SPEAKER_00: Let's take our Bibles this morning and I hope you'll follow me to the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ and the second chapter.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation chapter number two.
SPEAKER_00: In just a moment, we'll stand together for the reading of God's Word.
SPEAKER_00: We've been talking about these seven churches of Asia Minor.
SPEAKER_00: We believe that they are on an ancient postal route going through what would be modern-day Turkey.
SPEAKER_00: And no doubt they were churches in that moment in need of a message from God.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder today if the Lord of the Lampstands doesn't have a word for this church today.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you know that there's no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, which is a fancy way of saying what you're struggling with, someone else is too.
SPEAKER_00: Their struggle is our struggle.
SPEAKER_00: So all of these letters apply to every church throughout all of history.
SPEAKER_00: But we'd also surmise that these churches were also indicative of periods of church history, eras in history, and they are insightful for us as we understand the culture and the setting of those who received this message.
SPEAKER_00: That's very true of our text today.
SPEAKER_00: This church exists in an important bridge in history.
SPEAKER_00: It's between the time of great persecution.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about the Church of Smyrna last week, and they were under great persecution.
SPEAKER_00: Be faithful unto death, he says, and I'll give you a crown of life.
SPEAKER_00: But history pivots very quickly here to the Church of Pergamos.
SPEAKER_00: For between the Church of Smyrna and the Church of Pergamos, there was an agreement that was made between the state of Rome and Christian people.
SPEAKER_00: Whereas they were once marginalized, now they are seen as mainstream.
SPEAKER_00: Persecuted, now at peace.
SPEAKER_00: Martyred, now represented in the highest offices of the land.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder what comfort comfort.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder what the influence of being comfortable will have upon the church.
SPEAKER_00: We finally get to Laodicea.
SPEAKER_00: You know what they are?
SPEAKER_00: Rich and increased with goods, and they have need of nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Our greatest need is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stand together in reverence for the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: I understand there's a fine line between a long sermon and a hostage situation.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll try to be mindful of that today.
SPEAKER_00: Someone called me Pharaoh one time.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_00: They said, let my people go.
SPEAKER_00: My church of New Smyrna threatened to take down the clock in the back of the church and put up a calendar.
SPEAKER_00: Be mindful of that today as well.
SPEAKER_00: I saw a preacher speaking one time and he saw someone looking at his watch.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Every time you look at your watch, I add five minutes.
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you one more.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean when a preacher takes off his watch?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Revelation chapter 2 and verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: To the angel of the church of Pergamus write, These things saith he, which hath the sharp sword with two edges.
SPEAKER_00: I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is.
SPEAKER_00: Thou holdest fast thy name, and thou hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth.
SPEAKER_00: But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, and who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication.
SPEAKER_00: So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
SPEAKER_00: Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against thee with the sword of my mouth.
SPEAKER_00: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the church, as to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for the reading of the word today.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I recognize that as I read the word, the word is is reading me.
SPEAKER_00: Your word as it enters gives light.
SPEAKER_00: It will dispel our darkness.
SPEAKER_00: May the word of God shine brightly today.
SPEAKER_00: Help nothing in my life to dull that radiant light from your word.
SPEAKER_00: May there be no distraction even that would keep us from receiving the word today.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for what you've done in this meeting today, what you've done in classes already, what you are doing all around campus throughout every ministry today.
SPEAKER_00: Be glorified in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for standing, be seated together.
SPEAKER_00: We might say that in Pergamus the faith has gone corporate.
SPEAKER_00: It's gone into the hands of a bishopric, a hierarchy that will rule over the people.
SPEAKER_00: But as we've seen over the last couple weeks, the Lord is walking among the candlesticks.
SPEAKER_00: And in this letter, he seeks out a personal and intimate and relational connection to its members.
SPEAKER_00: He does the same today.
SPEAKER_00: He walks among us.
SPEAKER_00: And he walks with me.
SPEAKER_00: And he talks with me.
