In Revelations chapter 3 starting in verse 7, it says, And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength, and has kept my word, and has not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. because thou hast kept the word of my patience. I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God. And he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God. And I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Now last week, we looked at the Church of Laodicea, the seventh of the churches that John wrote to. Today we're reading about the sixth church, the Church of Philadelphia. Now last week, if Laodicea last week was the church in America, a church that was lukewarm and apathetic, and that God had nothing good to say about it, then today the church at Philadelphia, I believe is the church as it ought to be. This church had a zeal for the Lord. And this is the only church that Christ had nothing negative to say about. Now Philadelphia was found about 30 miles south of the little town of Sardis. And it's situated at a mountain pass where the border of three different, I guess they'd be like counties or states, came together. So you could say it was a border town, and it sat there on the border between Miaseah and Lydia and Phyregia. And it was founded there for the purpose of spreading Greek culture and philosophy and the Greek language to the rest of the world. This was a border town that there was no garrison there. There were no soldiers stationed there. Because they didn't want to inhibit people from going back and forth. They wanted to encourage the exchange of ideas. Evidently a philosophy that we've taken on here in America today. But, so this little city of Philadelphia is sitting here on the border of these really four states because it's in one and you've got three more states bordering it. The command is given to John to write. Now we talked about this last week and we realized that revelation is not the revelation of John. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ to John. John is writing what he's commanded to write. And so it says, and to the angel of the church of Philadelphia, write these things. Who is the angel of the church? It's the pastor. It's the messenger. Angel is a messenger of God. The pastor of the church is to be the messenger of God to that congregation. So he's saying, to the pastor of the church of Philadelphia, write this. These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David. Now we have here three attributes of Christ. First of all, He is holy. That means He's sanctified. He is pure. He is undefiled. You know, over in Isaiah, in the book of Isaiah, In chapter one, in verse four, it says, Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. Who is the Holy One of Israel? It's God. In chapter 5 and verse 16 it says, but the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment and God that is holy shall be sanctified. Same chapter in verse 19, again it says, let them make speed and hasten His word that we may see it and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh. And in chapter six and in verse three it says, and one cried unto another. This is talking about the seraphim that continually fly around the throne of God. It says, and they sang one to another and said, holy, holy, holy. The Lord of hosts, the whole earth is filled with his glory. God is the holy one. It says the Holy One is writing, is telling John, commanding John to write. But not only is He holy, but I'm telling you it's because His nature is holy. Holy is a description of His nature. And because by nature He is holy, He is pure, He is undefiled, because of that He is also true. He cannot help but be true. If He was anything other than true, He would no longer be holy. So he is the holy one and he is the true one. And it's a description of his nature. Now the word true there means that he's real. He's real, he's the genuine article. He's the real deal. He's like Coke, he's the real thing. There is nothing about him that's not true. Now in the Old Testament Scriptures, Christ is presented to us in the Old Testament, he's presented in shadows and in types. You remember we, in our study of Genesis, we've talked about how that Isaac is a type of Christ. He's not the real thing, he's just kind of a shadow, a foretelling. But brother, when we come to the New Testament, when we come to the New Testament, the Word of God is made flesh. The Word of God is made real. Jesus Christ is real, He's true. And it says that He has the key of David. Again, back in Isaiah chapter 22. I should have just stayed there, shouldn't I? In Isaiah chapter 22, starting in verse 20, it says, and it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilka, and I will clothe him with my robe, and strengthen him with my girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hands." Do you see what he's doing? He's anointing him king. I'm going to commit the government into his hands. And he shall be a father unto the inhabitants of Jerusalem and unto the house of Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder. So he shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open. He's going to lay upon him the key of the house of David. Do you know what that means? What the key represents? The key represents authority. He is giving him authority over the house of David as king of Israel. Jesus Christ has the key of David. Jesus Christ is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the ruler of the house of David. He has authority over the house of David. And it says that that he opens doors that no man can shut. Jesus opens doors. You know, in Acts chapter 16, the Apostle Paul thought he wanted to go over into Asia. Do you remember that? And he wanted to go from Asia over into Bithynia. But the scripture