The Danger of Internal Compromise: A Call to Biblical Fidelity

• The Last Days and Ecclesiology [00:00:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the 'last days' as the period from Jesus' ascension to his return, emphasizing the church's role as the final mission work to bring salvation to Jews and Gentiles as one new body.
• Compromise vs. Persecution [00:02:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the church at Smyrna (persecuted but crowned) with Pergamum, introducing the theme that Satan's second strategy is to corrupt believers through internal compromise rather than external trouble.
• Imperial Worship and Government Allegiance [00:04:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the historical context of Pergamum as a center for Caesar worship, arguing that Christians must maintain a 'healthy dose of suspicion' for government when it seeks the worship and allegiance due only to God.
• The Nature of the Church (Ekklesia) [00:12:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor critiques the closure of churches during the pandemic, defining 'ekklesia' as an assembly, and arguing that the church's nature requires physical gathering, labeling the 'non-essential' label a lie from hell.
• Faithfulness Under Persecution [00:13:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses Antipas, a faithful witness martyred for refusing to deny Jesus, highlighting that the church must hold fast to faith despite government opposition.
• Government and Divine Authority [00:14:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor clarifies that while government is an agent of God's goodness, believers must obey God rather than men when governmental commands contradict biblical obedience.
• Blending with the World [00:15:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the danger of 'blending' faith with the spirit of the age, creating a 'pleasurable cocktail' of Christianity that avoids challenging standards.
• The Spirit of Balaam [00:17:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the story of Balaam from Numbers, the pastor illustrates the 'spirit of Balaam' as seeking loopholes and permission for sin rather than revelation for obedience.
• Balaam and the Donkey Narrative [00:25:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the story of Balaam and his donkey, interpreting the donkey's actions and Balaam's blindness as God's disciplinary 'squeeze' on disobedience, culminating in Balaam's eventual corruption of Israel.
• Satan's Strategy of Seduction vs. Persecution [00:31:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that while Satan cannot curse God's people, he seeks to corrupt them from the inside by mixing Christian faith with worldly values, a strategy particularly effective in America where persecution is absent.
• Definition of Sexual Immorality [00:32:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor provides a strict definition of sexual immorality as any sexual activity or thought outside the covenantal marriage of one man and one woman, including lust, pornography, premarital cohabitation, and non-traditional gender identities.
• Critique of Modern Liberal Churches [00:37:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor condemns churches that endorse practices contrary to scripture, such as ordaining homosexuals or displaying pride flags, citing Duke Theological Seminary and a church in Northampton as examples of 'Pergamum' and 'pagan revelry'.
• Church Compromise and Idolatry [00:40:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor condemns the mixing of cultural symbols (progress flag) with religious ones as idolatry and criticizes denominations like the PCA for endorsing practices he views as contrary to scripture.
• Suffering for Truth [00:42:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor exhorts the congregation to be willing to lose friends, family, jobs, and opportunities if it means holding on to biblical truth.
• False Idols vs. Christ [00:46:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor lists modern equivalents of ancient pagan gods (power, political security, healing, education, pleasure) and argues that only Jesus can truly provide these things.
• Divine Provision and Reward [00:48:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the biblical symbolism of 'hidden manna' and the 'white stone' as promises of God's provision, acquittal, admission to heaven, victory, and priestly authority.
• Scriptural Truth vs. Cultural Mantras [00:52:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts modern cultural 'mantras' with the commitment to hold to scripture's truth, acknowledging potential backlash.
• Homosexuality and Discipleship [00:52:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > A personal anecdote is shared about a young man breaking up with his girlfriend after attending a sermon on homosexuality, illustrating the cost of following biblical teaching.
• Commitment to Jesus [00:52:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor transitions to an altar call, inviting the congregation to bow their heads and make a decision to say 'yes to Jesus'.

• Sermon Illustration [00:05:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Christopher Nolan's movie 'The Odyssey' and the historical Trojan Horse story, where Troy allowed a wooden horse into its walls thinking it was a gift, only to be destroyed from within. He uses this as an analogy for how Satan enters the church through small compromises ('little doors') to poison it from the inside.
• Sermon Illustration [00:13:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the historical martyrdom of Antipas, the pastor of Pergamum, who was roasted to death inside a hollow bronze bull while his church watched, illustrating steadfast faith despite extreme persecution.
• Sermon Illustration [00:13:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the historical account of Antipas, the pastor of Pergamum, who was murdered by being roasted alive inside a hollow bronze bull for his faith.
• Sermon Illustration [00:17:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor retells the biblical story of Balaam and Balak from Numbers 22, where Balak hires Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam initially refuses due to God's command, but eventually seeks a loophole to go after being offered more money and honor, leading to the incident with the donkey and the angel.
• Sermon Illustration [00:25:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor retells the biblical story of Balaam and his donkey, highlighting the humor and irony of a prophet being rebuked by his animal, and uses it to illustrate God's discipline of the disobedient.
• Sermon Illustration [00:28:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the character Mr. Ed to illustrate the absurdity of a talking donkey questioning its master, emphasizing the hilarity of the biblical text.
• Sermon Illustration [00:38:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about attending Duke Theological Seminary in 2016, where he was shocked to find the class praising Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood and a eugenicist, as a figure of virtue.
• Sermon Illustration [00:39:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes visiting a historic church in Northampton, Massachusetts, formerly home to Jonathan Edwards, which now displays a pride flag over the cross, which he identifies as idolatry and 'Pergamum.'
• Sermon Illustration [00:40:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts visiting a historic church in Northampton, Massachusetts, associated with Jonathan Edwards, where he saw a large progress flag hanging over the cross, which he labeled as idolatry.
• Sermon Illustration [00:52:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about a young man at a young adults meeting who broke up with his girlfriend after attending a sermon on homosexuality, which the pastor described as 'dodging a bullet.'
• Sermon Illustration [00:43:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the story of a member of Finland's parliament who was denied entry to Heathrow Airport and prosecuted for a hate crime for tweeting support for traditional marriage.
