Address—C. Hendricks
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Revelation 3.
Revelation chapter 3.
This afternoon, I should say, and verse 7.
Revelation 37. And to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia, right these things say it. He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shut it, and shut it, and no man open it. 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 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, and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit sayeth unto the churches.
We were noticing on Friday night the character of the Lord as presented in the vision in chapter 1.
That each one of the previous five churches addressed Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, and Sardis.
Were addressed by the Lord in one of the characters.
In which he is presented in the first chapter.
And each presentation of the Lord, each one of those five churches, was suitable to the state of that church. That is, there was something taken from that description of the blessed Lord in the 1St chapter, and appropriately by the Spirit of God, applied to each one.
Of those first five churches, the first three, Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamus represent the the entire church, I believe, and they were successive.
Stages of the prophetic history of the church. Ephesus gave way to Smyrna, which gave way to Pergamos, but the last four beginning at Thyatira and then Sardis.
And then Philadelphia and Laodicea represent not the entire church. None of them do. Thyatira representing the Romish church, Sardis the Protestant bodies, Philadelphia, that mighty work of the Spirit of God in the last century, calling souls out of the confusion of Thyatira and Sardis into a scriptural position.
As gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, there is no other center.
There never has been another center in this 2000 years of the church's history on earth. There never will be another center. The center is Christ. There will never be a different gathering power. There never has been and there never will be. And that gathering power is the Spirit of God.
There will never be another set of divine instructions to go by for Christians than the book that we have before us this afternoon, the Word of God. And so we have.
All that is needed to present a testimony that answers to the mind of God. And this is what you have in Philadelphia. I've often said that there are two epistles that are for the last days. The one is 2 Timothy, written by the apostle Paul.
And the other is this address.
To Philadelphia it gives the moral and the spiritual features that answer to the mind of God. The Lord Jesus has nothing of reproach to say to Philadelphia. Everything is suitable to him, everything there is according to his mind. In contrast, he has nothing of commendation to say to Laodicea all.
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There is.
Contrary to his mind, in fact, In a word, Philadelphia over Philadelphia is.
Written Christ is everything that in all things He might have the preeminence. This is what characterizes Philadelphia. It is a movement, and the spiritual features of Philadelphia are those which exalt and magnify Christ. And we will see, as we trace out these moral and spiritual features, whether or not.
You and I as individuals can.
Claim to be Philadelphian in character. I find that in these last two.
Philadelphia and Laodicea, I find tendencies in my own heart, and I'm sure you will too, that our Philadelphian and some Laodicean. So what we want to do as we look at these spiritual features is to seek to emulate what is Philadelphian in character and to judge and reject everything that is Laodicean in character.
Now the address to Philadelphia, the character in which the Lord presents himself to Philadelphia, is not taken from the the 1St chapter. We saw that the first chapter presents the Lord Jesus in a judicial character in the midst of the 7 golden candlesticks.
He doesn't present himself in a judicial character to Philadelphia. He presents himself.
In his moral features.
Notice to the Angel of the church in Philadelphia, right these things, saith He that is holy, he that is true. Now let's stop there. Holiness is delight in what is good, and abhorrence of evil according to God is revealed in Christ. The Lord Jesus was the holy one when he was down here.
And he was the true one.
Holiness is the antithesis, the direct opposite of Thyatira. The corruption and the wickedness of that system, that is Thyatira. Holiness is the exact opposite of it. Philadelphia takes her character from the character of the Lord Jesus as presented to this assembly. He was the holy. He was the true.
Now himself as the true one.
Is they asked him, Remember, who art thou? And he said altogether that which I say to thee, He was the truth, He lived the truth. He was the living embodiment and expression of the truth that he taught.
It wasn't with him as it is often with us. Do as I say, don't do as I do. But he walked very truth that he presented. There was nothing spurious about him. There was nothing that was not genuine about him and he himself as the true one.
