Yeah, fact that Jesus has a sword coming out of his mouth, and it's very clear in the book of Revelation, I'm not sure if it's clear to all of us. So, who's got a Bible with him today? Anybody bring your Bible to church here today? Let's open it up to the book of Revelation, chapter 2, verse 12, where Jesus introduces himself to the church, as the one who has the sharp, two-edged sword. And I want to welcome all of you to our study of the book of Revelation. We've been studying the seven letters to the seven churches here on the weekends, and we've also been going through revelation on Tuesday nights. Who's been to one of the Tuesday night services? That was so fun on Tuesday, being here with all of you. If you're able to, we'll be meeting Tuesday at 6:30 for a whole other worship service here together. But today, I want to read to you the letter to the church in Pergamum, and I want you and I to know from this day forth forever more, what does it mean that Jesus has a sword coming out of his mouth? Because if you've been paying attention to Revelation, that's what John saw in Revelation. John, the Apostle, turned and saw “one like a Son of man in the midst of the seven golden lampstands,” which are the churches. And one of the things about this one that he saw is he had a sword coming out of his mouth. And in Revelation 19 there's one who rides out of heaven on a white horse, one who is faithful and true. And when he's riding out of heaven, what's one of the things that's said about him is, he's got a sword coming out of his mouth. So, what is that sword coming out of his mouth for? Well, he says it here to this church. This is the church in Pergamum. Revelation 2:12-17. And out of respect for God's word, I invite everyone to stand for the public reading of Scripture. And I encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention, because if you want to know what you're supposed to think about church Jesus is going to tell you right now. This is what Jesus says to the churches, specifically the church in Pergamum. Start with me in Revelation 2:12.
“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. 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, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 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 manna, 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.’
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. And there is a handout in the bulletin if you want to take some notes. And the whole text is there on the handout. And all of our study here through these seven letters to the seven churches that we're going through right now, this being the third one, it always begins with Jesus introducing himself to the church, “the words of.” And the thing Jesus points out about himself here is, I've got a sword, and it's sharp and it's two-edged, and this sword is ready to cut. And later on, in the body of his letter to this church, he says, if you have people there who are holding to these teachings, the teachings of Balaam and the teachings of the Nicolaitans, and you need to repent of those teachings. Otherwise, Jesus says to people at church, I will come and war against you with the sword of my mouth. So, the sword coming out of the mouth of Jesus is his authority to judge. That's what it's about.
In fact, go with me to Revelation 19. Go with me to the scene where he actually returns the climactic moment where he's riding on a white horse out of heaven. Maybe you've heard of the battle of Armageddon, and how the nations of this world will ally together, and their armies will come against Jerusalem, really against God, and against his Son, Jesus, the Lamb, who was slain for our sin. And so, there's going to be this great battle. And here's how the battle goes. One scene is Jesus riding down on a horse. The next scene cut, just dead bodies everywhere. That's how the battle goes. It's more of a funeral than a battle, really. And it says exactly what happened in the battle. It's actually a pretty graphic picture, because they call for the birds of the air to come and feast on the dead bodies of those who thought they could defeat God and those who thought they could ride up against Jesus and battle him. And look what it says. This is the last verse of Revelation 19. It says, and the rest of these armies that came against God's people here, the rest were “slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse. And all the birds were gorged with their flesh.” How did this battle end so quickly? How did they all die? Well, it was because of the sword coming out of his mouth.
And so, Jesus has the authority to judge, and that is represented by this sword. You know how people will sometimes say Jesus is coming. And you know how people sometimes say judgment is coming. When you say either one of those, you are actually saying the same thing. Because when Jesus comes, he is bringing judgment. And the way you can remember that is there's a sword coming out of his mouth.
Now, when you read Revelation, this is something really important for anybody who wants to really study the book of Revelation. John's going to tell you what he sees, but what John sees is not just the physical description. A lot of times what John sees is also fulfilling a previous prophecy. So usually, John seeing it is not the first time we've already heard about it in Scripture. So go with me to Isaiah chapter 11. Everybody, grab your Bible and go back to a prophecy where it describes this one who's going to come from God, and this one, he's going to have the authority of a king. In fact, he's from the root or the stump of Jesse. He's in the family tree, the line of King David himself. That's how Isaiah 11 begins. And this one who comes in the kingly line of David, he's going to be filled with the Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord is going to be upon him, and the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. And this one who comes, he will delight in the fear of the Lord. That's what it says in Isaiah, chapter 11. But look with me at verse three. This one who's coming, his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
A lot of people today act like the fear of the Lord is a bad thing. That's not what the Bible says. That's not what this one thinks, who's delighting in the fear of the Lord. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of” what, everybody? Wisdom. The fear of the Lord is when you realize that God is the judge, and he will hold me accountable for everything I've done, whether good or evil. And so, if I really fear God, then I turn away from evil and I seek to do good. The fear of the Lord is actually a fountain of life. It's actually a beautiful thing, because when I realize that God is the judge, then I am afraid, and I don't want to be judged, and I turn to God for mercy and love and salvation before the Day of Judgment comes. And then I don't have to fear judgment, because I fear God. See, that's what this one is going to bring. And look at what it says. This is intense, right? Here is Isaiah 11:3-4. “And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.” Look at this, with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.” That's the sword right there. Jesus breathes, and everyone dies. Jesus just says the word. Jesus is the Word of God. And when Jesus says something, it's not like me and you saying something where the words just kind of hang in the air. When Jesus says something like, “Let there be light,” that's creation. When Jesus “upholds the universe,” he does so by the Word of his power. Whatever Jesus says happens because he has all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus is the judge. And don't you love that description right there? I mean, it's intense, but the description of he's not just judging based on what he sees or what he hears. He's judging based on righteousness. And all the poor, all the humble, the meek of the earth, all of those who have been oppressed and downtrodden, they will all rejoice on the day when Jesus is King, because he's going to take all the wrongs and he's going to make everything right. And those who have been mistreated, they will get the justice that they long for, because Jesus is coming with the sword out of his mouth.