• Sermon Illustration [00:46:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical story of the woman who spent all her money on doctors and medicine but only got worse until she touched Jesus's hem and was healed instantly.
• Sermon Illustration [00:52:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > A young man at a young adults meeting approached the pastor after a sermon on homosexuality. He revealed that his girlfriend was with him, they walked out, and she broke up with him in the car on the way home. The pastor responded, 'you dodged a bullet, bro,' citing the hymn 'Though none go with me, still I will follow.'

• Pastoral Charge [00:12:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > Online viewers are commanded to stop watching remotely and physically attend church services.
• Pastoral Charge [00:15:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > Write down the warning about blending faith with the world.
• Pastoral Charge [00:40:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor declares a personal vow and prayer that his church will cease to exist rather than endorse the practices he has condemned.
• Pastoral Charge [00:39:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > Implicit call for the congregation to identify and reject the 'teaching of Balaam' (mixing Christianity with worldly values) in their own lives and churches.
• Pastoral Charge [00:52:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > Bow heads, close eyes, and verbally or mentally say 'yes' to Jesus.
• Pastoral Charge [00:52:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > Bow heads and close eyes in preparation for prayer
• Pastoral Charge [00:52:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > Say yes to Jesus

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Part four, I want to talk to you on the devil's second strategy and we're in Revelation chapter two and we're looking at a church in a city called Pergamum. To open the book of Revelation, our Lord writes seven letters to seven churches. Seven is God's number of completion. So this is like, these letters are to complete God's message to the church in the last days. We are in the last days. You say, I've been hearing that my whole life.
[00:00:30] Jesus still hasn't come. The last days started when Jesus ascended to the Father. And we've been in the last days ever since. The apostle John writes that in his letters, in the last days, in these last days. And he says many antichrists have already come in these last days. The last
[00:00:48] days are just the unfolding of God's final plan that God, through Jesus, the true Israel, Jesus, the son of Israel, would bring salvation, not just to the Jews, but also to the nations.
[00:01:02] And we are one new body in Christ Jesus, Jew and Gentile. And the church is his last mission work to the world. We are it, the church of Jesus. And I love the church. Anybody with me?
[00:01:16] I love the church of Jesus. You should love the church. If you're here, I'm assuming you love the church. But a quick recap. The first church was Ephesus. The church in Ephesus was very dutiful
[00:01:27] and obedient and very doctrinally pure, but they had abandoned something. Anybody remember what that was? Their first love. And I said two weeks ago, it is possible to be very religious and to be very devoted to your religion and not loving toward people and God. And some of you,
[00:01:50] you've got church background like that. And we never want to be a church that's just doctrinally pure and not loving to lost people and to ourselves, each other, and to the Lord. Amen.
[00:02:01] Last week, Pastor Manny did a great job with the church at Smyrna. The church at Smyrna was crushed under persecution from the Roman government, but Jesus said that they were crowned.
[00:02:12] okay they were crowned with his glory this week pergamum presents a different sort of issue that the church and individual believers can face and and i want to start off with the theme let me give
[00:02:27] it to you straight up the theme is simply this uh that if satan cannot discourage uh discourage the church or believers with trouble he will try to corrupt the church with compromise compromise nobody wakes up and says i'm gonna abandon the lord today
[00:02:57] it starts with little doors that you open to the enemy to temptation to the flesh to the world and satan's second strategy if he can't get you with trouble from the outside and people hating
[00:03:14] on you and just life kind of throwing you for a loop and all that if he can't get you to deny the lord that way he will come and try to infect your faith and taint it and mix it and blend it
[00:03:29] with the spirit, listen, of the age. This is the Pergamum challenge. The Pergamum church was located in the city of Pergamum in the Asia Minor corridor, which is now modern-day Turkey.
[00:03:45] We know that it was the house, the center of imperial worship that was what Mehdi talked about last week, emperor worship. Caesar went from being a political figure in ancient Rome to a self-proclaimed divine figure.
[00:04:01] He thought himself the son of God.
[00:04:03] And so he demanded that everybody in the empire worshiped him.
[00:04:07] They would go to the temple.
[00:04:08] And once a year, you were required as a Roman citizen to go to the temple of Caesar and to burn incense and declare Caesar is Lord.
[00:04:18] Well, Christians said no.
[00:04:20] Christians said no.
[00:04:21] We do not worship Caesar.
[00:04:23] We do not worship government power.
[00:04:25] we know that the Lord Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and he has the nations under his sovereign control. Can I get a good amen? Now, Pergamum was the center of an imperial
[00:04:40] temple to Caesar. It was also the center of a temple to Zeus, the god of gods and the Greek pantheon of gods. It also had a temple to Asclepius. This was the ancient god of healing,
[00:04:52] where you would go to the temple you would lay down on the ground and they would have non-venomous snakes um kind of slither all over you because in the ancient world they thought that snakes brought
[00:05:01] healing uh it was also the center to the god they had a temple to the god athena the god of wisdom and education and they also had a temple to dionysus the goddess of wine and pleasure and
[00:05:12] intoxication and the center this city was very pagan and and so the church was challenged the church was completely under um a burden to stand for christ and and not participate listen to this word again this phrase in the spirit of the age and every age has a spirit ours has one as well
[00:05:37] and the devil cannot defeat you from the outside he'll try to corrupt you from the inside there's news about a movie coming out by christopher nolan is called the odyssey this is the story of
[00:05:47] this ancient Greek hero. I forget what his name is. I even asked somebody in the first service, does anybody remember the name? Huh? One person. Odysseus. Thank you. Okay. You didn't have to be me. And Odysseus is coming back, you know, from his battle with the Greek armies. And the backstory,
[00:06:13] and there's a lot of, there's a lot of, you know, to do about this movie. People are downvoting the trailers big time they're threatening to boycott and the reason is because of the casting decisions
[00:06:21] of christopher nolan uh in fact christopher nolan amazingly telling a greek story decided not to cast a single greek person in the movie and i call me on fashion but if it's a greek story maybe
[00:06:32] maybe you should have a few greeks in the cast but anyway the backstory of that movie is that they the trojan horse moment the city of troy had withstood the greek invasion the most powerful
[00:06:47] army in the world for 10 years. They could not get into that ancient city. By the way, this is Troas in our Bible. And Troy stood against Greece for 10 years. But they finally lost
[00:07:01] because the Greek army came up with an idea to fill a wooden horse with a bunch of their soldiers and send it to the city of Troy as a gift. The city of Troy welcomed it into their walls.