Is the antithesis, the opposite of the dead, lifeless non reality and formalism of Sardis. They had a name to live and they were dead. That's what he says of them in verse one of our chapter 3 Sardis a picture of a dead lifeless formalism into which the Protestant bodies have gotten.
It was a mighty work of the Spirit of God initially, but what is presented here in Sardis is not the initial work of the Spirit.
But rather the settled state of dead, lifeless formalism into which the Protestant bodies have gotten and the Lord Jesus to Philadelphia. Oh, it was a mighty work of the Spirit of God. We can go back 100 and 5000 and 70 years about that time and the Spirit of God worked in in souls. They they were not being fed. They were in the established bodies, whether it was Romanism.
Or whether it was the Protestant bodies, they were being starved and they started to search the Word of God and meet in little Bible groups and studies with the Word of God before them. It was this book that meant everything to them then, and it ought to today. And in fact, it will. It does to a Philadelphian. And this is what we will see as we go through this. But before I proceed on that, I'd like to make a few comments on the word Philadelphia.
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To the Angel of the church in Philadelphia, right, Philadelphia means brotherly love, or put another way, love of the brethren. It does not mean love of the Philadelphians.
Philadelphia means love of the bread.
Having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love to all the Saints, it embraces all the Saints. The Philadelphian has a heart as large as Christs. In a word, Philadelphia is not sectarian.
Philadelphia embraces in spiritual affections all the Church, all the church. Philadelphia. Love of the brethren, not love of certain ones who are brethren, not love of a spiritual elite.
Among the Saints of God, but love of the brethren, it is not sectarian. That's the first spiritual feature that we encounter when we look at the spiritual features of Philadelphia. Now we can ask ourselves, do we have hearts?
As we think of the Saints of God as large as Christ's Philadelphian has, he takes his character from Christ himself. Now that doesn't mean that we walk with all the brethren. No, because He's the holy and the true. He's the one who was absolutely.
Are separate from evil, though the most accessible of all men when here. And yet he was the holiest of all men. He was the holy one in contrast with the corruption of Thyatira. He was the true one in contrast with the dead, lifeless formalism of Sardis. And then it says of him, he that openeth, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth. And no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth. Let's turn back.
Isaiah 22 where that expression is drawn from.
In Isaiah 22.
I'll read a few verses in the chapter. Verse 15 Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shedna, which is over the house, and say, now shebna here I'm not going into the prophetic teaching of the chapter. Shedna is a type of the Antichrist, and in verse 20, Eliakim is the type of the Christ.
It shall come to pass, verse 20 in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah. Now what was to happen here?
Is Eliakim was to be set up over the house and Shebna was to be set aside. Eliakim was chief of the household of Hezekiah. Shedner was to be set aside, and Liacham was to be clothed and raised up as governor. And he here prefigures in a beautiful way the Messiah. Let's read verse 20.
It shall come to pass in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle. Shevna was to be set aside and like, and put in his place. Notice now, 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. And the key of the House of David will I lay upon his shoulder. So he shall open, and none shall.
And he shall shut, and none shall open. Now that's the Scripture that is quoted here in Revelation 3. Let's turn back to it. Verse 7. These things say it. 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. I believe it's just here that the Reformation failed because.
They sought protection. The reformers did.
From the tyranny and the persecution and the oppression of Rome by a Tyra, by going to the governments of the world.
By going to an arm of flesh, they sought protection, and they didn't go and rely entirely upon the Lord.
The Lord presents himself to Philadelphia as he that has the key of David.
Now we saw that that was connected in Isaiah 22 with the government being upon his shoulder, but the Lord Jesus left this scene. He said all power.
Is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And the Philadelphian is one that realizes that if he who has the key of David, if he who has the key of authoritative power in this scene uses that key to open a door, not all the power of Satan can shut that door. And the Philadelphian is one that relies not upon earthly potentates.
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To suppress the enemy of the truth.
But looks to the Lord Jesus alone as the one who has that key. There are two figures in scripture of earthly government. The one is the sword there the sword, it says in Romans 13 of the powers that be beareth not the sword in vain. He's he has the sword. That is the earthly government has the sword to punish evil doers and for the praise of them that do well. That's the purpose of government. But the key is the other figure used in scripture connected with government.
