An Open Door That No One Can Shut

[0:00] For those of you who don't know me, I haven't met yet. My name is Sean. I'm one of the pastors of Trinity Cambridge Church, and it is my joy and a great privilege to preach God's Word to you this morning. We are in a sermon series through the book of Revelation, and we are in chapter 3 today, verses 7 to 13, which is the letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.

[0:23] Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word. Heavenly Father, we do desire to keep your Word and to keep the name of Jesus for our whole lives, but we cannot do that without your help, without your empowering Spirit, without your Word to guide us and to ground us, and so we gather ourselves here before your Word again, and we submit ourselves to your Word again. Won't you please speak to us?

[1:15] change us, and stir us up to love you with our whole heart, and to serve you with our whole lives.

[1:34] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please stand for the reading of God's Word from Revelation chapter 3. verses 7 to 13.

[1:54] 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.

[2:10] I know your works. 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.

[2:29] 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.

[2:45] 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. I am coming soon.

[2:57] 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.

[3:21] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This is God's holy and authoritative Word. You may be seated. Whether it's a film producer who takes advantage of job-insecure actresses, or a politician who goads interns into engaging in illegal activity, people in positions of power often get away with evil deeds, at least in this life, because they're able to pressure people into compliance or silence.

[3:59] And when we feel that we have but little power, and when we feel that someone else has power over us, and when we feel like that person has the key, holds the key to our future, the key to unlock career opportunities, or to open networks, or to open doors for the future, we too can be cowered into compliance and silence.

[4:26] This can happen to us in terms of our Christian witness as well. When we think that being a Bible-believing Christian can hurt our chances in making friends, or in being awarded a fellowship, or in getting a job, we can lie low and hide our faith, or even deny our allegiance to Jesus as Peter once did.

[4:50] After all, those guys have the power. They have the keys to open doors, and I don't want them to shut me out. As we have seen throughout Revelation 2 and 3, Christians in the first century faced persecution and pressure to conform, not only from the Romans, but also from the Jews.

[5:11] We can see this already in the Gospel of John. In John 9, 22, the parents of the man born blind that Jesus heals refuses to acknowledge that Jesus is the one who healed him, even though they know the truth, because they feared the Jews who had already decided and decreed that those who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.

[5:32] Likewise, in John 12, 42, it says many of the authorities, even of the Jewish authorities, came to faith in Jesus. They believed in Jesus, but for the fear of the Pharisees, it says they did not confess the name of Jesus so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.

[5:51] This was not an uncommon struggle, and we see that both the church in Smyrna that we saw earlier in chapter 2, verse 9, and the church in Philadelphia here in chapter 3, verse 9, were being persecuted by what John calls, or Jesus calls, the synagogue of Satan, which is a reference to Jews who are doing the bidding of Satan by persecuting the people of God.

[6:13] Most of the early Christians were Jewish, and their allegiance to Jesus often put them in the crosshairs of the Jewish authorities, and this was a fearful thing because Jews, by virtue of their antiquity, and because they'd been around in the Roman Empire for a while, and because also they had rioted many times, and they had found ways to get some kind of acceptance in Roman society.

[6:36] They didn't have to worship the emperor as long as they honored the emperor, and so being a Jew was a benefit because then you can still survive in society and get by, but if the Jews also rejected you, then you'd have nowhere to go as a Christian to gain social acceptance.

[6:54] You would lose your family ties, your social respectability, your cultural acceptance, your career opportunities, and perhaps even your own life. These Jewish authorities and the Roman authorities were the cultural and social and vocational gatekeepers of their world, and they held the keys to their future, or so it seemed.

[7:19] But Jesus here reminds the church in Philadelphia of an even deeper truth and an even greater reality, that he is the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one will open.

[7:39] And that, therefore, they should hold fast to their profession of Christ's name, even through trials. That's the main point of this passage. We should hold fast to our profession of Jesus through trials, knowing that he has the key to the kingdom of God.

[7:55] We're gonna first talk about the one who has the key of David, it's Jesus, and then we're gonna talk about the church that keeps Christ's word, that's the church in Philadelphia. And third, we're gonna talk about the one who receives God's name, and that's all those who hold fast to Christ's name.

[8:10] Jesus introduces himself to the church in Philadelphia in verse seven, and I'm sure this is obvious to most people, but in case you're really unfamiliar with scripture, this is not talking about the city of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.

