The following sermon was recorded during the Sunday morning gathering of Grace Community Church in Los Cruces, New Mexico. We are a group of Christians that exists to joyfully extol and magnify the true and living God, to faithfully proclaim the Christ-centered Word, to build each other up by speaking the truth in love, and to bring the good news of the gospel to our city and world, so that the land was slain may receive the full reward for his sufferings. For more information about us, please visit GCCLosCruces.com. All right, well, if you would, turn with me to Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter three, and I'll wait for you at verse seven, as we prepare to read through verse 13. Revelation chapter three, verses seven to 13. As an unworthy ambassador, representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to receive these words, not as the words of men, but as what they really are, the words of the living God. words that are at work in you who believe. Revelation chapter three, verse seven. 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, who shuts and no one opens. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet 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 whole world to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown. the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven in my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. So reads the words of the living God. There tend to be two extremes in the church today. On the one hand, there are those who have a low view of God and his righteousness, and they have a high view of themselves and their righteousness, and they assume that God is just always pleased with who they are and how they're living their lives. They're living kind of deluded, thinking that God is just always smiling upon them. On the other hand, there are those who believe that they can never truly please God and live a life worthy of God. So I wanna ask you this morning, does your Christianity allow for a God who can be fully pleased with you? Does your Christianity allow for a God who can be fully and thoroughly pleased with your life? Does your view of the Christian life allow for a God who, with the eyes of perfect omniscience, can look upon your public and secret life and smile upon you in genuine approval? I fear that so many people who have come to embrace the doctrine of total depravity Even after realizing the full range of God's grace, I fear that so many people who have come to understand this doctrine have so twisted that doctrine to mean that God, even after performing that stunning miracle of the new birth in which he imparts a new life, a new principle of righteousness, a new nature, that even after that, they believe that God can still never truly be pleased with us. Can never look upon their lives with true and authentic pleasure, yet this kind of teaching is so directly opposed to the teaching of the word of God. The apostle Paul said, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please God. Was Paul aiming for something that was impossible? He then went and charged the Ephesians to try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord, and he said so in the context of living lives as children of light. He prayed that the believers in Colossae would be filled with all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, and I quote, fully pleasing to him. And finally, the Apostle John in his first epistle encouraged the believers in his day with the beautiful reality that answered prayer in the life of the Christian is directly connected to living a life that is pleasing to God. All of that goes to say that it is possible for those who have been chosen by the Father and redeemed by the Son and sealed with the Spirit to live lives that are fully and thoroughly pleasing to the living God. It is possible to please God. It is possible to bring pleasure to God by the way you live your life. The Apostle Paul commanded such a life. He prayed for such a life. And according to 2 Corinthians 5, he aimed for such a life. So shame on us if we ever come to the conclusion that Paul commanded and prayed and aimed for that which is impossible and unattainable. In our exposition of these seven letters of the Lord Jesus Christ to the seven churches in Asia Minor, we come to this sixth letter, the letter to the church in Philadelphia. This was a congregation composed of imperfect individuals with whom the exalted head of the church was fully and thoroughly pleased. This was an imperfect church with whom the Lord was pleased, genuinely pleased. Like the church in Smyrna, you see, there is absolutely nothing for which the Lord rebuked the believers in Philadelphia, nothing for which he corrected them. There is nothing of which they needed to repent. There was no leaven threatening to spread. There were no broken limbs hindering their growth in grace. There were no false teachings leading them away from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. There was no hypocrisy blowing, there was no hypocrisy preventing the flow of God's power through them and their city. There was no spiritual slumber from which they needed to be aroused. The head of the church was thoroughly pleased with this local church. Now please hear me. The absence of rebuke or correction in this letter in no way leads us to believe that this church had attained perfection. The absence of rebuke in this letter in no way leads us to conclude that this church had reached a state of perfection. In no way was the church at Philadelphia a sinless church or a perfect church. The