God's Message to the Seven Churches: Part 4 - The Compromising Church (Pergamos)

Revelation chapter two. The compromising church The church of Ephesus was the first church that John wrote to and it was the church that had lost its first what? Love. Love its first love. Got busy with so many things.

Just forgot about taking time to worship and pray and get to know the Lord better because he is the reason. He's not only the reason for Christmas. He is the reason for everything we do as Christians or we should be. Our love for Christ. And then we looked last week at the church at Smyrna.

The church at Smyrna was the persecuted church and the Lord didn't have anything bad to say about the church at Smyrna. Certainly, it wasn't perfect. He did challenge the church there to be faithful. Against the persecution that they were under and even would continue to be under for a while. He spoke of a a brief time of terrible persecution which would come upon the church there ten days and he told them, be faith, be thou faithful unto death.

I will give thee a crown of life and the Bible says, don't fear, do not fear man who can only harm the body. What can man do unto us really? We belong to the Lord. He's going to take care of us and the worst thing man can do is the best thing that can happen to us and that's to be ushered into heaven. So, he says, don't fear, be faithful.

I am faithful and I will take care of you and I will reward you and we have been fortunate to fight to face a lot of persecution here but that's not true of a lot of Christians around the world and our temptations are struggles often come in a different form to us and those perhaps are a little more akin to what the church of Pergamus was dealing with that we will look at in the message this evening. We'll begin reading in verse 12 and read down through verse 17. And the angel to the angel of the church in Pergamus write, these things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges. I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seed is. 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, because 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 sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate. Repent or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith under the churches.

To him that overcometh, I will give to eat of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone and in the white stone, a new name written, which no man knoweth, saying, saving, saving he that receiveth it. This is the message to the church at Pergamus. Before we jump into the text here, it might do us a little good to learn a little bit about the city wherein we find this church. It's an ancient city constructed a thousand to 1,500 feet above a valley with a river that flowed in from the or flowed to the Aegean Sea. It was on a cone shaped hill located about 15 miles inland.

It's name means citadel and it sort of looked like a citadel sitting up on that hill in the middle of this Valley. It was the capital of this region until January, when the last king bequeathed his realm to Rome. And as such, it remained a chief city in the region during Roman rule, because it sided with Rome. Besides possessing the greatest library of the region rivaling Alexandria, it was also sadly the greatest of pagan cities in the region of Asia. It was very well known for that.

It sported several temples including a large altar to Zeus to Asclepius. There we go. Asclepius. We'll come back to Asclepius in a minute whose name I cannot pronounce. To Caesar Augustus and to others.

It was considered the center of emperor worship in Asia followed closely by Smyrna that we looked at last week. The first Christian martyr in Asia, according to church tradition, was its pastor and that would be Antibus who John refers to here in the letter. The church was also likely a plant from Ephesus several miles to the south though we are given little information concerning the origins of the church in that city. Now, up here on the screen, we have a picture of what is left of Upper Pergamus, okay? There were temples and homes down in the valley but the citadel part that was Pergamus was well known for sat on top of this hill and you can see the hill there.

The valley stretches out. There's a valley heading down that riverside that direction and one coming coming this direction. There are ruins of several temples and a theater that still are on top of that hill today. I'm going to sit here and I'll keep talking. I'm pointing out a few things.

These are some of the ruins. This is a sketch of what it would have looked like somewhat in John's time. You see the theater there, an altar to Zeus, temple of the ruler cult which is Caesar Augustus' temple, a temple to Trajan, we'll mention that again in just a moment. This is a drawing of what it might have looked like from down below. This is what's left to the altar of Zeus.

There's a couple pictures of it. So, yeah, there we go. This is what's left of the theater. This is one of the steepest amphitheaters in all the world. It looks awful steep to me.

Here here is a better illustration of the city and you can see a temple to Athena, the altar of Zeus, the Agora to the right, which is their marketplace, and temple to Trajan at the very top. So there is what's left of the Temple To Trajan and there is a closer picture of the theater, another one from that perspective and from the other side. There's a couple more here I wanted to show you. There is a city, not very large, but a city down below. You can see it there in the valley in the picture.

