctrine and Jesus says it again he said it over there in Chapter 2 and
verse 6 but this thou has that thou hate us these are the Nicolaitans which I also hate he repeats it in verse 15 so
hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate he hates that Doctrine
I think it's specifically what he said over there in Matthew 23. you call nobody your master nobody your father
but God we serve one another that is one of the
basic tenets of Christianity we serve one another selflessness
it was portrayed to us as an example in Jesus Christ you look in First Peter
chapter two and you see that it's an example of how we're supposed to suffer Christians are not supposed to be
Valiant Warriors that Avenge the death of other Christians
they're supposed to allow themselves to come under persecution suffer that
persecution so that the message continues to go at the end of the day what is our body
what is this life if we've got a new one waiting an eternity is waiting you have a wonderful opportunity to
serve the Lord in this body now don't compromise don't lean into
the things that separate you from fellowship
look what it says there in verse 16 repent oh boy all the Lord shippers get here
and say see you got to repent to be saved no do you see how in context this has nothing to do with salvation
absolutely not zero as they say in soccer games nil
none there's no salvific context here at all as a matter of fact there is a threat
from the Lord in that if you don't get it together I will come unto thee quickly
and he said this to Ephesus he's going to come unto them and he's going to remove them
that's over there in verse 5. he says here I'm going to fight you against them with
the sword of my mouth now here's where everything folds real nicely what was the first thing that Jesus said
in his address to pergamum verse 12 and the angel of the church in
pergamus right these things say it saith he which half the sharp sword with two
edges we talked about how that is the word made flesh and dwelts Among Us that is
the Bible it's Jesus Christ and he says I'm going to fight you with
my word this will be the thing that condemns false Doctrine and isn't it sad that a
majority of Christians know the least about this
this is the one thing that's under attack people often say about Dr Arnold
about others who prefer the King James Bible oh you guys are just you know
people don't understand that people don't get it anymore we got to move past it then I'm just going to offer to you
I'm going to offer to you if you're really a diligent student I want you to see how those translations came about go
study copyright law and see how we can get a new translation every two or three years ten percent of
it has to be changed go study how the new international version has come about
look at the scriptures that are removed from that from that Bible well you're just mean I'm mean because
I'm pointing out the satanic patterns well you can call me mean but you're
delusional we've got to be careful we have got to
be careful that we don't allow this type of Doctrine to come in why do if if you
think follow my logic here if in pergamum there was a place where
the God who could heal people and raise them from the dead why do you think it would be any different that the devil would go after
the translation of the Bible today if he can get this changed then he can
change what God Said and if he can do that he can make God say whatever he wants him to say
you go study some of these Bibles there's one called the message literally they got Jesus saying things like dude
and bro and that's wicked awesome and stuff like oh we got to reach the kids you reach
the kids just as they were told in in Deuteronomy you teach them the word that they're down sitting at their Uprising
they repeat it they understand it they see Mom and Dad do it they're going to learn how to do it no we got to make it
fun for them you make it Fun by showing them how much it means to you
the iPad doesn't replace that the TV shows should not replace that
we've got to be careful that we're not allowing the Devil to raise our children and that's what's happening you got we
have I think it's already too late I think it's already too late
but we gotta we gotta reach the kids that we have now that ranch program is a matter of spiritual life and death
for these kids those kids come in there they have no idea who Moses is no idea who Abraham is
they might understand Jesus Christ but they don't understand what he did the Awana program
it's the hardest program to get off the ground why because a water requires the parents to support the kids
sadly the kids get dropped off and the parents leave
what does that tell you to your kids this is just daycare this is something that we do
this is the first church is the first thing that is removed outside of family fellowship
it's the first thing to go it's on the chopping block we do this if we can I tithe when I can
I pray when I can that's all demonic
the word condemns that kind of behavior and the threat that was made to pergamum
here came to pass we do not have time but I'm going to
give you these scriptures here look uh you know what it says in second Timothy chapter 3 and verse six all
scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for reproof for correction for uh
for Doctrine approved correction instruction and righteousness to make the man of God mature Believers must be able to rightly divide
the word as to avoid those who twist the word to their own gain second Timothy 2 15 says to study a study to show thyself
approved unto God a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of Truth
a devotional should not be what you lean on to give you strength know the word
you've got it there's an average of Two and a Half Bibles in a household in the
household of America pick one up Jude one three through four
boy I I do want to look at that look in Jude very quickly because it's just right there
Jude chapter 1 verses three through four here's the danger that's present when we get away from the word and that's what
was happening in pergamum that's what was going to condemn them not to hell but as being unable to
rightly divide the word verses 3 and 4 beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the
common salvation it was needful for me to write into you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend defend not
