Brothers and sisters, please turn in the Scriptures to Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3. We'll read verses 7 through 13 of Revelation 3. That's found on page 1227 of the Pew Bible. This is to church number 6. Letter number 6 to that church in Philadelphia. That's Philadelphia in Asia Minor, mind you, not Pennsylvania. Revelation chapter 3, starting at verse 7. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this, I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut because you have little power, a little power, excuse me, and have kept my word. and have not denied my name. Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will not go out from it anymore. 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 out of heaven from my God, and my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Thus, having read God's holy and inspired word, let us pray and ask for His help. Our God and our Father, having read sacred scripture, Your holy and inspired word, we pray that You do help us and counsel us by Your Spirit, that He would enable us to understand the meaning of this letter, and see the value of it and how we may apply these truths, these facts to our lives. Father, we pray that you would grant me the unction of your Spirit whereby I may clearly and plainly and joyfully proclaim the good news, the marvelous news, and the beautiful things that are in this text. Above all, we ask our God and Father that you would be honored and worshipped and glorified and we, your children, would receive the nourishment, the portion that we need in this coming week. It's in the name of Christ we pray. Amen. I'm sure it's happened to you. It's certainly happened to me. You drive someplace and unthinkingly you leave your keys in the car and the car doors are locked. And it happened to me one time. It was when I was a teenager. I had this truck and the seals on the windows were really good. You couldn't get a hanger through the window to try to do the thing with the wire and pull the lock and so get into the car. I was locked out of the vehicle. There was nothing that I could do. And so, what did I end up doing? I ended up calling my father, Dad, you have the spare key, would you please come over and unlock the door for me? Because until he arrived, until he came with the key, I was absolutely powerless. There was nothing I could do. You might be the strongest person in the world, and there's nothing you can do to get into that locked car. unless somebody comes and brings to you the key. That is, unless you're willing to break the window or what have you. But if you want the car intact, you have to have the key. And honestly, this is a fairly good picture of Jesus Christ in this letter. He is the one who bears the key of David. He is the one who opens and closes. He is the one who locks and unlocks. He is the one who opens the door. He is the one who opens the heavenward way and bars the way of death, as we sang this evening. He is the one who protects his church. So this evening, as we consider this letter, we're going to see how this especially is applicable and helpful and encouraging in the realm of evangelism and sharing the marvelous news of Jesus Christ. And we'll see also in this letter how the fact that Jesus is the the key bearer, how this is good news for our future of eternal life. And we find that in all, everything, in this letter, it is all hinged on Jesus Christ. He is our everything. It shows us how we must in all things depend upon our Savior. And so as we look at this letter, we find a few things here. We find first the author and the recipient. Second, we find the open opportunity in verses 8 through 11. And then finally, we consider the promises in verses 12 and 13. Let us consider first the author and the recipient as we find them in verse 7. So beloved of Christ, here we are on this sixth letter. And this is by far the most positive of letters. Like Sardis, this letter doesn't fit the normal pattern of author, recipient, strengths, and weaknesses, and then you have the warnings and the promises. Rather, we just see, speaking of strengths, of opportunities, and then promises. There's no mention of weaknesses here. Nothing negative. This is a very, very positive letter. Even more positive than that letter that was sent to Smyrna. Smyrna is the only other letter that we have where Christ does not bring a weakness to bear to the church. But in Smyrna, they were dealing with much fiercer persecution. It is true that the Jews are persecuting the church here in Philadelphia, but it does not seem to be quite as severe. And so the context, the situation is very different for this church. There's a lot of hope. There's a lot of optimism, and that much is very clear in Christ's titles and how he describes himself as the Author. We find that Christ describes himself as the Holy One, the True One, the One who has the key of David. Putting all this together, he reveals himself as the Divine Key-Bearer. If you're following along with the outline, that's the first sub-point there. He is the Divine