Now go back to Revelation, chapter 2. Everybody should know. You’ve got kids? They should know. And you’ve got other friends who are Christians, you should ask them, “Why does Jesus have a sword coming out of his mouth?” That's something that the book of Revelation is trying to make very clear to all of us, that Jesus has a sword because he's coming to judge. And when he speaks, his enemies will fall. That's the ultimate power and authority that Jesus is coming with. Now, what's super intense is he now says that to this church. And he says that he has the sword to the church, and that this church is holding to two different kinds of teachings, the teaching of Balaam and the teaching of the Nicolaitans. And he's giving them a chance to repent of these teachings. And if they don't repent of these teachings, Jesus is going to judge them, with that sword coming out of his mouth, for holding to these teachings. And so, look at that right there in Revelation 2:14. You can see, “I have a few things against you.” So that he has things against them in the plural. And it's kind of the same thing, multiple times you hold to the teaching of Balaam, it says there in verse 14. And what does that false teaching lead to? It leads to idolatry, and it leads to immorality. That's where the false teaching takes people. It makes them think it's okay to not love God with all your heart, but to also worship an idol. It makes people think it's okay to engage in sexual activity outside of marriage, and that's a false teaching. And Jesus is saying, you hold to that teaching? You need to repent.
He also says in Revelation 2:15 that he's against the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Now maybe you remember that, because that came up two churches ago. Look back to Revelation 2:6, because here, when he was talking to the church in Ephesus, remember how he said that they had lost their first love, and they needed to repent. They need to remember from how they had fallen and go back and do the things they did when they first fell in love with Jesus. You guys don't love me like you used to, but he said something good about him in verse 6. “Yet this you have you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” Here's Jesus saying, I hate the Nicolaitans. I hate their teaching. I'm against it. And if you guys hold to it, this church in Pergamum, they're holding to that teaching. If you don't repent of this teaching, I'm going to come and have a war against you, because I've got a sword coming out of my mouth.
So, let's get this down for “The words of” here. If you are taking notes, “The words of”: “Jesus hates false teaching.” Let's start with that. Jesus hates false teaching. He's against it. He doesn't want it happening in the church. And he says, if you don't repent of the false teaching, he's coming to war against it with the sword coming out of his mouth. Now let me just make it very clear that what I'm going to share with you today, this is not my personal opinion. Okay? Because these days, we would probably say something like this, well, who are you to judge some other church and what they're teaching? Who are you to judge some other teacher? Who are you to judge? We can't say, those people, they go to church, they're probably good people. They're probably trying the best they can. Who are you to say something bad about people going to church? Let me just make it very clear. This ain't me saying it. This is the one with the sword coming out of his mouth. Okay?
He has the authority to judge. Jesus is the Lord of the church. It's not my church, it's not your church, it's his church. And Jesus gets to say what happens in the church. Can I get an amen from anybody here today? And if Jesus says, I'm against it, then it's not okay, no matter how kind the people are, or how friendly they are, or this great ministry that they've got doing this or that, if they've got false teaching, Jesus is saying, I’m coming against you with the sword coming out of my mouth. So, we’ve got to hear that Jesus hates teaching at church when you're giving people the wrong ideas. Your idolatry is okay. Your immorality is okay. You falling away, not a problem. You start saying that to people. You start giving people that impression, Jesus is like, you’d better repent or I'm coming against you to the church.
Now I'm hoping that you can see both the intensity and the intimacy that Jesus speaks to this church with, there is our God. He is kind and he is severe. And I hope you can see the full spectrum in this letter, because look at the very next verse, how he begins his letter to them. That was his introduction with the sharp, two-edged sword. But now Revelation 2:13, he says, “I know where you dwell.” In fact, you guys are where “Satan's throne” is. So basically, here's Jesus saying, Satan's headquarters, his base of operations, where Satan sits, is the city of Pergamum. And he says, here’s what I know about you guys is, you guys are holding fast to my name. You guys are not denying my faith. In fact, I know about Antipas, my faithful, when they killed him, his death was precious in my sight. That's what Jesus lets his people know. Like I know how hard it is. There is a persecution all around you guys. There is a pressure all around you guys to conform to the world. People are coming after you guys, and you guys are holding to my name in Antipas. He was faithful unto death. And Jesus makes it clear here that matters to him. He says, “Antipas, my faithful witness who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” Okay, now, why does Jesus say that Satan has his throne in Pergamum? Well, that's a good question. One thing that really happened in Pergamum was idolatry. In fact, there's this thing called the Pergamon altar, which we’ll throw up here on the screen. So, this is a massive altar where they would worship Greek gods like Zeus. In fact, I think it's 120 feet wide by 109 feet deep, or right around there. And they recreated this at some museum in Berlin, Germany, like made a life-sized replica.
So, this was just one of the many different temples where they worshiped idols in the city of Pergamum. In fact, Pergamum was known for their worship of the Greek god Asclepius. And Asclepius was the god of medicine, or healing. And on his staff, he had… I think we’ve got the picture up here. Can you see what he had? He had a snake. And so, the god of healing was known through his temples, where there would release nonpoisonous snakes into these temples. So, whenever they opened up a new temple to Asclepius. They would release all these snakes into the temple, and that was the commissioning of the temple. The temple is now open for business because the snakes are loose. And apparently, people, would go and lie down in these temples in the hopes that the snakes would go all over them, and that would bring about the medicine and the healing from Asclepius. So, there was all kinds of idolatry going on in Pergamum.
Now, what Pergamum might have had, that kind of idolatry, was common in the world, in the cities at that time. What Pergamum was really known for, and you should write this down, if this is interesting to you, is their Emperor-Worship. They worshiped Caesar, leader of the Roman Empire; they worshiped him like he was a god. And they talked about how gracious Caesar was and how powerful. Like, attributes that we would ascribe to the glory of God, they ascribed to Caesar. And you had to Hail Caesar. You had to say that Caesar was Lord. And there would have been intense pressure in the city of Pergamum that if you're saying somebody else is Lord besides Caesar, those would have been fighting words in the city of Pergamum.
