{"id":18962,"date":"2018-09-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-09T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-014-qualifying-the-called\/"},"modified":"2018-09-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-09T05:00:00","slug":"revelation-014-qualifying-the-called","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-014-qualifying-the-called\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 014 – Qualifying the Called"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18962","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 014 - Qualifying the Called","sermon_date":"20180909","sermon_month":"9","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":6032,"sermon_slides":6034,"sermon_mp3":6036,"sermon_id":"991893156","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"3:7-9","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nQualifying the Called \u00a0\u00a0\u00a09-9-18\n\nRevelation 3:7-9\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 14\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter \u00a03, and verse 7.\u00a0 The title of our message is Qualifying the Called.\u00a0 We continue to move through the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 In our first study together we sort of covered the introduction, the background of the book.\u00a0 From there we moved through what\u2019s called the prologue, verses 1-8 of chapter 1.\u00a0 And then we moved into the first major section of the book where John is told to write down the things that he has seen, which he has done in chapter 1: the vision of the glorified Christ.\u00a0 From there he\u2019s told to write down the things that are which is the section that we\u2019ve been working our way through, chapters 2 and 3, seven letters to seven literal churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).\n\nIf Jesus wrote a letter to your church what would it say?\u00a0 John, of course, is on Patmos relaying the vision of Christ to those seven churches.\u00a0 Each letter has a basic templet that\u2019s got about eight parts \u00a0to it; that\u2019s a good pattern and that\u2019s a pattern that we\u2019re using as we study each letter.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen Christ\u2019s words to Ephesus, the loveless church, to Smyrna, the persecuted church, to Pergamum, the compromised church, to Thyatira, the corrupt church, to Sardis, the dead church, and you\u2019re saying my goodness, isn\u2019t there any good news in here at all?\u00a0 Well we come to Philadelphia, chapter verses 7-13, the missionary church.\u00a0 In fact, I would say this, this is probably the high water mark of these seven churches.\n\nHere is the outline that we\u2019re going to use as we take a look at this church at Philadelphia; we\u2019re making it only through verses 7-9 this morning and likely completing the church at Philadelphia next week.\u00a0 Notice first of all the destination, take a look, if you could, at Revelation 3:7, \u201cAnd to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:\u201d\u00a0 The angel, as we\u2019ve tried to maintain, is the messenger\u00a0\u00a0 or the pastor of each church.\u00a0 This church is located in Philadelphia, now don\u2019t think Liberty Bell or anything like that,\u00a0 this is an area about thirty-eight miles southeast of Sardis.\u00a0 It had a chief deity there in that particular part of the world called Dionysius, the god of wine.\u00a0 And maybe that\u2019s how they got the designation \u201cbrotherly love,\u201d they were so drunk they could look past each other\u2019s faults.\u00a0 Phileo<\/em>, as\u00a0 you know, is a Greek word for love; adelphos<\/em> means brother, you put the two together\u00a0\u00a0 it\u2019s the city of brotherly love.\u00a0 That was sort of the climate that is addressed here and there is a functioning church within that area.\n\nAs you look at the second part of verse 7 Jesus does here what He does with all of these churches, he describes himself.\u00a0 It says, \u201cHe who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus, as He typically does, grabs imagery about Himself already revealed in chapter 1 and he highlights selective pieces for the good of that church based on their own circumstances.\n\nNotice how Jesus describes Himself here in verse 7.\u00a0 Four ways, number one, Jesus is \u201choly.\u201d\u00a0 What exactly does that mean?\u00a0 It means He is separate and apart from His creation.\u00a0 Chapter 1 and verse 14\u00a0 you\u2019ll recall, Jesus was described, \u201cHis head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow;\u201d speaking of His perfection, speaking of His moral purity.\u00a0 And of course, this is the dominant attribute of God, God\u2019s holiness.\u00a0 God is gracious, God is loving, all of that is for sure but it is very interesting that when the angels stand round about God\u2019s throne what do they say day and night?\u00a0 \u201cHoly, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, it says that in this very book, Revelation 4:8.\u00a0 [Revelation 4:8, \u201cAnd the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, \u2018HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.\u2019\u201d]\n\nThat has roots going all the way back to Isaiah 6, verse 3.\u00a0 [Isaiah 6:3, \u201cAnd one called out to another and said, \u2018Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.\u201d]\u00a0 This is what this Seraphim, a certain category of angels say as they lead worship.\u00a0 They attract attention to His holiness.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me that they don\u2019t say grace, grace, grace is the Lord God Almighty, and He is gracious; love, love, love is the Lord God Almighty, we know that God is love.\u00a0 But His dominant attribute is holiness, a standard that\u2019s so pure that sin in His presence must be punished.\u00a0 And as God is we are to be in terms of our moral character.\n\nThis is why Old Testament and New Testament says \u201cBe ye holy, for the Lord your God is holy.\u201d\u00a0 This is the dominant expectation of God for His people.\u00a0 First of all they are to be made holy positionally by trusting in what Christ has done in their place.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only way to gain holiness as far as God is concerned.\u00a0 And then we are to grow up in Christ where we begin to imitate the character of God and we start to begin to see holiness, purity in our daily lives as we live under the resources of God.\u00a0 Why live that way?\u00a0 Because this is who God is; this is how He has revealed Himself.\n\nNot only is He holy, He\u2019s also 100% true; the Greek word here for true is al\u0113thinos<\/em>, in some places you\u2019ll find the word al\u0113thia,<\/em> it\u2019s the idea of truth, veracity, 100% reliability, no double speak, no sort of darkened thoughts or understanding, it\u2019s 100% truth.\u00a0 That\u2019s who Jesus is.\u00a0 People today are looking for truth and they\u2019re not finding it because they\u2019re looking in the wrong source.\u00a0 Only in Jesus Christ is truth available. After all, Jesus said in John 14:6, another book that the Apostle John recorded, where He recorded Jesus as saying about sixty years earlier, \u201cI am the way, the truth, the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me.\u201d\u00a0 [John 14:6]\u00a0 Notice the definite article in front of each of those Scriptures.\n\nJesus IS the truth.\u00a0 We\u2019re living in a culture today that doesn\u2019t even acknowledge that truth exists.\u00a0 You might remember what Jesus said to Pilate back in John 18:37.\u00a0 He said I have come into the world to testify to the truth.