And it has to do with opening a door for access and for blessing, and also for closing a door and locking it to suppress the enemy. So the Lord Jesus has that authority and power committed to him. And if he opens the door, then the Philadelphian is one that realizes that an open door that he has opened, no one can shut it. He says. So he that openeth and no man shut it and shut it.
And no man open it. So the Philadelphian is one who takes his character from the Lord Jesus as the Holy.
And the truth abhorring evil, walking in truth, walking in holiness down here in separation from evil. We saw in Pergamus the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Bala to cast a snare before the children of Israel and to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. There was the breakdown of separation, that Israel was set amongst all the nations to be a testimony to the true and living God.
And through the counsel of Balaam.
The enemy succeeded in drawing them into idolatry, and also into.
Elicits relations with the world roundabout. That's exactly what's happened to the Church in the Pergamos period, when Constantine ostensibly was converted to Christianity.
The world and the church were united in marriage. It was an unholy union. It was the fall of the church and rather than the the fable that is still being taught in some Christian circles today, that the church is going to be here until it converts the world.
The truth is, the world converted the church in the days of Pergamus, and the church from this time on has been worldly and the world has been churchy. But in the Philadelphian movement for the first time, not in the Sardis movement, certainly not Thyatira, because Thyatira is just a development of Pergamus. It was the teaching of Jezebel and the same 2 elements.
Fornication.
And idolatry are found in her teaching the settled state of the Romish system. She's always aspired after power here. She's always aspired to rule the world. And we see that woman Jezebel in the 17th chapter, riding the beast. And she will then have attained for a very short space, just a short space, what she has always sought to attain, to rule the world. But.
The political power will turn upon her and destroy her and overthrow her.
The Philadelphia is one that does not resort to an arm of the flesh to protect them and to keep an opened door open. The Philadelphia is one that realizes that that authority, that power is committed to the Lord Jesus. And there came a time in the history of the church when the Lord Jesus, who has the key of David, he used that key to open the door and to bring out of the treasure house.
That he has all the blessings that were for the Christian, for the church, for the assembly and it wasn't until Philadelphia that the full truth was recovered. What was recovered at sardis wonderful work of the spirit of God 2 cardinal truths that were recovered in the Protestant Reformation The first is the all sufficiency of the word of God as the guide for the Christian we don't need this word authenticated by the.
Or the ecclesiastical power of a church. That's the error of Rome. But you, you can't believe this book until it is authenticated by the Romish system. And that, of course, is to deny the authority of the Word of God. And the other great truth that was recovered by the Reformers is justification of faith altogether apart from works. But beyond that, very little was recovered in the Philadelphia.
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The truth of the gospel was fully recovered. You read the Reformers, for instance, about the righteousness of God.
And they're very, very cloudy, very foggy, very hazy, very much in error. They think that the righteousness in which the Christian stands before God is the legal righteousness of Christ. He kept the law for us, and that law keeping, that righteousness of the law keeping of Christ is imputed to us.
Well, one verse of Scripture shows how erroneous that is. If righteousness come by the law, Christ is dead in vain. No, righteousness doesn't come by the law. We don't keep it, nor did Christ keep it for us. He did keep it, but He didn't keep it for us. That righteousness of His law keeping is not the righteousness in which we stand before God. What is it? It's Christ risen from the dead.
Become a our life and our righteousness before God, Christ Himself.
Is our righteousness in a new position as risen from the dead? Well, that's developed in the Epistle to the Romans very beautifully. That was recovered. Dispensational truth was recovered. You read the King James translation, and the translators thought that the church existed in the Old Testament. They didn't understand that the church began on the Day of Pentecost. That truth wasn't recovered until some 170 years ago.
By this mighty work of the Spirit of God.
The church didn't begin until after Christ died and rose again sent the Spirit of God from a glorified position on high.
