God's Message to the Seven Churches Part 5 - The Faithful Church: Philadelphia (2 of 2)

Revelation chapter three, Revelation chapter three and we will continue with our study on the seven churches of Revelation. I'm just going to put my map up here this evening but the the Wi Fi is not working. So, I cannot get to my map on the internet. So, these seven churches are in, as I mentioned, Western, what's today, Western Turkey. Most of them, it seems were started as a result of Paul's ministry in Ephesus.

These all of these churches are within a couple days journey of the city of Ephesus and John had ministered also in that area and particularly in the church at Ephesus as well and so the Lord leads him here at the beginning of the Book of Revelation before he gets into the prophecy to write instructions, give instructions to these seven churches that are in this region. He is exiled off just off that the coast of Western Turkey on a island called the Isle Of Patmos and there, the Lord gives him this revelation including these messages to the churches. Some of these churches are praised considerably. Some of these churches are rebuked considerably. The church of Philadelphia stands out as a church that really the Lord had nothing at all bad to say about.

Most of what God had to say was in the form of praise, commendation, and promises to the church at Philadelphia. As as it is, these other churches, these other areas, these towns where these churches existed back in John's day, there those churches died off long ago and in most of those cities which are now populated mostly by Muslims, there are few of any churches. However, that is not true of the city that now stands where the city of Philadelphia did. It has a different name today but there is still a Christian church and presence in this particular area and has been down through the centuries. A the Lord being faithful to a faithful church there in this area.

So, the faithful church, the church at Philadelphia, let's read Revelation three seven through 13 again and the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things saith he that is holy. He that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength and has kept my word and has not denied my name.

Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown.

Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God which is New Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit say it unto the churches. Let's pray once more. Lord, we thank you for your word this evening. Please direct us.

Give me the words to say, Lord. I pray that you would be seen this evening. I pray that you would be exalted and that as we look into your word, you would give us understanding, wisdom. Lord, and and thankfulness for all that you've done for us and the great promises of your word and that someday you're coming back for us to keep us also from the hour of great temptation, the tribulation that will come upon this world. We we thank you Lord for the testimony and example of this faithful church and pray Lord that our church too would remain faithful to the word of God and faithful to our Lord to bring glory to your name, to preach the gospel.

We thank you Lord for that privilege and we pray that we would have that opportunity to minister here for a very long time till you return. In Jesus name, we do pray. Amen. Back to the beginning, we're going to review quickly what we looked at a few weeks ago. It's it's been about a month since we did the first part of the message on the church at Philadelphia.

So, we will review quickly. At the beginning of every message to every church, Jesus is depicted in a manner that is fitting for the message that he has for that particular church. In this verse in this passage in verse seven, Jesus seen is seen here as one who is holy, One who stands alone as God. In this moral attribute, Jesus Christ only is perfectly good, is perfectly holy. For Jesus is God.

He is righteous and there is none other. He is the one. He is the one that Isaiah saw in the vision. The angels, the Seraphim cried, holy, holy, holy. Is the Lord God almighty.

For Jesus is the Lord God almighty, the holy one of Israel. He is also the holy one of the church. He is our head. He is our savior. He is our redeemer and we look to him in praise for his holding us.

He is the true one. He stands alone as the the genuine article. Just and all and the altogether faithful son of God and savior of the world. His identity is unassailable and his word, the truth upon which all other truth, so called truth must be assessed. He is the true one.

He is authentic and we can therefore trust in him. Trust in his word and trust in his promises that we'll see later in the message this evening. He has the keys of David. He is the one who openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth. We were studying in Sunday school this morning the sovereignty of God and Jesus is God and Jesus is sovereign and Jesus will judge the world and what God determines he will do, he will do.

What he opens, he will open and no man will shut and what he shuts, he will shut and no man will open. He has the keys to the doors of heaven. In Revelation one eighteen, he consequently also has the doors to death and hell. He is the only way. He said, I am the door.

He said in John fourteen six that no man comes under the father what? But by him. He is the the has the keys to the treasure house of God's riches. The treasure house of God's riches, eternal riches are ours only in Christ Jesus and Paul states in Philippians four nineteen, but my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Has the keys that open opportunities given us by God to serve him which seems to be the emphasis of this passage here in reference to the church at Philadelphia.

