Revelation: Pergamum
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Of the pastors here we are continuing to walk through the Book of Revelation uh we are in part one which is the letters that Christ wrote to uh the churches in the Book of Revelation so we're going to be another letter this morning in Chapter 2 verses 12- 17 you can turn your blue Bibles to page 595 the end of that Bible is the Book of Revelation you can also follow along on the screen uh because the text will be on the screen.
For today so in the Old Testament feels a little boomy yeah all right there we go if not we'll get a handheld uh in the Old Testament uh during the Babylonian exile King Nebuchadnezzar took the Israelites removed them from the promised land and then brought them into the kingdom of Babylon now when he did that he took their identity not only did he remov them from the promised land where they were he also enforced customs and values upon the people of.
God so the the Jewish people had to live under the reign of a king who conquered them who killed many of their brothers and sisters removed them from their land and then had to do whatever he said up to the point where at times he's telling them you have to worship and bow down to an Idol and you can read the book of Daniel you can see how the people of God some of them resisted this but this idea of of living under the reign of your arch enemy of being forced to take part in things of of being persecuted in this way this is how you impose your identity and your values Upon A.
People and conform them into your image and and make them do what you want them to do this is is true of the Babylonian exil is true throughout history as well now what we're going to see today in this text is that we also have an enemy that we have an enemy that seeks to do the exact same thing that seeks to rule and Reign Over us to get us to worship idols God makes this clear Jesus makes this clear to the people of pergamum the Church of pergamum and as we walk walk through this letter.
Today we're going to see how this is also true for us so I'm going to pray for us then we'll walk through the text together heavenly father I pray that you might help us sit under your word and not just witness it and walk away not just be hearers of the word but be doers of the word because we worship you as the one true God and that brings us into obedience and Delight in you and we ask this in Jesus name amen all right.
So start starting off in verse 12 and to the angel of the Church in pergamum write the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword all right so in each of these letters it starts out by introducing uh the Church and this is the Church in the city of pergamum so we've shown this map the last few weeks uh that if you take the Book of Revelation these different cities Ephesus Samina pergamum each of these in order it's going to be a route where these are being dropped off each City and pergamum is very similar to smear and Ephesus.
So the last two weeks we walked through those letters and we got to see uh cities that were affluent that had wealth and we also saw cities uh that had lots of pagan worship so like Ephesus pergamum is just like that it has wealth and affluence but it also has temples dedicated to Zeus it has cult worship it has all types of idolatrous practices so this city is very similar to some of the ones we have already seen so that's pergamum.
And then in the order of these letters Jesus then describes himself he says the words of him this is Christ talking about himself the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword that is Jesus telling the people in the Church of pergamum that he is the one that will bring judgment sword is Judgment here and the sword of his mouth is what we're going to see throughout the Book of Revelation that this is his word of judgment and what he is giving out the gate is I am the one who will bring judgment I will bring judgment by my word upon those who are not faithful to the end who do not conquer as.
We see at the end of these letters so Christ describes himself and then he launches into the next section which is in many of these letters a section of encouragement where he's commending them for their faith verse 13 he says I know where you dwell where Satan's Throne is now pause for a second this is the encouraging part and out the gate he says I know where you dwell where Satan's Throne is yet you hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith even the days of antibus my faithful witness who was killed among you where Satan dwells.
So we get some intensity in Christ and his speech here he says I know where you live you live where the Throne of Satan is you dwell in the midst of Satan and I just want to imagine what that would be like to receive that right Christ wrote a letter to us and he says I know where you live you live in Columbus IA where the Throne of Satan is I hope that would jar you I hope that would wake you up to what he has to say next.
Because I think what happens is is we have this U almost cartoonish view of Satan that's influenced by culture that says that Satan's down in hell and he's torturing Hitler for all the things that he did but that's not a Biblical picture of Satan at all Satan's domain is here he rules here and he seeks to deceive Nations and deceive Christians here and Christ is in in in seriousness is is telling them this I know where you dwell you dwell where Satan Reigns where his throne is.
