Revelation 3, verses 7-13. In preparing the messages today
concerning Christ's letter to the church at Sardis, I could
not help but in my thinking to frequently make comparisons between
this church at Sardis and this congregation here. The church
at Sardis was a small congregation. The church at Sardis was a congregation
of just average people, no one of great influence, no one of
great abilities, no one of great wealth and significance so far
as we have been able to find. And the church at Sardis, I said
the church at Sardis all the time, didn't I? Talking about
Philadelphia. The church at Philadelphia was a church knit together in
the love of the gospel, in love for Christ, in love for one another,
and committed to the gospel of God's free grace. Now let's look
together at this letter of Christ to the Church of Philadelphia
again in verse 7. To the angel of the church in
Philadelphia write, These things saith 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 Now in the verses
following, our Savior is inspiring this congregation against whom
he gives no word of reproof, no correction, no word of any
kind of correction of any evil. Apparently the church was faithful
in all things. And he is simply encouraging
them to steadfast faithfulness. He's encouraging them to persevere
steadfastly in the faith of the gospel. He says in verse 8, I
know thy works. Behold, I set before thee an
open door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength,
and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 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. 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 saith unto the churches." Now, in these
verses 8 through 13, our Savior gives us three motives for perseverance. The first is his own praise. Look at verse 8. The Savior says,
I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee
an open door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little
strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
In that verse, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our great
Savior, as it were, bends over from his lofty throne in heaven
and looks upon his saints upon the earth and gives a word of
praise. Imagine that. Imagine that. The Son of God himself beholds
faithful believers, a small band of faithful believers upon the
earth, and speaks to them, and on their behalf, a word of praise."
Oh, I sure would like to be in that crowd, wouldn't you? Folks
to whom the Son of God speaks praise. I have, I started to
say I have no desire for earthly praise. That'd be a lie. I have
far too much of a desire for that. I recognize the evil of
it. I do not seek after, I do not
court the praise of men. Oh, but to have the praise of
God. If a man seeks the praise of
men, he won't seek the praise of God. Oh, but that we might
stand before Him to be praised of God now and forever. Now certainly, our Lord is here
giving us an example to follow. We're usually quick to point
out one another's faults and failures, but love is always
quick to forgive. Love is always quick to praise.
And so our Savior looks upon this church at Sardis, and He
speaks a word of praise. You see, a little praise is a
great encouragement. You folks who are yet under the
rule of your parents, as young people ought to be, you would
find yourself able to identify with this perhaps a little bit
better than some of the adults. If you get all A's on a report
card and one D, somehow or another, I don't know what it is about
us, always sees the D. That's just our nature. If you
send your boy out to wash your car, And he goes out there, man,
he spit shines that thing, he polishes the chrome, he puts
that armor all on the tires and on the rubber and on the top,
and he misses a spot on the door. All you see is that dirt spot.
That's all you see. That's just our nature. And it
ought not be that way. We would get along a whole lot
better and get a whole lot more from one another with a word
of encouragement and a word of praise rather than words of criticism
and constantly spotting the faults of one another. Oh, God help
us to identify with our Savior and follow his example with words
of encouragement. I know some people who seem to
think that kindness is blasphemy. But the Son of God speaks a word
of encouragement and praise to this church at Sardis, or this
church at Philadelphia. I'll get it right before the
night's over. This church at Philadelphia, and He does so
not because they did things perfectly, but they did them sincerely.
Not because they were perfectly upright or perfectly faithful,
but they were sincerely upright and sincerely faithful. And he
encourages them to go on in faithfulness by giving a word of praise for
what he beheld in them. Oh, God teach us to do the same.
What was there about this Philadelphian church? These believers here
at Philadelphia that the Son of God observed, and gives praise
to. What is it that He commands?
What was the matter of commendation that our Savior beheld? He says
it in verse 8, I know thy works. They're works. They're works
of faith. They're works of love. Works
of gratitude. Works of benefit to one another
and works to glorify His name. Now, good works. Good works have
absolutely nothing to do with salvation. Your obedience to
God does not in any way merit or earn or improve your standing
with God. But you listen to me carefully.
