The Book of Revelation: Revelation 3:7-13

Speaker: Gary Peters

Passage: Revelation 3:7-13

I have about three things to share today. In the New Testament, they cast lots to figure out who would replace Judas. Have you ever thought about that for just a minute? They picked straws to figure out the will of God. We make it so difficult sometimes. It’s like, God, I hope You’re doing this. Man, I hope this is the direction You have for us. How many parents, if your kid came to you and said, Hey, I really want your input on this thing that I’m about to do, please give me direction—how many of you would not give him information or advice? You wouldn’t be a good parent, right? We know God wants to do even more so for us.

Revelation chapter three. We’re going to start with the Church of Philadelphia, and we’ll pick it up next week because I’m not going to get through all of this. Before I get going this morning, I want to tell you that one of my favorite human beings is going to have a table out in the lobby—actually, two of my favorite human beings: Emily and Haley. Haley is with FCA and ministers at CSU. How many believe if we’re in a college town we need to have somebody ministering at CSU? Get out there and support her. We want her to be able to go full-time with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and we want to be able to do that as a body.

So please go out and visit her table. She’s an incredible person. Like Pastor Greg said in the first gathering, she’s one of the most competitive people we’ve ever met. She takes that same competitiveness that she played college softball with and moves it into the Kingdom, and I just love her heart. I love the Barnes family. So make sure you do that because I told her I’d give her a shameless plug. Okay, so that’s my shameless plug. I do not have any shame for that, because we need to support this young lady. 

Second thing, please be praying this week. There are 50 guys going up to Sky Corral Ranch on Thursday. It changes lives, but there’s always those things that happen on Wednesday or Thursday that say, you really can’t follow through with this commitment. Just please pray that we can follow through with the commitment and that whoever is supposed to be there will be there. Pray this week for the 50 guys that are going up there. You say, why only 50? Because that’s all, we sold it out. We’ll have another one in the fall, and we’ll sell that one out too. I’d rather do small, intimate venues than giant retreats. 

BACKGROUND ON PHILADELPHIA

There are some facts I want to share with you about the Church of Philadelphia. First of all, it was about 30 miles south or southeast of Sardis. Smyrna was in the opposite direction, about 30 miles west. It was the youngest of the seven cities we’ll study. It was founded in about 200 BC. It was located on a major fault line; I think that’s important for us to understand. It’s kind of like the San Andreas Fault on the Ring of Fire in the Asia Pacific. They had incredible earthquakes, and all the time, they had tremors.

In 17 AD, there was a major earthquake that destroyed the city to the point that Tiberius gave the citizens a five-year respite from paying taxes. I mean, who would like that coming up in a couple of weeks? A five-year respite from paying taxes—wouldn’t that be awesome? By the way, if you’re a believer and you’re a Christian–which is the same, by the way– and you live in the United States, pay your taxes. Thank you very much.

They also were very vulnerable to not only the earthquakes but the people moved out of the city after this major earthquake and started settling in the plains. And because they were in the plains with no natural fortification, it was constantly being overrun and destroyed by armies. So you have this natural destruction happening, and you have the physical constant threat.

They were known for farming, orchards, especially dried fruit, raisins, grapes, vineyards, and more. One time, I drove through the San Joaquin Valley. It was in the fall and I came across these vineyards. They had this paper all throughout the vineyard laid out with grapes on it, and I thought, that’s weird. And then I found out it’s the first phase of making raisins; those grapes were raised for raisins, not for wine. That’s what Philadelphia was known for.

Unlike the other churches in Revelation, Philadelphia was a church that continued for centuries. Some of these other churches were destroyed, and they never came back. Philadelphia went on for several centuries, even after Christ. 

A WORD ON ENDURANCE AND CONTENTMENT

If you have a Red Letter Bible, the first three chapters of Revelation have a lot of red. These are the first words that we really see of Jesus speaking to the churches after His ascension. We found out two of them were bad (we’re going to look at Laodicea in a couple of weeks), and there were two that were okay, that didn’t have any rebuke: Smyrna and Philadelphia. Both of them were under incredible persecution. And guess what? I get to teach Philadelphia after teaching Smyrna. You know why? Because my life’s message is to endure hardship.

Be encouraged, endure hardship; we need to understand that’s what God has called us to. It’s not just for me, it’s for every one of us in this room. The word “endurance” means to come under what God is doing. It’s like an umbrella in the rain, to come under what God’s doing instead of running from what God is doing. Because if we run from what God is doing, guess what? We’re going to face it again. And when we face it again, if we run again, we’ll face it again, so we need to understand this.

