Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to the book of Revelation.
We are in Revelation chapter 3.
as we examine the letters that are being written to these churches of Asia Minor.
who are the direct recipients of the book of Revelation.
uh And yet, we understand that as the books were...
and letters were received by these churches, they would then forward, as was commonly the case with Paul's letters and Peter's letters, they would forward those letters from
themselves to others.
If you go read in the book of Colossians uh what Paul writes, you'll find that Paul sends word for them to forward that letter to the church at Colossae over to the church at
Laodicea.
oh
of the other places where we have reference of the church in Laodicea, and Paul's letter that went to the Colossians would go to them as well after the Colossian brethren had
received it.
But let's begin with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our study.
Our gracious Father in heaven, come before your throne.
grateful for the day you've blessed us with, for the life that we have been granted, the opportunities that we have to serve you.
We are mindful of your word and what it commands us to do on a daily basis.
the things it commands us to be involved in and to abstain from.
We're also mindful of your command to worship you on the first day of the week.
And Lord, we are grateful that we have the ability, the energy, the uh health to be able to assemble together to do that.
And we're mindful of those who, for reason of health, are unable to be with us.
We pray that you be with them and help them to recover the desired strength that they might once again be in
presence.
We also pray for those who are traveling and those who are away from us, and we pray for those who will travel in the upcoming weeks that they have safety and are able to return
home safely as well.
Lord, we pray that you be with us as we close out this year.
May we examine the year that we've had.
May we look back at the things that we've done and have left undone, and let us examine and plan for 2026 in a mind
mindset that puts your kingdom first, and that may we always seek first your kingdom.
We ask that you be with us as we go through this period of study and as we examine this book that was written to encourage the Christians that were about to go through struggles.
We pray that we might have the same mindset to overcome as they were commanded to do.
All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.
We were in discussions on the Church of Sardis.
Chapter 3 verse 1, the letter opens, and to the angel of the church in Sardis write, these things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know your works,
that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead.
Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain.
oh
that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.
Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard.
Hold fast and repent.
Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white.
for they are worthy.
He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot out his name from the book of life but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Okay?
There's a couple of things here in this text that we need to examine and identify because again chapters two and three are written in
They have some of the imagery from the figurative part of the book, from the spiritual visionary part of the book, but they're written in plain ordinary language.
And so when you see the imagery, you're quite often getting an explanation of what should we interpret the imagery to mean in the rest of the book.
A couple of areas like that is, for instance, here in verse
and verse five.
So we've mentioned already that in the book of Revelation numbers have significance.
The number seven is the perfect number in Judean thinking.
The number eight is the number of God.
The number of six is the number of man.
The number 10 is the idea of completion and perfection.
So all of these things are important, but they're numbers.
have significance.
We also recognize that there are imagery that has significance, like for instance the seven stars, the seven candlesticks.
Well here, you're going to find that colors also have significance in the book of Revelation.
What color do we have identified in verses four and five?
white.
Okay, notice verse 4, you have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in what?
White.
For they are worthy.
He who overcome shall be clothed in
white garments.
And I will not blot out His name from the book of life, but I will confess His name before my Father and before His angels.
Go back to chapter 1.
Verse 11, John is there, he's in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and he says, heard a voice saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, what you see right in a
book, send it to the seven churches, which are in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, to Laodicea.
Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.
And in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed in a garment down to the feet, girded about the chest with a golden band, his head and his hair were
white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire.
The picture of white and the use of the term white and the color white everywhere in the book.
And this is a challenge to us because this will contradict common ideas about the book of Revelation as soon as you apply it.
If you find the picture of white in the book, it's dealing with spiritual
purity and righteousness.
How do we know?
Because John has just described it to be that exact thing in chapter 3.
Because he is saying, here's this church, he says, you are dead.
You are defiled.
You are in a state where you have a very little amount of anything that God approves of left that you can strengthen.
and that still remains and yet you have among you some Christians who have not defiled themselves.
But rather they will be arrayed in white, they will walk with me and they will be holy and pure and righteous because that's the opposite of defiled.
Okay?
Here's another passage that will help us from the Old Testament.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 1.
Isaiah chapter 1 beginning verse 12, When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts, bring no more feudal sacrifices.
Incense is an abomination to me.
The new moons, the Sabbath, the calling of assemblies.
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
Your new moons, your appointed feasts, my soul hates.