There was a door that God had opened to them. An opportunity probably for evangelism, an opportunity for ministry that God had opened and it would stay open until God closed it. He is open and no man would shut it. When he shut it, no man would open it and he is giving here an opportunity to the church at Philadelphia. Look if you would in verse eight.

He said, I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it. So, I've set before you church of Philadelphia an open door and it's there. Now, go in my name. Take advantage of the opportunity.

Those opportunities are not always there. Those doors are not always open and when the opportunity is given us by God to reach out to somebody with the gospel, to minister in a certain area, to be part of of a church and be part of a ministry and to praise and glorify the Lord. We need to take those opportunities for sometimes they are fleeting. The door is open and the door is closed and it is our responsibility by his grace to recognize as we're led by his spirit. Those opportunities given us by God.

There are people that you may run into this week who need the Lord Jesus. Do not miss those opportunities. Sometimes people, neighbors, they move away. Sometimes relatives harden their heart. These things sometimes people move and leave work and they're no longer there for you to witness to them anymore.

Don't miss these precious opportunities that God gives us. For they are indeed precious. Now, he continues on in verse eight. He says, for thou hast a little strength and has kept my word and is not denied my name. So, we saw the description of Christ, the holy one, the true one, the one who has the keys of David and we see the commendation here of the church.

He says, you are of little strength. Now, we don't know exactly what that means. It could mean that they were small in number, that it wasn't a huge church with with great numbers. It could mean that they were a church that was relatively poor and didn't have a lot of finances to help back their ministry. It maybe that they had a lot of sickness and and maybe several things about this church that the Lord says here, you have little strength but despite the fact that this church was small or of little strength in the eyes of others, they were doing great things for God for which he commended them.

Don't have to be large. You don't have to be wealthy. You don't have to be powerful. We serve a powerful God and God can use a church of 20 or God can use a church of thousands but God can be glorified. Lives can be saved.

If we will just be one, we will just be faithful. If we will just be faithful to our Lord. God will bring the increase. It is our responsibility to be faithful and that is what the church of Philadelphia was. They were faithful.

Therefore, God was giving them more opportunities, more open doors because he knew that they were sincere. He knew that they really loved him, that they were faithful, and would take those opportunities. He commended them in this. He said, here in verse eight, he said, thou hast kept my word. They had kept the word of God.

They had guarded the word of God. They had heeded the word of God. They remained faithful to God's word. Sad to say, there's a lot of churches out there today that have not remained faithful to the word of God but Jude said, we must contend for the faith. We must stay faithful.

We must hold high the word of God. It is not just a book of good instructions. It's not just the good book. It's God's book. It's his word.

It's his instructions. It carries his authority as if he were the one standing here telling us the very words that he recorded for us. That we might know his will. For our lives. That we might know what is to come, that we might know him.

Be faithful to God's word. You don't have to be great in number. You don't have to have a lot of money. You don't have to have a lot of power. To be faithful to the word of God.

Be faithful to believe it. Be faithful to proclaim and to defend it. Be faithful to live it. John thirteen seven, Jesus said to his disciples, if you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Do.

Be you doers of the word and not hearers only. The church of Philadelphia remained faithful to God's word and they were commended by the Lord for their faithfulness. They were commended by the Lord because they had also remained faithful to his name. They had not denied his name. We do not know what trials and troubles and persecutions this church was facing but all of these churches were facing persecution.

All of these churches were facing false teaching. They were going through trials. The church of Philadelphia certainly was no exception. They were under persecution in the Roman Empire and they had not denied his name. They had remained faithful to him.

Jesus promises that those who confess his name before man, will he confess before his father? Which is in heaven. Not only did they confess his name before man but they remain true to that name and to that person, Jesus Christ in both their profession and their actions. Being faithful to his name doesn't just mean saying, I'm a Christian. Sad to say there's a lot of people today that say, I'm a Christian.

We do not know what a Christian is. We do not know what it means to be saved or born again, to know Jesus Christ, or follow him. Sad to say, there are many Christians who though they would proclaim I'm a Christian. That aren't exactly living. Like a Christian.

Their actions are not backing up, not supporting their words. The church at Antioch, the believers at Antioch were first called Christians. Why? Because they proclaimed they were Christians. No, they were called Christians by the world around them, I believe, because their lives indicated that they belonged to Jesus Christ and therefore, not they themselves but others in Antioch, they called them Christians, followers of Christ because they had remained faithful to the name of Jesus.

