Keep sharing good news without ads.
Bro. Bill Nichols
Look at that, our newest mother. Awkward.
That's refreshing. Look at that. That did make the smell, didn't it? Yeah. Sorry, Bill. We were trying to disrupt you. You are perfect. Our newest church member. That's right.
The cutest church member. Congratulations, William. It will be three, and we will actually spend most of the time talking about the church at Philadelphia. But we will clean up a little bit on what was left over with Sardis.
I was going to, I guess, go ahead and start, and I think he's got the machine going. And if not, it doesn't matter anyhow. I think it would be good to start with a prayer. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
Thank you for all the blessings that you have given us. Thank you particularly for giving us this place to come together to worship and to study your word. Thank you moreover for your Holy Spirit that you have given us to help us be guided to those passages that you wish us to discover.
And individually be guided to the lesson that you have for us. Because we know that all of your word is good and powerful and meaningful to our lives. Bless us and keep us. Go with us through this service and the ones to come.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, this morning we will look at the church at Philadelphia. But we're going to glimpse back at last Sunday where we finished by reading a passage in Exodus. A passage that some people use to misinterpret what Revelation 3, 5 says.
Even though it can't be said any more clear than it is. I will not, this is verse 5 of chapter 3. Verse 5 of chapter 3. Beginning about the middle of the verse. I will not blot out his name out of the book of life.
But will confess his name before my father and before his angels. These people twist the words to imply that it is possible to lose your salvation. Here's what they say. They say if he says he could have, I'm sorry.
If he says he will not, that implies that he could have. If he says I will not do something, the implication is I have the ability to do it. Otherwise I wouldn't have to say I won't do it because I wouldn't be able to.
So that's where they go with this. When he says I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. They say well if he will not blot it out that means he could have. And my answer to that would be of course he could have.
He's God. He can do whatever he wishes. But the point is he didn't. And he says he didn't. A better passage to reference than the one in Exodus that we read last Sunday. Is the one in Psalms. Psalms 69 verse 22.
This is a Psalm of David. And he begins let their table become a snare before them. And that which should have been for their welfare let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not.
And make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon them. And let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate. And let none dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten.
And they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity. And let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living. And not be written with the righteous.
What he's saying is no longer count them among the living. Be blotted out of the book of the living. No longer be counted among the living. And written not unto the book of life. Not written with the righteous.
Who's in the righteous? His children are among the righteous. Why are they listed among the righteous? Because they have the righteousness of God. Of Jesus. Were it not for Jesus, we wouldn't have our righteousness either.
Because none of us are of ourselves righteous. So I'm convinced that the threat in Exodus 32. And the threat in 69 of Psalms. Is not eternal damnation. But physical death. If there was an implied threat in Revelation.
I will not blot out his name of the book of life. It's the threat of physical death. Not the threat of eternal damnation. Well that was left over from last week. And so was this. The closure that comes with every letter.
He that hath an ear to hear. Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And so I ask once again. This question. Did this warning fall on deaf ears? Well for the most part the answer is yes.
Most people when they read this did not have ears to hear. And therefore they did not hear. However there is always a remnant that does hear. That's why he says the path to eternal life is narrow. Narrow is the way and straight is the gate.
But the path that leads to destruction is broad. Yes. There is a book that in Psalms is described as the book of the living. And those are the people that are alive. And when you're removed from the book of the living you're dead.
You've suffered a physical death. But there's a book of life. And the book of life is not the same as the book of the living. The book of the living are those who are alive. The book of life is those who are eternally alive.
And so it's a big difference whether you're eternally alive or whether you're alive right now. Everybody that's in here is alive right now. Most people in here, and I hope all people in here, are alive forevermore.
And there's a great difference between the two. So yes, that's my take on this. And I'm not going through the whole thing. There are other instances where the book of life is described as the book of David.
He that opened, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth. That's the title. The title of who? The title of Jesus. Who is speaking to John who is recording what he said. So how did he describe himself?
Jesus, the actual author of these seven letters, always introduces himself with a description reflecting something about his character. In the five letters before this one, those descriptions came from the vision of John earlier in the letter.
But this one is unique. He didn't take this one from anything in Revelation prior to this chapter. This comes from Old Testament. If we begin, he that is holy. What does that mean? What does it mean to be holy?
Totally separate. Now we get a false impression sometimes of what it means to be holy. To be holy is to be separate, not to be necessarily good. You can be totally separate and be bad. But not this man.