SPEAKER_00: He tells me I'm his own.
SPEAKER_00: We often think about institutions, God thinks more of individuals.
SPEAKER_00: Not just pastors, but parishioners, it's not just parishes, but people.
SPEAKER_00: Are we getting used to the dark?
SPEAKER_00: Years ago I heard of a preacher who was preaching on that theme, getting used to the dark.
SPEAKER_00: He had the sound man slowly, incrementally throughout the sermon, slowly dim the lighting.
SPEAKER_00: The pupils and eyes adjusted until the end of the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know if you realize this morning, but many of you have gotten used to the dark.
SPEAKER_00: And they brought the lights back up.
SPEAKER_00: We are to shine as lights in a dark world.
SPEAKER_00: But too often we become darkened by a dark world.
SPEAKER_00: Who are these people?
SPEAKER_00: What do they believe?
SPEAKER_00: And what do they need to return to?
SPEAKER_00: I read a humorous story of a New York family who bought a ranch somewhere out west, and they intended to raise cattle on that farm.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't exactly know what to call it or who they were.
SPEAKER_00: Friends visited and asked if the ranch had a name.
SPEAKER_00: Well, said the would-be cattleman, I wanted to name it the Bar J.
SPEAKER_00: My wife wanted to call it Suzy Q.
SPEAKER_00: One son liked the flying W, and the other wanted to call it the Lazy Y.
SPEAKER_00: So we're calling it the Bar J Suzy Q flying W Lazy Y.
SPEAKER_00: Well, where are all your cattle?
SPEAKER_00: The friend said.
SPEAKER_00: To which the cattleman replied, Well, there aren't any left.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't survive all the branding.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know who you are?
SPEAKER_00: Has the truth been branded into you?
SPEAKER_00: Someone said a pastor, and this is true of all Christians, pastor needs the mind of a theologian and the heart of a child and the hide of a rhinoceros.
SPEAKER_00: How quickly do you change?
SPEAKER_00: These people are not suffering persecution.
SPEAKER_00: They're suffering the tyranny of the immediate.
SPEAKER_00: They've sacrificed the permanent on the altar of the immediate, and maybe to save their hide, they sold the truth.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people in the world today saving their hide by selling the truth, but the Bible says, buy the truth and sell it not.
SPEAKER_00: Now we have much to cover in this passage today, and the Holy Spirit's telling me to divide this into two sermons and preach the second half tonight.
SPEAKER_00: We'll just see where that division ends, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Number one, I want you to think of the seat of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: What a statement here in our text.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13 I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is.
SPEAKER_00: And thou holdest fast my name and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth, but I have a few things against thee.
SPEAKER_00: Because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam.
SPEAKER_00: Pergamos is where the seat of Satan is.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want to make a few statements about the devil, and I want you to know, and I want to go on record by telling you today that I believe in a literal devil.
SPEAKER_00: Evil is not a force or an entity.
SPEAKER_00: There is no thing in God's world as a yin and a yin.
SPEAKER_00: There is a transcendent God, and there is a created devil, and he will spend forever in the lake of fire.
SPEAKER_00: But let's not be deceived.
SPEAKER_00: There is a devil.
SPEAKER_00: Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Lucifer.
SPEAKER_00: How he started?
SPEAKER_00: He started as the anointed cherub that covered the throne of God.
SPEAKER_00: He started as a worship leader in heaven, but he didn't end there.
SPEAKER_00: There was pride in his heart.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 14, he said, I will, I will, I will, I will ascend above.
SPEAKER_00: I will be like the Most High God.
SPEAKER_00: He was cast out of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That's how it started.
SPEAKER_00: That's not how it's going.
SPEAKER_00: He was cast to the ground to weaken the nations.
SPEAKER_00: At one point in Job chapter 1, God said, Where have you been?
SPEAKER_00: Satan said, I've been walking to and fro.
SPEAKER_00: Be sober, be vigilant.
SPEAKER_00: Your adversary as the devil as a roaring lion.
