The Church with a Bright Future (#7) - September 30, 2020

you know it's a wonderful thing to meet a christian who's a happy christian and when you add to it the fact that a happy christian is happy with their church now i have met many christians through the years who were not happy with their church even some who got so unhappy that they either left their church or stopped going to church but it's wonderful when you can talk to a believer in christ who is part of a church where there's an excitement about the future where there's an acknowledgement that god is on the move in that church and when there is an anticipation of bright days ahead in the life of that church and it's that kind of church that we're going to be talking about from the third chapter of the book of revelation tonight the church with a bright future that's the title of the message tonight the church with a bright future and i want you to open to the third chapter of revelation we're just going to read through it one verse at a time as we begin this discussion tonight on what is our sixth of seven of the churches jesus issued letters to from heaven down to john on the island of patmos who then had these letters delivered to each of the seven churches that were on the heart of jesus tonight we're talking about the church at philadelphia this city of philadelphia was named after a king of the ancient kingdom of pergamos his name was atlas philadelphus and he was responsible for actually establishing the city thus it bears his name the word philadelphia is the combination of two greek words one of the greek words for love which is philos and the greek word for brother which is delphos and you put them together and the word means brotherly love now that word in the greek language is used six times in the new testament for instance in romans chapter 12 and verse 10 where paul wrote these words be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love and then again in hebrews chapter 13 and verse 1 where the author says let brotherly love continue and there are four other uses of that word brotherly love found in the new testament but this instance of the the word philadelphia as a city not with the literal meaning of brotherly love it's the only time it's used in the new testament right here in the letter of jesus to the church in that place this city and its history suffered near annihilation on several instances because of an earthquake we've acknowledged in our discussion of the history of some of these other cities that that part of asia minor which is modern-day turkey is prone to earthquakes the city had to be rebuilt from its ruins after each of the quakes drove its inhabitants out into the surrounding areas only to come back and find everything they owned being crippled in dust in addition to it having been ravaged by earthquakes several times it was known for its surrounding fields which supported rich crops because of the fertile soil from volcanic ash its primary crop was grapes which means it was a center for vineyards in asia minor and it's no wonder then that in philadelphia the chief god who was worshiped is the god dionysus and dionysus was the god of wine so pardon the pun but dionysus and philadelphia were a perfect pairing because you had a place that produced the grapes that went into wine making and you had the god of wine who was enshrined in a temple in that same place so once again it was a city like all of the cities we've discussed in this study that was given over to the worship of false gods and the city in which the christian church was in the slim minority similar to jesus letter to the church at smyrna that we looked at in chapter two his letter to this church in philadelphia bears no criticism no complaint against the church it was about smyrna and philadelphia those two churches out of the seven that jesus had nothing critical to say in the letter that he wrote to them so what i want us to do is i want us to walk through this passage and glean some very important key points from the words of jesus to the church at philadelphia and here's the first thing that i hope you'll write down and that is that jesus wants this church to understand he wants all of us to understand that he has authority over our circumstances he has authority over our circumstances someone needs to be reminded of that tonight i certainly need to be reminded of it i want you to look at his greeting to the church in verse number seven where he he says to john to the angel of the church in philadelphia right these things says he who is holy he who is true he who has the key of david he who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens unlike in the other letters these words of jesus don't use the exact language that he used from chapter 1 where john recorded the description of jesus as he saw him in in heaven there is some similarity it's just not identical here jesus says the one who is sending this message to the church at philadelphia is he who is holy and certainly he is and he who is true and we all amen that in a world of dishonesty and deception how good it is to know that our savior is he who is true in this verse after saying i am he who is holy and i am he who is true jesus says i am he who has the key of david now that's where the similarity lies between what he says in identifying himself to the church of philadelphia and something that john wrote down about jesus appearance in chapter one in chapter one verse 18 jesus said to john i am he who lives and was dead and behold i am alive forevermore amen and and then look what jesus says he says i have the keys of hades and of death so you see there's similarity there in chapter one when john first saw the glorified christ jesus said i have the keys of of hades and of death but here to the church at philadelphia he says i have the key of david now what jesus is doing here we believe is he's referring to an old testament passage from isaiah's prophecy in fact it's isaiah 22 22. i want you to look at it on the screen where it