They are a trouble to me.
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.
Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood." He is writing, Isaiah is writing to the children of Israel, and he is accusing them of being defiled.
And God says, you may come into my house, the temple, to worship, but I'm not going to accept your worship.
You may offer me many prayers, but I'm not going to listen to you because you are
Defiled.
Your hands are full of blood.
He says, verse 16, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the
oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow, come now let us reason together, says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be what?
As white?
as snow.
Isaiah uses the picture in the introduction of his book of God cleansing us from the stain of sin and the picture of the person cleansed from that state of sin is what?
white.
So John takes this imagery, which is not unique to Isaiah, but is regularly seen throughout the Scriptures, and he uses the color white to mean something.
Well, when the text tells you what something means, what should you assume it means in the rest of the book?
Same thing.
And that's going to be a challenge because you know what you've heard about?
You've heard all the denominationalists through the years talk about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, right?
What color is one of the horses?
If you've got four horsemen of the apocalypse and they're all bringing some sort of bad thing and yet one of them is white, you have a problem.
The book is consistent in its use of imagery.
As a matter of fact, every single time you see anyone on a white horse, it is Jesus Christ.
And it is those who are with Him.
Every time in the book.
So, when you get to the book, and when the book tells you what something means,
You must have contextual evidence to indicate that it doesn't mean what it means everywhere else in the book.
If there's a picture, a color, a number, and it means something everywhere else in the book, there better be a really strong clear statement in a context to say, well, wait, I'm
not using that picture this way anymore.
No, right here it means something different because John doesn't do that.
because I challenge you, you're not gonna find that.
You're not going to find John flip-flopping on the visionary imagery.
He's going to use it consistently throughout the book.
And right here in the plainly stated passages dealing with the church, white is the picture of someone in full fellowship and righteousness with God.
They are pure.
and holy.
And all throughout the book those who are righteous are described as being arrayed in white.
just like John describes here concerning this church.
But then consider as well we have the term the Book of Life.
This is a picture of God having a record of those who will be judged and those who are righteous.
This is not unique to the book of Revelation.
You find this terminology elsewhere in Scripture, but here John says
I have those who I have written their name in my book.
And if I have written their name in my book, then I will confess their name before my Father and His angels who are in heaven.
Further evidence given for who's the one writing to the churches, who's the one speaking the message, it's the one who has a father.
It's the one who has angels at his beck and call.
it's Christ, but further you have this idea that comes forward from Matthew chapter 10 where Jesus says, you will not confess me before men, then I will not confess you before
my Father who is in heaven.
Well, that terminology is found right here.
And so you can have a congregation where Christ says, I'm not confessing that congregation before my Father in heaven.
And yet you can have individuals amongst that number that Christ does confess their name.
He says, they will walk with me in white.
They will receive their reward.
But the rest of you?
Not happening.
Okay?
Not unless they repent.
One last thing that I wanted to point out is here in verse two, sometimes when we are helping people overcome
spiritual destitute lives, spiritually destitute lives.
When we are trying to help people get out of the things that they are doing that are wrong, maybe we're trying to restore someone who has fallen, who is a member of the body
of Christ, we have here a small indicator of something that we can do that will help them get where they need to be.
Notice verse 2, he says,
be watchful and strengthen the things that remain.
It is a challenge for us when we are trying to fix something that we often want to attack the single point of greatest weakness.
We want to correct the single greatest point of failure.
And the reality is that most times people
will not succeed fixing their greatest weakness until they've focused on building their strengths on their greatest strengths.
We all face the reality that we have weaknesses, and if we spend the maximum amount of our time focused on our weaknesses, we will rarely make any significant progress.
Yet if we instead challenge ourselves to focus our maximum amount of time on our strengths and turning the strengths that we have into something that is steadfast and unmovable,
slowly but surely the weaknesses start to disappear or the weaknesses can be solved by relying on someone else's strengths that cover our weaknesses.
when you're dealing with a crumbling bridge, you do not focus first on the crumbling part of the bridge.
You focus first on strengthening everything that is already stable because if you begin with the crumbling part, you may find the crumbling part begins to get bigger and bigger
and bigger because the strong part starts to lose strength.
You stabilize what is strong and then you build toward and fix that which is weak.
And we have to do that in our own lives.
Jesus even says to do that within the church in Sardis, which is, as he said, dead.
He says, you've got a little bit left.
