I invite you to take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter three. This morning, we're going to be looking at verses seven through 13. If you have not brought a Bible with you this morning, there are black pew Bibles in the pew racks in front of you. They're along the back seats as well. And our passage this morning is found on page one thousand and twenty nine, the last book of the Bible. We have. begun a sermon series this fall, going into next spring through the book of Revelation. And we have been looking for the last several weeks at these letters to the seven churches. Now, of course, we've seen that that the all of the church is addressed in the book of Revelation. Revelation itself is is a letter from beginning to end. And seven churches in particular are identified, but all of the churches are to pay attention to all of what is said to all of the other churches, because all of this is for all the church, including us here today and sovereign at Sovereign Grace Presbyterian Church. So, again, that all's in there for you this morning. This morning, we're going to be looking at the letter to the church in Philadelphia. We have seen in previous weeks that the structure of these seven letters appears to be an intentional structure, and it's a structure that we call a chiasm. That is, it basically looks like the Greek letter key, which essentially looks like our letter X. And a chiasm is something that has an A-B-B-A kind of construction, or something more complicated than that. And that's what we have here, a little bit more complicated than that. Really, it has an A-B-C-C-C-B-A construction. The churches on the externals, Church 1 and Church 7, both are churches that are on the verge of losing their Christian identity. The churches in the middle, three, four and five, are of a mixed condition. They have some good, but also some negatives as well. And as Greg Beal points out in his outstanding commentary on the Book of Revelation, typically when you have a chiasm, when the structure is chiastic, the key point is either on the outside or in the middle. And Beal makes this point essentially to say that we probably should not have too high expectations for the church's faithfulness throughout history. Some parts of the church are going to be unfaithful on the verge of losing their Christian identity. Most are going to be of a mixed condition, and yet there are going to be some that are more faithful. And we see that in churches two and churches six, and we've already looked at Church number two, the church in Smyrna, and this morning we come to church number six, the church in the city of Philadelphia, a church that has only commendation. So pay attention now to God's word as the Lord Jesus Christ himself addresses this church in Philadelphia here, God's word. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right, the words of the Holy One, the true one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet that they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven. And my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches and the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. Let's again go to God this morning in prayer. Father, we ask that you would draw near to us and you would teach us. We come this morning with distractions, we come this morning Dull of hearing because of our sin, and we pray that you would open our eyes, that we might behold glorious things in your word, that you would write your word on our hearts today. We pray this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Winston Churchill has famously said a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. And an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. I wonder this morning how you react in your life to various opportunities and difficulties that come your way. We are all familiar with the various quotes having to do with the words opportunity knocks. Right. The famous quote, the historic quote, be ready when opportunity knocks. Or there are various variations, some reading it in the opposite. Some say when opportunity knocks, you still have to get up off the couch and open the door. Or as one person has said, when opportunity knocked, I ran out the back door. Or in those commercials that are on TV of the most interesting man in the world, those beer commercials of some sort. It said of the most interesting man in the world, when opportunity knocks and he's not home, opportunity waits. Or Milton Berle once said, when opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. Jesus says here to the church in Philadelphia, I have set before you an open door, an open door. And as we'll see in just a moment, Jesus is saying to this church, I have set before you great ministry opportunities. That's the notion, that's the language of of setting before you an open door. And the question is, how will this church respond? And we can ask the same question of us. How will we respond to the open door or to the opportunities that God brings to us? As we've been going through these seven letters, this is our sixth now. We have seen that a big question is, will we be faithful? Will will we endure to the end? And there are promises for those who endure to the end. And we've seen what a faithful church looks like. We've constantly asked the question, what does it mean to be a faithful church? And we've seen a variety of things, some of them somewhat surprising, I think, for instance, we've learned from the church in Ephesus that that being a faithful church does not simply mean being theologically sound. It does not simply mean having our doctrine right, which