But he he commends them he encourages them he says but I see your faith you have not left the faith you have not capitulated and bowed down and bow the knee to uh the false God of Caesar you stayed faithful even the presence of our great enemy and he's encouraging them in this and you can tell from this that there's great persecution that is happening in this Church which I think we should try to understand with because this is more foreign to us we don't understand this type of persecution.
But just imagine if you showed up on Sunday for worship and all of a sudden 10 people were gone because they were arrested and awaiting trial which that's a reality not here but in churches across the world in China and other Church other nations that are oppressing Christianity to be able to absorb kind of the the the the fear that might set in and the anxieties that might set in on a regular basis when you think about are we next am I next is our family next that's what the people of pergamum were living in and and we.
See an example of at least one person anpus who was martyred who was killed for his faith in Christ has Comm mending the faith of antibus when I was in seminary I had to read this book called uh letters to pergamum uh it's historical fiction so it's it's fiction uh but that genre takes really uh uh historical elements that were true about that time and and their context in the same way that the chosen that if you're familiar with that show is fiction it's based on Source material the gospels and has true elements and true cultural elements.
But the whole backstory a lot is fiction so that's what this is this letters to pergamum is just like that it's a book that really helps uh you see how the New Testament world was how letters were going back and forth and really the intense persecution that the early Church was facing and the main character in this book is Antipas now we don't know how Antipas that but they kind of build this backstory and they imagine based on historical evidence of how Christians were persecuted in this time and I want to read a section.
For this because I want I want us to help help us get to understand what they were facing and the intensity of their persecution so we don't know this this we don't have evidence of this is how Antipas died but this is how certain Christians were persecuted so here's what it says it says as he was standing before Caesar it says then the slaughtered carcass of a magnificent bull was carried in and laid before him they then forced Antipas to place himself inside the emptied carcass folding his legs within its body the carcass was chained together fully encompassing Antipas within it lifting the carcass with a metal pole the guards rigged it up.
So that it stood over the nearby fire whose Flames burned low but hot I don't know if you caught that description but he was put inside of an animal and slowly cooked to death now again we don't know how antus died this is how Christians were persecuted in the New Testament world and it's Insidious and it's evil and it was a reality and one of the reasons why that they would kill people slowly kill Christians slowly was with the goal of getting them to recant.
Because if you kill them slowly maybe the pain will set in and they will forsake Christ and bow the knee to Caesar that's what's at stake here with this Church and what they're facing the declaring allegiance to Christ yielded the enemy to come in Satan to use with all of his power manipulating governmental forces to torture God's children with the goal of getting them to recount and the faith of Antipas is highlighted here but it also shows the cost of following Christ in pergamum and Christ commends them.
For their faithfulness yet after this in the typical form of these letters he follows this encouragement with a rebuke and that picks up in verse 14 it says but I have a few things against you you have some there who hold the teaching of balum who taught baac to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrifice to idols and practice sexual immorality so also you have some who hold the teaching of the nicians all right.
So in looking at verse 15 I and others who are way smarter and more educated than I have looked at the original language the the Greek here and it it seems that What's Happening Here is that this is all the same false teaching it's not one and then you get to verse 15 then we have the teaching of the nicadan what's actually here is the nicadan teaching is what is in verse 14 this is all one together now we first heard about the niad and false teaching two letters ago in Ephesus and these are the only places in really the New Testament where this is mentioned we don't have any historical evidence to go on.
That tells us what the nicadan false teaching was we have this right here and it is a reference to an Old Testament story in the Book of Numbers chapters starting in 22- 24 so in this Old Testament story we have a reference to that this false teaching resembles what happened with balum and bailo now I would encourage you to go and read this story in the Old Testament if you're not familiar with it it's a powerful story but when the people of.