He is set apart. He is a holy God. He is the ultimate set apart one. The Lord Jesus Christ is Christ. To say that Christ is holy is to say that he is utterly separate from sin. He is set apart from sin.
He is the only person who has ever been set apart from sin. He had no sin. Therefore, his character is absolutely unblemished and is flawless. Not only is he uniquely qualified to be the propitiation for our sins, he is the only man who is.
So, if someone offers to you an alternate path to eternal life and to the removal of sin from you, you know that that is not of the Lord. Not only is he holy, he is true. What did it say? These things saith he that is holy, he that is true.
Jesus said to John earlier. We didn't say to John, but said to the disciples in the presence of John as found in John chapter 14 verse 6. In fact, he's talking to Philip, I believe. No, Thomas. I think he's talking to Thomas.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. He is the only man that has been totally set apart from sin so that he has total righteousness that he can give to us.
If he didn't have that total righteousness, we couldn't have it. We wouldn't have it and we would not be a candidate for eternal life. Moreover, he has a key. What key does he have? The key of David. What does that tell you about him?
What does having a key tell you? Mrs. Mitchell has a key to this church. I have one that I can't find. She can get in. I have to wait on her. To have a key implies that you have authority to open and to close.
If Jesus has the key of David, he has the authority to open and to close the kingdom of David. These things saith he that hath the key of David. He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.
He is the one of authority. How much authority does Christ have? Ultimate authority. He can open and no man can shut. He can shut and no man can open. He is the all-powerful one. In short, he is the holy one.
He is the totally set-apart one. He is the true one. He is the one with authority. He is the one and the only. The holy one. So now we come to the next verse. Verse 8. The commendations. That's the third thing usually in the letters to the churches.
We found one last week when the third one was skipped. There were no commendations given to the church at Sardis. But there is in this one, the church at Philadelphia. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength.
And hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. So Christ begins by commending the Christians at Philadelphia for four realities characterized by this congregation. First, the church had a little strength.
That's not negative. That they've got any strength at all is a positive. Oh, they have great strength, don't they? They have little strength of their own. What strength do they have? They have His strength.
They have His abilities. They have His authority. With Paul they could say, Therefore I take pleasure in my affirmatives and reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses. For Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.
My weakness shows just how strong my master is. If I could do it on my own, the fact that the master does it for me would not be so impressive. Well, given a little more time, I could have done it. No, given a little more time, you couldn't have done it.
Despite its small size, spiritual power flowed out of the Philadelphia church. Why? Because they possessed the power of God. People were being redeemed. Lives were being transferred. And the gospel of Jesus Christ was being proclaimed.
Philadelphia was a church where things were happening. And the second characteristic that they had, the believers at Philadelphia were marked by obedience. They kept Christ's word. Like Martin Luther on trial before the Imperial Diet, they could say, My conscience is captive to the word of God.
It didn't matter what the court said. It didn't matter what the community said. What mattered was what God said. And they did not deviate from this pattern of obedience, thus proving the genuineness of their love for Christ.
Further, Christ goes on to commend the Philadelphia congregation for not having denied His name, despite the pressures that they faced to do so. They remained loyal no matter what it cost. In Revelation 14, another group of saints who refused to take the mark of the beast are commended for their ability to not deny the name of the Lord.
Here's what it says. Here is the perseverance of the saints who kept the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Like them, the Philadelphia church would not recant its faith. And finally, the fourth item, Christ condemns the Philadelphia church because its members had kept the word of His patience.
We see that in verse 10. It might have been better translated, You have kept my command to endure patiently. The Christians at Philadelphia persevered faithfully through all of their trials and difficulties.
So here's what it says. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Now we go to the next usually described by Christ in these letters.
And what is that? If we go through the list, the first thing is the name, then the title of Jesus, then the commendations, and now number four. Criticism. The things that need to be corrected. Well, what does he say to the Philadelphia church?
He does say that, and I guess you could take that to be a criticism, but that's not a criticism of the church. That's the criticism of some people in the church who claim to be Christians and are not.
He didn't really criticize the Philadelphia church, but he said, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. One implication of this promise is their salvation was secure. Their entry into the blessings of salvation by grace and into Christ's future messianic kingdom was guaranteed.
You are going to be in my kingdom. I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. Their entrance into the blessing of salvation by grace and into Christ's messianic kingdom was guaranteed.
God selected, God secured, and no power can interfere. Paul said in Romans 8, verse 38, For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor depth nor height, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Does that leave anything out? Was anything left out? Things above, things below, principalities, powers, height, depth, any other creature, nothing can separate us from the love of God. There's a second implication here, and that's an opportunity for service.