To remain faithful to the name of the Lord means also to rightly represent his character and interest in this world. Being fully aligned with his will. His name represents his character his reputation, his testimony, his interests, and as we represent him as the ambassadors of Jesus Christ, We are remaining faithful to his name. That would seem to be the case here of the church at Philadelphia. They were commended for remaining faithful to his name and not denying his name in word or in deed.

Standing against the pressures of the world and the pressures were there then and the pressures are here now. The pressures are different. If you live in The United States, we're not, we don't face a whole lot of persecution. If you think you do, then go to many other parts of the world. You'll find out that somebody looking at you funny or closing the door in your face really isn't a whole lot of persecution.

But the devil uses different methods to try to lead us astray. Different methods to try to rob us of our joy and in the society in which we live, the temptations around us to take our eyes off of Jesus and put our eyes on the things of the world, to love the world and not the Lord are great. We are inundated. By the sinful pleasures of the world and its temptations on a daily basis. Church at Philadelphia didn't have TV sets and they didn't have internet.

They didn't have radio and they didn't have billboards like we had today and they didn't have a lot of that stuff. But they did live in a very wicked society. The Roman Empire did not was not a a great moral entity. In these cities, in Turkey, in these cities in Greece, were pagan cities that worshiped idols, that had no thought. For the will of God or his commands.

It certainly wasn't easy to be a Christian in Philadelphia. It wasn't easy to proclaim the name of Christ. It wasn't easy to live it. The devil was hard at work there as he is today but by God's grace, we have the victory. We can do what?

All things through Christ who strengthens us. That brings us to the next verse, verse nine. And I want us to look at three promises as we finish up this evening. Three promises that God gave to the church at Philadelphia to this faithful group of people. First one's in verse nine.

He says, behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not but do lie, behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. Now, the the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews is likely a community of Jews that lived in Philadelphia who while saying they were being faithful to God had rejected Jesus Christ and were persecuting the Christians that were there. In the eyes of God, those who are not of the faith of Abraham are not truly of Abraham as Paul tells us in Romans and so here, John calls them the synagogue of Satan. They were a stumbling block. They were an obstacle that Satan had put in the path of these Christians to oppose them in the community and he says to the church at Philadelphia, he says, behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee.

God would one day reward their faithfulness. The faithfulness of these Christians to him and he would vindicate their faith in him by bringing their unbelieving enemies to lie prostrate before them in reverence and confess that they were right. Philippians chapter two, every knee shall what? Bow. Bow and every tongue should fast that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.

They weren't going to bow and worship of these people for there is only one that we are to worship and who is that? God. But they were going to bow before God in the presence. Of these, whom they had scorned and persecuted and mocked and laughed at. One day, One day, those who have opposed us, have opposed the Lord, have opposed his word, have opposed his work, will one day have be forced to acknowledge.

That we were right, that Jesus Christ is Lord. This imagery is also taken from Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 14. I have the passage up on the screen. It says, there, thus saith the Lord, the labor of Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia, of the Sabeans, men of stature shall come over unto thee and they shall be thine, they shall come after thee in chains, they shall come over, they shall fall down under thee, they shall make supplication under thee saying, surely God is in thee. There is none else, there is no god.

When Goliath stood in the Valley Of Elah and challenged the armies of Israel, he challenged their God. And he found out their God was real. He mocked not only Israel but he mocked their God. God will one day set everything straight. Goliath that day met the Lord who guided the stone of David who brought judgement upon Goliath and upon Philistia.

God is on our side. If God before us, who can? Be against us. Be against us. Also, Isaiah 60 and verse 14 says, the sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they they that despise thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet and they shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Zion of the holy one of Israel.

They will recognize Jerusalem is God's city. Jerusalem that they despise. Jerusalem that they destroyed. Jerusalem that they scoffed at will be the throne not only of David but be the throne forever of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Matthew five ten through 12, the last part of the beatitudes we call them.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they, the prophets which were before you.

God says, when you suffer for my name's sake, know this, there is reward waiting you in heaven. Rejoice. Be exceeding glad. You are in good company with those who have suffered for the name of Jesus before you. And your Lord in heaven knows and your Lord in heaven sees and your Lord in heaven will reward you.

