Go – Revelation 3:7-13

We're going to read from Revelation chapter three.

If you'd like to open up there in your own Bibles or on your phones, if you don't have a Bible app, you can go to like BibleGateway.com and we're reading from the English Standard Version, the ESV.

So Revelation chapter three.

You can open it up and follow along.

We're starting in verse 7 and going until verse 13.

And the question today, uh, which is for everyone, but especially for any children, any teens, the question is what will Jesus do for the one who conquers?

So Revelation chapter 3, verse 7.

Revelation 3:7

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right, 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 but are 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, and so reads God's word.

What's uh such a joy and privilege to be with you?

I've known of this church for for many years, and uh been a been a goal of mine to come and worship with you and appreciate the invitation to come and share as well.

So by now, since I've been talking a little bit, you're gonna be wondering what's up with the accent.

So um so most people he says since he's from Aberdeen, it doesn't sound Scottish.

Uh so um so I grew up in in Aberdeen.

My dad's family is actually from Dublin, the Irish, my mum's family is from England, grew up in Scotland, born in Norway.

My wife is from Mobile, Alabama, and I pastor a church in Kentucky, and so you would have a pretty messed up accent too.

And so uh we just accept it for what it is, doesn't it somewhere between South Africa and Australia?

Um I don't know how it ended up there, but that's where it is.

Um, all right, well, keep your Bibles open to Revelation 3.

We're gonna be just unpacking that text for you from Revelation 3, verse 7.

Revelation 3:7

I wonder if you can remember uh when you got your high school reports, your grades, your exam results at the end of summer.

Those some of you, maybe it was many years ago, some of you maybe it was just this year, when you're just waiting with anticipation to see what it is, what grades you got.

Are you able to get into the university of your choice?

I remember back in the day in my high school up in Aberdeenshire, that back in those days, I think quite cruelly, they would post your results on a notice board.

And so we would have to run to the school when we knew the day that they would be posting our exam results to kind of scan down, find your name, and see what grades you got for each class.

Now I'm a twin, I've got a twin brother, and so my goal uh when those exam results came out was to run to the school before he did to be able to see what both of our results are, because his name is right after uh mine.

And uh my one goal in life was to make sure I got better grades than him.

Um and often I did, but not always.

But those reports, in many ways, reveal a lot about the work we've done, the study we've done, and and how equipped we are, prepared we are for what's ahead of us.

Well, in these first few chapters of Revelation, it's Jesus kind of evaluating and giving the reports to these churches, churches that John, who receives this letter, uh, is familiar with, is pastoring his hand in planting.

And he's giving a report card.

And then what we have here is the report card for the church in Philadelphia.

Now, Philadelphia was a city at the crossroads of Asia Minor, the former kingdom of Lydia, is founded by King Eumenes of Pergamon, and he named it Philadelphia because of the love he had for his brother.

Philadelphia means love of brother.

The city was prosperous, it was known in his day as the Little Athens.

It was a fertile territory, its pagan god was the goddess of wine.

But in this city in AD 17, 70 years before this letter was written, a great earthquake destroyed the city, but the Romans came in and rebuilt it.

But there's a church in the city of Philadelphia, and Jesus knows this church, and Jesus has a word for this church.

The church in Philadelphia gets an outstanding report card.

This is the church that pleased Jesus.

Jesus says that he was pleased with them.

And so the question today is how can our church please Jesus?

What does it mean to be a church with which Jesus is pleased with?

Whether it's 20 schemes in Scotland or the Ministry of Church in her places, our goal is simple, is to raise up a generation of people committed to planting healthy churches, healthy gospel preaching churches in areas of deep poverty, whether that be in housing estates in Scotland or city slums outside of Kenya.

But when we look at our poorest cities or our poorest places, we see overwhelming needs, real and urgent needs.

People living entrapped in poverty or addiction or gang crime, abuse, a lack of housing, poor standards of education, and limited access to decent health care.

And we can feel overwhelmed.

What do we have to offer?