You go focus on that.
You go build that.
And from that, you have a platform to correct the rest of the things.
Okay, so there's some insight there from
the book of Revelation.
Chapter 3 verse 7, to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts,
and shuts and no one opens.
When Christ handed the keys, as it were, of the kingdom to the apostles, and the apostles preached that first gospel sermon there in Acts chapter 2,
and they opened the doors of the kingdom and invited people to obtain the salvation that was found within the body of Christ and within the salvation that is found in the
crucifixion and death and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, could anyone come along later and shut those doors?
No, not Rome, not Caesar, not someone that was declared to be a god, not Satan, not the enemies of Christ, not the Judaizing teachers, not the individuals who separated
themselves from righteousness and true sound doctrine.
None of those people could shut the doors because Christ is the one who opens and no one shuts.
And shuts
No one opens.
The idea of Christ being the one who opens, this is opportunity, this is salvation, this is what you want, but when Christ says, that door's closed, think about it from the
perspective of a church.
Imagine a congregation where the door's shut.
No matter how much you try, you can't get the door open.
Christ says, if I...
come to you and judge you as a congregation, I'm going to shut off your access to my Father, and there's not going to be a thing you can do to change it unless you repent.
Okay?
So this picture is of Christ, the one who has controls of the key of David, of the promise and the salvation that was promised through David, and the authority of Christ.
but also of opportunity and judgment.
Verse 8, know your works.
See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it.
For you have a little strength, have kept my word, and have not denied my name.
When Christ says to the church of Philadelphia, I've opened a door for you, I've created an opportunity for you, Paul would describe
uh a number of different times scenarios where he described having an open door of opportunity.
Christ says, I've set before you an open door.
Now, did Christ shove them through it and force them to actually take the opportunity?
No.
That was up to them.
They had to make that choice.
But Christ says, door's open.
Door's right there.
He says, for you have a little strength, have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie.
Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you.
Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth."
Behold, I am coming quickly.
Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more.
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 out of heaven from my God, and I will write on him my new
name."
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." As you go through this letter to the church at Philadelphia, what's unique about it?
No correction, no negative statement anywhere to be found.
Yet interestingly, of this church, Jesus does not describe them as having great strength.
But what?
Little strength.
He says, I know that your capabilities are small.
Yet in the midst of their small capabilities, the one thing they have compared to all the others is they have nothing to critique.
It is a reminder to us that sometimes in churches you have someone whose moral activity is just uncompromised, whose words and deeds are those which are beyond rebuke.
I'm not saying they're sinlessly perfect, they never sin, but their actions and their lifestyle is beyond rebuke and yet...
their capacity and their abilities are small.
weakness, my grace is sufficient, like even though, because he talks about their perseverance, the holding fast, the fact that they are still doing what they're supposed
to be doing, that even though they are maybe weak in strength, as he puts it, that it is that they are relying on God like they should through that.
I think there's a lot of that, and I think there's also a picture here that's an Old Testament picture.
When you see David,
come to the confrontation with Goliath.
Would you have described David as the one who was strong or the one who was weak in the confrontation?
Physically weak.
mean, here's Goliath.
He's a giant.
He's coming and his armaments are so big he's got to have somebody else carry the shield in front of him.
He's got a staff that's like a weaver's beam.
He's got a sword.
He's got all these things.
And what did David show up with?
Shepard's garments, no armor, and a slingshot.
Which one looks weak?
Which one only has a little strength?
Which one was reliant upon God for their strength?
The answer is the one who trusted in the Lord.
So David did not succeed because of his strength.
He succeeded because he trusted in God's strength.
and he did what he could.
So many times in congregations that I have been a part of and that I have witnessed through the years, there are some little old ladies who may not have a whole lot of
strength to get up and walk around, but they are the backbone of a congregation.
They would be described as those with little strength, and yet they are a force to be reckoned with for righteous action in a church.
It doesn't have be a lady, but sometimes you have people who physically they're weak.
If you look at the things that they can do and accomplish physically, they're weak.
And yet here you have strength because of their character, because of their action, because of the soundness of their obedience to God.
Philadelphia is a congregation where God says, I've opened the door.
Nobody can shut it.
But also, he says, I know those who are in your presence who are the assembly of Satan.
They are the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not.
Now, this is using terminology that Paul used.
Paul said they are not all Israel who are of Israel.
