A Persevering Church

Lead Vocalist (Kelly)

Welcome & Announcements (Mike K)

Good morning family!

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Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Psalm 145:1-3)

Prayer of Praise (Susana Donahue)

Doxology (God Be Praised)

How Firm a Foundation

Prayer of Confession (Jason Wells), Fear of man

Assurance of Pardon (Joel 2:12-13)

Rock of Ages Cleft for Me

Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me

Scripture Reading (Revelation 3:7-13)—page 1220 in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Mike K)

Prayer for PBC—Faithfulness in trials

Prayer for kingdom partner—Sovereign Shores Baptist Church (Steve Roby)

Prayer for US— (Current event)

Prayer for the world—India

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

Few illustrate the beauty of perseverance better than a British sprinter named Derek Redmond.

In 1985, Redmond set the British record in the 400 meters. In 1987, he broke it again.

He won silver at the World Championships, and by 1991, he had taken gold.

But his goal was never just the world championships—it was Olympic glory.

In the 1988 Olympics, that dream slipped away just minutes before his race when an injury forced him to withdraw.

So by the time the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona came around, everything was on the line. This was his last chance.

He came out strong, posting the fastest time in the first round and advancing through the quarterfinals.

Then came the semifinals. About 150 meters into the race, it happened again. His hamstring tore.

He collapsed onto the track in pain, his Olympic dream slipping away for the final time.

The medical team rushed out with a stretcher. But Derek refused it. Instead, he got back up.

And step by painful step—limping, straining, fighting through the agony—he began to make his way toward the finish line.

The race was over. He wouldn’t win. He would finish dead last, but he would finish.

That’s what perseverance looks like. Not winning the race, not impressing people with our skills and strength, not running with ease.

Perseverance looks like refusing to quit, even if every step is marked by excruciating pain.

And in Revelation 3:7-13, Jesus writes to a church that knows exactly what that feels like.

The message to the church in Philadelphia is the sixth of seven messages sent by Jesus to real local churches near the end of the first century A.D.

SHOW 7 CHURCHES MAP

The church in Philadelphia was one of only two churches for which Jesus has nothing negative to say.

Instead, Jesus simply encourages this church to hold fast. To keep going. To persevere.

Here’s the Big idea I hope to communicate this morning: Jesus encourages faithful churches to persevere until the end.

As we walk through this passage of Scripture I want to show you Five encouragements that will help us persevere:

In verse 7 Jesus is the One who includes His people,

In verse 8, He empowers His people,

In verse 9, Jesus shows how He will vindicate His people,

In verses 10-11, Jesus is coming to rescue His people,

and in verses 12-13, Jesus promises He will never forsake His people.

That’s what we’re going to cover this morning with the Lord’s help.

Here’s my prayer for this sermon:

To the unbelievers, I hope you’ll see in Jesus the type of love you’ve been looking for your entire life. A friend who sticks closer than a brother. Someone who knows you fully, and yet is willing to love you anyways. I hope you’ll surrender to Jesus’s love today.

To the Christians, some of you have fallen down on the track like Derek Redmond. I hope hearing these truths about Jesus will help you to get back up. Some of you are hobbling towards the finish line. I hope God’s Word will help you to keep going. Others are going fine right now. I hope you’ll be on the lookout for those who might be struggling, and ask how the Lord might use you to help someone else persevere.

We can persevere until the end because…

1) Jesus will include His people.

As He does in each of the seven messages, Jesus begins by introducing Himself to the church...

Revelation 3:7—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.

Notice first, Jesus says He is “the Holy One.”

When we hear the word holy, we typically think of moral purity. And that’s true of Jesus.

But, at it’s heart, the word holy refers to God’s uniqueness, His “otherness.”

As Joel Beeke writes, “God’s holiness means that He is set apart by His glory for His glory.” [1]

This is why we cannot be welcomed into the presence of God! Just like you couldn’t survive in outer space without a space suit, you couldn’t survive in heaven without being dressed in holiness. And on your own, you don’t have any!

That’s why we sing, “Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.”

And yet, so many people reject Jesus. So many people refuse to believe He’s who He said He is.

So Jesus reminds the Philadelphian Christians that He is “the true one.”

Jesus said He was sinless, and He was telling the truth!

He said He would die in our place, and He was telling the truth!