says the key of the house of david i will lay on his shoulder so he shall open and no one shall shut he shall shut and no one shall open now this was a promise to one of the scribes named eliakim who served under king hezekiah eliakim had the key to the storage house where all of the king's treasures were were kept so by reaching back into that fairly obscure passage isaiah 22 22 and applying it to himself jesus is saying that just as eliacum the scribe had the key to the house where the treasures were kept in the palace of the king so i am he who has the key to the house where all of the treasures of my father the king are stored what a great reminder on the part of jesus that he has the key to everything we need can you say jesus has the key that's important for us to remember today so i want us to think about as in this in this point number one where jesus is saying i have authority over your circumstances there are two specific ways he has authority and both of them have to do with this idea of a key because a key can unlock a door and a key can also lock a door it's the key that opens doors of opportunity the key that seals doors of opportunity shut so here's the first part of his authority over our circumstances i want you to write this down don't miss it it's all a part of this authority he has because he holds the key are you ready for it here it is when jesus opens the door no one can shut it when jesus opens a door no one can shut it that's because he is all-powerful now i want you to consider some of the final words of jesus when he was on the earth we call it the great commission it's the closing verses of the book of matthew we usually start where it says go and make disciples of all nation but but if if we're not careful we'll miss the most important part of those words which are in the 18th verse of matthew 28 where it says and jesus came and spoke to them saying now look what i have underlined here these are jesus words he said all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth not a little bit not some not even most but all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth then he says go therefore and make disciples of all the nation so i want you to think about when he's saying to this church at philadelphia they are outnumbered they are the minority in the city of wine where the god dionysus is worshiped and yet jesus wants them to understand i've got the key to the doors of opportunity and i am he to whom all authority has been given by almighty god i hope you and i will be encouraged by this reminder tonight question is do you believe he has all authority do you really believe jesus christ has been given all authority well if we believe that we need to take seriously what he says here to them and that is when he opens the door no one can shut it now the question that we've got to figure out is is jesus the one who's opened the door how many times have have we faced an opportunity and we wondered is this what god wants me to do is this a door through which i am to walk and because not every opportunity is an opportunity from god sometimes there are opportunities that we must bypass that we must refuse to accept so it it it requires us to be very prayerful and discerning but what jesus wants you to know if he's the one who opened the door no one can shut it now here's here's the second part of his authority over our circumstances and that is this when jesus shuts the door no one can open it the converse is equally true now this is the source of a lot of frustration in the lives of many christians and as far as that goes non-christians for that matter all of us know that there are doors that are that are closed and sometimes even though there's a door that's been closed jesus calls us to go knock on that door it's his will for us to go and he will use our obedience as a tool to to open that door but that's not what we're talking about here we're talking about here a door that jesus has closed that he does not intend for you or anyone else to open how many times have we been on the other side of one of those doors and little do we know jesus has bolted it locked from the other side and we go and we knock and the door is not open we then double down and we charge the door and the door does not budge then we go get a crow bar out of the trunk and we try to pry the door open with our ingenuity and all kinds of clever schemes and the crowbar avails nothing and then we go and buy some explosives and we line the frame of the door and we lay the wire and we walk several feet away and we put the wires together and the whole thing blows but the door is still locked shut you've been there i've been there and you want to know why there are certain doors that never opened it's because jesus says when i shut it no one can open it and the challenge for us as christians is to figure out which is which which is the door before me that jesus has opened and which is the door before me that jesus has shut and god will show us but what jesus wanted this church to know is i'm the one who has the key to the lock on all doors of opportunity here's the second thing though not only does jesus have authority over our circumstances but jesus gives assurance to us in our weakness and what i want us to look at in this passage i want us to look at several promises he gave to this church having acknowledged to them that even though he had no complaint or criticism about them it was a church that was nonetheless very weak and weary and so under this idea of assurances i'm going to give you three promises he he gave to build a sense of assurance into a church that that was struggling a little bit with spiritual strength here's the first one you ready for this he says you have a bright future that's what he's saying to the church at philadelphia you have a bright future in verse 8 he says as he says to all the churches i know your works that's how he begins every one of the assessments of these seven churches but to philadelphia he says see i have set before you