Address—C. Hendricks
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I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door.
And no man can shut it.
Thou hast a little strength, and has kept my word, and has not denied my name.
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation.
Which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Behold, I come quickly.
Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God?
And he shall go no more out, 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 heaven from my God, now will write upon him my new name.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Well, I'm sure it's familiar to all of us, to most of us, mostly all tonight that.
In Revelation 2 and three we have a prophetic history of the Church.
Starting with Ephesus, the post Apostolic days representing that period right after the apostles passed off the scene, and then Smyrna, the time of great persecution that broke out upon the early church and Pergamus where you have the conversion of Constantine.
Whether it was real or not, God knows. And the outward embracing by the the world system of Christianity.
The Emperor making his subjects and his soldiers to be baptized and adopting Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire.
Then we have Thyatar. Well one of the things he says about Pergamus is that the the doctrine of Balaam was taught there, who taught Balak to cast a snare before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. And he mentions I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. The Church was dwelling with the in the world then.
Gamos means marriage, and pergamus was that period when the world and the Church were united.
In unholy matrimony.
The church became worldly and the world became churchy. It was hailed by many Christians as being a the Millennium the world was converted. It's always been a false belief of Christians that we're here to convert the world and we're not.
But they misinterpreted that happening and they thought that the Millennium had come.
Instead, the church was settling down in the world, and the two things that ensnared the children of Israel, Balaam having failed to curse them, he was hired by Balik for that purpose. He counseled Balaam Balak how to get the children of Israel under the governmental judgment of God. And so we read in the.
25th of numbers that the children of.
Daughters of Moab began to commit ******** with the children of Israel, and here we have the breakdown of separation.
And the church has been worldly ever since. There's only been one movement where the church has assumed its proper heavenly separated character, and that's the address that we read tonight, which is Philadelphia. Well, after Pergamus comes Thyatira, and what was introduced is the doctrine of Balaam and Pergamus. The teaching of the man becomes.
The teaching of Jezebel, that wicked woman.
And she was teaching the assembly there to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols. The same 2 elements that were introduced by the doctrine of Balaam had now become the subtle state of things.
In Thyatira, representing Rome in the Dark Ages.
Sardis represents the Protestant Reformation.
But it represents it after it had settled down into a dead, lifeless formalism, after the first wave of the power of the Spirit of God had subsided. And what we see around us today in the Sardis, the Protestant bodies, is just that dead, lifeless formalism, a name to live, but dead. And then came.
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The marvelous recovery of Philadelphia. I have to go very quickly in this brief outline so we can get into the the main portion that we have before us tonight. You'll notice that there's a vision in the first chapter.
The Lord is seen in the midst of the 7 golden candlesticks, the Son of Man.
And he walks in the midst of those 7 candlesticks, and they represent the assembly, the seven golden candlesticks. And he walks there in the character of a judge.
And his eyes are all searching, penetrating and piercing, and he sees all that's going on in the sphere that we speak of as Christendom, that sphere which names the name of Christ. And the Lord is in the midst.
Of this Christian profession, and he views and sees all that is transpiring under his name.
And he judges it according to the balances of the sanctuary.
He, as it were, says, Give account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest no longer be steward.
Well, he's there not in the gracious character of high priest, but he's there as judge. He's there as the judge. And when John saw him in that, in that fearsome descriptive character that we have in the 1St chapter, he fell at his feet, is dead. John, who had lain on his bosom, who knew the very heartbeats of the Son of God, now sees him in his judicial character.
Judging all that is transpiring under the name of Christ and beloved when we look around us and see.
What is transpiring under the name of Christ today? It is horrifying.
And the Lord Jesus sees it all according to the perfection of the divine standard.
Well, everyone of the addresses of the first five churches, the way the Lord presents himself, we don't have time to look at it in detail. I'll just make make the comment and then go on. He presents himself in one of the characteristics that is described, that in which he is described in the 1St chapter in that vision.
But not to Philadelphia when we come to Philadelphia.
His character, the way he presents himself to Philadelphia, is not taken from the.
From the vision in the 1St chapter. And that's because to Philadelphia, he doesn't present himself as a judge, he doesn't present himself in a judicial character, but he presents himself in his moral character, the holy and the true. Now we're right at chapter 3, verse 7.
To the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia right these things sayeth He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.