Here is a overview from overhead of Pergamos, the city down below in the valley. Up on the right side is the Acropolis, which is where the pictures we were just looking at came from. Down on the left hand corner, I don't know if you can see that because of the because of these whatever they're called, poinsettias. But it says, Asclepion and that's the temple to Asclepius who we'll come back to in just a moment. So more pictures of the theater.

There's a picture that's part of the theater on the side and these are pictures from actually down below in the valley. That's the temple to Asclepion Temple. So that is what's left of Pergamos today. So, alright and we're going to stop there. The Asclepius that they had built a temple to.

You're familiar with. Now, you probably don't think you're familiar with but have you ever seen on the side of a hospital, a stick with snakes wound around it. Ever seen that? Okay. Well, that is a sleepiest, okay?

That is not the bronze serpent of Moses on on the pole. That is a sign that was taken from this temple slash hospital in the city of Pergamus that was renowned all around the world. There was medical practice mixed with a whole lot of superstition and idol worship all involved in this hospital slash temple but that symbol is still used in the medical profession all over the world today and it came from this idol and temple there in the city of Pergamus. So, just a little bit about the city. It is a city committed to the worship of idols.

It's sort of the Asian version of Athens, okay? It's it's a very miniature of Athens which contain hundreds of idols and temples. Paul commented that on Acts in Acts while he was there. He had never seen a city so holy given over to to just a myriad of idolatry as he found in Athens. Pergamus isn't very far behind and what made it worse was it was the center of this emperor cult.

The Romans didn't care how many idols you worshiped. As long as you bowed to who? As long as you bow to the emperor. As long as you recognize the emperor as one of the gods and you bowed your knee to him. Not as a ruler or a king but as a god and this is where Christians found themselves in a terrible predicament in many of these Roman cities because they would not bow.

Let we'll come back to that in a moment. Let's look in verse 12 again. To the angel of the church in Pergamos write these things, saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges. The Lord Jesus Christ is described, identified at the beginning of each one of these letters to these churches. And in this particular case, he's identified and described as one having a sharp sword with two edges.

He is here portrayed in a pose of judgment. The sword almost always speaks of judgment, of war, of death. The bible says in Romans 13 that we are to obey the rulers that are put over us because they do not bear the sword in vain. It is a sign of authority and it is a sign of judgement. The word of God is likened unto such a weapon.

In Hebrews four and verse 12, it is like a two edged sword, the bible says. It pierces the heart, the bone and marrow it says there. It's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is an offensive weapon and usually a weapon of judgment. The word of God will either bring judgement to our sins and salvation through faith in Christ here or it will be that which we are judged against at the great white throne judgment if we should reject Jesus Christ and his offer of salvation here.

Either way, it is a two edged sword. Christ is portrayed in Revelation as one having such a sword and of course, you can't really disconnect Christ who is the living word from the Bible with his which is the the written word. They are connected. They are one and the same. In verse 16 of chapter one, it says, and he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

There he is mentioned as one having a two edged sword. Also, in Revelation chapter 19 and verse 15, it says, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treaded the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. As Jesus comes back to this world in judgement, he comes as one out of his mouth going a sharp sword to judge the nations. You know, God as a Christian is our savior, our redeemer. He's our friend, our father, but don't forget he's still the judge.

He's still, I heard Steve say, he is a consuming fire. He is to be respected and feared reverently for who he is. We must not forget that. He is not a god up there waiting for his children to mess up so he can let us have it. No, he's not that.

He's a god that's up there waiting for his children to do right so he can bless us but if we are determined to do wrong, he will still chasing us and he warns us of that even in Hebrews. God chastens his children whom he loves and what father is it that that doesn't chasten his children? God loves us. Therefore, he chastens us and he is still a god of judgement. These churches are being warned.

God says, I can bring judgement on your ministry as a church. If you no longer choose to represent my interest and represent me and proclaim the gospel, then I will bring judgement upon your church and take away your candle, your light. So, In other words, church at Pergamus, you better sit up and listen because what God has to say is important. He is the one who bears the what? He is the one who ultimately bears the sword.