[8:24] Revelation was written around 95 AD, Philadelphia is named after that city, but the ancient city of Philadelphia was in the region of Lydia in Asia Minor, in modern-day Turkey.

[8:37] And when the Ottomans conquered the city in 1392, they renamed it Allah-Shahir. So that's the modern name now, but that's what Philadelphia is back in the day.

[8:49] And Jesus says to this church in Philadelphia, 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.

[9:00] Jesus is called the Holy One. He describes himself as the Holy One. In the Gospels, if you read through it, whenever the demons encounter Jesus, they stand in awe and exclaim, I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

[9:16] This is a divine title because often throughout Scripture over 30 times, God the Father, Yahweh, is called the Holy One of Israel.

[9:27] So the word holy in its basic meaning means consecrated or set apart for God for a special purpose. In Scripture, the opposite of what is holy is what is common.

[9:39] So holy could even be translated uncommon or special. So Jesus, like God the Father, is holy. He's not like us. We are sinful, but Jesus is righteous.

[9:53] We are finite, but Jesus is infinite and eternal. We are fickle, but Jesus is unchanging, constant. He is set apart from us and he is holy.

[10:06] And Jesus is also called the true one. As in the English, here in the Greek, which is the original language that the New Testament is written in, the word true has multiple nuances.

[10:17] It can mean that someone is truthful or trustworthy, or it can mean that someone is real or genuine, as opposed to fake or false. And I think all of those meanings are in view here.

[10:30] And that brings Jesus into an intentional contrast with the detractors of the church in Philadelphia described later in verse nine. The synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie.

[10:43] Jesus, in contrast, is the true one. There were Jews who were denouncing these Christians in Philadelphia saying, you are not the people of God. We're the true people of God.

[10:55] We belong to God. You don't. You're fake. You're the heretics. We are the ones who will inherit the kingdom of God. But Jesus says, they are liars.

[11:09] I am the truthful one, the true one, the trustworthy one. So pay attention to what I'm about to say about who you are and what you are.

[11:19] Jesus is the dependable and reliable witness. He is the real deal. And so it doesn't matter what anyone says about us, what our persecutors say about us, what our flatterers say about us, what matters is what Jesus says about us.

[11:38] And Jesus is the holy one, the true one. And later on in Revelation 6, 10, God the Father is described as holy and true. So again, this is a divine title. It's another way to say what Revelation 3, 14 says about Jesus.

[11:54] He's the faithful and true witness. His testimony is utterly reliable. And this Jesus is the one, it says, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens, as it says in verse seven.

[12:09] This is a slight variation of what we saw in the glorious vision in chapter one, verse 18. That's where all these introductions to the letters and churches are taken from. And there in chapter one, verse 18, it said Jesus had the keys of death and Hades.

[12:24] There it was particularly emphasizing Jesus' power over death and over eternal life. He's the one who determines who gets to go into eternal life. He's the one who raises the dead. And so that power is in view here too.

[12:37] But this verse is going actually even further back beyond Revelation 118 to Isaiah 22. In Isaiah 22, there is a steward named Shebna and he is a steward over the royal household of the household of David at the time.

[12:53] It was King Hezekiah. And he is the one that's in charge of basically discharging the duties of the king on his behalf. He's the steward. But Shebna was unfaithful.

[13:08] He held the key to the palace. He determines who gets to come in and who gets to go out. But he was an unfaithful steward. And so God prophesies, God says, and declares in Isaiah 22, 19, I will thrust you from your office and you will be pulled down from your station.

[13:24] And instead, God says, I will call my servant, Eliakim, to be steward over the house of David. And this is what he says to Eliakim in Isaiah 22, 22. I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David.

[13:38] He shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open. The exact phrasing of this verse in Revelation 3. In this sense, Eliakim, whose name means the one whom God will raise up, is a type of Jesus Christ.

[13:56] He's a figure of Jesus Christ who prefigures that the Messiah, Jesus, will come as the one whom God raises up to be over all of the household of David and to reign in his throne.

[14:08] So this Eliakim is foreshadowing that. And the fact that Eliakim here is a type of the Messiah is confirmed by the fact that he's called by God my servant. And in Isaiah, that's a key expression because the Messiah is described over and over again by God in Isaiah as my servant.