we're not trying to earn our Salvation contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints for there are
certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this
condemnation ungodly men oh but they look Godly turning the grace of our God into
lasciviousness this is the license to sin I know it's hard to get here on Sunday
nights but I really want to encourage you to be paying attention over this next several weeks this these teachings
in the Book of John talk about what Fellowship truly is and a license to sin is a Breaking of a rule that is in first
John chapter one and that's what people are promoting it doesn't matter what you do it's not
really sin you call God a liar when you say that look at what it says and denying the
only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ look there very closely in verses 12-13 these those kind of men are spots in
your Feast of Charity you pick up a bread a piece of bread you see it mold on it you don't go yes let's eat it
that's a bad thing that's a Mark that something is decaying it's to be gotten out you wouldn't give that to your kids
but we send them down in front of Netflix and we let the world tell them what's right and wrong
that's a shame when they Feast with you feeding themselves without fear clouds they are
without water if you're someone who's looking for rain and you see a lot of clouds on the horizon you're thinking yes
I'm going to be able to water my crops and it has no rain it offers you nothing
it's deceptive trees whose fruit withereth without
fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots Raging Waves of the sea boy does the
scripture have a way of describing false Doctrine and people who teach it
Raging Waves of the sea foaming out of their own shame wandering Stars to whom is reserved the Blackness of
Darkness forever these are the people that is Christians we say let's get on board
let's hitch on to that wagon we got to be careful of that you are able to avoid those things by
rightly dividing the word of Truth become an educated person on What God
Says and you'll be able to avoid these types of things
the reason why I get excited about this kind of stuff is because I know there's people here today that have already made
that decision you've already said we're going to stand on the word of God this church has been around for 50 plus years
and it stood on the word of God and it's going to continue to stand on the word of God no matter what attacks May
weather it because that's what's going to last forever his word
and what we see in Jesus Christ is life Everlasting it's freedom from this body
it's deliverance from sin and that's just three things there's 50 others that
we can see in Scripture why would we want to depart for that for the sake of reaching our culture
our culture has the same problems that people had thousands of years ago that walked with Jesus and he provided what
they needed that Rich Young Ruler had everything on his disposal
yet he still didn't get it
look in uh Revelation chapter two we'll conclude here in verse 17.
he didn't ask an ear to hear Let Him hear this is to everybody now what the spirit said to the churches to him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the Hidden Manna and we'll give him a white stone and in the stone a new name
written which no man knoweth saving he that receive it I'm going to read you here
a passage in John chapter six this is what I believe is referred to when it
says the hidden Manna okay there's not some hidden manner that you got to find and eat and everything will be great
I believe this hidden man is talking about Jesus being the bread of life why is it hidden
because the world doesn't understand it that's why it's hidden and to those who have put their faith in
Jesus Christ you now get to partake of the Hidden Manna the fellowship with him
read you these verses here in John chapter 6 and verses 48 through 51.
I am that bread of life your fathers did eat Manna in the wilderness and are dead this is the bread which cometh down from
heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die I am the living bread which came down
from heaven If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever and the bread that
I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world and he went to that cross of Calvary and he was
beaten and he was bruised and he was battered and he he became sin for us he
took our iniquities on him and those who believe have tasted of that bread and they will live forever with him and that
is hidden from the world because that is the solution that the world doesn't want to teach it's not a new president it's
not a new governor it's not a new medicine it's Jesus Christ that's it
we've got to be careful that we don't look to those other things to solve our problems the persecution is coming
it is coming get ready by feasting on that hidden Manna know
Jesus have sweet fellowship with him and and to the people who might be
hearing this in the tribulation period after we're gone you will suffer and lose your life but it will not be
for nothing you will receive a crown all of us will receive a new name I
believe that's what that means there in Revelation chapter two that we're all going to get a nice little Stone and
it's going to be ours and we're not going to worship the stone or anything like that but it's going to be a new name that the Lord has for us and just
for us that is so much better than Temporary Bliss here now
and I want to encourage you the things that we can learn remember the threefold application
one fold was to the literal Church in pergamum the second fold is to the Church of that age and then the third
fold is to the believer today here's the three things to part with compromise starts with the departure from the Bible
and leads to an inclusion of pagan practices two Jesus is the source of the
church's protection and its growth into maturity do not depart from him and number three Jesus will bring
righteousness and judgment from the word of his mouth learn his word I think that sums it up nicely you can
close your Bibles boy aren't we living in exciting times where we can study this
next week we're going to talk about thyatira and talk about this the issues that they had we'll study their city that will