He is the one who is the head of the church and has every right to command the church to do those things which honor him and are his will on this earth. And so, we see this picture of Christ in judgment as we begin the message to the church at Pergamos. Now, he does take a moment in verse 13 to commend the church concerning some things. He says, I know thy works. I know thy works.

Again, like the first two churches, Pergamos was not a lazy church or one devoid of good works. The Bible says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your what? Good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. They were doing things for the Lord. They were busy.

They were working. They were not slouches. They were not complacent. They were laboring. In many cases, in the work of the Lord but good works are not a substitute for holy separated living.

Good works are vital. Good works are important but so is living a holy life separated life unto the Lord. There is a plague upon Christianity today in which immorality and worldly behavior is excused. Because hey, well, look at all the good we're doing. You know, we we we help the poor and and we we have these ministries and we have these ministries and we're doing these things and and we give and we're we go out of our way to help people, to be nice, to be friendly, we're we're thoughtful, we're sweet, we're kind, and all those things are good and laudable and they should be but they are not a replacement.

For being a godly Christian in our conduct, in our behavior. In first Peter chapter one, it says, be you holy for I am holy. In second Timothy two twenty two, Paul tells Timothy, flee also youthful lusts but follow after righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Yes, you have a job to do, Timothy. You have to preach the word and and and pray and and minister to these people.

Warm them, rebuke them, admonish them, nurture them in the word of God. All of those things you need to do but you also need to flee what? Youthful lust and you need to follow after righteousness and faith and charity and peace. It's so easy today. It seems like we tend to either go to one extreme or we tend to go to the other.

We either think, hey, I'm real, I'm doing really great with the Lord because I don't do all these bad things. Well, you know, that's great that you don't do all these bad things over here but are you doing anything good? Are we faithful to the Lord? Are we going out of our way to to see the needs and help others? Are we faithful in our worship and praising the Lord and testifying to others of the grace and mercy of God?

The good news of the gospel. On the other hand, you say, hey, I'm I'm witnessing the people and I'm I'm I'm helping my neighbor. I'm doing all these things but your life morally is a train wreck. You know, that that's not where it's at either. You know, as long as we're on this Earth, we're not going to be perfect at either one.

Praise God. We have a perfect savior. He did it all. He never sinned and he did the will of the father. Praise God for our perfect savior.

We're not perfect and we're not going to be. Not on this Earth. One day, when we get to heaven, we'll be like him. And sin will be no more. But here we struggle but don't give up the struggle and don't get complacent and think, hey, well, I'm doing good here so this don't matter.

I'm going there so that don't matter. We have a tendency to do that. We'll come back to that a little more in a moment but let's continue on. He says, I know thy works and their works were to be commended. Number two, he says, I know where you dwell.

I know where you dwell. Look again if you would in verse 13. I know where thou dwellest even where Satan's seed is and thou holdest fast my name and has not denied my faith even in those days wherein Antipas, my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. He says to them, I know where you dwell and you dwell on a difficult place. Pergamus was not an easy place to dwell as a Christian.

They were surrounded by. They were immersed in. The idolatry of the day. They were not only surrounded by it and immersed in it. They were pressured by it probably every day.

Their neighbors, their coworkers, their relatives probably pressured them day in and day out. Why don't you come to the altar of Zeus? Why don't you worship at the Temple Of Caesar or the Temple Of Trajan or go to the the the Temple Of ask whatever that is. Ask Cleopus. Anyway, they they were pressured.

They were surrounded. It wasn't an easy place to serve the Lord because every time you went out of your way, to live your faith and voice your faith, you met resistance. And the Lord knew. The Lord knew what they were going through and he wanted them to know that. I know this isn't easy God says and it it is not.

We run into some of that today too. Now, we don't face the type of persecution that they were facing or the church at Smyrna faced. Our our lives are not yet probably in danger. Because of our faith. Though that may be coming.

But we do face pressure and we are most definitely a immersed in a pagan society. You say but but we don't worship Caesars and we don't worship snakes on a pole and and we don't worship hidden gods like Zeus. No, we just worship wealth. We worship pleasure and we worship luxury and we worship pride. There are many things that our world and our culture today values.