You notice that he always addresses the Angel.
And it says the Angel. The Angel is represented by the seven stars which he holds in his right hand.
In that vision, in the 1St chapter, the Angel is the symbolical representative of the of the responsibility in the assembly. And a star had a dual function. It was to rule by night, the Mariners set their course by the stars, and it was to give light.
By night. And so we have in the assembly those that have been set in the assembly to rule, to guide the assembly and to teach the assembly.
And I believe that's what's figuratively represented by the stars. And so he holds the Angel accountable for the state of the assembly. Actually, we're all responsible. We all bear responsibility in the assembly. But there are those certainly that are much more responsible than others.
And so he addresses the Angel, the responsibility of the assembly.
And calls.
The Angel to account for the state of the assembly, and that ought to.
Speak to all of us who are set in the Assembly in the position of guides and teachers that the Assembly is formed by the Ministry and the guidance that is given to it by those in a position of responsibility.
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How important that we do not allow things to come in which would not be according to the divine standard. Things have come in that are not according to the divine standard. These things don't come in with impunity. There's going to be a reckoning for these things. And so the end of Christendom is awful.
When when the true church is raptured to heaven and that which continues on for a space as purportedly being the bride of Christ, the false church, the harlot, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, that judgment that will fall upon her, that vessel that purportedly is the is the true church, but it's the false church is going to be the most all consuming, devastating judgment.
That I believe God has ever.
Executed down here.
Terrible judgment of Christendom.
To the Angel of the church in Philadelphia, Philadelphia means brotherly love.
It does not mean.
I hope you'll get this distinction. It doesn't mean love of the Philadelphians. It means love of the Brethren.
And what's the difference? Love of the Philadelphians would be sectarianism full blown.
It would be setting up.
To be something and to be.
Special before God.
As though the Lord loves certain ones more than others.
No, the Lord's love is for all his people. He has no favorites.
And a true Philadelphian is one who has a heart as large as Christ's. He embraces in his affections, in his prayers and his thoughts. All the Saints, all the Saints. We cannot walk with all the Saints. That's another matter. But they ought to be all upon our heart.
They ought to be the desire of our heart. And as we take up Philadelphia, what we're going to see are the moral features which the Lord approves of, the moral features which meet the mind of God. And it's only Philadelphia that we find them. And one of the other assemblies, excluding Smyrna, which was the second from the beginning, and this is the second from the end.
There's no call to repentance. There wasn't anything to repent of.
The second from the beginning was that time of persecution in which the Saints of God went through tremendous trial and persecution for the name of Christ.
It was God's way of purifying the assembly when they had in Ephesus left their first love. But that soon passed, and then came the unholy union of the church in the world, in Pergamus, as we've mentioned, But here in Philadelphia, after the partial recovery in Sardis, where the infallibility of the Word of God, the all sufficiency of the Word of God to be the guide for the conscience of the Christian, was recovered.
And justification by faith altogether apart from works. That truth was recovered.
Marvelous truths recovered in the Reformation, but they stopped short.
They did not continue on in the full power of the Holy Spirit.
Striking that the Lord presents Himself to Sardis as the one who has the seven spirits of God, that is, He possessed the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit, which they could have drawn upon and continued forward in the progress of recovered truth. But instead they fell short, and they sought refuge and protection against the tyranny and prosecution persecution of Rome.
By resorting to earthly governments to protect them. That was the downfall.
Of the Reformation.
Philadelphia follows.
And it represents.
The moral features that answer to the church.
To Christianity, to what Christianity is according to the mind and thought of God. Now as we go through these moral features, none of us will be able to say, well, that's what we are. Because as we look at these moral features, we'll realize how far short we come in answering to them. But it ought to be the desire of our heart to answer to them, even though we feel and realize how much we fail.
The first thing we come to is the very meaning of the word Philadelphia.
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It means brotherly love, love of the brethren, not just love of the Philadelphians, it's love of all the Saints, Paul says to the Ephesians, having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love to all the Saints, So faith in the Lord Jesus produces love to all the Saints. It is not sectarian. It is the Philadelphian has a heart as large as Christ's as he would embrace in his prayers.
In his affections, in his thoughts.