[00:07:12] the rest of the story you all know this or you should know this uh the the military the greek army spilled out of the trojan horse wiped out the men took ownership of the city of troy the rest is
[00:07:22] history and this phrase a trojan horse is kind of american lingo for letting something that looks good on the outside slip in and poison poison you from the inside this is a perfect illustration for what the enemy is seeking to do with the church.
[00:07:45] If he cannot trouble us on the outside, he will seek to corrupt us on the inside.
[00:07:52] So let's talk about this.
[00:07:53] The city of Pergamum, the church in this ancient pagan city of Pergamum.
[00:07:57] Letter A, write this down.
[00:07:58] Pergamum was a city that wouldn't bend.
[00:08:02] There's good news to start the letter to the church in Pergamum.
[00:08:06] And every time Jesus writes to the churches, except for one the last church we'll get to he has good things to say to this church he says the words of him was the sharp two-edged sword remember that for later i know where you dwell and i'm so
[00:08:21] glad the lord knows where we are but he says you dwell where satan's throne is let's get something straight about satan satan's throne is not in hell some of you believe that because you were raised
[00:08:36] on Tom and Jerry cartoons. Hell is not Satan's domain. Hell is Satan's future, as well as everybody who follows him and disregards the Lord Jesus. Hell was prepared, Jesus says, for Satan and his angels. And the book of Revelation will wrap this up for us and
[00:09:05] tell us that at the last day, Satan will be cast into hell and then hell and death will be cast into the lake of fire. That's a double death that one day is coming very soon when Jesus will
[00:09:16] overthrow the captain of our greatest nemesis, the army of darkness. He will overthrow him with the breath of his mouth and he will cast him into hell and he will cast him into the lake of fire
[00:09:28] and sin and death and Satan will be no more. Praise the Lord. Anytime Satan reminds you of your past. Just remind him of his future. Come on, somebody. So who is in charge of hell? Jesus is in
[00:09:44] charge of hell. He actually says in Revelation, I have the keys of hell and death. When you have the keys to something, you're in charge. Jesus is in charge of hell, and he will cast Satan there.
[00:09:54] But Satan had a throne. Where? In Pergamum. You understand that Satan is not omnipresent. He cannot be everywhere at once. He can only be at one place at a time, which makes me think, where
[00:10:06] is satan right now and my first guess is washington dc um the reason why i think jesus says that satan is in pergamum is because actually i as pastor many talked about last week that there
[00:10:22] was uh imperial temples built to worship caesar the first one ever built in asia was built in pergamum so the first place where you were challenged or dare i say you were uh you were
[00:10:36] force to worship the Roman government leader was in Pergamum. And Jesus says, Satan's throne is there. Listen to me very carefully, just pastorally for you. Christians, believers who know their Bible should have a healthy dose of suspicion for the government. Always. Even if your guy
[00:11:00] or gal wins the presidency, we must have a healthy dose because over and over again, the scripture talks about the nations and the leaders and the rulers of the world seeking to take the place of God in our lives. This is nothing new. Government wants to promise what
[00:11:23] only God can provide. Government wants your allegiance. Government wants your praise.
[00:11:29] Government wants your worship. And we have to have spiritual receptors up and ready, and alarms should go off all the time whenever the government seeks to control the church.
[00:11:43] Six years ago, God allowed the government to put the church through a test.
[00:11:50] And a lot of churches failed that test miserably.
[00:11:54] Shut down, close up, we'll keep the liquor stores open, we'll keep Walmart open, we'll boost all these other agencies of the world.
[00:12:01] But the church is non-essential.
[00:12:03] Friend, that was a lie from the pit of hell.
[00:12:05] and I think that the longer you kept your church closed betrayed how far your heart had drifted from scripture I remember there was a very famous pastor mega giga church pastor 25,000 members in Atlanta who got on video screen during the lockdowns and said um good bad you know heads up
[00:12:26] church you know the bible actually doesn't tell us to gather so we don't have to gather literally that's what one pastor said to his entire church this is a very notable pastor if I said his name
[00:12:36] you would know who he is, some of you. Does anybody know what the word for church is in Greek? It's ekklesia. Ekklesia. Do you know what ekklesia is? It's an assembly. You're not an assembly if no
[00:12:49] one's assembling. The very nature of the church is we gather together. Hey, YouTube watchers, I'm glad you're watching, but you should be assembling. Get in. Get in. It's not about me being there in person either, video locations. It's not about me. It's about you. The church
[00:13:06] gathered together as the body of Christ. We assemble and God comes and fills the house.
[00:13:13] Amen. So how did I get on that? Oh, the government sometimes will be allowed to test the spirit of the church. Well, the good news for Pergamum is that they weren't bending. He says, he says,
[00:13:27] I know where you go. And even though Satan is there, yet you hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was killed among you. Let's
[00:13:38] talk about Antipas. Antipas was probably the pastor of the church in Pergamum. And historians tell us that he was murdered for his faith, for his staunch commitment to Jesus. By the way, when Jesus is faithful witness, the word witness here is martos. We get the word martyr from that
[00:13:55] word. And so he died for the faith. Historians tell us this is how they killed Antipas.
[00:14:00] they fashioned a bronze bull, hollowed it out, threw him inside and threw it onto the fire and he roasted to death. And his church watched this happen. And Jesus says, in spite of all of
[00:14:15] that, you did not deny my faith, even when he was horrendously murdered for me. And that's because Satan dwells there. What did Antipas refuse to do? He probably refused to worship Caesar.