They didn't understand that prophetic truth that wasn't clear at all and that was brought out.
A dispensational truth, Church truth. What is the church it's calling, its destiny, its character, all revealed and brought out? What is the true character, nature, and calling of the Christian? Is he earthly? Does he have earthly hopes and prospects?
Or is he heavenly and does he have heavenly hopes and prospects? Well, he's heavenly and this has all been brought out and recovered. And with that godly separation from the world king and the great downfall of what we have today, we are living in days following. Over 100 years now have passed.
Since this tremendous amount of truth has been recovered.
He who has the key of David use that key to open the treasure house and to bring out all these wonderful truths that were always here in the blessed book that had been lost amid the ecclesiastical rubble of Christendom. And the day came when that truth was recovered. The hope of the Lord's coming, the rapture we have that unfolded here in the address to Philadelphia, that we will not go through the tribulation. We will not go through the.
That's going to fall upon this godless world, this apostate Christendom that we're going through, but we're a part of as we are left down here until the Lord comes. The heavenly character, the heavenly calling, the heavenly hope of the Christian, not of the world.
Our hopes, our pathway, heavenly suffering. Now the glory to come. Israel was promised just the opposite.
Israel was promised that if they walked in godliness and holiness now, they would be blessed. The food, the womb, their crops.
Their herds would all produce abundantly. There wouldn't be sickness, there wouldn't be problems of an earthly sort. This was all held out as the reward of blessing, the reward of obedience in blessing from God. That's not held out to the Christian. For the Christian, the Lord says in the world you shall have tribulation.
But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. A strange mixture we find, and it's caused some to go very much astray. The read of all the spiritual blessings that are unfolded in the New Testament, all the spiritual blessings of the church, blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus. And there were children of God. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. We're reconciled to God by the death of His.
We have eternal life. We have the present possession of the Spirit of God. We have we are children of God, we're sons of God, we cry ABBA father. And if sons and children were heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, all of those blessings and yet.
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Suffering now.
Not raining, not prospering in this world, but suffering and persecution and trial and difficulty. That's what the New Testament holds out to the Christian. A strange to some it seems strange because I've heard men that have reasoned and said it's not God's will that a Christian should suffer. It's not God's will that a Christian should not be prosperous in business. It's not God's will that a Christian shouldn't.
Prosper in this world and he That false conclusion is drawn from the fact that he's blessed with all these spiritual blessings. But the error comes in not seeing that the blessings of the Christian are spiritual and heavenly. They are not earthly and they are not temporal. They are for another day, and they are for our spiritual enjoyment. The most spiritual Saints may be the poorest in this world.
The most spiritual Saints may be the sickliest in this world.
The most spiritual Saints may have the most trials in this world going to trial being in poverty, being in sickness is not a sign today of the Lords disfavor. On the contrary, those that are the word of God says all that will of godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You live godly and you will suffer persecution. You will know what it is.
To be persecuted by a world that does not want Christ.
Now this is what we have in Philadelphia. Let's look at it in detail now.
Verse 8. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee, and opened it. Ought to read opened door one which he himself has opened, and no man can shut it.
All the power Satan can't shut that door.
Let's stop for a moment at I know thy works.
The Philadelphian is content with that.
The Philadelphian.
Is identified with a state of soul which is just like Christ when he was here.
Lord Jesus never did anything for the eye of men. He never did anything to please men. He was never under an obligation to conform to social regulations and pressures.
In fact, he didn't do that. He only had one to please, and that was the father.
And he lived in this scene to please the Father. The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always.
Those things that please say my need is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. John 6 says as the living father had sent me, and I live on account of the father, Even so he that eateth me, even he shall live on account of me.
Paul puts it this way. For me, to live is Christ, to die his gain to live is Christ. And he has to lament that.
I have no man like minded with Timothy.
Who will care with genuine feeling how you get on? For all seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ. But the Philadelphian is one who is not seeking his own things. He's not here for self. He's not here for self advancement. He's not here for self acclaim. He's here for Christ as the Lord Jesus was here for the Father. He was here to represent and to present the Father.