And in his activities all the Saints embraced the mall. But His feet are in the narrow path, as we'll see as we go on in this address. These things say, if he that is holy, he that is true. The Lord, as I said, is presented in his moral character, not taken from the first chapter, but this is what He was when He was down here. He was the holy 1. He was the true one.
And what is Holiness?
Holiness is delight in what is good, and abhorrence of evil, according to God is revealed in Christ.
It's the exact opposite of the corruption and the evil of Thyatira.
The corruption of Thyatira, that wicked woman Jezebel, teaching and seducing.
The Lord's servants to commit fornication, to eat things sacrificed to idols.
The Holy One.
Separation from evil. Delight in what is good. That's holiness.
And then he was the true one.
And that answers to the superficiality, to the dead, lifeless formalism of Sardis, the Protestant bodies.
He was the true 1. He was genuine, he was real when they asked him, Who art thou? He could answer altogether that which I speak to thee.
Altogether, what I say, he was the truth, he spoke the truth, He was the living.
Embodiment of truth.
Just the opposite of the Pharisees, He said of his disciples, All that they bid you observe and do, but do not after their works, for they say and they do not.
Such is man, such as religious man, he says, and he doesn't carry it out in practice. But here was one who was the living expression of the truth Himself, the Holy One and the True. So in those two titles we have the the very opposite in the person of the Lord Jesus, of the corruption of Thyatira, the dead, lifeless formalism of Sardis.
And he, he presents himself in this way to Philadelphia, and Philadelphia takes her character from the character of the Lord himself as he is, as he presents himself to this assembly. So this assembly reflects those moral qualities.
This assembly Philadelphia answers to his mind, responds to it, and walks in holiness and truth. And so as we were singing, Thou Holy One, in true our hearts, in Thee confide, and in the circle of Thy love, as brethren we abide. And then the last verse teaches that name to own, whilst waiting, Lord, for the unholiness and sin, to shun from all untruth to flee.
To walk down here in holiness and truth.
Is the path of the Philadelphia, It's the path of the assembly. It was His path. And what you have in Philadelphia is Christ. Christ is written over Philadelphia. Christ is everything. And the Philadelphian takes his character from Christ himself. And then the third thing that is said of him, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth. And no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.
If you'll turn back to Isaiah 22, I just want to read a verse or two there.
In connection with this expression, the key of David.
In Isaiah 22 verse 15, thus saith the Lord God of hosts.
Go get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shepna which is over the house, and say.
Now Shebna in the passage and I don't want to go into it in detail, is it is a type of the Antichrist and then if we pass down to verse 20.
That shall come to pass in that day that I will call my servant Elia Kim.
The son of Hilkiah Eliachim is a type of the true Christ.
Shebna was a type of the Antichrist, and he's going to be set aside and Eliakim is going to be established in his place. And notice what it says of Eliachim verse 21. I will clothe him with thy robe.
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That's the robe that Shedna had worn and strengthened him with thy girdle. And I will commit thy government into his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah. So the government was going to be committed to this one, and the key of the House of David will I lay upon his shoulder, so he shall open.
And none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open. All governmental authority now entrusted to David and to Elia come here. And so he has the key of David.
There are two figures used in the Bible for government. The one is the sword.
It says in Romans 13 he beareth not the sword in vain. The thought of the sword is punishment against evil doers.
Even to putting them to death. But the key is another symbol of government. The thought of the key is to open doors and to close and lock doors, and it speaks of the restraining.
In closing doors it speaks of the restraining power and the authority of the Lord, restraining evil and holding it in check, and in opening doors it speaks of the one who has the authority to open and none can shut.
And to make a way for His people. There came a time in the history of the Church, going back now to Revelation 3. There came a time in the history of the Church when all the truth of God that had so long been been lost amid the ecclesiastical ruins of Christendom. It was always in the Word of God.
Always here, but it had been lost as far as the faith of.
The believer was concerned. He didn't know it. It wasn't known to him. There came a time when the Lord Jesus used that key of David with all the authority vested in him, to open the door and to bring out of His treasure house all the blessings and all the precious stored up truths in the Word of God so that it could be laid hold upon by faith.
And appropriated by faith to the soul, so that the soul could once again.
Walk in all the truth of the assembly, in all the truth of the heavenly calling and character of the Church as revealed in the Scriptures. Any of us who have read a little about Church history know that the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, that is, those that some of whom were contemporary with the Apostles, others that just immediately followed after the Apostles passed off the scene.