\u00a0 [John 18:37, \u201cTherefore Pilate said to Him, \u2018So You are a king?\" Jesus answered, \u2018You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.\u201d\u2019]\n\nWhat did Pilate say to Him?\u00a0 What is truth, sort of giving a flippant answer back; you\u2019re interested in truth, we don\u2019t even know what truth is.\u00a0 Postmodern culture, fallen culture denies the reality of truth and yet who is Jesus?\u00a0 He is true, He\u2019s all about truth.\u00a0 Well, if that were true and it is true then why don\u2019t more people gravitate towards Jesus Christ?\u00a0 Well, to quote that great theologian, Jack Nicholson in one of his movies, says you can\u2019t handle the truth.\u00a0 I mean, truth, when you think about it is somewhat painful because it\u2019s like looking at a mirror which gives\u00a0 you an accurate reflection of reality.\u00a0 Reality is very difficult for people; we prefer to live in a mirage.\n\nAnd\u00a0 yet the closer you get to Jesus Christ the closer you get to truth in all areas.\u00a0 The searchlight of truth comes into our lives and Jesus says you need to align your life consistent with Me, receive My grace and grow up in Me.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a difficult process for us because we like to think that we\u2019ve got it all figured out and we\u2019ve got it all together on our own.\u00a0 Well an advent of truth tells us that is not true and yet this is a realization we all have to come to because Jesus is not only holy, but He is also true.\n\nNow you\u2019ll notice also what it says here, His third way of describing Himself, \u201cHe holds\u201d present tense, \u201cthe key of David.\u201d\u00a0 Now according to our belief system we believe that the Davidic reign, where Jesus will reign from Jerusalem on David\u2019s throne is not something that\u2019s happening now.\u00a0 As you go to the far right of the screen you\u2019ll see that that will happen following the second coming when He will establish His one thousand year reign; we call that the Davidic reign of Christ yet future.\u00a0 And yet there are many today within evangelicalism that will argue that we are in the Davidic reign now; we\u2019re in the Davidic kingdom now they\u2019ll tell us.\u00a0 Why do they say that?\u00a0 They build much of their doctrine on this idea here that Jesus holds the key of David.\n\nOne of my professors, Dr. Darrell Bock in his Progressive Dispensationalism<\/em> believes that we are sort of in an already form of the Davidic kingdom and he bases it largely on Revelation 3:7.\u00a0 He says, \u201cThe rule is extended from the Father to the disciple through the Son, the one who in Revelation 3:7 says he has the key of David.\u00a0 Here Jesus refers to Himself as \u2018the one who\u2019 has the key of David, a phrase that contains a present participle\u201d and it does by the way, \u201cbut one who has; this is currently held Davidic authority.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe rule is extended from the Father to the disciple through the Son, the one who in Revelation 3:7 says he has \u2018the key of David.\u2019. . . Here Jesus refers to himself as \u2018the one who has the key of David,\u2019 a phrase that contains a present participle . . . \u2018the one who has.\u2019 This is currently held Davidic authority.\u201d\u00a0 [Darrell L. Bock, \u201cThe Reign of the Lord Christ,\u201d in Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church<\/em>, ed. Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 51, 62.]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This sort of is taught in many, many places today by many, many pastors, professors, theologians, we\u2019re in the Davidic reign now.\u00a0 Jesus is on David\u2019s throne now.\u00a0 Why would they think that?\u00a0 Because He is holding the key of David.\n\nLet me just sort of give you a response to that; these are the kinds of issues that we\u2019re tackling on Wednesday night as we look at the subject of the Kingdom.\u00a0 This is some of the fun that you\u2019re missing out on if you haven\u2019t been tracking with our study.\u00a0 First of all, there is a big difference between authority to enter a reality and the actual presence of that reality.\u00a0 Those are two different things.\u00a0 For example, I could give my daughter the keys to the car (which I won\u2019t be doing by the way, until she gets a certain age, she\u2019s got a little ways to go on that) but she\u2019s got the keys, she\u2019s got the authority to enter.\u00a0 That should not be confused with actually entering the car itself.\n\nWhen Jesus says He holds the key of David it doesn\u2019t mean He\u2019s reigning on David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re in the millennial kingdom now. What it means is He has the authority to grant citizenship to people to come into that kingdom once that kingdom is established on planet earth.\u00a0 Most people believe that what\u2019s being referenced here is Isaiah 22:22, which says, \u201cThen I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder, When he opens no one will shut, When he shuts no one will open.\u201d\u00a0 This is a reference to Eliakim in the Old Testament who had the key to enter into the treasure of Hezekiah.\u00a0 But just because he held the key to enter the treasure doesn\u2019t mean he was actually in the vault itself.\u00a0 There\u2019s a difference between being granted the authority to enter and access versus the establishment of the reality itself.\n\nFor example, over in Matthew 16:19 we read these words: Jesus says to Peter, \u201cI will give you the keys of the kingdom \u2026.\u201d\u00a0 And certainly Peter used those keys because he preached the gospel to the first Jews in the church age, Acts 2, and a bunch of them got saved.\u00a0 Then he used the keys a second time, or he preached the gospel to Cornelius and his household, the first Gentiles in the age of the church and they got saved.\u00a0 And so what happened to those three thousand Jews, Acts 2?\u00a0 What happened to Cornelius and his household, Acts 16:19, they became heirs of the coming kingdom at that point.\n\nIn fact, of people such as them and even people like ourselves it is said of us, for our citizenship is where?\u00a0 In heaven, that\u2019s our identity, that\u2019s where we\u2019re going.\u00a0 Does that mean we\u2019re in heaven now.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so, even in this wonderful sanctified environment we don\u2019t look very heavenly, do we?\u00a0 We\u2019re certainly not in glorification\u00a0 yet.\u00a0 Jesus was not at all saying that the kingdom has started because He had the keys. What He was saying is I have the ability to open the door and to grant entrance into that kingdom once it comes.\u00a0 But until it comes you are an\u00a0 heir of the coming kingdom, you are a citizen of that coming kingdom.\u00a0 You continue to live in Satan\u2019s turf, in Satan\u2019s world, in the devil\u2019s world as an heir of the coming King and kingdom and that\u2019s why our lives on this earth seem very peculiar to the unsaved because we march according to a different drumbeat, according to the values of the coming kingdom that I will enter into even though that kingdom is not yet here.\n\nI mean, how could the kingdom be here when down in verses 11 and 12 he starts talking about all of these future realities. [Revelation 3:11] \u201cI am coming quickly,\u201d that\u2019s future, isn\u2019t it, \u201chold fast to what you have so that no one will take your crown.\u201d\u00a0 The rewarding of the crown is yet future.