is typically what we conservative Presbyterians tend to think. Well, faithfulness is all about getting our doctrine right. And being theologically sound, and of course, that's vital. But remember, this first church is a church that's on the verge of losing its Christian identity. And Jesus says, you have forsaken your first love. You have lost your first love. Your love for me and and probably your love for the lost. We've seen a faithful church in Smyrna, they've been faithful in persecution. We've seen in letters three, four and five that that a faithful church is one that does not compromise and one that does not tolerate compromise in its midst. And here's we come to this letter to the church in Philadelphia, it is a church that has been faithful, but here Jesus is calling this church to continue in faithfulness. So I want to raise the question this morning once again, as we come to this letter of the church to the church in Philadelphia, what does a faithful church look like? And very briefly this morning, I want us to see three things. What does a faithful church look like? And the first is this, a faithful church is one that makes the most of the opportunities that God has given to it. Makes the most of the opportunities that God has given to it. And here we come back to this idea of Jesus in verse eight, saying, behold, I have set before you an open door. We actually see this idea of an open door elsewhere in the New Testament and and every time it refers to ministry opportunities. First Corinthians, chapter 16, the Apostle Paul writes this, but I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. A wide door for effective work and ministry has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. So I'm going to stay here and do the work that God has called me to do and opened up for me to do. Or Paul writes to the Colossian Christians, pray for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ or to declare the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for an open door. Pray for a door to open to us. This open door is the door of missions. It's the door of evangelism. It's the door of being faithful witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we've seen from the very beginning, what are these churches described as in this great vision and in Revelation chapter one, what are they and where is Christ in the midst? He's in the midst of lampstands. These churches are described as lampstands, lights in the world. And much of their faithfulness and our faithfulness revolves around our being lights in a dark world and faithfully proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus says, I've set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little strength. And yet you have kept my word and not denied my name. You've kept my word. It's a very good possibility here that Jesus is talking about, as we've already sung this morning, his his last command. The Great Commission. You've kept my word, you've you've kept my command. Maybe it's more than that, maybe it's you've you've clung to scripture. You've clung to my teachings in every area of life, but certainly the faithfulness to the Great Commission has got to be included here. Jesus goes on to say, you haven't denied my name. What does Jesus warn his his disciples about? Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge him before my father in heaven. But whoever denies me before men. I will deny him before my father in heaven. I've set before you an open door. Opportunities for ministry and you have been faithful. Continue in it, continue to to do the work that I have called you to do, even though, as Jesus says here, you have, quote, little power. Little power. We don't know exactly what that means. Whether it was a small church, whether it was a financially impoverished church or or whether it was a fairly good sized church and in a world of of secularism and opposition. In some sense, size doesn't really matter, right, whether we're here, Sovereign Grace in South Park, whether we're Christ's covenant on the other side of town. We all feel small. compared to the great opposition of the world that we face. And I want to ask us the question this morning, are we making the most of the opportunities that God has set before us? God has put us in a strategic location. Here in Charlotte, South Park. One of the leading business districts In the Carolinas. And God has put us here at this this important location in this city here in South Park. And what is God calling us to do here? Are we being faithful to the opportunities that he has laid before us? God has blessed us. He's blessed us with numerical growth. He's blessed us with incredible financial resources right now in the life of our church. He's blessed us with great missions increase already. In six years, we've tripled our giving to missions. We've sent two families out to the field. We're getting ready to send another one. We've just sent a family up to upstate New York to plant a church up there. God has blessed us and is using us in a number of different ways. And somebody asked me a few weeks ago, where do you think we stand in all of this? We as a church and. You know, I think we've been pretty faithful. I praise God for that. But. But what about the opportunities now that God has laid before us? Where are we going? Will we use the opportunities that God has placed before us? There's an open door. Will we be faithful? A faithful church makes the most of the opportunities that God has given to it. Secondly, we see in our passage this morning that a faithful church is steadfast in the midst of opposition. Steadfast