Good morning. Can we turn please to the book of Revelation chapter three, the church of Philadelphia. Revelation chapter three, verse seven. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things sayeth he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth. 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 hath 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 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. Behold, I come quickly. O that fast which thou hast, but no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall do 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 saith unto the churches. Just a brief word of prayer, please. Our gracious Father, again we would add our Amen to the prayers that have been presented to thee, and we would seek thy blessing. We would seek thy control. We long that thou would speak to our hearts in these few moments together. As we have been reminded the Nothing or the strength of yesterday is not sufficient for today, and we pray for that renewed strength from thyself, an open heart to receive thy word. We just commit ourselves to thee now in our Savior's precious and worthy name. Amen. Again, I want to say that I've been encouraged very much with the fact that so many of you have been reading over these letters and entering into the study with me, sharing thoughts that you have been gleaning and also working on a little outline with me for this study and for this morning. I don't know what ideas you came up with. I heard a number which were very encouraging. and a very good such as the crowned heart and the comforted heart and so on. However, what I want to consider with you, well, let me just point out one or two things in this letter and then we'll suggest to you the lesson we want to stress this morning. We have looked at the cooling heart, the crushed heart, the compromising heart, the careless heart and the cold heart of Sardis. Now notice what it says about this particular church, please. It says in verse eight, Thou hast a little strength, and has kept my word, and has not denied my name. Verse ten, Thou hast kept the word of my patience. Now one of the interesting things about this particular church is this. Unlike the other churches, this particular church is not condemned. You recall the church of Sardis, it was the other way around. In the church of Sardis, they were not commended. They were just condemned. And now in the very next church, they're commended, but they're not condemned. And the challenge that comes to my heart and the heart condition I see in this little church is that of a committed, consecrated heart. A committed, consecrated heart. And that's the type of heart I believe all of us should long for. A heart that's committed to the work of the Lord. That's consecrated to him. And truly as we look at this church at Philadelphia we see such a heart condition I believe. And the Lord is delighted with the church and he seeks to encourage them. In fact, the thought of service just runs through the whole church. The open door. The key. And many other statements. Notice, for example, the word openeth is mentioned twice in this particular letter. He that openeth and no man shutteth. Verse seven. He shutteth and no man openeth. In verse eight, I have set before thee an open door. An open door. He speaks about going no more out. So the thought of service is very prominent throughout this particular church. And it's with that in mind that I have my little outline to share with you. With this committed, consecrated group, the Lord says you've got service before you and I'm leaving an open door for you to get involved. We might say it's the church which was given the golden opportunity. And I believe, beloved, that we have a golden opportunity today. It's the church with the open door. The church with the open door. As we travel around from place to place, frequently we find a building, I think of two or three in Ontario, for example, and the church is referred to or the building is referred to as the church of the open door. And I assume in their particular case, they always have an open door welcoming people in. That's not quite the same point that the Lord has in mind here. It's more of the open door out in serving and glorifying the Lord. And that we'll see a little more in a few moments. After the Second World War, perhaps some of you will recall that General MacArthur, who claimed to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, was concerned about the need of missionaries going into Japan, and he made the statement, that there was now an open door for the work in Japan, and it was thrown wide open, and he appealed to North America to send missionaries, or for missionaries to go, into Japan, and preach the Word of God. Well, when the door was wide open, unfortunately, only less than a hundred responded. And so the impact... that has been made in Japan, has been very, very small. But there was an open door. Some responded. Some were unable to, and some didn't want to. But wherever we live, there's an open door. There's an open door here at Park of the Palm, in Keystone Heights, or wherever we might come from. And I want to challenge our hearts with that thought as we go along. Now, let's have a look