So, all of this leads up to this idea that the best we know why Jesus would say, that's where “Satan dwells.” And if this kind of cultural background of the first century, if this is something that you love reading about, the history of what's going on at the time the Bible is written, I want to recommend a book to you. It's called the Lost Letters of Pergamum. There's a book out there called the Lost Letters of Pergamum, and what it does is it takes this faithful witness Antipas, and it creates a fictional back story of Antipas. And it's Antipas writing letters to Luke, and they go back and forth. And at first, Antipas is a worshiper of Caesar, but by the end of the book, Antipas is somebody who's ready to die for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, it's a fictional book. It's all made up. But what the author is doing through the letters that Antipas writes to Luke, who wrote the Gospel and the book of Acts. And they go back and forth in these letters. He's trying to help you see the idolatry of the time, or the worship of Caesar at the time, or how the gladiator games would have worked at the time. What were people thinking? What was life like at the time? Jesus is writing these letters to the seven churches. If that's something that would be an interesting summer read for you, go check it out.
But clearly, the church in Pergamum is already experiencing what we saw last week, that Jesus was warning the church of Smyrna about. He said, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer.” You're going to be thrown into prison. It's a forecast of “10 days of tribulation.” “And be faithful unto…,” what did Jesus say, everybody? Death. Well, when you go to Pergamum, that's already happened, and Antipas already did it. And Jesus is like, I want you guys to know that I know about Antipas, and I see how hard it is for you guys, and you're holding fast to my name. I know about that.
And so, let's get that down for our Review point, because this kind of brings home what we looked at last week. Jesus knows his faithful servants. Jesus knows those who are faithful to follow him to the. And he encouraged the church in Smyrna to be “faithful unto death,” and Antipas was “faithful unto death.” And Jesus is like, hey, one thing I know about your church is I know Antipas, and I see his faith. He was my faithful witness. And that's where the idea of martyr comes. “Martyr” is the Greek word for “witness”. And Antipas is someone who was killed for his faith. And to Jesus, that's very precious. Jesus, he cares. He knows about Antipas. So, Jesus does have something really good to say about the church in Pergamum. I mean, this is a church that's enduring persecution and holding to Jesus; even though it's costing one of them his life, they're keeping the faith in Jesus Christ. But that even just shows how seriously Jesus takes this false teaching, because even though this church is up against it and surrounded by it, and come worship the idols with us, and you better worship Caesar or else. And all of that temptation and pressure is coming on these people, and they're standing firm. No, if they tolerate false teaching Jesus, he's against it. So, unlike us, where we might say, well, there's some good things happening here, so we'll kind of overlook these bad things. That's not how Jesus operates. Jesus wants his bride to be pure. Jesus wants the church that he died for to be wholehearted in our response to him. And if we're holding to some teaching that leads us away from a sincere and pure devotion to Jesus, we all need to hear Jesus say, but I have a few things against you. That's what he says there in Revelation 2:14. “I have a few things against you, and you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam.”
Now, Balaam, if you know about Balaam, and I don't know if you do know about Balaam, but Balaam is the poster-person for false teachers. If you saw a billboard for false teachers, it would have Balaam on it all right. Now, if I keep saying Balaam, do you know who I'm talking about? Do you know what book of the Bible you would find him? And Jesus says Balaam to the church, like he's expecting everybody to know who Balaam is. In fact, when Peter is writing about false teachers in 2 Peter 2:15, he refers to Balaam as an example of a “false teacher.” When Jude, who wanted to just celebrate that we're all believers in Jesus, but I actually thought I needed to tell you to fight for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints, because there's so many false teachers. Jude talks about Balaam in Jude 11. So, Balaam is someone that Jesus, Peter, and Jude, when they're speaking to the churches, they all expect people at church to know. And so, do you know what it means here when it says, Oh, and remember, what Balaam did; you guys hold to the teaching of Balaam.
Turn with me to Numbers, chapter 25 and let's make sure we all know what it means by the teaching of Balaam. Balaam was this very interesting character who seems like he's a prophet, that he can get a word from God and speak it. But he also seems like a very sketchy dude. And so, we're not used to that combination of prophet and sketch town. And that's who Balaam is. And so, Balaam, he gets hired by this king, Balak, who's from Midian of Moab. And he's like, hey, you need to curse Israel. And he gives him three chances in Numbers, chapters 22,23, and 24; three chances for Balaam to curse Israel, who's coming in towards the promised land. And if God's with them, they're going to take all the place. So, let's go curse them now. But Balaam can't curse God's people because God has not pronounced a curse upon his people. So, it's three strikes. Balaam is out. In fact, Balaam ends up in Numbers 24 giving this epic prophecy of the “star,” which is ultimately the star of Jesus Christ. And so, Balaam, not only can he not curse God's people, but he also ends up blessing God's people, and prophesying of the Messiah. And so, Balaam seems like he failed in cursing the people. But then, what Balaam does is he tells Balak, well, there's another way we can get to the people. And this is the teaching of Balaam, and it's revealed to us here in Numbers 25, how they did compromise God's people. And the reason we know what happens here in Numbers 25 is Balaam’s idea. Before we even read Numbers 25, go over to Numbers 31, because later, they're going to go fight the Midianites, and they're going to go have a battle with the people of Moab, and they're going to kill Balaam. So, Balaam is still over there with them, and it says in verse 16 of numbers 31, “Behold, these on Balaam’s advice, cause the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor. So later on, it reveals, oh, you thought Balaam didn't get God's people. Well, he actually was behind what happens in Numbers 25, what happens at Peor. And so, Balaam, he did know a way that he could get God's people to compromise. And here's what it is. This is Numbers 25 I'm just telling you what I'm about to read. It's graphic. It is strong, things that happen here in Numbers 25. “While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab.” That means sexual immorality. “And then these daughters of Moab invited the people to go to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.” So, the teaching of Balaam produces these two things, where you start eating the food that has been sacrificed to idols. And so, it's not just about eating the food. It's like you are now getting engaged in worshiping of false gods, and you are now engaging in sexual immorality. That's what the teaching of Balaam will bring about. That's what false teaching will lead to. You don't have to love God with all your heart. You can love God and you can worship something else. You don't have to stay true to God's design for sex to exist in marriage between a husband and a wife, and you can do something else. That's what the teaching of Balaam is, and that's what happened here. They fell into sexual immorality and idolatry. And it says in Numbers 25:1-5, “While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.’ And Moses said to the judges of Israel, ‘Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.’” And look at what it says. “The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.” God is not okay with his people following the teaching of Balaam. God is not okay when his people get compromised. And God's anger here is very clear. And then here's a scene that it describes that happened right there. It says, “Behold,” like, can you see this? One of the people of Israel. Here comes one of the men of Israel. He came, and “he brought a Midianite woman to his family in the side of Moses and in the side of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting.” So, let's just all picture this together. Here's the tabernacle. Here's Moses and some of the priests and some of the leaders and some of the people, and they're over here weeping. I can't believe we've fallen into this sin of immorality. I can't believe we've fallen into this idolatry. What is happening to us now? God is angry with us. Now, God's going to judge us. They're over here crying. Meanwhile, here's a dude right where they can all see him. He brings a lady into his tent in front of Moses and everybody. And so, what happens? Well, look at Numbers 25:7-8, “When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped.” Here's a guy. He gets a spear, and then look what the Lord says about it in Numbers 25:10-11, “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.’” Does God think that Phinehas, with the spear is a bad thing? No. God says, because of what Phineas did, I'm going to stop having wrath against the people of Israel. Now, Phineas took out a spear. Now Jesus is saying, you guys, hold to the teaching of Balaam, and I'm going to come against you with the sword of my mouth. Expecting them to know Numbers 25 and understand this story that Balaam tricked the people of Israel into falling into idolatry and immorality. And Phineas, through the spear, ended God's wrath. Well, now Jesus is letting this church know they’d better turn from the teaching of Balaam, or he's going to come against them with the sword of his mouth. So, that's what we're supposed to think.
Go to the book of Jude with me. Let's see how Jude writes it to the Christians back in the first century. Here Jude, let's go say hey to Jude, everybody. He's right before Revelation. He's right there. He often gets overlooked. He's just one chapter right there. It's always to the left from Revelation. And Jude here. I like this guy, Jude, this brother of Jesus. He's like, man, I wanted to write to you guys, and I wanted to say, I'm so glad you're saved, and you're saved, and you're saved. And isn't it amazing to be saved? Shouldn't we just all get together and celebrate and have unity? I wanted to write that to you, but, but then this happened. Look what he says, Jude 1:3-4, “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people.” And here are the two things these ungodly false teachers do. “Who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and,” they make you think sin is okay because of God's grace, and then they “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” They don't act like Jesus is the boss, the authority, the judge, and we better do what Jesus says. No, they act like you can believe in Jesus and you can do what you want. And so, I had to write to you to watch out, because this is how church works. This is always how church has worked from the first century to this century, to the year of our Lord 2024. Evil things are happening and being taught at church. It goes down all the time. The false teachers, the wolves, they don't just stay out there in the world, they creep in and devour the sheep. And he's saying, you’ve got to watch out. This is Jude. And look what he says down in verse 11, he says he pronounces judgment on these false teachers. So, it's not like these false teachers, well, they just need to learn some things, or they just need to work it out. No, it's like these people need to be judged, is what the Scripture says. Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error, and they perished in Cora's rebellion. He starts dropping some references there of people, stories that we know, where people went the wrong way. You know what Balaam did. He was more interested in Balak's money than he was in caring about God's people. And so, for his own selfish gain, he sold out God's people into idolatry and immorality. And so, Jude's saying, you can't just go to church and act like everything at church is okay. You’d better watch out, because certain people are creeping in and they're saying things that are false. They're acting like it's okay if you have sexual immorality, hey, if you love God and you also love other things and you have competition in your heart between God and other things, that's okay. That's normal. We all do that. Don't hold to that teaching, because that's the teaching of Balaam, and that's what led to Israel having the plague in the wilderness, that that's what led to the church of Pergamum have Jesus write them a letter, saying, repent, or I'm bringing the sword.
So, go back to Revelation chapter 2 here, and we need to watch out for false teaching in the church. And what the false teaching is going to do is there are three different things we'll see from this false teaching. Real quick, I'll give them to you. Number one is it'll excuse idolatry. It'll act like it's okay if God's just a little bit of your life and not your whole heart. We're supposed to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. The whole point of that is God gets all of me, the best of me, the first of me. Guy, love God and love God alone. No, it's okay to love God, and you can love other things. You can worship God, and you can worship this. That's one thing the teaching says. And then notice, practice sexual immorality. Hey, that sexual activity outside of marriage, that's okay. That's all right. That's normal. A lot of people do that. It's human, it's natural, it's just the way we are. That's what the teaching of Balaam will excuse. It will act like you can follow Jesus and bring your sexual immorality along with you. That's not what Jesus said. That's what the false teachers said. And then it says, look at Revelation 2:15. So also you have some who hold the teachings of the Nicolaitans. Now we don't have as much about what the teaching of the Nicolaitans is. We saw it back in Revelation 2:6 that Jesus hates it. Now Jesus is saying, there are people in Pergamum who hold to it, and he's going to come with the sword out of his mouth.