He will. Not that we deserve it. But he'll reward us anyway. For all the glory really is his. Promise number one to the church at Philadelphia.

Promise number two, look if you would in verse 10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown. He says to them in verse 10, he says, because you have kept my word, word of my patience, of my long suffering, of my endurance, and certainly the Lord is long suffering.

He has patience with a lost world. He is long suffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The church at Philadelphia had suffered, had endured much for the cause of Jesus Christ and his word and so he promises to them, I will keep thee from the hour of temptation or trial or tribulation which shall come upon the world. I will keep you.

I will guard you. I will take you from that particular time of trial. In second Peter two nine, it says, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to be punished. We've seen that over and over again in the Old Testament. When we get to Noah, in the days of Noah, the world was filled with wickedness and violence and the thoughts of man's mind was only evil continually but Noah found what?

Grace. Grace in the eyes of the Lord. And the Lord came to him and he said, build an ark and I will deliver you and your family. Not only told him to build an ark, he told him exactly how to build the ark. And Noah in faith did as the Lord commanded And the Lord saved him.

And his family out of judgement. As the world was judged, as mankind took its last breaths. Under the flood of the waters. Noah and his family rode safely on top of them. I think of Lot.

Now, you say, well, Lot isn't a shining example of of faithfulness. No, he isn't. But in the New Testament, the Bible calls Lot a righteous man. Not because he was the greatest example. Not because he never sinned or did everything right.

But Lot never turned or wavered in his faith in the Lord. Even though he endured by his own choice. A society which he did not have to. But when the Lord came to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he went in and he brought Lot out. He brought him out because Lot belonged to him.

He wasn't the most obedient of children but he belonged to him and so God brought him out. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and reserve the unjust until the day of judgement. I believe this here in verse 10 when it says, I will keep thee from the hour of temptation is very likely a reference to the seven year tribulation. That will come upon the world after the believing church is raptured and taken to heaven and the church of Philadelphia is most definitely a church of believers and when Christ returns, he is going to take his children home. He is going to meet us in the air before he comes back to Jerusalem seven years later to set up his throne and in between the rapture and his return to Jerusalem, there will be seven years of trial and suffering and affliction and judgement on this Earth like this Earth has never seen before.

It is that will be devastating The world in general will turn away from the God who brings judgement. They will face him in battle in Armageddon, in the Valley Of Megiddo. God will wipe away his enemies. Israel will turn back to their God And will enter into his kingdom. But before that tribulation happens, the Bible tells us that God is coming for his church.

Look, if you would in first Thessalonians chapter four. First Thessalonians chapter four, and verse 13. Four thirteen, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope. Now, Paul in particular likes to use a sleep as a metaphor. For Christians who have died and whose bodies sleep so to speak in the grave.

Paul also said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So, it would seem that upon the death of a child of God that our body goes in a grave where it awaits the resurrection, the rapture, and our soul goes to be with who? With Jesus. So, it says here, those who are asleep or those who have already died in Christ He says in verse 14, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him? Well, those who sleep, well, those who have already died, will Jesus God bring with him?

Well, that means that their souls must be with who? With Jesus. Continuing on. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not prevent which means go before them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

That is their bodies. Then, we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. The church at Thessalonica was in turmoil because some of the believers there had already died and they did they were looking for the coming of Christ. They were looking for the rapture and Christ had not yet returned and so they thought, what are going to happen to these believers?

Well, Paul tells them here. They're going to come with the Lord, their souls as mentioned here in verse 14. Their bodies will be resurrected. And first Corinthians 15 tells us incorruptible, immortal bodies without sin. They will be reunited and we will join them to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Look, if you would, in at the last verse there of chapter four, he says, wherefore what? Comfort one another with these words. Now, that tells me right there that if these words should bring comfort, then, it makes sense that we're not going through the tribulation. This is something that happens what? Before.

Because going through the tribulation doesn't bring me a lot of comfort. Going to be with the Lord. Well, that does. But furthermore, he says in chapter five and verse nine, for God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. In context, he's talking about the time of the tribulation.

God has not appointed us. To suffer that wrath, that time of judgement. For God has appointed us to salvation and God is coming to take us home. The faithful in Christ Jesus, the true believers who know him as Lord and savior. Therefore, comfort one another.