briefly at the background of the Church of Philadelphia, shall we? thinking first of all of its name, Philadelphia. This was founded by Atlas II way back around a hundred and forty BC. And he was the one that was instrumental in calling this place Philadelphia, at least it came from him, because he had a brother apparently, as the historian tell us, and he was tremendously devoted to this brother. He built the city on behalf of his brother, in the memory of his brother. And his devotion was so well known toward his brother that the name became known as Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, because of the great love that he had for his brother. Now this particular word, Philadelphia, meaning brotherly love, is used in the Scriptures some eight times. twice in the book of Revelation, verse chapter one, once, chapter three again, but six other times in the New Testament. Three times it's translated brotherly love, one other time it's translated love of the brethren, and the next time it's translated or twice brotherly kindness. Brotherly love, love of the brethren, and brotherly kindness. And it's rather interesting and challenging to look at those six occasions in the New Testament where this word from the Greek language is used. For example, when you go back, and we're not going to turn to these various verses, but back in First Thessalonians chapter four, perhaps we should turn to one or two of them. Let's go back, please, to chapter four of First Thessalonians. May I say that a committed heart, a heart that's consecrated to God, will be a heart that is filled with love for the brethren, for the brethren and sisters in Christ. It's part of the committed heart. Now in First Thessalonians chapter four and verse nine, But as touching brotherly love, there's the word, as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I run unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Therefore, may I suggest, that verse tells us that the badge of the Christian life is brotherly love. The badge of this local church ought to be, or the mark of this local church, is that spirit of love one toward another. So that when others come in, that they sense that here in this place is not simply a group of Christians meeting together, it's not just simply a local church seeking to carry out certain principles, but a group of saints who have a great love, one for the other. It's a badge or a mark of our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ or ought to be. Isn't it a sad thing that so often that mark is missing? The very thing that's so vital is missing. Brotherly love. I think even in the church at Ephesus, it was missing. They had left their first love. The principles were there. The strictness was there. The truth was there. but the spirit of brotherly love seemed to have got misplaced along the way somewhere. Now notice what it says, please, in Romans chapter twelve. Romans chapter twelve. And here the word is used again in verse ten. Be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love in honor preferring one another. That idea of in honor preferring one another is to be devoted to each other. How do I show brotherly love? How do I show sisterly love? By talking about it, by greeting one another with a smile, it goes far beyond that. It's the thought of being devoted to each other, in honor preferring one another, seeking to have a concern for the other, like our Lord, who is constantly thinking of others, not of himself. And that's the love that he desires to see among God's people. Now without turning to the other verses, over in Hebrews chapter thirteen we have the word again over there, and there it says, Let brotherly love what? Continue. Let brotherly love continue. You know, it can begin. It can start when a church begins. The local church begins. There's a great atmosphere of brotherly love, but sometimes it seems to be difficult to allow that to continue. Let brotherly love continue. Then you remember over in First Peter chapter one, We are to show love for the brethren fervently, sincerely, with a pure heart. There should be a fervency to that love for the brethren. And then finally, over in Second Peter, chapter one, twice over the expression, brotherly kindness as brought before us. And you remember that little passage in Second Peter, Chapter One is dealing with add to your faith, virtue to virtue knowledge, and it's the building up of a Christian character. And when he gets to the top stone and says, and to brotherly kindness, brotherly kindness, that's one of the marks of growth in the Christian life. So, beloved, it seems that this church had it. They were committed. They were consecrated to their Lord, and they were showing brotherly love. Now what was the purpose of this particular city? Why did this man build the city where he did? Well, apparently historians tell us that the reason why he did fits in with the background or fits in with the purpose of this letter. He longed that the Roman language, the Greek language, should be spread throughout the areas of the barbaric nations in the East. And this was strategically positioned as the gateway to the East. Now, one of the other letters to the churches, there was the harbor, which was the gateway of