So, what is the teaching of the Nicolaitans? Well, we don't really know for sure, because it doesn't define it in the Scripture. What we do have is some of the writings of the early church fathers, like Irenaeus, who is one guy who says that the Nicolaitans are, because Nicholas, who's in Acts 6, who's one of the seven guys chosen to hand out the bread to the widows in Acts, chapter 6, that guy, Nicholas, he fell away. And so, this is what Irenaeus wrote. Other church fathers wrote this that Nicholas fell away. And so, in his teaching, he's acting like it's okay to deconstruct, it's okay to fall away, it's okay to lose your faith. And there's some kind of teaching that Nicholas, who fell away from the faith is acting like somehow that's okay to fall away from the faith. And that's why you can see Jesus would hate the teaching of the Nicolaitans, just like David said in Psalm 101, “I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not cling to me.” Jesus knows that it's not in your best interest to fall away. It's not in your best interest to commit sexual immorality, and it's definitely not in your best interest for you to cheat in your heart on God with something else. The best possible human experience you could have is to love God with all you've got, to love your spouse with all you've got, and to never fall away from the faith that is in Jesus Christ. Can I get an amen? He hates false teaching. Okay, so let me give you now. Now we can start the sermon three things to expect from Bible teaching, three things that you should expect. So what should we then do? What should teaching at church look like? What should be our expectations when we gather together as a church and someone's going to teach, because clearly, teaching is a part of what we're supposed to be doing at church, but false teaching is always trying to creep in. So, what should you and I expect from Bible teaching?
Go with me to Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12, and let's have a real conversation about teaching. What are they teaching at the churches these days? Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12, will get us a good start, because it also uses this picture of the sharp, two-edged sword. And it says here in Hebrews 4:12 that the Word of God… And remember, Jesus is the Word of God. When Jesus speaks, it is revealing who God is. It is authoritative. Well, “the word of God is living and active. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It's piercing to the vision of soul and of spirit, of joints and a marrow, and it's discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart and the word of God, it will cut you to your core.” It will cut you to your heart. It is like a surgeon's scalpel, dividing joint and marrow, cutting in to do that hard work, to do that surgery, getting into who you really are. That's what the word of God will do. It will cut you. It will expose you. It will reveal who you really are. You will find out that God, in his Word, has spoken of you better than you know about yourself. And you think you're alright, you think you're okay, you think you're actually pretty good, at least compared to so and so. And then God will start speaking to you through your word, and you will be exposed. Look what it says in the very next verse, “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Who is the one to whom we must give account, everybody? It's the one with the sword in his mouth. It's Jesus. And when you hear the Word of God, when the Word of God is faithfully preached, when the Bible is accurately taught, you will be exposed for who you really are in the sight of Jesus. You will be able to see yourself as Jesus sees you. And you will be convicted by the Spirit of God for your sin.
Where did we get this idea that church is supposed to make you feel good? Church is supposed to be full of positive vibes. And everybody here, when you leave church, you should feel better about yourself than when you walked in. You know where we heard that? The false teachers sold us that, and a lot of people bought it. You're not supposed to always feel good when you leave church. Some days you should feel really bad when you leave church. Right? Some days I leave church, and I feel great. Jesus died for me. Jesus loves me. Jesus has saved me. And I know I'm going to heaven, and I'm going to get to see his glory. And nothing can separate me from the love of Jesus. Some days I walk out of here feeling like, Praise Jesus for saving me. And then some days I walk out of here feeling, oh, wretched man that I. Yeah, right, that's how it is to hear real Bible teaching. It cuts you to the heart.
Let's get that down for number one: “Expect Bible teaching to cut to your heart.” Expect that there should be conviction in your soul. I'm not thinking about this. Right? My intentions here are not good. God is holy. I am not. I need to line myself up with God, because right now what I'm thinking is off. Right now, what I want in my heart is wrong, and God is now revealing that to me. He's now exposing that to me, I'm seeing who God is, and I want to be more like him, and that means I need to repent and turn away from who I have been. I need to put off who I've been, and I need to put on the new way of Jesus Christ. If you go to church regularly and you hear the Bible taught, some days, you will walk out of church feeling guilty and ashamed of who you are because you have just been presented with heart surgery and you got cut by the sword. And let me just tell you, I would much rather have everybody get cut by hearing the Bible taught than get cut by the sword on the Day of Judgment. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? I'd rather have you hear about your sin now so that you can repent and turn to God and find forgiveness and grace and mercy, rather than you just wait and find out what a sinner you are. On the day he comes riding out of heaven with the sword coming out of his mouth, everybody's going to get cut by the sword at some point. I'd rather have it done now through his Word than by the words coming out of his mouth on the Day of Judgment. That's how it works. We're all sinners. We all need to be convicted. We all need to see ourselves for who we really are. And you either have the blessing of hearing the truth taught to you from the Word, or you find out the hard way later on. But the sword is coming, and you should expect when you gather with God's people, and somebody brings the book and somebody opens up the Word, you should expect that it is going to cut to your heart, and that when it cuts to your heart, that is actually what Bible teaching does.
Go with me to 2 Timothy, chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 is Paul's last letter out of his 13 letters, and it's his letter to his true son in the faith, a young pastor, Timothy. And really, if you want to know what we should be doing in church these days, let me just please encourage you, stop comparing churches with other churches. There is no church right now that is the standard for what churches should be. The standard for what churches should be is what God says in his Word. Don't compare church to church; compare church to Scripture. Anybody want to say amen to that? Because what we talk these days like is, well, this church does this, and this church does that, and that church does this. Well, what does the Bible say all the churches should do, and are they doing that? And if you want to know what church should be read, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, because Paul is writing to these guys that he's discipled, that are pastors, and they're supposed to set up churches. They're supposed to lead churches. And he's telling them, here's what you’ve got to do, and here's what he says in 2 Timothy 2:15, he says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved man.” Timothy, you’ve got to give this your all. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved. What is he talking about here? A worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of truth. He's talking about his teaching. He's talking about how he studies God's word and then how he speaks it to the people. And there's a right way to handle the Word of truth. Another way you could translate this is you cut it straight. See, teaching is supposed to be simple. God has already said it. The people need to hear it. So don't get in the way. Don't put yourself in the middle. Don't mess it up. Just study what God says and then say what God says to the people. That's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to do your best, and so that you would not be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of truth.