I will set before thee an open door, and no man can close it. So they'll have opportunities to serve. There's a second promise. It's given in verse 9. And this is the one, John, that you were referring to.
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan. Well, who are they? Are they members of the church? No, they are of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. And I will make them come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved them.
Now, one of the rewards, one of the promises given to the Philadelphia church is their faithfulness will be rewarded, and they'll see some of the very Jews that are condemning them, persecuting them, come to knowledge of Christ, and do it in their presence.
You know, we're not always given the opportunity to see what happened to those people that we witnessed it. Sometimes we are, and it's a great blessing. We testify to someone. We speak with someone, and we can see that they are changed.
We can see a change in their life, and they confess that they have been saved. They do all the things, and we know, or we feel like we know, that they are among the elect. But sometimes we do all that we do, and we walk away thinking that we had no impact.
Sometimes we did, but sometimes we didn't. Sometimes the impact we have will occur 5, 10, 15 years later when someone else will say something to them, and they'll recall what you said to them that the Lord convicted you to say to them, and it'll all be part of the message that brought them to the Lord.
But what really brought them to the Lord? Not your message. Not what you said. Nothing you did. What brought them to Him is He. No one can come unless they're drawn. And those that are drawn can't refuse.
And once they are His, they'll always be His. The third promise is in verse 10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them which dwell on the earth.
Now, I wanted to make sure I got to this one today so that I could finish it out because this is a controversial verse. Let's read it again just to see what it says. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell on the earth.
There are several aspects that need to be considered. Number one, the test is still in the future. I will keep thee. Not I have kept thee, but I will keep thee. So this hour of temptation is still in the future.
This hour of testing is still in the future. That's one thing. The second thing, the test is for a definite period of time. And it's limited. Jesus said, as described as from the hour of temptation, I will keep thee from the hour of temptation.
And the third thing is that this thing is a test or a trial. And it will expose people for what they really are. I'm going to go back and read the first part of that again. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all of the world to try them, to test them.
Now, I left out one thing, didn't I? It's worldwide. It shall come upon all the world. I'm sorry. I started my answer before I heard you begin. Go ahead. No time that he wasn't patient. But he's not patient.
Is that right? Well, you're absolutely correct. There is no limit to his patience. But he's really talking about their patience. And because they have been patient, they have patiently waited for him.
He says, I will keep them from the hour of temptation, which will come upon all of the world. So, it will be in the future. The testing for them will be in the future. It will be a test. It will come upon all the world.
And I forgot the fourth one.
It's for a definite period of time. Well, if you take that view, then wouldn't it stand to, because they kept.
Because they have kept the word of,.
They have kept their patience. He's just talking to those people that were in there.
He's talking to those people in the church at Philadelphia who have kept his.
So, this is a future prophecy for them, huh?
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will keep thee. Now, he's talking back to the church of Philadelphia. I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them which dwell upon the earth.
Now, who's going to be tested? All that dwell on the earth. Okay? All that dwell upon the earth will be tested, including the church of Philadelphia. Everyone will be tested. All right. Let me get back down to where we are.
And the fifth thing, most significantly, is its purpose is to try them that dwell on the earth. That's a phrase that's used typically for the unbeliever. So, it's going to test the unbeliever. All right.
Now, there's two questions that I want to ask right now. I'm going to give you a little bit of time because I talk fast, so we've got a little bit of time left. What is the hour of temptation? Yeah. It could be the seven-year period of testing that is to come.
That's what I wanted you to say.
So, the kept throws me off for that.
And the next part of the question is, Brother John, what's meant by the phrase, I will keep thee from the hour of temptation? He does it for you. Yes, indeed. But you haven't really honed in on the divergence of two trains of thought.
About being taken out before the seven years.
Preserved through it. Could an hour of temptation be representative of just a question that pops into my head?
Well, it probably could for us. Yes, sir. Preserved. That's exactly right. And, Brother David, that's where we're going. And when I get down here, I want to have the work laid out. So, hold on to that place to make sure I didn't leave anything out.
I think I got it all in. I got mine out of the Blue Letter Bible. I don't know where you got yours. I got it out of Lagos. Hold the one in Lagos because that will give us a second reference. Well, let me begin.
There's been a debate ever since Paul wrote of the rapture. Now, he didn't call it the rapture. He called it the catching up. We'll just read it and see. 1 Thessalonians 4, 15. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up. That's the word that in the Latin is translated rapturo. Caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we be ever with the Lord.
