Revelation 3:7-13

Subject: Steadfastness
Scripture: Revelation 3:7-13
Sermon: “Remaining Steadfast in God’s Word”

Introduction:
A.  Some ask if there is a perfect church – If I knew of one I wouldn’t tell you because you would go there and ruin it

B.  The Church is made up of imperfect people who are aware of their weaknesses and long for the strength and grace of God to fill their lives, a hospital for those who know they are sick and needy – receives no rebuke from the Lord

Bible Background:
A.  The Letters to the seven churches
1.  Seven letters appealing for vigor and vigilance – he will neither spare nor despair of the churches
2.  Teaching about practice precedes doctrine here unlike most epistles where doctrine precedes practice
3.  Linguistic procedure: a Greeting, a title of Christ, a section headed “I know” usually introducing praise, a criticism of the church (except Smyrna and Philadelphia), a warning, an exhortation, a promise
4.  Linguistic pattern: Churches 1 and 7 are in grave danger; 2 and 6 are in excellent shape; and 3-5 are in the middle, neither good nor bad
ILL Weirsbe:
(a)  Ephesus was the careless church
(b)  Smyrna was the crowned church
(c)  Pergamum was the compromising church
(d)  Thyatira was the corrupted church
(e)  Sardis was the feeble church
(f)  Philadelphia was the faithful church
(g)  Laodicea was the foolish church

B.  The City of Philadelphia
1.  From the Hermus River valley where Sardis and Smyrna were located, a smaller valley of the Cogamis River branches off to the southeast – a road through this valley provided the best way to ascend the 2,500 feet from the Hermus valley to the vast central plateau
2.  Philadelphia was the youngest of the 7 cities – city founded in 189 BC and named after Attalus II’s nickname Philadelphus (brother lover) which his loyalty to his brother Eumenes had earned him
3.  On an 800 foot hill overlooking the road and was to be a center of Greek culture and language – was successful so that by 19 AD the Lydian language had been completely replaced by Greek – name changed to Neocaesarea and then to Flavia and known by Philadelphia and Flava in 2nd and 3rd centuries
4.  Suffered in the earthquake in 17 AD and was assisted to rebuild by a donation from the imperial purse – pagan cult of Dionysus but main church opponent was Jews – city of perpetual earthquakes

C.  The Church at Philadelphia
1.  Little known about it apart form this passage – founded while Paul was in Ephesus
2.  Ignatius passed through Philadelphia on his way to martyrdom at Rome; He later wrote the church a letter of encouragement and instruction – Ignatius gives a glowing account of the city 20 years late
3.  Some Christians from Philadelphia were martyred with Polycarp at Smyrna
4.  The church lasted for centuries – stood firm even when the region was overrun by Muslims but finally fell in the 14th century when jealousy divided the Christian powers, and it fell before the attack of the united forces of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II and the Turkish Sultan Bayezid I and is today known as Ala-Sheher (the Reddish city because of the red hills in its rear)

Transitional Sentence: If we keep God’s Word, God will open doors of ministry and eternal life to us

I.  The Correspondent   Revelation 3:7c

A.  His Character – unique in that it is not found in 1:12-17 as the others
1.  The Holy One
(a)  OT describes God as Holy (2 Kgs 19:22; Job 6:10; Ps 71:22 I will also praise Thee with a harp, Even Thy truth, O my God; To Thee I will sing praises with the lyre, O Thou Holy One of Israel.; 78:41 And again and again they tempted God, And pained the Holy One of Israel.; Isa 43:15 “I am the LORD, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King.”; 54:5 “For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth.; Hab 3:3; Isa 6:3 Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” (Rev 4:8)
(b)  Title “Holy One” in NT for Jesus Christ in Mark 1:24; Luke 1:35; John 6:69; Acts 3:14 = direct claim to deity
(c)  Church must also be holy 1 Pet 1:15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”
2.  The True One
(a)  True combined with holy to describe God in Rev 6:10; 15:3; 16:7; 19:2, 11
(b)  True denotes that which is genuine, authentic, and real – John 14:6
(c)  True implies that His Word will be fulfilled

B.  His Control
1.  The Key of David
(a)  David represents the messianic office – from Isa 22:22 “Then 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.
(b)  Key = authority and control
(c)  Jesus has the authority to determine who enters His messianic kingdom (John 10:7 “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep., 9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture; 14:6; Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”)
2.  Controls everything = open and shut case
(a)  Christ’s has the total authority to decide who would be a part of the house of David and the kingdom of God
(b)  Matt 16:19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