SPEAKER_00: He walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, the seed of Satan is not universal.
SPEAKER_00: It is localized.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to go on record and say to you this morning: Satan is not the things that God is.
SPEAKER_00: God is omnipowerful.
SPEAKER_00: Satan is not.
SPEAKER_00: God is omniscient, knows all things, Satan is not.
SPEAKER_00: God is omnipresent everywhere at the same time with all power.
SPEAKER_00: Satan is not.
SPEAKER_00: Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.
SPEAKER_00: The teaching of dualism states there is a power of evil and a power of good, but that's not what the Bible teaches.
SPEAKER_00: Satan does not have equal power to aggregate God.
SPEAKER_00: But John is saying your city is the place at this moment in time where the authority and dominion of Satan is localized.
SPEAKER_00: The seat of Satan is in your town.
SPEAKER_00: It's not universal, it's localized.
SPEAKER_00: There are and have been throughout history hubs of opposition to the plan of God.
SPEAKER_00: There's an old song years ago that said, Once again I faced Satan this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And I battled him all the day long.
SPEAKER_00: Time out.
SPEAKER_00: There's only one devil, and I just want to say, I don't think he came to pick on a little old preacher in Englewood, Florida today.
SPEAKER_00: Now he has a lot of power and he has a lot of minions, but there's only one devil.
SPEAKER_00: But he's had hubs of opposition throughout history.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason Satan opposes us, and I want you to hear this, Satan opposes us not to make us the goal of opposition.
SPEAKER_00: Satan opposes us because he opposes God.
SPEAKER_00: And he hurts the heart of God by attacking the children of God and stealing the seed of God and the plan of God in his children.
SPEAKER_00: At this moment, the city of Pergamus is the seat of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: At the time of this writing, it was a major center of Roman imperial cult worship, declaring later emperors of Rome as divine, Augustus, as God, the son of Augustus, the son of God.
SPEAKER_00: In that city, there was a massive throne-shaped altar dominating the city, the altar of Zeus.
SPEAKER_00: There was a healing cult called Asclepius, a snake around a pole, associated with the healing properties of serpents.
SPEAKER_00: It was the serpent who beguiled Eve, a biblical symbol of Satan, a cultic place of healing in the city of Pergamos.
SPEAKER_00: A hub of opposition.
SPEAKER_00: Throughout history, there have been other hubs, such as Babel, that was a hub of one world power.
SPEAKER_00: There was Egypt, a kingdom built on slavery and the worship of all gods.
SPEAKER_00: There was Babylon in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold, the greatest Gentile power.
SPEAKER_00: We might think of hubs of opposition in our modern world.
SPEAKER_00: We might think of Nazi Germany, which by the way was an occultic state.
SPEAKER_00: Communism.
SPEAKER_00: I hate Nazism.
SPEAKER_00: Nazism might have killed 20 million in the 20th century.
SPEAKER_00: Communism killed over 100 million.
SPEAKER_00: Hubs of opposition.
SPEAKER_00: Humanism.
SPEAKER_00: Now in the world today, it's not so much the power of the state, it's not so much the power of the one state religion as much as it is the empowerment of self.
SPEAKER_00: You are your own destiny and you declare your own objective reality and your own truth.
SPEAKER_00: Satan's power is localized throughout history.
SPEAKER_00: But the second thing I want you to see here is that the seed of Satan is not just a person, but a system of Antichrist.
SPEAKER_00: This is really important.
SPEAKER_00: Many Christians are looking in the news today for the revelation of the Antichrist, the man of sin.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to know the Bible speaks of a falling away, the return of Christ, and an apostasy that will precede the coming of Christ and after the rapture of the church, the turning of the world to the son of perdition, the man of sin, whom we call the Antichrist.
SPEAKER_00: But it's also true that Antichrist is not just a person, Antichrist is a system.