Key-Bearer. First, He says that He is the Holy One. The Holy One. And we know that this implies divinity, because the Lord God Almighty, Yahweh, is called holy again and again and again. We consider Isaiah chapter 6, and what do we read there? We read of Yahweh, there seated on His throne, and the seraphim flying around Him, holy, holy, holy. The whole earth is filled with His glory. We find in Isaiah over 20 times that the Lord God is called the Holy One of Israel. And so Jesus is really, in a very blunt way, claiming that He is the Divine One. He's omnipotent, all-powerful. He's omniscient, all-knowing. He is the One who kills and makes alive. He's also described there also as the True One. The true one. Now, in Greek, there's more than one way to say true. The normal word for true is saying something is true as regards to statements or facts. For instance, if I were to say to you, this is a NASB Bible, an N-A-S-B Bible, that would be a true statement. But the word that Jesus uses here is a different word for truth, being the true one. This has to do with the idea of the fact that he is real. He's living. He's genuine. He has this real living existence as opposed to non-existence. Jesus is the real and true Divine One, the real God, as opposed to the empty, vain idols that have no life at all. I'm sure some of you noticed when I greet the congregation in the morning and evening, I say that we speak and we worship The true, the living God. That's the idea here. He's the living God. He's the real God. This isn't some God of our imagination. He really is divine. He really does reign. He really is sovereign. And finally, He describes Himself there as the key bearer. The one who has that key of David. He's the one who opens and closes. This phrase, key of David, is a clear reference to Isaiah chapter 22, verse 22. We read there that there's a man named Eliakim. Eliakim is this steward for King Hezekiah. During the days of when Assyria was trying to come and conquer Judah, Eliakim was this very important man in the palace. Eliakim, having the key of David, figuratively speaking, was able to make decisions on behalf of the king, for the good of the king. Eliakim was the man who was able to open and close the door to the royal hall to go and to speak with King Hezekiah. Eliakim was the one who set up all these appointments. He was the one who allowed someone to feast with the king in the banquet hall or to keep him outside the door. Jesus Christ is the one who bears the key of David. Only in this case, He is the one who opens the doors, opens the gates to the Kingdom of Heaven. He is the one who opens the doors to the Royal Hall to commune with the Most High God, the High King of Heaven. This is who has written this letter, the divine key bearer. There's a reason why he identifies himself as such, because he's writing to a missionary church. The second sub-point there, this is a missionary church. You see, Philadelphia is a very unique, a very interesting city, as they all are. But Philadelphia, out of all the cities that have been written to thus far, all the churches in these various cities, this is the youngest city. Philadelphia was founded at a time when Attalus II reigned from the city of Pergamum. He reigned from the years 159 to 138 BC, and he finds during his reign the city of Philadelphia. And as many of you know, the meaning of the word Philadelphia means one who loves his brother. And so it was for Attalus. He loved his brother Eumenes. It's a very special city. But unlike Thyatira that was founded to be a garrison city, this city of Philadelphia had a very different purpose. When Attalus founded this city, he had the purpose of it being a city of evangelism of sorts. You see, Philadelphia is founded on the borders of Miasia, of Lydia, and of Phrygia. It borders three different regions. And that was intentional. It was intentional because this city was founded in order that it would function as a place to broadcast Greek culture and Greek language. And the city of Philadelphia, we find, had done a marvelous job. We look at our history books and we find that by A.D. 19, the Lydians no longer considered themselves to be Lydians. Their culture, their language, it was all Greek. This was a missionary city. It was founded as a missionary city. Philadelphia has some interesting history also, in that AD 17, this huge earthquake hits Asia Minor. It was an earthquake that had affected other cities, especially Sardis. but it had affected Philadelphia as well. It was destroyed in many ways, and so Tiberius, the emperor, had exempted the city from taxes, and in fact had generously funded a rebuilding of sorts of this city. And the city was so grateful for being rebuilt by the emperor Tiberius, for giving them the funds to do that, that they renamed their city for a time, Neo-Caesarea, which is simply Caesar's new city. But what do we find? We find here 80 years later as Jesus is writing to this city, this church in this city, excuse me, this city is still called Philadelphia. It's no longer called Neo-Caesarea. Why is