Good morning. It's great to be with you again.
I want to invite you to turn with me to the book of Revelation if you have your Bibles with you.
The passage is also found in our bulletins.
We're hearing from God's Word today, Revelation chapter 3,
and the call to hold fast that Jesus has to His church,
and it's the church specifically in Philadelphia,
but as this is God's holy and inspired Word,
it is also His Word for us today as well.
So draw your attention to the reading of God's Word from Revelation 3, verses 7 through 13.
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,
and my own new name.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
This is the Word of God.
Thanks be to him.
Let us pray together for our time in his Word.
Lord God, Father, Son, and Spirit,
we come now and we sit underneath the preaching,
the proclamation of your Word,
asking that you would be gracious to us,
that you by your Spirit would come and pour out knowledge,
pour out wisdom, pour out revelation about who Jesus is.
Lord, that you would awaken our hearts,
that you would give us understanding about these things,
that you would come and take the things of Jesus
and make them real to our hearts.
We ask that for our little theologians in this room as well,
our covenant children who are in this place.
God, we ask that you would also give them understanding,
that you would help them to see you as you truly are.
Lord, to think big thoughts about you,
that they would have a big God and a big Savior for them even now.
We ask that you would bless the preaching
and the hearing of your Word now for your church,
and it's in Jesus' name that we ask this.
Amen.
Amen indeed.
Well, in December of 1914,
Ernest Shackleton and his 27-member crew
aboard the ship The Endurance
entered the ice fields of the Wendell Sea
navigating through dangerous packed ice.
With only 100 miles left in their journey,
Shackleton made the fateful decision
to stop and wait for a break in the heavy ice.
The temperature dropped and the ice closed in around the ship,
making it impossible to proceed.
The crew would live aboard the ship for the next 10 months.
Gradually, the ship began to succumb
to the crushing grip of the ice.
Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship.
The crew began a march in search of safety,
carrying minimal supplies and dragging three lifeboats.
Eventually, reaching open water,
they boarded the lifeboats and sailed off
in an attempt to find land.
Surviving perilous conditions,
they finally landed on the deserted Elephant Island.
Stranded on that island with no hope of rescue,
Shackleton and four of his crew members
set sail in a lifeboat in an effort to reach the island of South Georgia.
This was a whaling island.
They traveled 800 miles,
800 nautical miles,
through the world's worst seas.
When they arrived to the island finally,
they discovered that the whaling station
was on the other side of the island.
And in order to rescue the remaining crew in time,
Shackleton and two of his men
had to cross on foot
the treacherous cliffs of this island.
They were icy.
They were forbidding cliffs.
They were vulnerable to sudden blizzards
and hurricane-force winds.
The island's inhabitants, as a matter of fact,
had considered the journey
from one side of the island to the other
on foot impossible.
Nevertheless, Shackleton and his two partners
crossed in 36 hours.
His diary provides an interesting perspective
on the South Georgia island crossing.
This is what Ernest Shackleton's journal says.
Quote,
In memories we were rich.
We had pierced the veneer of outside things.
We had suffered.
We had starved.
We had triumphed.
We had groveled down,
yet grasped at glory,
grown bigger in the bigness of the whole.
We had seen God in his splendors,
heard the text that nature renders.
We had reached the naked soul of men,
and by endurance we conquered.
And while we will likely
never face the extreme physical conditions
that Ernest Shackleton did,
we will face extreme spiritual conditions
where our fortitude,
our resolve,
our endurance will be tested.
The New Testament is clear on this point
that it is through many tribulations
that we enter the kingdom of God,
Acts chapter 14.
As a matter of fact,
Jesus said,
If they hated me,
they will hate you.
If they persecuted me,
he said,
they will persecute you.
Now this raises the obvious question
as to why.
Why the hatred?
Why the persecution of Jesus of Nazareth?
And why the subsequent hatred
and persecution of his followers?
Why, given the fact
of how pluralistic
the worship of many gods,
the acceptance of many gods,
and how syncretistic
the combining of those gods
the ancient world was?
The ancient world was pluralistic.
You could worship many gods.
It was syncretistic.