says that the angel of the Lord forbid it. He closed the door. But when he did, he opened another door. What'd he say? He said, no, Paul, you're not gonna go to Asia. Paul, you're not going to Bithynia. Paul, I've gotta work for you in Macedonia. And Jesus Christ opened the door of ministry into Macedonia. Jesus Christ opens doors. Jesus Christ opens doors of opportunity for the church. Jesus Christ has been so good to this church to open doors of opportunity for us. He's opened doors of opportunities for the Gideons. He opens doors of opportunity continuously for His people. But God also opens the doors to the hearts of His children. That's Jesus Christ that opens the door of the heart. Man cannot do that. Jesus Christ opens up the door of admission to His church. Jesus Christ is the one who puts the burden to join his church upon your heart Man can't do that He can use a minister to stand up and to try to reveal his word and to explain his word But only God can put it on your heart to join the church and It's God that opens the door to his church triumphant and It's God that opens the door to His heavenly kingdom. Only God can do that. Man can't do that. It says He opens doors that no man can shut, but He also shuts doors that no man can open. Again, back in Acts 16, God shut the door to Asia and to Bithynia. God also sometimes shuts the door to church fellowship, doesn't He? to those who are living ungodly and outside of His Word. And even though we don't like to talk about it or think about it, it's Jesus Christ, it's God who shuts the doors of heaven to the non-elect. Jesus Christ has the key of David. He has the authority. And in verse 8 it says, I know thy works. Now last week when he said that to the church at Laodicea, I told you that was a chilling, chilling admission to that church, wasn't it? But you know, when you're at the church of Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love, the church that Christ has nothing bad to say about, it's not nearly as chilling to hear God say, I know your works. He says, I know thy works and behold, I have set before thee an open door. Now, I told you, Philadelphia is a border town. They're on the border where those four states come together. And through Philadelphia, people travel freely back and forth. They were put there for the purpose of allowing the Greek culture and the Greek mindset, the Greek way of thinking, the Greek philosophy to travel back and forth freely among these different nations, these different states. But you know what else could travel freely back and forth? The Word of God. You see, this church had an opportunity, it had this door set before it where it could minister to the people coming from Mycenae or from Phyregyra. They had this opportunity there that they could travel freely. There was no garrison, there was no border guards to stop them from taking the word of God wherever they wanted to go. But I'm gonna tell you, not only was the open door set there for these other states that were there, But I believe there was an open door of ministry there for the people who lived right there in Philadelphia. God opens these doors and they have the opportunity here now to evangelize these three other states and to evangelize there in Philadelphia. And to tell the people there the good news of Jesus Christ and what he's done. And it says he's set before him an open door that no man can shut. And then he says, for thou hast little strength. Now, I'm gonna tell you that to most of us sounds like a reproof. I've got this open door and you've got just a little strength. You're just a weakling, okay? You know, Brother Jimmy, when your coach comes to you on Friday night and says, oh, I'm gonna put you in, you just got a little strength. You're just a weakling, but go ahead and get in there. Sounds like a reproof, don't it? But I'm gonna tell you, this was not a reproof to the church. This is not a reproof to God's church. First Corinthians, well first of all, first of all, many commentators, and this may be the truth, I don't know, I haven't seen their church, Ross, but many people believe that this is put here because they had a small congregation. And that's entirely possible. But I'm gonna tell you, God can do great things with a small congregation. This church, I don't know that we've ever had more than about 50 or 60 members in this church. But this church has sent ministers to the Philippines, India, Africa, China, Belgium, Russia, Mexico, Africa, did I forget Africa? Africa? Siberia? Yeah, I mean we could just, God has opened doors for this church. Like it's just unbelievable. I've seen this church pledge every penny from the church coffers to send our pastor overseas. Knowing that we had a church payment coming up, had to get a check to the pastor somehow the next month. But God was faithful when the bills came, not a single one of them went unpaid. 1 Corinthians 1.27 says, God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound things which are mighty. Second Corinthians chapter two, the Apostle Paul writes, he says, therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessity, in persecution. For Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Christ said you write to that church at Philadelphia, you've just got a little strength. And that's a good thing because when you're weak, then I am strong. When they were weak, God got all the glory. He says, you've had just a little strength. He says, and with that little strength, he says, and you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Brethren, in first John chapter one, it says, hereby we know that we are, we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. We know that we know God, if we just keep God's commandments. He's telling the church, you've kept my commandments, you've kept my