This letter to Philadelphia is the sixth letter to the seven churches. It’s the second longest letter, and it’s one of two letters with no rebuke. Again, similar language in both Smyrna, which was the shortest letter, and in Philadelphia. It’s interesting, like I said, where I land in this teaching. God’s people throughout Scripture handled persecution and want, or poverty, better than they handled peace and prosperity. Let that sink in for a moment. Throughout this book, God’s people handled adversity and poverty—and I’m not saying God wants to give us a poverty spirit—better than they handled peace and prosperity. The reason being is, unlike you, what I do in peace and prosperity many times is kick it into cruise control and forget God.

Remember what He told them when they were getting ready to enter into the Promised Land in Deuteronomy? The last words of Moses are, be careful. You’re going to enter a land where you did not plant the vineyards, but you’re going to enjoy the fruit. You didn’t build the houses, but you’re going to live in them. The key is not whether you have poverty or riches or whether you have peace or adversity. The key, as Paul says in Philippians chapter four, is contentment.

When you walk in contentment, you’re not struggling back and forth with, am I going to forget God? Or am I like Agar says in Proverbs 30, don’t give me too little that I steal or too much that I forget You. How many know that’s a good prayer? In fact, I pray that for people all the time, including myself. I don’t want too much where I forget God or too little that I have to feel like I have to make it on my own. The key is contentment.

The other thing that’s interesting is, in Smyrna, this hour of testing is met with: I know it’s horrible, and it’s going to get worse. How many would like to live in Smyrna? I know it’s terrible, and it’s going to get worse. But Philadelphia is met with: I know it’s terrible. I know what you’ve endured. I’m going to have you not go through some other stuff. If you’re a person from Smyrna, you’re going to look at Philadelphia and think, they’re wimps. And if you’re in Philadelphia, you’re like, Why are these people suffering? They don’t have to.

The danger is this: you and I compare our walk in life with others. Many times in my life, I can look at somebody and say, “Why them, Lord and not me?” Or, “Why me and not them?” When we look at these two churches, both letters had no rebuke. They were being praised for what they were doing and what they were going through, but in both cases, it was different. 

Remember Bishop Polycarp, who died in like, 135 AD. They tried to kill him and they couldn’t kill him, so they tried another time, and they finally killed him. It’s kind of like the saint who was being roasted on a spigot, who said as he’s being roasted, hey, I think you can turn me over. I’m pretty much done on this side. So we’ve got to be careful. Let’s read.

THE LETTER TO PHILADELPHIA

“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: I know all the things you do.”

In all seven churches, there’s that statement. When you are okay with God, you don’t mind “I know what you do” as much as when you’re not okay with God. I pray that if you’re not okay with God, that this, “I know what you do,” keeps you awake at night. I’m serious. As I’ve said before, God not only came to comfort the afflicted, He came to afflict the comfortable. 

“I know 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. 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 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. I am coming soon.”

Marana tha (even so, come Lord Jesus) should be a cry on our hearts. It should be something that brings hope. Not an escapism, but I am glad that He’s coming back for me. I’m glad that this planet’s not my home. Behold, I am coming soon. And I know this much: it’s closer than it was yesterday. People wonder how close we are. I always say it’s closer than a minute ago. We’re closer now than we’ve ever been, and I believe His coming is close at hand. 

“Hold on to what you have.” There’s that perseverance, that endurance. “Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. 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. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches.”

We must stop comparing our journey of faith with other people’s journey of faith. We must resist the questions of, “Why me and not them.” I say it every time I stand up here: if you are looking for the answer to “why,” stop! You may never know. And I’ve had people tell me all my life, when I get to Heaven, I’m going to ask Jesus this. And I always say, “When you get to Heaven, you’re not going to care what Jesus did in this life because you’re going to see Him face to face.” That’s the contentment.

Let’s look at this verse by verse. “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.”

It’s a direct quote from Isaiah 22:22. Write it down; we’re not going to have time to look at it in all its entirety. “I will give Him the key to the house of David, the highest position in the royal court. When He opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when He closes doors, no one will be able to open them.” 

Isaiah is great at bringing out scriptures that portray the deity of Christ. You can’t read the book of Revelation and not realize that Jesus is not God. He is not a created being. He is the firstborn of creation, which means He’s the preeminent one of creation. John and Colossians both say all things that came into being came into being through Him. How could all things come through Him if He is what’s created? He’s God. Jesus is God. 

