Please remain standing for the reading of God's Word. Turning first to the book of Isaiah, chapter 22. And as you're turning there, I'll just note some of the imagery. Both in our Old and New Testament readings, there's an emphasis on doors and on keys, opening and shutting. We'll read first the Old Testament promise, and then the New Testament fulfillment of that promise. Isaiah 22, verse 15. Thus says the Lord God of hosts, go, proceed to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house, and say, what have you here, and whom have you here, that you have hewn a sepulcher here? as he who hues himself a sepulcher on high, who carves a tomb for himself in a rock. Indeed, the Lord will throw you away violently, O mighty man, and will surely seize you. He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball into a large country. There you shall die, and there your glorious chariots shall be the shame of your master's house. So I will drive you out of your office, and from your position he will pull you down. Then it shall be in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belts. I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder. So he shall open and no one shall shut. And he shall shut, and no one shall open. I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, and he will become a glorious throne to his father's house. They will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity from the cups to all the pitchers. In that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall and the burden that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken." This is the gospel according to Isaiah. We'll turn now in our New Testament lesson to its fulfillment in the book of Revelation. And for those of you who are new to our congregation or simply the fact that we haven't been in this book for almost three weeks, We are progressing through Christ's seven oracles to the seven angels of the seven churches of Asia in modern day Turkey. Turning now to the oracle to the church in Philadelphia. Revelation three, verses seven to 13. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it, for you have a little strength have kept my word and have not denied my name. Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but why? Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go out no more. 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 out of heaven from my God and I will write on him my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Thus ends the reading of God's holy, inspired, inerrant, and infallible word. Amen. You may be seated. We all know what it's like to be locked out of a building. At least I do. Sometimes this is quite literal. As the one who is tasked with opening the church building for the men's reading group, I've had the painful experience on more than one occasion of parking my van just outside, grabbing my bags of Chick-fil-A for the men's group, and putting my hand in my pocket to realize that I left my church key at home and I have no way of getting inside. Some of you know what that's like, and we've actually sat outside to enjoy our Chick-fil-A breakfast. Or maybe you remember that awful moment when you shut your car door and you notice that your keys are lying on the passenger seat. I've done that before, and you have to call AAA to get them out. Or maybe those hours that you spent trying to locate your spare house key before the guests arrive. I won't ask for a show of hands, If you're like me, you know what it's like to get locked out. Literally. But this can also be figurative. Locked out of a friend group. Locked out of a text thread. Locked out of an opportunity. A media platform. A conversation. A job opening. Or maybe you just feel stuck. You don't have influence. Can't get traction. Can't find daylight. You feel hemmed in. Shut out. Whether it's literal or figurative, we all know what it's like to be locked out. Door's shut and you're on the outside looking in. And that brings us to Christ's sixth oracle. To the angel of the church in Philadelphia. And I say it brings us to them because these Christians knew what it was like to be locked out. Many of them had been excommunicated from the Jewish synagogue. They were marginalized by their secular society. Jesus said they had only a little strength. It was a day of small things. They felt like the door was locked. But Jesus had good news for them, and he has good news for you. According to verse 7, Jesus has the keys. Jesus has the keys. He who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. Jesus is the fulfillment of Eliakim in Isaiah 22. He has the keys, and more than that, this text tells us that he has turned them in the lock. Verse eight, I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door. and no one can shut it. So to these Christians who'd been locked out of the synagogue, who were locked out of secular society, Jesus says, I've set before you an open door. Yes, an open door of fellowship with Christ, but also an open door of opportunity to share the gospel with a lost and dying world. And that's what I want to share with you tonight. the good news of the open door. Hold fast what you have, knowing that Christ has set before you an open door. We're gonna approach this in two parts. First, the open door of fellowship, and then second, the open door of opportunity. First, hold fast what you have, knowing that Christ has set before you an open door of fellowship. Go back in time to these early Christians who had