study their age just like we've been doing we're halfway through okay I know this this is a this is one of the longer
series that I've done but I think it's important that it's that it's done
because if you can see what Jesus said to these real places you're going to be able to spot when that stuff creeps into your life
and look if it creeps into your life that's not because you're some bad person it's everywhere today
it's everywhere today I'm hearing stuff out of the Boston medical clinics that are advising
parents how to take care of their kids who are in a different body oh if your little boy says they want to
try on clothes you Mom you Dad you just be supportive
no oh well I'm gonna be a girl one day you're a boy
are we now going to just allow the kids to rule the world boy
the next thing you know they're going to be driving isn't it interesting and you know what's
coming next the age of consent because if kids can choose what gender
they are when they're three oh they can choose who their partners are too oh now now they're not called pedophiles
they're that's inappropriate that's minor attractive persons no they're a pedophile
and guess what's happening that's bring it that's being brought into culture you look at some of the stuff that's
being talked about in Congress and on on on floors in States houses of government and you say what in the world is going
on you know why because here's us
we're asleep we're asleep to the things that are happening and if we're not careful
these things are going to come into our house in Canada there's a couple that was arrested
a grown couple that was arrested because their minor child was denied their sex
change operations by then this the the government came and took those parents
out of the home that's just north of us
it's all good man this is why we got another gospel and give it
it is the only solution for people we don't need to change Humanity Humanity can't be changed we need a
whole new nature amen we need payment for sin listen this hand to represent you and me
my wallet to represent sin I'll put this on top of my hand because the Bible says
for all his sin and comes short of the glory of God God he loves us but he hates our sin because our sin separates
us from him in order to get to heaven we have to be perfect just like him but we're not we all fall short that's what
that means to fall short we miss the mark the wages of sin is death Eternal
separation from God forever in a place called hell note the wages of sin is not good works
it's not trying your best giving money water baptism none of those things save
the wages of sin is death someone has to die someone's blood has to be shed
it's not of Works lest any man should boast the person who is able to save themselves can stand right alongside
Jesus Christ and said yeah me too I don't want to be close to that person Kaboom you know what I'm saying I mean
I'm a lightning fan but not that kind of lightning this hand represent Jesus Christ fully
God and fully man in 2000 years ago what he did is he took that sin for all the
world for each one of you individually and for all the world took it laid it upon himself and he made a payment and
that payment was complete he rose from the dead three days later to prove that that payment was done and
now he offers eternal life forgiveness of sin to all those who will believe
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that's Jesus Christ that whosoever believeth in him I
like to let this hand take the sin because it's not me putting it onto him he already took it he's the only one
that could carry it whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life when my
mother died of cancer back in 1998 she departed from this body and she is
with the Lord the same for my grandmother the same for your loved ones who have passed and they've trusted in Christ and that
promise only comes because they are positionally declared righteous by the shed blood of Jesus Christ once you are
saved you are always saved that will never be changed and this is the Blessed hope
the Glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ that we get to see the fullness of our Salvation
come to fruition we're going to walk with them we're going to eat with him we're going to
fellowship with him and it's all because of what happened on the cross of Calvary 2000 years ago
any salvation that is outside of him is not salvation at all it is deception by
the devil and he's been at work he's batting a thousands since the very beginning
then we've got to reach people we've got to move past all the sin and reach that person they need to hear the gospel
if you hate people you need to change your heart that's got to change you got to reach
people somebody reached you somebody reached me and I'm glad that they did
can you imagine if we all went into hiding as Christians oh the world so bad so cover it up lock the doors put a
passcode on there open them up come as you are but be ready to hear the
truth and the truth is there is no life outside of Jesus Christ amen
if you're here today and I'm looking at all you out here and I know I know all of you and I understand that you know
the gospel but there's people in your lives that don't there's people in your lives that are
in stuff that this city was in reach them teach them the truth
have the scripture committed to memory that Psalm that Jay read today wouldn't that be great to memorize
the next time you're tempted to fall into sin you read that Psalm that you've memorized boy I bet you that'll get you
out of the attitude of doing wrong memorize his word consume on it Feast on
it it is a blessing and an opportunity to us that we have it but if you're watching on the internet and you have no idea where you're going
to go and you die right now where you are will you put your faith in Jesus Christ and him alone
the moment that you do your past from Death In The Life you'll never be brought in the condemnation again
let us pray shall we had your bowel nice or closed if there's anybody in the audience if that made sense today would you raise
your hand and say Pastor Jesse that makes sense and I believe I believe today for the first time
that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and that was a satisfactory payment anyone at all before we close
just raise your hand and let me know amen God bless you
God bless you
folks I want to just encourag