You could combine
the worship of many gods.
Why in this context
was the message of Jesus,
the person of Jesus,
so antagonistic?
Every month at our church
at Westside,
we have a potluck dinner
called Eat Church
where everyone brings
what they want to share
with everyone else.
That's what the ancient world
was like in terms of
religion and worship.
Everyone brings
what appeals to them
and says,
here, worship Caesar.
Here, worship Zeus.
Here, worship Artemis,
Diana, and so forth.
Of course,
what's interesting about this
is that our culture
is very much the same
in our day as well.
Even though ours,
perhaps,
is the most secular age
of human history,
that itself,
that itself
is a religious claim.
And that is one
of many claims
that is accepted
right alongside
the major religions
of our world.
If that was the case then,
and it continues
to be the case now,
then the question
that I'm asking is,
why wasn't Jesus
just acknowledged
as another religious teacher?
Why wasn't his message
acknowledged
as just another
religious path?
Why,
in a religious potluck,
wasn't Christianity
just one of many
casserole dishes?
Why the heat?
Why the persecution?
The answer is found
in the book of Revelation,
and in particular,
in Revelation chapter 3,
in the word that Jesus has
to his church in Philadelphia.
Verse 7.
You can start there,
looking with me.
He says,
to the angel of the church
in Philadelphia,
write,
the words of the Holy One,
the True One,
who has the key of David,
who opens
and no one will shut,
and who shuts
and no one will open.
You see,
right away, church,
we see in this passage
that Jesus doesn't claim
to be just
another religious teacher,
or that his message
is one of many
that you can take or leave.
No,
Jesus declares,
I am the Holy One.
I am the True One.
He declares that
I am the way,
the truth,
and the life.
No one comes to the Father
but through me.
He proclaims
that all authority
in heaven and on earth
has been given to him.
And he reveals,
he reveals by his spirit
that he is the one
who opens
and no one is able to shut,
who shuts
and no one is able to open.
In other words,
Jesus is exclusive.
Jesus is unique.
He stands alone.
He stands above
every other single person
who has lived.
It's not Jesus versus
fill in the blank.
It's just Jesus.
And that is something
that the church in Philadelphia
knew very well.
little theologians.
Kids,
if you're taking notes,
if you'd like to follow along,
I have two assignments
for you, kids.
One is to draw a picture
of a key and a door.
A key and a door, kids.
And then,
the question is,
what makes Jesus
unique
and stand out
from every other person
who has ever lived?
What makes Jesus unique?
What makes him stand out
from everyone else, kids?
Now,
for the rest of us,
I want to give you
some background
of the city of Philadelphia.
It was founded
as a missionary city
in 189 B.C.
What that means
is that it was meant
to be a gateway,
a doorway
to Asia Minor.
It was the Greek culture
in the east
to further spread
the Greek culture
in the year 189 B.C.
It was a doorway
into Asia.
And this helps us
understand
the play on words
that Jesus is using here
where he says,
I have a door
that I open
and no one is able
to shut
and who shuts
and no one is able
to open.
The church in Philadelphia
would have known
exactly what Jesus
was referring to there.
By the first century,
it was one of the greatest
trade routes
in the Roman Empire.
So the Roman Empire
continued to use Philadelphia
as a doorway,
a doorway from Rome
in the west
to Asia in the east.
It was an open door
linking the two
vastly different cultures
there in the ancient world.
Following a devastating earthquake
early in the first century,
the city was rebuilt
by the Roman Emperor Tiberius
and a temple
was dedicated to him there
as people came
to pay homage
to worship Tiberius
as the savior
of the city.
This helps us understand
why Jesus addresses them
in such an extraordinary way.
They are holding fast,
as he says,
to him
amid a culture
that says
you must worship
these other gods as well.
You must worship Caesar
for he is savior
of the city.
This helps us understand
why Jesus begins
to address them
in the way that he does.
It's very intentional
on his part.
As a matter of fact,
in all of these seven addresses
to his church,
the way that Jesus
describes himself,
he is speaking directly
to what is going on
in that city.
And here in Philadelphia,
he means to remind them,
remind them of who he is
in contrast
with the claims
of the culture
that they're living in.