In this scene, that was what sustained him as a man as he went through this scene.
The will of God, the very meat that he that he had to eat, was to do the will of him that sent him.
And so the Philadelphian is one that can say, that can rejoice in the fact that he says, I know thy words. And the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus walked before the eye of God. He always did everything to please his Father. The Philadelphian does everything to please Christ, and he's satisfied that he knows.
He knows man may not understand, man may on the line and slander.
And speak against.
A1, who seeks to go on as a Philadelphian in Philadelphia character. But the Lord Jesus says I know that works. I know, and the Philadelphia is satisfied that he knows and that he evaluates.
And that he appraises everything according to the balances of the sanctuary. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an opened door, and no man can shut it.
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All one has to do is to read the collected writings and the letters of Mr. Darby, and you will see the tremendous opposition of the enemy to the recovered truth in the last century, over and over and over again, from the pulpit, from the religious world especially.
Though those who were prominent those whose position for he do a Saudi these states who gave the this authority.
And then the Lord said, I'll ask you a question, and if you answer it, I'll answer yours. The baptism of John, was it of heaven or of men? Tell me.
And they said, If we shall say of heaven, you'll say, Why then did you not believe him we should say of men? They were afraid of the people, because they all held John as a prophet. So they said, we cannot tell, and neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
He was despised.
He was here.
And the Philadelphia is despised.
If we have the desire to be something.
If we have the desire to have the applause of the world, or even the applause of our breath, the applause of the church world or some ecclesiastical body.
We're not Philadelphia's.
Because the Philadelphia lives above that.
The Philadelphian walks as Christ walked, and he never did anything for the eye of men. He wouldn't receive testimony from men. He wouldn't even receive testimony from John the Baptist. But he said, I'm going to allow it, that you might believe.
But she might believe.
I have set before thee an opened door. No man can shut it.
Now we have the spiritual features of Philadelphia that has the little strength.
Nothing. Nothing that would impress the natural man, especially the ecclesiastical world, the body's religious bodies, represented by Sardis and Thyatira, where you have great massive buildings costing millions of dollars to put up, stained glass windows, choirs, vestments, priests.
And all the trappings that go with Judaism and much that comes from paganism, especially in Thyatira. Idolatry too.
But Philadelphia? Just a picture of weakness.
Full strength.
Nothing that the natural man can take note of. Nothing that would impress the world.
Nothing that is a part of the world, nothing that the world can.
Respect.
And escape just weakness. That was him. That was the Lord Jesus. When he was here. He was despised, Isaiah tells us, and we esteemed him not.
Precisely what is true of the Philadelphia? They don't like that. Naturally, we want to be thought well of.
I don't know how many of you young people have ever been asked what church do you go to when you sort of rise and squirm and well, I just need a few few Christians down the street. Well, what do you call yourself? Well, we don't take a name. Well, who are you? Well, we're just gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
So to say it apologetically sometimes, and we ought to say, I'm gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Wonderful. But you see, that name carries reproach with it. If I say I am a Methodist, or I am a Baptist, or I am a Roman Catholic, or I am a this or that, then an approach to that. The world accepts that. But you're just a what?
Just a Christian, no name gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I never heard of that.
Despised little strength, Something the world cannot relate to, something the world.
That is is so above the world, so above the thinking of the natural man, that when we take a firm stand on that ground, there is reproach connected with it. We're made to feel that.
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What a blessed privilege to be here, to bear his reproach. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, the camp of the established religion that you see in Bayatira and Sardis, outside of all that, that Judaistic formalistic religion with a one man ministry and a choir and.
All the beautiful organ music and the stained glass windows and everything that appeals to the emotions.
Of the natural man.
Just just a few feeble nobodies.
But he's there. He is there. That's why I'm there. Because he is there. Not because brother so and so is there. Not because there's some great preacher there that we all go to here. But he is there and he can't be seen with the natural eye. He's only seen by the eye of faith and counted on.