Christ is way, way, way down on the list. We are immersed in our entertainment. Whether it be music or TV or movies. We are immersed when we walk out our door and look at the billboards as we drive down the street. We're immersed in our literature for the most part.

Though praise God, there's still a good bit of godly literature out there but walk in a Barnes and Noble sometime and take note of what surrounds you. There may be a few good books to be found but there's a whole lot of a whole lot of bad stuff, weird stuff, ungodly stuff that people are being encouraged to follow. We deal with it or you deal with it more than I do at work. There are some who go to work where there are no Christians And are surrounded by people who not only are not saved but for the most part, they look at Christians as more like Martians. And that's hard to deal with day in and and day out.

God says, I know. I know what you're dealing with and I know what a struggle it is and then he says, I know that despite the struggles you have held fast to my name. You have not denied my name. You have remained faithful. To your witness and your faith in God and that indeed is to be commendable.

He says, mentions here Antibus. That faithful martyr could possibly have been the pastor of the church there. Considered by church tradition to be one of the first martyrs in in Asia which again in biblical terms is Western Turkey. God says, I know what you're suffering. I know what you're going through and you are to be commended for your faithfulness to my name.

It is not an easy place. Twice here, he refers to it as Satan's seat and where Satan dwelleth. So, there was a lot of resistance and spiritual warfare going on in that city due to all of the pagan worship and there is quite a bit today too. It may not be quite so upfront in America but it is going on all around us. For the hearts and minds, the souls of men and women, boys and girls, and to destroy our testimony.

So they were to be commended for their works and commended for their faithfulness in the face of very real persecution, pressure, and immersion in a pagan culture. And God knows where we are too. However, we get to the rebuke, and there is a rebuke in verse 14. He says, but I have a few things against thee. Because 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 sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

So, let's stop here just a moment and dwell upon what the doctrine of Balaam is and if you hold your place and turn back to Numbers chapter 25, okay? Numbers chapter 25. Now, in the preceding chapters 22, 23, 24, Balak, the king of, I think it's Moab. I remember correctly. Was standing against Israel as they were trying to come across the Jordan into Israel, into Palestine.

He was standing in their way and he wasn't about to let them cross his land and so he was determined to stop them and so what he did was he went out and he found himself a prophet and he tried to hire the prophet to curse Israel. Balaam was a prophet ostensibly a prophet of God but not a faithful one. Because when he saw all those dollar signs, his loyalty kind of switched places. And he decided he was going to join the other side. That didn't work out too well for him.

You remember the story about the donkey he was riding on and how the angel stood in his path and banged him up against the side of the wall several times and he ended up talking to the donkey and the donkey talked back. And but God eventually said to Balaam, he said, okay, you go do what you're going to do. But you're going to say what I what I tell you to say and no matter what Balaam tried to do three times, him and Balak made sacrifices and offerings and he set himself to look down on the valley and curse the children of Israel. Three times, he blessed them and didn't curse them and Balak got so angry and so mad at him for what he had done. However, though Balaam could not curse, Israel He did bring a great evil on them.

Look if you would in chapter 25. In Israel abode in Shittim and the people began to commit horedom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people under the sacrifices of their gods. The Moabites said, hey, what we're going to do is this, we're not going to be their enemy. We're going to pretend to be their what?

Their friend and we're going to invite them for a feast. When Moab, the feast was to a what? To a pagan god. As in in most places in the world, feast and celebrations were were dedicated to a certain worship of a certain idol. That's still somewhat maybe the way it is in the world today though we don't recognize it.

Is that and sometimes we're get easy to get caught up in some of those things. But I've never been to a rock concert but I've been told a lot of things that go on at some rock concerts and there's no doubt in my mind that a rock concert is really a place of worship. And not to God. It still goes on today and in this day, it was most certainly the case. So, they said, hey, come come celebrate with us.