emphasis of this letter isn't on the perfection of this church, it's on the direction of this church. Regarding sin, there was a struggle, to be sure, but it was a struggle against sin, as Hebrews 12, four talks about. Beloved, there is a difference, a big difference between struggling against sin and struggling with sin. This flock was struggling against sin. They were putting sin to death. They were walking by the Spirit of God and not gratifying the desires of the flesh. That's how they were walking. And Paul said that, right? If you walk by the Spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. This church was walking by the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, not grieving the Spirit, walking in step with the Spirit. They made a practice of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and making no provision for the flesh. They were disciplined in that respect. This was a congregation of Christians who were denying themselves and dying to themselves. This was a congregation that was successfully putting sin to death through the life-giving spirit of Jesus Christ. They weren't afraid of exercising church discipline when they had to. They didn't give in or compromise or turn down the heat in terms of their zeal for Christ whenever the world put pressure on them. The women were not gossiping or being busybodies or causing division. The men were walking uprightly and effectively dealing with lust before it ever conceived and gave birth to sin. They were dealing with it. Perhaps they had put John Piper's acrostic anthem into practice centuries before Piper was even born. Anthem. A, they were avoiding anything that could add fuel to the fire of their lust. N, they would quickly say no within five seconds of the temptation. T, they would turn their minds to something magnificent like Christ crucified. H, they would hold that beautiful image in the mind until the temptation had lost its strength. E, they would enjoy the greater pleasure of the blood-bought promises of God. And M, they would quickly move on to a meaningful Christ-exalting activity like prayer or meditation or scripture memorization. Anthem. Whatever these people did, they maintained a sincere and pure devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ as they bore witness to the accomplishments of the cross in the city of Philadelphia. You might say, come on, Justin, isn't it a bit of a stretch to say all of these things regarding how this congregation was dealing with sin? Isn't it a stretch to assume all of these things about this congregation? To which I would kindly say, no. No, because if you're not dealing with sin, if you're not killing sin, sin is killing you. If you are not actively killing sin, sin will be killing you, producing dead works, producing deadness. bringing death to certain limbs in your life as a tree. The second you and I stop dealing with sin, sin starts dealing with us. As in the case of Cain in Genesis chapter four, sin is always, without break and without interval, crouching at the door of our lives. And if we don't actively and intentionally rule over sin by the help and power of the Spirit of God, we can mark it down, beloved. It will rule over us. It will rule over us. That's why Paul pleaded with the believers in Rome, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Rule over it, he said. By the power of the Spirit, rule over it. See, brethren, the church in Philadelphia was a beautiful demonstration of Romans chapter six. They were effectively dealing with sin. Were they a perfect church? By no means. Far from it. But they were dealing with sin. They were dealing with lust. They were dealing with false teaching. They were dealing with it. Now, just a bit of background to the church, to the city, I should say, of Philadelphia. We're talking about Philadelphia in Asia Minor, not in Pennsylvania, okay? The city of Philadelphia. was located further inland than all the previous cities that have been mentioned so far in Revelation 2 and 3. If you were to continue on that postal route from the island of Patmos, crossing that little body of water, and go to Ephesus, and then Smyrna, and then Pergamum, and then Thyatira, and then to Sardis, you would make your way down about 30 miles southeast of Sardis and land yourself there in the city of Philadelphia. Unlike Sardis, which was on a mountaintop, Philadelphia was down in a valley. The city had received its name from King Attalos II, Philadelphos, who was known for the love that he had for his brother, Eumenes II, with whom he had co-ruled the city of Philadelphia in about 160 BC. Philadelphos means brotherly love or brother lover, and that's how the city got its reputation from these two kings, these two brothers who had ruled the city in love for one another. The city was originally established, historians tell us, for the unique purpose of spreading Greek language and spreading Greek customs. And so in that sense, it was somewhat of a missionary city, spreading Greek culture. And it was successful in this. However, in about 1716 AD, A devastating earthquake laid at least 12 cities in Asia Minor to waste. One of those cities being Philadelphia. Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer, called it the greatest earthquake in human history, in human memory. For years afterwards, the city of Philadelphia and some of these surrounding cities experienced destructive aftershocks. Roman historians tell us about the disaster relief that Philadelphia received from the hand of Emperor Tiberius in Rome. You see, so sympathetic was this emperor after this earthquake that he actually waived the taxes that some of these cities owed for a period of about five years in order to help them to financially stabilize and to get back up on their feet. Philadelphia was so grateful for this man's kindness that it erected a massive statue in his honor and even temporarily renamed the city of Philadelphia Neo-Caesarea, meaning the new city of Caesar. Of course, this changed everything about the dynamic of this city, Philadelphia, as most of its residents regarded Tiberius as somewhat of a patron and rescuer and savior. Of course, as you can imagine, this introduced an enormous problem for the Christians in this city. They were expected, like the rest of the city, to pay homage in some degree to the emperor. Were these believers thankful in the providence of God that help came by way of the Roman Empire? Obviously. Why wouldn't they? Their lives are being rebuilt. Their houses, their homes, their streets are being rebuilt. Society as they know it is being rebuilt. And God's chosen to do it through this lost emperor. So of course they were thankful, but their thankfulness never turned into worship because their eyes were fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ as the true and only ruler of the universe. And so their allegiance was to Jesus and him alone. Of course, you can imagine that that invited all kinds of hostility and ridicule and shame and conflict from the inhabitants of Philadelphia. Look at these people, so unthankful. Tiberius comes in to rebuild our city, waives taxes for five years, and you won't pay homage to him. Animals, unthankful beasts. You can imagine all the mockery that these people received from the citizens of Philadelphia. But regardless of this type of pressure, this flock remained faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they remained steadfast in their love for him, as we're going to see. Well, like all the letters so far, I invite you to notice with me, first of all, our Lord's relevant self-description in verse seven. His relevant self-description in verse seven. It's a threefold self-description, by the way. Addressing this representative angel, Jesus says, 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, who shuts and no one opens. First of all, he refers to himself here as the holy one. The Holy One, these are the words of the Holy One, which is stunning in itself because throughout the entire period of the Old Testament, God is referred to as the Holy One. There were occasional one-offs to whom this title was attributed, such as Aaron or some of the angels in the Old Testament, but it's predominantly used of God as the Holy One of Israel. In fact, the book of Isaiah alone refers to God as the Holy One of Israel no less than 30 times. When Jesus appeared for His public ministry, you remember the demons trembled at His appearance because they recognized Him as what? The Holy One of God. You remember in John 6 when Jesus said to His disciples after that massive initial departure of shallow disciples, he says, do you want to go away as well? And do you remember their reply? Peter actually replied, speaking for the 12, and he says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. As the Holy One, the Lord Jesus Christ is entirely separated from us in terms of our createdness and in terms of our sinfulness. He is holy, he is innocent, he is unstained, he is separated from sinners, and he is exalted above the heavens. It is entirely beyond our Lord's capacity to sin. Have you ever thought about that? It is entirely beyond our Lord's capacity to sin, even for a millisecond. He cannot sin. It's beyond His nature, His holy nature. He can't sin. He can't even try to sin because it's not in Him. As the nature of a fish makes it impossible for it to survive on land, and as the nature of a bird makes it impossible for a bird to live underwater, it is impossible for our Lord and His holy nature to sin. If the Son of God here is not one with and equal with God the Father, this self-description of Christ is blasphemous and it introduces a massive problem in light of what John sees in the very next chapter, Revelation chapter four. He says that he saw the four living creatures. each of them with six wings, full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. You see, this title of holiness in the book of Revelation is reserved for the Lord God Almighty, and Jesus Christ comes to this church saying, I am this holy one. I am the holy one. He is one with his Father. The next title, he says, I am the true one. Notice verse seven, I am the true one, or as in the original, I am the true, the holy and the true, which again is remarkable because of the only other place, the combination of the words, holy and true are found in the book of the revelation. In chapter six and verse 10, John hears the martyrs. crying out with a loud voice, oh sovereign Lord, holy and true. How long before you will judge and avenge our blood? So they use this combination, holy and true, to describe the sovereign Lord, which is God almighty. Friends, it's Jesus Christ, equal with, one with his father. The son together with the father shares the sacred title of the one who is holy and true. For Christ to refer to himself as the true one, not only refers to the fact that he is the very essence and standard of truth, but in relation to all who have come before him and all who will come after him, he is the true long awaited Messiah. He is the true bread from heaven. He is the true savior. He is the true mediator between God and men. And he is the true king of kings and Lord of creation. He