Those who vainly imagine that good works do not follow God's
grace do not understand the Scriptures. Those who have experienced the
grace of God walk before Him in works of righteousness. That's
their character. Grace makes folks different.
Grace causes men and women to walk before God carefully, maintaining
good works. Let me show you. Turn to Ephesians
chapter 2. The second chapter of Ephesians. Now most people in religion,
most preachers, most Most religious leaders spend a great deal of
time trying to get folks to behave as Christians who are not. They
spend a great deal of time trying to get folks motivated and inspired
to do good works, though they have no basis for doing good
works. Those who understand the gospel declare simply that God's
people walk in good works. This is not something that's
optional. This is not something that once in a while you find
a believer who does, but often you find believers who don't.
That's just not the case. Believers in the tenor of their
lives, in the tenor of their lives, walk before God carefully
maintaining good works. Look at Ephesians 2 verse 8.
By grace are you saved through faith. You receive God's grace
and God's salvation through faith. You apprehend it, you lay hold
of Christ by faith. And that faith itself is not
something you produce. That not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God. Not of works, that is your grace,
your salvation, your faith is not of works, lest any man should
boast. For we are God's workmanship. You see that? We are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus, get it now, unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Now I
presume that means that God Almighty, as He has worked His grace in
Merle Hart, and worked His grace in Merle Hart unto good works,
if He has foreordained that you walk in them, you'll walk in
them. That's exactly right. God has foreordained that those
who are His people, the objects of His grace, walk in good works. And so our Lord looks at this
church of Sardis, and He speaks of their works as that which
is commendable, that which is praiseworthy. And He praises
them for it, recognizing all the while that their works are
not really their works in a great sense, but rather they are simply
His work in them. And those who walk in good works
gladly acknowledge that. We gladly acknowledge that when
we have done the very best we can do, we've only done what
we ought to have done, and we're still in profitable service because
we haven't done anything right. But still, God's saints faithfully
walk before Him in uprightness, seeking to honor Him. Our Savior
speaks then of these good works, and he tells us that he has set
before this church an open door which no man could shut. Do you
see it? Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man
can shut it. Now, that word open door, as
it is used in the scriptures, commonly refers to a door of
opportunity for the preaching of the gospel. In 2 Corinthians
2, in verse 12, the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians and
says, the Lord gave me an open door. And he's talking about
the preaching of the word. Apparently, the Lord had given
this church at Sardis an opportunity. Somehow he had opened a door
for them, for the preaching of the gospel, to serve the interest
of his kingdom, and they did it. They faithfully seized the
opportunity God gave them. They faithfully performed the
work God gave them the opportunity and the ability to do. God put
something in their hands, and they went after it with all their
might. God said, you can do this, you can do this, and they pursued
it with all their spirit. They did not talk about what
they wanted to do. I listen to religious folks.
I don't listen to them much. I soon find something else to
do. get in company of folks and they
talk about what they want to do. Oh, I'd sure like to do this,
I'd like to do that, I'd like to do the other. Or they talk
about what they used to do, or what they have done, or what
they would do if they had more money, more opportunity, more
ability, more people, so on. Oh no, not this church. These
folks that started simply did what they could for the glory
of Christ and the furtherance of the gospel. That's what I
ask of you. Lord, I ask of you, I commend
you wherein you have fulfilled that blessed privilege and I
urge you to continue in it. Do what God gives you the opportunity
to do. You can't all preach. You can't
all teach. You can't all be missionaries.