We'll have this feast and it says in verse two again and they called the people under the sacrifice of their gods and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods and Israel joined himself under Baal Peor and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. Look down if you would in in verse five and Moses said unto the judges of Israel, slay you everyone his man men that were joined unto Baal Peor. Look down in verse nine and those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. Twenty four, zero people died of a plague that God sent on Israel not to speak of all the people that Moses and others slew in order to get the celebration to stop. So, the plague would stop.

A terrible scene. Just horrendous scene. Whose idea? Thirty one sixteen. Numbers thirty one sixteen, whose idea was this?

Behold, these calls the children of Israel to the children of Israel through the council of anybody with me? Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord and the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. Whose idea? Balaam's. Balaam couldn't win.

He couldn't curse Israel. God wouldn't let him. So, evidently, he gave Balak some advice. He said, I can't curse them but if you'll do this, God himself will curse them. You invite them to your celebration.

You get them to join in the wickedness and immorality of your pagan worship and God will deal with them. And that's exactly what Balak did. Got them to come, got them to worship these idols, got them to entangle themselves in the immoral celebration with the women which is almost almost always the case in the ancient world and really is still somewhat the case today. And they didn't see it coming. They didn't listen to God.

God was very explicit. He told them, you do not join in this worship of these things. You do not go to their feast. You do not get involved with their women. But they didn't listen.

Twenty four, zero of them died in the plague and who knows how many more were slaughtered by Moses and others in order to get God to stop the plague. This is the doctrine of Balaam which brings us back to Revelation To Revelation chapter three or chapter two. The doctrine of Balaam was twofold. Number one, riches trumped faithfulness to God Where Balaam was willing to do this for what? For money and the riches of this world.

There there was a man in Samaria named Simon. He had the same thought. He wanted to pay the apostles for the ability to lay hands on people and heal them and for the spirit to come upon them and Peter cursed him. Peter spoke very strongly to him. This does not come.

You can't get this by money. You can't get this for yourself. You get this through the Lord, through faith in him. So, we have Balaam in the Old Testament. We have Simon in the New Testament.

The second twofold to this part to this doctrine is this, as we mentioned, if you can't curse them, get them to compromise. Get them to turn away from the instructions and the will of God. Get them to soil themselves in sin, and God will deal with them. This seems to be the aspect of this doctrine to which the writer refers because he says here, Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed on the idols, and to commit fornication. You see, if you would have been there that day, when this went down in Israel, you probably could have asked everyone of those men involved, do you believe in the God of Israel?

And probably every last one of them would have said, yes. Do you deny the God of Israel? And every one of them probably would have said, no, we will not deny him. However, they got suckered in and they got they got drug in to immorality and compromise. They would have said, we don't believe these are gods.

They were just being good guests. Probably what they thought but it was a sin The one that brought judgement. The people of Pergamus hadn't denied their faith. They hadn't turned their back on God. If you would ask them to deny him as they probably some of them were, many of them said, no, we will not deny him but there were those in the church evidently who were putting pressure on them, who were teaching them that you can be faithful to God over here and you can worship God and be blessed by God.

But you can, you know, get along. You ever seen those bumper stickers on the cars that say coexist? Now, some people might think, well, hey, that that sounds pretty good. You know, we're we gotta, you know, we believe in freedom of religion. You gotta coexist with everybody.

You've got to get along. You have to be tolerant. You have to let people make their own choice. Sounds okay. But what that actually means to most people who have it on the back of their car is that every religion is equally valid.

And you can't say that Jesus is the only way because the Jews and the Muslims and the Hindus and the Buddhists and the Shinto West, their religion is just as valid as ours. The Bible says, there's only one, one way to heaven. You can be and choose to be whatever you want to be but you're going to stand before God one day at the judgment and what are we, first of all, mainly going to be judged upon whether our names are written in the lamb's book of life and the only way to get it written there is through faith in Jesus Christ alone. So, we can't go along with, excuse me, we can't go along with coexist. And we need to be careful because the devil is sly.

If he doesn't get you in the in the full on front frontal attack, he's going to come in the what? He's going to come in the back door and that's what was happening in Pergamus. They saw him coming in the front and they said, no. We belong to him. But he was coming in the back and telling them, hey, you can be friends with God and you can be friends with the what?