an open door and no one can shut it for you have a little strength in other words he's saying i know you're tired and you're weary and you're worn but you have kept my word and you have not denied my name now i love the fact that that jesus says here i have set before you as a church an open door and he's already said in verse number seven and he repeats in verse number eight if i open a door no one can shut it that's true for an individual christian but in this case jesus intended this for the entire church at philadelphia i have opened the door to your future and no one is going to get in the way of my plan for you as a congregation he is guaranteeing their future and you know i was reminded when i was studying this about a warning he made say to the first church we looked at the church in ephesus and remember when john saw jesus in chapter one jesus was encircled by seven lamp stands and each lamp stand symbolized the place of the church in the circle of jesus and into the church at ephesus in chapter 2 and verse 5 jesus said these words if you don't repent i will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches so to the church at ephesus jesus was threatening listen he was threatening to shut down that church removing the lampstand means the church is no more and that's good for us to remember that a true body of believers that is legitimately recognized in heaven the way these seven were in in the vision john had of jesus that church is always in the hands of jesus that church's blessings come from jesus that church's future rests entirely with jesus and the encouraging word he is giving to this church in philadelphia is you have a bright future i'm not threatening to remove your lampstand your doors are not going to be closed because you have been faithful and i am making sure that your church will continue to be a bright and vibrant witness for my name the church will continue to exist the church will continue to be blessed the church will continue to be a gospel preaching community impacting church for the glory of god what a promise and i am praying that jesus will make us that same promise as a church now jesus says you are weak but you are not wanting and in verse number 8 i want you to see this on the screen jesus says you might be weak he says you have a little strength but look at the two things he said about them in verse eight he says even though you are weak and weary you have kept my word oh what a great compliment and you have not denied my name when you look at what he said to some of these other churches that we've studied before philadelphia he didn't have those words to say because several of the churches had denied his word and denied his name but the church at philadelphia had remained true to the word and true to the lord and he says because of that i am going to bless you now we need to remember everybody gets tired everybody gets worn out living the christian life facing opposition being attacked by the enemy and sometimes we just get burned out but our weakness must never lead us to dishonor the lord what an example the church at philadelphia was but remember he's giving them assurance in their weakness and it's not only that they have a bright future but here's the second promise you will be honored by your enemies you'll be honored by you and yes they had enemies you've been hated by your enemies but jesus says i will make sure that you are honored by your enemies look in verse 9 he says i'm going to make those of the synagogue of satan who say they are jews and are not but they're lying indeed i will make them come and worship before your feet and to know that i have loved you now we've heard this kind of terminology before it was in jesus comments to the church at smyrna this same idea that lets us know that that in philadelphia just like in smyrna there were those who were were jews from the jewish community who did not believe in jesus as the messiah and they were hostile enemies against the christians and in fact the fiercest enemies of christians within the first two centuries of the christian faith were jewish people as sad as that is now of course christians have committed atrocities against jewish people throughout christian history that is in no way intended to be a slight against jewish people it's just a fact from reading the book of acts and from reading these letters to the churches of asia minor that there were churches who were experiencing fierce persecution from unbelieving jews in their city and jesus identifies such opposition in verse 9 but back in the church to smyrna revelation chapter 2 and verse 9 jesus said to them i know the blasphemy of those who say they are jews and are not but are a synagogue of satan jesus is saying both churches have the same kind of opposition but look at the promise he made to philadelphia he says i'm going to make your enemies bow down and worship before you now obviously he's not going to have them worship these human beings as though they're god he's going to have them bow down and acknowledge that the christ you worship is the true messiah and they will humbly acknowledge the wrongdoing they've committed by persecuting you now you might as well when is this going to happen he doesn't give us a timeline but i can tell you this that there is a principle we find throughout scripture that god is a god who vindicates his children when wrong is committed against them by whomever commits it that god does not just sit idly by and and call for no reckoning whatsoever when his children suffer unjustly at the hands of people who abuse their power and who mistreat god's people hey listen it's a serious thing to mess with a child of god when david wrote that famous shepherd psalm psalm 23 you know one of the lines in that beautiful poem is in verse number five where he says thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth over david understood that out of all of the enemies that hated him and wanted to see his downfall he said god you prepare a banquet table and continue