Those of us who've read those writings.
Know that the distance between the inspired writings of the New Testament, the apostles writings.
And the writings of these men that came immediately after the distance is enormous.
The truth of the assembly was totally lost. The truth of the one body was nowhere even talked about.
So much truth, you wonder how could it be?
How could it be that all this precious truth was, it seems, in a moment, upon the passing away of the apostles, lost to the faith?
Of the Christian Church. But it was so.
So I'm addressing a company of Saints tonight that are privileged.
To have more light.
Than has ever been enjoyed.
By the Saints of God in previous days.
In previous days the apostles had it, but the faith of the early Christians remember printing press hadn't been invented then. All each local church had was whatever was written to them, and it took years.
Before the Canon of Scripture was formed, and before all the Word was put together in one book, which we now hold as our Bible, that was as much a miracle.
As the inspiration of the scriptures themselves.
And we have the privilege, we have the inestimable privilege of holding in our hands tonight the word of God in its entirety.
There has never been a more wondrous blessing committed to man. The early Christians didn't have it. None of them could have held a complete Bible like I'm holding in my hands tonight because it hadn't been put together yet in that form. And so we are so blessed there has been recovered in the Philadelphia movement some 150 years ago.
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Through agencies raised up of God.
There has been recovered all the truth that God has given us in His precious word. It was always there and in the New Testament, I mean, but lost to faith, lost to man, lost to Christians because of what had come in. But when the time came for the Lord Jesus to use that key and open that door and bring out of his treasure House of truth these wondrous truths.
Then the truth was recovered.
Prophetic truth.
Dispensational Truth.
Assembly Truth.
The heavenly character and calling of the Church. The priesthood of all believers. The holy priesthood. The royal priesthood.
Family relationships.
All the truth the gospel brought to into proper focus. Even in the Reformation there were certain truths. For instance, the truth of the righteousness of God was very much misunderstood.
The thought by the reformers was that Christ kept the law for us, and that righteousness of Christ's law keeping is imputed to us, and that's the righteousness in which we stand before God. That's absolutely false. That's not true. We stand before God in the risen Christ. Christ risen has become our life and our righteousness, and so we have in Christ risen justification of life.
A new life, a new righteousness, and we can point to the man in the glory that he is our righteousness. Well, I don't want to digress into those things, but just to bring out that at Philadelphia, it wasn't just church truth that was recovered. It was prophetic truth. It was the hope of the Lord's coming as the bright and morning star. And you will find as we emphasize these precious truths that were recovered some 150 years ago.
That the movement in Christendom today is definitely a retrograde movement.
It is a movement away from the truth. It is a movement back into the darkness of unbelief. It is a movement to deny the heavenly hope.
And it's very easy to understand that.
When Christians lose sight of the heavenly calling of the church, and when they settle down in this world and get involved in politics, social reform and all that which is to mend this poor, sad, condemned world, they've lost sight of the true nature calling and character of the assembly. And of course they're going to give up the rapture. They're going to give up the heavenly hope because the only way that can be held in our souls is to hold.
Heavenly character in calling and walk of the Church of the believer in Christ. It all stands or falls together. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself in these comments, but it's all here in Philadelphia.
Verse 8 he says I know thy works. Now let's pause for a moment. Philadelphia isn't something that made a big impact upon the Christian world. It isn't something that the world took note of. It isn't something that the natural man could.
Sit back and and be impressed by.
It was a feeble thing, and it was consequently despised and disdained, and by the main body of the Established Churches it was opposed with all the vigor that they could muster.
Whether it was from the fire tyron branch, the Romish system.
Or whether it was from the Sardis branch, the many Protestant bodies. The recovered truth of Philadelphia was staunchly opposed from the pulpit and in writings. And all one has to do is to read the collected writings and the letters of Jan Darby and he will see. You will see how much the recovered truth was opposed and how God raised up.
A standard against it.
Well.
He says to Philadelphia, I know thy works.
And that's all the Philadelphia needs is his knowledge.
Of the Philadelphians works, the Philadelphian lives before the eye of Christ and seeks to please him and only him. Philadelphia is not a compromiser. He's not one that's trying to make his message appealing to the masses. He's one that wants to please, but one, and that's the Lord Jesus. And so the Lord says to Philadelphia, I know thy works in the Philadelphia and responds.