[00:14:32] He probably refused to worship and obey the government when the government challenged them to disobey God. Now, listen to me. Let me just make some, let me bookend this government discussion because I don't want you to leave here with the wrong impression. Government is also an agent of
[00:14:45] God's goodness to punish the wrongdoer, to protect people. But whatever government says to do something that God says not to do, we go with God. So Antipas said, I'm not. I'm not going to worship.
[00:14:59] And he was horribly killed. And Jesus says, this is good. You did not. By the way, notice the pronouns. My name, my faith, my faithful witness. Big point here. The church belongs to Jesus. You belong to Jesus. One of the prayers that I try to remind myself to pray
[00:15:17] before I ever get up here on stage and speak is this. I say, Lord, this is your church.
[00:15:22] this is your word these are your people and i am your servant nothing about this is about me it's his don't bend to the mantras and the spirit of the age but letter b write this down pergamum
[00:15:39] was a church that began to blend okay here's how you take the l in christian living take the l in christian living just put an l in bend and you get blend when you start to blend you start to what you do is you start to mix your faith with the principles
[00:16:01] and the spirit of the age you start to say well i know that god says this but the world says that so we're going to do a little bit of we're going to mix a pleasurable cocktail of comfortable and
[00:16:11] casual christianity that won't offend anybody that that won't hold to stark standards that won't challenge people to understand there's darkness in the world and this is exactly what Jesus takes up against them in verse 14. He says, I have a few things against you. You have some,
[00:16:28] underline some. Not everybody in this church, but there are some who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food,
[00:16:39] sacrifice to idols, and let's take a look at this, and practice sexual morality. So Balaam taught Balak to teach the people of Israel to practice sexual morality. We will get to, we will get to
[00:16:50] sacrificing food to idols in just a moment, but let's talk about this. I want to give you a tip on how to study the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation, I've taught this book four times,
[00:17:02] is at the end of the Bible for a reason. It talks about last things, but here's how you have to understand how to read it, because some of you are scared to death of this book, and a lot of
[00:17:11] preachers won't preach on this book because it's confusing. Okay, most times the book of Revelation will refer to stories from other books of the Bible to point something out and to teach a deeper truth. In this case, in this case, the Lord refers to a guy named Balaam and a guy named
[00:17:32] Balak. Let me show you the story from another book in the Bible. The book is Numbers. The chapter is 22. And in this story, which is kind of a funny story, we are introduced to the characters Balak
[00:17:44] and Balaam. And let me tell you what it's about. The people of Israel set out and camped, the scripture says in number 22, in the plains of Moab. Somebody say Moab. That's just so I know
[00:17:53] you're paying attention. And Balak, who was the king. Okay, so Balak is the king. There we go, that's a crown. The king of Moab saw Israel and what they had done to the Ammonites. The Ammonites,
[00:18:06] by the way, Israel is just freshly out of Egypt. They've crossed the Red Sea. They go into the wilderness. They meet with God. And then they go and they defeat two nations. And one of the nations
[00:18:16] is the Amorites. And Balak, the king of Moab, says, uh-oh. The Bible says he was in great dread of the people. And the whole nation of Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. And Moab said
[00:18:29] to the elders of Midian, this horde, they're going to kick us out. They're going to lick us up.
[00:18:34] They're going to lick us up as the ox licks up the grass of the field. So Balak, the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor-Pithor, which is near
[00:18:44] the river in the land of the people of Amah, to say to him, behold, a people has come up from Egypt to cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me. Come now, look at this.
[00:18:53] He asks Balaam, curse this people for me. He says, they are too mighty for me. Now, who is Balaam?
[00:19:00] Balaam was an ancient seer, an ancient wise visionary prophet in the ancient world. Not a jew not an israelite but uh people went to him when they had trouble with you know mystical spiritual things and and they believed that god listened to him so balaam is a prophet for hire
[00:19:22] by balak the king of moab to curse israel he wants them to be cursed because they're too mighty for him perhaps i shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land for i know that he whom
[00:19:33] you bless is blessed, Balaam, and he whom you curse is cursed. So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed. And look at this. They bring money for divination in their hand. And they
[00:19:45] came to Balaam and gave him Balak's message. And he said to them, lodge here. Oh, that sounds good.
[00:19:48] You want to pay me to prophesy? That sounds good. I'm a pay to pray kind of guy. He says, all right, just stay here tonight. I will bring back to you as the Lord speaks to me. So the princes of Moab
[00:19:59] stayed with Balaam. And God, verse 9, came to Balaam and said, who are these people with you?
[00:20:03] And Balaam said, this is Balak, the son of Zipporah, the king of Moab, who sent to me a prophet.
[00:20:10] He said, a people has come out of Egypt. It covers the face of the earth. And he asked me to curse them. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out if I curse them. And
[00:20:19] verse 12, God said to Balaam, you shall not go with them. Everybody look at this line. You shall not curse the people for they are less. Can I just say something to you? Every child of God,
[00:20:36] listen to me very carefully. Satan can't curse those whom God has blessed. Some of you are going to say, oh, the devil's really got me down. No, no, no, no, no. You just think he's got you down.
[00:20:51] He's a defeated foe. He's under your feet. Jesus has overcome death, hell, and the grave.
[00:20:59] Jesus said I've given you authority over every serpent every scorpion nothing shall harm you Satan cannot curse the people whom God has blessed amen all right so God says you shall next two words not go so Balaam rose early in the morning and said to the princes of Balak
[00:21:23] sorry you got to go back home the Lord has refused to let me go look at how he says it by the way oh the Lord said I couldn't do it this is the spirit of Balaam and some of you gonna
[00:21:34] you're gonna get pinched a little bit here because some of you you walk in the spirit of Balaam you don't even realize it look what happens next verse so the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said well he said no so does that this Balak said well I tried no no no
[00:21:47] he ups the ante he sent princes more in number and more honorable he ups the ante no doubt he upped the fee and they came to Balaam and said oh that says Balak son of Zippor let nothing hinder
[00:21:58] you from coming to me, for I will surely do you great honor. And whatever you say to me, I'll do.