You can't all be pastors. You can't all do what other men
do. This congregation cannot do what another congregation
does, but that's of no consequence and no significance. We are to
do what God gives us the means, the opportunity, and the ability
to do. Do it with all your might. Our
Lord Jesus gives us a beautiful picture of this back in Mark
chapter 14, if you want to turn there. Mark the 14th chapter,
you'll remember it. The Lord was sitting at a meal,
and folks were feasting and enjoying a good time around Him, and there
was a lady who came in. She kind of slipped in in the
background, and she had an alabaster box of ointment. Sprite and her
very, very precious. It represented about a year's
wages, her life savings. And she couldn't do much. She
couldn't do much. She couldn't bridge. She couldn't heal the sick. She
couldn't raise the dead. She couldn't go and be a missionary
somewhere. But she had this box of ointment,
this box of perfume. She'd been saving up all her
life. Apparently, apparently she had been saving it up from
a life of prostitution. And the Lord Jesus had saved
her by his free grace. And she takes that box of ointment
and she breaks it and anoints him for his burial. And folks
looked at her and said, why this waste? Why this waste? Judah said, why, we could have
sold this and given the money to the poor. Look how the Savior
speaks. Jesus said, verse six, let her
alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath
wrought a good work on me." Rod, do you know those words not used
concerning anybody else in all the scriptures? This woman, this old harlot,
whom he had saved by his grace, whose sins he had forgiven, for
whose sins he was about to die to satisfy the justice of God.
She understood what nobody else understood. She believed what
nobody else believed. She came and wrought a good work
on me. He says in verse 8, for she hath
done what she could. Oh, God helped me. God helped
me in this generation to do what I can for the Son of God. That's all. That's all. God helped
you to do the same. You who are redeemed with his
blood, born of his Spirit, called by his grace, you who have been
saved out of the depths of depravity and corruption and sin, lifted
to be seated among the sons of God, do what you can for the
glory of Christ. That's what he praises in these
folks here at Philadelphia. You see, what I said this morning
will bear repetition The one thing God requires of us is faithfulness. The one thing God honors is faithfulness. When our Lord Jesus opens a door
for us, as we faithfully follow him, no man can shut it. This congregation, we have so
much experience God has set open doors for us. Every time I look back and see
the past year and past experiences, I kind of look things over and
I think to myself, what a marvelous thing that God has allowed us
this. God's opened this door, opened
that one, opened this one up. Many of them, many of them, as
we'd look at them, we'd say, well, how can we do this? You can't. Unless God opens the
door. Oh, but if God opens the door,
Bobby, we don't dare. We don't dare fail to seize the
opportunity. Let us then faithfully put ourselves
in this position with this church at Philadelphia, doing what the
Lord God puts in our hands to do. That means you men and women,
where you are, in the place where you are, in the opportunities
you have, serve the cause of Christ. Seek His glory. Do what
you can. Just do what you can. Nothing
else is expected of you. That means for me as a pastor,
Serve the interest of Christ. Do what I tell you. I'm not responsible
to do what another preacher does. I'm not responsible to do what
another fellow does somewhere else in the kingdom of God. But
I am responsible under God, Larry Chris, to do what I can in this
generation, in this place, for the glory of God. I'm responsible
to. And so are you. That ought to
be enough said concerning that. But notice these folks in Philadelphia.
The faithfulness of these saints was especially commendable because
they had very little to work with. The Savior says here in
verse 8, for thou hast a little strength. That's not a word of
reproach, but a word of commendation. The Lord looks at them and says,
you, you, you, you've done these works and you didn't have much
to work with. I didn't give you much to do
with. They were of insignificant numbers. They had little numerical strength,
and being a congregation of small numbers, they had little monetary
strength. There was nobody of any great
renown or any great ability or any great possessions. But this
small congregation was not deterred by their weakness. They were
not deterred because they didn't have as many folks in the church
down the road, or they didn't have as much money or much opportunity
as the church on the other side of town. Oh no, these folks simply
rallied together and did what God gave them opportunity to
do. That's exactly what we're to do. They had little talents
as well, apparently. I haven't, again, been able to
find any mention of any extraordinary thing in these artists. You compare them with the church
at Corinth, and at Corinth, those folks, man, they had talent running
out of their ears. They could do anything. They
had teachers and and miracle workers, and folks who spoke
in tongues, and folks who had great understanding in various
philosophies, and folks who debated issues. They were giants of men,
as far as men are concerned. But they didn't do anything.
They didn't do anything but fuss and debate. They didn't do anything
but meet at the coffee shop and debate which issue they were
going to debate the next time. They got together and talked,
and they talked a great show, but the church at Carnock did
nothing. These folks here at Sardis didn't have anything. They didn't have any numbers.