SPEAKER_00: And you might look for the man of sin and miss all the signs of the system.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to note today that we may not know the identity of the Antichrist before the coming of Christ, but when I look around the world today, it's obvious that the system of Antichrist is in charge of the goings on in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Read Psalm 2 when you get home today.
SPEAKER_00: The kings of the earth have set themselves against the Lord and against his Christ, saying, Let us break their bands asunder.
SPEAKER_00: Anti not only means opposed to Christ, it also means instead of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I will say to you, and be very careful about this, I had a new convert years ago say, Pastor, I was watching a preacher on TV the other day, and it made me tremble for 30 seconds.
SPEAKER_00: There's so much false preaching on TV today and media today, and a false Jesus, a false Christ that is preached from many pulpits today.
SPEAKER_00: You might look at the system the Pope came out this week and talked about the coming together of the Christian church and the Islamic world, something Rick Warren had fomented years ago called Chrislam, the coming together of Christianity and Islam.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to go on the record today and say to you that there is one God and one mediator between God and men, and his name is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: God sent one messenger into this world, clothed in flesh, God of very gods who died on the cross, and his name is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The system of Antichrist is at work in the world today.
SPEAKER_00: If you were to look for the devil in the world today, where would you look?
SPEAKER_00: I would look for areas of gross idolatry, things that represent God.
SPEAKER_00: Someone said our gods always look like us.
SPEAKER_00: We're made in God's image.
SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to look like God.
SPEAKER_00: But when we replace God, we make gods that look like us.
SPEAKER_00: Not preaching now, I'm telling you the truth.
SPEAKER_00: It was Muhammad that was a polygamist that had a child bride, that cultivated a religion that served his own fleshly purposes.
SPEAKER_00: His gods look like him.
SPEAKER_00: Idolatry.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Pastor, you keep talking like that.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get yourself in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, there's a deception coming, and I'm in Christ, and I'm not going to participate by God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't either.
SPEAKER_00: If you were to look for the devil, I would look for places of government control and looking to the state.
SPEAKER_00: I would look for areas of intense persecution of the church.
SPEAKER_00: Look for religious systems that are hostile to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Look for kingdoms that give promise of the kingdoms of this world.
SPEAKER_00: I number four, I'd look in areas of learning.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know Pergamos was a city known for the printing of documents on animal skins?
SPEAKER_00: It was known for a great library, one that rivaled the great library of Alexandria.
SPEAKER_00: I read that at one point that library was eventually given to Cleopatra as a gift from Mark Anthony, a great place of learning.
SPEAKER_00: It's a place of medicine and invention.
SPEAKER_00: The Antichrist is not just a person, the seed of Satan is a system of Antichrist.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to give you a warning for those of you, maybe, that are new to the faith.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you a warning.
SPEAKER_00: One of the most important things that you can know in God's Word is the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: What the word says about everything, but a cult, a false way, a false religion can always be identified with one great marker.
SPEAKER_00: Hear this a differing opinion on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know who Jesus is?
SPEAKER_00: The seed of Satan, number three, get this, is not undefeated and may be overcome.
SPEAKER_00: It's not undefeated.
SPEAKER_00: He says that in our passage.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Pastor the devil may stop.
SPEAKER_00: Many times we blame something on the devil that should be charged to our flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but he can be defeated, verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: Thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, even in a city known as the seat of Satan, there's a faithful martyr who stands true for the faith of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Antipos is proof that Christians may be faithful even in the areas of Satan's greatest dominion.
SPEAKER_00: Had the pleasure of preaching at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at luncheon.
SPEAKER_00: It always just feels good to plant a flag for the Lord Jesus Christ in a place that's not always friendly to our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what I found?
SPEAKER_00: I found some young men and some young women who are unashamed of their faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, Satan lives there.
SPEAKER_00: There's no doubt about that.
SPEAKER_00: And for a period of time, he's made that his throne.
SPEAKER_00: But greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 12, verse 10, I heard a loud voice saying, In heaven, now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.
SPEAKER_00: The seed of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Number two.