And what does Jesus
remind them of
in his address?
First, he says
that he is holy.
He is holy.
He is the holy one.
Holy one.
He is none other
than God Almighty.
For John,
who was an apostle,
who was a Jew,
for him,
there was only one
who was holy.
As 1 Samuel 2 says,
it says,
there is none holy
like the Lord.
There is no rock
like our God.
God.
In John's gospel,
John's gospel,
he talks about
in chapter 6,
that the disciples,
after they witnessed
Jesus feeding the 5,000,
they declared
that he was
the holy one
of God.
John knew
who Jesus was.
What is holiness?
Holiness speaks
of separation
or distinction.
Uniqueness,
speaking of
our Lord's
separation,
his uniqueness
from his creation.
It's not Jesus
and his creation
are together.
It's Jesus
over his creation.
Jesus is not
subject to us,
friends.
We are subject
to him.
He is not subject
to the cosmos.
He is over
the cosmos.
The cosmos
is in subjection
to him.
He upholds it,
the Bible says,
by the word
of his power,
Hebrews chapter 1.
Jesus moves
in a mysterious way
to quote the old hymn.
His wonders
to perform.
He plants
his footsteps
in the sea
and he rides
upon the storm.
This is who
the Lord Jesus Christ
is, friends.
He is the almighty
one.
He is the sovereign
son of God
who is addressing
his church
from a place
of authority
and a place
of majesty.
So Jesus is holy.
The second thing
that he says
is that Jesus
is true.
He is the true one.
Later on
in the book
of Revelation,
John describes
Jesus as being
holy and true.
And the word
here for true
means that
Jesus is the authentic.
He is the genuine.
He is real.
And this is signifying
that everything
about Jesus
is the real deal.
Everything about him
is the real deal.
His divine nature,
his attributes,
his words,
his character.
Jesus is the standard
of truth.
We do not measure him
by our inferior standards.
He is the measuring rod
that assesses
and judges.
We do not appeal
to a higher authority
to validate Jesus.
Jesus is the highest authority.
He is validation itself.
Jesus is the very embodiment
of truth.
Glory as of the only son
from the father
full of grace
and truth,
John 1.
He is the true light
which enlightens everyone.
He is the true light
which continues
to shine in the darkness
and the darkness
cannot put it out.
Now why is it significant
that John's pointing this out?
Why is the fact
that Jesus is holy
and Jesus is true,
why is that significant?
Little theologians,
kids,
why is it important
for you to know
that Jesus is holy
and Jesus is significant
or Jesus is true?
Well,
in a world
that is searching
for significance,
searching for meaning,
in a world
that is longing
for transcendence,
here is Jesus,
the holy one,
made flesh,
walking and talking
among us
and to us.
Jesus,
the holy one,
the transcendent one,
is addressing you and I
in a world
that is searching for
and wondering
if there is any truth,
anything worth believing
and defending,
anything worth fighting
and dying for.
Here is Jesus,
the source
in whom all the treasures
of wisdom
and knowledge
and truth
are found.
In him,
in him, church,
we have holiness.
In him,
we have truth.
And these two things
begin to shape
the way that we view
the world.
They begin to shape
the way that we view
ourselves in the world,
what we are called to.
They answer the question
of significance.
They answer the question
of meaning
and purpose
and value.
Much like for the church
in Philadelphia
who are holding fast
to this testimony,
the question for you
and I today is,
are we holding fast?
Are we holding fast
to this Jesus
as he is revealed
in scripture?
To the one
who is holy
and true?
It was just as,
if not more difficult
for them in the first century
to hold fast to this.
They were facing
open persecution.
They were facing
heat for their witness.
What about us?
Do we know him
who is holy?
Do we know his voice?
One of the ways
that we can tell
that we listen
to his voice
is we listen
because we know
his voice
has authority.
It carries authority.
And that's the third
point that Jesus
reminds them of.
His authority.
Not only because
of his character
and his attributes,
he is holy,
he is true,
but because of his authority,
he holds the key of David,
he says there.
In our Old Testament
reading from Isaiah 22,
you heard it.