[14:27] So then Jesus is saying here in Revelation that he is the ultimate fulfillment of what Eliakim was. At the end of Isaiah 22, we're told that even Eliakim would fail.

[14:41] He'd had the throne of honor to his father's house, but he would also be cut down. And he would be cut down and he would fall. That was predicted in Isaiah 22 also. But Jesus, in contrast, sits on the throne of David forever.

[14:55] And he will never be cut down. And Jesus is saying that I am he who holds the key of David. And that means Jesus has the key to the kingdom of God. No one can enter the kingdom of God except through him.

[15:11] And this is why the church in Philadelphia can be assured of Jesus' promise in verse 8. Behold, I've set before you an open door which no one is able to shut.

[15:23] this is an amazing comfort to the church in Philadelphia. The expression open door does sometimes refer to opportunities for ministry throughout the New Testament.

[15:37] So Paul writes that a wide open door of ministry has been opened a wide door for ministry has been opened for me in 1 Corinthians 16 and other places.

[15:48] And it's possible that Jesus is kind of getting at the same idea here, that he's opening up their door for ministry. However, I think the immediate context of this passage kind of points us in a different direction.

[16:00] I think the open door is a reference to the door to the kingdom of God because Jesus himself just said that he has the key of David and he opens and no one shuts and he shuts and no one opens.

[16:13] Revelation 4.1 confirms this. It says, Behold, a door standing open where? In heaven. So remember that the church in Philadelphia is facing opposition and persecution from hostile, unbelieving Jews.

[16:28] As we see in the Gospels and throughout the book of Acts, some of the Jews were putting Christians out of their synagogues and refusing to give them a platform to proclaim the gospel. They contradicted, reviled, and stirred up persecution against Christians.

[16:42] So imagine how discouraging it would have been to face such forceful opposition, especially from their Jewish brethren whom they had expected to embrace the Messiah, their long-awaited Messiah, but instead, all we have are closed doors everywhere.

[17:01] We're now shut out of the synagogue. We're shut out from society because of our allegiance to Jesus. And then, in that situation, to hear this assurance, I have set before you an open door.

[17:18] which no one is able to shut. Yes, they might shut you out of the synagogue, but they can never shut you out of the kingdom of God because I have the key of David and no one can shut what I open.

[17:38] Let this be a comfort to you when you're ridiculed by your friends for being a Christian, when you lose the respect of your coworkers or your professors for voicing your Christian beliefs, or when you feel like you've lost academic or career opportunities because of your allegiance to Jesus, remember that there is something that no one can ever take away from you because you have an inheritance that is imperishable and undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you by Jesus.

[18:11] Remember that that door to heaven and the kingdom of God has been opened by Jesus who alone has the key. So Jesus, the one who has the key of David, is the sender of this letter.

[18:23] Now let's look at the recipient of Jesus' letter and what Jesus says about them in verses 8-10. The phrase I know precedes statements about the church in Philadelphia and then the word behold precedes statements about what Jesus says, has done, and will do for the church in Philadelphia.

[18:42] And usually if you look at the pattern of the seven letters in Revelation 2 and 3, the statement I know your works is usually followed immediately by the recounting of those works, a list of those works, whether that's good or bad.

[18:57] But here, the usual sequence is interrupted by a parenthetical remark in which Jesus says, I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut.

[19:10] It's kind of a, kind of an odd and then he resumes the thought again, I know. So it's as if Jesus is so eager to command and comfort this little church in Philadelphia that he interrupts his own flow of thought to embrace and uphold them and says, I know, I know your works.

[19:32] I see everything. Don't worry. I have opened a door for you that no one can shut. And then Jesus resumes his recounting of the works of the Philadelphian church.

[19:47] What works do they have? It says in verse 8, I know that you have but little power and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

[19:58] This idea of keeping the word of Christ is repeated in verse 10 because you have kept my word about patient endurance. The church in Philadelphia is a church that has kept the word of Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[20:13] Despite persecution, they have not denied Jesus' name. despite opposition, they have continued to hold fast to and proclaim the name of Jesus. And they have done this despite the fact that they have but little power.

[20:30] It's ironic that the church in Sardis, which had the reputation of being alive, and the church in Laodicea, that's next church, which boasted, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.

[20:45] that these two churches are precisely the churches that receive the most severe rebuke from the Lord Jesus. But this little-known church in Philadelphia that had but little power receives Jesus' highest commendation.