Now, the debate, the two divergent opinions are these. It centers on the timing of this event, the catching up or the rapture. Whether it occurs prior to, during, or after the Great Tribulation. Now, that's all it can be.
It can be before the Great Tribulation, during the Great Tribulation, or after the Great Tribulation. I'm, like, certain of that. As certain as I've been of anything. That if we say before, during, and after, we've got it all covered.
Right now, that's before. Right? Unless it's during. And we know it's certainly not after. That'd be right after. It could be right after. But now it wouldn't be. Now we know it wasn't. Now, the verse we're viewing at this time is often used as a proof text for those who support the pre-Tribulation rapture.
The focus of the argument is the phrase, keep thee from the hour of temptation. And this question concerns the meaning of the phrase, te 'roke. Which means, keep from. Now, this word, keep from, means different things to different believers.
Because they translate it to be what they want it to believe. To be. Those who argue that the church will go through the Tribulation. That the church will go through the Tribulation. Hold that this phrase means preservation in the midst of and emergence from the Tribulation.
It means that they take this word to mean the church will be preserved through the Tribulation period by the power of God. And they will emerge from it afterwards. It means preservation in the midst of the Tribulation.
They believe that the church will go through the Tribulation judgments and God will preserve it in the midst of them. So that the church will thus emerge successfully at the end from the hour of testing.
That's one perspective. That the church goes through the Tribulation and is protected by God through it. And if you wanted to pick a passage in the Old Testament to kind of correspond to this. Did Noah go through the flood?
The same rain fell on him that fell on the others. The same rain fell on him that fell on the ones that, but he was preserved through it. So that would be the Lord protecting the church through the Tribulation period could be justified and even backed up and supported by Old Testament material.
Now, there are those who argue that the church will not go through the Tribulation at all. They hold that this phrase means continuous existence outside. That they're not protected through, they're kept out.
So that's the crux of the problem. Do they go through the Tribulation and are protected by God and come out the other side? Or are they kept out of the Tribulation altogether? Now here is the definition Brother David brought up a minute ago.
Of the word Terao. Terao, I think is the way you say it. And it says, to attend too carefully to take care of. It can mean to guard. It can mean to keep one in the state in which he is. Is this for the character keep?
This is for the word keep. Is that not right? Have I got the right word Brother David? Will keep. This is will keep from? It's will keep. Will keep. It's to reserve or to undergo something. Now, what it doesn't actually say.
It doesn't actually say to continually exist outside of. It doesn't say that. You can read it and put that in if you say to be kept from. And say that's different than to be preserved through. And that's what the pre-Tribulation people have to do.
They have to say, if you want to be kept from it. And that means you're never in the Great Tribulation. You're going to be brought out before the Tribulation. That means that you can't have been in it.
The other group says you are protected through the Tribulation period. Because you belong to him. Just like Noah belonged to the Lord. And although the rain fell on him. As well as it did the ones that drowned.
He was preserved through the flood. Alright. I want to take a minute for your comments.
What do you think? I think God shut the door on the ark.
You think God shut the door on the ark. I know he shut the door on the ark. It says that. You are 100 correct. God is in control of who is in the ark and who is not in the ark. That is certainly true.
It's not exactly the same thing as answering the question. Does the church go through the Tribulation or not?
I don't see why we deserve to be raptured from it.
Well, I can tell you this. There is no one that deserves to be raptured from it.
I think we can all go with that. Brother David. If you look in the bigger group dictionary, Kittles. Five pages on one word. It starts out the basic meaning is to keep in view. Or to take note of. Or to watch over.
Can I repeat what you said? To keep in view? Yes. Okay. Or to watch over. Yeah. It can have the connotation to watch for or to watch over. In the way of protecting. What do you do with the word from? I can't look it up on my phone.
I have a laptop. I was curious about that. It's easy to look up on the laptop. I've looked up the word from here. Okay, what is it?
You can have many means. It means out of, from, by, or away from. Tell me the word. What's the Greek word? Ek. Ek. E-K. Okay, so what does it mean again? Out of, from.
So this means before, by.
You can see why it is. You can see why it is that different scholars, all of good faith, comes to different conclusions about what this says. Does it mean, does it say it kept them from, out of? What was the word that would have done that for me?
The word is ek. Which means?
Yeah, there's four different meanings. Give me the second one. Out of, from, by.