They didn't have any great power. They didn't have any monetary
abilities. But what they had was commitment to Christ, and
they served Him. The church at Carnock had many
gifts. Rich in gifts, but was poor in
grace. Not this church. Grace had made
these folks faithful. And much was done by them for
the glory of Christ, the souls of men, and the furtherance of
the gospel. They had a little strength, our
Savior says. But they used every ounce of
it for His glory. everything else. Thou hast a
little strength. That was perhaps their misfortune. I don't really think so, but
perhaps their misfortune. But it wasn't their fault. And
if you and I lack strength, if we If we lack specific gifts,
if we lack great talents, if we lack power, if we lack that
which men look at and say, now that's a congregation, they get
something done. We have a little strength, that may be our misfortune,
but not our fault. You see, this is altogether God's
doing. He gives wealth and He gives
poverty, He gives strength and He gives weakness according as
He will. The Lord does not blame us for having little strength.
Never. I'll tell you what he blames
us for. Having little faith, little love, little devotion,
little zeal, little consecration, little commitment. That he blames us for. This church
at Philadelphia, they were great in those things that I've just
described, though they had little strength. Now you see to it that
as you walk before God, you use that little strength He's given
you for Him alone. You take a woman who, she and
her husband and family are very poor. She can't provide for her husband
things that another woman could with great ease. Just go out
and purchase a leg down at his feet because she has plenty. But this woman, she goes about
her day-by-day duties, and she faithfully, joyfully, lovingly
serves her husband, because she loves him. She wants him happy.
He comes home in the evening, she wants things just right for
him, because he's been out working for her. He might do nothing
but dig ditches, but he's been digging ditches for her. And
so she wants everything just right for him. And that man has
a wife. whom he admires, though she has
nothing to offer except faithful service. That's all. Oh, how
he admires her. If he's smart, he does. How he
admires her. Our Lord Jesus has provided everything
for us. Everything. Out of his great
love for us, he redeemed us. He saved us by His grace. He
has poured out upon us the heaping, heaping, bountiful blessings
of His grace. It is just reasonable that we
give ourselves relentlessly to Him. Just reasonable that we
devote ourselves to Him. Men look at us and say, that's
extreme, that's fanaticism. God, give us some of it. God,
give us some of it. Our Lord speaks to this church.
And he speaks a word of grace and commendation to them, because
they were faithful and persevering even in the midst of great opposition.
Read on in verse 8. The Lord says, Thou hast kept
my word and hast not denied my name. These men and women simply
could not be driven away from the word of the gospel. They
could not be persuaded to deny Christ. They could not be induced
to forsake Him. Not for any reason, not by anyone. Thou hast kept my word. What
is this word which they kept? You don't have to guess about
that. In verse 10 it tells us. Because thou hast kept the word
of my patience. The word that they kept was the
word of the gospel. Which declares the patience of
the Son of God in His suffering and in His sacrifice for us.
This is the sinner's only hope, and this is what we must keep.
We must tenaciously addict ourselves to the Word of God and hang fast
by it. Hold fast the faith of the Gospel.
How did they keep His Word? They believed it. They believed
it. He spoke, and they believed what
He said. Let me show you an example. 1
John chapter 5. 1 John 5, just a few pages back. Verse 6, This is He that came
by water and blood, even Jesus, not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is true. For there are three that
bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit,
and these three are one. And there are three that beareth
witness in the earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood,
and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. How do you keep the
word of the gospel? You believe it. Just believe
it. Just believe it in spite of everything that appears to
the contrary. In spite of everything in your experience that seems
to make it unbelievable, you simply believe God. And believing
it, you love it. Look at verse 3 of chapter 5,
1 John 5, verse 3. This is the love of God, that
we keep His commandments, and His commandments do not grieve
us. We believe His Word, His Gospel. He commands us to trust
His Son, and believing His Word, we love it. And believing it
and loving it, they obeyed it. They simply obeyed the Word.
The Savior said, believe me, love me. And they did. They just
obeyed Him. Somebody says, I sure wish I
was more obedient. Then be more obedient. It's just
that simple. Just that simple. I wish I could
do that. Then do it. Just do it. I want
to serve the Lord. Serve Him. It's just that simple.