God make their Exodus from Egypt and are wandering in the wilderness they eventually come near to the kingdom of the moabites and the king of the moabites baac he certainly has heard about what God has done just as all the surrounding Nations have heard the power of God what God did to the Egyptians so he goes to a prophet named balum and he appeals to him and he asks him and he actually doesn't ask him he offers money to pay him to curse the Israelites.
So bam goes to the Lord and the Lord says no you will not curse my people and when you read the story he seems like a hero because he doesn't curse the people in fact He blesses the Israelites so when you read it it's like oh bam is a good guy until you get to numbers 31 and when you get to numbers 31 you see that while he F the letter of God's command and not cursing the Israelites he certainly disobeys the heart of it and what he does is he instructs Balo to get the moabit people to intermingle with the Israelites and to lure them into idolatry and sexual immorality that's what happens he.
He he takes his payment takes the advice B takes the advice and then he goes and he gets his people and they intermingle with the Israelites and they them men to sexual immorality and idolatry that's what's being referenced here so the hearers of this letter many of them would have known this story so when they heard balum they would have immediately thought oh false teacher because balum is like the the original false teacher in the Old Testament in the same way that.
If I if I said you're being a Judas I'd say you're being a traitor right you're you're committing acts of betrayal as a side note I was going to mention uh Benedict Arnold here this became a whole thing this week because I thought that everyone knew the history of bened arold because not everyone's on my history nerdom level but I said this and Isaac and Chad were like hey man I don't think everyone knows that Benedict Arnold was like the OG American traditor and I was like and this is going to shocked some of you I was like no he definitely was and I went hard after it and turns out not everyone knows that.
Ben Arnold was the like type the American original traitor so that's just free for you some American history there but that's in the same way the people would have heard this they'd have heard balum and they would have thought oh oh immediately went to false teacher immediately went to oh this is a guy who sold out the people of God for money and and led them astray one commentator he says that balum became proverbial for the false teacher who for financial gain influences Believers to enter into relationships of compromising unfaithfulness.
So that's what immediately what comes to mind in the context they hearing this now in mentioning this this type of false teaching that is both idolatry and sexual immorality in the context of the GRE Roman culture and the city that they were in and the culture that they were in this would have been some deliberate involvement some deliberate involvement in offering food to idols or a a feast uh that was uh uh in the presence of Idols as an act of worship mixed in with this would have been sexual immorality which would have been prostitution which would have been uh um homosexuality would have been orgies would have been all types of sexual practices.
So that's what's being brought to mind here as Jesus is rebuking them now when it comes to uh food that is offered to Idols it's helpful to know that the New Testament on this because the New Testament over and over again is going to mention food offered to idols and there's some Nuance in what's happening there as you read the New Testament you're going to see this is a problem that in many of these GRE Roman cities like pergamum uh they had temples like in in pergamum there was a temple to Zeus and the people would go and they would offer food to these Idols often it was meat that was offered to these idols.
And that was an act of worship now where this gets complicated in the New Testament world when you look at First Corinthians you see Paul as as as he's trying to explain this is that while it's explicitly forbidden to go to the temple and offer food to Idols that's clearly sin and idolatry what happens is is that same food that meat once it's been offered is later put back into the marketplace and it's sold at the marketplace and what was happening in the in the New Testament churches was the knowledge that that same meat was in the marketplace.
Now and that Christians were going and buying and eating that meat now it's clear from the New Testament that that meat in and of itself is not sinful it's just meat but was happening is that some Christians were uh being tempted and lured back into idol worship and Paul makes the argument he says hey it's not worth it don't just avoid meat altogether you have the freedom as a Christian this is just meat but don't do this don't engage in this.
Because it might cause your brother or sister to stumble so that's some of the Nuance here of of how the New Testament is thinking about food offered to Idols but when you get really in the context directly of pergamum itself what seems to be tied up in this is not what's happening in the marketplaces it's not the conscience issue it's actually people going to the temple and offering food or more likely eating feasts in the presence of Zeus and and and that being idolatrous worship mixed in with that sexual immorality.