\u00a0 Verse 12, \u201c'He who overcomes, I will\u201d future tense, \u201cmake him a pillar in the temple of My God,\u201d is that happening now?\u00a0 No, that\u2019s something yet future.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 and he will not go out from it anymore; 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 out of heaven from My God, and My new name\u201d on him as well.\n\nIt\u2019s talking about an eternal city which hasn\u2019t even descended to the earth yet.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the earth is not fit for that heavenly city to arrive; the earth has to be remade, it has to be changed, it has to be destroyed by fire.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And once the earth is remade the way God originally designed it, before sin entered the world, then that heavenly city, which I believe exists right now as I\u2019m speaking, will descend into its proper abode because that abode will be fit for that city.\u00a0 You see, these are all future realities.\n\nWhat do we have the power to do, then, as we turn this key?\u00a0 Jesus holds the key; Jesus gave the key to Peter.\u00a0 We have the ability to invite people, through evangelism, into this coming kingdom, which is yet future.\u00a0 You can become an heir, a citizen, an inheritor of this coming kingdom which partially means you\u2019ll stick out like a sore thumb in this life because this world is Satan\u2019s kingdom operating by Satan\u2019s drumbeat and the further you progress with the Lord in progressive sanctification the more you don\u2019t imitate the values of this world but you imitate the values of the world to come.\u00a0 So all of these things, when properly understood, is not at all saying that we\u2019re in the kingdom.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s saying that we are heirs of this coming kingdom.\u00a0 Entrance and the power to enter is not the same thing as that reality coming to the earth.\n\nI think Robert Thomas, in his Revelation Commentary has it right on this.\u00a0 He says of this verse, \u201cAs the root and offspring of David (cf. Rev. 5:5; 22:16), Christ in the fullest sense controls the entrance to David\u2019s house, which ultimately\u2026 \u201cwhich ultimately<\/em> refers to the Messianic kingdom. . . . He is the genuine Messiah, and in the coming<\/em> reign of glory His power to open the door to His own and close it to the self-styled \u2018children of the kingdom\u2019 is established.\u201d \u00a0[Rev. 3:7 Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1\u20137: An Exegetical Commentary<\/em>, ed. Kenneth Barker (Chicago: Moody, 1992), 275.]\n\nWhat is Jesus doing today?\u00a0 He\u2019s not building His kingdom, He\u2019s not setting up His kingdom.\u00a0 We are not in the kingdom.\u00a0 He is in the business through evangelism as He works through the church of opening the door for people to enter the kingdom, become citizens of the kingdom once it fully materializes.\u00a0 You see, you can\u2019t build\u00a0 your whole theology on Revelation 3:7.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to look at the context of those verses and the totality of what God says concerning this coming kingdom.\n\nBy the way, where is Jesus right now?\u00a0 He\u2019s in heaven.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Well John, Revelation 4:1, when we get there is going to be invited up to where?\u00a0 Heaven.\u00a0 [Revelation 4:1, \u201cAfter these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in \u2018heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, \u2018Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 And he\u2019s going to see things yet to come.\u00a0 And who\u2019s one of the entities that he meets up there in heaven, Revelation 5:6 says I saw a Lamb looking as if it had been slain.\u00a0 [Revelation 5:6, \u201cAnd I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.\u201d]\n\nJesus today, and it\u2019s been this way ever since the ascension, is not on the earth, He is in heaven.\u00a0 Now he is very active in heaven, He is functioning as high priest after the order of Melchizedek.\u00a0 But He is not reigning as Davidic king.\u00a0 If He was reigning as Davidic king then all of the drive by shootings and wars and all of the famines and pestilences that go wrong in the world will be subdued in an instant.\u00a0 That\u2019s not happening today because we\u2019re living in the devil\u2019s world as we represent alien values in the devil\u2019s world.\n\nYou see, when the kingdom comes it\u2019ll be upon the earth.\u00a0 Zechariah 14:9 says and the LORD will be king in that day over all the earth.\u00a0 [Zechariah 14:9, \u201cAnd the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.\u201d]\n\nIsaiah 11:4 says in that day He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth.\u201d\u00a0 [Isaiah 11:4,\u00a0 \u201cBut with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.\u201d]\u00a0 And even beyond that once the kingdom is established the enemies of God are going to be subdued.\u00a0 You\u2019re not going to have rebellion, you\u2019re not going to have rival thoughts, you\u2019re not going to have some board somewhere out loading God.\n\nPsalm 110:1 says of that future time period, \u201cA Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: \u2018Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 So Jesus is at the right hand of God while His enemies are not of His footstool.\u00a0 But once the kingdom comes He descends from heaven back to the earth and His enemies are made His footstool and even the devil himself is bound in the abyss for a thousand years.\n\nThis is not the kingdom age today, folks.\u00a0 If this were the kingdom age then I\u2019m sort of sorry I signed up for the whole thing to begin with because I\u2019m greatly disappointed.\u00a0 This is a wonderful age when God is at work but it is never to be confused with the Davidic kingdom and Davidic reign of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 How could God\u2019s enemies be subdued when verse 9 talks about how this little church is being harassed by a synagogue of who?\u00a0 Satan!\u00a0 And he does begin to reveal the time period when their enemies will be subdued but he talks about that as if it were a future reality.\n\nVerse 9 says, \u201cI will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie-- I will\u201d see the future tense there, \u201cI will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.\u201d\u00a0 He keeps saying \u201cI will.\u201d\u00a0 Your enemies are not subdued now but I will subdue them; that\u2019s really the third clue why this could not be the kingdom even though Jesus today holds the keys of the kingdom, entrance into the kingdom and is inviting men and women into citizenship of the coming kingdom.\n\nSo Jesus is holy, He is true, He holds the key of David, and He also authoritatively opens and closes doors.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that interesting.\u00a0 Verse 7, it says of Him, \u201cwho opens and no one shuts, and who shuts and no one opens, says this.\u201d.\u00a0 [Revelation 3:7, \u201cAnd to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this.\u201d]\n\nWhy does He describe Himself this way?\u00a0 Because this little church at Philadelphia, something has been dropped into their lap; it\u2019s going to start to be described in verse 8, it\u2019s an opportunity.\u00a0 It\u2019s an opportunity that is before them, it is not in front of the other Christians but it\u2019s right there and the reason they have it is because the Lord opened the door for the opportunity and as long as that door is opened by God\u2019s authoritative decree Satan himself, even the synagogue of Satan that we\u2019ll talk about in a minute, can\u2019t shut that door.