been in the synagogue. Remember, Jesus taught in the synagogue. That's where Paul always started. And the early Christians would worship in the synagogue. And yet they had been excommunicated. They'd been locked out. They were losing influence in their secular society. Christianity had a cost for them. And there's an analogy today. conservative Christians are often shut out of mainline churches. Machen was suspended from the ministry in the northern mainline church. Often it's the progressives who have access to the big cathedrals and historic sanctuaries. Not always, but often that's the case, not to mention the endowments. Even so, the Philadelphians felt locked out. And so this was a particular message of encouragement to them, that Jesus has set before them an open door of fellowship. You might be on the outside looking in, in other ways, but when it comes to spiritual fellowship with the God of the Bible, Jesus says, I've opened the door. That's the language of verse eight. See, I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it. Congregation, Philadelphia is really the opposite of the church in Sardis we looked at last time. Whereas Sardis was dead and defiled, Philadelphia was alive and faithful. In fact, Philadelphia is one of only two churches not rebuked by the Lord Jesus Christ, the other being Smyrna, the persecuted church. This is the original city of brotherly love. In fact, John MacArthur, whom have just passed away this week, called Philadelphia the faithful church. And as such, they were given a wonderful encouragement, that of the open door. And I say an open door of fellowship because that actually fits the imagery in the next oracle to the church in Laodicea. If you turn forward to verse 20, We'll look at this in more detail later, but behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. This helps explain the significance of the open door, an open door of fellowship with Jesus Christ, of enjoying union and communion with Jesus in grace and in glory, of friendship with God, It's also reflected in the language of chapter 4, verse 1. And then we transition from John in Patmos to John in the heavenly heights, as he passes through that open door and sees into the heavenly throne room. In fact, we can go further and say that in John's gospel, Jesus Christ himself is called the door. the way, the truth, and the life. We pass through Christ into the presence of God, an open door of fellowship. Now, for these Philadelphia Christians, they might have reasonably said, that's wonderful that we have an open door of fellowship with Jesus, but what about our Jewish adversaries who have excommunicated us from the synagogue? What about them? Well, Jesus has words of judgment for them in verse nine. Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie. Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you. This is almost verbatim language from that which Jesus uses with the church in Smyrna. Earlier we looked at those verses where he says something very similar in chapter 2, verse 9. I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Harsh words for those who may be religiously, ethnically, culturally Jewish, but who reject the Messiah prophesied in Moses and in the prophets. They claim an ancestry with Abraham and yet reject the seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ himself. And insofar as they do that, their claim is without weight. They say they are Jews and are not, but lie. And Jesus' polemic is even more devastating if we look at it closely because in this passage, there is an ironic reversal of Isaiah 60, verse 14. I'm gonna read that verse where it says, also the sons of those who afflicted you, shall come bowing to you, and all those who despise you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet, and they shall call you the city of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. I say this is an ironic reversal because in Isaiah, the picture is of the Gentiles bowing before the Jews. But here, Jesus reverses that image and says that Jews, according to the flesh, are going to bow before these Gentile and Jewish Christians, like Joseph's brothers bowing down before him. Jesus says that their enemies will eventually pay homage to them. This brings us to a theme we've looked at before, that of the true versus the false Israel, that many who are Jews, according to the flesh, reject the promised Messiah and that indeed the church composed of Jew and Gentile is the true and the new Israel of God. Whereas apostate Judaism corresponds to Hagar and Mount Sinai in Arabia The church corresponds to Sarah and the heavenly Mount Zion, the mother of us all. Indeed, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven. I won't go into too much detail, but it's worth noting at this point some of the practical significance of Jesus' polemic against unbelieving Judaism. Right now, you'll hear certain politicians say that we are required, theologically, to support, for instance, the modern nation state of Israel. And this is where the Bible gets real practical real fast. Because here In our text, we learn that those who are ethnically Jews according to the flesh, and yet who reject the Messiah, are here labeled as the synagogue of Satan. Again, the church is the true Israel of God, and Talmudic Judaism is, according to Jesus, a satanic expression of unbelief. This is important for us when you hear people making claims. Now, I want to be careful. I'm not going into the realm of geopolitics. Countries