is the true one. Everything in him is true, genuine, it's true. And then he goes on and says in verse seven that he possesses, notice, the key of David. The one who has and possesses the key of David. And in so doing, he asserts his absolute authority. His absolute authority. In the Bible, keys are a picture of authority. You have the key, you have the power. You have the key, you have the authority. If you're locked up or shut out from something, you need someone who possesses the keys or the authority to release you or to grant you entrance into your desired location. The one who has the keys has the power, has the authority. We saw something of this in Revelation 1.18. Christ said to the apostle John, I have the keys of death and Hades, meaning that he, as the Lord of life, has the sovereign power over death and over the grave, and he alone can bring people from death to life, not just physically, but spiritually. He has the keys of death and Hades, and in your case, he unlocked that for you. He unlocked that lock of death and Hades and he brought you out and he made you a new creature in him. However, the emphasis of him being the one who has the key of David underscores the reality that he bears the authority to determine who enters his eternal kingdom and who is eternally shut out of this kingdom. That's the emphasis here. This is actually a direct reference to Isaiah chapter 22, verse 22, where we read about a man known as Eliakim who would be given the key of the house of David. This man could either grant or deny entrance into the city. Of course, Eliakim, as God's servant, is set forth in Isaiah as a type of Christ, the true servant of Yahweh. So for the church in Philadelphia to hear these words would have been of a huge comfort to them, to know that this one who is speaking to them holds the key of David. Because like the church in Smyrna, these believers had received tremendous opposition from the Jewish community the Christ-rejecting Jewish community whom the Lord refers to here as the synagogue of Satan. So put yourself in these believers' shoes. As these Jews communicated and banned and prohibited Christians from entering into their synagogues, the true messianic king comes to this church saying, I, not them. I, not them, hold the key of David. And if I open to you the way into my kingdom, you're in. They might shut you out, but if I hold that door open, you're in. Imagine these people being banned from the place of worship. by the Jewish community, being reminded on a regular basis that they've been excluded. Every day they walk by the synagogue reminded that they're not welcome there, even though that was established under Judaism, and Judaism has received its true king, but they've rejected him. That was their place of prayer. That was their place of familiarity with the things of God, reminded every day that they've been excluded, banned, prohibited, and yet Christ comes to them and says, I have a key, and I'll let you in. It would have been heaven to hear these words regarding who actually possesses the real key to paradise. The picture of Christ holding the key of David speaks to us of kingdom admission, kingdom admission. He is the only way to the Father and he is the only door into God's fold according to John chapter 10. So putting this threefold self-description together, the holy one, the true one, the one who has the key of David, Imagine what these Christians expected to hear next. Imagine them probably at this moment cringing as to what they're about to hear. I know that if I was in that congregation, I would have been cringing at this point. These are the words of the Holy One, the true One, the One who alone can grant or deny access into my eternal kingdom. These are His words, and you're waiting for it The one addressing us is the holy, holy, holy Son of God from whom angels hide their faces. He is the true Messiah and the true and faithful witness who bears witness to the truth of God and will always and only ever speak the truth to God's people. And he alone has the authority to grant or deny entrance into the eternal kingdom of which David spoke. You can imagine at this point saying, oh boy, I don't know what he's about to say next. And then we move on to what I'm calling the encouraging, the encouraging evaluation, verses eight to 10. Notice what he says. I know your works. I know your works. And you can imagine if you were there cringing at what's about to come next, perhaps you've heard of the letters to Ephesus. Rumors spread quickly that Jesus addressed the church at Ephesus, and he called them to repent. And you've heard the rumors of what was said to Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis, and you're waiting to hear what he has to say to you in Philadelphia. And this is what he says next. Verse eight. Behold, I have set before you an open door, and no one is able to shut it. I know that you have but little power, and yet you've 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 upon the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth. And that's it. And you're looking around at people, no one's slain in the spirit, and no one's seizing on the floor. I mean, we've just, oh, the Lord of the church addressed us. And unlike Ephesus, and Pergamum, and Thyatira, and Sardis, he had nothing bad to say to us, nothing bad to correct us, and nothing. You hear those words and a tremendous sense of relief fills your heart. Your stomach unwinds and it retracts. What I want you to notice is that unlike the other letters where the section of evaluation is almost strictly evaluation, verses