SPEAKER_00: Now this is where this is where we'll end today.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: I have a few things against thee.
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, the church of Smyrna got no rebuke.
SPEAKER_00: This one does.
SPEAKER_00: I have something to say to you.
SPEAKER_00: Thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things offered unto idols and to commit fornication, so hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
SPEAKER_00: Now watch this, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: When Satan cannot curse, he'll seek to corrupt.
SPEAKER_00: When he cannot kill, he'll seek to control.
SPEAKER_00: When he cannot intimidate and annihilate, he'll seek to infiltrate and assimilate the bad with the good.
SPEAKER_00: And he'll look for a toehold.
SPEAKER_00: And when he gains a toehold, he'll eventually gain a stronghold in your life.
SPEAKER_00: The sins of the saints.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, he speaks of a growing cancer.
SPEAKER_00: A growing cancer.
SPEAKER_00: He mentions in verse 14 the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in Numbers 22 through 25, as Israel encamped on the plains of Moab, Balak, the king of Moab, he trembled when he heard the growing strength of the Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: And he sought a supernatural solution.
SPEAKER_00: He did not know God.
SPEAKER_00: But he tried to contract with a prophet to curse the Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: That prophet's name was Balaam.
SPEAKER_00: Initially, Balaam as a prophet, he refused to curse the children of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He had heard from God.
SPEAKER_00: He was enticed by promises of honor and reward and under strict command that we remember that donkey that spoke to Balaam.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we think more of a donkey that could speak than the message the donkey spoke to the preacher.
SPEAKER_00: Don't curse the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: On the journey, Balaam's spiritual blindness was exposed when this donkey revealed an angel of God blocking his way.
SPEAKER_00: And after the donkey miraculously spoke and rebuked Balaam, his eyes were opened.
SPEAKER_00: He was warned again he would say only what God would allow him to speak.
SPEAKER_00: When Balaam finally stood on the mountains overlooking Israel, instead of curses flowing from his lips, blessings poured out, declaring God's goodness on the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: But the story of Balaam doesn't end in victory.
SPEAKER_00: It ends in a cautionary warning.
SPEAKER_00: Though Balaam could not curse Israel outwardly, think about this.
SPEAKER_00: He later counseled Balak, the king of Moab, to corrupt Israel, not from without.
SPEAKER_00: From within.
SPEAKER_00: Leading God's people into idolatry and immorality.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, Balaam gave warning, and Moses comes back and talks about this in the 31st chapter.
SPEAKER_00: If you find those really pretty Moabite girls and send them into the camp of Israel, they'll intermarry with them.
SPEAKER_00: And those beautiful girls will bring their idols with them.
SPEAKER_00: And through marriage, the Hebrews will adopt their idolatry.
SPEAKER_00: And their idolatry will lead them to immorality, and their immorality will lead them into infidelity.
SPEAKER_00: Hear this, church.
SPEAKER_00: What Satan can never do from the outside.
SPEAKER_00: He will foment from the inside.
SPEAKER_00: I read a book years ago called The Marketing of Evil.
SPEAKER_00: The author began to describe the downturn of the American morality.
SPEAKER_00: I'll summarize very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: What we see in our media and our music and our entertainment and our politics in schools and academia today is a direct reflection of seeds that were sown after World War II.
SPEAKER_00: They began to do research.
SPEAKER_00: There were sexologists, Johnson and others, who began to poll the American public.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't just poll the American public, they actually polled prisoners and pedophiles to taint the numbers.
SPEAKER_00: They told the American people that a certain amount of men had had extramarital affairs and a certain amount of women had had extramarital affairs, and it tainted the American idea of how Victorian and how pure of a culture that we were.
SPEAKER_00: Many people were crying against MTV and Elvis Presley, and they didn't realize that decades earlier.
SPEAKER_00: Hear this.
SPEAKER_00: Decades earlier, Satan played the long game.
SPEAKER_00: He planted seeds of doubt in people's minds.