People in communities like these.

But the Bible presents a really compelling vision.

We come with the church.

We come with the very body of Christ to make Christ known and to reveal Christ to those who do not know him.

And the Bible presents a bold vision for us of the church on the move, sees us gathering and training and sending, and sees the kingdom advancing where Christ is not known.

And that's what this church in Philadelphia was known for.

A church that held firm to the name of Jesus, no matter what obstacles came their way.

Revelation 3 reveals a great deal about what it means to be a church on mission for Christ.

So let's jump right into it.

Church that pleases God.

Well, the first thing we see the picture is here of one who holds the keys, the one who holds the keys.

Look at verse 7.

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right?

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.

The one who holds the key.

So to the Christians in Philadelphia, Jesus is saying that he is the holy one, the true one, the one who has the key of David.

If you're writing a letter to someone, or if you're writing a card, typically for us, we we sign the card and we're usually distinguishing the relationship or establishing the relationship we have with the recipient of the card at the end of it.

So if I'm writing a card to one of my girls, I'm gonna sign it, Love Daddy.

But if I write a card to a member of my church and I sign it, Love Daddy, that'd be creepy.

And so the way that we we kind of establish our relationship with the recipient of the letter in the form, the title that we use for ourselves.

And that's what Jesus is doing here.

He says to the people of Philadelphia, the Holy One.

I am your God.

I am your God.

The Old Testament reserved the term Holy One exclusively for God Himself.

He alone is holy.

Jesus is identifying himself as the God of this church, as I am your God, the Holy One.

Jesus doesn't merely write to us or or speak to us as our friend or as our teacher, but he comes to us as the fully divine Son of God.

Which means if if Jesus is the sovereign, holy God, then we would do well to listen to what he says.

To listen to his word.

Because he is the holy one.

If he is the holy one, he demands our attention.

And he deserves our affection.

I am the holy one, he says.

But then he reveals himself as the true one.

Not only is he is he the holy God, fully divine, all-powerful, all-knowing Son of God, but he's also the only true God.

There is no other God except Jesus Christ.

He alone is the Holy One.

He is the one true God.

He is the one true Messiah, the true Savior.

In other words, He is not a counterfeit.

He is no false messiah.

You know, we scroll down social media today and we see all these different opinions.

And I'm living in America right now, and there's an election coming up, and there's all kinds of noises being screamed at us about this way or that way, this person or that person.

And it's difficult to know what is true, what is false.

Jesus says that he is true.

We can count on him.

That he is the true one.

That all that he says will come to pass.

All that he says about himself is true.

You do not need to doubt him.

He's the holy one, the one to be worshipped.

He's the true one, the one in whom we have confidence and in whom we trust.

He reveals himself as our God.

But what he says next is really important.

And at the end of verse 7, he says, the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David.

The key of David is an expression that we find in Isaiah 22.

Elochim represents in in Isaiah 22, he represents the king.

So Elochim represents King Hezekiah.

And he foolishly allowed Rabsah into the throne room of the king.

So this foolish man, Elachim, allowed the enemy into the king's throne room because he had the key of David.

He had the access into the throne room.

This is what it is to hold the key of David.

It is the key that unlocks the door into the very throne room of the king.

Jesus is saying that He is the key.

He is the key that opens the door.

That we might grant be granted access in to the very throne room of our God.

He controls who gets in.

He's the one who stands at the door, inviting us to enter into the presence of our God.

And what has Jesus done with this key?

The access to the very throne room of heaven.

What does he do with the key of David?

He says, I hold the key of David who opens and no one will shut.

And who shuts and no one can open.

He has the key and he's opened the door.

He holds the key and he's opened the door.

Jesus, the Holy One, the true one, has opened the door to the very kingdom of God.

And he's invited us to come in.

But no one can get in unless Jesus invites us to come.

Unless Jesus says, Pass by me.

Come on in.

Jonathan Edwards wrote these words.

He said, There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell but the mere pleasure of God.

There's nothing that keeps you out of hell.