Jesus says you need to understand this is not okay and any false teaching that's promoting this judgment is coming upon that he warns them of this do not be lured into just as the Israelites were lured into idolatry practices and sexual immorality do not be lured into offering food to idols and sexual immorality now as we read this and as we read all these letters we need to be careful not to directly read ourselves into every part of the story okay.
Because there is a context here we are not being persecuted like these Christians were there's some differences between us and the Church but here's what makes our culture very similar to this culture and what makes it harder for us as Christians living in this culture people are fine with Jesus they are people are fine with Jesus as long as Jesus stands alongside the pantheon of other gods so for the Roman culture they actually were fine with Jesus as long as he stood beside Zeus Aphrodite that that they were found with.
Jesus just ad him to the pantheon ad them to the rest of the Gods but what happens in the New Testament and what happens in what we see here in pergamum is the teaching that says no no no no Jesus demands worship to him and him alone these Idols are not real they are false gods the one true God demands allegiance to him and to him alone and when the Roman Empire heard that they said oh no no no no no no that's not.
Okay now you will bow the need of Caesar and you will take part in these practices and you will eat the meat that that that's what's happening I thought our culture is similar because our culture is fine with Jesus I I'm sure there there a small angry minority that's not found with Jesus himself but the rest of the culture is actually fine with Jesus as long as he stands amongst the pantheon of the other Idols in this culture as long as.
Jesus is alongside of every other false God in this culture it's fine but the moment that you say no Jesus demands worship to him and him alone that is when we are very similar to the Romans and their culture and our culture says no no no no you can have Jesus but you're going to eat the meat you can have Christ but you're going to take part in the idolatrous practices because that's not okay and that shows up in a lot of different ways I want to highlight one in particular that we spent a lot of time talking about.
But I think it is actually very important well we don't have temples and uh dedicated to false gods that live we don't have uh little wooden Idols in houses what we talk about a lot is there are Idols of the heart that there are things that we worship in the place of Christ they get our affection our worship and our desires above God we have a lot of those and one in particular that shows up a lot in our culture is the idol of the American dream it is it is a it is something that is.
So infused in the very fabric of our culture it's is the mechanism by which funds the very things that we do regularly what happens in our culture that we're so surrounded by this that at a very young age you can grow up up and what's emphasized is do well in school excel in activities which in and of themselves are are fine they're neutral in fact they could be very good when Direct in the right place but that's not what our culture says not to the glory of.
God don't do well in school and don't excel in activities to the glory of God to make much of him and being faithful in what God has given you no no no it's to so you can move to the next part of the American dream for some that's going to be College where you can work hard and get a degree and make lots of money and for others that's going to be trade school trade school and our a trade listen to a bunch of micro podcasts start your own business at 25 and boom you can start making money and what happens along the way is that this gets reinforced over and over again that.
So many of the movements of our culture is make sure that you're uh that you're leveling up here make sure that you're purchasing this goodness gracious our economy is literally built upon uh people going crazy at Christmas time and buying all the things and the whole and and and and everything's going to shut down if that doesn't happen it feeds itself and we're so uh uh unaware of how it's it's pervasive in our lives that every movement that every uh stage of life is just another part of worshiping that Idol until you can secure the type of retirement that you want on that beach on that mountain wherever fill in the blank that this feeds.
Itself all over place and it's all around us and while we're not being burned at the Stak we're not we're not being burned at the Stak we're not being persecuted for not participating in this we're not facing the same level of persecution the moment though that we start to point out from the Scriptures that we should not worship the God of money that we should not go hard after the American dream that's true we should work hard and we should be successful to the glory of.