[21:05] In fact, Jesus only has good things to say about this church. Outwardly, the church in Philadelphia was unimpressive. They had but little power.

[21:17] Later in Revelation 13.2 and 17.13, it connects the word power with political power. This church lacks political power.

[21:28] They don't have much influence in society. They're not the church that attracts media attention or gets visits from presidential hopefuls. They don't have hundreds of thousands of followers on their social media accounts.

[21:42] They're a bunch of nobodies. They're also likely poor. Revelation 18.3 speaks of the merchants of the immoral nations of earth who have grown rich from the power, the same word, of Babylon's luxurious living.

[22:00] The church in Philadelphia had no such economic power because they keep the name of Jesus and refuse to deny him and because they refuse to compromise their faith and their ethics and because they refuse to confess the name of Caesar, they are likely cut off from the corridors of economic power.

[22:18] They don't have a seat at the table of power. This is not a church that can host large conferences and symposia or make sizable, impactful donations to causes.

[22:34] They have but little power and yet they have kept Jesus' word and have not denied his name. That's so encouraging because that means this kind of faithfulness that the church in Philadelphia gets commended for is accessible to every single church.

[22:58] Whether that church is in the city, a major global hub or in the countryside by the farms, whether this church is in a place where there's religious freedom or in a place where there's great religious persecution, whether this church is in a first world country or in a third world country, in every place, any church can do what this church in Philadelphia is doing because they had no power.

[23:28] Yet they kept his word. Brothers and sisters, that means we also can hear this commendation from Jesus if you are faithful.

[23:44] Is that what you desire above all else? Church in Cambridge? Church in Cambridge? Church in Cambridge? To hear the commendation of our Lord Jesus? Is that not what you want above all else?

[23:56] So let's hold fast to the gospel, to the word of Jesus. Hold fast to the precious name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Let's be people who say, even if I have to let go of everything else, to hold on to the name of Jesus.

[24:14] Even if I have to let go of power. Even if I have to let go of prestige. Even if I have to let go of prosperity. I am not letting go of the name of Jesus. Even if I am shut out of every place.

[24:30] Shut down by everyone. Even if I'm shut out of the ivory tower and shut out of the public square and shut out of the marketplace and shut out of Washington DC.

[24:40] Even if I am canceled. I will never deny the one who has the key of David. because he's the one who gives us access to the one place that we cannot do without.

[25:01] The kingdom of God. Because that's the one place where we can dwell forever with God in love and fellowship.

[25:11] Let goods and kindred go. This mortal life also. The body they may kill.

[25:22] God's truth abides still. His kingdom is forever. And look at what kind of vindication awaits those who are faithful to Christ in verse 9.

[25:36] 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.

[25:54] All those naysayers who said that you don't belong to God. You don't know the true God. We're the people of God.

[26:05] You're just schismatics. You're a counterfeit. Jesus says, I will make them come down and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you.

[26:23] I will vindicate you. I will show them that you are my people that I have chosen you. that I love you. They will see that and they will say, I see now that you are God's people.

[26:43] In several places throughout Isaiah, the Lord declares that a day is coming when he will make the Gentile nations come to Israel and bow down to them and acknowledge that they are favored of the Lord.

[26:57] These nations that once conquered and despised Israel will bow down in submission before them and they will say, surely God is in you. There is no other, no God besides him.

[27:09] They shall call you the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. In this way, those who wait for the Lord shall not be put to shame. They were proven right.

[27:21] They will be vindicated. Jesus will bring about the fulfillment of all of Isaiah's prophecies and what comfort is this for Christians who are persecuted for their faith?

[27:35] There's more overt persecution in Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim cultures. In those places, Christians are often disowned by their own family members and lose their jobs and are cut off from society as apostates and infidels and in many cases, killed.

[27:52] But still, in less intense ways, this can happen to us even here. We have church members here who have been treated as pariahs by their own family members because of their faith in Jesus.

[28:08] But don't be disheartened because the day is coming. It's surely coming when Jesus will make all those people come and bow down before you and acknowledge you were right.

[28:27] Jesus really did love you. This is a great reversal in more ways than one. In Isaiah, God said that the Gentiles will come to Israel, the Jews, and acknowledge that they are the chosen people of God.