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That's all I want, Lord that you know.
That thou knowest, thou knowest.
I know thy works. Behold, he says, I have set before thee an opened it should read, opened, OPENED and opened doors. One which he has opened. Blessed isn't it? I have set before thee an opened door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength. So let's stop there. No man can shut it. The Lord has opened that door. And this is just where Sardis failed. They sought refuge and protection from.
The kings of the earth that had overthrown the papal power, and they sought protection from them rather than looking to the Lord. But the Philadelphian doesn't do that. The Philadelphian goes forward in the consciousness that the Lord, if he's opened the door, all the power on earth, can't shut that door.
It doesn't say no man can shut it, because thou hast such great strength.
No, it says just the opposite, for thou hast a little strength.
Just a little strength, a picture of weakness. It's not something that the natural man can take note of. It's not some great movement that will impress millions, but just a picture of weakness, little strength. He says thou hast little strength. Literally, that's what it is. It was what he was when he was here. He didn't come as the mighty conqueror. He didn't come as he will the second time on a White Horse.
With flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. With the sharp sword out of his mouth. No, he came in meekness. He was born in a stable, laid in a Manger. He was despised, He was an outcast from his very birth. He could say, the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Such was the path of the Lord Jesus. Just a picture of of of weakness. He was crucified.
In weakness, but he lives now by the power of God. What more weak than to have him nailed to a cross, apparently helpless?
Weakness.
But Paul says the weakness of God is stronger than men. He takes up the very term of contempt that the natural man was leveling against the Christian testimony. Weakness and foolishness. That's what man was saying. And he says the weakness of God is stronger than men. The foolishness of God is wiser than men.
There is no weakness and foolishness in God, but these are terms which are taken up.
By the Spirit of God and applied to show that God's way.
So infinitely beyond man's thoughts and man's way are the way of blessing. And this is what characterizes Philadelphia, the moral features of the Lord Jesus. He was here the first time in weakness, and so the assembly in Philadelphia, the first thing said of her is, Thou hast a little strength.
The next thing so precious to my soul, and thou has kept my word.
Thou has kept my word. None kept it as the blessed Lord did when He was here.
His meat was to do the will of the father to finish his work.
He could say, The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. The very words of the Father are the words that he spoke, so much so that he could answer that question. Show us the Father, and it suffice with us. Hast thou been so long time with me, Philip, and hast thou not seen me? He that hath seen me has seen the Father.
Perfect expression of the Father down here.
Keeping his word.
He's given us his precious word, and this is what characterizes the Philadelphian testimony.
To keep his word.
Keep his word.
In order to do that, we have to know His word.
We have to be men of the book.
We have to make it our.
More than our necessary food, as the Lord said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word.
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That proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Men of the Book.
We ought to be so men of the book that when these efforts of Satan to infiltrate into the Christian ranks.
His evil principles, whether it be from the East or whether it be from man's mind and humanism, whether it be in man's philosophies or man's psychology, whatever it might be, all this comes from a source which is polluted and defiled. It's the source of man, the source of this world.
And so the Apostle Paul says to the Colossians, Saints, beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men.
After the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. Complete in him. We have in Christ everything. And what we've seen inundating the the the Christendom today is the lie. The old light goes right back to the book of Genesis.
Ye shall not surely die.
Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And the great error that is being spread throughout Christian Christendom, the greatest listen to this, the greatest referral agency on the face of the earth.
To psychologists is the Christian Church.
What could be what could be a worse commentary upon the state of Christians? Just think referring people that have problems.
To a psychologist instead of counseling them according to the principles found in this book.
The one is the world's wisdom.
Which the apostle strongly warns against.
The other is the wisdom of God.
The word of God.
Thou has kept my word.
Talking to a brother.
And.
What is happening?
I don't know if you are aware of it.
But I have to speak of it, what is happening?
Is.
Christians.
Without.
Discernment.
Being deceived into believing.
That psychology has something to contribute.
For the benefit of mankind.
It has nothing.
It has nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
One of the greatest psychologists of the day.
Made this statement.
In all the history of psychology since its inception.
It hasn't contributed one single benefit to the human race.
That's a quote.
And I didn't say it, and I can tell you who did say it.
But.