eight to 10 here mix evaluation with promise. In other words, in the case of the other letters, Jesus essentially says, I know this, this, this, and that. And then the section of evaluation is over. And he moved on to exhortation and then to promise. However, here we have evaluation and promise, evaluation and promise, evaluation and promise. I know this, and this is what I'm gonna do. I know this, and this is what I'm gonna do. I know this, and this is what I'm gonna do. It's evaluation mixed and mingled with promise. Beloved, this is a church with whom the Lord is well pleased. You'll notice that he recognizes three things about them. First of all, he says, I know your works. Secondly, he notices their little power. And then he notices their persevering faithfulness. That's what this church was characterized by, their works, their little power, and their persevering faithfulness. That's why I've entitled this message The Church of Persevering Faithfulness. The absence of any type of correction would have been immensely encouraging to this body of believers. Why? Because these are the words of the Holy Son of God, in whom there is no darkness at all. These are the words of the holy one who hates sin, judges sin, and who knows no sin. He's the true one with whom there is not a hint of pretense, hypocrisy, or falsehood, and yet he's full of nothing but commendation for this precious flock. Notice quickly, verse eight, he recognizes their works. I know your works. We know that these are good works based on the rest of the letter. They are good works. They are God-honoring works. They are spirit-empowered works. I wanna just say that at the end of the day, your works speak louder than your words as a believer. Your works speak louder than your words. You can have a mighty profession of faith You can fool your family, you can fool your friends, you can even fool your church. You can fill Facebook with all kinds of religious material to amp up this mighty profession of faith. But if the works that your life produces, if the works that your life produce on a day-to-day basis, both in public and in secret, if they are not works that are pleasing to God, You're not a Christian and you need to wake up. If your works are not works that are pleasing to God, they are dead works, dead works. Granted, you've come near to the kingdom, but you're not in the kingdom. You know the language of the kingdom, but you're not a part of the kingdom. You know the gospel in theory, but you have no inward experience of the gospel's power in your life. You may know the doctrines of grace, but if the grace of those doctrines hasn't humbled your soul to the point of servant-like obedience to Christ, you're still lost. Mark it down, friends. Light in the mind has never saved anyone. Light in the mind has never saved anyone. It's the life of God in the soul that provides evidence of true conversion. You may have correct views of truth. You may have a habit of attending the church meetings. You may acknowledge the doctrines and duties of Christianity. You may associate with the people of God. You may pray and read the Bible, and you may teach others about the kingdom of God. You can do all of that and be a complete stranger to the kingdom of God. Faith without God-honoring, Christ-exalting, spirit-empowered works is a dead faith. We're talking about works that please God. We've seen early on that God can be pleased. We began our study with evidence, sufficient evidence that God can be pleased by a holy life, a sanctified life. Paul commanded it, Paul prayed for it, Paul aimed for it. He can be pleased. I want you to know these works can't save you. These works do not save you. They provide the proof that God has saved you, but they cannot save you. Sinners are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, but the faith that saves is not alone. It's accompanied with God honoring works that please him. After recognizing their works, Jesus says, behold, verse eight, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. I've set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. More than likely, this speaks of kingdom admission. You've been shut out from the Jewish community. You've been shut out from the trade guilds. You've been shut out from the world. I set before you an open door which no one can shut. Kingdom admission. Although they'd been shut out of the world, excommunicated by Jews, they'd been welcomed into God's kingdom by Christ, their savior. They, along with every true follower of Jesus Christ, will hear him say to them on that day, come, you who were blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And they will hear those words, come, enter into the joy of your master. He is the one who sets this open door before his people, and no one can shut it. That's the open door that Christ opens to every faithful believer whose life overflows with good works that are pleasing to God. Notice the language of absolute power and absolute sovereignty. He says, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. Which no one is able to shut. Whenever you find language like that in the Bible, it speaks of God's undefeatable sovereignty. When he uses that phrase, no one, it speaks of his undefeatable sovereignty. Daniel 4.35, God does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done? Speaks of sovereignty. Speaks of carrying out his purpose with precision. Matthew 11, 27, Jesus said, all things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows the son except for the father, and no one knows the father except the son, and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. Christ is saying, I've set before you the open door to paradise, and no one's able to shut that door. I possess the keys. He sets before this beloved congregation the open door to paradise, and no devil, no Roman Empire, no Jewish community could shut that door. Well, not only does this door, this open door language refer to kingdom admission, but I believe based upon verse nine, that it refers to kingdom advancement. Kingdom advancement. Look ahead quickly at verse nine. Behold, Very next verse. 