to meet my needs as my enemies watch me being blessed in spite of how they treat me that's the type of heart that god has for his children and it's what jesus was saying to the church at philadelphia i know all of you have heard that that saying vengeance is mine says the lord that comes from romans 12 and i want to show you in the new living translation how that verse is translated where paul writes dear friends never take revenge leave that to the righteous anger of god for the scripture says i will take revenge i will pay them back says the lord now let me ask you a question when it comes to paying back your enemies who do you think can do a better job you are god i know the answer to that god can do a better job and if you think about it it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god and i wonder if that's not why jesus told us to pray for our enemies because based on how they treat god's people they're determining their own fate when they stand before god and therefore they need our prayers prayers that they'll repent and in this promise to this church jesus said those who have been cruel those who have caused you to lose your jobs those who have sent their children to ridicule your children those who have caused you sleepless nights i will see to it that they bow down before you and acknowledge what they've done to you what a powerful promise here's the third promise of assurance you ready for it he says you're going to be protected by god and they need that and so do we protection is something all of us need in our lives no matter what generation or time period in which we live and to which we belong and every christian needs it but every church needs protection as well you know i think about some of these churches that are meeting in spite of the governor of their state's decree not to me and one church in particular i've been following has has been fined and i think their fines are are climbing up over 150 000 now and they finally moved their services uh outdoors and some people some some have asked me well how do you feel about that well i can tell you this i always think there is something healthy about a church exercising its right to worship now here in georgia we're not any under any such command or edict of of a governor or city not to assemble we're trying to be responsible and that's our decision before god but but what i what i'm saying to you is this when it comes to being protected by god what we're seeing happen say in california to those churches i think that's a little foretaste of the type of experience that churches are going to have in the days to come where the government is going to seek to be more and more intrusive more and more prohibitive not only in how we assemble but in what we say when we get together what we preach and jesus says there's an hour of trial that is coming verse 10 says because you have kept my command to persevere i also will keep you from the hour of trial we shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth so in that verse you see there's an hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world and he says i'm going to keep you from that now you say what does that mean i do not know what that means i've read a lot of different viewpoints on it but i can tell you this this verse is is treated as something i'm going to define in just a moment it's something called a proof text and and it's a proof text for people who believe in the rapture of the church prior to the seven year tribulation now i believe in the rapture of the church prior to seven year tribulation i just don't know that i would use this as the particular proof text and what is a proof text a proof text is a passage of the bible that someone refers to in support of their theological view or position so this is a proof text for some who espouse a pre-tribulational rapture and let's look at it again he says because you've kept my command to persevere i also will keep you from notice what's underlined the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world now what kind of hour of trial would come upon the whole world there are many people who believe jesus is referring here to the the tribulation now the tribulation is what the bulk of this book of revelation is devoted to when we get to chapter 6 to all the way through chapter 19. that is about this tribulation period which shall befall the whole world and that's why some people read into that the tribulation could this be that jesus was just promising this church protection by removing them from the hour of tribulation that the whole world's going to go through even though that church is now gone and they're already in heaven and almost 2 000 years have passed and we're still not into the tribulation i'm not sure that's that's what he meant but but here's what i do believe he was talking about some type of of universal disaster that was in the not too distant future in the life of this church and in the the people of that region and maybe throughout the the known world of that time what jesus was saying is even when the world around you is falling apart i'm going to keep you from all the things that are happening i am going to deliver you so here's what we need to remember he says in this verse i'm going to keep you from that hour of trial sometimes we know he doesn't keep us from it he keeps us through it keeping from means you're not going to have to go through it keeping through means you will walk through the time but you'll be sustained by his grace and whatever this verse means or does not mean here is what we have to know is that god promises to protect his children i love the opening verses of the first letter of the apostle peter in the new testament first peter chapter 1 and verse 5. he says i'm writing this letter to to god's children and then he says about christians that we are kept by the power of god through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time but look at that phrase kept by the power of god so i want you to understand something