With these words. The church in Philadelphia was a true church populated by those who sincerely knew the Lord as savior. They would never face the tribulation. Well, you say, pastor, they died a long time ago. They didn't face the tribulation.

That's right. But the true faithful believers that will be here when Christ comes for his church. We will not face the tribulation either. There's some theologians that believe that each one of these churches chronologically in Revelation two and three represent different ages or time periods during the church age and they connect each time period to certain things that were going on in the world and the church in general. That view has some merit.

But in the least, these churches represent different churches and different issues that happen all throughout the church age and those who are like the believers at Philadelphia who truly know the Lord, we're going to go to be with him. Amen. Now, the next church, the church at Laodicea, That church had a lot of problems. That church seemed to be nearly apostate. The Lord didn't make promises of that kind to that church.

For that church may very well represent the false teachers and the false church that doesn't go in the rapture that enters into the tribulation. We will get to that more next week. That brings us to promise number three, in verses eleven and twelve. So, back to Revelation chapter three, and verses eleven and twelve. Actually, 12.

We don't really look to verse 11. He says, him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out. I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from God and I will write up on him my new name. God's third promise is in relation to eternal security in the new Jerusalem. For those who hold fast in their faith, who are kept by the power of what?

Of who? By the power of God and the salvation, who stand firm in Jesus Christ. He will come quickly to reward, to crown, and he says here to make them a pillar in his temple. This is another common metaphor in in their day. Today, your houses don't have a lot of pillars in em but in John's day, a lot of homes did.

Particularly a lot of public buildings and particularly all kinds of temples whether they were temples worship God in or whether they were idols temples. These large structures were held up often by many very large marble or other stone pillars. Some of those structures remain from John's day till this day, at least in part. You can go visit them in in Rome, in in Italy, in in Jerusalem that they've they've dug up and excavated large cities, found many of these pillars still standing. I I visited the Synagogue Of Jesus' day.

Well, actually, the synagogue just after Jesus' day in Capernaum that they have unearthed and there are many large pillars in that in that synagogue. The the floor of that synagogue has about three layers on it. The the bottom layer is the layer that was there when Jesus taught in that synagogue in Jerusalem. And there was one little area where we could stand on that floor and get our picture taken. And that was kind of neat.

Just to be remembered that Jesus stood on that floor and taught the word of God. These pillars, they stand for a long time but the pillars of man will eventually fall and they will eventually crumble but not the pillars of who? Not the pillars of God. It was also a common practice to inscribe the names of people who donated the funds for their construction. The architect or other prominent figures names upon these columns that held up the roofs of these buildings.

This is the illusion here in Revelation chapter three. The building, the temple in heaven is not made of stone. His temple is constructed of his children. Who will worship him for all eternity. His tabernacle is a city.

The new Jerusalem in which we will worship him. For all eternity. The pillars, his children, upon whom his name is what? Written. Written.

Because we belong Because to he has redeemed us by his blood. And because he will keep us for all eternity. To enjoy the pleasures of the new Jerusalem with him. Forever. In Revelation twenty two three and four, it says, there shall be no more curse but the throne of God and of the lamb shall be in it, that is the new Jerusalem.

And hers and his servant shall serve him, and they shall see his face and his name shall be written In their foreheads. In first Peter one three to five, it says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and it faded not away reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith and the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Praise the Lord. The faithful one of Israel will keep his promises every last one to his true children, to the church at Philadelphia, to the church of Missouri Avenue, God keeps his promises. He'll come back for us.

He has a place prepared for us. He'll come and receive us unto himself. That where he is there, we will be also. With him forever. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, we thank you, Lord. For the precious promises of your word Lord, I pray that if there's one here today that's unsure of their salvation. That they would come as we give this sing this song of invitation that we might show them from God's word how they can know Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior too. Have his name written upon their heart. Receive his holy spirit of promise.

Be forgiven of all their sins and receive the gift of everlasting life. And Lord, I pray for us who know you, that we would be encouraged and challenged to be faithful, to be like the church at Philadelphia that others would not only hear in our words that we belong to Christ but they would see in our actions. That we would be faithful to walk through the doors that you open, to take the gospel to a lost and dying world, Not to miss the opportunities that you bring across our path this week. Lord, thank you for who you are and thank you for the privilege of worshiping you this evening. May we give you each day of our life in service to our king.

In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.