The only thing that keeps us from hell is the pleasure of God.

He invites us in.

It's a very holy one.

But when Jesus opens the door, no one can shut it.

They, the Christians in Philadelphia, they've entered into the kingdom of God.

And Jesus reassures them.

And he reminds them of that.

This door that have opened to you.

No one can close this door.

I wonder this morning if you come entered in to the very presence of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

There is no other way.

There is no other way in to the graces and the glory and the majesty and the power and the salvation of our God but through Jesus.

He alone is the invitation to salvation and the means to salvation.

If we turn and trust in the Holy One and the true one.

Jesus is revealing that no one will enter except by Him.

He is the door, He is the way, He is the truth, He is the life, He is the key of David.

And what is this key?

Perhaps you remember or familiar with Peter's confession.

When Peter confessed that Jesus is the Savior of the world, and that those who confess that Jesus is Lord shall unlock the doors of heaven.

And upon this confession, then Jesus declares, and Peter declares that Jesus is the very Son of God, the Son of David, the Messiah.

Jesus says that the gates of hell will not prevail against Christ and the church.

The key that unlocks the door is the gospel.

There's faith in Jesus Christ alone.

But you know what this means?

It means that we do not need to force our way into heaven.

We don't need to stand at the door and beg.

We don't need to prove ourselves, to demonstrate our goodness or our worth.

We don't need to somehow audition to get in to the to the kingdom of heaven.

If it were so, none of us would enter.

The door would not be open to any one of us.

Jesus invites us in.

He opens the door that we might enter past him.

And there are people trapped in darkness right across this land.

There are people trapped in darkness right throughout this city.

And they may be used to being shut out of so many things.

People living in in this city might feel shut out of so many opportunities, looked down upon, overlooked, discarded.

And yet the Holy One, the true one, the Son of God, Jesus Christ Himself, says to all of us, enter in to the family of God.

You do not need to clean yourself up.

You don't need to try really hard.

All you need to do is trust that Jesus is the Holy One and the true one who holds the key.

If we turn away from this dead and dying world and come and enter in the kingdom of God, we must never lose sight of who He is and what He has come to do.

This church, City Church Dublin, and all true gospel-preaching churches right across Ireland will be built not by our people, not by our budgets, not by our buildings, not by our programs, but by this simple truth.

Jesus Christ is God.

And we preach Christ and Him crucified.

That is the key that unlocks the door.

Proclaim Christ in Christ alone.

So he holds the key.

But second, in first eight, we see that he holds the door open.

Verse 8, I know your works.

Behold, I've set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.

I know that you have but little power, and and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Look at how he describes the church.

This church in in Philadelphia.

He describes them as a church of little power.

Now that isn't intended to be a criticism of them.

Jesus isn't saying to the church, look how little you are.

Look how pathetic you are.

It's not what he's saying there.

It's a description of how they appear.

You look as if you have little power.

You look so small, so insignificant.

They appear to lack power, to lack influence.

But that's just not true.

You could imagine this small group of Christians gathering in homes throughout the week, doing all the things that we still do today in our churches.

Consider all that was against them.

They've been cast out of the synagogue because of their faith in Jesus.

They're seen by some as a social menace.

Maybe because of their trust in Christ, they've lost their friends, lost their family members.

People have shunned them because of Jesus.

And now they need each other, they're huddled together, trusting in Christ, and yet the whole world seems against them.

This describes most believers in the world today.

It describes most churches in the world today.

So weak, so inadequate.

But Jesus, the Son of God, the King of Kings, the Creator of heaven and earth, Jesus speaks to this church and says, I see you.

I see your works.

He doesn't come to condemn them.

He commends them.

Because despite all that was against them, they kept the name of Jesus.

They didn't deny the name of Jesus.

They held fast to Christ.

And that's what pleases him.

That's what pleases Jesus.

They just kept on doing the work of evangelism in the city, telling their friends.

Their neighbors about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for them.

They might have been small.

But Jesus loved that little church.

He delighted in them.