And his promise to be there?
If we really believe that, we would never miss a meeting.
If we really believe that, we would always be present if we believed he was there.
Thomas missed a meeting, didn't he? Thomas missed a meeting.
But he when he learned about what he had missed, he was there the next week.
Well.
He is there.
Thou hast a little strength.
Weakness. He was born in a stable late in a Manger. He could say. The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man is not where to lay his head.
Weakness. He was crucified in weakness, but he lives by the power of God.
Little strength.
Philadelphia. That's the first moral feature of Philadelphia.
And then the next is to me so exceedingly precious. And has kept my word. Kept my word.
We read it this morning at the table, Luke 15. The enemies of the Lord said this man received sinners and eateth with them. They weren't commending him for that, they were reproaching him for that. Simon said if this man were a prophet, he would have known what manner of woman it is that toucheth him, for she's a Sinner. He meant she's a harlot.
This man.
The holiest man that ever walked this scene.
I was checked by word.
I must check my word. What a commendation.
As they said of him in derision, this man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. We rejoice in that. So another, an enemy of the truth said about Mr. Darby, vows to this book like a fool.
I think that's the most wonderful commendation that can be given to a man. He vows to this book like a fool. And in that day they're going to be some that the Lord will be able to say, thou hast kept.
My word now, on that day, it's going to mean everything. It means everything to him today. Everything to him has kept my word.
The Philadelphia men of the book, they bow to the word of God. They are not satisfied with allowing any part of it to be with which they're not acquainted. They're men of the book. They read it all. They read it all. They ponder it. Sacred pages. They don't have special portions that they just read in, but they read the book, they read the Word.
You know we say all scripture, all scripture.
Is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction.
Or instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, fully furnished unto all good works. We say that we believe it, but do we make it all ours? Is there still much land to be possessed? Only what we put our foot on, only what we walk in, will be ours. It's not what we learn in the intellect, it's what we put our foot on that is ours. That's what That's the way.
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With the Israelites, when they took possession of the land, they put their foot on it and it was theirs. They had to walk in it in order to make it theirs. We're living in a day when the generation, they, the modern generation, the spiritual areas of all this recovered truth, receive the truth very, very easily. We receive it very easily, but do we walk in it?
Is it true that we have kept his word? He says Thou hast kept my word.
One could speak for a whole hour just on that one expression, but I'm not going to do it. You have to develop in your own thoughts.
What is it to keep His word? It isn't simply to memorize it, but to walk in it. It isn't simply to know certain parts of it, but to make, to make it all ours, to search it all to be, to be in the scriptures, in the world. How much time do you spend reading this book every day? How many times have you gone through the Bible in your life? How many years have you been saved? How many times have you read it through and through and through and through and through?
You congratulate yourself that you've read it once.
I think that's lamentably bad if you've been saved a number of years.
We should make it more than our necessary food.
If you were asked the question of all your earthly possessions, which would you give up last? What would you say?
It should be this book.
The word of God.
As kept my word, and then he says, And thou hast not denied my name. The name represents all that he is.
In a certain character, in a certain aspect.
Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He shall save his people from their sins.
Jesus means Jehovah the Savior.
He is the Jehovah God of the Old Testament who's come to save us, Jesus.
His name should be called the Word of God. He's the expression of God.
On his vesture and on his thigh and name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His name should be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, or the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace.
You could go on and on and on naming.
His names.
If we take another name, if we're content with any other name than Jesus, the precious name, God has exalted him, giving him a name which is above every name. But at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, gather to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we take another name, as so many Christians are content to do, can we receive this commendation? Thou has not denied my name.
Can I receive that if I take another name or if I accept?
A doctrine which solves the glory of His person is that not to deny His name, who He is. He is the eternal Son of God. If I look upon him and consider Him only, His sonship was only in time. He wasn't the eternal Son of God, He was only Son in time.