\n\nSee, we often times complain, Lord, I need to open doors, I need some opportunities.\u00a0 I mean why is it that I never get an opportunity to share my faith with such and such a person.\u00a0\u00a0 What we need to start doing instead of complaining is we need to start asking God to open a door, open the door of conversation, open the door of opportunity because He is the One that authoritatively holds those keys and He is the one, actually, that is in charge of ministry type opportunities.\u00a0 And the Church at Philadelphia has a massive door right in front of them that Jesus wants to make them aware of so He calls Himself the one who authoritatively opens doors.\u00a0 This door exists because I opened it for you.\u00a0 So Christ is holy, He is true, He holds the key of David, and He is the one that authoritatively opens and closes doors.\n\nNow we move into verses 8 and 9 he begins to commend this church as He does all the churches except Laodicea.\u00a0 But notice how Christ starts off with each church; He begins to notice or point out the things that they\u2019re doing correctly.\u00a0 Take a look at verse 8.\u00a0 Jesus says, \u201c'I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.\u201d\u00a0 Notice how Jesus begins here, \u201cI know,\u201d I know exactly what\u2019s happening in your life, I know exactly what\u2019s happening in your church.\u00a0 Why is that? Because He is the head of the church.\u00a0 He has omniscience into what is happening beneath the veneer.\n\nOver in John 2, verses 24-25 it says this: \u201cBut Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them,\u201d did you know that, that Jesus Christ didn\u2019t trust Himself for every person that came along.\u00a0 Why is that? \u201c\u2026 for He knew all men, [25] and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.\u201d\u00a0 This person I\u2019ll entrust myself to, this person I won\u2019t Jesus says.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because He knew those who were coming to Him with superficial motives, coming to Him trying to get Him into their program rather than people surrendering to the divine program. Jesus didn\u2019t have to wait for folks to pass a trial period; He knew exactly what was in people and consequently He could decide to trust Himself to one and not the other.\n\nSo He says \u201cI know.\u201d\u00a0 He also says \u201cI know your deeds,\u201d the Greek word there is ergon<\/em>, and it has somewhat surprised me as we\u2019ve moved through these chapters how focused Jesus is on good deeds.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, as Protestant Christians we preach against good deeds, rightfully so because good deeds don\u2019t save anybody.\u00a0 And we conveniently leave out from Ephesians 3:8-9 verse 10 which talks about good deeds or good works coming forth in the life of not an unsaved person but a saved person.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:8-9, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is<\/em> the gift of God; [9] not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.\u201d]\n\nEphesians 2:10 says, \u201cFor we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, not only was our salvation in the mind of God in eternity past but so would the things that He would do through us as saved Christians.\u00a0 This is why Jesus is focused so much on good deeds, good works.\u00a0 In fact, the kind of works that we do, including our speech, is largely an indicator of who we are.\u00a0 Luke 6:45 says, \u201cThe good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil;\u201d and then there\u2019s this very convicting part of this verse that I wish was not in here, it says, \u201cfor his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.\u201d\n\nMatthew 12:34 says, \u201cFor the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.\u201d\u00a0 Why be focused on good deeds and good speech?\u00a0 Because they are merely a reflection of the things happening in our heart.\u00a0 If we have the new nature and we say we\u2019re growing in Christ Jesus, which we all should be doing, then what will accompany that is natural good deeds, good works, done under His power and for His glory.\u00a0 And my speech ought to be different because as the late Adrian Rogers put it, what comes up in the bucket was down in the well.\n\nIn other words, if constant sarcasm, derision, anger, antagonism is constantly coming forth from my lips that\u2019s an indicator of what is really happening inside of my heart.\u00a0 If my heart has been changed and I am learning more and more to say no as a Christian to the old nature and live according to the new nature, then there ought to be some sort of reflection of that, not to determine whether we\u2019re saved or not, but to determine whether we\u2019re actually growing in Christ.\n\nSo Jesus here tells Philadelphia \u201cI know your deeds.\u201d And He also says here in verse 8, \u201cBehold, I have put before\u00a0 you an open door which no one can shut.\u201d\u00a0 Now I found this imagery of the open door very\u2026 there\u2019s actually a church in Los Angeles, if I remember right, The Church of the Open Door, pastored if I remember right by J. Vernon McGee.\u00a0 What a great name for a church\u2026 in Los Angeles!\u00a0 I mean, if any part of the world needs evangelism I think Los Angeles would be on my top ten list\u2026 Amen!\n\n\u201cBehold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut,\u201d now you track this imagery of the open door and it refers to evangelistic opportunities.\u00a0 Paul frequently spoke of his evangelistic opportunities as an open door.\u00a0 2 Corinthians 2:12 says, \u201cNow when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord,\u201d isn\u2019t that interesting.\u00a0 Paul went to his assignment and he waited for the Lord to open the right door, to start the right conversations, for the right ministry opportunities.\n\nSee, some of us are so eager to get out there and do great things for the Lord we haven\u2019t asked Him to open the door yet.\u00a0 Colossians 4:3, Paul says this: \u201cpraying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned;\u201d \u00a0I want to talk about the things of God Paul says, so he says pray for me, and pray \u201cthat God will open\u201d a door where I can express the things that are already in my heart.\n\nSee, long before I came to Sugar Land Bible Church many, many times I prayed, long before I knew such a church existed long before I even arrived in Houston, I prayed Lord, just send me to where I\u2019m supposed to be, and just create the right circumstances and just open the right door that I might glorify You in my fullness.\u00a0 That was a regular prayer request that I had unto the Lord.\u00a0 And I remember when the great Charles Stanley came to our school to lecture, I wasn\u2019t on campus at that time but I\u2019ve heard recordings of it, he almost started a revival on our campus by telling seminary students you\u2019ve got get alone with the Lord and you\u2019ve got to ask Him to open the right door for you, wherever it is, so that you might be able to express all of the things that God is doing in your heart.\n\nSo I just began to pray for just the right ministry door to open.\u00a0 And here I am today.\u00a0 I would ask you this: is that part of your prayer life?\u00a0 Are we so busy going out trying to do things through the human flesh and human works and not seeing any results that we never really ask the Lord to open the right door of opportunity.