II.  The Commendation  Revelation 3:8-10

A.  Reward of an Open Door  Rev 3:8
1.  Good works = lead to an open door
2.  Open Door = sure entrance into the messianic kingdom as a reward for their faithfulness and possible missionary opportunity (1 Cor 16:9; 2 Cor 2:12; Col 4:3)
3.  They had a little power = not negative comment but a commendation of their strength – church small in number but had a powerful impact upon its city – 2 Cor 12:10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. – despite its small size, spiritual power flowed in the Philadelphia church – Job 23:12 “I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
ILL Martin Luther: “My conscience is captive to the Word of God”
4.  They had guarded God’s Word = had not denied Christ’s name – denying Christ = rejection of the Christian faith (2 Tim 2:12 If we endure, we shall also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;) and can be done by behavior as well as verbally (1 Tim 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.; Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed.; 2 Pet 2:1 BUT false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.; Jude 4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.) – failure to hold the right doctrine about Christ can also be construed as denying Christ (1 John 2:22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.)
ILL Barbara Lee, Goldsboro, North Carolina.  Christian Reader, "Rolling Down the Aisle." My five-year-old grandnephew was obviously worried as he looked down the long aisle of the church where his aunt was to be married the following day. His grandmother had an idea. "I think I'll give a prize to the person who does the best job tomorrow," she told him.
   We were all holding our breath the next day, but when it was time, the ringbearer performed without a hitch.
   When his grandmother told him he had won the prize, he was both excited and relieved. "I was pretty sure I had it," he admitted, "until Aunt Dana came in wearing that white dress and the horn was blowing. Then I started thinking--she might win!"

B.  Reward of Saving Souls  Rev 3:9
1.  Hostility from unbelieving Jews = synagogue of Satan because of their rejection of Christ – Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
2.  Persecutors would bow down to them = vanquished, humbled and defeated – future all Israel would be saved (Rom 11:26 – Zech 12:10) – word for bow down is the usual word for worship in the NT – inference that some of them would be saved – Matt 5:16
3.  They would know that God loves the people in the church at Philadelphia – “Agapa” love occurs 3 times in Revelation and conveys election rather than affection – here refers to the self-sacrificing love that Christ had for his people (1:5; 3:9; John 13:1; Gal 2:20; Eph 5:2)

C.  Reward of the Rapture  Rev 3:10
1.  Because you have kept the word of My patient endurance
(a)  Logos = 18 times in Revelation usually meaning gospel, the divine revelation through Christ and his messengers
(b)  Endured patiently – proved their love for Christ by their obedience 2 Thes 3:5 And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.
2.  “I will also keep you from the hour of trial which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell upon the earth” – speak of a pre-tribulational rapture – sweeping nature of this promise extends far beyond the Philadelphia congregation to encompass all faithful churches throughout history that the church will be delivered from the tribulation:
(a)  the test is yet future
(b)  the test is for a definite limited time
(c)  the test will expose people for what they really are
(d)  the test is worldwide
(e)  it is to test those who dwell upon the earth, a phrase used in Revelation to speak of unbelievers
3.  Hour of testing = Daniel’s 70th week (Dan 9:25-27), the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:7) the seven year tribulation period – promise to keep the church out of this testing – unbelievers will either pass the test by repenting or fail by refusing to repent (Rev 6:9-11; 7:9-10, 14; 14:4; 17:14 = repenting believers) (Rev 6:15-17; 9:20; 16:11; 19:17-18 = those who fail to repent)
4.  “will keep from”
(a)  “ek” = out of or out from or away from – to preserve in or through would be “dia” or “en” – “ek” = continuous existence outside”
(b)  only other time threw ek appears is in John 17:15 and argues strongly for “out of”
(c)  Also many in the tribulation that are believers will be martyred (6:9-11; 7:9-14) meaning the promise is meaningless if believers face the same fate as sinners

D.  Reward of a Crown  Rev 3:11
1.  “I come quickly” – referring back to v. 10 about the rapture – in spite of the promises of God the church is to remain in constant vigilance and alertness until the Lord’s coming – Rev 22:20 only proper response
2.  Promise of a crown – hold fast and persevere to the end – Col 1:22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.; 1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us.
3.  Crown = crown of life (Jas 1:12; Rev 2:10 = eternal life 2 John 8; 2 Tim 4:8; 1 Pet 5:4
ILL Corrie Ten Boom in My Heart Sings: Although the threads of my life have often seemed knotted, I know, by faith, that on the other side of the embroidery there is a crown.

III.  The Culmination  Revelation 3:12

    To the One who overcomes:

A.  Promise of Stability
1.  God will make them a pillar in the temple of God – in a city prone to earthquakes, this was an interesting promise
2.  Stability, permanence, and immovability

B.  Promise of Security
1.  Never go outside God’s presence
2.  Philadelphians constantly ran out of their city into the valley to avoid getting killed by an earthquake – have eternal security in Christ
C.  Promise of Standing
1.  Name of God – “I AM” (Exod 3:14)
2.  Name of the city of God = New Jerusalem = eternal citizenship in heaven’s capital city (Rev 21)
3.  New Name of Jesus Christ = unknown (1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.)

Conclusion: Rev 3:13
A.  Believers must heed the truths

B.  Obedience to God and His Word brings open doors and rewards – failure to hear God’s Word and obey leads to closed doors!