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. This open door of kingdom advancement among the Jews that were hostile towards the church. Paul spoke to the Corinthians two times about a wide door of opportunity. effective ministry being opened to him, a wide door of effective ministry. He asked the Colossians to pray for him and his associates that God would open to them a door for the gospel. This open door is not only kingdom admission, come in, it's kingdom advancement. Be fruitful out there. We're talking about a door of kingdom advancement from what it sounds like to me and the majority of commentators I read this week, the Lord of the church was about to open a door for this faithful congregation to reach some within this Jewish community. This too is a reference back to the latter half of Isaiah, where at least three times it's spoken of, of the Gentiles coming and bowing before the feet of the Jewish people. And yet, the difference here is that the tables have turned, you see. The true people of God in Revelation are the church. And the Jews are regarded as the Gentiles, the outsiders who are now coming to the feet of the church, learning that the church has been loved. The church made up of Jew and Gentile, the church is the bride. The church is the fulfillment of all that God had promised. And it's the Jews coming in from the outside saying, We've come to believe that he is the Christ and that you have been loved and chosen from the foundation of the world. It's a picture of submission. It's a picture of, they've been humbled to come to realize that Jesus is the Messiah, that the church has been the apple of God's eye. It's interesting. The tables have turned. I want you to notice here just a quick note that fruitfulness in gospel ministry is rooted in the holiness of a gospel community. Fruitfulness in a gospel ministry is rooted in holiness, the holiness of a gospel community. You see, he says, I know your works. You hold fast. You've not denied my name. You've persevered in faithfulness. I've set before you an open door. I've set before you an open door. If we want to be a fruitful church, we must first and foremost be a sanctified, well-pleasing church to the Lord. Why would He include, why would He entrust more disciples to this flock if we are an unholy, worldly flock? Why would he? I mean, I would, if I were to ever entrust my children to a babysitter, I wanna know that they're gonna be taken care of. How much more the Lord of the church who bled for and purchased his church entrusting new converts to a people where discipleship will and should take place. It should be a holy people, a people who take sin seriously, a people who take false teaching seriously, a people who take holiness seriously. Because you've done this, behold, I've set before you an open door. These guys that have been saying they're Jews but they're of the synagogue of Satan, they're liars. I'm gonna bring them before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. That's the language of discipleship. They will learn that I have loved you. Interesting. He goes on and says in verse eight, I know that you have but little power and yet you've kept my word and have not denied my name. They have but little power. But a little is a lot when God is in it, right? Little is much when God is in it. You have but little power. Where does this power come from? It comes from a holy life. It comes from the spirit of Christ living in us. It comes from the ungrieved presence of the Holy Spirit. There is something to be said, friends, about power flowing from heaven to us and through us and the relationship to sin in our lives. You are not going to be a powerful, effective Christian if you are tolerating and not dealing with lust and sin in your life. You just won't. You won't. If the Spirit of God is our helper, if the Spirit of God is the one who brings power, if the Spirit of God is the one who enables us to be fruitful in the ministry, what are we doing to that Spirit if all we're doing is grieving that Spirit like Ephesians talks about? The ungrieved presence of the Holy Spirit is more to be desired than gold and fine gold. To have him living in us and with us and moving through us in a way that he's not having to rebuke and correct and lead away from sin. Oh, what a place to be. Fruitfulness in a gospel ministry. comes from the holiness of a gospel community. It's rooted there. It's anchored to that. You have but little power, that power that came from a holy life, comes from dedication to Christ, loyalty to Christ, that power that comes from abiding, the abiding power of the scripture in your life, that power you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word. With that little power, you've kept my word, and you've not denied my name in spite of all the pressure that you've received. And he goes on and says, again, behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, I'll make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. So again, I tend to believe that that's speaking of grace. I tend to think that's