may have reasons to support allies overseas, but we need to be careful to not say that Christians are required to support the unbelieving, secular, modern nation-state of Israel on narrowly theological grounds. This is the error of so many who hold to Christian Zionism. And we need to be careful at this point and go back to the Bible. With affection for Jews according to the flesh, with a desire to see them repent and believe in Jesus, we need to be careful not to fall into doctrinal errors or confusion that clouds our judgment and confuses our geopolitical policies. Now you say, as Jesus has shown them. They have an open door of fellowship. Their enemies will come and pay homage to them. But what about trials and tribulations in this age? Even with an open door of fellowship, what about trials and tribulations? Well, look at verse 10. Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world. to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown." And here there's a beautiful correspondence. Jesus says, you have kept, therefore I will keep you. from the hour of trial. This is not talking about some kind of secret rapture. Rather, Jesus is saying, in the midst of opposition, I will keep you, I will preserve you. An hour of trial, Jesus says, is coming upon the whole world to test those on the earth. This could be translated, it's coming upon the whole world order. upon the whole Roman Empire to test those who are in the land of Israel. This is speaking of a time of intense suffering that was about to take place in the first century. It's referred to in chapter 2, verse 10. And in chapter 2, verse 22, an imminent event, something that would take place within a couple years from the writing of this letter. In AD 67 to 70, great tribulation and trial came upon the whole Roman Empire, especially upon those who dwelt in the land of Israel. An intense period of persecution and opposition that would culminate in the destruction of the temple in AD 70. And what Jesus is saying to them, despite the enemies that you have, despite the fact that you've been excommunicated from the synagogue, despite the fact that an hour of trial is coming, I am going to set before you an open door of fellowship, and I am going to preserve you. And on the other side, Rome will eventually disappear. Rome eventually fell. The temple will be destroyed, but the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Israel of God, will remain. One hour of trial, yes, but preserved through it to enjoy 1,000 years of Christ's millennial power. And that is an encouraging thought. So when you feel ostracized and marginalized by this world, know that Jesus Christ will eventually defeat your adversaries, he will vindicate you before men, and he will most importantly of all, draw close to you in fellowship. He will preserve you through suffering and bring you to himself. And you say, well, it's encouraging to know, that even if professing Christians turn their backs on me that Christ claims me as his own and welcomes me into his fellowship. And yet it can still be difficult. How do we go about our Christian lives in the midst of a world that opposes us, especially when we feel like we have no influence in this world? I want to bring you to a second point, not only the open door of fellowship, but also the open door of opportunity. Hold fast, knowing that Christ has set before you an open door of opportunity. In the midst of persecution, in the midst of opposition, even tribulation, there is a unique opportunity to serve the Lord and to share the gospel. The day of small things presents big opportunities. And I say that this is part of what Jesus is setting before them because this is the way that the image of the open door is used throughout the Bible. For instance, in the book of Acts, what do angels do? Angels show up and they open prison doors. And the apostles walk through them and preach the gospel. Acts 14, 27. Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. Colossians 4. Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Meanwhile, praying also for us that God would open to us a door for the Word to speak the mystery of Christ. You see, an open door to walk out of the prison. An open door of faith to the Gentiles. And here, an open door in Colossians 4 to speak The word. 2 Corinthians 2, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel and a door was opened to me by the Lord. And finally 1 Corinthians 16, for a great and effective door has opened to me and there are many adversaries. Note that last reference. Many adversaries and yet an open door. So when you feel opposition, It may be the opposition of this text, that of unbelieving Talmudic Judaism, or of Roman paganism, or something along those lines. Or maybe it's something else. Maybe it's the secular assaults upon our values and upon our churches. Whatever it is, when you're facing opposition, Jesus is saying, yes, the door is open to come and fellowship with me, but in the other direction, the door is also open for you to leave and go and preach the gospel. Many adversaries, but also a great and effective door. A door of golden opportunity. And this is what Jesus is setting before the Philadelphians. You have an opportunity. to evangelize those very Jewish leaders who kicked you out of the synagogue and pray that like the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road, they would be converted and the scales would be removed from their eyes. You have an opportunity to go to that Roman centurion who whipped you publicly, and preached the gospel to them, and prayed that they would bow the knee, not to Caesar, but to King Jesus. Yes, opposition is difficult, but it also presents an opportunity for prayer, for evangelism, for witness-bearing, for service. An opportunity to serve Christ when it has a cost, when it has a price tag. An open door. And Jesus goes on to comfort them with more encouragements in verse 9. Look at the promise. Or rather, the promise in verse 12. He says, He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more. 