So, here's our second expectation: “Expect Bible teachers to cut the Scripture straight.” You need to be ready to be cut to the heart, and you need to evaluate, is that guy saying what God has already said? I don't need to hear that guy's personal opinion. I don't need to hear that guy's take on politics. I don't need to hear a bunch of stories from that guy's life. I don't need to hear what he thinks. I want to hear from God. Is that guy up there saying what God says in his book? That is what we should expect from Bible teaching. Okay, so, I mean, this is really important. Where does your idea of a good sermon come from? How do you evaluate. Do it today. We're doing this right now. When you walk out of here, is this a good sermon because you liked it? I just want to tell you, it doesn't matter if you like what God says or not. God is not really worried about whether you like it or not. Okay, well, it was a good sermon. Well, what made it good? Because you already agreed with it, because you laughed at a joke or story, because it kept you entertained or engaged all the way through? A good day at church is, when I heard what God said, and what that guy up there said, he said what those verses said. That's what makes it a good sermon or not. And let me just tell you right now, if you don't even need to bring a Bible to the church, it's a bad scene. If the guy's not opening a Bible to teach you, it's a bad scene. If he's putting up some random scriptures on the screen from different translations, watch yourself. How are you really going to learn the Bible when nobody gets their eyeballs in the actual book. See this is what's happening, and we’ve got to watch out. People should be ashamed of what's going on at some of the churches, they should be ashamed of it because they're not cutting it straight. Look at what it says here in 2 Timothy 4. Look how serious Paul writes this to Timothy. This is the last chapter Paul is ever going to write. He knows he's going to die after this. This is Paul's last chance to say something to his son in the faith, Timothy. Imagine parents, your last chance to speak to one of your kids. Or imagine, if you've ever made a disciple of somebody, your last words of wisdom that you could give them. This is what Paul has to say to Timothy in his last words, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus.” And then notice what he says about Jesus, who is to “judge the living and the dead, who is going to appear unveiled in all of his glory, and he is bringing his kingdom.” What does he say in his last chapter to Timothy? Timothy, I want to say something to you right now, in the presence of the one who has the sword coming out of his mouth. Here's what I want to say to you. Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season when people are excited to hear it and when they don't want to hear it, preach it. “Reprove, rebuke, and exhort.” Now, reprove, does that sound pleasant to anybody? Rebuke? When's the last time you got you got rebuked, got slapped in the face? Real nice, right? And then exhort. That one sounds okay, like encourage, I can deal with that one, right? I mean, he's saying, he's implying that in preaching the Word, sometimes people will be interested, sometimes they won't, and it has a corrective element. You're calling people out. You're telling people who they really are. Now you're also encouraging them and instructing them in righteousness. But there is a part of it where you’ve got to say, hey, this way is not the way it's supposed to be. And he's saying, preach it, Timothy, in front of Jesus, who's coming back. Don't worry about what the people think. Worry about what Jesus thinks. Preach it, Timothy. And then he says this, and Paul here is prophesying about something that you and I are living in right now, in 2 Timothy 4:3-4. “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into” what does it say there, everybody? Stories. Stories. When did the pastor stop being the truthteller, and when did he start becoming the storyteller? When did all of a sudden, instead of just saying what the Scripture says, you make a little point from Scripture, and then you have to do all these illustrations and all these stories to make the point. When did that happen? Well, here he's telling us how it happened. People didn't want to hear what God was saying to them, because it was reproving them and rebuking them and exhorting them. And so, they found somebody who would told them what they would tell them what they want to hear, something where I can believe that I'm right with God and I'm going to heaven, and I'm a good person, and it suits my passions at the same time. See, that's what the false teaching does. It doesn't completely leave behind Jesus. It's just Jesus plus the things you want in your life.
And he says, there's going to come a time when people are going to start to think there are two different options of teaching. You can hear that sound teaching, that hardcore teaching, that true teaching, or you can just hear kind of a nicer teaching. Which one do you choose?
See point number three: “Expect there will be two options between sound teaching and storytelling,” and this is what you and I are living in. You can stop hearing sound teaching and you don't even have to leave Christianity these days. No, you can go find a place where they teach. But. what they teach is what you want to hear. You're not getting cut to the heart. They're not trying to make sure they say everything the Scripture says as they go through it faithfully, week by week. No, you're still a Christian and you're still going to church, but they're saying what you already want to hear, and your ears are getting scratched, and you're feeling good about yourself, and you're moving along, no cut to the heart, no conviction of the Spirit, everything's good over here. Paul says, watch out, because that's what's going to happen, and we're now living in it. People are like, man, why are you calling us out about sin? Why are you saying I can't be a Christian and keep living in sin? I'm going to go to this other church. That's how people are talking these days. See, now, there are multiple options. It's not like, well, if you want to live in sin, let's think that through. You're saying it's okay to keep on sinning. Well, then why did Jesus come and die for your sin? Why is Jesus saying repent of your sin? Why is Jesus saying be holy as he is holy, or be perfect as he is? If Jesus is okay with sin, then why is he coming against the teaching that says sin is okay, with the sword coming out of his mouth. See, we're okay today with things that Jesus is not okay with. And that's what we're finding out in Jesus’ letter to the church in Pergamum.