It's from someone who knows who's in that order of things.
And when Christians take it up.
And apply those principles to addressing family problems, social problems.
Whatever it might be.
They are going to a polluted source.
They're going to the source that comes from the mind of man.
And the.
The gurus of psychology.
The wise men of psychology. The first ones.
Were atheists Sigmund Freud was an atheist?
He hated the Bible.
To say that we can draw upon such a source.
For help in spiritual problems.
Is a dismal descent by those that ought to be holding forth this precious book.
And going by it, for all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, complete, fully furnished for every good work that's all inclusive.
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Has the Spirit of God failed in giving us this divine revelation?
Has he failed in giving us this so that we have to draw upon other sources of wisdom?
No.
He has not, and so the commendation to Philadelphia.
I want to make this so clear to everyone of us, that when the Lord says, thou hast kept my word.
If there is a family problem.
Don't go to the world for counseling. Go to the Word of God. Go to the One who is, whose name is wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the Father of eternity, the Prince of Peace. Go to him and go to your brethren who can bring the Word of God to bear upon your particular problem.
We have failed to.
To help.
In problem areas and almost the church, the leaders, the responsible element in the assembly, has failed to assume the responsibility that is theirs to handle these problems. And we've almost by that failure, sent those in trouble to other sources, and they will not get counseling that is worthwhile.
There was recently, and I'll just close these remarks on psychology with this comment, there was recently a gathering of all of the prominent men in the psychological field, and they were going to take up certain questions that were confronting modern society and address them. And the result of that meeting was they couldn't come to a single agreement on one point.
That's how diverse the opinions are of these people.
This is our source of wisdom, this is our source of wisdom, and this is where we go to have our problems addressed. You have marital problems. Read Ephesians 5.
Read 1 Peter 3.
Read the place of the Woman and the place of the Man and then put it into practice.
And your marital problems will dissolve.
Do we have problems with our children in raising them? Do children have problems in connection with their obedience to their parents? Read the Word of God. Read Ephesians 5 and 6 and Colossians in corresponding passages, and the book of Proverbs, and all the wisdom that is given to us.
And in the word of God and put it into practice. If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.
We are not aware of how the mind is being.
Programmed by.
The media out there to thinking like the world thinks.
And so I stress, when the Lord commends Philadelphia, thou hast kept my word. It's going to the Word of God, it's acting upon the Word of God, and it's carrying it out in lowly dependence upon Him.
Realizing that this book does have all the answers.
Not some, but all the answers. Do we all believe that? I believe it with all my heart. I may fail, you may fail, we may fail in putting it into practice, and we all do. But this book has all the answers that we need. It is the wisdom of God. He's given to us the handbook to lead the Pilgrim all the way through the wilderness into the glory without a single fall.
God hath given us all things that pertain to life and to godliness through the knowledge of him that have called us by his own glory and virtue. He's given us all that we need, and we have it here. And so the commendation comes home with increased force. Thou has kept my word, he says.
And not denied my name.
Not denied my name.
10 * 10 times in the prophet Malachi. Malachi is to the Old Testament what Laodicea is to the Church, period. Malachi was to the recovery under Ezra Nehemiah.
In Israel's history, what Laodicea is to the recovery under Philadelphia.
And if the Lord leaves us here, we'll be able to look at that in the next session. But.
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That was kept my word and not denied my name 10 times. In the prophet Malachi, the name is mentioned, the Lorde name. They'd profaned it, they had desecrated it. And he says he's going to magnify it. But then there were those that feared the Lord and that fought upon his name. What a wonderful commendation when the name of the Lord is being fought so little of.
When it is being disregarded when it is.
Being defamed.
By those, mainly much many of who are doing it from the very pulpit itself.
Thou hast not denied my name.
But you have in Philadelphia is Christ is everything. What you have in Laodicea is self miserable, wretched, blind, naked self.
And that's what we see everywhere, being promoted self esteem, self love.
Self exaltation. Self complacency.
Self assertion.
Assert yourself, be something, be somebody, find yourself. There's really a spark of the divine within. There's good in man, and develop it.
Old brother Hejo used to say.
All of man's wisdom is founded upon 2 basic fundamental errors.
The one is that there's good in man, and the second is that he has the power to produce it. Both are lies of the devil, and both are the very root and foundation principle of modern psychology.