God and the purposes that he calls us to and being sacrificial the the the the moment that we start to press on that the moment that we start to say we should pass up on the luxuries that our peers have that maybe we shouldn't have always the newest and the nicest things that maybe you don't have to go out to lunch every day of the week that maybe the place you're renting right now is actually while it isn't as great as the apartment complex down the street this it's it's fine it's sufficient.
For your needs the moment that we say that you probably shouldn't have Amazon boxes showing up to your house every single day the moment that we start to press on the reality of all of the materialism and the uh and the uh things that make up This American Life that everyone in this culture seems to so desperately want because they are worshiping the moment we start to press on that there's a part of us that says oh no no I work hard.
For what I what I make you you take your giving check and pound sand like I'm I I want to make sure I mean there's always going to be orphans there's always going to be needs I know I always be given more but the moment as I got my own kids I got my own future the moment we start to press on this there's a part of it that just says no and alongside that desire within us to say no our friends neighbors co-workers family members and a whole culture of advertising that's pushing along the way saying.
When are you going to ditch that old car because it's a piece of junk when are you why don't you take part in all the nicest vacations don't you see your friends having fun on Facebook their vacations are amazing they're smiling all the time they never post a picture of the bad part of their vacation where they argue the whole way down there no they're very happy take part in this you should eat that all the time it's amazing you should eat Dukes every day the week du's Patti is amazing go.
For it treat yourself this happens y'all and our heart gets captivated by worshiping this Idol and over and over again cultural forces surrounding you say are you going to eat the meat are you going to participate are you going to take the bind now go all day on the American dream we do that a lot but there's all types and I'll just do a couple that are very quickly but there's all types of of Idols that are set up in our culture that are vying.
For our worship and places of Christ one of them is is the is the philosophical idea of freedom and autonomy versus submission to Christ so as Christians we we see the Gospel teaches that we are once slaves to sin to the desires of the flesh Christ through faith and what he did on the cross in the empty tomb we place our faith in Jesus and he brings us out of slavery into freedom but that freedom is in submission to him while slavery to desires and to Idols does not yield Joy slaver to Christ and service to Christ is freedom and what happens is is the moment we start pressing on this that actually.
God has spoken and he's spoken through his word and the Scriptures teach that that this is how we submit to the Lord by loving God and obeying What He commands the moment we start pressing on that cultural forces say uhuh don't tell me how to live my life don't tell me how to spend my money don't tell me what to do with my body no because I'm I'm a free person and the moment we start pressing into B it's like no no no culture is saying are you are you.
Okay with this are you gonna are you going to are you going to teach this because are are you going to take a bite of this this happens with that this happens with sexual immorality itself at a young age kids early and earlier getting exposed to sex and sexual sin and every step it's just going to be do do you want to participate do you want to take the B are you going to look at pornography are you going to start sleeping around are you going to be doing the things your peers are doing and this continues on into adulthood are you going to participate are you going going to be that weird person.
Jesus is fine okay you can have Jesus but are you going to participate here because if you don't participate here you're weird you're backward you're arcave the same thing happens with lgbtq ideology we did a whole sermon series on this last fall Theology of sex plus if you're not here for this I would encourage you to go back and listen to this we spent a lot of time talking about this got to tell some of my personal story in this so I'd encourage you to go back.
Listen to that but what's at play now is it used to be in the 90s and the 2000s that it was just like you know everyone lived their own lives and so much of the fight from that time was just saying hey you just live let us live our lives and let you live your life that's not the lay of the land anymore the lay of the land is no no no no you need to approve of this and if you don't you're a bigot are you going to participate.
Jesus is fine but the moment that Jesus starts to push on this and say no Romans 1 do not engage in this also do not approve of this the moment we start to that Jesus starts to press on this the culture says no and very angrily so are you going to participate in the idols of the day I can keep I'll just do a few more this listen if you're in high school and college you're going to feel this there is an idol of pleasure that shows up.