SPEAKER_00: Hear me.
SPEAKER_00: We want God to send revival in a microwave.
SPEAKER_00: And Satan plants seeds of a long game.
SPEAKER_00: He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his seeds with him.
SPEAKER_00: When you get home today, I want you to read Psalm 126 and Psalm 137.
SPEAKER_00: And what shall discover that in Psalm 137 there was a generation of weepers.
SPEAKER_00: They wept over the condition of their people.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 126 says, They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
SPEAKER_00: He that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: There was a generation of weepers before there was a generation of reapers.
SPEAKER_00: Why do you say that?
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying to you today, if we are going to turn our nation back to God, we can't put her in a microwave and expect God just to change things overnight.
SPEAKER_00: But I tell you what we can do.
SPEAKER_00: We can plant the seed and water it with our tears and prayers and leave something behind for our children to enjoy in godliness in the local church.
SPEAKER_00: Curse the people.
SPEAKER_00: I've done some editing with circles and arrows in my Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 6 of the same passage.
SPEAKER_00: But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans.
SPEAKER_00: What's the next phrase, church?
SPEAKER_00: This thou hast, thou hast, though thou hatest the deeds which also I hate.
SPEAKER_00: Now read verse 15 with me, so hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
SPEAKER_00: There's two differences in those verses.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see them?
SPEAKER_00: You can talk back to me.
SPEAKER_00: There's two differences in those verses.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody see the first difference?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, first one, verse 6, he talks about the deeds of the Nicolaitans.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 15, he talks about the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.
SPEAKER_00: Deeds were things they did.
SPEAKER_00: Doctrine was what they taught and what they perpetuated.
SPEAKER_00: It's become normalized, systematized, and institutionalized.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first difference.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a big difference, and somebody said it to me.
SPEAKER_00: What's the other difference?
SPEAKER_00: In verse 6, God said, You hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans.
SPEAKER_00: And I hate it too.
SPEAKER_00: And you get to verse 15, and he only says, It's something that I hate.
SPEAKER_00: Now hear this.
SPEAKER_00: When we hate what God hates, we'll begin to love what he loves.
SPEAKER_00: But when we don't hate what God hates, we begin to love what he hates.
SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: Do you hate your sin?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't like it.
SPEAKER_00: Do you hate it?
SPEAKER_00: Do you hate what your sin does to you?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you hate what your sin does in your relationship with God?
SPEAKER_00: Years ago, I had a young man come to me and say, please pray for my friend.
SPEAKER_00: He's an alcoholic.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I'll pray for him.
SPEAKER_00: He says, but he sure loves whiskey.
SPEAKER_00: Until he hates what God hates, he'll never love what God loves.
SPEAKER_00: We have here a church that has, as I said, they've gotten used to the dark.
SPEAKER_00: These Nicolaitans, as we'll talk about this evening, and I'm closing.
SPEAKER_00: I brought three messages worth of content to the pulpit today.
SPEAKER_00: I'll close with this.
SPEAKER_00: The Nicolaitans were people that ruled over God's people.
SPEAKER_00: They came between the people and God.
SPEAKER_00: Rather than the people looking to God, the people looked to the people in government who were to protect them.
SPEAKER_00: In 313, we'll look at this in detail tonight.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you'll be here at six o'clock.
SPEAKER_00: In 313, there was a Roman emperor.
SPEAKER_00: His name was Constantine.
SPEAKER_00: Constantine had a divided kingdom, split alliances, and the Christians were becoming a problem.
SPEAKER_00: They'd been persecuting them and persecuting them and persecuting them, and they discovered that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a flame.
SPEAKER_00: The more you stamp it out, the more oxygen you give to it, and it spread.
SPEAKER_00: Someone said, they're going to kill all the Christians in, somebody mentioned a couple.
SPEAKER_00: They're going to kill all the Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, guys.
SPEAKER_00: When persecution comes to the church, it does two things.