Away from is the one that I would have. If I were a pre-tribulation rapture person and I wanted to justify a position, I would select the meaning that said away from.
But this passage, what I'm saying kept, is there's a before tribulation and an after tribulation starts in this same verse. Because you have kept prior.
That's what I'm thinking about it. You have kept. Because you have kept this, I am going to keep you. So the I will keep you is at a different time than you have kept. That's what I'm thinking. Because you have been patient, you have kept, then I will keep.
And I will keep you either out of it altogether or I will protect you through it. And you can't take this, all I'm trying to say is you can't take this verse and say, that proves that the rapture happened before the tribulation period began because it could mean that you're just protected through it.
You can't use this verse to say you're protected through it because it could say you're kept out altogether. So it doesn't say definitively one way or the other. And that's why there's such great debate still in the churches about this phrase.
And that's why it's such a taboo thing to say. You can get fights started over just this thing. Yes, sir.
There's one verse that keeps popping into my head. I can't remember where it's at, but it says, but for the sake of the elect I have cut these days short. Yes, that's there.
Yes, sir. If this is written to a liberal church called the Church of Philadelphia, why does anybody think it has anything to do with it?
Well, what they would say is every one of these letters were written to be read by every one of the churches, including everyone that read the Bible. So everything has meaning to everyone.
Well, but certainly it was true for that church.
That church was certainly kept. Now, that church was removed prior to the tribulation.
We know that for sure. Well, what it was telling that church right there is that there's a tribulation in the world during your day now, and I'm going to watch over you. That's right. So the danger comes.
They obviously didn't get raptured. What happened was God protected them.
Yeah, and the danger comes when we try to take that definitive promise that we can understand and apply it over here where we are less fuzzy. We are more fuzzy.
None of the other churches that he wrote to, did he say that? Did he give that promise to? No, he didn't. So that's not a promise to the general church, to the overall church. It's a very weak argument.
Some people coming into that verse. I agree with you. If you based your position as a pre-tribulation rapture person on that verse, you would be walking on very shaky, dangerous ground that you could not defend.
Well, they used that verse as pre-rapture because the next verse in 11 brings them back up to it.
Well, there's a lot of reasons why they do it. The real reason people have positions that they have is because they have positions they were taught. And it's so hard to discard the position that you have been taught from the time, from me from the time I was 13 years old, actually before that.
And it is very hard to leave it. Especially when you can find people that you admire and respect that will say, well, it kind of means that.
I like pre-rapture because I don't want to go through it, but I can't make it fit.
You can't handle it.
Well, here's all I know for sure. I wouldn't base my position on this passage. That's what I know for sure.
Hold that cup quickly. Hold that fast which you have, that in case there's still the earth hanging on to the faith that they have until he comes. Of course, I guess they could interpret that, that when he says the time he's talking about the rapture, maybe he's saying that at some point.
Well, I think that's what he means. I think that's what he comes together with right there. You said something.
You said something that struck me. You said to them that dwell upon the earth was meant. That's a statement for unbelievers.
Usually the earth dwellers refer to those that are earthy, not those that are his. We are taken to be a part. Whether we're physically there or physically somewhere else, we're not part of the earthly.
And the tribulation is basically to test those that are earth dwellers worldly because the believers will be protected through it. Well, what does it mean to these? It says, hold fast to which thou hast that no man take thy crown.
What kind of crown is he talking about? Is he talking about salvation or is he talking about rewards?
Salvation and crown.
Well, there are two kinds of crowns. That's what I'm getting to. There are two kinds of crowns. There's at least two kinds of crowns. There's the crown of life. The crown of life deals with salvation, and it is so eternally secure that no one can take it.
John 6 .39 says,. And this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that all of which he hath given me I shall lose nothing, but shall raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the sun and believeth on me may have everlasting life.
And I will raise him up on the last day. That's that crown. That's the crown of salvation. The other crown is the crown, a wreath given to a victor at a game. Stephanos. It's a crown given to those who won an event.
And it says, I will reward every man according to his works. Reward, not save. You're rewarded for your works, not saved by your works. And then we have the promise to the other overcomer. Him that overcometh will I make a pillow in the temple of God.
And he shall go out no more. And I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of the heaven from my God. And I will write upon him my new name.
And that's, I guess, where we need to end for today. One thing we can be certain of is that Jesus will come down out of heaven. The city, the new city, will come down out of heaven. And we will live and reign in that city with Christ.
Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. And thank you for all our many blessings. Bless us and keep us and protect us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And sorry I ran over.