These folks believed Him, loved Him, they obeyed Him. That's
the way of God's saints. And they defended the word of
the truth. They earnestly contended for
the faith. Though they were weak, few in number, and a people of
worldly insignificance, they were ready at all times and against
all odds to hold to and defend the truth of God. These Philadelphian saints took
nothing to be truth, but that which was revealed of God in
His Word. And with regard to the truth of God, they valiantly
refused to budge an inch. And you ought to say, so should
I. I don't know how to communicate
this sufficiently, but somehow we ought to be willing
to compromise quickly, be willing to compromise quickly our personal
preferences, our personal tastes, our personal desires, so that
our preferences, our desires, our Our taste, our ambitions
never come between us and our brethren. Just quickly compromise,
they'll say. Compromise your personal opinions
about things. You have an opinion, I have an
opinion. Well, just let my opinion bow to yours. Let your opinion
bow to your neighbor's. And get along. But when it comes
to the truth of God, compromise, backing up, bing, bing, must
never be tolerated. Don't do it. Not for anybody. Not for any reason. Not to get
along with anybody. Because more is at stake here
than your opinion in mind, your taste in mind, your ambitions
in mind. That which is at stake now is
the glory of God, the Word of God, and the souls of men. So
we must not give an inch. These folks here at Philadelphia,
they would not be driven from victory. You don't have to guess what
the truth is they adhered to. It was those things concerning
the gospel of God's free grace that stook out and caused offense
among men. They held to the old paths that
gave them peace, and they would not be driven away. May God give
us grace in these days of our minionism, freewillism, and religious
works by men everywhere in the religious world. are inclined
toward man-centered, free-will, work salvation. May God give
us grace to hold fast the gospel of His free grace, so that we
will not budge, not an inch, not an inch. Someone asked me
just recently with regard to these issues of the gospel of
God's grace, divine sovereignty, man's depravity, and limited
atonement, effectual grace. Said, just how far do you press
that? I press it just this far. The gospel must be believed,
or a man's going to perish in his sins. The gospel of God's
grace must be believed. A God who's not in charge, you're
talking about a peanut. You're talking about an imaginary
God, a God who can do nothing. Either man's totally depraved,
or he doesn't need a Savior. If man is not utterly depraved,
lost, without the knowledge of God, he doesn't need Christ.
That's the reason this religious world doesn't need him. Either
God chose and determined to save a people, or He doesn't have
any people He's determined to save. You see, salvation has
got to begin somewhere. It's either got to begin with
your will or God's will. The difference between saved
folks and lost folks, saved folks understand that salvation begins
with God's will. Lost folks mainly imagine it
begins with their will. Either the Lord Jesus Christ
actually, effectually redeemed His people, or He's a failure.
And if He's a failure, He's no God. Either God the Holy Spirit
regenerates and calls sinners to life and faith in Christ,
or God the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with salvation. One of
the two. These truths we will live by. And if need be, God
helping us by these truths, we'll die. But we will not, we cannot,
I speak for myself and I speak for this congregation as a body
of believers. We cannot, we will not give them
up, not one of them. This is more than doctrine. This
is the very fabric of salvation. This is more than a doctrinal
conviction. This is a manner by which I must
declare that to deny any of these things is to deny Christ altogether
and to blaspheme his name. It is to deny the very hope of
our soul. And I ask you, do you, like these
folks at Philadelphia, keep his word? Perhaps you have no great
talents. Perhaps you have a little strength,
like the church here at Philadelphia. Maybe you have very little influence
over other people. And it may be that you will always
be numbered among a small group of people who are looked upon
by the religious world as narrow-minded fanatics and bigots. But I tell
you that the salvation of your soul depends on you holding fast
the truth of God. Turn to Colossians chapter 1,
let me show you. Colossians chapter 1. These saints of Philadelphia
were commended and praised by Christ because they kept and
would not deny his word of grace. They held fast the gospel. In Colossians 1 verse 22, or verse 21 rather, he says, And
you that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now has he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death, to present you holy, and unblameable, and unimprovable
in his sight. Now look at the next word. Take
your pen and circle it real big. If. If what? If you continue in the faith,
grounded, settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel. Secondly, our Lord encourages
these folks to perseverance. He encourages their faithfulness,
not only by giving a word of praise to them, but by promising
his protection to them. In verses 9, 10, and 11, our
Savior tells the church here at Philadelphia that those who
keep God's Word will be kept by God. Those who hold fast God's
truth shall be held in truth by God. Those who persevere in
faith shall be preserved by His grace. Our Lord knows how to,
and He will separate the weak from the chaff. He says in verse
9, 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." The Jews, Abraham's physical
seed here in Philadelphia, claim to be God's people exclusively.
