7 Churches - Philadelphia
Notes
Transcript
This morning we look at the Philadelphia Church.
The encouraging part of this church is that they had NO COMPLAINTS AGAINS THEM!!!! They were being commended and encouraged to persevere persecution and reminded of the rewards that await them!!!
Philadelphia was an agricultural community whose city center had been plagued with earthquakes - thus causing the people to disperse out into the country side. The region was known for growing vines (most likely grape vines) so they would be producers of wine and other vine growing plants.
The indication here is that there is a strong Jewish community in this region (not Jews who received Christ as Messiah, but those who rejected Him and persecuted followers of Him).
From the language used in this passage we are under the impression that this church is not large in numbers or ability (an encouraging word to most churches), but were persevering, obedient and faithful.
7 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open:
8 “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.
9 Look, I will force those who belong to Satan’s synagogue—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.
10 “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.
12 All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.
13 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.
1. Christ Opens the Doors of Salvation
1. Christ Opens the Doors of Salvation
Jesus holds the KEYS TO THE KINGDOM of GOD and He alone opens the door.
If you recall in the account of Noah and the Ark, that there was one DOOR into the ARK, the way to salvation, and the door was open and any who believed were invited to come in, but the door was shut by God when the time of judgment had begun and the rains began to fall.
Jesus is the one who holds the keys to the door of Salvation. The reference to the Keys of the house of David is a direct reference to this.
The Jews (Synagogue of Satan) were those who rejected Christ as the key to salvation and they persecuted the Christians for claiming they had a claim in the Kingdom of God. Jews held fast to the prophetic words of the OT Prophets of Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah etc., but they believed these were only for them, and thus gave the church here a difficult time persecuting them for believing Christ would welcome them into what they considered to be their KINGDOM from God.
However, Christ reminds this church - that those persecutors had rejected HIM, and He is the one who holds the keys. ONLY HE CAN OPEN AND SHUT THE DOORS into the Kingdom of God, and He freely opens those doors for all who put their faith in HIM!!!!
Those He opens the door to - no one can shut!!!
25 When the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
This parable teaching reminds us that many will stand outside the door and miss its opening and the chance to enter --- Jesus was commending this church for having COME INTO HIS KINGDOM.
7 so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them.
9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.
10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
A gate is a door, and those who enter by Christ will be saved!!! FIND GOOD PASTURE and have a satisfying LIFE!
Christ and CHrist alone is the ONLY WAY to the Father, to eternal life
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
He is the author and finisher of salvation...
2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Christ was writing to this church to ENCOURAGE them that HE HOLDS THE KEYS to their salvation! and the very people who were telling them they had no place in HIS Kingdom - He would defeat, and actually they would see HIS LOVE for them and actually bow to them
WHY??? --- Because they are going to REIGN WITH HIM!
9 Look, I will force those who belong to Satan’s synagogue—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.
COME ON CHURCH --- don’t let the enemy steal your joy - because we are the VICTORIOUS ONES WHOM JESUS LOVES!!! We will reign with Christ and all our enemies will be placed under our feet!!!
2. Christ Recognizes Obedient Faith
2. Christ Recognizes Obedient Faith
What is it that the church in Philadelphia did right?
When Jesus refers to them as having little strength, it was a reference to the fact that they were not a large and powerful church with many members, this was a small body of believers ---
Though small - they were strong!
In What?
Obeying the Word, Not denying His name, Persevering in their faith!
15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.
We need to remember to NOT DENY GOD through our behavior. THe other churches were guilty of denying Christ every time they choose to sin and participate in the world.
4 For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—
6 and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.
IF you think about it, persevering in the faith and not denying the name of Jesus is something that is not just done in WORD, but in our deeds! Hebrews tells us that going back to sin is like crucifying Christ all over again,
14 He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
We demonstrate our love for God and our acceptance of Him through our active obedience to His Word.
18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
The issue with so many “Christians” today is that they talk of faith but do not live it out...
James said our faith will be shown by our lives!
Jesus, was recognizing and about to make a rewarding promises because of the diligence of this church to be obedient, persevering and faithful to His name through their lives...
They did not have the big, profound, large environment to keep them faithful, but they had dedicated hearts.
Christ is looking for us to be dedicated to Him in our hearts, actions, proclamation - it is the character he longs to reward in His church.
They could have easily become discouraged by the Jews who told them they had no rights to His kingdom, or given up from persecution, but they were steadfast and enduring.
Everything around us can scream at us there is nothing worth serving, but Jesus has blessing waiting for those who are faithful.
3. Christ Establishes the Faithful Forever
3. Christ Establishes the Faithful Forever
The last thing we see in this passage is the establishment of the faithful church in the ETERNAL KINGDOM OF GOD!!!
Think for a second that the persecution of these believers are not from the pagan community, but from the Jewish people who should have accepted Christ as Messiah and been their brethren in the Kingdom of God.
They have dealt with their cruelty and condemnation, and Jesus says....
I am going to make them sit at your feet and worship you (this is not the same concept of our worship of Christ, but the level of being under their reign… We are going to reign with Christ in the Millennial reign and then live with Him forever.
12 If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us.
2. Then he tells them they will be pillars in His Temple - this is not a temple made by human hands but God’s hands… In the Temple of Heaven, it is the saints of God that are the bulwark or pillars that form the dwelling place of God!
The promise here is that they will have to go out no more… in addition to the Jews in the city, Philadelphia was known as a Little Athens as it had many smaller temples to other gods in it. The constant earthquakes in this region would often knock down the pillars of the temples and people would have to flee out of them as they would fall. But in Christ Temple they would be established and never have to fear its collapse.
3. Citizens in the New Jerusalem - eternally belonging to the King of Kings with His name written upon us. No one can ever take that away!!! One other note about Philadelphia is it was identified by many names and name changes - to this reminder would speak to them of being forever established
A safe place that would not be destroyed, a name that is established and where they would reign with Christ! The answer of Christ to a faithful church...
CONCLUSION - The Rapture
CONCLUSION - The Rapture
As we conclude, we must take note of one more thing....
There is a promise to the faithful church to be removed from this world during its time of TRIBULATION!
The Book of Revelation goes into great detail about the season of TRIBULATION that is intended to deal with a world that has rejected Christ and especially a dealing with the JEWISH NATION who had the truth prophesied to them and yet did not receive Jesus. It is often refereed to as Jacob’s trouble...
Yet, there is a promise to the faithful church...
10 “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.
How befitting is this letter to the church for us today...
Jesus is saying --- HOLD ON TO WHAT YOU HAVE --- keep on pressing on and persevere with obedience and faith....
Why, HE IS COMING SOON, and He will remove those who are in Him from the tribulation that will occur
10 And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.
17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.
8 But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.
9 For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us.
10 Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever.
You see the KEEPER OF THE KEYS that has opened the door of salvation will also keep us from the wrath of judgment that is coming on this world. Those who have endured will be be spared and joined with Christ in the air to return to earth and reign with Him
Let me close with these words found in Jude...
14 Enoch, who lived in the seventh generation after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said, “Listen! The Lord is coming with countless thousands of his holy ones
15 to execute judgment on the people of the world. He will convict every person of all the ungodly things they have done and for all the insults that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
16 These people are grumblers and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want.
17 But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted.
18 They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires.
19 These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.
20 But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,
21 and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.
22 And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering.
23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.
24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.
25 All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.