no matter what is going on in our world today no matter what is liable to go on in the next few weeks and i don't i wouldn't begin to predict all of the chaos that could ensue in the next several weeks but i can tell you this i am a child of god and you are child of god and first peter 1 verse 5 says we are kept we are protected by the power of god so if you're tracking with me would you agree with me this is one of the most encouraging letters to the churches he has told them that he's got authority over their circumstances he's given them three powerful promises of assurance in their time of weakness and here's the third thing jesus affirms us as his forever he affirms us as his for ever write it down forever that's a long time isn't it and that's exactly what i mean eternally he calls us his own let's look in verse 11. he he says in his closing words to the church at philadelphia he says behold i am coming quickly hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown we all know that there is a crown a reward that is given to the believer who remains faithful through adversity on this earth living the christian life against all odds now here's the difference we're not working for salvation that's a free gift that is given unconditionally once we repent and trust in christ we're saved but we are striving for rewards and he says here there's a crown of faithfulness and even though you cannot lose your salvation you can lose your rewards he says there in verse 11 see that no one takes away your reward how can someone take away your crown of faithfulness by our allowing them to discourage us from following and being true to god but then i love what he says here he says you there's something some things you you can lose and one is your reward but but here's some things he says you'll you'll never ever lose look in verse 12 he says he who overcomes and remember we've looked at this in each of the letters there's a promise to the overcomer and we believe the overcomer is the true christian he who overcomes i will make him a pillar in the temple of my god and he shall go out no more 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 out of heaven from my god and i will write on him my new name and of course he closes as he always does he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches oh there's a lot a lot a lot a lot in verse number 12. the first thing he says to every other overcomer any he borrows figuratively from greek architecture which was symbolized by beautiful columns pillars in fact that it's one of the things the greeks were known for when you go and visit an ancient greek city you will see ruins for instance the parthenon on the acropolis at athens what is it surrounded by beautiful columns or or pillars and you see in the history of philadelphia and other cities when there would be one of these earthquakes that would cause buildings to collapse many times when the inhabitants would rise up from the debris they would look and see that in some of the most outstanding buildings that characterize the architecture of their cities listen whereas the infrastructure of the building would have collapsed because of the impact of the earthquake many times the pillars would still be standing it was a mystery in fact that the earth could rumble with such force and yet these pillars still stand when when the tremors ceased and jesus says you know in the same way that many of the pillars in your beautiful buildings have withstood the tests of earthquake i will make you a pillar in my temple and that was jesus way of symbolically saying you shall never be moved from the house of god in heaven what a great and vivid promise that is and then he says and you shall go out no more i am sure that in the history of this city when they would sense the the ground beginning to shake the inhabitants would flee to to to get out from under the the collapsing roof and the buildings in which they were living or in which they were were standing at the time and they would flee and they would have to come back and rebuild from ruins and jesus is saying here once you get into my city you will never have to flee again do you hear what he's saying you have a forever place in my city the city of my god and jesus says here i am going to post my name on you forever he says i'm going to write on you the name of my god then he says i'm going to write on you the name of the city of my god the new jerusalem so you can have god's name written on you you're going to have the the new jerusalem written upon you as a eternal inhabitant of that city and jesus says something very mysterious and none of us really knows what it means he says i'm going to write on you my new name by the way what is jesus new name we don't know what jesus new name is but whatever it is he says to this church i'm going to write it down on you i mean do you see what he's saying here i'm going to write god's name i'm going to write the city new jerusalem's name and i'm going to write my new name you've got a three-fold permanent assurance that you are forever a child of god and that your fate in heaven is sealed eternally could that not bring revival to a weak and weary church when this letter got read on whatever sunday morning the pastor stood up and read these promises we belong to jesus forever and we will never be forsaken and never be disowned and never be abandoned forever and ever we are his father thank you for the words of jesus to a weak and weary church and i pray that these words promising them a bright future oh how i pray that our church can claim the same promise that if we listen closely dear god would we hear you say the same to us that you have opened a door for us which no man can shut that is our prayer and it's our prayer for every church that preaches your word in these dark and last days of history in jesus name amen

Channel: FirstBaptistAtlanta

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Length: 38min 43sec (2323 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 30 2020