THE NATURE AND CHARACTER OF CHRIST

This is one verse why the church of Philadelphia could trust in God in the midst of trial. Four statements are made about the nature and character of Christ in this one verse. 

Number one, it says this: He is holy. He’s the holy God, unlike anyone else. R. C. Sproul says, “God’s holiness is God’s otherliness.” He’s not like anyone you’ve ever met or anyone you will meet, like anything you’ve ever experienced or anything you will experience. He’s unlike anything. He’s untouched by evil. He’s holy. So I serve a God who’s unlike me. He’s not a man, that He should lie.

The second thing it says: He’s the true God, one hundred percent trustworthy. True to His word, He is faithful. The problem with faithfulness is we’ve all had people in our lives who aren’t faithful. We all have had people in our lives who promised us things and did not follow through. Welcome to marriage. I tell people this all the time that I won’t purposely hurt you as a pastor, but I guarantee you’ll be hurt by pastors. Your boss will hurt you. Your spouse will hurt you.

It’s time we get over some of these things because guess what? When somebody hurts you, you do the same thing to somebody else. The thing I love about my wife is that she loves me unconditionally. That means I am a jerk sometimes, and she still loves me. She’s married to a jerk. Okay, I’m not a jerk, but sometimes I’m difficult to live with. 

God is holy, God is true, and the third statement is: God is omnipotent. “I hold the keys,“ is a direct reference to the line of David, the keys of David. When Jesus died what He did on Saturday, I believe, is He went down and said, hey, I’ll take those keys to death in the grave. They’re no longer yours; I paid the price. It’s finished. Now I’m going to go back and wait till tomorrow morning when I can walk out of this tomb with the keys.

Death does not have a sting. Ancient Rome was amazed. They marveled at the way Christians buried their dead. We are not those without hope. We have hope. The grave is not the end. It’s only the beginning. Actually, the beginning of the greatest thing. Think about it: when we’ve been there 10,000 years, we’re still going to be praising God, and it’s not going to be boring. I don’t know how, but it’s not going to be. It’s not a giant church service. The keys belong to the steward and master of the house. They have the authority to determine permission or denial of entrance to a house. The door to the Kingdom is controlled by God.

I believe the apostle Paul was a man of God. Paul was trying to figure out the will of God, and in Acts 16, he tried three times to take the gospel into Asia. Key point in all of world history. Finally he has a dream, and it’s a Macedonian man that says, come on over and help us. So he went to Macedonia, which is the church in Corinth. God will open and close doors for us. Sometimes, open doors mean you need to rattle the doorknob and trust God. If He doesn’t want you to walk through, it’ll be locked. If it’s open, maybe He wants you to walk through it.

I wish we could do a teaching on thresholds in Scripture, what thresholds mean. It’s the entrance to something new. It’s the entrance to what God is going to do. I trust God in my life to open doors for me and to close doors for me. I don’t always have to pray, God please, please be a good God and direct me, and don’t let me make a stupid mistake. I live my life, and He corrects me as I walk. That’s the importance of a daily walk.

The fourth thing is this: He is the sovereign God. He is in control of the opening and shutting, the opportunities, life and death. Anything that is good to us is available to us through Him. So He’s holy, He’s true, He’s omnipotent, which means all powerful, and He’s sovereign. How many know that with that understanding alone, you can go through anything in life? He starts that letter to the church of Philadelphia with those four things.

THE ANSWER IS JESUS 

Revelation 3:8: “I know the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close.” Here’s the importance of that. Philadelphia had a very large synagogue, and the Jews had excluded the Christians from worshiping there. That door had been shut for them. They were persecuted because of that. It’s amazing to me how the persecuted, when they have any freedom, become the ones who persecute. It happens throughout world history. And this is not an anti-semitic statement, but the synagogue of Satan was made up of unbelieving Jews. There can be synagogues of Satan made of unbelieving Christians.

Just because you are born in America doesn’t make you a Christian. We’re not a Christian nation. Just wanted to let you know that. We’re postmodern, we’re post-Christian. We’re not walking in the things of God right now, and there’s not going to be a savior who all of a sudden turns us back to that. The answer is not a political one. The answer is Jesus. America needs Jesus. America needs a move of God.

So even though those doors had been closed in one way, God opened another. “You have little strength, yet you obeyed My word and did not deny Me.”