God has made it clear from the Old Testament all the way to the New that there are those among the nation of Israel that are not His people.
And as a result of that, He says, they're Israel, but they're not Israel.
They're Jews, but they're not Jews.
Because if they were the descendants of Abraham spiritually, they would hear my voice and they would obey me.
But rather they are the portion of Israel like those who came out of Egyptian captivity who instead of hearing his voice and being obedient to his voice, rebelled and are
destroyed and are judged.
So here in Philadelphia, they are dealing likely with some persecution or localized persecution from the Jews.
And God says, you don't be concerned about the fact that they claim to be the people of God because they're not.
and rather they are a descendant, they are an assembly of Satan.
Did you know you could have a group of people who claim to worship the same God you do?
Claim to honor the same God you do?
Claim to believe in and obey the same God you do?
but are in abject rebellion against him so much so that God says they are actually an assembly of Satan.
That's what he's describing here.
These Jews hadn't gone off and started worshiping Satan in their weekly assemblies.
They didn't start reading from some book of Satan on their feast days, but they were in complete rebellion from God.
because they would not hear his voice, would not accept his son, they would not do what he told them to do.
This picture, by the way, comes from what Jesus said in John chapter 8 when Jesus said, you are of your father, who did he say?
The devil.
For he was a liar from the beginning.
Jesus points out that it is their lies that cause them to be the descendants of Satan.
And these people, this congregation was dealing with people like that here in Philadelphia.
But then consider as well, he says ah that he's going to basically defeat them, bring them to bow down before the feet of the Christians and know that I have
loved you because you have kept my command to persevere.
Also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.
This terminology here, this picture of Christ saying to the Church of Philadelphia, everybody else is going to go through these trials, but I'm going to set you aside.
I'm going to save you from them because of your faithfulness.
It comes from the book of Habakkuk.
It comes from what God said concerning the judgment that was coming on Judah.
And he says, verse 2, then the Lord answered me and said, chapter 2, write the vision.
Make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time.
But at the end it will speak and will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it.
Because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by faith.
That phrase is going to get used over and over and over and over again in the New Testament to speak concerning the salvation that is found in Christ, but in this context,
it's dealing with the salvation from the judgment that was coming on Judea through the Babylonian Empire.
And this idea is what is going to be for...
found here concerning the Philadelphia church, he says, I'm going to save you out of this turmoil.
Now, if you were to think about those who Christ or God saved out of the turmoil of the Babylonian empire, who might you describe as those who were saved out of that situation?
You think we're going to talk about people who just happened to have a city that got missed by the Babylonian Empire as they came and barreled through the country and overran
it?
Don't think so.
Rather, you're going to be thinking about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were taken off into captivity, yet they prospered and they were blessed, not in Judea, not
by remaining in their land.
but by going into captivity.
You're going to think about Ezekiel, who was there by the banks of the river, writing back to the captives.
You're going to think about Nehemiah and Ezra.
Ezra in captivity prepared his heart to know the Lord and to teach his law and to teach in Israel statutes of judgment.
Nehemiah is serving at the behest of the king.
All of these individuals were saved out of the destruction, out of the judgment, yet they were saved out of it by going through the captivity.
They endured the judgment that was happening around them, but they were not judged by it.
They rather were promoted by it.
And so here you have this picture of God saying,
I've got you.
You are those who have persevered.
He says, verse 11, behold, I am coming quickly.
Hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown.
Again, we're seeing all throughout the book the term coming is not discussing the end of time.
It's not discussing the final return.
When he says he's coming, what context is he dealing with in this passage?
He's dealing with the turmoil and the persecution and the judgment that is coming shortly to pass.
He says, I'm coming quickly, but don't worry.
I've got you.
I know who you are.
I know who belongs to me.
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God
and he shall go out no more." Now, if we were to believe that everything in the Bible is literal, then we're going to have to face the fact that these Christians were going to be
turned into literal pillars in the temple.
I don't think that's going work out.
They're going to get really tired.
And yet, what is a pillar in the temple of God?
Is this the only place this terminology is used of Christians?
Matter of fact, Paul uses it over in Galatians when he references James, the brother of Jesus, Peter, who seem to be pillars in the church.
He's using terminology that is visual of a temple.
What would often be the case in temples, especially in the Roman temples, if you were to look at the temple?
these columns that would go all the way around and hold up this great ceiling.
That is correct.
All right.
So we have here uh spiritual imagery.