He said He would rise on the third day, and He was telling the truth!

And Jesus doesn’t just tell the truth, He IS truth!

John 14:6—… “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Because Jesus is the Holy One and the True One, He has authority to determine who can come to the Father.

And that’s exactly what Jesus is referring to when He says He “has the key of David.”

In Revelation 1:18, Jesus said He had the “keys of Death and Hades,” but now He says He “has the key of David.”

What’s going on Jesus, did you grab the wrong keys?

If you’re like me, you probably have a keychain filled with keys. You have no idea what most of those keys are for, but you’re keeping them “just in case.”

For us keys represent access. And because we have lots of places where we want to limit access, we have lots of keys.

But in the ancient world it was slightly different. People didn’t have keychains because keys were large, cumbersome, and rare.

In the Bible keys always represent not primarily access, but authority.

So when Jesus says He “has the keys of Death and Hades” in Revelation 1:18, He’s saying He has authority over who goes there.

And when He says He “has the key of David,” He’s saying He has authority to decide who inherits the Kingdom promised to David.

We’ll learn soon how the believers in Philadelphia were suffering at the hands of ethnically Jewish people who rejected Christ.

Any self-respecting Jew—both then and now—would say, “We are the rightful heirs of David’s Kingdom. If you want to belong to the Kingdom of David you have to be Jewish!”

Even many well-meaning Christians today believe certain promises in the Bible only apply to the ethnically Jewish people.

But Jesus says, “You don’t decide who belongs to this kingdom… I do. Because I have the key.”

That’s why the Apostle Paul says in...

2 Corinthians 1:20a—For all the promises of God find their Yes in [Jesus].

If you were a believer in the Philadelphian church, excluded by your Jewish neighbors and your Roman leaders, wouldn’t it be comforting to hear Jesus say: “In Me you’re included?”

If you’re a believer in the 21st century church you are excluded by social elites, mocked by Hollywood, overlooked in Washington, taunted by Madison Avenue, and even physically attacked by many in the world. If you truly believe that Jesus holds the key of David you can sing…

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;

The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,

His kingdom is forever.

Before we move on, notice what Jesus says about this key: no one can open what Jesus closes, and no one can close what Jesus opens.

Because this key represents authority over David’s Kingdom, that means nobody can disqualify you from the promises of God if you belong to Jesus.

There are no second-class citizens in heaven. There’s no elite club for the really special ones. If you’re in, you are fully and forever included!

By the way, Christian, that means you can’t kick yourself out either! If Jesus opens the door to salvation to you, you can’t close it yourself. You cannot lose what you did not earn.

But if you’re not a believer, you cannot open the gates of heaven yourself. You cannot do anything to wedge your way in. All you can do is cry out to Jesus and beg for mercy. Beg Him to rescue you. Would you do that today?

We can persevere until the end because Jesus will include His people. And also because…

2) Jesus will empower His people.

Revelation 3:8—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.

Before we talk about the content of this verse, I want you to notice the structure.

To five out of seven churches, Jesus repeats that phrase “I know your works.”

Every other time, He follows that phrase with a description of those works.

But here He does something different. He says this line about an open door, and then He describes their works.

I think that second sentence about the open door is meant to be a parenthetical statement. It’s giving us the reason why the Philadelphian Christians are able to do the works they are doing. [2]

And what works are they doing?

First, they’re obeying Scripture.

Jesus says, you have kept my word.

The Philadelphian Christians haven’t forsaken their first love like the Ephesians, or tolerated false teaching like the churches in Pergamum and Thyatira. They were an obedient church.

They certainly weren’t perfect, but they were faithful.

And they’re persevering in the faith.

Jesus says, you have not denied my name.

Although Jesus doesn’t explicitly mention suffering in Philadelphia, it’s quite reasonable to assume Jesus says they didn’t deny His name because someone was trying to force them to deny His name.

So this is a church that is persevering in the faith, even when it hurts.

And they’re doing all of this despite their weakness.

Jesus says, I know that you have but little power.

The Philadelphian Christians were not physically strong. They appeared weak, small, helpless, and unimpressive.

But they were faithfully persevering out of what little strength they had.

Like Derek Redmond limping towards the finish line.

But how are they able to do these things? Because Jesus is empowering them to persevere!

Notice that paranthetical statement in the middle of the verse: Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.