With the world. You can be faithful to God and you can go along with things. You really don't believe those things. You know, you just go on along to keep the peace and still be a good upstanding Christian and a and a witnessing bright and shining testimony church. God says, no, it doesn't work that way.

We're tempted to do the same today for sure. There's a lot of compromise in the church in the manner of worship. The world says, adopt some of our practices. It won't hurt you. You know, as long as you're still worshiping the true God, it doesn't matter if you have a a rock band up here and a light show and smoke filling the auditorium and craziness going on.

No big deal. The method doesn't matter as long as you believe in God, that's all that counts. Well, tell that to Aaron's sons. He's too oldest. They brought the wrong incense to the altar because they were drunk and didn't know what they were doing.

Yet, they they didn't even do it on purpose. But God struck em both dead. Say that to the man who put out his hand to stop the ark from falling off the cart when it was being taken back to Jerusalem and God struck him dead on the spot because you see the ark was supposed to be carried on what? Poles and not on a cart. They used the wrong what?

Method. Well, why does that? Why did that matter? Well, because God gave instructions. As to how it was be done.

And they didn't listen. The man was well intentioned. But the man still died. And Israel suffered. Grieved.

His loss. David learned next time to do it the right way. And there was rejoicing and not sorrow. Compromise and worship often leads to compromise and conduct. And in lifestyle.

As the world's methods often provoke and empower the flesh and not the spirit. It may feel good. But it's not necessarily good for you. Paul says, all things are lawful unto me but not all things are expedient. And as a Christian, there are some things that are not expedient.

They are not profitable. They are not beneficial. We need to be careful because they can be a trap. To trap us in the ways of the world. And a compromise in conduct often leads to a compromise in doctrine.

And eventually, our rationale and our feelings trump the word of God. It's a slippery slope. And it's a slippery slope that we are all in danger of and many churches and many Christians have slid way down today. Compromise with the world. Is not the way of the Lord.

It is not the way to reach people for Christ. Somebody said to me once, if you want to help somebody out of a ditch, what do you do? When when I was when I was at home, every now and then, we'd have a big snowfall and people would be going down the road around a corner and they'd slide off into a ditch. My dad had a big four wheel drive Jeep truck with tractor gear, okay. I don't know if you know what tractor gear is, but it had three lower gears than the lowest gear.

And with positraction, which means all four wheels would work together. And he would take that thing out sometimes, and he had a tow chain that he would hook to people, and he would pull them out of the ditch. Well, if you wanna help somebody out of the ditch, what you don't do is get down in the ditch with them. You stay up on solid ground where you got traction and then you can do what? And then you can pull em up.

The way of the world and the way of many Christians today, they have bought the idea that the way to reach people is to get down in the ditch with them. You know, go to the bars and drink and have a good time with them and witness to em while you're there. No. That's that's sending them the wrong message and yet that is the message that many Christians have bought into. Walk like the world, talk like the world, act like the world.

No, we're supposed to walk, talk, and act, believe, and think like who? Jesus Christ and he is very much the opposite of the world today. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, the Bible tells us. To be a friend with the world is to be an enmity of God with God. We're told in James four and verse four.

So, although the church at Pergamus was a church who had done denied the faith, there was still a rebuke and there was still a solution. The rebuke was you are compromising and you don't know it and the solution is what? What's always the solution? Repent. Repent.

Look in verse look if you would in verse 16. Repent or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. The solution, repent. Change your mind. Turn to God and he will change your conduct.

Repent. Recognize that you failed the Lord. And turn to him. Or else he will judge you according to his word. The sword of his mouth.

You can debate me. And anybody else you want to. But you can't debate this. Can't debate this. When we come up against this, what's the solution?

Repent. Repent. Change your life and your thinking to match this. And you will never regret it. Let's pray.

Dear Lord, we thank you for the service this evening, for those that have come for the message in Revelation concerning the city of Pergamus. We pray Lord that you would help us to recognize the need not to compromise but to stand firm. And to trust in you. To take care of us. To help us Lord to be a shine light, a shining testimony to others.

That you might receive the glory and honor. In Jesus name we pray.