Bible. We'll take there for our text verses 7 through 13. Revelation 3 and beginning at verse 7, if you're able to stand for this reading of God's Word. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, the words of the Holy One, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and 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 a 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 and 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 world to try those who dwell on the earth. I'm 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 in the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven in my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. You can be seated. Well, of course, we come to the letter addressed to the church in Philadelphia. Philadelphia in Asia Minor would have been next in line for our courier as he is delivering this letter. It was located some 20 miles southeast of Sardis, which was our last location, and we're coming here to the sixth of the seven churches. Now, Philadelphia was a city that was said to have been near a very fertile valley, a great place for growing grapes for wine. It was a long and important trade route, and yet it was built on a dangerous fault line, so the area was prone to earthquakes. It seems that the situation in Philadelphia for the church is likewise unstable. They are vulnerable to persecution. And it's in this context that Christ, the king and head of the church, writes a letter of comfort to the saints in Philadelphia. This is much like the church in Smyrna. This letter is, as there was no rebuke recorded for them, neither is there rebuke recorded for the church in Philadelphia, which are the only two of the seven letters here. But he is writing to them to remind them of the great stability that they have in the kingdom of God. It's a letter to a church that is bringing comfort. It's a letter to a church that is itself a faithful church and encouraging them to continue to persevere in faithfulness. And so what we will see then is this, that faithful churches are to persevere in faithfulness with confidence in their Lord. Faithful churches are to persevere in faithfulness with confidence in their Lord. We're going to see two simple things tonight. Verses 7 to 10, first of all, we'll see a call to confidence. And then we'll see in verses 11 to 13, the hope of permanence, the call to confidence and the hope of permanence. This is in this shaky, unstable situation, a word of stability is being given to them. So first we see the call to confidence. We need to be reminded we haven't considered this in a while because it is in every letter. We did it the first, but they all end with this phrase. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So let's be reminded once again of who is writing here. It is the Holy Spirit. It is John, yes, who is writing, but it's the Spirit. It's Christ and the very Spirit of Christ. These are the words of the Spirit of Christ himself that is addressing the church. And the Lord, again, is addressing the church, as he has with all of these, with a note of self-disclosure. And so in verse 7, he says, Now, this is a bit unlike the other self-revelation, self-disclosures, and descriptions of Christ, the one writing as many of them took this imagery from chapter one of that exalted vision. We don't really have that here, but there does seem to be an allusion to verse 18. that Christ is the living one, he has died, he is alive forevermore, and he has the keys of death and Hades, the death and the place of the grave, they belong to him, he has authority over it. This is one who has the keys of the son of David being written to here, or that is doing the addressing here. This language that is used, the one who is holy, The one who is true is language the Old Testament uses to ascribe to the Lord himself, the true and holy one. But this also, the one who has the key of David, is really a direct quotation. from Isaiah 22, and Isaiah really weighs heavily in the discussion here. It is alluded to in this chapter quite a bit. In Isaiah 22, Isaiah addresses, or the Lord through Isaiah addresses two officials. in Jerusalem, their officials in the court of King Hezekiah. One is Shebna and the other is Eliakim. Shebna is a self-seeking man, and the Lord is going to bring him down from his position. The other is Eliakim, who is a faithful man, but seems to be weak. The Lord is going to elevate him. And the Lord says he was going to do this very thing for him. He is going to give him the key of David so that he could open and no one will shut and shut and no one opens. And he is going to take that key and put it, as it were, or take a lycam and hang it like a peg in the wall, a place like you might think of where you might, as we were leaving this evening, Kristen said, grab my keys from the hook on the wall. The key of David, as it were, is going to be hung on this hook, and yet, Eliakim is not going to be able to bear the weight of it, it's going to fall, it's going to be taken by its great weight and give way and fall. But here we find a greater than Eliakim, the one who truly is the son of David as Eliakim was not, the one who has the key of David, the heir to David's throne. And he is the one who is now present, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, of course, the idea, we spoke a little of this this morning, the idea of keys. Christ possesses the keys of the kingdom. They are his. The keys of death and hell, the keys of the Davidic throne, they all belong to Christ. And, of course, the idea of keys denotes authority. He says he can open and no one can shut, he can shut and no one can open. If you have the keys, you control access and entry. You can allow people to come in. You can block the door. You can lock it from the others who would enter. And so as the rightful heir of David, he has the keys of the kingdom of God. And verse 8 tells us that the Lord, who owns these keys and possesses them and exercises them, that he has set before this church in Philadelphia, an open door that no one is able to shut. The entry, of course, he's provided as the king of this kingdom is his