The Test of witness
rEVELATION 3:7-13
Main Idea: Despite our surroundings, the Church must endure as a faithful gospel witness.
I. The Witness of Works (3:7-8)
Revelation 3:7-8: And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Christ and the Key
Christ and the Door
Isaiah 22:22: I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
The Christian does not find himself, after being accepted by God, in a comfortable luxury hotel, smoking big cigars and reading the newspapers. He is a missile, a man destined to be sent through the open door into the society of the world to share the meaning of love and grace
~ Eugene Peterson, This Hallelujah Banquet
II. The Witness of Words (3:9-10)
Revelation 3:9-10: Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
Unseen realities
Bold endurance
Worldliness is what any particular culture does to make sin seem normal and righteousness seem strange.
~ David Wells
We need to be familiar with the Bible to realize we are the normal ones, but we have to know what is normal in God’s eyes, so we don’t lapse into thinking that the sinful ways of the world are normal. This ought to give us a unique confidence and bold witness while enduring whatever is to come our way.
III. The Witness of Wonder
Revelation 3:11-13: I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Gospel Opportunities
Gospel Confidence
Gospel Conviction
It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.
~ C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
Revelation 14:4: “We follow the lamb wherever he goes.”