speaking of the Jewish community, at least here in Philadelphia, local community, in this synagogue, that this church would be granted to know something of success and fruitfulness in reaching some of these Jews. That was Paul's whole thing, right? He wanted to highlight the mercy and grace that the Gentiles had received in order to make some of his fellow Jews, what? Jealous. And so it seems like this is what's happening here. We move on to see not only their works and their little power and their persevering faithfulness, verse eight, but notice verse 10. Behold, because because you have kept my word about patient endurance, or another translation, because you have kept the word of my patient endurance. Regardless, he's talking about the work of the cross. You've held on to the message of my endurance, of the joy that was set before me and how I endured the cross. You've kept my word. You've witnessed to it. You've testified of it. You've clung to it because you've done this I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth. Whatever this meant, Jesus was about to shelter them from some kind of fierce testing that would come upon the earth dwellers. You see, in the book of Revelation, you have this repeated phrase, the earth dwellers in the Greek. It's those who dwell on the earth. They're not a good people. These are, in the book of Revelation, they are the enemies of Christ and his kingdom. And Jesus is saying, I'm gonna shelter you, I'm gonna shield you, I'm gonna protect you from what I'm about to bring upon the whole world. What this looked like, if there was another cosmic, some sort of judgment in that day, a temporary judgment, we don't know, but he's promising protection. I know your works, I've said before you would open door. I know you have a little power, behold, I will act. But I know you've kept my word, I'm gonna keep you. Do you see the mixture here of human responsibility and divine sovereignty? You've kept my word, I'll keep you. You have kept my word, I'll keep you. And finally, we come to verse 11, which is a very brief exhortation. The brief exhortation, notice, I am coming soon. I'm coming soon. In the other letters, it was coming in what? Coming in judgment, right? I will come against you as a thief in the night. Unexpected, sudden, surprisingly. No, in here, it's I'm coming soon, period. Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown. This is that crown that we read about in James chapter one. When you endure trials and persecutions and hardship, God grants to you the crown of life. He gives you the crown of life. And Jesus views it as if they're already wearing that crown because of what they've had to endure. That no one may seize your crown or take away your crown. Either they possessed it in a spiritual sense right now at that moment or that no one may seize your crown when I grant it to you on that day. Hold fast what you have. Hold fast that little power. Hold fast that gospel that has preserved your integrity. Hold fast to that holiness that you have enjoyed, that joy that you've known. Hold fast to that so that no one may seize your crown. Finally, we come to verses 12 and 13, the motivating conclusion, the motivating conclusion of Christ. He says, the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. This is a promise of permanence, the promise of permanence. They would be granted. David's prayer in Psalm 27, that's why we read it in the beginning, to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. To abide in his temple, they would be granted that privilege of being a permanent pillar in the temple where God dwells. This is the promise of permanence, abiding permanence. You see, this would have been an amazing promise to people who are living in an area of constant aftershock and earthquake. He says, though Philadelphia may be shaken, I'm bringing you to a place that will never be shaken. You see, we have to learn to study and read scripture, and it's geographical context. This place of aftershocks, constant aftershocks, Pliny talked about it, several other Roman historians talked about these constant aftershocks that were destructive, not just minor shaking, these were destructive aftershocks. And so for Jesus to come and say, To the one who conquers, I'm gonna make you a pillar. I mean, you look at all the ruins today in the Middle East, what do you see? Pillars. They were known for abiding, remaining, enduring. The walls can be gone, the streets can be gone, but you know what's still there? Pillars. This is a picture of permanence, and Jesus is saying, I will make you a permanent pillar in the house of my God, the temple of my God. Never, he says, shall he go out of it. Security, permanence is what he's promising. And I will write on him the name of my God, promise of possession, and the name of the city of my God. Interesting as well, right? They were living in a time when the city, at least back in the earlier part of the century, had temporarily been renamed Neo-Caesarea, the new city of Caesar. And he says, I'm gonna write on you the name of the city of my God. Not the name of Caesar. You can be rejected from Caesar's city, but you will be accepted in my father's city. That's the note here. Never shall he go out of it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God. That's a mark of possession. So he is promising permanence. He is promising security. He is promising possession that God would possess you forever as his people. He's promising belonging to the new city of God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. You see, Christ, at least as far as his