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s a career door, a job door, an evangelistic door.\u00a0 I mean, why wouldn\u2019t we ask Jesus for those things since He is, present participle, not orchestrating the kingdom but He is holding the key of David which grants entrance.\n\nOver in 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 Paul talks about this door again.\u00a0 He says, \u201cBut I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost;\u201d well why is that Paul, [9] \u201cfor a wide door for effective service<\/em> has opened to me,\u201d in other words, I\u2019m staying here in Ephesus because of something God has done, He\u2019s opened the door, and look at this\u2014\u201cand there are many adversaries.\u201d\u00a0 Well, wait a minute, I thought when the Lord opened the door it was supposed to be easy street.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 No headaches, no problems, no setbacks.\u00a0 See, your average Christian today moves out into an area they think God has for them and they encounter the first opposition and they say well, I must be going the wrong way.\u00a0 Well here\u2019s the deal folks, if you\u2019re going the wrong way God is big enough to grab you and set you on the right way.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to start trusting Him a little bit.\u00a0 Amen!\n\nWe\u2019re all so worried we\u2019re going to go the wrong direction.\u00a0 Why are you so worried about that, God is big enough to grab you and put you in the right direction, isn\u2019t He.\u00a0 And then we think that when we\u2019re going down paths that God has opened to us, oh no, I\u2019m getting some pushback, I guess God hasn\u2019t opened this door for me.\u00a0 When Paul says I\u2019m sticking around here in Ephesus because I\u2019ve got a door here that the Lord opened for me but simultaneously I\u2019ve got many adversaries.\u00a0 The little church at Philadelphia had a door, verse 8, but it doesn\u2019t take away the opposition, the synagogue of Satan who was persecuting them, verse 9.\n\nBut when you start to go through the door you begin to accept by faith that God is the one who opened this, only God can close it, and I can\u2019t determine my right barometer, or my right place on the map, or my compass based on push back; I think push back is normal in the work of God.\u00a0 I mean, is Satan going to just sit back and say well, let them do whatever they want.\u00a0 Let them go out there and do damage to the kingdom of darkness, I won\u2019t bother them.\u00a0 Of course Satan is not going to do that; he\u2019s going to try to create problems, discourage any way he can.\u00a0 But you should not interpret that opposition as somehow that door is not open.\u00a0 You need to stay with the task.\u00a0 Stick with it.\u00a0 Paul continued to stick with it despite being in Ephesus with many adversaries because he was convinced that the Lord had opened a door for him.\n\nHe makes a statement here in verse 8 and he says, \u201cbecause.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no man can shut, because\u201d have you ever wondered that?\u00a0 I\u2019ve been wondering this my whole life.\u00a0 Why does one Christian get one door and another Christian gets a different door?\u00a0 Why does God use some people and not others?\u00a0 Why do doors seem to almost miraculously open for some people but not other people?\u00a0 Well, after the word \u201cbecause\u201d hoti <\/em>in the Greek, he gives you three reasons for that.\n\nThere are three reasons why Philadelphia had a door that Ephesus didn\u2019t have, that Smyrna didn\u2019t have, that Pergamum didn\u2019t have, that Thyatira didn\u2019t have, that Sardis didn\u2019t have, that Laodicea didn\u2019t have.\u00a0 None of those other churches had this door, this little group here had the door and I want to know why?\u00a0 And Jesus said I\u2019m glad\u00a0 you asked the question, here are three reasons.\u00a0 Number 1, and this is the shocker, you have little power.\u00a0 How do you like that?\u00a0 I picked the church with the least amount of power and opened the door for them.\u00a0 The church with the big budget, the church with the big numbers, the church with all the accolades, the church with all the reputation, no door for them but this little group over here, the door is opened.\n\nIn other words,\u00a0 your qualified on the basis of your lack of qualifications.\u00a0 And study this out in the Bible, you\u2019ll see this pattern over and over again.\u00a0 God calls the least likely person.\u00a0 He called Moses; what did Moses say, Exodus 4:10, \u201cThen Moses said to the LORD, \u2018Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 What are You messing around with me, Lord, I\u2019m not an orator.\u00a0 I mean, who am I to go tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go.\n\nWhy did God pick Gideon in the Book of Judges.\u00a0 He said to him, O Lord,\u201d this is Gideon speaking to God, \u201chow shall I deliver Israel?\u00a0 Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh and I\u2019m the youngest in my father\u2019s house.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m in the wrong tribe, I\u2019m in the wrong clan, I\u2019m in the wrong family, I\u2019m even the least person in my whole family, what are\u00a0 you bothering me for, with a calling?\u00a0 [Judges 6:15, \u201cHe said to Him, \u2018O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house.\u2019\u201d]\n\nHow about Jeremiah 1:6, Jeremiah, the great prophet, wrote a whole book in our canonical Old Testament that spans 51 or 52 chapters. \u00a0What did he say when he was called? \u00a0[Jeremiah 1:6]\u00a0 \u00a0\u201c\u2018Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m just a kid.\n\nOr how about the disciples, do you think those guys really had it together?\u00a0 In Acts 4:13 they were called uneducated and untrained men.\u00a0 [Acts 4:13, \u201cNow as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.\u201d]\u00a0 And yet they, that\u2019s the Sadducees, were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.\u00a0 They were qualified because they were with Jesus.\u00a0 The problem with people that know that they\u2019re qualified and think they\u2019re qualified is they don\u2019t have a tendency to rely upon the Lord.\u00a0 They already have their own plans, their own ambitions, their own strategies.\u00a0 And as I had a youth pastor that told me once, \u201cyou want to make God laugh, show Him your plans.\u201d\n\n1 Corinthians 1:26-28 says, \u201cFor consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; [27] but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, [28] and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are.\u201d\u00a0 What do you have to do to be called by God?\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to be a nobody.\u00a0 God is in the business of taking a nobody and making him a somebody.\u00a0 But the problem is the somebody doesn\u2019t realize they\u2019re a nobody so God goes ahead and bypasses them and picks the person that knows they\u2019re a nobody.\u00a0 Now that\u2019ll preach\u2026 Amen!\u00a0\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\nI like how Grant Jeffries puts it, he says, \u201cIn Gideon\u2019s army\u201d and watch how God deals with Gideon\u2019s army, he develops a strategy where he dismisses the crowd, the strongest ones leave.\u00a0 Grant Jeffrey writes: In God\u2019s army \u201cGod delights to accomplish His great victories with a small remnant.\u201d\u00a0 Well why is that?\u00a0 \u201cThen it will be obvious to all that it is God who has won the victory, not man.