that? It's because though they rebuilt the city, there were tremors occasionally. Every so often there would be pretty important, pretty severe tremors that would begin to really shake the foundations of the buildings in this city. And so these buildings within the walls of Philadelphia were beginning to crumble once again. And they no longer received any aid. And it was unsafe to live in the city of Philadelphia. And so at the time of when Jesus is sending this letter to the church here at Philadelphia, most of the people actually don't even live in the city, they live outside of the city in shacks. The people that live inside the city, they're considered to be mad, crazy, because any moment a tremor could happen in your building, your house could collapse upon you and kill your whole family. Much better, much safer to live outside the city walls. It's a very unique context, a very unique city, a missionary city that was zealous in its witness for Greek culture, a city that lived in tents, A city that for a time was Caesar's new city, that was renamed to Caesar's new city. And we find further that this church, along with having this heritage, this history, it's also dealing with the Jews, persecuting the church. The Jews being identified as a synagogue of Satan, very hostile to the church. But even so, even though they're out there living in this shack outside the city walls, even though they have to deal with the Jews, the synagogue of Satan, this is still by far the most positive letter. Because this is a letter that speaks of open opportunities. It's a letter that speaks of opportunities ripe for evangelism. They are still on the border of three different regions. where they can go to places right outside the church door seeing people that do not know Christ, that do not know the gospel. And so here Christ writes to this missionary church and gives to them the open opportunity, our second Roman numeral. This is the open opportunity as we see in verses 8 through 11. Consider Christ's words there that Christ opens the door. He says that I have opened a door that none can shut. Philadelphia knows what this means. They were founded to be a missionary city of sorts. But now Christ will use the church in this city, in this area, in this region of the empire, not for the kingdom of Greek culture and Greek language, but in His sovereignty in accordance with His plan and His will. He will use them. to spread the good news of the kingdom of heaven. For the good of the kingdom of heaven is the perfect place to send the gospel to other regions, to other peoples that do not know him. It's truly a good thing. It's truly an open opportunity, an open door. Now notice also that it is Christ who opens that door. It is Christ in His sovereign reign that put the church here at the city of Philadelphia, that puts them right there in the midst of their neighbors, in the midst of many neighbors in many regions that don't know who He is. It is Christ who encourages the church and sends this church out to bear witness to the good news. It is Christ who gives them this opportunity. It is Christ who opens the store because He's the one that has to. He is the one that must. Because no church can open this door. No church can do this on its own. Christ says so. He says that He has opened this door because they have a little power, literally micro power. This is probably a smaller, a younger church, and even if it isn't, even if this is the largest and richest and most capable church out of all the churches that Christ writes to, Even if that's the case, no matter how gifted that church might be, their power, no matter what, is still only a little power. It is still only microscopic power. You see, no church can take these opportunities and make them flower. It is only Christ who opens the door. Christ has put them there. Christ has opened the door, allowed them to be the witness in the midst of this dark region. They have a little power, but Christ is the one who has given this to them. The only thing that Philadelphia must do is to simply keep his word and not deny his name. I share this this evening with you because I have great hope and excitement for this text. They're surrounded by unbelievers. Oh beloved, is that not the case for us? The US is a melting pot. For most of our history, we've been a melting pot of nations that have a Christian heritage. But in the last few decades, we've seen more and more people come to the United States from other nations that have never heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You no longer have to go halfway across the world to witness to a Muslim or to a Hindu. We're surrounded by people of different ethnicities and cultures and religions. We're surrounded by people that don't know who Jesus Christ is. Christ gave to Philadelphia an open door. It's fair to say that we have a similar door right there before us. But you might say to me this evening as I share this with you, you might say to me, I don't know. My ability, my power, it feels so small. I don't know how to share certain