We heard how God
intervened at a time
that he provided
a steward
for the house of David
in Eliakim.
And this was God
providing this
to David's household
so that David's household
could be preserved.
It could be preserved
so that the coming Messiah,
the Messiah could come
into the world.
The Messiah who now
rules and reigns
over David's household.
The church.
That's what Jesus
is alluding to
when he says
that I have the keys
of David.
It's absolutely incredible
to think of how God
used that bleak moment,
that bleak moment
in history
roughly 700 years
before Jesus was born
as an analogy
pointing to
Christ's own rule
and reign
over his church.
So he holds
the key of David,
he says,
and he opens
and he closes the door.
Much like how the steward
was in charge
of who was in the household,
who was accepted
in the palace,
and who could come
before the king,
so now Jesus says
to the church
in Philadelphia
that he is the one,
he is the one
who opens
and shuts the door.
Now this raises
the question,
what door
is he talking about?
He's about to tell us
that in verse 8
and following.
He says,
I know your works,
behold I have set
before you an open door
which no one
is able to shut.
And in the Bible
when God talks about,
when Jesus talks about
an open door,
it's talking about
within the context
of the advancement,
the establishment
of the gospel message.
And that is
that the church
in Philadelphia
had remained faithful
to that
despite the difficulties
that they were facing.
they had remained
an open door
where the gospel
was being proclaimed.
They were holding
fast to Jesus.
They were not compromising
to the culture
around them,
but they continued
to proclaim.
They continued
to witness
to the truthfulness
of who Jesus was.
And that was
despite the difficulties
that they were facing.
In verse 9,
Jesus says,
I know you have
but little power
and yet you have
kept my word
and you have not
denied my name.
Though they were
little in power,
they were mighty
in their perseverance.
In their endurance,
their faithfulness
to Jesus.
One thing
that we can take away
from this
is the way
that Jesus
assesses his church.
The way that he
assesses the church,
it's not the way
that we typically
assess churches nowadays.
Because he's not
assessing them
by numbers
or anything external.
It's by their
holding fast
to his word
and their faithfulness
to him.
It's who they are
and where they turn
in time of crisis.
That's what defines
them as a church.
When external difficulties
are threatening
the church itself,
it's what defines them
that they are
holding fast to Jesus.
They are not
looking outside.
They are looking
to him.
Jesus sees this
and he commends
them for it.
Now what were
the external difficulties
that they were facing?
He says in verse 9
that there were those
of the synagogue
of Satan.
Those who say
they are Jews
but are not.
They lie,
Jesus says.
These are sharp
piercing words
from Christ.
Much like the church
in Smyrna
in Revelation chapter 2,
there's another church
that has no rebuke there.
There Jesus only has
commendation for them.
He has encouragement
for them.
In Smyrna,
they were facing
hostility from the
Jewish community
there as well.
In Philadelphia,
they are facing
the same kind
of persecution
from those
who are ethnically
Jewish
but Jesus says
morally and spiritually
they are not Jewish.
What does he say
that they are?
He says they're
satanic.
Those who oppose
and act in hostility
against Christ's church
are acting satanically
whether through deception
as Jesus talks about here.
They say they are Jews
and are not.
They lie about it
or as in violence.
That was in the case
in Smyrna.
They were violently
persecuting the church
there.
Here in Philadelphia,
they are persecuting
the church
through deception.
So it continues
in our day as well.
It may not be
the synagogue of Satan
that we are facing
in 2021
but the same
deceptive hostility
is prevalent
down through the ages
as an attack
against the church.
We should not be
surprised by this.
The Bible talks about,
the New Testament talks about
that the whole world
lies in the power
of the evil one,
1 John 5.
The apostle Paul,
of course,
said in 2 Corinthians 4
that the God
of this age
has blinded
the minds
of unbelievers
to keep them
from seeing
the light
of the gospel
of the glory
of Christ.
The God of this age,
Satan himself.
And so for us,
we live
in a relatively
free society.