in the midst of opposition, we have already seen with the church of Smyrna, that is church number two, the other faithful church that that they were facing opposition, particularly from the Jews. And we see the same thing here, as Jesus says in verse nine, behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not but lie. The opponents here seem to be Jews. Jesus is not saying here they're kind of pretending to be ethnic Jews, but they're really not ethnic Jews. What he's saying here is much like we saw back in the church of Smyrna, that they're not true Jews. As the Apostle Paul says in Romans two, a true Jew is one inwardly and circumcision is is of the heart, not the flesh. A true Jew is one who recognizes Jesus as the Messiah. And most likely that the Jewish community here was in some ways harassing or persecuting the Christian church. And by the way, that was very common through the first three or four centuries of the church age. In fact, interestingly, we are the discussion this week in our home about the Edict of Milan. Funny things we get on topics we get on to. I won't tell you how we got on to that one, but in 313 under under Constantine, where the the edict of Milan, one of the one of the commands, one of the edicts, one of the one of the parts of the edict of Milan is that Jews were no longer allowed to harass those who converted to Christianity. So such a significant thing that this is included in one of the great edicts in the early church that included other things, legalizing Christianity as a religion, enabling Christians to put the church in their will, enabling Christians actually to legally build churches. But included in that is forbidding Jews to harass Christian converts. Jesus is actually going to go on to say, I'm going to write on your hearts, I'm going to write on your foreheads the the name of the the new city, the new Jerusalem. Scripture teaches that that there's a there's a Jewish root. And and we Gentiles, those of us who are Gentiles, some of you are are Jews by origin, but are grafted in. We're grafted in. And that is the true Israel. The church, some branches are broken off, Paul says in Romans 9 to 11, but but we've been grafted in. And so we will live in the new Jerusalem. And we will receive the blessings of God that God has promised to his people. And in the midst of this opposition, in the midst of this persecution, these Christians have persevered. They've persevered. Verse 10, Jesus says, because you have kept my word about patience, endurance, you have endured through the harassment and opposition that you are facing. Do we do that? A mark of a faithful church is one that perseveres. That sticks to it. In the midst of our own trials, in the midst of our own disagreements. This, our own struggles, internal and from the outside, is one that perseveres and is faithful to God in the midst of it all. And Jesus gives a wonderful promise We see it here in verse 10, where he goes on to say, because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth. What does Jesus mean here? I will keep you from the hour of trial. There are some who have interpreted this verse to mean that Jesus is going to take faithful Christians out of the world before a time of trial and tribulation comes. But that's not the meaning here, I don't believe. In fact, the very words that Jesus uses here and John writes here are used in John's gospel, they're put on the lips of Jesus in John chapter 17. To keep you from. Where Jesus says these words, I don't ask. He's praying to the father, his great high priestly prayer. I don't ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. It's a spiritual preservation that Jesus is talking about here. In fact, every time we see this particular Greek word, you Greek scholars, the word Tereo with God as the subject and the church as the object, it always has a sense not of physical preservation, but of spiritual preservation. I will hold you. I will preserve you in the midst of and through tribulation and trial. I have you in my hand and no one will snatch you out of my hand. You are mine and I will keep you. But there's more that Jesus says here, it's more. He says your opponents can only do what I allow them to do. And ultimately, their their opposition will in no way be effective. Again, go back to verse eight. Jesus says, I've set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. Your opponents may try to shut you out. They may try to stop your witness. They may try to stop your ministry and put an end to it, but I've set before you an open door that no one can shut. In fact, Jesus has just described himself with in verse seven with the words, with these words, the words of the holy one, the true one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut and shuts and no one opens. He has the key. Of David, this is actually an expression that is found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah and Isaiah, chapter 22. where a man by the name of Eliakim is said to have the key of the house of David, and it said of him, he will open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open. And Eliakim was essentially given the authority to speak in the name of the king. Hezekiah on that particular occasion. And brothers and sisters in Christ, God not only has set before us an open door. That no one can shut. Because Christ is sovereign. But he has also given us the key. The keys. Do you remember Jesus words? Just listen, I was going to have you turn there, but but listen to his words in in Matthew, chapter 16, verse 19, Jesus addresses his disciples and he says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. I've given you those keys, the keys to the kingdom. Now, Jesus isn't somehow giving to his church the ability to forgive sins. We don't have that ability and the authority, but what we do have the ability and the authority to do is to say when we proclaim the gospel on the authority of the word of God, if you believe it, heaven is open to you. And if you don't believe it, if you don't trust Jesus Christ, then your destiny is eternal hell. That's what Jesus has given to us, that declarative authority, the keys of the kingdom. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father, but by Christ and by Christ alone. And Jesus has has given us the the ability to proclaim that message. An open door. An open door that no one can shut. Your opponents can't shut you out. We may feel like we have little strength. We may feel like we are small and inadequate. But Jesus says, I will use you. Be faithful. Be faithful, persevere through opposition. And third and finally, this passage tells us this morning that a faithful church is one that will know the God ordained outcome. Will know the God ordained outcome, opportunities, opposition. Outcome. Wonderful promises. To the church here. At the end of this letter in particular, Jesus says in verse 12 that the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it. And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven and my own new name. Wonderful promises there. I will make you a pillar in the house of my God. What's one of the things that is great about a pillar and especially about a pillar in the eternal temple? It is that that it will never leave. It's always there, stable and steadfast. It in some ways holds up the temple, it adorns the temple. That's the wonderful thing about great old old buildings with their wonderful pillars. When you when you walk up to a great old building, an old state house or whatever it might be, and you see this great pillar, you don't see. Wow, it's amazing how that thing holds up the building. Maybe you do, but my first reaction is typically to say, wow, that's that's beautiful. I just love that book. I love the way it adorns that. That that building. We adorn the the temple of God. And we are we are there always in it. We're made a pillar, a permanent fixture. Well, we'll have Jesus God's name and the new Jerusalem, Jerusalem's name and Jesus name. I'm all written on us. Essentially saying that we belong to him. But I want you to see one other wonderful promise here. And it's this. Jesus is telling his church here that he will actually give his opponents to them. You don't actually clearly see this in the English translations. But but verse eight, In the Greek literally says, behold, I have given you an open door. The word to give is there. Set before you, but but literally to give. And then verse nine, Jesus goes on to say in the second part of the verse, behold, I will give. Your opponents to come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. I will give your opponents to you. This language actually comes out of the Old Testament book of Isaiah, Isaiah, chapter forty five, that says that the Gentiles, many Gentile nations are going to are going to come in there. Jesus says to the Jews, they're going to fall down at your feet and they're going to recognize that the one true God really is in the midst of you. And you see, it's in their their humiliation, That their salvation comes. And their humiliation. Their salvation comes. Jesus is saying here that many of these very opponents. Are going to come to saving faith in me. Your enemies will not ultimately triumph. Many of them will be saved. When Jesus said to his disciples and says to us, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, Jesus is basically telling us a number of things there. But one is the church is going to always be built in enemy territory under the enemy's watchful eye. The church is always going to be built in enemy territory, under the enemy's watchful eye. Those of you who are Tolkien fans and Lord of the Rings fans, you remember the watchful eye of Mordor, the evil land ruled over by Sauron, the evil king. And you also remember for the victory to take place, the ring had to be taken where? To Mordor. To enemy territory and there be destroyed. Always under the enemy's watchful eye. And Jesus is telling us. That same thing here in this passage this morning. I will build my church, it's going to be in the midst of the enemy. But the gates of hell will not prevail against. God's people will be victorious, but we need to press on. We need to be faithful. God has blessed us, but this is not the time to stand still. This is the time to move forward in battle. Being faithful. Walking through the open door that God has said before us. Of course, in a minute, we're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper and we know we will be victorious. Why? Because Jesus was. Triumph triumphed already on the cross over the principalities and the powers and the rulers of darkness. The brothers and sisters in Christ, as we come and partake this morning, pray that God will use this sacrament to strengthen us. And use his word to strengthen us, that we might be a faithful church, let's pray. God, we praise you that that you are a great and mighty and powerful God. And we do ask, oh, God, that you would use us, continue to use us. You've you've blessed us in so many ways. Use us, we pray. To be a faithful witness in the world and to use the ministry opportunities that you even now have set before us. Be with us, draw near to us now, we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.