\u201d\n\nThe problem with the human instrument is the human instrument gets in the way of the glory that should be going to God.\u00a0 And we know that God, Isaiah 42:8, will not share His glory with another.\u00a0 [Isaiah 42:8, \u201c\"I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.\u201d]\u00a0 So how does God solve this problem of the human instrument getting in the way of His glory?\u00a0 He picks the least qualified person, where the world says there\u2019s no way that could be accomplished by him (or her).\u00a0 And beyond that the person that realizes that they\u2019re unqualified is not going to come to God demanding their own way; they\u2019re just going to be dependent on Him, usable.\n\nCharles Ryrie, in the Ryrie Study Bible<\/em> says this: \u201cNot because of spiritual weakness but because of the few believers in the church.\u201d What was the church of Philadelphia, a little tiny church, probably wouldn\u2019t even appear on the map of most of our church gurus today and yet Jesus acknowledges their small size. He says, \u201cYou have a little\u201d which is the Greek word micros<\/em>, meaning micro, microscope, \u201cYou have a little power,\u201d the word for power is dunamis<\/em>, where we get the word dynamite, dynamic.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have a lot of dynamite on\u00a0 your side.\u00a0 And people say well, if we pick a pastor he\u2019s got to be dynamic.\u00a0 That\u2019s not who Christ picked.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t pick the dynamic person; He picked the person that had little dynamic quality, He picked little Philadelphia.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019ve entitled this sermon God Does Not Call the Qualified, Rather He Qualifies the Called.\u00a0 What you need is the calling of God.\u00a0 What you need is to be as the disciples were with Christ, everything else God will take care of.\n\nThere\u2019s another reason why this little church had this opportunity; they have kept His Word.\u00a0 What does this mean?\u00a0 They were faithful with the little things.\u00a0 Luke 16:10 says, \u201cHe who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.\u201d\u00a0 You wonder why there\u2019s not more opportunities and doorways set before you?\u00a0 Let me ask you a question; are you faithful with the little tiny things God has given you to do today?\u00a0 Lord, I want to evangelize and start a crusade and I want tens of thousands of people to come to know Christ through this crusade.\u00a0 Great, have you gone across the street or next door and shared your faith with your neighbor?\u00a0 Or how about that little kid that comes over and plays with your daughter, have you shared your faith with them.\u00a0 Well, Lord, I\u2019m destined for bigger things than that.\u00a0\u00a0 Well, God says then the opportunity is not going to go to you, it\u2019s going to go to someone else.\n\nYou know, people are living in an apartment, I want my own house.\u00a0 You know what the best advice I could ever give you on that?\u00a0 Treat that apartment as if it were\u00a0 your house, don\u2019t take advantage of the fact that the house is not yours and that you\u2019re a renter and you could treat the house any way you want because you might be able to fool everybody but God looks at that and maybe if you\u2019re faithful with that God will put you in your own house.\u00a0 Lord, I want to own my own business.\u00a0 How are\u00a0 you at being faithful in the business God has put you in that belongs to somebody else?\u00a0 If you can\u2019t be faithful there how can you be trusted with greater things?\n\nSee, everybody wants to start at the top and that\u2019s never how it works in God.\u00a0 Joseph did not wake up one day as second in command in Egypt.\u00a0 You study the life of Joseph and he was faithful, faithful, faithful, no matter where he was, despite all kinds of difficult opposition.\u00a0 He was even faithful with another man\u2019s wife; (that\u2019s not going to sell well on the soap operas, is it)?\u00a0 And God one day, because of proven character put him in charge of the second in command in Egypt.\n\nWell, what about David, you know, when Samuel came to anoint the next king and Jesse brought out the kids he didn\u2019t even bring out David.\u00a0 Finally Samuel said well there\u2019s got to be someone else here because none of these guys fit the bill.\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s this little kid in the back.\u00a0 What\u2019s he doing?\u00a0 Do you remember?\u00a0 He was tending the sheep, he was taking out the garbage, he was cleaning up the mess.\u00a0 I mean, he was doing things that were so menial and yet that was God\u2019s man.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because if you\u2019re faithful with the very little thing God can trust you with greater things.\n\nAnd Philadelphia had also not denied the name of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you how important the name of Jesus Christ is.\u00a0 Salvation is found, Acts 4:12, in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, you compromise on that, how in the world can God trust you with anything else?\u00a0 And of course we\u2019re living in a world today where everybody says you can be saved through\u00a0 your own path.\u00a0 Oprah Winfrey says that; she says there are many, many paths to what you call God.\u00a0 What is she saying?\u00a0 The name of Jesus Christ is not that big a deal because you can be saved the Christian route, that\u2019s fine, but there\u2019s other people that don\u2019t know Christ out there and they can be saved their own way.\u00a0 This comes into Christianity through inclusivism where emergent church leaders are telling people to remain as new converts within their Buddhist, Hindu or Jewish context.\u00a0 Where they\u2019re saying things like this: evangelism or missions for me is no longer persuading people to believe what I believe; it\u2019s all about encountering spirituality form each other.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter if\u00a0 you\u2019re a Buddhist, it doesn\u2019t matter if\u00a0 you\u2019re Muslim, it doesn\u2019t matter what you are as long as you\u2019re sincere the name of Christ really isn\u2019t that big a deal, that\u2019s the culture, that\u2019s the Oprah Winfrey spirituality and as God is my witness this is what is happening within the church more and more.\n\nLet me tell you something; you throw out the exclusivity of Jesus Christ there\u2019s no reason to send missionaries any more, is there, if people are saved by just being sincere, whether they know the name of Jesus or not.\u00a0 What\u2019s the whole point in translating the Bibles into the dialects of every culture, including those unreached people groups of the 1040 window if the name of Jesus Christ is not that important?\u00a0 I mean, are you denying the name of Christ when you\u2019re in a conversation with someone and they\u2019re talking about their path to spirituality?\u00a0 Are you the one that says well Jesus said you\u2019ve got to come through Him and there is no other name?\u00a0 Are you going to stand up and stick out like that, to friends and family and lost people?\u00a0 I\u2019m forced all the time to water this down because I know I\u2019m going to get some strange looks but largely how I\u2019m handling this issue is contingent upon future opportunities that God will give.\n\nYou know, this idea that youth have, we had it when we were young at one point, I\u2019m just going to go out there and sow a few wild oats, then I\u2019ll get serious about God later.