things with unbelievers. I don't know how to apologetically deal with certain questions that skeptics might have. I don't have a lot of answers. I don't have a lot of ability. Dear brothers, dear sisters, that's a good place to be. Was Philadelphia a powerful church? Were they a church made out of Calvin's and Schaeffer's and Sproul's? No. No, they weren't. They're like you and me, ordinary brothers and sisters. If you don't know the answer to a certain question, if you have questions about sharing your faith, I'll be happy to help you out. I'll be happy to seek to find answers with you. There's an open door before us, opened by the sovereignty and the providence of our God. The Western Church has not been in a context like this in centuries. where it's surrounded by so many that do not know Christ. Like the Philadelphian church, all we do is keep the Word of God, that is to hold it, to hold it forth, to share it, to not deny Christ's name, because everything else rests in Christ's hands as we seek to share the gospel with those that we speak with. Because it is Christ, second sub-point here, it is Christ that causes conversion. It is Christ who causes conversion. We read here in this text that it is Christ who will cause the Jews to bow before the feet of the church there at Philadelphia. Because at this point, before they know Christ, before they believe in Christ, they're going to look at the church and they're going to see it as an awful thing, as heresy. is something that Yahweh hates. They're going to be hostile to the church. But what do we read? We find that a time will come that God, Jesus Christ, the divine key bearer, will cause them to come and bow down at their feet. Now what does that mean? What does that mean? Does that mean that the day of judgment will come and at that point it'll be clear that Jesus Christ really is God, He really is judged, He really is Savior, and that they'll at that point admit that the Christians were right and the Jews were wrong? Is that what Jesus is saying? No. It doesn't appear to be. This word for bow down, it has a happy, positive tone to it. This is a word for prostrate, for worship even sometimes. This isn't something that's forced. This is something that's done happily. Those in Satan's synagogue would be converted and they would come to these brothers and sisters honoring them, thanking them. Philadelphia can be confident that they're sharing the good news of Jesus Christ will bear fruit in its own time, in its own way. Why? Because of their great power to be able to cause people to repent and believe? No. They have little power. They can share the gospel of Christ, but they have little power. They keep the Word, yeah. They don't deny the name of Jesus Christ, yes. But it is Jesus Christ whom they testify. It is Jesus Christ who is the key bearer. It is Jesus Christ. who converts, who brings people to a loving, reconciled, covenantal relationship with the one true God. It is Jesus Christ who is able to cause hostile Jews, part of a synagogue of Satan, as Jesus calls them, to happily bow down and confess faith in Jesus Christ. And if you're here this evening, you've never heard of Christ. Perhaps you have heard of Christ and you are opposed to Christ, hostile to Christ. Oh dear brother, dear sister, I desire to share the good news with you as well. I desire to see you come to know Jesus Christ as well. But ultimately, I understand that it is all in Christ's hands to draw you to himself. I pray that he would do that by his loving and mighty arms. It is Jesus Christ who opens the gate of heaven. It is Jesus Christ who will draw all that he wills as he wills. It's all in his hands. It's all in Christ's hands. These Jews would come to know that Yahweh, Jesus Christ, that He does love His church. Because the opinion of the Jews would be that the Christian belief is heresy, that Yahweh hates the church. But Christ says that their hearts will be changed from hearts of stone to a heart of flesh, that they will no longer hate and no longer think that God hates the church. but they'll see that Jesus loves the church. And so the Jews will go from hating and despising the gospel in this city of Philadelphia to loving and cherishing it. Dear brothers and sisters, perhaps when it comes to evangelism you've become pessimistic or jaded because you've received mostly a negative response. Oh beloved, don't fear. Don't be pessimistic. Don't be jaded. The actual positive response and conversion, that's in Christ's hands, and Christ will accomplish it as he wills. Just as it says in Isaiah 55, his word goes forth and it does not come back to him empty, but it accomplishes what he desires for the reason for which he has sent it. Christ will cause those who you talk to to come to know him. to believe if he wills it, if he has planned it. So share the gospel. Share Christ. Share the good word with those that you meet with. Be faithful to simply keep the word and not deny his name and leave the rest to the divine omnipotent key bearer. For it is Christ who opens the door. It is Christ who