Message To The Church At Pergamum

Revelation 2:12 And to the angel [pastor-teacher] of the church in Pergamum write: The One Who has the sharp two-edged sword [ sword of discipline] says this: I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is;

     Pergamum became the capital of the Roman province of Asia. It had a growing population which was known for its knowledge of literature (books) and culture (education). However, Satan had set up his throne there! He had control of Pergamum. The Angelic Conflict was in full force! In Revelation 2:12, God was talking to believers who knew the truth and were surrounded by carnal believers. God knew about their sins billions of years ago, and the Lord Jesus Christ was not condemning these believers, He was simply disciplining them to get them on the right track. God didn’t want them to be stumbling blocks to others.

Revelation 2:13 …and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith [doctrine] even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one , who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

     Antipas was a positive believer who lived in Pergamum. He was living in God’s predesigned plan for his life. Antipas had lots of testing. He had a wall of fire around him, protecting him. He didn’t walk around with real fire around him! The wall of fire was Bible doctrine inside of his soul. Antipas had a lot of Bible doctrine in his soul. It protected him from the cosmic system and got him through his suffering. He was a faithful witness for God in the middle of all this Satanic activity. A faithful witness is one who reaches spiritual maturity, passes through different evidence tests, and glorifies God to the max! Antipas could handle every pressure Satan sent his way. He was even put to death! He became an invisible hero! ?

      Our God is a God of justice and love. If He decides to let life weigh us down, then it is for our benefit; it is NEVER because He wants to be mean. He never gives us unfair treatment. He is bound by His faithfulness to help us to grow spiritually. He is giving us the opportunity to become faithful witnesses, to grow in His grace and knowledge, to become invisible heroes!

Faithfulness: full of faith, strong or firm in one’s belief, loyal, constant in the performance of duties or services, true to one’s word, reliable, and dependable.

We need to be trained to be faithful. We develop faithfulness by taking in doctrine daily, being faithful to the Word. This develops divine viewpoint in our thinking, and this thinking gives us good attitudes! The Lord looks at our attitudes!!!! We need to develop the thinking of faithfulness!

Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

     Antipas was put in a big brass bowl with fire burning under it. He had developed such great faithfulness to God that, while he was in the brass bowl, he was singing hymns to the Lord Jesus Christ! This blew away the demon possessed priests! Some priests were demon possessed and some were demon influenced. Demons can’t possess believers, but they can influence them. Seeing what Antipas was going through made some of the unbelieving priests believers! They had never seen such a sight! The result was that the singing glorified the Lord Jesus Christ. Antipas was a faithful witness to the point of being a faithful martyr. Are we willing to go through anything that God desires us to go through? If so, then we should be willing to go through what we are going through now. Let’s check our attitudes!

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Him Who strengthens me.

Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you [those under the influence of Satan], because you have there some [believers] who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel….

      Sometimes God lets there be divisions among the congregation, the group of people in the church. This is to expose the winners from the losers. The winner believers keep on being positive to the Word of God and encouraging to others. The loser believers are there to cause disagreement or discord. They can be stumbling blocks! We’re not to be surprised when we find discord or stumbling blocks in our local church. In every local assembly there are some believers that believe false doctrines and try to get others to believe them. Satan loves to confuse us and cause distractions!

Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some [believers] who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel….

     In Pergamum, some were believing the teaching of Balaam “who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel.” This meant to distract the positive believers from the Word of God. Balak was the king of the Moabites at this time, and he wanted to destroy Israel. He hired Balaam to bring a curse or harm to Israel. However, it is impossible for anyone to place a curse upon or harm the people that God has placed blessing upon. King Balak was going to pay Balaam a lot of money to harm Israel! Balaam loved money, wealth, and success. He loved it more than he loved God. Balaam was sooo consumed by the lust for money that he became insane. !
 

     When Balaam couldn’t curse or harm God’s people, he kept advising King Balak to persuade the children of Israel to commit sins. So, King Balak persuaded some of the believers to accept the beliefs of a false religion. They stumbled! They didn’t give up their own beliefs in God, but they tolerated or put up with the false beliefs in Pergamum. They compromised their beliefs. Compromise here means giving in to the other groups’ way of thinking. Therefore, it was damaging to their spiritual lives. It was taking them away from the plan of God! This was just what King Balak wanted! God wanted the children of Israel to follow His Word, Bible doctrine, not the teachings of Balaam!

2 Peter 2:5 …forsaking the right way [protocol plan of God] , they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

 

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith.