Because they kept his name.

And at the end of the day, that's all that matters.

It doesn't matter what this church becomes, how big this church becomes, it doesn't matter what you go on to be.

The only thing that will matter at the end of the day is did you keep my name?

Did you keep the name of Christ?

Did you remain faithful to him?

And Jesus examines us, evaluates our lives.

He doesn't evaluate the success of the church based on the size of our influence.

He's not really all that concerned by our buildings or the books we write, the music we sell, the programs we start.

All that he cares about, did you keep my name?

Did you remain true to me?

Did you continue to speak the name of Christ where he is not named?

Where he is not known.

And Jesus tells them that because they've been faithful to keep his name, because they keep preaching this gospel, holding out this hope of who Christ is, because they're doing this, he's holding a door open for them.

Because they've not denied the name of Jesus, there will be others who will come through that door.

I'm often traveling because of the work of church in our places.

A couple weeks ago, I was in the Philippines and Kathmandu, Nepal.

And often as I'm traveling, I'm I find myself running through airports.

And have you ever been in those situations where you know they call the final boarding for your flight and you're running through the airport?

I mean, the thing about Dublin Airport is it's I've been lost in Dublin Airport more than any other airport in the world.

It's so easy to get lost in that airport.

And if you have the misfortune to be running late for a Ryan air flight from Dublin to Edinburgh, here's the thing: when they close that door, no one's opening it.

It doesn't matter.

You can bang, you can shout, you can scream.

Once that door is closed, no one else is going.

But what Jesus is saying is he doesn't close the door until everyone makes it passed.

Till all who he has chosen before the foundation of heaven and earth to bow the knee to King Jesus, to enter into the very kingdom of God.

The door will not be shut until the very last one passes through that door.

And that's our hope.

That's what drives us to do evangelism in Dublin and Scotland and around the world.

Because the door is still open.

It hasn't been closed yet.

He is holding the door wide open so that those who come to name the name of Jesus as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will enter in.

So this little church in Philadelphia, this tiny, insignificant little church, Jesus is saying to you, because of your faith, the door is still open.

And I will hold this door open.

Do you know that Jesus is holding open the doors of heaven for thousands of people currently trapped in darkness here in this city, right here in Dublin, and in other towns and villages right across Ireland, the door remains open if we preach the gospel and plant churches where there are no churches.

For as long as we continue to hold fast to the name of Jesus.

And what a privilege we have to be a part of this work.

Of all the things you can spend your life doing, of all the ways you can invest your time, your money, your resources, that we get to invest our lives in this, that we get to invest our lives in making Jesus known to those for whom the door is still open, so that they might be transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light in the same way that I was and you have been.

The whole world might be against us, but if Christ is for us, then no one can shut that door until Jesus shuts that door.

And finally, we see that he is the one who welcomes us in to this new city.

Verse 9 says, 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 I 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, but the one who conquers.

I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.

Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven in my own new name.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Christians in Philadelphia had lost so much because of their love for Jesus.

They had been shut out of the synagogue, shunned by the Jews in the city, called impostors, called heretics, called blasphemers, called liars.

To be a follower of Jesus isn't easy.

The easiest thing in the world, in the world today, is just to quit and just to get sucked back up into the ways of the world and into the lies of the world.

Jesus loves his church more than any others.

He looks down upon the earth, and the one whom Jesus loves above all else on earth is his church, his bride, his family.

And Jesus promises that the church, Jesus promises us, the church, that there will come a day when all who stand against us, all who tell lies about God and his people, one day they will be made to bow before Jesus.

To be a faithful follower of Jesus in in our day and in this culture, it is hard and it's becoming increasingly hard.

And there are moments when we wonder, can I keep going?

But Jesus calls us to a life of sacrifice.

And he reminds us little church that although there are moments they feel alone and discouraged, as the Romans come against them, and as the Jews come against them, and as the Greeks come against us, but Jesus says that I'm not against you.

I love you.

We can long for the love of so many in this world.