\u00a0 Can I tell you that is completely contrary to the way God thinks and the way God promotes?\u00a0 Is that want Daniel and his three friends did?\u00a0 No, they took a stand as teenagers against Nebuchadnezzar right out of the gate.\u00a0 And what did God do?\u00a0 He kept promoting, promoting, promoting, promoting, all the way through the Book of Daniel, as we have studied.\u00a0 Is your life stale, does it lack direction, does it lack opportunity?\u00a0 I would simply ask you to evaluate decisions that you have made and are currently making.\n\nPhiladelphia, this micros church, is given this huge doorway of opportunity in spite of the fact that they hardly had the power to go through the door.\u00a0 The door is open buy many persecutors will tell us, John, could\u00a0 you [can't understand word] about these persecutors. Glad you asked.\u00a0 Revelation 3:9, \u201cBehold, I will\u00a0 cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.\u201d\n\nLook at this expression here, \u201csynagogue of Satan,\u201d doesn\u2019t that strike\u00a0 you as kind of odd?\u00a0 I mean isn\u2019t a synagogue a religious term?\u00a0 If it\u2019s religious then how could Satan be involved in it.\u00a0 Let me tell you something, beloved, Satan loves religion.\u00a0 Satan traffics in religion all the time.\u00a0 If he can get you caught up in religion he\u2019ll do whatever he has to do to get you involved in that.\u00a0 Who did Christ have the most trouble with in His ministry?\u00a0 The religious crowd!\u00a0 The religious Pharisaical stone-throwing crowd, that\u2019s who Christ had trouble with.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus called them in John 8:44, \u201cYou are of your father, the devil.\u201d\n\nWhat is religion?\u00a0 Man trying to do a series of good works to get to God.\u00a0 God is not the orchestrater of religion; He\u2019s the orchestrater of grace.\u00a0 And He mentions this group of \u201cthe synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie,\u201d why would He say that?\u00a0 Because what pleases God is not national heritage, Judaism, not circumcision of the skin but circumcision of the heart.\n\nNow I \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0am a Zionist, I am pro Israel, I believe God has a work for Israel, but here\u2019s the deal: none of that is going to happen until Israel is in faith.\u00a0 God is not in the business of bypassing people or working with people who bypass being born again.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have standing before God because you\u2019re Jewish.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have standing before God because you\u2019re a Baptist.\u00a0\u00a0 You don\u2019t have standing before God because you\u2019re an American.\u00a0 You have standing before God because your heart has \u00a0been circumcised through the new birth.\u00a0 Born again Christianity is not a denomination within Christendom.\u00a0 It\u2019s the only kind of Christian there is.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Jesus told Nicodemus in His conversation with Nicodemus, Nic at night, \u201cyou must be born again.\u201d\n\nMatthew 3:9 teaches the same thing.\u00a0 Don\u2019t say to yourselves we have Abraham as our father; I say to you that from these stones God could raise up children of Abraham.\u00a0 [Matthew 3:9, \u201cand do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.\u201d]\u00a0 Ethnicity I\u2019m not impressed with; what I\u2019m impressed with is the new nature.\u00a0 And we know prophetically that Israel will receive that and it\u2019s going to take the perils of the tribulation period to bring them to that realization, that they need to trust in Christ.\n\nNobody is going to get into heaven based on what their grandparents said or did, or what their parents said or did.\u00a0 It\u2019s an individual relationship with God, trusting in Christ, receiving the new birth, regeneration, the impartation of divine life.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only kind of Christian there is and the only such person that God will recognize.\u00a0 These people call themselves Jews, they\u2019re not even Jews because they are far from Me because they\u2019ve never been born spiritually.\n\nIt\u2019s very interesting that what Jesus says to Philadelphia about this group, \u201cI will cause them,\u201d that\u2019s the synagogue of Satan. \u201cI will make them,\u201d what is he talking about?\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about a time in history is coming where those that are persecuting you, those that look like the upper hand are actually\u2026 what does it say? \u00a0Are going to come and bow down, that\u2019s the same word proskune\u014d<\/em>, which is used to describe the worship of God in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 Revelation 4:10 [Revelation 4:10, \u201cthe twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,\u201d]\u00a0 I\u2019m going to make these people that are persecuting you come and bow down at\u00a0 your feet.\u00a0 Obviously this is not happening today because we\u2019re not in the kingdom now, even though Jesus has the key of the kingdom, because the enemies of God are not bowing down at the feet of God\u2019s people.\u00a0 But once he returns to the earth, establishes His kingdom, fulfills Psalm 110:1-2 where His enemies will become like His footstool, then this prophecy will be fulfilled.\u00a0 [Psalm 110:1-2, \u201cThe LORD says to my Lord: \u201cSit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.\u201d\u00a0 [2] The LORD will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, \u2018<\/em>Rule in the midst of Your enemies.\u201d]\n\nTheologians sometimes call this the doctrine of reversal.\u00a0 What is that saying?\u00a0 Those in this life that look like they have the upper hand, those in this life that look like they\u2019re winning, those in this life that look like they are winning in their war against God\u2019s people.\u00a0 In the next life everything is reversed.\u00a0 I mean, look at the story of Lazarus and the rich man, how in this life the poor man was wanting just for a few pieces of food to fall from the rich man\u2019s table.\u00a0 And it looked like the rich man had the upper hand and Lazarus was being oppressed and how fast in the next life everything changed.\u00a0\u00a0 It was the opposite; the rich man in unbelief is in Hades and torment and Lazarus is in Abraham\u2019s bosom, the doctrine of reversal.\u00a0 How fast circumstances change once the eternal realm begins, once the kingdom of God starts.\n\nThis is why Psalm 73:3 tells us not to be envious of the arrogant.\u00a0 Psalm 73:3 says, \u201cFor I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked.\u201d\u00a0 Ever felt that way?\u00a0 You know, Lord, I\u2019m trying to follow You and I\u2019m being pushed down all the time and yet the people that cheat on their taxes, cheat in school, are unethical in the business world, they seem to always get promoted.\u00a0 They seem to always have the most money, they seem to always live in the nicest areas and the neighborhoods.\u00a0 What\u2019s the deal Lord?\u00a0 The Psalmist says, \u201cFor I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked.\u201d\n\nHe goes on like this for several verses, just complaining.\u00a0 But then verse 17 says, \u201cUntil,\u201d that\u2019s the turning point.\u00a0 Psalm 73:17, \u201cUntil I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived there end.\u201d\u00a0 Until I got a glimpse of the eternal realm and I saw the doctrine of reversal at work, and you know what, I stopped envying the arrogant and the wicked.