First, He says, I know what you are doing. To me, that’s an incredible comfort and peace. I know there’s stuff I’m doing that God’s not pleased with, but He hasn’t convicted me of stuff. What He’s convicted me of, I’ve tried to walk in. If He’s saying, Gary, don’t do that, I’ve tried not to do that. I don’t worry about everybody else’s stuff because He’s working in my life. It’s walking in fear and trembling. It’s an understanding of working out my own salvation. That doesn’t mean the exclusion of you. That means my walk as an individual walk. And there are things that God is convicting you of that maybe I’ve already walked in, or there are things God is convicting me of that God’s already had you walk in.

“I’ve opened doors that no man can shut,” doesn’t mean just for opportunities in the job market; it means for our Christian walk. I’m walking upright before God, I’m having that daily encounter, I’m trying to live clean, and the “I know” doesn’t freak me out. But when I’m not clean, when I’m walking in rebellion, the “I know” freaks me out. Thank God it freaks me out. Thank God I have a tender conscience before the Lord. Thank God He can tap me on the shoulder and say, Son, knock it off, and my response should be, Father, thank you for showing me that. I’m going to knock it off, by grace.

I’ve opened the door. I’ve given my permission. Do we understand the power of that? Again, the comfort of “I know the things you do.” I know the God I serve. I know who’s in control.

WITH OPEN DOORS COME ADVERSARIES

I’ll give you a little encouragement. With every open door comes enemies. Be careful what you pray for. After Paul sees this Macedonian call and he takes the gospel into Corinth, to the Macedonian Peninsula, he says at the end of First Corinthians chapter 16, verse nine: “A wide door for effective ministry has been opened to me, but there are many adversaries.” Satan’s name means accuser. The devil’s name means opposing. That’s the two names God gives our enemy: accuser and adversary.

I wish we could just skip on into the Kingdom, and everything would be hunky dory and rosy and awesome, and we’d all be spoiled brats and worth nothing. How many of you are facing an open door, but you know it’s being opposed? Open doors don’t mean free from enemies. It means God’s opened it to you. Paul faced a guy by the name of Alexander the Coppersmith who was ticked off because Paul was delivering people that were selling the copper wares that were idol worship.

Do you have an adversary? Then you have an open door.

By the way, your boss is not your adversary. You don’t fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. You have an enemy that hates your guts. I’ve had people say, Don’t stir up the devil, he won’t like it. I’m like, he already doesn’t like me. I don’t mock him, but he doesn’t like me and doesn’t like you because you remind him of his end. You remind him of redeemed humanity.

YOUR WEAKNESS REVEALS GOD’S POWER

Then He says this in this verse: “You have little strength.” I know your deeds. Okay. I know I’ve opened the door for you. Okay. Now I know, you don’t have much to offer. Can I have another word, Lord? Anybody need another word? Aren’t you glad God’s not freaked out by our little strength?

I remember when I first got saved, I thought I was pretty cool. Pastor Greg mentioned he wanted to become rockstar famous. I just thought I was cool. I was cool in the Kingdom. And then I realized cool is not cool; I was walking in pride. I used to pray, God keep me from pride. I had the Holy Spirit tap me on the shoulder one time when I was praying, God, keep me from pride, and He said, I will.

God has a great way of keeping us from pride by reminding us of our weakness. We have a puppy in our house. He’s now a 16-week-old French Bulldog. And sometimes when he has accidents inside, we rub his nose in it, slap him on the bottom, and then kick him outside. We think God does that with us in the Kingdom: rubs our nose in it, slaps us on the bottom, and kicks us out of the Kingdom. That’s not what He’s saying. He goes, I know you have little strength, but you have believed in Me, and you have not quit by denying Me.

I have believers come to my office all the time and say, Pastor, why is life hard? If life wasn’t so hard, I could serve God like you do. If life wasn’t so hard, I could do what God asked me to do. If life wasn’t so hard, I would be 100% into the Kingdom. I would be doing the things of God.

Guess what? Our heart for God has nothing to do with our circumstances; it has to do with our heart for God. He says, I know you have little strength, and He commends them for their little strength because it does not affect their obedience and faithfulness. Paul says three times, I beg the Lord to take it away, his “thorn in the flesh.” This has been debated throughout church history. Nobody knows what it was. I don’t really care what it was, I just know it was a thorn. Have you ever had a thorn under your skin? A lot of fun, isn’t it? I’ve had a thorn, and each time, He said, My grace is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.

Your weakness right now is to display the power and majesty and strength of God. Quit resisting the little strength. Start embracing who Jesus is in you and your little strength becomes incredible strength, and you can do things for God. Think about how they had 25,000 or 20,000 soldiers with Gideon, and he whittled that army down to 300 guys who faced an army of over 100,000. God constantly takes what the world has discarded or thrown on the junk pile and redeems it, saves it, and does something incredible so that people can say, that’s God, that had to be God.