I remember one time we did the Fourth of July parade, and just like today, people came to check out the church because of the parade. And I remember after this sweet lady came to our church, she wrote me a nice card. Does anybody remember nice cards? They are really nice, something from back in the day, in the good old days, people would write cards. They'd pick out beautiful looking cards. This one had a lighthouse on it, I think. And they would write to one another in cursive. Does anyone remember cursive? Right? And this lady says, I want to thank you for the invitation at the Fourth of July parade to come to your church. And I just want to let you know your church will never work in Huntington Beach. And I'm like, wait a minute, did I read that wrong? Because maybe my reading of cursive isn't very good. Let's go over this again. And the lady wants to make it very clear that this church will never work in Huntington Beach because the preaching is way too long. That's what she says. And a lot of people think that a lot of people, when they come to this church, the first time, they're like, how long is that guy going to be up there talking for? This is much longer. I expected donuts and coffee. By this point, what is happening here, right? I've seen people squirming. I mean, squirming like, whoa, this is off the rails. How long is this guy talking? I mean, how did it get to be where sermons are supposed to be twenty-five minutes, and it better be done quick, because I'm on my way to my two and a half hour movie. Let me just tell you the false teachers sold us that one, and we bought it. We can go binge episodes of some show, but we can't sit and really hear God's word talk to us, or sit with some other brothers and really talk about God's Word, or sit down and read the Bible. What's more? Your screen time or your Scripture time? How did this happen? You know, other countries around the world, they would hear, wait, you guys do like an hour and a half service. Like, what's your guys’ problem? Like, how can you possibly do church in an hour and a half? That's what a lot of believers would think. I just want to imagine that lady writing that letter to Jonathan Edwards. You know what I mean? Like, what was he thinking? Right? I mean, we understand that if our kids are going to learn math, they should probably study it like five days a week for an hour, but we can't even study God for one hour a week, like the false teaching, might be closer to home than you and I are willing to admit, and we need to hear Jesus say to us, Hey, I've got a few things against you. You hold to this teaching, and you hold to that teaching, and you’d better repent of that teaching, or I'm coming, and I'm bringing the sword that comes out of my mouth. And Jesus, this is what he thinks about the churches. This is not what I think. This is Jesus's authoritative judgment on church. There are many churches that are meeting right now, and Jesus is not okay with what's going on.
And so, go back to Revelation 2, and let's think about what an awkward day that must have been in Pergamum when they got this letter. Let's think about that. Let's all think like we're at the church in Pergamum and we're hearing the book of Revelation, and even John, we know who John is. John knew Jesus, and John's falling over at Jesus as if he is dead. So, this Jesus that we're reading about in Revelation, this unveiled glory of Jesus, this eyes of fire, face like the sun, sword coming out of his mouth. Jesus, whoa, he's got our attention. Then Ephesus. He talks to Ephesus. Ephesus is like the church in the area, and he rebukes Ephesus because they don't love him like they used to. And he threatens to shut Ephesus down. And then he talks to Smyrna, and he tells them, keep going. It's going to be hard. Be “faithful unto death.” Do not fear. And now he's talking to us. Oh, I wonder what Jesus would say to us. Oh, he mentions the sword. Oh, he mentions Antipas. Yeah, I love Antipas. Everybody respects Antipas. And then he says, and some of you hold to the Balaam teaching, and some of you hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. And then he says this in verse 16, “therefore repent.” If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. I bet some people's hair was sticking up on their arms in Pergamum that day, people started breaking out in a sweat because some of them knew I hold to the teaching of Balaam, or I agree with the teaching of the Nicolaitans, and Jesus is like, you’ve got to repent of that false teaching that you have accepted, and even if you weren't one of the people who agreed with the false teaching, let's say you're sitting next to somebody and you know that they're engaging in idolatry, they're practicing sexual immorality, they're going the way of Balaam. Can you imagine, after you got this letter in Pergamum, who's going home and acting like nothing happened after that? like you’d better repent if you're holding to false teaching. And if you're not holding to false teaching, and you're sitting next to somebody, or, you know, somebody, who is holding to false teaching, how can you act like, well, that's just between them and Jesus, when Jesus just said, I'm coming with the sword. Now those people need to be warned. People who are hearing false teaching are not being warned that Jesus is coming and judgment is coming are the same thing.
And so, look at the back of your handout. There are some application questions. We don't want to just hear what Jesus says to Pergamum and do nothing about it. It's got to start in our own heart. Is there any teaching, any teaching you've heard, any way you're twisting Scripture that is making it okay for you to worship idols? Is there any teaching that's making you feel better about practicing sexual immorality? Is there any teaching where you can think falling away from Jesus is somehow a good thing. If you're holding to any teaching like that, you need to repent. And then let's say you examine yourself and you find that you're not holding any of that teaching. Okay, well, do you have a loved one? Do you have somebody that you know, and you care about, and they are holding to teaching that is not the teaching of Christ. Are you just going to ignore that, or based on what Jesus says to the church in Pergamum? Do you need to say something to them about it now? Make it clear if you're going to talk to somebody about false teaching, make it very clear that you are not the judge. You don't get to decide what happens at church. You don't have that authority. Make sure what you're saying comes with a smile and with love. But also make it clear that there is one who gets to judge what happens at church, and his judgment is final, and if he says it's wrong and he's coming against it, then that's how it is, because Jesus is the Lord of his church. And Jesus is not okay with many things that we are okay with today in church, and we need to hear what Jesus says. We need to feel right now the intensity that they must have felt that day in Pergamum. Something has to change. We can't hold to this false teaching. We can't act like yeah, Christians these days, yes, we worship other things as much as God. Yes, we engage in sexual immorality. It's just how it is. No, not according to Jesus.