There’s a lot of debate about what this “open door” means.

But as I showed you a moment ago, Jesus is giving us the reason why these believers are able to do their good works.

How can any of us obey God’s Word? How can we persevere in faith, even when it hurts? How can we do these things when we’re weak? Because God empowers us to do so. He sets before us an open door that nobody can shut.

As many of you know, the Lord has been teaching me what it looks like to be faithful in weakness over the past few months.

Ever since the beginning of December, I have been dealing with challenges to my vocal cords. So many of you have faithfully prayed for me, yet my weakness persists. I have tried more home remedies than I care to admit, and yet my weakness persists. I have given up parts of my life and ministry that I love, yet my weakness persists.

While I continue to pray, hope, and work for a full recovery, the Lord is teaching me weakness isn’t the worst thing. He’s reminding me how I desperately need Him. He’s drawing me to Himself in prayer more than ever before. He’s reminding me that I can write a sermon in my own strength, but I have no guarantees I can physically preach it unless He helps me.

He’s helping me to personally understand Paul’s words in…

2 Corinthians 12:9–10—But [the Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Do you believe that, Christian? Does your weakness tempt you to give up? Or is it drawing you near to the God who shows His strength through your weakness?

We can persevere until the end because Jesus will empower His people. And because…

3) Jesus will vindicate His people.

Revelation 3:9—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.

This is now the second time we’ve seen that phrase “synagogue of Satan” in the book of Revelation.

Jesus also used it in His message to the church at Smyrna.

We said then that this was a reference to ethnic Jews who have rejected the Messiah so they’re really in league with Satan.

They say they are Jews, but Jesus says they’re lying! Jesus is not denying their ethnicity, He’s accusing them of misunderstanding what it means to truly be a Jew.

The Apostle Paul put it this way…

Romans 2:28–29—For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.…

Romans 9:6—“… not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel”

There’s a difference between being ethnically Jewish and being spiritually Jewish.

Remember, Jesus holds the key to David’s Kingdom. He gets to decide who inherits the promises to Israel.

If you belong to Jesus—regardless of your ethnicity—you are part of the true people of God.

But it doesn’t always feel that way, does it?

It doesn’t feel like we are God’s people when a Christian basketball player is kicked off his team in Chicago for daring to speak the truth. [3]

It doesn’t feel like it when a Christian baker in Colorado spends almost fifteen years in various legal battles for refusing to celebrate what the Bible calls sin. [4]

It doesn’t feel like it when a physician in Finland is convicted of hate speech for having the audacity to tweet a Bible verse that condemned homosexuality. [5]

And it didn’t feel like it in Philadelphia when the Christians there were attacked by those who said “you’re not really God’s people. We are.”

But notice what God promises to the Philadelphian believers...

Revelation 3:9b—I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.

This is an unmistakable allusion to another Old Testament promise.

God’s people had endured unimaginable mistreatment at the hands of their enemies, and God promised them this in…

Isaiah 60:14—The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

Here’s what’s absolutely shocking: Ethnic Jews received this prophecy and certainly would’ve expected that one day their Gentile enemies would bow down before them. They could never have imagined that one day ethnic Jews would be bowing down before Gentile believers saying, “You really are the people of God!”

Christian: The day is coming when those who rejected Christ—and rejected you because of Him—will bow down and recognize that you belong to the God they denied.

We should pray that God would help them to see now, so they too can worship the God we worship!

But if not, please understand that you don’t have to win every argument. You don’t have to defend your reputation. You don’t have to prove yourself to the world.

We can persevere until the end because Jesus will vindicate His people. And also because…

4) Jesus will rescue His people.

Revelation 3:10a—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.

Simply put, Jesus is saying that He’s going to rescue the believers from a coming trial. But what is the trial Jesus is talking about?

Some have argued this is referring to some sort of local trial that would befall the city of Philadelphia. The problem with that interpretation is that Jesus says this trial is “coming on the whole world.”

Others have argued this is a reference to some sort of rapture event. Christians are caught up in the air to escape a Great Tribulation that happens at the end of the age. The problems with that interpretation are too numerous to list here.

But perhaps most convincingly is the truth that all over the Bible from Genesis to Revelation: God does not typically deliver His people from suffering, but through suffering.