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 out of heaven from my God, and I will write on him My new name. In verse 11, he promises them a crown. In verse 12, he promises them that they will be a pillar and they will have a new name. A new name written on the believer who has made a pillar in God's temple. Just five years from now, when this text was written, the physical brick-and-mortar temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed. But God is promising them something enduring. They shall be living stones in a spiritual temple. They will be pillars in the temple of God. Just think about for a moment the image of a pillar. And we're going to circle back and connect it to the image of the door. Sometimes in the Bible, the pillar is negative. Remember Lot's wife. She turned back, and she became a pillar of salt. But usually, the pillar is positive. One commentator says the pillar is a picture of stability and permanence, something steadfast, something rooted. The trees functioned as pillars in the garden sanctuary of Eden. The mountains functioned as pillars of the earth. And inside the temple, the pillars were the kind of shoulders of that structure, pictured by the priestly garments encrusted with names. And there were two pillars in particular in the temple. Jacob, the priestly pillar. Boaz, the kingly pillar. Priests and pillars were pictures of the guardians of the temple. Well even so, you congregation, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are called the pillar and ground of the truth. Think of James, Peter, and John who seemed to be pillars. Think of Jesus Christ who in Revelation 10 is said to have a rainbow on his head, his face like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. Jesus is not only the door. He is the pillar. And in union with him, we have an open door and we are made pillars. In fact, you could argue that this image of the pillar and the image of the door actually come together into the same scene. Pillars frame the doorway into the temple. If we put all of this constellation of images together, this is what emerges, congregation, you are The pillars. You are the doors. You are the gates. You are the priests of God's house. You are the true guardians of the galaxy. You are the doorkeepers of the cosmos. With Christ, you have the power of the keys. Adam was given the power of the keys in the Garden of Eden to guard that sanctuary, and yet he failed. He did not protect the garden. He allowed the serpent to come in to invade and to tempt him and his bride, and they fell into sin. And so God took the keys and gave them to the cherubim who stood outside the garden doors with a flaming sword, not allowing anyone to come inside. The doors were shut. And yet, God gave to the high priest in Israel the ability once a year to walk through the cherubim embroidered curtains into the Holy of Holies and to approach the mercy seat of God. Indeed, God gave Eliakim the steward the key of the house of David to open the door and no one shall shut. To shut the door and no one shall open. And Jesus fulfills Eliakim's role. For He comes with the key of the house of David, and He opens the door. In the preaching of the Gospel, do you know what happens? When the Gospel is preached and sinners are called to repentance, when you hear the message, repent and believe in the Gospel, if you reject that message, Christ shuts the door. And if you embrace that message, Christ opens the door. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, as we did this morning, and Christ fences the table, the door is opened to believers who are in right relation to God and to the church, and the doors are closed to those who are not in right relation to Christ and His church. In church discipline, We exercise the power of the keys given to us by Christ, including and excluding according to his word. In excommunication, a former church member is placed outside. the doorway of the church by the Lord Jesus, and the church acknowledges that fact formally and publicly. So from Adam to the cherubim to the priest to Eliakim to Jesus to the church, we in Christ have become possessors of the keys to open the door, to walk through the door. So hold fast. what you have. In addition to an open door of fellowship, you have an open door of opportunity. When you hear the benediction in a few moments, and you pass through those sanctuary doors, you are entering a world of opportunity in your workplaces, in your education environments, in your neighborhoods, in your acquaintances, whatever it may be, in the marketplace. You have an opportunity to serve God as salt and light in the world. To be the flavor of the Gospel. To be a savor of life unto life and of death unto death. As those who bear the name of Jesus written on our foreheads in baptism, let us bear witness of the grace of Christ for the glory of Christ. Let us seize the day, walk through the door, and see what God will do. Let us pray.