     We have to see if we are living the spiritual life; see if there is anything that is taking us away from God’s plan for our lives. If we have people that are making it difficult for us to go forward in God’s plan, we can use the doctrine of separation. Sometimes we will separate physically from people, like not have them for friends anymore. Other times we will separate from them mentally, meaning that we use divine viewpoint and not their human viewpoint. We have to examine our lives to see if human experience is more important than Bible doctrine. Many times we are in dangerous situations and we don’t realize it. The more we tolerate sin and evil, the more sin and evil will be in our lives. The church at Pergamum thought that they were doing great. However, they were tolerating or putting up with wrong behavior; they were allowing more sin and evil to be in their lives!

     Our problem is really not with people, but against the demons. Demons have files on new believers, positive believers, those who use their time, talent, and treasure, and those who have been faithful for years. They know us better than we know ourselves! The cosmic system finds the weaknesses of believers and uses these weaknesses for personal gain and power. This is what Balaam did; it was the way of Balaam. The way of Balaam refers to a lifestyle. It is rejection of authority and being filled with hatred and arrogance. This results in involvement in the cosmic system. Balaam chose the way of the world, not the way of God. He wasted his life away. How much time am I wasting away? What is taking me away from the Plan of God? Remember, only the things done for Christ will last! 

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
 

     Balaam had a problem with money. He thought that it would bring him happiness, power, authority, and security. Money is not evil in itself. It is good when it is used properly. Money is a useful servant but a very cruel and evil master. The world’s way is to trust in human assets and gain more stuff! More stuff never makes us happy. The more we get, the more we want. Ecclesiastes 5:10 “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance [with its] income. This too is vanity.” God has placed a desire for eternal things in the heart of man, and only He can fulfill that desire. Money will never fulfill that desire! God and His Word is what fulfills that desire. We are to learn, believe, and use Bible doctrine, and God will supply our every need! God owns everything. So, He can certainly give us what we need!

Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it.
 

Revelation 2:16 Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

     Repent here means to rebound. If not, God will come to us quickly and discipline us. Through His mouth, God will issue declarations of divine discipline from the Supreme Court of Heaven. God will do this when we fail to rebound. He will do this because He loves us and wants to get us on the right track. He is warning us against arrogance and emotion. Arrogance (unteachable) and emotion (reacting) are the two great enemies of the spiritual life and are responsible for the manufacture of loser believers, even if those believers have reached spiritual adulthood. If we use emotion instead of thought to make decisions, our spiritual life is off track. If there is no rebound, God will discipline us or bring in situations that will cause us to rebound.

2 Corinthians 7:9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.

Revelation 2:17 He who has an ear [ear of the soul], let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes [winner believer], to him I will give some of the hidden manna [escrow blessings now and in heaven], and I will give him a white stone [a resurrection body with a new title of knighthood], and a new name [title] written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it. [This will be God’s final vote of approval. In the old world, a white stone meant “yes” and a dark stone meant “no”.]

     Winner believers are believers who live in the predesigned plan of God. They listen daily to what their pastor-teacher teaches. Mature or winner believers don’t compromise their doctrine or contradict their doctrine. They produce divine good because of the divine viewpoint in their souls. They use their time, talent, and treasure to glorify God! They don’t waste their time! The Holy Spirit knows what each one of us needs and guides our pastor-teacher as to what to say to us. With this information, we can become winner believers! We can fulfill the plan of God! So, let’s get with the plan, the predesigned plan of God!

Decorations for the Winner Believer

1. Crown of Righteousness: This will be awarded at the Judgment Seat of Christ to Church-age believers who fulfill the predesigned plan of God by advancing to spiritual maturity. In life they operate with righteousness, they live in righteousness. They have character and integrity. They function in virtue directed toward man and circumstances. They wear the full armor of God! They don’t compromise nor contradict their doctrine. They don’t quit! 2 Timothy 4:7
    

2. Crown of Life: This will be awarded to Church-age believers who endure trials, heartaches, disasters, and end up glorifying the Lord. James 1:12, 1 Peter 5:9 They pass the different tests! They don’t quit!
    

3. Incorruptible Crown: This will be awarded to those who master the old sin nature through dedication and devotion to the predesigned plan of God. They don’t quit!
    

4. Crown of Rejoicing: This will be awarded to soul winners. They lead people to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are accurate in their presenting of the gospel. They don’t quit!
    

5. Crown of Glory: This is awarded to pastor-teachers who faithfully study and teach Bible doctrine, by which faithful members of the congregation will attain spiritual maturity. They don’t compromise nor contradict their doctrine. They don’t quit!

Message to the Church at Pergamum

References used:

                    Robert R.McLaughlin Bible Ministries   www.gbible.org                   
                   
                    Lessons:   Florida Conference, 2-17-04 to 2-19-04, 2-22-04