We want to be loved by our spouse, our children, our parents, our friends, our family.

We just want to be loved and accepted by our neighbors and the other students in our class and the other people we work with.

We long for love and acceptance and appreciation.

We want to be liked.

But Jesus says, But I love you.

Is that enough for you?

Is it enough for you that Jesus declares, but I love you?

And one day the whole world will know that it's you who I've loved.

He reassures them.

But he also vindicates them.

Because he promises to protect them.

He says, I will shield you when the full judgment of God sweeps upon this earth.

I will be your defender.

I will be your protector.

He says, I will make him a pillar of the temple of God.

What Jesus builds will stand no matter what comes against it.

Again, the city of Philadelphia suffered an awful earthquake.

And the foundations of all the buildings shook.

And many, most were destroyed.

Last month I was in Kathmandu, Nepal, and it's a city often affected by earth tremors and earthquakes.

And you still drive through Kathmandu today, and you see rubble and destroyed buildings that have collapsed because of earthquakes.

And what Jesus is saying is that there is an earthquake coming that will shake the core of this earth, and everyone will feel it.

And there'll be some who on that day will be crushed as the full weight of God's judgment comes down upon the earth.

But when everything else is crushed and destroyed, there's one thing that stands like a pillar that will never be destroyed.

And it is the church of Jesus Christ.

On that day, one thing remains Jesus and his bride.

So how can we think we are so small?

So inadequate, so little.

And from Aberdeen, Scotland, if you drive through Aberdeen, you'll see ruins of church buildings.

No doubt you see it here as well.

Throughout Scotland, you drive by and you see church buildings that once stood as vibrant, healthy churches, and now those buildings are crumbled.

Nothing.

Decay is set in.

Churches that have been turned from cathedrals of worship into bars and nightclubs and casinos.

How do these churches die?

Because they didn't hold the name of Jesus.

They didn't hold fast to Christ, they lost confidence in the gospel.

And when the church loses confidence in the gospel, the church dies.

If you hold fast to the name of Jesus, the church will stand, regardless of anything that comes against it.

Here's the key.

He holds the door open.

He leads us to a new and eternal home, to a new city where we will settle forever.

That's what our God is doing for his church.

So do not settle for life on this corrupt and dying and deceitful world.

Everything you see here is being destroyed.

Everything you see here is wasting away.

You feel it in your own bodies.

Everything you see in this planet, in this earth, is wasting away.

Except the church.

And one day we'll be resurrected with Christ our King.

With new or glorified bodies that will never waste or be corrupted ever again.

And we'll enter into a new and eternal city.

With our Savior, who's holding the door open, who's placing his name on our heads, to take it into the very kingdom.

This is why we press on in the work of making Jesus known.

Here in Dublin and around the world.

We do so with joy and with confidence for the glory of Christ and for the sake of his church.

We stay resolutely focused on building a church that loves Jesus, that loves to serve Jesus and loves to make Jesus known.

One of those old church buildings I was talking about, destroyed rubble, decaying building, is in out just outside Inverness.

And I was there last year, did a little church history tour up in the north of Scotland in the Highlands.

And there was a church where there was once a minister called Thomas Hogg.

And in 1654, Thomas Hogg was arrested for refusing to acknowledge the king as the sovereign over the church.

And so he's imprisoned for refusing to acknowledge the authority of King Charles, in prison in Edinburgh, the Tollbooth.

But eventually he was released and he went back to his little church up in Russia, Scotland.

He died after a long and painful death, and he requested that he be buried at the threshold of the church.

And there's a gravestone.

So you enter into this old church building, you've got to pass the gravestone of Thomas Hogg.

And this is what he had written on his gravestone.

This stone shall bear witness against the parishioners of this church if they bring any ungodly minister in here.

In other words, he's saying, over my dead body.

And that church today is nothing but ruins.

Do not deny the name of Jesus.

Do not lose confidence in Jesus.

Do not forget that you are loved by Jesus.

We do it all for him.

Or it's all for nothing.