\u00a0 In a certain sense I felt sorry for them because once the doctrine of reversal takes root you\u2019re moving off into eternity.\u00a0 The upper hand of the wicked today is just taxing; as the Book of James says it\u2019s like mist that appears for a little while and then disappears.\n\n\u201cBehold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, I will make them come and bow down at your feet,\u201d and one other thing he says to them, \u201cI will make them know that I have loved you.\u201d\u00a0 See, the world today, the way it treats Christians, it doesn\u2019t even seem to understand that God is on our side.\u00a0 In fact, if you tell them that God is on our side you get laughed at.\u00a0 John 16:2 says, \u201cThey will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.\u201d\u00a0 People attack Christianity and the Bible because they don\u2019t see God in it at all; they think it\u2019s something evil or wicked.\u00a0 So the Lord says I\u2019m going to resolve this issue by not only making them, your enemies, come down and bow down at your feet but they\u2019re actually going to have to acknowledge that I\u2019m with you and I\u2019m on your side.\u00a0 I mean, what an amazing set of verses related to commending this church and revealing their future.\n\nNow did you catch my outline here?\u00a0 Rebuke, do you see any verse entries for that?\u00a0 Consequences for sin, do you see any verse entries for that?\u00a0\u00a0 What Christ has done to the church of Philadelphia is He has skipped over those sections that He commonly employs to address carnality in the church.\u00a0\u00a0 You might recall He did the exact same thing with the church at Smyrna, the second church.\u00a0 Church two and church six receive no rebuke; every other church gets a rebuke; not church two and not church six, not Smyrna and not Philadelphia.\u00a0 And you say well, that\u2019s very interesting, what do they have in common?\u00a0 Here\u2019s what they have in common: both of them are being persecuted by the synagogue of Satan, unbelieving Jews.\u00a0 What\u2019s the point?\u00a0 The point is a persecuted church is a pure church. See, when you\u2019re under persecution and\u00a0 you\u2019re literally depending upon God from moment to moment the opportunity for sin to slip into your life those opportunities start to become null and void, slim and none, and slim just left town.\n\nWhat does Jesus tell the church at Laodicea?\u00a0 The opposite, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 In Revelation 3:17-18 is saying \u201cI am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,\u201d and Jesus tell them, [18] \u201cI advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich,\u201d what is \u201cgold refined in the fire?\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s tribulation.\u00a0\u00a0 There\u2019s a reference to that in 1 Peter 1:6-7.\u00a0 [1 Peter 1:6-7, \u201cIn this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, [7] so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;\u201d]\n\nYou know what you need Laodicea so you can be like Philadelphia and Smyrna?\u00a0 You need a problem.\u00a0 You need a difficulty, you need a frustration,\u00a0 you need someone to come against you, you need a trial, you need a valley, because as long as you\u2019re kind of smug and complacent you\u2019re not going to depend upon Me.\u00a0 All of this unconfessed sin is entering your life, you\u2019ve forgotten about me so what I\u2019m going to do is I\u2019m going to create so many problems in your life so you can become practically pure so your practical purity matches\u00a0 your positional purity and so that you\u2019re going to have to cry out to Me more frequently in prayer.\u00a0 Does that sound like anybody\u2019s life today?\u00a0 Could it be that the problem in your life right now is simply there because God hasn\u2019t heard from you or me in so long, because prayer is no longer a habit, that He puts a problem in our life where we start to say wow, I need the Lord, I\u2019m going to pray more.\u00a0 That\u2019s kind of a different way of looking at problems, isn\u2019t it.\n\nWhy does God want to hear from you?\u00a0 Because He loves you.\u00a0 He wants a relationship with you.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet we\u2019re so smug, we\u2019re so complacent, we\u2019re so self-confident we think we\u2019ve got everything under control where we hardly ever talk to God and then God says I\u2019ll fix that, I\u2019ll do to you what I did to Laodicea, I will advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, which is a tribulation of some sort.\u00a0 Now Philadelphia didn\u2019t have that problem, they were already under tribulation.\u00a0 See that.\u00a0 Smyrna didn\u2019t have that problem, they were already under tribulation because a persecuted church is a pure church.\n\nYou say well, wait a minute pastor, doesn\u2019t talk in here about us escaping the tribulation?\u00a0 In fact, that\u2019s the next verse, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Well, we are candidates for trials (little t) but we escape Tribulation (capital T).\u00a0 And you say well I want to know more about that and my answer is you\u2019ve got to come back next week to learn about that.\n\nBut you know,\u00a0 you may be here today and you might not even know Christ personally and so our exhortation to you is the gospel, Jesus did the work, He did everything possible to bridge the gap between a holy God, the Father, and fallen humanity; His final word from the cross were \u201cIt is finished!\u201d this is a translation of the Greek word tetelestai,<\/em> paid in full.\u00a0 And He calls us to trust in what He has done in our place.\u00a0 So Christianity is not about cleaning yourself up and coming to Jesus; it\u2019s about coming to Jesus on His terms, faith alone and He does the cleaning process. He\u2019ll positionally make you righteous in a nanosecond before a holy God. \u00a0\u00a0And then He\u2019ll give you the resources and the instructions to grow thereby in the grace you have received.\u00a0 But none of these things are possible until a human heart, as it comes under the conviction of the Spirit, trusts in the Savior.\u00a0 Without trust in the Savior all we are is a pathetic mess of depravity mixed with religiosity, which doesn\u2019t save anybody.\u00a0\u00a0 So if the Holy Spirit has been at work today in your life and your heart, He\u2019s been convicting you by way of your need to have salvation, our exhortation to you is to trust in Christ and Christ alone and receive the salvation that He has for you.\u00a0 You can do it right now as I\u2019m speaking; it\u2019s not a matter of walking an aisle, joining a church, filling out a card, filling out a form, it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you trust in His provision by itself for salvation.\u00a0 And for those of us that are saved and have been saved we are to continue to walk in the grace of God under the instructions that He has given us, and we\u2019re learning about these instructions as we examine the seven letters to the seven churches.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for Your Word, we\u2019re grateful for Your truth, we\u2019re grateful for the things that You have revealed to struggling Philadelphia.\u00a0 Make us Philadelphian this week Lord, in our personal lives; bring us to the end of ourselves, recognizing how little power we have but looking to You for the great opportunities that come our way and the strength to walk through those doors which only You can open for us.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t