causes conversion. And thirdly, we also find that it is Christ who shall protect his church. The third sub point there, Christ protects his church. And that's something that's needed. You see, as this church in Philadelphia would go forth and share the gospel with pagans and with Jews, they would put themselves in danger. They would put themselves in a very precarious situation in some ways. An hour of testing was coming. Now, what is that hour of testing that Jesus says to keep this church from? It's difficult to know for sure. Whatever it is, it's about to come on the world. More specifically, it's something that's about to come on the empire in the way that Jesus words this here. It could very well be that Jesus is referring to the reign of Domitian. Domitian, at this point, is about to implement a very serious crackdown on Christianity, empire-wide. We don't know exactly what this hour of testing is, but regardless, Christ has more than kept his promise. We consider the history of the Church of Philadelphia from this day that we read of here at the end of the first century to today, and there has always been a church there in that city. There was always a very vibrant and healthy church, even until the time when the Turks came and took over the city. And even to this very day, there are over a thousand Christians in this city. God has kept this church. He has cared for it. He has protected it. When he said that he will keep them from this hour of testing, that didn't mean that they were going to get a pass on suffering and persecution and temptation. No, that's not what Jesus is saying at all. What Jesus is saying is that the hour of testing, the persecution, the hardship, it will not overcome the church. It will not overcome you, oh brothers, oh sisters of Philadelphia. It remains in my hands. Your life, the good of your church, it remains in my sovereign hands, says Jesus Christ. Not that they would never face persecution, but that they would be preserved. That's what we pray for in the Lord's Prayer, don't we? Keep us. Deliver us from evil. When we pray that, we're not praying with the expectation that we'll never come into contact with evil or temptation. But as it says in Question and Answer 127 of the Heidelberg Catechism, that means that we pray that we not be defeated or overcome by evil temptation. That's the sense of the prayer. That's the sense of Christ's words here. That the church will not be overcome by this hour of testing. Dear brothers and sisters, we need not fear the persecutions that Philadelphia had to fear. But sometimes we fear hardship, mocking ostracism for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. But beloved, that is unfounded. Christ promises to keep his church from the hour of testing. He promises that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church. And we can be sure that he shall deliver us from evil. And as if that were not enough, in speaking about him protecting his church, he goes still further. He says that he is coming quickly. He is coming quickly. Now, a lot of people think that this refers to the second coming, but seeing that it's been 2,000 years, most commentators say, no, that isn't the case at all. He's coming in His Spirit, the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son as we have just confessed together this evening. He will protect His church by His Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who will counsel the church, guide the church, lead the church, feed the church. The Holy Spirit who would tell this church how to testify to the world. Jesus says, I will keep you and I am coming quickly to you through the Holy Spirit. And in this sense, Jesus is always quick to help us, to come to us, to counsel us, because the Holy Spirit is always with us. Again, we find reason why the church in Philadelphia can be confident. We find reason why we can be confident. The Lord Jesus Christ has set an open door. He is the one who causes conversions, and he is the one who protects his church. For he loves his church. This is a magnificent letter. And as if this were not enough, Christ ends it still with certain beautiful, magnificent promises to all those who would trust in him. We find some promises in verses 12 and 13. First, we find a certain pillar promise. These are promises that are given so that we might have confidence for our future. Promises given to the church in Philadelphia, promises that would ultimately be given to the Jews who would convert and believe on Christ, promises that are for all who trust in Jesus Christ, the divine key bearer. And the first promise is a pillar promise. He says that I will make him, he who overcomes, a pillar in the temple of my God, never to go out anymore. In the days of the writing of this letter in the late first century, when a priest died, the temple in which he ministered, there would be a pillar built. And on that pillar would be written his name and the name of his father. His name and the name of his father. And so Jesus now speaks to this church in Philadelphia. He says to all who