word, and you've not denied me. And he tells him again in 2 Timothy, that if you do not deny me, I will not deny you before the Father. Oh, what a great, what a great thing it would be to hear Christ say that about our church. I know that you know me because you've kept my commandments. And because you have not denied me on earth, I will not deny you before the Father. And then he goes on and he makes him a promise. He says, behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. There were unbelieving Jews that lived there in that town that persecuted the church of Philadelphia. You know, we live in a time here where persecutions of the church here seem to be growing every day. We're told that we can't use the name of our Lord in our schools. We can't use the name of our Lord in our government. Everywhere we go, people are saying, you can't say that here. They were persecuting the church at Philadelphia too. But I'm gonna tell you, in Matthew chapter 12, Jesus Christ says, those that are not for me are against me. There are only two teams. You're either on Christ's team or you're on the other team. This is not the SEC where we got 14 teams playing every Saturday. There's only two teams. and you're either on Christ's team or you're not. And he says, for those that are not on my team, those that are of the synagogue of Satan, because see, you're either on Christ's team or you're on Satan's team. And if you are of the synagogue of Satan, he says, I'm gonna make those people worship at your feet. But understand, he's not saying that he's gonna make them worship the church at Philadelphia, no. They're not there to worship the Church of Philadelphia. We don't want people worshiping us. I don't want anybody coming in here worshiping Fairhaven Church. We're to worship the God that sustains Fairhaven Church. You see in Revelations it tells us that there's coming a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is King. It doesn't say that every believing tongue, everybody that's saved is going to confess. That's not what it says. It doesn't say that all of the elect of God are going to confess. It says every knee, every tongue. Brethren, I'm telling you, there's coming a day when even the unbelievers of this world, when those professed atheists, those who have nothing to do with the God of this world are going to bow their knee and confess that Jesus Christ is king over all. And you know what? We're going to be right there. We're going to be on a bending knee right beside Him. He says, there's coming a day when even those that hate you and persecute you are going to bend their knee and worship right there where you are. And He says, and I'm going to make them know that I love you. Because you see, Jesus is going to look to those that are His and say, come you that are blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom. But there's some that he's going to turn to and he's going to say, depart from me because I never knew you. And I'm going to tell you at that point, those people are going to know and understand that Jesus Christ loves his own. He says, because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. The word of my patience, patience means endure, right? What does to keep mean? To keep means to guard. to put a hedge about, to protect. He says, because you have protected my word of endurance. Because you have protected the gospel. Because you have protected that which I say. The Apostle Paul wrote in Hebrews that we are to run our race with patience, right? We're to run our race with endurance. What he's telling us here is that because you have kept my word, because you have persevered in the trials of this life. Because of that, I'm going to keep you from the hour of temptation. Temptation is a time of testing, it's a time of trial. And he says that time is going to come upon all the world. In Revelations 14, starting in verse 9 it says, and the third angel followed saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark in his forehead or on his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. He said, if you're in that other team, if you're playing on Satan's team, if you don't have the mark of God in your forehead, but if you have the mark of the beast instead, listen, he says, the wine of God's wrath is poured out without mixture. You know what that means? It means it's not watered down. You're gonna get the full wrath of God. and you be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast in his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." But in verse 12, Now here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God from Jesus. You know what he's saying? He's saying this is the tempting that you're going to be kept from. This is what we're going to be kept from. Why? Because we've kept the gospel with endurance, with patience. And He says, behold, I come quickly. Hold fast that which thou hast that no man take thy crown. Hold fast, hang on. Hold firmly to what you have. Hold on to the knowledge and the hope of Jesus Christ. Hold on to the good news that Jesus Christ is our Lord and our Savior. And he tells us to hold on because he's coming quickly. He's coming quickly. This is an encouragement to the church. Behold, I come quickly. The temptation and the torment's not gonna last long, brother, and I'm coming back soon. And you can endure. I think about being in the army or in the service. You know, you always see in the movies how they've got everybody pinned down. And you got that one guy that says, guys, you hold on. I'm gonna go get help. And I'll be back quickly. It's because they know that help is on the way that they're able to persevere. And God tells us here, He says to hold fast to that that you have. Persevere. Because I'm coming back quickly. And then he says that no man might take