That is why Paul says there’s not many noble, not many intelligent, not many having a lot of money. Why? Because again, we need to glory in our weakness. It’s so foreign to our natural inclinations. So Paul says, that’s why I’m glad. I boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ may work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weakness, insults, hardships, persecution and in troubles that I now suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Embrace your weakness. If you’re doing something that’s bringing weakness, that’s another thing. But if you’re having outside forces bring weakness upon you, embrace that and watch God perfect His strength for you.

OBEDIENCE IN THE MIDST OF TESTING

“…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. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.”

The promise for those who practice endurance. It’s not an option. It’s not like God says, here, I have endurance for you if you want it. You can have it. If not, it’ll be okay for you also. Now, you’ll be running all your life, but unlike some of us, you’re running away from God. You don’t realize running into Him is what we need—our Father. When my grandkids were little and my kids were little, they’d stand there and raise their arms. Pick me up. Hold me. I need some attention. Now I have a dog doing the same. 

God’s not keeping us from testing, but protecting us in the midst of testing. He says, hold on because I’m coming soon. What a comfort for us to know, and I say it all the time, this planet is not our home. We are just passing through. Peter says we’re pilgrims, sojourners, those that are passing through, the prophetic encouragement of, I’m coming soon.

There’s a set time for testing. We see that throughout Scripture. Suffering is not open-ended. There is a set time. The worst they can do to you is kill you. Wait a minute, any other option out there? But it’s the worst thing they can do to us. But you will be kept from greater testing.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM TODAY’S MESSAGE

So what are the takeaways?

Number one: suffering is a huge part of the Christian faith. Study church history and you will find suffering. The thing that’s amazing is people in the world suffer too, they just mask it.

Number two: don’t compare your trials with somebody else’s. Resist the temptation to share war stories so that you look better or worse. That’s what always happens. There’s no middle ground when you start comparing yourself. You either pick somebody that’s way beneath you so you look great, or you pick somebody that’s way above you so you look terrible.

Number three: remember the God we serve.

Number four: we need endurance.

Number five: with open doors come adversaries.

Number six: the promise of obedience. You have lived right; now watch Me work on your behalf. There is a promise for right living. It is a better run rate than sin. You won’t come to the end of your days and go, what have I done? God will say, you have been obedient, you’ve not denied Me, so watch Me work.

Number seven: there’s a day of reckoning. We didn’t even get time to do verse nine.

And number eight: “I’m coming soon.”

See, the cross doesn’t abolish suffering. The cross transformed suffering. It sanctifies suffering. It makes suffering fruitful and bearable, and yes, even victorious. I think I’m done on that side, it’s time to flip me over. They boiled John in oil and couldn’t kill him. They tried to boil Polycarp, to cook him alive, and couldn’t kill him. That’s why they exiled John; they couldn’t kill him. Why? Because it’s not a closed door yet. Life wasn’t closed. God’s the one that opens and closes the womb. Ecclesiastes says there’s a time to be born and a time to die.

The thing I want to leave you with is this: sometimes we have to give up the lives we pictured in order to have the life that God has planned. Embrace what God’s doing. I’m not saying misery loves company. It does. Bitterness does too. Ever notice how bitter people all kind of congregate together? Some churches too. Sorry, did I say that out loud? There are families where everybody’s bitter. It started with grandma being bitter, then all the kids became bitter, and the grandkids became bitter. We’re angry and we don’t even know why we’re angry.

Sometimes we have to give up the life we pictured to gain the life that He has planned for us. That’s the message of Philadelphia. Hold on, endure. My lifetime scripture is, “Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ…in order that you may please the One who enlisted you.” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). See, the enlistment is not just you’re volunteered. You have the privilege of being beckoned by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Let’s pray.

Thanks, Father, for Your faithfulness. God, I thank You that though it’s only two out of seven, there are still two churches that served You with all their hearts. God, I ask that You would free us from the mixture of Sardis and Thyatira and Pergamum. That, God, we would get rid of the mixture because the only way salt loses its saltiness is by being diluted. Father, pour something in us that gives us a tenacity; that we would know who You are and therefore we can serve You faithfully.

God, I pray for this group of people. You love them so much, Father. God, I ask in Jesus’s name that they stop comparing their lives with others. They would see that You’re a God who opens and closes doors, a God who measures faithfulness, a God who knows what they do, and we bring a smile to Your face when we walk in obedience.

Thank you God, You’re good all the time. In Jesus’s name, Amen