entry into that kingdom, into life and salvation, into the kingdom of God. They've entered that sphere and no one can keep them out, not even those who persecute them, as we'll see here in just a moment. The Lord also commends them for their faithfulness. He says in verse number eight, I know your works. We've seen him use that several times. It is what the Lord knows. He is saying that he is aware of who they are, of their circumstances, of their situation, their challenges, their service. He knows well his saints. And he knows here in verse eight that they have been faithful. They have been faithful. I know your works. And then verse number 10, you've kept my word about patient endurance. He speaks of their faithfulness here. They've patiently endured. They've done these things, although verse 8 tells us that their power is little. Little, and yet you have kept my word and you've not denied my name. Now the fact that their power is little, many assume that this is a reference really to the size of the church. Perhaps this church was small in number. That may have very well been the case. Maybe they weren't impressive by boasting great numbers. Certainly they weren't impressive in the eyes of the watching world. But as we saw last week with Sardis, Sardis was a place that boasted, apparently, a great name or a great reputation. But we saw they only had a few names in Sardis who were faithful. And so just as it is with, there can be many numbers and yet the church can be unfaithful, largely like Sardis. which was even said to be not only asleep but dead. Yet here you can have a church that is perhaps small, that is at least in some degree lacking in power and yet keeps God's word, remains faithful, does not deny his name. A faithful church is one that holds fast to Jesus Christ. But their holding fast is not always easy. It's not without its challenges. So the Lord has commended the church, he knows their situation, he's spoken to this access that no one can shut that he has granted them despite their little power. And then he speaks of those who oppose them in verse nine. He calls them the synagogue of Satan. He says in verse number 10 that there is a time of tribulation, an hour of trial that is coming. He's going to preserve them from. So we have this hour of trial that's coupled with those who oppose them. So Ignatius was a second century church father. He wrote that seemed to indicate that there was an ongoing confrontation between the church in Smyrna and the synagogue of the Jews. Historical records reveal to us that there was a synagogue present in Philadelphia. And yet Jesus says here, this is just like what we find in the church in Smyrna, so this language may remind you of something. They say they are Jews and are not. This is verse 9 of chapter 2, speaking to the church in Smyrna. But they're a synagogue of Satan. And now we have essentially the same thing in verse 9. I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, they lie. The Lord says, I'm going to make them come down and bow before your feet. They will learn that I have loved you. So there is a synagogue present apparently of the Jews. They say they are God's people, they would claim to belong to the kingdom of God and yet according to Christ here they are not true Israel. There's really an ironic sort of reversal of circumstances that is taking place here that we'll see here now in verse 9. The irony is Those who claim to be Jews are actually synagogue of Satan. They have rejected their Messiah and so they're in league with the evil one. They're excluded from the true temple of God. And yet the church here, perhaps made up of Gentiles, are those in Philadelphia who have been brought into the kingdom of God. We'll see as we go on that they will have an everlasting home in the temple, the true temple of God. More with this irony, we find in Isaiah 45, Chapter 45 of Isaiah, that unbelieving Gentiles are said that they would come and they would bow before Israel. That's the language that's alluded to here in verse 9. I will make them come and bow down before your feet. They will learn that I have loved you. But now you reverse this. It's not the Gentiles who are coming and bowing before ethnic Jews, but it is the enemies of God's people who say they are Jews and perhaps they are ethnic Jews. They're coming and they are bowing now before those who are the saints of the Lord Jesus Christ. So they, the synagogue of Satan, those who claim to be Jews, they have no true claim. But now the promises for Israel are being fulfilled in the new covenant church. It's also a reminder that even though the church faces opposition, that her enemies are not gonna ultimately triumph. That they are said that they would come and bow down. The Lord restrains and conquers his and his church's enemies. Well, not only will she triumph, the church will triumph over her enemies, she'll also be brought safely through all the trials and tribulations of this life. So we have this again in verse 10, 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, those who dwell on the earth. Those who dwell on the earth in Revelation is used to describe unbelievers, those who are idolatrous. The Lord says a time of trial is coming upon them. What hour of trial is this that Christ is referring to? Some suppose it is something that was immediate. The church in Philadelphia would have been called to endure. We do need to remember the Lord is addressing a real church, in a real city, in real time, and there are real and specific challenges there. And so it could refer to the whole of the known world at that time. The scriptures do speak to this regard in some places. In the book of Acts, the Christians have said to turn the world, the whole world upside down. Of course, this is language referring to the known world at the time. When Jesus speaks of the gospel going forth into all the world within a generation, it's going forth into all of the known world at that time. And so it could be that there is a reference here to an hour of trial that is coming, a specific, very real hour. that is coming upon the whole of the known world that Philadelphia would be not