The spiritual imagery of being a pillar.
The spiritual imagery of a temple.
Is there a temple in heaven?
The answer is yes and no.
Turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 3.
beginning in verse 11, for no other foundation can anyone lay which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be
revealed by fire.
And the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is.
Now notice the analogy that Paul is presenting to the Church of Corinth is your faith
that the quality of the workmanship of your faith is going to be tested not by the good times in life, but by what?
The fire.
The trials of life.
What happens to a faith made of straw in the midst of a fire?
burns up and it's gone.
What happens to a faith that is made of precious stone in a fire or gold?
It's purified.
It withstands the fire.
It endures the fire.
Now what has
Christ just described this church as being those who are.
They're those who persevere.
They're those who overcome.
They're those who are going to go through the trials, the tribulations.
They're going to be ah kept faithful by Christ.
They're going to be protected by Christ, and they're going to persevere and overcome.
They're going to go through the trials of fire, and they're going come out the other side shining.
Now notice, he says,
If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive an award.
If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet as through fire.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you?
Two times in the book of Corinthians, 1st Corinthians, chapter 3, chapter 6,
Christ addresses the Christians and the Church, Church collectively here in this passage, Christians individually, as the Temple of God.
God did not promise the Old Testament Israelites that there was going to be a day where He was going to come and set up a temple where He would dwell with men.
As a matter of fact, you remember in 1 Kings chapter 8 that Solomon made it quite clear that when he had built that magnificent temple, it couldn't hold God.
God couldn't dwell in that temple made with hands.
and rather the New Testament presents the temple as what?
the church.
Now you need to hold on to this imagery because he's writing to a church and he says you will be part of the temple of God as a church.
And he also says that on him will be the name of my God.
Oh, we're going to get to somewhere in the book where some names are being written on people.
And in this passage to the Church of Philadelphia, John says, to the faithful Christians, I'm going to write my name on you.
To the faithful Christians, he says, I'm going to write on you the name of the city of my God.
What's the city of his God named?
According to the text.
The New Jerusalem.
We're going to spend some time with the idea of the New Jerusalem because that's an Isaiah image.
But God says, I'm going to write on my faithful Christians a New Dane.
It's the name of my God.
I'm going to write on the Christians the name of the city of my God.
What's the city of my God?
The New Jerusalem.
I'm going to write on them my new name.
All of these pictures we will see throughout the text.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
We're not going to spend a great deal of time on Laodicea.
I'm going to mention something as we close and then we're probably going to move on because I think probably Laodicea gets more treatment out of all of the letters of the
book of Revelation than any of them.
And to the angel of the church of the Laodicean bride, these things says the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot.
I wish you were cold or hot.
So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.
Because you say I am rich, have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.
I counsel you to buy from
that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me.
To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne.
as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." We often talk about this church being the
lukewarm church.
We often talk about the idea of something lukewarm being that which just is unpleasant.
But for the Christians in Laodicea, this had a more pointed...
aspect to it.
From Laodicea you could look one direction and you could see White Calf Mountains.
And from the other direction, you could see a city with nice hot springs in it.
And the water in Laodicea was horrible.
It was something that was bitter.
So in the days of the first century, the Romans had, and the Laodiceans, which were a very wealthy city, had said, fine, our water's bad.
So they built an aqueduct over to the city that had the white cap.
hills and they got fresh mountain water.
Nice, cool water.
And they built an aqueduct to the hot spring city.
And they got hot spring water from that city and they brought both of them to Laodicea.
Only problem was when you build the aqueduct and it starts off as nice cold water over in the ice cap hills.
By the time it got to Laodicea, guess what it was?
was Lukewarm.
And when you got the hot spring water out of the other city, by the time it got to Laodicea, guess what it was?
Lukewarm.
All the riches, all their money, couldn't buy them quality.
Christ is using their day-to-day lives, their day-to-day experiences of the water they actually drank and says, this is what you are.
You've got something that you could be, which is great, but instead you've decided to allow yourself to just be nasty, worthless.
Something that somebody puts in their mouth that there is nothing of value here.
because you're relying on your riches.
You're relying on your wealth and your prosperity, and you think being wealthy and prosperous means you're good to go.
And Christ says, no.
As a matter of fact, I will spew you out of my mouth because you have not chosen to recognize that what you need most is me and not what you bring to the table.
Okay, thank you for your attention.