[00:22:01] In other words, blank check, Balaam, blank check. I'll give you whatever you want if you curse this people for me. Now, what did God say to Balaam? Two words. Don't. But he gets offered more money,
[00:22:19] more honor, more riches. And Balaam answered and said to the servants, though you were to give me your houses full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do
[00:22:29] less or more so that should have been the end of it but it's not verse 19 so to please stay here tonight that i may know what more the lord will say to me here's the spirit of balaam it's called
[00:22:49] looking for a loophole christianity god said no and we go looking for a second opinion And let me tell you right now, in 2026, we all have plenty of options to find a second opinion
[00:23:08] about what God's word has clearly said. Let me just find some internet preacher who will give me permission to cheat on my wife. Let me just find some internet preacher that will justify adherence to governmental mandates that undermine biblical obedience. You got no shortage
[00:23:35] of opportunities. This is what a lot of Christians do when they go to prayer. They are not asking for what God wants them to do. They're asking for permission for what they want to do. Some of you
[00:23:51] got to get a hold of this. When you go to God, you don't look for revelation. You look for permission, which is why Jesus said in the model prayer to the disciples, the first thing you're
[00:24:03] going to say before you ask for daily bread, before you ask for forgiveness, before you ask for protection from temptation and the enemy, here's what you're going to say. Your kingdom come, your will be done. That's how you approach God. But Balaam, this is the spirit of Balaam,
[00:24:21] loophole. Let me see if the Lord has anything else to say. And God came to Balaam at night and said him, well, if the men have come to call you, go with them. Now, some people get confused. Oh,
[00:24:29] God, what is he, double-minded? No, no, no, no, no, no. Here's a spiritual principle, something you got to get a hold of. Listen to this. This is so good. This is so important.
[00:24:36] Sometimes you got to be careful about what you're asking God for, because you just might get it.
[00:24:47] And anybody who's ever dated somebody like that knows exactly what I'm talking about.
[00:24:52] Not that I know anything about that. Amen. When anybody's asked for a job or anybody's asked for, you know, a move or something. And you got it. Oh, my word. What was I thinking? Sometimes God
[00:25:03] lets you go to discipline you. So he rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went out. He was early. He was early in the morning. He's like, yeah, I'm ready to go. But God's anger was kindled
[00:25:13] and he went. And this is where the story gets funny. This is where the story gets funny.
[00:25:17] And the angel of the Lord stood in this, took his stand in a way as his adversary. Now, as he was riding his donkey, the two servants were with him and the donkey saw the angel of the Lord. The
[00:25:27] angel of the Lord, by the way, is a euphemism for the pre-incarnate person of Jesus. So this is Jesus taking a stand against Balaam, standing in the road, and notice this language with a drawn
[00:25:39] what? Sword in his hand. Let's go back to the letter to Pergamum. How did Jesus introduce himself to this church? I got the two-edged sword in my mouth. The Lord is standing before his donkey,
[00:25:56] and the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. So the first time the angel Lord stands before Balaam, he's in a field. He's on a road in a field and the donkey swerves off.
[00:26:09] What does Balaam do? Balaam strikes the donkey and turns her back onto the road. Now here's where the funny, you got to read, this is a funny story. This is intentionally funny to show you the
[00:26:18] hilarity of people who think they can find a loophole to true Christianity. The prophet who's supposedly the one who hears from God, can't see the angel of the Lord, but his stubborn mule can.
[00:26:36] The Lord's mocking this man. So he beats the donkey back onto the road. He beat his ass.
[00:26:47] Sorry, it's the King James Version. Verse 24. The angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path. Now, where was he first? In the field. Now he's in a narrow path between the vineyards. With the wall
[00:27:03] on either side. So field, enclosed vineyard, walls. This is what God does when you're living in disobedience. He starts to put the squeeze on you. And the scripture says, the donkey saw the angel of the Lord and she pushed against the wall and pressed his foot against the wall. There's
[00:27:24] pain. See, some of you are walking in the wrong ways of life right now, and there's pain. And you're wondering, why do I got the pain? It's because you're walking in disobedience from God's clearly revealed word. And the pain is actually his loving care to stop you from being
[00:27:44] stupid. So he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no way. You see this? Field, vineyard, narrow place. Now the donkey can't
[00:28:01] moved to the right to the left when the donkey saw the angel lord she laid down under balaam and he was angered and he struck the donkey with his staff and verse 28 this is where the story
[00:28:11] gets funny and the lord opened the mouth of the donkey and she said to balaam how many remember mr ed i think wilbur what was the voice of this no it's a female it's a female she said uh i wonder
[00:28:29] her house and said, what have I done to you? All of these years that you have struck me these three times. And if that wasn't funny enough, the next verse is the most funny part of the story. And
[00:28:48] Balaam said, donkey, the dude's talking to a donkey, donkey. Well, you made a fool of me.
[00:28:58] And if I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you.
[00:29:01] And then they have this kind of back and forth.
[00:29:03] The donkey said, am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life?
[00:29:07] Haven't I been your faithful?
[00:29:08] Yee-haw, yee-haw.
[00:29:10] I mean, that's just such, and is it my habit to treat you this way?
[00:29:14] And Balaam says, no, no.
[00:29:15] And then the Lord, verse 31, the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with a drawn sword in his hand, and he fell down on his face.
[00:29:25] So long story short, Balaam goes, meets Balak. They go up to a mountain peak. They see the people of Israel. He's been hired to curse them. He builds an altar. He seeks the Lord, and he utters not three curses. He utters three
[00:29:38] blessings over the people of Israel. Why? Because Satan cannot curse those whom God has blessed.
[00:29:46] Balak is fit to be tied. He fires Balaam. Balaam goes home for a little while, and you think the story's over? No. If Satan cannot trouble you from the outside, he will seek to corrupt you from the
[00:29:58] inside. So fast forward, and I won't go to the chapters in this. You can read it for yourself.