When you're in high school and college a lot of times it shows up and in partying and doing drugs I felt that as a kid I did it because I thought that's where satisfaction was because the friends were saying are you are you going to be cool you going to do this you going to participate in this and you're going to feel that if you're in high school you're in college you're going to feel this temptation to participate people will say yeah.
Jesus is fine but are you going to participate are you going to eat the meat are you going to drink are you going to get high are you going to participate in the idol of pleasure this happens over and over again you feel this at your workplace so much of the there's so much uh waywardness when it comes to the use of words whether it's gossip or whether it's crude joking in your workplace and it's like yeah if if you kind of stand back as a Christian and you don't participate in the crude joking and you don't participate in the gossip and you don't participate in the slandering of your co-workers and they kind of.
Come to you next you just say I'm actually I'm good like I'm I'm not going to talk about Tina I might think about Tina I'm not to repent of the thoughts I about Tina but I know better than to speak about Tina what are you doing participate come on don't be weird this happens over and over and over again now here's what we failed to I think some of us are aware of this I don't think this is foreign to I think we I think many of us you probably get this here's what we fail to.
See in all of them that behind all of the cultural forces that are seeking to lure and entice you into rejecting Christ into uh uh submitting yourself to the aous practices of today behind all of it is the work of Satan and the Demonic forces of evil are behind they're behind it pulling the strings luring you into sin and we just we don't see the Unseen spiritual reality that's at work that the enemy is at work seeking to lure us away from Christ that the the Demonic have beded down in our lives and are using cultural forces all around us to get us to take a bite to eat the meat of idolatry that is.
All around us but what we don't see is that there is a hook in that meat and in that hook will it will drag you and pull you away from Christ and seeing that he is good and seeing that he is better and it pulls you into a idolatrous worship to the point where your heart grows hardened and cold that is what's on the line here and we sometimes fail to see the Eternal consequences behind the seemingly ordinary rhythms of life that are deep in the trenches of spiritual warfare we just don't.
See it and Christ is trying to open our eyes right now to see do do you not see what's happening here this is not neutral ground and none of this is cute that your heart is on the line and the more that you yield the idolatry of the day the more that you go to the temple the more that you offer the further away you're going to rft and he's trying to warn them because they are false teachers all around the people of pergamum who are saying it's fine it's fine it's fine and there are false teachers all around us that are saying it's fine it's fine and Christ is saying it's not it's not.
You need to have your eyes open to the reality that it's a play that there are all sorts of idolatry and sexual immorality that's built in that that the the culture is going to say that Satan is going to preach that is for your good that is for your more human flourishing but Christ is standing in the middle and he's saying it's not I am better that's why we should heed the words of what he says next when he says in.
Verse 16 therefore repent repent if not I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth which is a picture of judgment he says judgment is coming it is coming coming upon this false teaching and these false teachers and if you follow the ways of these false teachers you will be swept up in that judgment so he says repent which just means to turn to turn from ulous practices and turn back to Christ and after he gives that he says in.
Verse 17 the the next and the final part of this letter that we see in all these letters to the one who conquers verse 17 he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to the one who conquers I will give some of the Hidden mana and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it now in each of these final rewards that we.
See in each of these letters to the one who conquers is a futur looking in the new heavens and the new Earth gift that God is going to give to his people to the to those who conquer into the end now there are three mentioned here hidden Mana a white stone and a new name now you can get into the weeds of like all right what is the hidden Mana what is this Whit Stone and let me tell you if you want to there's all types of commentaries there's all types of takes on this and pretty passionate takes I would I would imagine at some point I to be honest I don't know with 100%.
Certainty what each of these mean I I can take a step back and very generally look at these rewards and and see what they mean and they're wonderful you see Mana in the Old Testament that was when uh the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness and God gave daily provision Daily Bread Mana that came from heaven and and the picture here of the Hidden Mana that awaits us is that there is a day coming where you're not going to be trying to actively fight the sinful desires to go and eat the meat of the temple to go and eat the things the culture gives you to go and be satisfied with lesser things that only.