only called to endure but they would be preserved in it. The Lord says he will keep them from the hour of trial much like light in Goshen during darkness as the plagues again rocked all of Egypt. At the same time it could refer to something more, an hour of trial that is universal in nature. the whole world here, perhaps meaning the whole, upon the whole world. As some see this, perhaps referring to a tribulation or an hour of trial of universal effect that would be accompanied with the trouble for the saints as well. That there is a sense of a universal persecution against the church as well that would precede the final manifestation of evil and the final downfall and judgment of the ungodly. at Christ's final coming. We saw something and consider something about this when we went through the book of Daniel and seeing those prophecies and how they were fulfilled in time. And yet you read those and you read things like Matthew 24 and 25 and you could see how within a generation all of these prophecies were fulfilled. And yet your mind has to wonder, as many do, is there not something more to this? Is this somewhat of maybe a double entendre? That there is a time, as Revelation 20 speaks, though the millennium is now, that Christ is presently ruling. He has bound the strong man, he says, yet there is a season where Satan is loose, is perhaps what is being referred to here. Well, either way, what is true for the church in Philadelphia, what is true for the church in every age, what is true for us now is this. We have this promise that brings us a great word of comfort that Christ continues to care and preserve and protect his people. And so we should derive great comfort from these words. This protection that we see here is offered to the church and spoken of the church in other places in Revelation. In Revelation 7, God's people are said to be sealed in chapter 12 as the dragon searches for them. They are nourished. The woman is nourished in the wilderness. And so the faithful here are assured of the Lord's protection. The coming days for Philadelphia might have been very unstable, shaky, just like the city itself was prone to earthquakes, and yet they can have this comforting word of stability. This is a call to confidence here. And so despite their apparent weakness, being as verse 8 says, little in power, despite persecution that we find in verse 9, despite this hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world, yet the church has confidence. She is to have confidence in her Lord. She can trust that he provides, he protects, he nourishes, he cares for his church. And a church with little power needs these very words of comfort, of Christ's sustaining strength. So we've seen the call to confidence but with that there is in verses 11 to 13 also here what we could call the hope of permanence which also denotes this idea of stability in uncertain times, the hope of permanence. Christ is coming, he says, verse 11, I'm coming soon. Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown." It seems that he is bringing judgment. He says that, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth. Again, that idea of those who dwell on the earth being idol worshipers, being unbelieving idolaters. The Lord is bringing judgment in this visitation as he says he's coming. With the other promises that the Lord is coming, it has been understood as a threat to the church in an unpleasant visitation. If you don't repent, remember what he said to those of the church in Sardis, for those who had failed to repent that he was going to come and it would be like a thief. They wouldn't know what hour that he would come against them. So you have this unpleasant idea. It's quite pleasant. It seems that though it is a judgment upon the unbelieving world, it is pleasant for the church because the Lord says, I'm coming. He's promising protection. Hold fast what you have. There seems to be this idea of an increased presence and strength of Christ with his coming. And so, for a faithful church, as the Lord asked the question, when the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on the earth? For a faithful church, the coming of Christ should be another comforting thing. Well, what is the church to do in light of Christ's imminent return here? For the church in Philadelphia, what is the church to do? Well, again, here's what he tells them, hold fast. With the knowledge of Christ's coming, hold fast what you have. That is to say, persevere. Remain faithful. Again, this is a promise, but it's a promise that is coming to the ones who persevere. Verse 12, the one who conquers. We've seen that again and again and again to the one who conquers. This is where the reward is promise. Hold fast, persevere, remain faithful. The promise that the Lord in verse number 10 will preserve them. from keep them from that hour of trial is a promise of preservation through perseverance. So that they must depend upon the Lord who will bring them through this, but also they must persevere in faith and faithfulness to endure. We have here this again, this relationship between God's work and our work. The enemy of the church cannot prevent the access into the kingdom of God, the arena of life and salvation, neither can they come into it. The Jews who are not true Jews but are the synagogue of Satan, they are excluded from the true temple of the Lord. So you have this note of Christ's preservation of his work and at the same time, you have this note of the work of the saints. Which is it? Verse 11, again, hold fast what you have, see that no one may seize your crown. It's interesting, isn't it, that they can't come in. Jesus says, I shut that no one can open. And yet he tells them to make sure that no one comes and takes their crown. They're to see to this. Again, here we have this balance between God's work and our work. And we often see this in scripture, don't we? With sanctification, with perseverance. Is it the Lord's work or is it our work? And the answer is yes. As Paul says in Philippians, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. When Peter says in chapter one of his first letter, he encourages the saints