[00:30:02] In chapter 25 of Numbers, the people of Israel are supposed to go and wipe out the Moabites because they had rebelled so terribly against the Lord. And instead of rebelling, instead of wiping them out, Balaam tells Balak, if you want to defeat these people, here's what you do.
[00:30:17] Dress up your young ladies as nice, beautiful prostitutes and let them fornicate with your daughters. And then they'll intermarry with you and they'll be corrupted just like you.
[00:30:25] And the people of Israel do that very thing. And that's what Jesus means when he says that Balaam taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel. And by the way, 25,000 men of Israel die from a plague because they interbreed with the Moabite princesses.
[00:30:48] Women. Any manner of STDs and whatever sexually transmitted disease, you can understand what happen, probably. So they practiced sexual immorality. And this is what was happening in the church in Pergamum. Again, write this down. Satan cannot curse you, but he can seduce you.
[00:31:13] Balaam tried to curse. He couldn't do it. So he came up with another strategy, and this is the strategy that so many American Christians, you've got to be aware of, because it's so much easier
[00:31:22] to be a Christian in America than in Pergamum. It's so much easier. Nobody's demanding that you worship the president or the congress nobody's demanding that you deny your faith and satan knows that full well and so he will oftentimes not persecute the american christian he will try
[00:31:40] to contaminate the american christian by mixing their christianity with worldly values now i want to show you something very key word here he taught balak to put a stumbling block before the Israelites, and he says, you have some, this is not everybody, but hold to the teaching.
[00:32:03] Now, let me just say something about sexual immorality. It's got to be defined. It's got to be defined. Because depending on the kind of church you go to, it's a moving target. And I want to be absolutely clear. And every time I talk about these things, sometimes I say them a little
[00:32:23] bit angry and people get upset and they leave. And the only reason why I get angry is because I'm so sick and tired of the world trying to infect the church. And I have a holy jealousy
[00:32:36] for the church, the purity of the church. So let me do this nicely today. I'm going to try.
[00:32:44] Sexual immorality is simply this. Any sexual activity in deed or thought outside the covenantal marriage of one man and one woman is sin. Sexual immorality. Are we okay with this?
[00:33:09] Are we good? I did that nicely. It wasn't so bad, was it? It wasn't so bad? Now, I know that some of you will not come back to Waters Church as of right now because I just said that.
[00:33:22] And I understand. Because you have been living in Pergamum. You have allowed the doctrines of the world to infect your faith. So what are the things outside of the covenantal marriage bond between a man and a woman? Well, let's start with the easy ones. The thoughts. Jesus said,
[00:33:42] if you look lustfully, you've committed adultery with your heart. So this would say, when you're comparing your spouse to somebody else in your mind. It would also be something like pornography when you're looking at imagery or videos and clicking, and that's also sexual immorality.
[00:34:02] And let's be honest, Jesus did not actually even refer to sex in Matthew 5 when he says, if you look lustfully. Lust just means unholy desire. It doesn't even have to involve sex.
[00:34:12] So we always beat the men over the head because that's, you know, men are usually the ones, they're stimulated by the visual. So that's their most time. I want to generalize a little bit, but most times it's the men struggling with that. But women, you can lust in ways that have nothing
[00:34:25] to do with sex. You can lust through a romance novel that describes it. You can lust by thinking, well, I wish I had a man like that instead of this guy, this schlub that the Lord's given me.
[00:34:41] That's lust. Has nothing to do with sex. You just like the fact that that other husband does the dishes. Why doesn't my husband do the dishes? I could turn to lust because you're wanting that, okay? I'm just trying to be an equal offender of both sexes. Are we ready?
[00:34:57] Oh, and speaking of both sexes, there's only two. And one can't become the other.
[00:35:12] No matter what Harvard University tells you, no matter what some high-ranking politician tells you, no matter what some fruit case nut job on TikTok tells you. I'm sorry. I said I was going to be nice. See, it's easy for me to spill over to that. Anyway, the fact of the matter is these,
[00:35:35] this, this is all sin. This is all sin. Okay, here's, let's get a little bit more heavy.
[00:35:42] Having sex before marriage is sexual morality. See how quiet y'all got right there? Some of you come to water's church week in week out and you are living together and you're not married and some of you have even produced children and i have to question do you really know the lord
[00:36:06] those children are what your marriage bond was for and you're not going to covenant to stay together you have created children you are now responsible for their livelihood and their well-being and it is one of the most selfish things in the world to disregard their future
[00:36:28] because you want to keep your options open.
[00:36:35] This is sexual immorality.
[00:36:38] We're not just poking at the homosexuals and the pornographers.
[00:36:44] It's all out of bounds for, listen, God's people.
[00:36:53] And Jesus says, if you don't repent, I'm going to come and I'm going to make war against you.
[00:37:04] Them. Who's them?
[00:37:05] remember it was some who taught now listen let me lighten the spirit of the atmosphere for a moment there's not a church on the planet that doesn't have people sitting in the pews and sometimes even from the pulpit who struggle with sexual morality that's not what jesus is
[00:37:27] talking about here every one of us has failed in some way shape or form uh he's talking about this is a church that teaches it. This is a church that doesn't just do it. They celebrate it,
[00:37:41] and they broadcast it, and they make it the center of their whole organization.
[00:37:50] And today in America, these kinds of churches are everywhere. Most typically in America, right here in New England, where you can go past eight historically faithful churches, and today they hang the pride flag more boldly than the cross and they ordain women
[00:38:14] and lesbians and homosexuals and they call it progress friends it's not progress it's regress this is not new this is not new it's just ancient pagan revelry coming back into churches that have abandoned God's word. Years ago, I was going to go get my doctorate degree. And I had just
[00:38:40] completed my master's. So I enrolled at Duke Theological Seminary. And it was a one-week intensive. So I flew down. And I remember they gave me the reading list before I showed up. And I couldn't believe the reading list. I thought, are these books, are we going to refute the
[00:38:54] context of these books? Is that what we're going to do at this class? No. I remember I sat in the first session of Duke Theological Seminary, this historic United Methodist Church Center for Theological Studies. And the first hour of the class, they spent talking about the virtues,
[00:39:15] boldness, and courage of Margaret Sanger. Margaret Sanger is the founder of Planned Parenthood.