trust in him, to all who overcome, to all who depend upon him alone, He says that he will make that one who overcomes a pillar in the temple of his God. What more blessed thing could there be? What more blessed thing could there be than to be in the presence of God for all eternity? Is that not what we sang this evening? Jehovah is my light from Psalm 27, my one request has been, and still this prayer, I raise, that I may dwell within God's house through all my days. Jehovah's beauty to admire, and in his temple to inquire. There's nothing better than to be in his presence. And for all who trust in Christ, the message is this, that this is their end, that they will be a temple or a pillar in the temple of their God. And since pillars don't go anywhere, They shall forever be in the presence of the Almighty God. What a marvelous truth this would have been for the Philadelphians as they sat outside the city walls As they sat in their shacks, in their tents, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never, never to go out again. He will dwell securely in my God's presence forever and ever. He will dwell securely in the city of God. This is good news for us as well. While it is true that the life for the Philadelphians was one of instability, our lives are also filled with uncertainty, aren't they? But in this life, we have this certainty that we who trust in Jesus Christ, who depend on him, who believe the gospel, We shall dwell in God's presence forever, never to be moved, never to be taken from there. What a promise! There's a pillar promise and there's also a name promise. Written upon this pillar would be the name of his God. We can see the implication here, can't we? In this day and age when they raised these pillars, the name of the priest and his father was written. Jesus is speaking to us. He who overcomes, he who believes the gospel, he who rests in Jesus Christ alone, he will have God's name written upon him. Meaning that God is his father. Marvelous news. to dwell in His presence, to dwell in His temple forever, and to dwell in His presence as His adopted daughter, as His adopted son. What a promise! And not only is the name of God written, but also the name of the city of His God, the New Jerusalem. This would have been very meaningful for the church in Philadelphia, a city that changed its name from Philadelphia to Neo-Caesarea for a time, a name that didn't last, though Tiberius had been generous. The tremors had continued. The earthquakes had returned. The buildings had fallen into disrepair, into decay. And so the name went from Neosiseria to back to Philadelphia, almost in disappointment. But here is written permanently in stone, a name to last, a name that is the new Jerusalem, the city of our God, a place where God's people shall dwell securely for all eternity. The name of God, the name of the city of God, and finally the new name of Christ. What is that new name? We don't know. Revelation 19.12 tells us that no man knows. But in time, all of God's people shall be marked with this special, intimate, secret name. They shall be marked with the name of Christ. And in being so marked, they shall share in His triumph. What a blessing to be promised, to be marked with the name of Christ, with the name of God as our Father, to be marked with the name of the city of God, to be marked as God's children, Christ's people, citizens of that great and heavenly city. There can be nothing better, can there? Nothing better. Seeing how great this city of God is, how great these promises are, let us tell others of Jesus Christ, the divine key bearer who will draw others into the blessed citizenship of the city of our God. Amen, brothers and sisters. Let us pray. Our God and our Heavenly Father, we come before you this evening hour amazed at this marvelous letter Thanking you for Jesus Christ who is the divine key bearer. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. The one who has all authority on heaven and on earth. Jesus Christ, He who opens doors that no one can close. Who closes doors that none can open. Jesus Christ, who causes conversion, who brings people to know Him and to know you. Jesus Christ, who brings your chosen people to the city of God. We praise you and thank you for Jesus Christ, who protects and cares for and loves His church. We thank you for Jesus Christ, who gives to us these marvelous promises. who tells us that we shall forever dwell in your presence, not to go from you, not to be ever departing from your presence. That we will have written on us your name, the city of God, the new Jerusalem, and Christ's name. Oh, we are amazed dumbfounded at the grace and the love you bestow upon us, you reveal to us through your written word. Father, we pray that you would take these things and impress them upon our hearts, and that in pressing them upon our hearts, you would make us ready to serve you in this week to come. Conform us evermore to Christ's image, we ask, along with the pardon of every sin in the name of Christ alone. Amen. Brothers and sisters now let us in response to