Both of those.
Because they come from the wisdom of the world.
For a Christian to draw upon such a source and then unite it to the pure, unadulterated truth of the Word of God.
Is a sad, sad, unholy union.
Thou hast kept my word and not denied my name.
Not denied my name. Where is the name of Christ ever mentioned?
Ever used as the basis for conduct in connection with?
That kind of counseling that comes from that school we've been talking about? Never.
You say, well, Christians do it. Yes, because they're Christians. And one brother put it this way.
He said where psychology agrees with the Bible, we don't need it.
And where it just because we have the word and where it disagrees with the Bible, we don't want it because it is error. All we need and want is the word of God.
Verse 9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie.
Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet.
And to know that I have loved thee, here's the enemy. Now here are those that are called the synagogue of Satan, those which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie, he says. I'm going to take that class. Those religionists, those that cling to a formal, established religion that the world recognizes and that the world puts value upon.
He says, I am going to make those who have despised you, who have disdained you, who have spoken I'll of you, even as as they did of the blessed Lord. Who was it that gave the Lord Jesus the most persecution in trouble? It was the religious leaders, it was the Pharisees and the scribes. It was those who are in a in an established religious position and they were afraid that if the Lord would continue, he would take away both their place and nation.
Had to get rid of him. And so this marvelous movement of the Spirit of God where Christians were gathered out of all the confusion and all the established religious bodies that were recognized by the world, held in high esteem by the world, and they just gathered by the Spirit of God, were gathered around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ without any human leader.
Relying upon the Spirit of God and having the Word of God as their sole guide and authority.
And Christ, the center.
Spirit of truth in their hearts.
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And this started to worry some of the leaders in Christendom. And here we have that moral class described as the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not but to lie. What does he say of them? He says, I will make them to come and to do homage to worship, or do homage before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Oh, he says to this Philadelphian remnant. They're going to know those who have despised you and hated you and cast out your name. They are going to know that I have loved thee.
The synagogue of Satan. Those that say they are Jews and are not such hold an official religious position before the world.
And they profess to be the people of God based upon an hereditary religion.
Founded upon tradition.
And we see that around us everywhere. But here is a company now that left all that and said it's not feeding our souls. We need Christ. And they gathered simply around Christ and had him as their center.
And the Lord says, I'll make those enemies to come and know that I have loved you.
Verse 10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee.
From the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth, notice this hour of temptation, or testing, or trial comes upon all the world.
But it's to try those that dwell upon the earth. And if you'll trace that expression, I don't think we have time. Time is running out. But the expression then that dwell upon the earth is a moral expression. It describes, it really means the earth dwellers and it's found over and over again in the Book of Revelation. If you'll turn to the 13th chapter, you'll see that those that that worship the beast.
Those that worship the beast, they are the ones that dwell upon the earth.
Those that worship the Antichrist, those that are deceived by the Antichrist, they are the ones that are the earth dwellers. And who are they? They're apostate Christians. There are those that have been offered heaven and they say we don't want heaven, we want earth.
Were satisfied with Earth.
Earth dwellers.
And he says to the Saints here at Philip at Philadelphia, Because thou has kept the word of my patience.
To keep the word of his patience is to be content with being nothing.
Is to be content with going on, holding to his word, not denying his name, keeping his word in the little strength which characterizes the Philadelphian testimony. It's nothing that.
Mage makes a big impact upon the natural man, not something that he can take note of, not something that impresses the world.
Just a weakness.
But faithfulness?
Keeping his word. You mean there's there's a company of people on the face of the earth that believe the Bible still that book of fables and stories while that's been on that's been disproven by science long time ago. That's what we're told.
Now there are those that hold fast to the word of God.
That keep His word, that formed their conduct and their lives by the word of God.
He could keep his word.
An enemy of Mr. Darby said of him once.
He wasn't flattering him, but I think it's the most wonderful commendation that can be made of a man, said. He bows to this book like a fool.
Would to God that we all bowed to this book in that way, accepted it.
Received it in all that it says, without any butts, without any talking back to God.
I think of Mr. Chapter Brown's statement. It's it's one of his statements that I remember so well. We are never wiser than Scripture. Never.
Never.
And where the Word of God speaks clearly on a subject, that's the path for us to walk in. That's the path obedience will walk in. That's the path faith will walk in.