[00:39:23] Margaret Sanger was a eugenic, a eugenicist. She wanted to use contraception, her words, not mine, to limit the Negro population in New York City.
[00:39:37] This is Duke Theological Seminary, 2016.
[00:39:41] Celebrating her.
[00:39:44] You have some who hold to the teaching of Balaam.
[00:39:50] In Northampton, Massachusetts, the western side of the state, a historic church that was home to Jonathan Edwards, the guy who lit the fire of the first great awakening in this country that probably led to the revolution
[00:40:01] and ultimately to the abolishment of slavery in this country.
[00:40:06] That church, I visited there many, many years ago.
[00:40:08] They had a huge progress flag hanging right over the cross.
[00:40:12] This is idolatry.
[00:40:14] This is pagan.
[00:40:15] This is evil.
[00:40:16] This is Pergamum.
[00:40:19] Let me say very, very clearly, because I think that the pastors of those old historic denominations, they should have said it, and they didn't.
[00:40:27] And I'm glad I'm on video to say this, so it's recorded, and you can go back to it years from now.
[00:40:31] Someday I won't be the pastor of this church anymore.
[00:40:33] I don't know, I'll die or I'll retire, but I want to say something right now.
[00:40:36] If Waters Church ever endorses these kinds of practices, Waters Church, I'm praying, it closes its doors. A church... Now listen to me, unbelievers amongst... I'm not picking on the world. The world's going to be the world. Sinner's going to sin. The problem is not the world being
[00:40:59] the world. The problem is the church being the world. We are a prophetic voice to a world gone wrong. And we've got to stand opposed to the mantras and the attitudes and the atmospheres of our age and say, we're not going with culture. We're going with scripture. And what God has said,
[00:41:18] he still means, and I'm banking on this being the living word of the most high God.
[00:41:27] So let her see Pergamum was a church that had to choose. And we have to choose. We have to choose.
[00:41:33] and the choice that jesus gives them is repent turn around it's not too late this past week the presbyterian church of america just put into their bylaws and doctrine embracement and endorsement of gender mutilation for minors this is the presbyterian church of america
[00:41:55] founded by john knox the scottish reformer who stood opposed to totalitarian government in the name of religion. He's turning over in, well, he's not in his grave. He's in heaven with the Lord right now. But this is how it happens. This is nothing new. Churches contaminate
[00:42:11] themselves. So what do we choose? Number one in your notes, write this down. I got to go quickly.
[00:42:15] Choose to stand for truth in a world of lies. Now, if you're not in water church, get yourself in a church where they're open in the Bible and they're telling you what it says, even if you
[00:42:27] don't like it. Sometimes truth hurts. Amen. He says, listen, you did not deny my faith. You did not, you did not give up when Antipas, my faithful witness, was killed among you where Satan dwells.
[00:42:38] I already told you what Antipas did. He suffered for truth. Sometimes you're gonna have to suffer for truth. Sometimes you're gonna have to lose for truth. Say this with me so I know you're getting
[00:42:49] it. Everybody say it after me. Say, sometimes I'm gonna have to lose for the sake of truth.
[00:42:57] Okay, so now what are you gonna lose? Sometimes you're gonna lose friends. Here's the harder one.
[00:43:03] Sometimes you're gonna have to lose family because you're following Jesus. Sometimes you're gonna have to lose money, jobs, opportunity, endorsements, because you hold on to truth. And that's where the rubber hits the road, isn't it? A member of Finland's parliament was just denied entry into
[00:43:26] Heathrow Airport in London. Why? She was, by the way, she was going home to Finland from America and Heathrow Airport said, nope, you're not allowed. What did this member of the Finnish Parliament do? She tweeted in 2019, support for traditional marriage. That's all she did.
[00:43:47] And the Finnish government prosecuted this woman for three years, brought her to the Supreme Court, and convicted her of a hate crime. This is happening now. And I bring that up. You say, well, that's just the government. The Finnish government is tied to the Lutheran church.
[00:44:04] It's a church-state thing. The Lutheran church has got its roots historically in Martin Luther, who led the reformation of bringing the church out of corruption back to scripture.
[00:44:18] In 1517, nailed the thesis to the wall.
[00:44:21] He said, look, we got to go with God's word over pagan rituals.
[00:44:25] And now his church is completely corrupted.
[00:44:28] This is how quickly it can become of any church.
[00:44:31] Let us never live in Pergamum.
[00:44:35] We got to choose truth over lies.
[00:44:38] number two we're going to choose the lord before every false savior now let's get personal we're going to choose the lord over every false savior everything that the lord wants to give you understand this the world has something else out there that will offer it to you
[00:44:53] so he says uh balaam taught the people of israel to commit sexual morality but he also taught them let's go back to this i told you we would he also taught them to eat food sacrifice to idols now
[00:45:08] that is a reference to pagan feasts celebrating the false gods that i told you about in pergamum in fact i got what so what they would do is they would go to these feasts and they would celebrate
[00:45:20] at the at the at the at the temple of zeus on friday and then they would show up the church on sunday and they would go to the temple of asclepius let the snakes roll over them for a
[00:45:31] few hours and then they would go to church on sunday and jesus says enough of that uh-uh you don't mix truth with lies so let me just put this picture up on the screen these are the temples in
[00:45:43] pergamum there was a temple to zeus he represented power there was a temple to caesar he represented political power government and by the way security asclepius healing medicine and life athena wisdom education philosophy dionysus pleasure wine intoxication and sensuality listen to me um
[00:46:01] there is nothing new under the sun we still we don't build statues or temples to these gods but we still worship them. We still worship power. Oh, I want power. I want authority. I want to do my
[00:46:12] own thing. I want to be in charge. Don't tell me what to do. How about this? Even in the church, don't judge me. Don't judge me. You take that totally out of scripture's context.