the harbor to the East. This was the gateway of the rude to the East. And the challenge given to the people who settled here was to promote and present and to be missionaries for the Roman powers to spread the Greek language. And apparently by about nineteen AD, that whole known area and all those areas that had other languages, those languages fast faded away, and the then known language, well, that whole area was the Greek language. They did their work. There was an open dollar. to spread the Greek language and the Greek culture and they got in there and they spread it. Now the Lord says, I've set you, the church, in the midst and I've got an open door before you. There's a gateway to spread the message of the gospel. And he said, no man can shite. So we're here, beloved, to spread the message of the things of God, the truth of our Lord. One other thing about the background, they had many problems throughout their history. And around seventeen A.D., they began, or they entered into a period of tremendous earthquakes. And I understand that the earthquakes there in the Philadelphia area just were constant, a constant rumbling, week after week after week. So the dear people would be running in and out. Eventually, they pitched ten. on the outskirts of the area and they went in day by day they refused to leave the city but they went in cultivating their vineyards and their fields and so on and never knowing when the next earthquake would take place and no doubt there's a there's a thought in connection with this about you shall go no more out these people were constantly going out of the city for protection the Lord was saying to the church here at Philadelphia there's coming a point when you will go no more out, you'll remain permanently with me. So that the church became known, or at least the city became known throughout the empire as the pillar city, the city that would not be moved. Hence the Lord speaks later on about them being a pillar, the saints of God, being a pillar for him in the kingdom. Well, let's just give a little outline And what thrills me, beloved, about this letter, when we think of it from the light of service for the Lord, how the Lord presents himself. It's just a thrilling thing. Notice, for example, in verse seven, under the thought of serving the Lord, Christ is my pattern in service. Christ is my pattern in service. And what a pattern he is. Verses eight to ten, Christ is my power in service. And scattered in through those verses you'll find that Christ is our portion. He's my portion or provider in service. He provides all that I need. That's from verse nine really through to verse eleven. And then verses twelve and thirteen, Christ is my prize. at the end of the service. He's my pattern, he's my power, he's my provider for all that I need, and he's my prize. Now, you will notice, as you go through here, I don't know whether you noticed this as you were reading through, but more than any other of the letters, you'll find that through this particular letter, he emphasizes he brings himself in all the way through. The little word he, for example, is connected with the pattern. Notice verse seven. These things sayeth he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth. Four times he says in that verse, he. He's the pattern. Here I am, he says, and four times he. When you go farther down in the next section from verse Eight on down, you find a little word, I, is mentioned ten times. And the Lord says, I know, I have set. He says, I will, I will, I will, I have, I'm coming. And so on. He keeps emphasizing that he must be constantly before them. And then the little word, my, when he speaks about himself, my is mentioned seven times through the passage. He's the one that provides. Notice what he provides here. In verse eight, there's my word. There's my name. In verse ten, there's my patience. And then in verse Four, over and over again, he says, My God, My God, My God, My God, Four times, My God. There's His, My Word, He says, My name, My patience, and my God. That's all that He gives to us as a provision in serving our Lord. And then, of course, He mentions five times in this little section, I will. I will, I will, I will. He's the power. He's the provider. He's the goal. He's the prize. He is all things in this little church at Philadelphia, truly a committed heart, a concentrated heart, consecrated heart. Well, let's just look a little quick, a little closer, shall we, at the pattern here for service. How should I serve the Lord? What are the earmarks of true service for the Lord? I believe it's suggested by the Lord as our pattern in verse seven. And there are three basic things that he mentions here. May I put it this way just to keep it in our minds? He presents to us, it seems to me, his character and then his conduct and his control. Character in service is very important. If you're living a lie, your testimony for the Lord will count for little. We must back up those things that we say, beloved, with a life that presents the truth of our message. Now what about our Lord's character? Well, he says here, these things say of He that is holy. He's the Holy One. And that word, character, or at least the word holy rather, comes from a Greek word that means consecrated. In fact, W.E. Vine translates it, consecrated to God, completely separated from sin, committed to the Lord. Our Lord, when He was here upon earth, our Savior, He was committed to His Father. I do all of those things that please the Father. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. And his path of service was full. Wishing off, I must be about my father's business, even as a young lad. He set his face to the plinth to go to Jerusalem, and nothing would deter him from that path. Holy, completely committed over to his father's will. Now, if I'm going to serve the Lord, He's my pattern. My first step in serving Him is to commit my life to the Lord. Lord, take my hands. Take my life. Let it be consecrated to thee. Present your body a living sacrifice, holding the acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Commitment. Our Lord is the pattern as the perfect man down here. But then notice something else. But you remember in Romans chapter six and verse nineteen, it's concerning service. We're told there that we are to present our members in holiness, in righteousness unto God. The Apostle Paul was deeply concerned about that as he served the Lord. And remember how over in First Corinthians chapter nine is at verse twenty seven, he's deeply concerned there. He keeps under his body, keeps it down, beats it up as it were, lest he become a castaway. Let the Lord say, Paul, I can't use you anymore. You've disqualified yourself in serving me. You've become a stained vessel. And Paul said, I don't want to be set aside. I want to carry on with this race. I want to carry on in my service to the Lord. I don't want the Lord to disqualify me in this work. And we can easily be disqualified, beloved. We can go on for years in serving the Lord and suddenly become careless. And the Lord says, I'm sorry. You've ceased to be useful for me. Holiness, the character of holiness. We then notice the next, His conduct, He is true. He that is holy, He that is true. And the word true here is an interesting word. It's used some twenty-seven times in the Word of God, variously translated, and it means real. It means genuine. Genuine. Whenever anyone, Mehar, Savior, they knew that He was genuine. There was no falseness there. There was sincerity, no insincerity. Remember how Paul says that he might be sincere and without offense till the day of Jesus Christ. It's the word that is used when it speaks about the Lord says, I am the true light. I am the real light. There are many false lights, but I am the real light, the true light. It's the same word when he says in John chapter six, I am the true bread. There are false bread, false food being handed out to people. I'm the true bread. He said in John chapter fifteen, I am the true vine, the true vine. In contrast to the false vine of the apostate Israel and so on. So he is real, he is genuine. His conduct then, his life was such that all respected of what he said indeed was truth, was truth. And what a difference it makes, beloved, when we are seeking to serve the Lord if our life backs up what we say. As I mentioned the other night, if we speak about the peace of knowing Christ, that that peace is seen in our life, if we speak about the joy in the things of Christ, that joy is manifested within us. Are we living the epistles? known and read of all men in that sense. First of all, then a right heart and then a right life for the Lord. But that's not all because notice we have his control. He controls all service. It's well for us when we serve the Lord, whether it's in the home or whatever area of service we have for the Lord, that he is the controller. We are simply the channels. He's the one that's to be in charge. And so his control is suggested when it says, he's holy, he is true, he has the key of David, and he openeth and no man shutteth, he shutteth and no man openeth. The idea of having the key suggests that he's in control. The key suggests the symbol of authority. Back in chapter one he had the keys of hell and of death. You remember when it came to Peter, he spoke about giving him the key, the kingdom. And the Lord used Peter, and he gave him the key to unlock the door to the Gospel in Acts chapter two to the Jews. Unlock the door of the Gospel in Acts chapter ten to the Gentiles. Lord had the key, and he opened up the door for Peter. He was in control. He decided who was going to go where and how they were going to go. Tell them with me please to Isaiah chapter twenty, because it's from Isaiah chapter twenty that this verse seems to have its setting. This is probably in the days of Hezekiah, the king. Hezekiah had a man by the name of Shebna in verse fifteen who was the treasurer and he had the key to the treasury. Now this is a very, very honored position. The treasurer was the key and it was apparently it was a great key, it was a big key. I don't know how large, but they claimed that the key was a key that was fastened to the shoulder. And as a treasurer went around the city, he would have this big key on his shoulder, a mark of the symbol of his authority. And he had the right to go in and open up all treasures of the king, hence he was second to the king of the land. He had the right to open up the doors to allow people to