Because thou has kept the word of my patience.
The Lord is the man of patience now. He has waited a long time. It's not the time for the Kingdom to be established yet.
To the Corinthians he says, now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us. And I would to God you did reign, that we also might reign with you.
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For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed unto death.
We are made a spectacle both to the world and to men. We are the refuse of all until now.
Despised. Defamed.
Maligned by the world. That was the apostles, that was the path the blessed Lord tried down here. Say we not weldeth, Thou art to Samaritan and has to demon. That's what they said to him.
But the Corinthians were reigning as kings.
Though they weren't keeping the word of his patience, were they?
They were raining before the time. This is the time where righteousness suffers.
This is the time where we patiently await.
His time when he will come.
And now we're here. We're set here for one thing.
To manifest the life of Christ.
The continuation of the life of Christ, lived in all its blessed fullness and perfection by Him, when down here, has now been communicated to us and to be continued through us.
Until the Lord calls us home.
A heavenly people, A people united to the man in the glory not of this world.
But belonging to that scene above, guided by principles of truth found in this book, in this book alone.
That was his path.
That's our path if we're true.
To Our Calling.
As heavenly citizens.
The word of his patience.
Not getting involved in politics, social reform and adjusting the ills of society.
But leaving that all to him, when he comes back, he will set it right.
The Church is not here to improve the world. It's not here to correct the world. It's not here to remedy the ills of society.
We're here to go through this world as strangers and pilgrims.
Whose interests? Whose hope, Whose life? Whose object is all above?
In Christ on high in the glory.
That's Philadelphia.
Now, as we see these moral features of the Philadelphia movement, we have to ask ourselves, to what measure, To what extent do I.
Express that in my life.
It's very humbling.
Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I will keep thee from the hour of trial. Temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. This hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, is to try the earth dwellers is to judge them. And we're not earth dwellers, we belong to heaven.
We haven't rejected the heavenly testimony, and whether you realize it or not, if you're a Christian, you're a heavenly man.
As is the heavenly even soul, such are they also that are heavenly. We are heavenly.
We belong to heaven.
And so when the Lord comes, we will be taken from this scene. And since Philadelphia represents.
What the true, what the church is according to the mind and thought of God, the word to Philadelphia. Behold, I come quickly and I'm going to keep you from that hour of trial.
It's not just for the Philadelphia, but since the Philadelphian is that remnant that recognize that that represents what the true church is, That truth is for all the believers because Philadelphia represents all the believers.
And that's what the very meaning of the word is. Philadelphia love for all the brethren.
And so this call this word to Philadelphia. Behold, I come quickly. You notice what it is to Sardis. If you don't repent, I will come upon you as a thief.
Well, that's not the way we're looking for the Lord, is it?
That's the way the world will have him come. He'll come as a thief to the world, unwanted and unsuspected and unknown. As a thief by night.
But to us.
We're looking for him, we're longing for him, we're waiting, we're watching. And so he says, Behold, I come quickly.
Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Just a couple more thoughts and then we'll close. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. It's much, much harder.
To hold fast to the truth once it's been gained than to gain it.
The truth has been recovered. Now it's for us generations down the line to hold it fast. That's the word of God to you and to me. Hold fast. Don't let it go. Hold it fast. What you have, you have the greatest deposit of truth that's ever been vouchsafed to man. Hold fast what you have. Let no man take your crown. And then the word to the overcomer in verse 12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar.
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In the temple of my God.
A pillar showing that he has stood for the truth when down here.
And he shall go no more out. He's had to go out. He's had to separate from evil, the Philadelphian. He's had to depart from iniquity. But up there he's going to be a permanent fixture. He's going to be a pillar in that temple that, that heavenly city, that that which speaks of the Assembly, the church. He shall go no more out. No more separation then. No more tears, no more sorrow. No more.
Departing no more parting from loved Saints of God.
Thou a right upon him, the name of my God.
Notice how personal he is. The name of my God, the Philadelphian is one who has stood for God in the evil day, and he has the name of Christ God written upon him, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven for my God. That's the church, and that name is written upon the Philadelphian overcomer.
And I will write upon him my new name.
All that he is in the new creation as the head of that new scene.
Into which will soon be brought when he says come up, hit her.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith.
Unto the churches.