understanding, as the true and holy God, understands that heaven is coming to earth. The name of the city of my God, which comes down from heaven, from my God. And he says, I'm gonna write on you my own new name. And he says, let him who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To a people who had remained steadfast, they are promised permanence. To a people who had remained faithful, they were promised fruitfulness. To a people who had remained loyal to Christ, he promises them security in his eternal city. Friends, it is possible, and so I ask you again, does your Christianity allow for a God that can be pleased with your life? Pleased with your public life and pleased with your secret life? If it's a biblical Christianity, it should have room for a God that can smile upon his people in approval of their lives. Does the possibility of living a life that is fully pleasing to the omniscience of God exist in your thinking? It should. Now, do you see why the devil would work hard to convince a congregation of Christians that pleasing God is impossible? Because if you know that something's impossible, guess what? You're never gonna seek for it. You're never gonna strive for it. If the devil can get you to realize something twisted of the doctrine of total depravity, which is a biblical doctrine, if he can get you to twist that and say, well, no one can really please God, no one does good, not even one, and then apply that to the Christian, the devil has a foothold on your thinking. We, as the people of God, have been empowered and equipped to please God. That's why Paul would tell the Thessalonian Christians You receive from us how you ought to walk and please God. You receive from us how to walk and how to please God. He taught them that pleasing God was possible. He taught them how to please God in a congregation. This is what we're to seek after. But you know what, friends? The emphasis isn't on being pleasing to Christ as individuals, but as a congregation, right? He's not talking about, he's not addressing the individual. He's addressing this church. This church was corporately pleasing to God, but do you know why? Because they were individually pleasing to God. At the end of the day, we, yes, we're a group of people, but we are a group of individuals who have individual walks, individual struggles with and against sin. And we must persevere, we must recognize sin and take measures to put sin to death, to apply all the biblical principles of putting sin to death and to apply that to our lives so that we are more fruitful as a community. Friends, if you come to Sunday meetings and your life is stained with unrepented sin and unconfessed sin, you're not going to be much help to those believers who need to hear truth from you and love on Sunday mornings. You're not going to be equipped to encourage. And so the body suffers when you are not living the way you're supposed to be living. You Living with and for Christ in the arena of joy and holiness only betters the congregation that's been given a mission to bear witness to Christ. The two go hand in hand, individual holiness and corporate holiness. If you're striving to please the Lord in your secret life, it's gonna come out publicly in your public life. So the first step towards following in the footsteps of this church in Philadelphia is to recognize first and foremost that God can be pleased and expects to be pleased by his people. It's why we exist, it's why we assemble, it's why we gather, to be equipped to be pleasing to God. Hebrews chapter 13 ends with that amazing benediction, may the God who brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep, grant you everything good that you may do his will and be fully pleasing to him. God enables it. Again, Paul taught it, Paul aimed for it, Paul prayed for it, God enables it. You hear that? God enables such a life. You have something to strive for. You have a tangible target this week to say, Lord, I'm gonna strive to live pleasing to you. I'm saved by grace through faith and not of my works, but because I'm saved, oh, Lord, I wanna know your power. I wanna know your presence. I wanna know your joy by living holy before you, by living. completely set apart and dedicated for you. In my thought life, dealing with lust. In my words, dealing with how I use my mouth. In every area of life, seek to be pleasing to the Lord, friends, it's possible. Pleasing him opens heaven, and it opens doors, as we read from this passage. It opens the kingdom, and it opens kingdom advancement in our lives. Perhaps the most fruitful thing you can do if you're wanting to be a fruitful evangelist about your daily life is to stop so much emphasizing and stressing and focusing on a technique of evangelism and focus on being holy before Christ and being set apart and being disciplined and being above reproach and being a one woman man or a one man woman. and being disciplined and self-controlled and walking uprightly. Focus on that, and you watch God open doors in your life. And so I end with these words. Finally then, brothers, out of 1 Thessalonians chapter four and verse one. Finally then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you were doing, that you do so more and more. Friends, this is an incredibly stirring letter in that it encourages us to strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord, a holiness that is actually possible. It encourages us to make every effort to live lives, both secretly and publicly, individually and corporately, that bring genuine pleasure and authentic delight to our God and our Savior. Let us pray.