And many today blamely imagine that the Jews are still God's
choice people, and God does everything according to how you deal with
the Jews. Now, you listen to me. Let us never degenerate to
anything like anti-Semitism. Don't ever allow that. Don't allow somehow racism to
come into interpreting the Word of God. That's utterly, utterly,
utterly abhorrent. But don't ever imagine by the
deluded theology of our day that because someone is Abraham's
physical descendant, he's God's elect. Don't ever imagine that.
Abraham's children, those who are Jews truly, those who are
the Israel of God, are Abraham's spiritual When the scripture
says, and so all Israel shall be saved, it's not talking about
salvation of all the physical descendants of Abraham. Anybody,
anybody who reads the word of God will know better than that.
He's talking about the salvation of Abraham's spiritual seed,
the covenant people, those chosen of God, so that we who believe
are Jews inwardly. That's what Paul said in Romans
2. We are the circumcision, not circumcised in the flesh, but
circumcised in the heart. You see, Old Testament circumcision
was representative and typical of regeneration. The cutting
away of the foreskin, the filth of the flesh, and the implanting
of a new nature in us, so that the believer in Christ is called
the circumcision. We are the circumcision. We're
the Israel of God, the Church of God, the Kingdom of God. That's
the Israel of God. They're Abraham's seed. Our Savior
says, those who claim to be Jews and are not, but are liars. They're
the synagogue of Satan. More applicable in our day, there
are many like the Jews, who claim to be God's people, who are not.
Many. They say they are Jews. They
say they're Christians, the children of God. But they lie. Now, you listen to this preacher.
I'm telling you the truth, and I'm telling you the truth because
you need to hear it. All who hope for acceptance with
God because of a decision they made, because of their baptism,
because of their church membership, because of their good works,
because of their taking the sacraments, or because of their experiences.
All who hope for salvation and acceptance with God because of
their personal holiness are hypocrites. They may be called a church. They may think that they are
the house of God. But our Savior here says they
are the synagogue of Satan. The synagogue of Satan. I am declaring as plainly, as
boldly, as openly as I possibly can, that the religious world
around us Teaching and preaching, let me identify it crystal clearly.
Teaching and preaching salvation in your hands. Salvation based
on what you do. Salvation by your will, your
works, or your worth. Any who do, let them be admired,
applauded, and praised by men, if men are so foolish, but the
synagogues of Satan, not the church of God. And our God calls
for us to come out of them. God's elect, the people of God,
are the true circumcision, circumcised in heart and rejoicing Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. In the end, these
despised people will be honored by God. The Lord Jesus says,
I will cause them to bow down at your feet and worship. Not
worship you, but bow down at your feet as they worship me
and confess that I'm Lord. I'll cause them to know that
I've loved you. God help me to be no more envious of this religious world than
I will be in that day when the Lord Jesus sets his sheep on
his right hand and goats on his left and causes them to know
I've loved you. I've loved you. As long as we live in this world,
our Savior promises that he will keep us in the hour of temptation. Notice 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. Now this is what that means. The Savior says, I'll keep you
from the apostasy, the religious apostasy by which other men are
deceived and discouraged. You have an option from the Holy
One. You know all things. I'll keep you. That means our
Savior is declaring, I will keep you and preserve you in the midst
of your trial. When you pass through the waters,
I'll be with you. When you pass through the fire,
the flames shall not kindle upon you, but I'll be with you because
I've redeemed you and you're mine. That means I will preserve
you and keep you in the way of grace and life and faith and
obedience until life everlasting. I'll give you one heart and one
way. You'll know me and you'll not depart from me. That's his
promise. And then our Savior promises
us in verse 11 that he will preserve and keep us as we persevere in
the faith. Behold, I come quickly. Hold
that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Hold fast
the gospel. Hold fast the word of his grace.
