Sermon Cloud

The Seven Churches of Revelation
Pt. 6, The Faithful Church (Philadelphia)

Illustration: Let’s begin this morning with a little physical exercise.  I want you to reach into your purse or your pocket and pull out your personal set of keys.  If you do not have them or maybe not near someone, then you can look at the screen and adopt my dad’s keys.

For fun, let’s have a little contest and see who has the most keys on their key ring this morning.

My dad shared a devotional thought at the beginning of the year on his blog about keys that I was reminded of when studying the passage for this Sunday.  He said something that I had never thought of before, he said that “Our keys provide a small window into who we are.”  For example, here are my dad’s keys…

I draw you attention to this because this is how Jesus begins his letter that we are studying this morning.  Remember, unlike how we would sign the letters we write, all seven of these letters to the churches at Revelation begin with Jesus’ unique signature.  He draws attention to the fact that He hold certain keys. 

Keys are the way into a lock and locks are a way through a door.  Therefore, Jesus is highlighting the truth that He is the door and He is in charge of opening doors and He is in charge of shutting doors.

Let’s read this morning our 6^th letter from Jesus to the churches of the Revelation. 
Let’s read Revelation 3:7-13.

Now, I am so glad that we have come to the church at Philadelphia.  I bet you were wondering if there is any good news in this seven sermon series that I am preaching.  If you have been here the last several weeks, no doubt you have felt the emotion of the text as Jesus is very serious and forthright when speaking to the churches.  And since I am convinced that these letters were read out loud at each of these churches and maybe even circulated, I can only imagine the punch they delivered some 1900 years ago.

Nonetheless, we have come to the second church in our list that Jesus has nothing bad to say to them directly.  As a matter of fact, these are very encouraging words and I hope you will notice this morning a different tone in our time together.

Remember, in Revelation 2-3, the resurrected and glorious Jesus is patrolling and supervising his churches on earth.  He tells John to write a letter to each of seven churches in the Roman province of Asia. 

In application, these several individual churches represent the universal church.  Together they harmonize to give us the marks of an ideal church.

• The Letter to Ephesus-Love
• The Letter to Smyrna- Suffering
• The Letter to Pergamum- Truth
• The Letter to Thyatira- Holiness
• The Letter to Sardis- Sincerity

I have nicknamed this church at Philadelphia, The Faithful Church.  I was drawn to the fact that Jesus claims that this church has kept God’s Word and not denied their name.

I can think of no greater hope for fathers on this day.  I challenge you to be known as men who are faithful to our Lord Jesus, to our wives, children, and our church.

Illustration: I was reading about a world-renowned theologian by then name of Benjamin B. Warfield who taught at Princeton Seminary for almost 34 years until his death on February 16, 1921. Any seminary student who attends a conservative seminary, would be very familiar with his landmark work, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible. But what most people don't know is that in 1876, at the age of twenty-five, he married Annie Kinkead and took a honeymoon to Germany. During a fierce storm Annie was struck by lightning and permanently paralyzed. After caring for her for thirty-nine years Warfield laid her to rest in 1915. Because of her extraordinary needs, Warfield seldom left his home for more than two hours at a time during all those years of marriage.

Now, that is faithfulness!!  How many of us could imagine that just hours after we stand before our wife and commit to be with her forever that we will be put to the test immediately!  That is faithfulness.  That is how I want to be known.

Well, this is the Faithful Church and I want to focus particularly this morning on verse 8.

It captures my attention because I noticed Jesus referenced this church as a small church, “for you have little strength.”  Now, Jesus could be humbling the church by saying that although it is big, it is little strength compared to God’s strength, but I think it is a reference to the fact that this is a small group of people being faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And when I read this in conjunction with the fact that Jesus says he is opening a door for them that cannot be shut, I realized that this is a small church on mission for Jesus.

Then, I realized that this is a faithful church because of God’s faithfulness.  Look at what comes first.  God is faithful by going before them and all this church needed to do was to be a church on mission keeping His Word and not denying the name of Jesus.

I was challenged with two very simple thoughts:

1.      Do not underestimate the power of one personal testimony.

2.      But also, do not be surprised by the testimony of one church.

What I want to do is to just take the time and share with you some notes that I have written down as I have been thinking about this week.  I have been thinking about how so many of you have been so faithful to this church.  And I wanted to brag on you a little, but I was looking at this text and I realized that it is really not fair to brag about you, unless I first brag about God.

So, how had God been faithful to us?  How has God opened a door for us?  And then, where do I see our people being faithful?

I want to close this morning with the quote by Dr. Danny Akin, president of SEBTS:

The door to salvation swings open and closes at the discretion of Jesus and Jesus alone. Mohammed has no control over this door. Buddha has no control over this door. No pope, priest, guru or self-appointed cultist determines who walks through salvation’s door. This door belongs only to Jesus and He shares His authority with no one. At one time the door was slammed shut, sealed up by our sin. But by the blood of the cross and His glorious resurrection the door has been opened and anyone who will approach it with faith in Jesus will find it already opened wide to them.