your crown. You know sometimes we have trouble with the idea of having crowns in heaven. And to some of us that seems forward, but I'm going to tell you, brother, it's taught in the scripture, we're going to have crowns in heaven. There's no way around that. You can try to marginalize that or you can try to make that some sort of an allegory or something. Brother, I'm going to tell you, the scripture says there will be crowns in heaven. But I don't have a problem with that. We don't like it because we think one of us may have, Brother Floyd may have more crowns than I got when I get there and I'm gonna be upset with him. Or I'm gonna be jealous of him. But I don't have that problem because chapter four of Revelations tells me that the crowns are gonna be thrown at the feet of the throne. Because I'm gonna tell you it doesn't matter what we do, we don't deserve a crown. Those crowns belong to Christ. Because if it wasn't for Christ, we wouldn't have anything, much less a crown. And he says, to him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go out. He shall go no more out. And I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God. And I will write upon him my new name. He's gonna make us a pillar. He's gonna make us a pillar so that we go no more out. Now, brethren, I don't believe he's talking about making us a column in the temple. He's not talking about making us part of the architecture. But this would be like a pillar of the community. We talk about people that have a good rapport as being a pillar of the community. What are we saying? We're saying they have a good testimony about them. And that's what we have here, that we have a good testimony. He's going to make us a pillar of the temple. He's going to make our testimony one of the temple. The testimony that we're going to have is of God's free and sovereign grace. And the only reason that we are in the temple to start with is because of God's free grace. So he's going to make us a testimony in his temple, and then he's going to write upon that pillar, he's going to write upon us three names. I think it was kind of like a, almost like an address, sort of. You know, you're in Tifton, a city in the state of Georgia, in the United States of America. Well, we know where, we know where you belong. We know who you belong to. He says, I'm gonna write upon you three names. First is the name of his God. In Revelations chapter seven in verse three it says, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. Then you turn over to chapter nine, And in verse four there it says, and it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads. Do you see the two teams popping back up here? Some got the seal of God in their foreheads, some don't. And in Revelations 14, verse one, it tells us what that seal is. It says, and I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the mount of Zion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having his father's name written on their foreheads. How are we sealed? We're sealed with the name of our God written upon our forehead. Jesus Christ told John to write to the angel of the church there. that I'm going to put the name of my God upon you." That name is written to identify us as God's and to protect us. He says, don't harm the ones that have the name of God written on their head. Then he's going to write the name of the city upon us, and the name of the city of my God, which is the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven. Brother, he's identified who we belong to. He's identified who's going to protect us and keep us, and that's God, and he's written his name on our forehead. Now he's gonna identify where our citizenship is. Our citizenship is not in this world. We are not members of this world. Our citizenship's in heaven. It's in the new Jerusalem which is gonna come down out of heaven. And he's gonna write that name upon us. And then he says, and I will write upon him my new name. My new name. What is Christ's old name? What is Christ's name? How about Wonderful, Counselor, the Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. All from Isaiah chapter nine, right? If these are His old names, what's going to be His new name? What's His new name? Redeemer? The Captain of my Salvation? Mediator? Propitiation? How about the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? That's what it tells me in Revelations it's going to be written upon His garments and upon His vestures is His name that says the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This is what He's going to write upon us. The names of the ones that protect us. The names of our citizenship, where we belong. And He's going to stamp His name upon us. saying that we are His. He's going to forever identify us with Jesus Christ. And He says, and we'll no more go out. And then in closing, He closes this just like He has all the letters. You see, this wasn't written just to the Church of Philadelphia at just that one time. He says, Let he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Brother, this is written to all the churches. If you want to hear, well done, thy good and faithful servant, when Christ comes back, keep my word. If you want to hear it, do not deny my name. Run your race with patience. continue to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. And if the church does this, and I believe this is any church, in any nation, in any age, it doesn't just have to have the name of Philadelphia on the door. Lord willing, one day it'll have the name of Fair Haven on the door. If you do this, if you keep God's commandments, if you do not deny the name of Jesus Christ and run your race with patience, forever keeping the gospel before you, then one day, one day we'll hear, well done, thy good and faithful servant. May God bless you.