[28:45] But here in Revelation, it's the Jews who will come to Christians and acknowledge that God has loved them. Jesus is once again making a theological point that he made earlier in chapter 2, verse 9, that there are ethnic Jews who say that they are Jews but are not because they have rejected their Jewish Messiah.

[29:08] Jesus the Christ. For it says in Romans 2, 27 to 28, no one is Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter.

[29:26] It's those who are united by faith to Jesus and whose hearts, therefore, have been circumcised, made new by the spirit of God. They are the true Jews and they are true Israel regardless of whether they are Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female.

[29:44] That's the glorious reality of what Christ has accomplished in his death and resurrection. So Jesus continues to assure the church in Philadelphia in verse 10, 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.

[30:07] The repetition of the word keep here emphasizes the logical connection between those two things. It's because they have kept Christ's word, that Christ is keeping them from the hour of trial.

[30:20] Keeping the word of Jesus Christ requires patient endurance. It's hard to say definitively what this hour of trial is referring to specifically.

[30:33] I think it refers to some kind of universal judgment and trial because it says that the hour of trial is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth and that phrase, those who dwell on the earth, is one that's used repeatedly throughout the book of Revelation to refer to all those who are idolatrous on earth.

[30:53] So I don't think this is a local trial that's coming upon the church in Philadelphia. I think this is a universal trial of some kind. I also don't think Jesus is talking here about a physical rapture of Christians on earth so that they are spared.

[31:09] God takes the Christians away so that they are spared this coming judgment of God because throughout Revelation, we see the expectation that Christians will suffer and experience tribulation.

[31:23] It says in Revelation 7, 14 that Christians are not those who are taken away from tribulation. Rather, it says they are those who come out of the great tribulation. they make it out of the great tribulation in victory precisely because they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb because they were faithful unto death.

[31:45] So if anything, I think it's more likely to refer to spiritual protection and there are several biblical parallels and especially the high priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17.

[31:58] And there, Jesus prays for his people, his future followers, for those who have kept your word. Jesus prays for them. And he asks God the Father to keep them in your name.

[32:10] And then later, Jesus says, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. So I think that's the idea that Jesus has in mind here in Revelation 3, 10.

[32:21] Jesus will not take his people out of the world, but he will nevertheless keep them from the evil one, keep them from that hour of trial so that they can endure without failing.

[32:37] So that they can keep professing the name of Jesus through that hour of trial. Another possibility is that the hour of trial is referring to God's ultimate final judgment since the word hour is often used in Revelation to refer to that final hour of judgment.

[32:54] And if that's what's in view here, then the church in Philadelphia is spared that judgment and punishment that comes upon unbelieving, on the unbelieving world. Jesus exhorts them in verse 11, I'm coming soon.

[33:11] Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown. Whether we are truly among God's elect or not, God's chosen people or not, whether we truly belong to him or not is borne out by our perseverance till the end.

[33:29] That's why, even as it is Jesus himself who keeps us from the evil one and keeps us in God's name, we also have the responsibility to hold fast and keep the word of Christ.

[33:44] This is not saying that we are saved by our good works, but rather that we are saved by grace through faith, but it's our perseverance till the end in faith that gives evidence of our true salvation.

[33:59] an Olympic athlete endures grueling workouts and Spartan diets so that one day he or she may be crowned with that Olympic wreath and receive that gold medal.

[34:16] And likewise, we as Christians have a prize that awaits us as we run this race, spiritual race. There is laid up for us a crown of righteousness, the crown of eternal life, the unfading crown of glory, as it says in 1 Peter 5, 4.

[34:38] And we don't need to be strong and gifted in order to get to that finish line. We just have to, even when we have little power, we can make it because the Lord Jesus himself keeps us.

[34:54] All we need to do humbly keep the word of Christ, keep believing in the name of Jesus which alone can save. Jesus adds even more motivation for us in verse 12 by promising us that the one who conquers will receive God's name.

[35:12] It says, 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.

[35:29] We confess the name of Jesus Christ till the end, then God will make us a pillar in the temple of God. What does that mean exactly? A pillar in the temple of God. I think the next sentence tells us exactly what that's pointing to.

[35:42] Never shall he go out of it. That's what being a pillar means. Pillars are immovable and for that reason they are symbols of permanence. This kind of promise of permanent dwelling would have been very evocative for the church in Philadelphia because historians observe that the church or the city of Philadelphia experienced and suffered more earthquakes than any other cities named here in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

[36:07] When you look at the ancient Greek temples when the ruins of the ancient Greek temples I know Bailey was there not that long ago if you look at pictures of those what do you see?