Just think of Noah in the Ark, Moses at the red sea, Daniel in the lion’s den, Esther and the king’s scepter, and the Apostle John who is exiled on Patmos as he’s writing Revelation.

The key to understanding the “hour of trial” is by looking at that phrase “those who dwell on the earth.”

G.K. Beale helpfully writes: “Those dwelling on the earth” is a technical term throughout Revelation for unbelieving idolaters, who suffer under various forms of retributive tribulation” (Rev. 6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 12:12; 13:8, 12, 14; 14:6; 17:2, 8). [6]

In other words, this is a suffering that only affects unbelievers.

What can this be but the final judgment—when Jesus returns to destroy His enemies and rescue His people once and for all?

The Apostle Peter says this...

2 Peter 2:9—… the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment

Unbeliever, there is a Judgment Day coming. Unless you turn from your sins and trust in Jesus’ death on the cross in your place, you cannot escape it. Would you cry out to Jesus today? If you’d like to learn more about who Jesus is and what it means to follow Him, would you talk with me or someone else near you before you leave here today?

Christian, listen carefully: your suffering is not God’s wrath. You may face hardship, persecution, weakness, even death. But if your faith is in Christ, you will never face the wrath of God.

The worst thing that could ever happen to a human being has already been taken by Christ on your behalf.

So you can endure anything this world throws at you, because you know how the story ends.

That’s why Jesus says to you:

Revelation 3:10b-11—I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.

Jesus is coming. And when He comes, He will rescue His people from the wrath to come.

So don’t give up, Christian! Keep running, even when it hurts. Because you know the finish line is coming!

We can persevere until the end because Jesus will rescue His people. And finally…

5) Jesus will never forsake His people.

One potential danger in talking about perseverance is that you might think it’s entirely up to you.

Now, don’t misunderstand. You and I really must persevere. We must keep going.

And yet, the Bible is equally clear that, if you’re truly a Christian, you will persevere. Because God is the One who preserves you.

Since this is such an important doctrine, I want to read at length from a historic Baptist statement of faith called The Abstract of Principles…

“Those whom God hath accepted in the Beloved, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere to the end; and though they may fall through neglect and temptation, into sin, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, bring reproach on the Church, and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they shall be renewed again unto repentance, and be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” [7]

If you’re truly a Christian, you may wander for a season. And your wandering will grieve the Holy Spirit, it will hurt you and those who love. And yet, if you’re truly a Christian, you will eventually repent. Because God WILL preserve until the end everyone He saves.

We catch a glimpse of this preserving power in…

Revelation 3:12–13—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.

Notice some of the language Jesus uses here.

He’ll make His people a PILLAR. Few things are as immovable as a pillar!

And when you’re made a pillar in the house of God you will NEVER lose that status.

And Jesus is so determined to do this, He’s writing His name on you in indelible ink!

Christian, keep holding onto Jesus because He is holding on to you!

We can persevere until the end because Jesus will never forsake His people.

As we conclude, I want you to go back with me to that track in Barcelona.

Derek Redmond is limping down the track. The race is lost. His dream is gone. Every step is agony. And yet… he keeps going.

But what I didn’t mention earlier is that Redmond didn’t finish that race alone.

Up in the stands, his father saw what was happening. And he made his way down out of the crowd, pushed past security, ran onto the track, and came alongside his son.

He wrapped his arm around him. And step by painful step, he helped Derek finish the race.

Derek was limping, but his father was holding him.

Family, that’s the difference between worldly perseverance and Christian perseverance.

The world says: “Dig deep. Try harder. Find strength within yourself.”

But Jesus says: “You have but little power… but I will hold you.”

We persevere, not because we are strong but because…

Jesus includes us,

Jesus empowers us,

Jesus vindicates us,

Jesus rescues us,

And Jesus will never, ever forsake us.

Some of you feel like Derek Redmond this morning.

You’re not sprinting, you’re limping. You’re not strong, you’re barely holding on. You’re tired. You’re hurting. You’re wondering if you can keep going.

And here’s what Jesus is saying to you: “Hold fast… because I am holding you.”

If our salvation depends on our grip on Christ, we would lose it. Praise God it depends on His grip on us!

I could never keep my hold

Through life's fearful path

For my love is often cold

He must hold me fast

Prayer of Thanksgiving

He Will Hold Me Fast

Benediction (Jude 24-25)