have access into the king. access into any room of the palace of the king. The king had just committed all into the hands of the treasurer of this particular one who was given the authority of the king. But Shepna was a man who failed miserably and he abused his authority. As a result, he was set aside. And he was, what he did was use the key for his own ends. And he was feeding his own pockets and feeding his own life. And he was condemned as all this explained in this passage, which we have in time to look into. But notice what it says, please, in verse twenty. I'm sorry, Isaiah twenty-two. Thank you for correcting me. Isaiah twenty-two. Isaiah twenty-two. Verse fifteen. Thus say of the Lord God of hosts, Go get thee unto the treasurer, even to Shebna, which is over the house. That was the first man. But he was disqualified and set aside. I notice what he says in verse twenty, and it shall come to pass on 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. I will commit thy government unto his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the house of Judah, and the key of the house of David. And you remember the key of the house of David is what the Lord spoke about. The key of the house of David, will I lay upon his shoulder? See, the key was put upon the shoulder. so he shall open and none shall shut he shall shut and none shall open I will pass him in the nails a sure place and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house and so on in the passage now you see Shevna comes on the on the scene and the word these to Eliakim I should say Eliakim means raised up of God and the picture is rather challenging and beautiful because our Father Adam, the Lord who were, gave to him the key to open up the treasures for all the generations to enter into the blessings of God, but he failed so miserably. And he's been set aside, and the last man, Adam, Christ, has stepped in, raised up of God, and to him has been given the key. And the Father has committed all into the hands of the Son, And it's the Son now that opens up the doors, just like Eliakim did for Hezekiah, he opens up the doors of the treasures of all the Father's glory, of all the Father's blessings. And it's through the Son and by the key of the Son that we enter into the presence of the Father. We have access through the Son. And as he like him had access and could bring his friends along with him, so our Lord Jesus Christ has been given this place of authority and been given this key. And that seems to be the thought of verse seven when the Lord says, I have the key of David. I've been given this authority of my Father. And he said, he openeth and no man shutth and shutth and no man openeth. Now, let's just think for a moment about the door, shall we. There are many doors in the Word of God, but there are four I just want to quickly refer to, or three anyway. There's the door of salvation, there's the door of service, and there's the door of satisfaction. And the Lord opens up those doors in order for us to enter into them. Now, the door of salvation is not here primarily. But the suggestion is there on the Word of God. The Lord says, I am the door by me. If any men enter in, he shall be saved. And shall go in and out and find pastures. He's the key to the door of salvation. And thank God for every one of us who have, by the grace of God, had the door open to us. And we've entered into this salvation. The door of salvation. But then there's the door. of service. And Paul speaks about a door in effectual. It's open unto me. It's open unto me. But there are many adversaries. And again and again throughout the New Testament we have doors opened up. There's doors for evangelism. There's doors opened up for teaching in the book of Colossians. The Apostle Paul went to Europe, you remember in Acts chapter sixteen, and you recall in the early days, in the early stages before going to Philippi, the door closed on him. And it speaks about the door of Acts that closing. Now there are many scriptures along this line we could turn to, but we haven't the time to turn to them and we're just making reference to them. But the scripture makes reference frequently about doors that are closing, doors that are opening. Now, who was opening the doors and who was closing them? The Lord was. He said, I open and no man can shut. I shut and no man could open. Take, for example, Philippi. The Lord says, I've opened up the door for you, Paul. In you go. And man tried to close it. Satan tried to close it. They threw Paul into prison, Paul and Silas. And they tried their best to close that door. But that only widened the door. and a church was formed basically upon Paul being in prison. The jailer was saved there, his whole household was saved. So when Lord opened up a door, no one can shut it. So he said, I open, but a man can shut. And then, beloved, there's the door of satisfaction. I put it that way simply because We have access through our Savior. We're blessed with all, Ephesians chapter one, we're blessed with all spiritual blessings in my heaven, he's in Christ. The Lord says, through me, I'll open up the doors of spiritual treasures that will just satisfy and delight your heart. And if you have the experience, beloved, of the Lord, just opening up these treasures to you and just enjoying the things that of the Lord. He's the one that opens those doors to satisfy the heart, as well as opening the doors for service. But we must hurry along because our time is almost gone. Notice Christ is our power for service. It says here in verse eight, I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee. Notice his power. I have set before thee an open door. No man can shut it. for thou has a little strength, has kept my word, has not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not, but lie. I'll make them to come and worship before thy feet. Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation. So there are three things he says here about his power. He said, I got power to open the door. I'll give you a power to overcome the enemy. I'll make them of the synagogue of Satan to come and dodge your feet. I've got power to overcome the enemy. And he said, I've got power to oversee the whole picture because he says, I will keep thee from the hour of temptation that's going to come upon the whole world. That's our power. Lord says, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, go ye, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end. He said, I'm your pattern of service. I'm your power in service. I have the power to open up opportunities for you. And I have the power to deal with the enemy who might try to hinder you. You know, the open door, sometimes an unusual door, isn't it? Sometimes the open door is not what we expect. We hear someone speak about maybe a new country or a country and they say, well, the government has now just opened up the door in order for the gospel to go in and immediately say, now there's an open door. And rightly so. That is an open door. But all doors are not open in that way. found an open door. Where did he find it? In prison. He never would have thought that was the open door, but that's where the Lord put him. Daniel found an open door, but where did he find it? As a captive young man in Babylon. And there's a young man with three other companions. I'm sure he must have thought to himself, well, mine. What can I do here? The door's been shut. But the Lord said, no, this is open door for you, Daniel. This is an open door for you. And he took advantage of it. The captive maid of Nehemiah and the leper. She must have thought, well, here I am captive away from my family and just a captive here. There's no door of service for me here. Lord says, you're just where I want you. I've got an open door for you right in his home. Right in his home. John Munyon, preaching the Word of God and having open doors and suddenly he's taken and thrown into prison. I wonder if he thought, well, there goes the door. It's shut. It's shut. Lord said, I'm putting you there. John, you've got an open door there. And he wrote, The Immortal Pilgrim's Progress. Open door. Open door. I think of a dear woman up in Ontario who was confined to bed and then to her dismay, she found that she was never to get out of bed again. Never to get out of bed again. And she looked forward to years of confinement. And she thought to herself, no opportunity to serve the Lord. compared to the young woman at the time. But I remember years ago, years later, going to visit her, someone mentioned her name to me and I made a point to go to see her. And what a delight it was, what a thrill. She'd been there in bed for over twenty years, and she found an open door. She had a book there with a list of names and a list of articles, of items rather, that was almost unbelievable. She knew my name right away, I'd never met her before. She said, I've been praying for you for years. And she had stacks of letters there beside her bed of people who had written thanking her for her prayers and how the Lord had answered prayer. And she said, I thought the door was closed when the Lord put me here. But she said, I found there was an open door. There was an open door. And no man could shut it. So, beloved, the Lord puts before you an open door today. He's our pattern. He's our power. He's the one that provides. And he said, in that day I'll give to you. A new name. I'll write my name. Isaiah puts that. He says, I'll write my name. The new Jerusalem, he said, I'll come from heaven and I will write upon him my new name. In other words, it seems to me that is the wonderful truth that when we get to be with the Lord, we're going to be like him. When we see him, we're going to be like him. He said, I tell you, when you get to glory, I said, I'll have my name written right on you. You'll be like me. You'll be like me. May the Lord challenge our hearts to be faithful to Him. Gracious Father, we commit ourselves to be now in our Savior's precious name. Truly, the harvest is great, our Father. The laborers are few. We thank thee this morning to understand in some small measure that our Lord is in control. He has the key. He can open. No one can shut. He can shut. No one can open. Lord, may we be faithful. Seeking those opportunities of service in thy strength, in thy power, and for thy glory. We pray in our Savior's name. Amen. One more meeting tonight and another little see to think about another heart condition. I trust you. Know that heart condition.