[36:26] There are no walls left there's no roof left you see pillars because pillars are built to last because they hold up so much weight they're durable they're symbols of permanence and so like that we will get to remain forever in the temple of God we will be immovable fixtures in the temple of God this is another way of saying what Jesus said earlier in verse 8 behold I set you before you an open door which no one is able to shut no one is able to remove us from or shut us out from God's heavenly kingdom where God's going to dwell in our midst forever and we'll be like the pillar in the temple of God moreover Jesus promises 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 as we see in Revelation 21 2 the holy city the new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven is the bride of Christ which is a reference to the church of Christ that God has redeemed and sanctified for himself and adorned as a bride

[37:50] Jesus is our bridegroom the church is the bride as Ephesians 5 talks about and we will receive the name of the new Jerusalem that city as the bride of Christ but we will also receive the name of God name of God will be written on us name of Christ his own new name will be written on us I don't know if people I think people still do this when you put your name on something you own it it's your way of marking that it belongs to you it's your way of identifying with it saying it belongs to me it takes a lot of money nowadays to get buildings named after you it probably always cost a lot of money one of the most prominent buildings in Harvard Square is Harvard's Smith Campus Center named after

[38:52] Richard A. and Susan F. Smith the couple donated tens of millions of dollars to get that building named after them you can't get it named after you otherwise but God paid a much much higher price to redeem us as his people 1 Peter 1 18-19 tells us that we were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers not with perishable things such as silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot as Hosea 1 tells us our names used to be lo-ami not my people our names used to be lo-ru-hamah not no mercy because God hadn't shown us mercy we were people who had rebelled against God we were treasoners we tried to usurp

[40:00] God's throne by setting up idols and gods for ourselves or seeking to be God ourselves masters of our own fate instead of submitting to God who are creator and Lord that's what we have done and so we were castaways we're like orphans ones without a name without an inheritance and yet God because he's rich in mercy because he loved us with a great love he sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins on the cross so that he could put his name on us again say my people to whom I have shown mercy that's what's in view here we've been purchased by the blood of Jesus so Jesus says 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 why does it say it's going to be a new name of Jesus

[41:00] I think it's telling us that we'll get to know Jesus personally and intimately like we've never known him before once you get married the couple starts to develop like pet names for each other and there are things that Hannah calls me there are names that Hannah calls me that I will never utter here it's too embarrassing it's kind of like that we'll know Jesus new name like we have never known him before that new name will be written on us and we'll get to enjoy him and love him forever it's the fulfillment of the prophecy in

[42:04] Isaiah 56 5 that we read in our call to worship that he'll take these foreigners and eunuchs who say I don't have a place among God's people and he will take them and give them a monument within his walls walls of his house a name that is better than the name of sons and daughters and then verse 13 Jesus closes his letter with the same invitation that is appended to every single one of the seven letters he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches that clause he who has an ear let him hear is taken from Isaiah 6 9 to 10 and it's an utterance of God's prophetic judgment while this letter is proclaimed to all only those who have ears to hear given by the spirit of God will be able to hear and believe and obey divine revelation always opens the eyes of the blind those who seek him and humble themselves before him and yet it blinds those who believe they already see and how do we know whether we belong to the first category or the second category do you believe in the word of

[43:27] Jesus do you hold fast to the name of Jesus that's how you know that means you have ears to hear so heed the gospel of Jesus Christ that you've heard this morning this is the same gospel that Christians have been preaching for the last 2,000 years and if you're here this morning and you are not yet if you have yet to put your faith in Jesus do so don't hesitate then he will fill you with your spirit and he will put his precious name on you he who has an ear let him hear let's pray oh Lord Jesus we can't wait we can't wait to have your new name written on us to be identified forever with you to have eternal unbroken communion with you

[44:40] Lord Jesus we cannot wait to be vindicated for you to be able to tell the world I have loved you see how I have loved them Lord as we long for that day as we wait for that day help us to persevere in patient endurance faith so that we never cease confessing the name of Jesus our Lord it's in your precious name the name of Jesus we pray amen whatever God am Everybody comes from입니다 God die Die