Now feel that intensity, but then look at this last verse, Revelation 2:17, and look what Jesus says here. This could be my favorite verse. I think it is my favorite verse in the book of Revelation, Revelation 2, verse 17, because he says what he says at the end of all of these letters. “If you have an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Can you really take in? Do you really have the ear to hear what Jesus is saying about false teaching? Hear it, and then he says to “The one who conquers,” and that's the one who overcomes by their faith, according to 1 John 5:4-5, “The one who overcomes their sin and Satan and this world because they keep believing in Jesus. To the one who conquers, I will give three things.” It says, “I will give some of the hidden manna, 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.” I am so encouraged by that, because in this letter, not only do I see the intensity of Jesus for his church. I also see the intimacy of Jesus with his church. Jesus has something for all of his people. He's got hidden manna. What is hidden manna? It's like, hey, I've got something for you to eat. I've got a feast. And if you read through all of Revelation, you know that at the end, there's the marriage supper of the Lamb, there's the wedding between Christ and the Church, where we're all wearing white robes of righteousness that have been given to us, and we are worshiping Jesus with all that we have. The people of Jesus get to finally be with him, and we get to all worship him together. And it is a feast. I've got hidden manna. I've got something for you to eat. You're invited to the feast, and that's what this white stone really was. The white stone was the invitation. It was the ticket, like if you were involved in the games and you won your athletic competition, the winner was given the white stone, and the white stone would have had your name on it, and it would have allowed you to go to the awards banquet, because whoever was throwing those games, whatever nobleman or governor, whoever it was throwing those games, they're going to have this very fancy dinner with all of their rich nobleman friends. And now you, as a victor, as one of the champions, you get the white stone. So, you get to now go to this very exclusive, very fancy feast as an awards banquet. So, Jesus is saying, Hey, I've got hidden manna. Hey, I can invite you to a feast that's an awards ceremony where the victors go. And he says, hey, and on your white stone that I give you, it won't be your birth name, your legal name. It'll be a new name, a name that nobody knows except Jesus and you. And that name, in that name, Jesus will define who you are in the nickname.
Let's get that down at the bottom of your handout “To the one who conquers,” Jesus has a nickname for you. And see names in the Bible, they work a little bit differently than how we're doing names right now. Maybe you have a name that has a meaning to it, but or maybe you just got your name because it sounds a certain way, but in the Scripture, names always mean something, right, like, like, even Balaam. Balaam means the swallower of people. That would be a literal translation of Balaam, the devourer of people. Like, you don't want to listen to the teaching of Balaam, he swallows people. Right? Like, and even the Nicolaitans. Right? We know the Greek word for victory is nico in the verb, nike, Nike in the noun. So, Nicolas, he's like a Victor. He's a champion. So, what are the Nicolaitans? Do they conquer people? They overthrow people. They destroy people. So even in the teaching of Balaam, he's swallowing souls, the teaching of the Nicolaitans. He's throwing people over. He's conquering people. Names always mean something in the Scripture, even when Jesus meets Simon, what does he say his name is going to be from that on, everybody? Peter, because Peter means what? Rock. “And on this” what? Jesus is going to have a name for you. I imagine it'll be like the names we come up with in our families, like the name that you would use between you and your spouse, or the name that you would call one of your precious children, and if you ever said your kids’ precious nickname in public, they'll be like, dad, don't say that out here. You know what I mean? Because that's fine when we're cuddling at home and we're loving one another at home, but that's not for public. That's not for other people to know. That's precious, that secret, that's intimacy. And Jesus, the one who has the sword coming out of his mouth, the one with all authority in heaven and earth, when he meets you… And yes, I'm talking about wretched you. When he meets you, he's going to be like, hey, I’ve got a stone for you. And when you get that stone, you'll get a nickname from Jesus that nobody knows except for him and you, and that name will have a meaning that will show you that Jesus knows you better than anybody else, that Jesus knows you so much, he died for you, and he knew what he was doing when he paid for your sins. He knows the hairs on your head. He's got all of your days numbered. Jesus, he knows you and he loves you. And that's what you're going to receive, is this intimate nickname from the Lord of heaven and earth.
And I was talking with somebody after the last service, I was like, hey, I'll tell you my nickname, if you'll tell me yours, right? And it's like, but maybe, actually, we won't tell each other the nicknames. Maybe that would just stay between us and Jesus. Let's pray.
Father, I just come before you, and we really need to hear from Jesus. Father, and I'm just afraid that it's too intense, too intimate, for what the false teachers have prepared our ears for these days, for everything's already good and it's already fine, and it's already positive and it's already agreed upon. There's no rebuking, reproving, exhorting, there's no sword coming out of anybody's mouth, it's all good. Father, I pray that you would open our eyes and that you would give us the ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church in Pergamum, that they were believing teaching at church, that Jesus was going to war against that which Jesus hated. I pray that we could take that to heart, and I pray that we would always take very seriously our responsibility as we gather together as a church to cut the Scripture straight, to say what the Scripture says, and to hear whatever it says, and to take it to heart. And I pray that we would not prefer the stories, that we would not prefer hearing what we want to hear. I pray that we would want to hear from you, that we would want to hear the Word of God, that we would want to hear what Jesus says, living and active, that cuts to the depths of our heart, that exposes our sin, that convicts us by the power of the Spirit, so that we could then turn from that sin that we could turn to you. Father, I pray for everybody here that they would be cut by what the Scripture says, that they would be cut by your Word, and that they would turn from their sin to you so that they could be forgiven, so they will never have to be cut by the sword that comes out of Jesus' mouth on the Day of Judgment. Father, I pray, if people are holding to false teaching, that they will repent. And I pray for those of us who know people who listen to false teaching, I pray that you'll give us the words to say to them, to warn them that Jesus is coming with the sword in his mouth. Father, I pray for our church that you would make us the people that you want us to be, that you would not have something against us. I pray that we would want to hear from Jesus, and that we would want to be like Antipas, the faithful witness of Jesus, that no matter how hard it is, no matter how much pressure there is to conform to the world, no matter how much persecution there is proclaiming the name of Jesus, that we would want to be faithful unto death, that we would want to eat of the hidden manna, and we would want to receive the white stone that invites us to the awards banquet, and that we would want to get that new name that no one knows but Jesus and us. Father, we thank you so much for Jesus, the one with the eyes of fire, the one with the sword coming out of his mouth, the one with the nails in his hands and feet, the one who loves us. We thank you for Jesus and we pray this in his name. Amen.