Rob you of Joy now there is a day coming where you will have eternal satisfaction there will be Eternal Provisions that are wonderful and beautiful and you will only enjoy those and all of the Lesser evils that V for your attention and your affection will be forgotten they will be a distant memory there is a day where hidden Mana is coming and there is a day where there will be a wh Stone I that that's either some bit of permanent marker permanent security permanency some will say it's it's an invitation to to an eternal banquet both of those are true that one day you will sit at the table of.
God one day you will have a permanent place before the Lord and on that white stone there is a name a very person personal name that only you and your savior know now new names in the Bible uh mean new identity so when Simon is called Peter he takes on a new identity Peter you are the Rock in which I will build this Church and the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against you that in the new heavens and new earth.
Jesus will give you a personal name that redefines your eternity and it's wonderful we get these glimpses of Eternal offerings that are given to us that are eternally better in each and all of these that we see in these letters and everything that is glorious about the new heavens of the new Earth everything that is glorious about eternity with God that has to be held out in front of us because the enemy is over here dangling all sorts of idolatrous practices all sorts of meat on hooks that are seeking to rob you and Rob me of that and what.
Jesus offers is better it is better now and it is better then I want to close with John chapter 6 Jesus as he's teaching about how he is the one who will satisfy in John 6: 31-35 he says our fathers ate the Mana in the wilderness as it is written he gave them bread from Heaven to eat and that is the picture of the Old Testament the story of the daily Provisions that were given to the people of God verse 32.
Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven but my father gives you the true bread from Heaven he says my father is the one that gave this he's the one that gave this good gift for the Bread of Heaven is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world so he redefines this now then the New Covenant of Christ I know this going to shock you he's talking about himself he says.
For the bread is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world and the people he just he he reels them in he says he gets him excited they said to him sir give us this bread always and Jesus said to them I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger whoever believes in me shall never thirst I'm the one that satisfies if you eat of me if you believe in me you will be eternally satisfied and that is what we get to.
Remember as we come to the table the band's going to come up and we're going to prepare to take the Lord's supper and communion is a meal of rembrance we we remember that on the night that Jesus was betrayed he took bread and he broke it he said this is my body that was broken for you and he took the cup of the new covant he said this is my blood that was shed for for you that as often as you eat and drink this you Proclaim my death until I return.
Now look what Jesus was saying there is that we remember the Bread of Heaven who came and gave his life for us to free Us From Slavery to sin so that we might eternally enjoy him because it also points forward to a day when we will sit at the table of God and we will eternally enjoy our savior but the reality is that is an invitation that some have rejected and there is a possibility here that some of you have not actually accepted the invitation the Christ is offered himself.
But your whole life has been geared towards idolatry has been geared towards uh slavery to the things of this world and Christ Is Lifting your eyes to see the Eternal reality of right now that he is better and he's worthy of your life he's worthy of your faith he's worthy of Your Surrender so the offer right now is don't come to the table it has come to Christ and to place your faith in him and to eat of the Bread of Heaven through faith in him.
If you are a Christian you have participated in idolatry we have sinned but we have a wonderful Savior and he invites Us in Repentance to come up to the table to remember what he did for us to remember that that he died for us to free us from it and that we get to leave this day actively walking away from the idolatry that so wants our affections and our desire so as you are ready come to the table there's gluten-free in that back corner.
Let me pray heavenly father I pray that you might help us see the Eternal reality of the enemy who wants to lure and entice us towards sin and unfaithfulness and waywardness and I pray that we wouldn't stand for it we'd stand firm in the Gospel that you died for that sin that we might flee from idolatry that we might flee from sexual immorality that we might flee to you and find refuge in you the Bread of Heaven and I pray if there's anyone here that has not placed their faith in you I pray they would.
Today in Jesus name amen.