We don't face,
as of now,
the violent persecution
as much as we face
an attack
on the truth,
whether that be
on the outside
or as Jesus
makes clear
in Revelation 2
and 3,
all these addresses
to the churches,
there's also attack
that happens
within the church
as well,
outside or inside.
The early church
there was facing
contamination
of false teaching,
sexual compromise,
immorality.
They were facing
people bringing
in the idols
and ideologies
of the surrounding culture.
They were trying
to mix all these things
with Christ's teaching
and authority,
syncretism.
They were trying
to mix these things.
And that is what
had put the church
at the first century
in such a perilous position.
Five out of the seven churches
that Jesus addresses,
they are rebuked by him.
They are warned
that if they don't repent,
Jesus will come
in judgment on them.
In Ephesus,
it was their neglecting
the truth
that above all else,
Christ calls us
to embrace him,
to love him,
allowing that love
to then in turn
affect how we love
one another,
how we treat one another
in the church.
Or in Sardis,
in Sardis,
Jesus said,
your exterior,
how you present yourself,
it doesn't matter at all
when inside
you are dead to me.
When you have forgotten
what you have received
and what you have heard,
outwardly you may appear
beautiful,
but inwardly you are full
of spiritual death
and decay.
Jesus to that church
said,
wake up.
The call is for you
to wake up,
to hear my voice,
to hear my voice of truth
and to repent.
I am the one
who knows the heart
and the mind,
Jesus says.
I see you, church.
I know what's there.
Wake up
and repent.
This church,
he talks about
strengthening what remains.
Strengthening what remains.
You're in the church.
You hear the voice
of his word.
The call to respond
with repentance
and faith is there.
Respond,
O church,
hear.
What we gather,
brothers and sisters,
by examining
what our Lord says
to his church
is that we cannot afford
to be passive
in our faith,
nor can we be neglectful
of the truth
that we have received
from Jesus.
Like Smyrna,
we are called
to be faithful,
faithful even unto death.
We are called,
as he says here
to Philadelphia,
to hold fast
to the truth,
even when spiritual
forces rage
and they combat
against that truth.
I want to say
that as a pastor,
I feel the weightiness
of these calls.
These calls
in that not only
am I called
to deliver the message,
but I also am charged
with setting the example.
I'm called to be
out front leading the way.
And to be honest
with you,
it's a heavy task.
It's a heavy task.
I know my own heart.
I know my own struggles,
my own failures,
not only as a man,
but as a husband,
as a father,
as a friend,
as a brother,
and as a pastor.
And there have been times
when the shame
in my life
has been so overwhelming,
so suffocating,
that all I want to do
is crawl under a rock
and hide,
believing that the world
would be a better place
without me.
I go full George Bailey.
And without this word,
friends,
without this Jesus,
who is holy and true,
who holds the keys
to God's household,
who holds the key
to all of redemptive history,
who opens the door,
and you know who
he opens the door for?
For the weary
and the shame-filled
like me,
without this,
I would be lost.
All hope,
all hope
would be gone.
But what has been so rich
and so timely for me
during this season
of hard providence
that I've been going through
are these promises
that Jesus has
to his church
for those who are
undergoing trials
and difficulties,
being reminded
that it's our Lord Jesus,
brothers and sisters,
who continues to promise,
promise to his people,
that the day is coming
when disappointment,
grief,
and fear will be gone,
that sorrow will be forgotten,
that love's purest joys
will be restored,
when change and tears
are passed
and all saved and blessed
we shall meet at last.
That is who Jesus is.
And even to his church
here in Philadelphia,
he talks about acting
in such a way
that will be undeniable.
He's going to act
on their behalf.
And he talks about that
in verses 9 through 10.
He talks about
that he's going to make
those that are
of the synagogue of Satan
come down
and bow before their feet
that they will learn
that I have loved you
and that he will keep them
from the hour of trial
that is coming
on the whole earth
to try those
who dwell on the earth.
He talks about
those that are
of the synagogue of Satan
and this is
an incredible picture
because when he says
that he holds open the door
and no one is able to shut
and he shuts
and no one is able to open,
Jesus is saying,
friends,
that he has the authority
to bring even
the most heinous,
even the most blasphemous enemies
and bring them
into his house
as those who now know him
and know his love
for his people.