to say, you can't lose your inheritance. It's reserved. It's kept in heaven for you. And he says, for you who are kept by the power of God. But he says you're kept by the power of God through faith. That idea of preservation is through perseverance. That's how it comes about. And so those who persevere in faith to the end will find that they've been preserved by the power of God. It was God's grace, of course, empowering all along. But we still must go. We still must strive. We still must, as the author of Hebrews has told us recently, strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. And here we're told again, as we have in all these letters in Revelation, of what we are to do. Hold fast that no one seizes our crown. We are to conquer, to overcome here. Overcomers. In the previous letters, this has been a reference to those who repent. In this letter, it is a reference to those who hold fast, who remain faithful. And for those who overcome, those who conquer in this way, through Christ, by the supply of his spirit, They are promised great and precious things. To the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it. Again, it's that idea of permanence. It's the final manifestation of the city of God coming down from heaven and where there is no temple in that city, but the Lamb and the glory of God are its temple. And ever we will be with the Lord and the Lord dwells there with his people. I'll write on him the name of my God, the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven in my own new name. Whenever Solomon, I should say this first, I don't think these are distinct promises, of course, but I think they're all sort of different ways of looking at the diamond. You're turning it, you're seeing different aspects of the same thing. The idea, again, is His permanence in the presence of God, his final safety and union with the Lord himself. In John's Gospel, Jesus says, Go tell my brethren, he says, that I sinned to my God and your God, my father and your father, that union. Here we have it again. Jesus speaks of how we are coming into this, how we are having God's name written upon us and the name of the new Jerusalem. And we don't leave it. We are present there. We are pillars as though we were built into the city itself. And yet this is the name of Christ himself and his city and his God. There is union between Christ and his people. What he has been brought to is what he brings us to. He brings with him as the son of God, he brings many sons to glory. There were two great pillars you might remember in our journey through First Kings. Two great pillars in the temple that Solomon built. They had names, Jachin and Boaz. Respectively, they mean he will establish and in him is strength. Again, you speak to this idea of permanence and stability. The fact that the Lord had established his people, his temple, his people. Oh, here we have the same, but it's an even greater way. I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Again, that note of stability. It's a greater way. It's not the names Jacob and Boaz, but the name of the new Jerusalem, the name of Christ himself placed upon them. The name that Paul says is higher than, it's a name above every name. that every knee will bow to, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's the name written upon us, the name of Christ. It's interesting, the city of Philadelphia actually was renamed for at least a moment in time. Early in the first century, much before this letter was written, the city was rocked by one of those earthquakes that we've spoken of. And the empire provided them, the Romans provided them with help, aid, in order to rebuild the city. And so in appreciation for the aid that they received, they renamed it, Neo Caesarea. Literally, it is Caesar's new city. And so perhaps the church in Philadelphia, the saints were aware of that, of the new Caesar, new city of Caesar. And yet here they are promised something much, much greater. The name of the Lord himself, the name of the new Jerusalem. So this is the hope of permanence. Christ has opened the door of salvation. They've entered through it. Their promised protection as they endure, as they persevere, as they hold fast, they stand strong. They will, if they overcome, as pillars in the house of God. Pillars that could remain through the earthquake of persecution, through the earthquake of an hour of trial that's coming upon the whole world. And this is the way through endurance they will finally be brought through overcoming in this way to the everlasting safety of the temple of God, where his glory resides forever, where the Lord forever dwells in the midst of his people. So faithful churches. What we learn from the Church in Philadelphia or the letter to the Church in Philadelphia is that faithful churches are to persevere in faithfulness with confidence in their Lord. A call to confidence, a hope of permanence, and again, it is a call and a hope that comes from Christ himself. He is the great prophet, priest, and king of his church. He's the one who speaks here, these words of comfort as the prophet. revealing the will of God for our salvation. He ministers, of course, as our great high priest in this temple that he's speaking of here. But he's also ruling over his church as its king, the rightful heir of David, who possesses the key, who opens and shuts. If he opens, no one can shut. If he shuts, no one can open. It's by his own authority that he does these things. And he presently administers the keys of his kingdom, as we spoke of this morning, so I won't elaborate there. But he does so through the ministry of his church. This is where all other ways are shut. And this is where the door of salvation is open. It is Christ as the gospel is proclaimed. It is Christ who is wielding his authority by his word and spirit, opening the way of salvation. And that way, of course, is through Christ himself. And that way is as near to us as the word is preached. That way is open to us in the preaching of the gospel. So let us hear what the Spirit says to the churches and let us enter in. Let's pray. Father, we come with a great thanksgiving for this Word