Can I receive the commendation if I hold that that is not denied my name, or if I if I accept the pernicious teaching that so many leaders today and Christendom are accepting, and even teaching that though he didn't sin, he could have sinned? They deny the impeccability of his holy nature.
Can that be said? Of such thou hast not denied my name.
I think not.
Are we Philadelphia's?
Do we hold to the integrity of the person of Christ and the infallibility of the word of God? A brother was.
I was, I was asking him about the place where they're going to have the conference this year.
In it's a new place, they can't get the old one and we went out to look at it and he said he was walking down.
One of the halls where they were teaching there.
And he just overheard one of the instructors say.
The infallible word of God, well, that rejoiced his heart, and it rejoices my heart when we hear Christians that hold up and magnify the word of God, the infallible word of God.
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Now has kept my word.
Not denied my name.
Verse 9.
Behold, I will make them. Now we have the enemy.
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.
Do homage before thy feet the thought. And to know that I have loved thee, oh, that's so precious.
The synagogue of Satan. You notice in verse 9 of chapter 2 That same group is mentioned to Smyrna. Smyrna and Philadelphia are the two assemblies the Lord finds no fault with. He doesn't call upon either one of them to repent. And to Smyrna he says I know thy works to 9 and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy or the slander of them which say they are Jews and are not. But are the synagogue of Satan the same group opposing?
The Saints who are going through all that persecution and trust and tribulation.
In the time of Smyrna, many of them martyred for Christ.
And now, Philadelphia, the recovery of the truth.
Marvelous recovery of the truth. I have no doubt that the Brethren movement answered answered to this in the early days.
I can't say that it does today.
But it did then, at least many amongst them, and we have to be searching our hearts to find out in how far we fall, how far we've fallen from the recovered truth.
I will make them of a synagogue of Satan. 39 which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Who are these? Who are these while such hold an official religious position before the world?
They're recognized by the world, the established religious bodies of Thyatira and Sardis and.
What does it say of them? They profess to be the people of God. They say they're Jews. The Jews could say we have Abraham for our father. They could point back to the call of Abraham and they were his descendants. They can trace their their lineage back to the.
Establishment of their church body.
They profess to be the people of God on the ground of an hereditary religion based upon tradition, and the natural man understands that. The natural man can appreciate that, and he values it. But there the synagogue of Satan, in contrast to the assembly of Christ, they are only the people of God based upon.
A formalistic kind of thing, not spiritual.
And they're the opponents of this despised weak.
Movement that goes exclusively by the Word of God, teach the Word of God, and holds with all its energy to maintaining the integrity of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That denied my name. These are the moral features of Philadelphia and those that would reason upon scripture. Is it really so that in these last days, you know it's no one with intelligence today and these in this enlightened 20th century of ours, no one with intelligence really believes this book anymore, do they? Is it true? Yes, there are some, thank God.
There still are those.
Bow to the scriptures, but when God speaks from his word, they submit to they say yes, Lord, not yes, but I have my thoughts, but yes Lord, and they bow to the word of God, and they maintain the integrity of his name. The enemy, those that are called here of the synagogue of Satan, those who are of the formalistic established church bodies around.
They're the greatest persecutors and opponents.
To the recovered truth of Philadelphia.
What's going to happen? Behold, I will make them to come and not worship, but to do homage before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. The enemy is going to do homage before the feet of the Philadelphia. The one that is stood for the truth of the church, the one that has stood for the truth of the Word of God, has rightly divided it.
And maintained it.
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Hectic that denied his name. Just a little strength, just a feeble few, but something the world can only despise. But still those that cleave to the Lord with the purpose of harm. You're going to make the enemy come, and to do homage before the feet of the Philadelphian. And to know the Lord says that I've loved thee. This is the blessed assurance that he gives to the Philadelphia.
Now verse 10, 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 to dwell upon the earth, because thou has kept the word of my patience. What is that we saw in the 1St chapter, verse 9? Let's turn back to it. 19 I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the Isle that is called Patmos.
For the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. The new translation reads that in the tribulation and Kingdom and patience in Jesus.