What an encouragement
that is for us
knowing the power
and the grace
of Jesus.
There is nothing
too heinous.
There is nothing
too dirty.
There is nothing
too shameful.
There is no one
too dirty
or too shameful
for him.
Even those
that he called
part of Satan's domain.
Christ is able
to save
to the uttermost
no matter,
no matter the sin.
And the second thing
that he promises
to his church
in Philadelphia
is that he will
protect them
from the hour of trial
that is coming upon
those who dwell
on the earth.
Now the thing
I want to just point out
to you
is keeping in mind
that Jesus is addressing
a very specific church
at this time.
I do not believe
that he is talking
about a period
of tribulation
that they themselves
would not experience.
That doesn't fit
the context
of what he's saying here.
Rather,
what Jesus is saying
is a principle
that holds true,
that rings true
for the church
down through the ages
all the way
to the end
of time.
And that is
that for those
who hold fast to him
during trials
and tribulations,
he promises
to provide the strength,
the supernatural strength
and presence
that they will need
to endure that.
The world is filled
with tribulation.
You and I,
we cannot avoid it.
But Jesus provides
what no one else can,
spiritual endurance
and ultimately
the victory
that comes with him.
And he says that
in verse 11 and following.
He says,
I am coming soon.
Hold fast to what you have
that no one
may seize your crown.
The one who conquers,
I will make him
a pillar in the temple
of my God,
he says.
To the one who conquers,
by holding fast to me,
he says,
there is a place for you.
There is a name for you.
And it's my God,
Jesus says.
It is a place
that my God
is preparing for you.
It is a name
that my God
has written on you.
And Jesus says
that I will make him,
I will make him
the one who endures.
I will make him
a member.
I will make him
a partaker
in the city
that is coming down
from heaven.
The city that is
prepared for you.
So all of that,
all of that
is for you,
Cheyenne Mountain.
For you who hold fast
even amid trials
and afflictions
in this life.
The one who is true
and faithful.
The one who is holy.
Who is the fulfillment
of all of God's
covenant promises.
He holds the door
open to this day,
to this very day.
And Jesus does this,
friends,
because he ultimately
took on the form
of a servant for us.
He was obedient
to his father
even unto death.
He faced trial
after trial.
He faced trial
from Satan.
He faced trial
from the unbelieving world
and the betrayal,
the slander,
the lies,
the injustice
that we afflict
on one another.
Jesus did all this
who for the joy
that was set before him,
he endured it all.
He endured the cross.
He endured the shame.
He endured the rejection,
the ridicule,
the malice,
the betrayal,
the abandonment,
the loneliness,
the wrath of his father.
He did all that
knowing that for the joy
that was set before him,
he would bring you and I
into his kingdom.
And he calls,
he calls you and I
to follow in his footsteps
by embracing
and holding fast
to him
who promises
by his word
and spirit
through the ministry
of his church
that we will overcome.
There is no one
like Jesus.
There is no one
like him.
So the call
goes out to you,
church,
to hold fast,
to hold fast.
He who has ears,
let him hear
what the spirit
says to the church.
By his endurance,
we will conquer.
Thanks be to him.
Let's pray.
Lord,
we thank you
for this word.
We thank you
for this time.
Jesus,
we thank you
that even though
we in the eyes
of the world
as a church
may have little power
in your eyes,
Lord,
help us to be faithful.
Help us to hold fast.
Help us by your spirit,
Lord,
to endure
what we must.
We ask that you would,
Lord,
convert us,
convert us out of our
worldly way of thinking.
Convert us.
If we,
Lord,
if we do not see you
as you are,
as the holy and true one,
as the one who holds the keys,
keys to heaven,
keys to the kingdom of God,
that no one,
no one is able to shut
what you have established
and no one is able to open
what you have shut.
You have ultimate authority,
Lord Jesus,
and we pray that
as we come to your table now,
you would remind us
of how you set
your authority aside
from heaven
to come down
and to serve us
in this incredible way.
Lord,
help us to eat and drink
in faith
as we go
to your table now.
And it's in your name
we pray.
Amen.