SPEAKER_00: It weeds out pretenders and it inflames possessors of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We saw a lot of people leave the church when COVID came.
SPEAKER_00: Fairweather friends.
SPEAKER_00: But the true church didn't disband and it marches forward.
SPEAKER_00: It can't exterminate them.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, let's let's give let's do them a favor.
SPEAKER_00: Let's make peace with them.
SPEAKER_00: Not just make peace with them, but we'll make Christianity the main religion of the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_00: And they did.
SPEAKER_00: That's this church.
SPEAKER_00: Persecution couldn't stop them.
SPEAKER_00: Opposition couldn't stop them.
SPEAKER_00: But friendship with the world did.
SPEAKER_00: Peace did.
SPEAKER_00: In persecution they looked to God.
SPEAKER_00: In compromise, they looked to Rome.
SPEAKER_00: I was been reading through the life of David in my morning Bible reading and was following David as he's fleeing from Saul.
SPEAKER_00: Saul is a king, head and shoulders taller than all the other Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: David is young and ruddy.
SPEAKER_00: Saul is known by his greatness, shoulders up.
SPEAKER_00: David is known by his greatness, shoulders down.
SPEAKER_00: He had a heart after God's heart.
SPEAKER_00: And David kills Goliath, and of course, it's game on for the hearts of the people and for the throne.
SPEAKER_00: And David is fleeing from Saul.
SPEAKER_00: He runs for his life.
SPEAKER_00: He goes out into the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: He comes down to a place called Engedi.
SPEAKER_00: I was at Engedi a couple of years ago.
SPEAKER_00: It's a cave by the Dead Sea.
SPEAKER_00: And just south on the banks of the Dead Sea is a mountain fortress called Masada.
SPEAKER_00: Most Bible teachers believe that when David came out of Engedi, he looked down towards a mountain.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, This, when my heart is overwhelmed within me, look to the rock that is higher than I.
SPEAKER_00: In trouble, David said, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills whence cometh my help.
SPEAKER_00: My help cometh from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: In trouble he looked up.
SPEAKER_00: Where else do you have to turn?
SPEAKER_00: But I kept reading, and David eventually comes to the throne.
SPEAKER_00: He reigns in Hebron seven years and six months.
SPEAKER_00: He finally reigns over United Israel from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He buys the Jebusite city, builds the citadel of David, has a nice home.
SPEAKER_00: They brought the ark back to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He has in his heart to build a house for God.
SPEAKER_00: God said, You can't do it.
SPEAKER_00: I'll let your son do that.
SPEAKER_00: And David is winning military victory over military victory over military victory, and he's comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: He's not running from Saul.
SPEAKER_00: He's got it made in the shade.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Samuel chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00: He looks down.
SPEAKER_00: For all of his life, David always looked up.
SPEAKER_00: He had nowhere else to turn.
SPEAKER_00: And when he got comfortable, he looked down.
SPEAKER_00: And when he looked down, he saw something.
SPEAKER_00: He saw someone, he looked again.
SPEAKER_00: And it led to the second half of his life.
SPEAKER_00: One big point.
SPEAKER_00: When we're comfortable, when we're at ease, we don't look up.
SPEAKER_00: We look down.
SPEAKER_00: God is saying to his church today, keep your eyes on me.
SPEAKER_00: Look unto me.
SPEAKER_00: Keep our eyes fixed, focused on Christ.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord help us today.
SPEAKER_00: Let's bow our heads and pray.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being patient, listening so well.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have some things in your heart today and you would say, Man, the troubles of my life?
SPEAKER_00: I'm having to look to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There are some things in my heart today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: My eyes are straight up to God.
SPEAKER_00: Trouble has been good for me because it's forced me to look to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Would you lift your hand?
SPEAKER_00: You say, That's me today.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, keep your eyes on him.
SPEAKER_00: Keep your eyes on him.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look down, don't get distracted by other things.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe in your life today there's been some opposition of late, some storms and trials in your life, and you know the powers of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: I found a toehold in your life.