One article describing 3 things. It's the time of tribulation for the testimony, the Kingdom, and the patience of Jesus. It's just the opposite of the way the Corinthians were going on. They were reigning as kings.
And let's turn to that First Corinthians 4.
Keeping the word of his patience.
1St Corinthians 4 verse 8 Now you are full.
Now ye are rich right now full now rich now, just like Laodicea, you have reigned as kings without us. When I went to God, you did reign. He wasn't deprecating while reigning his kings, but he says it's too soon.
You're doing it too soon. This isn't the reigning time, this is the suffering time, he says. You've reigned as kings without us. You don't have us with you. Not the apostles. No, the apostles were suffering.
The apostles were suffering, so he says your brain is kings without us, and I would to God you did reign that we also might reign with you. There is a reigning time coming, but it hasn't come yet. It's the time of his patience. It's the time of not.
Raining but suffering.
So I think that God hath set forth us, the apostles last, as it were appointed to death. But we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ sake, but ye are wise in Christ. We are weak, but ye are strong. Ye are honorable that we are despised.
But that's the position of the Philadelphia.
The despised one, the weak one, the fool, Even under this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place and labor working with our own hands, being reviled with glass, being persecuted with suffered, being defamed, we entreat, we are made as the filth of the world, and are the off scouring of all things under this day.
I like not these things to shame you.
It is my beloved sons, I warn you.
While the Corinthians were going on as though this was the day of reigning, that this scene was the scene in which we are to have our portion, and that is the denial of Christianity.
That's that's around us everywhere and.
The Saints reigning as kings instead of suffering.
As the Apostles did. Let's turn back. Just bear with me for another few minutes. Let's turn back to second Teams 5. Just on this thought of.
Keeping the word of my patience in Second Kings 5.
Merriman was healed of leprosy by Elijah the prophet of grace, and Gehazi wanted some of the what Naomin had brought with him and we'll take up starting with verse 22. He said all is well. My master had sent me. This is the haze. I speaking to Naaman saying, Behold, even now there be come to me for Mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver and two changes of garments.
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Said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound 2 talents of silver and two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants, and they bare them before him. And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand and bestowed them in the house, And he let the men go, and they departed.
And he went in and stood before his master. And Elijah said unto him, Whence Comestoga his eye? And he said, Thy servant went no wither. And he said unto him, What not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee?
Is it a time, here's the question now that Elijah puts to Gehazi, Is it a time to receive money and to receive garments and olive yards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and men servants and maid servants?
It's a day of grace that we're living in, and we can ask the question, is it a time to embellish ourselves with these things? The leprosy, therefore, of Naomin shall cleave unto thee.
And unto thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence A lepros white as snow.
There's another beautiful illustration in Second Samuel 19. I just want to read it quickly about a true Philadelphia.
Days I was the opposite.
Second Samuel 19.
David returns after he fled when Absalom usurped the Kingdom. Absalom is dead now and David returns and it says in verse 24 Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king.
Now Mephibosheth had been slandered before the king by Zaiba, his servant. He, Ziba had said the finisheth didn't come because he said now the Lord was going to return the Kingdom to him. He was the son of Solomon, the son of Jonathan. He was in Sauls line. That was a lie. Don't let Mephibosheth's attitude while King David was absent from Jerusalem.
Verse 24 The Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet.
Thou trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace. Well, what? What a beautiful, wonderful, lovely attitude.
The finishing hadn't done anything for his own comfort.
He was in mourning.
The King David who who was everything to Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth sat at Davidde table. David had showed the kindness of God to Mephibosheth. He was lame on both his feet, and he sat at the King's tables. And now the king had been deposed and fled for his life, and Mephibosheth was in mourning. He had neither trimmed his dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes.
Ever since David had left and he'd been slandered. And it's that's the true character of a Philadelphian, one who knows what it is to to be in mourning in the absence of our king, of our David. I should say the true king. Thou has kept the word of my patience. Well, we'll stop there.