[00:46:22] The church must judge right and wrong. Must. We worship political power, looking for security from government rather than God. We worship healing, putting our trust in the pharmaceutical industry over God's power to heal our bodies both naturally and sometimes in some cases with
[00:46:38] medicine. I'm not saying all medicine is wrong, but some of you have been so corrupted. You've been so intoxicated with the idea that the answer is always at the pharmacy and not in the healing
[00:46:50] work of Jesus Christ. There was a woman who spent all that she had on medicine and doctors, the scripture says, and she only got worse. And she pressed through the crowd and she touched jesus's hem and she was healed instantly and then athena wisdom this is some of you you worship at
[00:47:06] the altar of athena because you think education is what your children need more than anything else my kid needs to get a bachelor's degree and a master's degree and i want to tell you that's
[00:47:15] absolutely wrong more than anything else your your child needs to have their knees bent to the lord of lords and the king of kings because in christ is hidden all the wisdom of treasure treasures of
[00:47:25] wisdom and knowledge. And some of you worship at the altar to Dionysus, wine, intoxication, revelry, because if it feels good, do it. And all of these things, can I tell you, write this down, every idol promises only what only Jesus can provide. Every idol promises what
[00:47:48] only Jesus can provide. You want power? Jesus says, all power on heaven and earth has been given to me. Government, Isaiah said, the government shall be on his shoulders. Healing, he's the God who heals all our diseases. Education, wisdom, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
[00:48:10] And pleasure, Psalm 16 verse 11 says, at your right hand, Lord, are pleasures forever more.
[00:48:19] Number three, write this down. Choose God's favor over worldly pleasure. What the world offers only God can provide. I said, what the world offers, only God can provide. And he says this in verse 17. He who has an ear does not hear what the Spirit says to the churches. I'm going to do
[00:48:36] something. If you repent, and if you turn back to me, he says this. I'm going to, to the one who conquers, I'm going to give hidden manna and a white stone. Now, hidden manna. Again, remember
[00:48:47] I said, what Revelation does is it references old stories in the Bible to illustrate hidden truths.
[00:48:53] manna was honey bread that god dropped on the ground every morning for the israelites in other words it was their provision some of you got to learn to let the lord be your provision some of you you say you trust god but you don't tithe because money has a stranglehold on your
[00:49:12] life and you don't trust the lord's provision as much as sex can draw you away from god so can money why i practice the tithe and i mean the first tenth of my income comes into this house
[00:49:26] is because I tell myself and my heart every week that I get paid.
[00:49:32] The Lord is my provision, not that dollar bill.
[00:49:36] And he says, I'm going to provide for you.
[00:49:38] You put me first, I'm going to provide.
[00:49:40] I can't tell you story after story after story where I've put God first financially and he's poured out blessing in my life.
[00:49:44] And then he says, and I white stone.
[00:49:46] Now, the commentators, I did a lot of research about this.
[00:49:49] What is the white stone?
[00:49:50] Well, there was four options that I found.
[00:49:53] And this was an ancient practice of white stones.
[00:49:55] They would give white stones for certain things.
[00:49:57] Let me give it to them. Let me give you all four. Number one, the acquittal stone.
[00:50:01] If you were in a court of law and being tried, if you got acquitted, they would give you the white stone and they would put your name on it. You're free to go. Number two, the admission
[00:50:11] stone. This was for tickets to an important banquet of a royal official. So the acquittal stone, not guilty. The admission stone, you're welcome into the banquet. Third option, the victor stone for an athletic competition. If you won, they would put a name on a white stone and give
[00:50:27] it to you as an award in the ancient world. And then the fourth option was the high priest stone, that if you were a member of some royal cult, you got this white stone. It was your priestly
[00:50:37] authority to go into the temple and operate accordingly. So the question is, which one is it?
[00:50:44] I think it's all four, because all four are ours in Christ Jesus. Are you ready? In Christ Jesus, we are acquitted. We are set free from all of our sins. Everything we've ever done wrong,
[00:50:57] wiped away through the blood of Jesus Christ.
[00:51:02] You took the cross and you broke your body.
[00:51:06] My sin was paid because you died for me.
[00:51:09] Amen.
[00:51:11] The banquet is ours in Christ.
[00:51:14] We have admission to the heavenly banquet in Christ Jesus.
[00:51:18] We're invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.
[00:51:21] The victor's stone is ours because we are more than conquerors through Christ and the high priest's stone.
[00:51:27] We have authority in Christ Jesus.
[00:51:29] we are royal priests before him we have authority to walk into the heavenly temple to walk into the presence of the lord most high and to and to embrace and enjoy all the benefits of his glorious
[00:51:40] presence ladies and gentlemen what jesus is telling you is this get stoned the right way serving in the sentence christians refuse compromise because only jesus provides what the world merely promises don't mix this faith don't blend don't fall into this nonsense
[00:52:03] these mantras of this age, we are going to hold to the scripture's truth as best as we can.
[00:52:09] And I know a lot of people aren't going to like it, but that's okay. That's okay. I had a young man at the young adults meeting come to me and say, pastor, you know, when you spoke on
[00:52:17] homosexuality, I had my girlfriend with me and we walked out the door. We got in the car and she broke up with me on the way home. I said, you dodged a bullet, bro. Though none go with me,
[00:52:30] still I will follow. I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes. I want to give you a chance at every location to say yes to Jesus, because that's the first decision you got to make.
[00:52:45] Would you say a simple prayer after me? If you know you need Jesus, you know you need forgiveness for your sins. I don't believe that God has brought you here by accident. I believe he brought
[00:52:52] you here by divine design. This is your moment to say yes. Right where you are at every location.
[00:52:57] Would you repeat after me if that's you? Say, Heavenly Father. Say it quietly, but say it out loud. Say, Heavenly Father, forgive me of my sins. I choose Jesus today. I believe he died for me.
[00:53:09] I believe he rose again. I repent of my sins and I trust you in Jesus name.