Now notice, that it is upon the basis of this promise to preserve
us from temptation that our Redeemer admonishes us to persevere. Contrary
to popular opinion, the promise of absolute, unconditional grace
doesn't promote licentiousness, it promotes faithfulness. Our
Savior tells these folks that you hold fast, and the basis
of it is in verse 10. He said, You hold to me because I'm holding
you. I'll not let you go. You persevere
because I will preserve and keep you. I've got to hurry, but look
at verse 12. Here is a promise from our Savior. He gives this church a word of
praise, a promise to protection. And here is a promise of grace
yet to come. Him that overcometh will I make
a pillar in the temple of my God." Oh, what a promise. A pillar. I'm not an engineer
or an architect, but if I understand that correctly, a pillar is a
permanent structure in a permanent place. A pillar. A pillar. The building stands on a pillar.
A pillar can't be removed without utter destruction from a building.
Our Lord Jesus says, I will make you a pillar in the kingdom of
God." Oh, my soul, what a promise! So that God Almighty promises
Bob Pontzer that he will be a permanent structure in the kingdom of heaven. Such a permanent that you can't
be removed from it without destroying the whole fabric of God's heaven. That's a promise. To who? To him that overcometh. To those
who keep my word. Then he says this, He shall go
out no more, and I will write upon him the name of my God. And the name of the city of my
God, which is the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven
from my God, and I will write upon him my new name." Now this
is what that means. When you leave this world, when
you finally overcome, you'll stand before God and be a pillar
in the house of God. But while you live on this earth,
I'm going to give you assurance that you're mine. I'm going to
write my name in you. I'm going to write the name of
my God in you. I'm going to write the name of
the new Jerusalem in you. I'm going to make you know that
you're the sons of God, with all the rights and privileges
of the sons of God. And I'll write my name, my new
name upon you." And I looked at that and I thought, what on
earth is that? My new name. What new name does
the Son of God have? What acquired name does He have? He said, I will write my new
name, a name that I have acquired. I'll write that upon you. Turn
back to Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23. We looked
at this this morning. When you found that passage in
Jeremiah 23 again, Hold your hand there and turn to Jeremiah
chapter 33. Jeremiah chapter 33. Here is
a name which our Lord acquired, his new name. Jeremiah 23 verse 6, In his days
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this
is the name whereby he, the Lord Jesus, shall be called. the Lord
our righteousness." Now, Romney didn't have that name before.
He earned that name. He earned that name as a man
walking on this earth in obedience to God as our representative
and substitute. And that's the name he's going
to write on us. Look at verse 16 of Jeremiah 33. In those days
shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this
is the name wherewith she shall be called, O glory to God, the
Lord our righteousness." So that God Almighty looks on Mark Henson
and Carla Henson, and listen to me now, as you are in Christ,
God Almighty looks on Mark Henson and Carla Henson and sees nothing
but righteousness. And he assures you of it right
now. I accept you. I've written on you
my new name. He that hath an ear to hear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. I urge
you, my brothers and my sisters, that you persevere in the faith. Give yourselves wholeheartedly
to the Lord Jesus Christ, wholeheartedly to the work that he puts in your
hand, and our Savior will hold us in his grace. Therefore, let
us cling to him. My only hope, my only plea, is
that Christ lives. He died for me. He alone is my
righteousness. He is the Lord my righteousness. And I, O wonder of wonders, I
have been made the righteousness of God in Him. I don't know anything on this
earth that could be more inspiring to perseverance and devotion
and commitment to Christ than that blessed fact. The Lord Jesus
looks on us and gives a word of praise. He says, I accept
you. The Lord Jesus promises to protect
us in the midst of our trials and temptations. And the Lord
Jesus promises us an everlasting portion in His kingdom. Amen.